Gold's Gloom

Gold the mouse once lived with a large family beneath a small forest shrine. Near their burrow lay an old jar of forgotten coins.

The coins did not belong to Gold, yet their warm hiding place made his home dry and secure. Feeling unusually bold, he could leap higher than any other mouse.

Each day a hermit named Crop-Ear returned with his alms bowl. After eating, he hung the remaining food from a peg for the shrine helpers.

Gold began climbing to the bowl and sharing the food with his companions. Crop-Ear moved it higher, but Gold still reached it.

One evening Crop-Ear's friend Wide-Bottom came to visit. While his guest spoke, Crop-Ear kept tapping the bowl to frighten the mice.

“You seem worried,” Wide-Bottom said. “Let us solve the problem calmly.”

At dawn they followed tiny footprints to Gold's burrow. There they found the old jar. They carried it to the village council, which used the forgotten coins to repair the shrine and store grain for travellers.

Gold returned to find his shelter changed. Without the jar beneath his home, he felt as though all his bravery had vanished. He tried to reach the bowl, missed the peg and landed unharmed on a folded mat.

Embarrassed and gloomy, Gold left the shrine. His friend Swift the crow found him and carried him to the lake where Slow the tortoise lived.

Gold told them everything. “I thought the treasure made me important,” he admitted. “When it disappeared, I believed my courage disappeared too.”

Slow replied, “Coins may open some doors, but they cannot think, learn or love. Your quick mind is still yours, and your friends are beside you.”

Gold practised jumping again, chose honest food, and helped his new friends with the skills only a mouse possessed. His gloom slowly lifted.

He never forgot the lost jar, but he no longer mistook hidden wealth for the strength inside his own heart.