Once upon a time, there was a powerful mouse-king. Drunk with power, he gave himself the airs of a superhuman animal. He had a beautiful daughter. Many a young aspirant representing the mice-tribes from all corners of the globe came to his kingdom to seek his daughter’s hand in marriage, but he refused to oblige any of them, for he had determined not to give his daughter away to anyone but the most powerful living being in the entire universe.
He called a meeting of his courtiers to determine who would be the fittest suitor to the mouse-princess. The courtiers, after long deliberations, concluded that the Sun God, by virtue of his being the most powerful, was the only person who deserved the hand of the princess. Pursuant to the decision, the mouse-king sent emissaries to the court of the Sun God, offering the hand of his daughter.
But the Sun God said, “If you think I am the most powerful person in the universe, you are mistaken. The Cloud is more powerful than me, for if he wishes to stand between the earth and myself, I can hardly do anything to dispel the earth’s darkness.”
The emissaries then went to the realm of the Cloud and conveyed their king’s message. But the Cloud also protested that the Wind God was the more powerful than himself, and added, “No matter how I try, I can never stand against a gust of wind; it always blows me off seat.”
When Wind was approached, he replied, “If you are really looking for the most powerful suitor to the mouse-king’s daughter, go to Mr. Mountain, for I have always lost in a trial of strength with him and even my strongest blast has always been checked by him.”
The Mountain on hearing the Mouse-king’s proposal, told his emissaries: “Yes, I could stop all the world’s wind as also the strongest gale, but for the bloody mouse. It burrows holes and tunnels inside me and lets the air in. If I am afraid of anything as a potential threat to my existence, it is the mouse.”
This was a great revelation to the mouse-king. Little had he realized how powerful his own clansmen, the tiny mice-folk were, and, ashamed of his earlier aspirations, he offered his daughter’s hand to a young mouse, of his own tribe.