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Mythologica Redwallia - Mice: Part Deux
By: Julia
"Mice are my heroes because, like children, mice are little and have to learn to be courageous and use their wits." – Brian Jacques
While Mossflower Country and beyond is filled to the brim with all sorts of creatures, undoubtedly the chief species of the Redwall world is the mouse. Martin, Mossflower"s most celebrated hero, joined with the mice of Loamhedge Abbey to found the Abbey of Redwall that we know and love, and ever since mice have been unexpected founts of strength and courage. This month we bring you the conclusion of the first two-part super-issue of Mythologica Redwallia: Mice!
Modern Mice
Where does one start? There are millions, perhaps billions, of mice in the world, and many of their kind have made it into books, movies, and pop culture. First and foremost is one of the earliest animated characters, who made his big break in American theaters during the 1930s. Mickey Mouse has since become one of the most recognized cartoon icons in the world, accompanied by his girlfriend, Minnie. The Warner Bros. cartoon short studio, one of Disney"s competitors, brought the fastest mouse in Mexico, Speedy Gonzales, and the shy and squeaky Snuffles to fame. Other cartoon mice include, but are not limited to, Jerry (one half of MGM"s duo Tom and Jerry), Fievel and his family from the An American Tail series, Abigail of Once Upon a Forest, Stuart Little from the film of the same name (and its sequel), and Mrs. Frisby and her kin from The Secret of NIMH. Disney, the animation powerhouse, has of course thrown mice into many of their films, including Dumbo, Cinderella and The Aristocats. The Disney film most prominently featuring mice is surely The Great Mouse Detective, a movie that has fallen into relative obscurity since its release in 1986.
Basil of Baker Street, a very Sherlock Holmes-like private eye, appeared in a series of books by Eve Titus long before The Great Mouse Detective appeared in theaters. Titus also wrote of Anatole, a French mouse determined to feed his large family. The Secret of NIMH was also based on a book: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O"Brien, a tale of a how a mouse desperate to save her family"s home falls in with a group of former lab rats. Stuart Little by E.B. White, also recently brought to the screen, is the charming story of the Littles, a human family with mouse for a son.
As with films, there is a slew of books featuring mice as main and supporting characters. Poppy by Avi and its sequel Poppy and Rye feature Poppy, a mouse who lives in Dimwood Forest, and her adventures in a nearby city. The prequel to Poppy, Ragweed, is the story of Ragweed, the city mouse who appeared in the first novel of the series. The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Clearly and its sequels Runaway Ralph and Ralph S. Mouse are another trio of stories starring a mouse. Ralph the mouse"s adventures take place in and around the hotel he calls home, where he deals with both typical adolescent problems and those that arise from owning a working toy motorcycle.
Abel"s Island by William Steig is a Robinson Crusoe story about a mouse who gets thrown onto a deserted island and lives there for a year in which every day is a struggle for survival. In Time Stops for no Mouse and its sequel The Sands of Time, both by Michael Hoeye, Hermux Tantamoq the watchmaker mouse is swept away on a series of adventures when an aviator mouse drops her watch off to be repaired at his shop. Another new set of novels about mice is The Deptford Mice Trilogy (The Dark Portal, The Crystal Prison, and The Final Reckoning) by Robin Jarvis. The trilogy is a dark set of stories about a group of mice that confronts an army of rats and their cat leader in the sewers beneath Deptford.
A chorus of mice help to narrate the film version of Dick King-Smith"s novel Babe: The Gallant Pig, but King-Smith also wrote three whole novels about mice. The School Mouse featured Flora, who lived in a schoolhouse and was determined to become educated by eavesdropping on lessons. We meet Wolfgang Amadeus Mouse in A Mouse Called Wolf, and like his namesake, Wolf is very musically talented, much to the delight of the humans whose home he lives in. In Martin"s Mice, the cat and mouse angle is skewed when Martin the cat keeps a family of mice as pets!
George Selden wrote several books about Tucker Mouse and his friends Chester Cricket and Harry Cat, including The Cricket in Times Square, Harry Kitten and Tucker Mouse, Chester Cricket"s Pigeon Ride, Harry Cat"s Pet Puppy, and Tucker"s Countryside.
Beatrix Potter, best known for A Tale of Peter Rabbit, also had some mouse characters in her stories, including The Tailor of Gloucester, The Tale of Two Bad Mice, The Tale of Miss Moppet, The Tale of Samuel Whiskers: or The Roly-Poly Pudding, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse, and The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse.
The ROC
Mice are abundant all over the ROC, and they"ve definitely made appearances in the various roleplaying competitions over the years. Vayala of the original Questors Bold was a female mouse from Redwall Abbey itself, while Masha Arkadiy of ROC: Survivor 2 was from a similar institution, but turned to the darker side of Mossflower life. Cyserin of Red Venture was a male mouse from a fairly affluent family, and in Terrouge"s recent Questors Bold II, we met Tiven Auroran, a young male mouse who got caught up in the slavery schemes of the Aurian Empire. Also, you can expect Lyosha to debut in Questors Bold III as the male mouse character!
Want to know more? Take a look my bibliography! If you find a discrepancy in the information somewhere above, tell me about it! If it"s legit (not just additional material I didn"t find), I"ll give you credit for it in the next issue.
I make sure to post next month"s subject in advance (see below), so if you have any legends or famous characters you"d like me to include, please let me know at jackalopecountry@yahoo.com!
Next month: Snakes!
Bibliography