One warm summer's day, filled with the fragrance of herbs and flowers, a little grey Mouse named Matilda was walking through a forest clearing. She was gathering flowers for a bouquet when she suddenly spotted a wheat ear lying on the path.
Matilda picked it up and examined it closely. The ear was full of plump, golden grains from stem to tip. The little Mouse carried it along with her flowers back to her burrow, which was on the other side of the forest clearing. As she walked, bent under the weight of the wheat ear, she met a timid hare named Flopsy Ears.
Seeing how the mouse was struggling, he said:
Oi, Matilda, why are you carrying that heavy wheat ear? Don't bother with it, you'll do yourself an injury. Chuck it away!
Matilda looked at Flopsy with a disapproving glance and said:
No, I won't leave the wheat ear behind, I won't throw it away. It'll come in very handy.
And she continued on with her heavy load. She walked and walked, and suddenly saw a squirrel called Fluffy-Tail sitting high up in a branching pine tree, munching on nuts and pine cones.
The squirrel spotted Matilda too and said:
Mouse, that wheat ear is so heavy, so big. It must be hard work carrying it. Drop it, then walking will be easier.
No, I won't drop it.
Said the Mouse in a tired voice, and continued on her way to her cosy burrow. Little Matilda walked for quite a while longer through the clearing, growing weary. She went into her burrow, rested a bit, then took out her special threshing tool, threshed the wheat ear, and all the grains tumbled out.
She sifted them, poured them into her little mill, and ground the grains into flour. The flour Matilda made was snow-white and fluffy. She took a bit of butter, some eggs, sugar, and kneaded dough. The mouse heated up her oven and baked pies with different fillings: raspberry, nut, mushroom, cheese...
The pies came out golden, appetising, and aromatic. The smell wafted through the entire forest. Then Matilda brewed tea from forest herbs, set the table, and invited Flopsy Ears the Hare and Fluffy-Tail the Squirrel over for afternoon tea.
They were gobsmacked:
Matilda, where did all these treats come from?
It all came from that wheat ear.
The Mouse replied.
I worked hard and didn't slack off, and these pies are the result of my labour. Help yourselves, and have a good think about how you tried to convince me to abandon that valuable wheat ear, without which these delicious and aromatic pies wouldn't exist.
In the little Mouse's words rang great wisdom: that every bit of hard work is rewarded and is never in vain. And what you make yourself, with your own hands and effort, is especially valuable.
