The Mouse Turned Maiden
Panchatantra Stories · 1 min read
A great sage, seeing a baby mouse about to be swept away by a hawk, took pity and used his powers to turn it into a beautiful young girl instead, raising her as his own daughter.
When she came of age, the sage decided only the mightiest being in creation deserved to marry her, and approached the Sun first. "I am mighty," the Sun admitted, "but the clouds cover me easily — ask them instead." The clouds pointed to the wind, who could scatter them at will. The wind, in turn, admitted that a mountain could stop him completely, unmoved.
The sage climbed the great mountain and offered his daughter to it — but the mountain sighed. "I am strong, yes, but the tiny mice who tunnel through my base each day weaken me more than any wind or cloud ever could."
Startled, the sage looked at his daughter — truly looked at her — and asked gently whether she might prefer, after all, to marry a mouse. She blushed and admitted that yes, ever since he'd raised the question, she found she could think of nothing else. The sage turned her back into her true form, and she married a mouse from the mountain's own burrows, happier by far than any grand alliance could have made her.
Moral of the story
True nature will always find its own true match, no matter what grandeur is offered instead.