One warm summer's day, filled with the fragrance of herbs and flowers, a little grey Mouse called Freda was walking through a forest clearing. She was gathering flowers for a bouquet when she suddenly spotted a wheat ear lying on the path.
Mouse Freda 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 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 Timothy the timid hare with his Long Ears.
He watched the mouse struggling and said:
Oi, Mouse Freda, why do you need that heavy wheat ear? Don't carry it, don't strain yourself. Chuck it away!
Freda looked at Long Ears with a disapproving glance and said:
No, I shan't leave the wheat ear, I shan't throw it away. It will come in very handy.
And she continued on with her heavy burden. She walked and walked, and suddenly saw Bushy-Tail the squirrel sitting on a tall, branching pine tree, nibbling nuts and pine cones.
The squirrel spotted Freda too and said:
Mouse, that wheat ear is so heavy, so big. It must be difficult for you to carry it. Drop it, then walking will be easier.
No, I shan't drop it.
Said the Mouse in a tired voice, and continued on her way to her cosy burrow. Little Freda walked for a long time across the clearing and grew tired. She went into her burrow, rested a bit, took a special threshing device, threshed the wheat ear, and all the grains fell out.
She sifted them, poured them into her little mill, and ground the grains—out came flour. Freda's flour turned out white as white, fluffy as fluffy. She took a handful of butter, eggs, sugar, and kneaded dough. The mouse heated her oven and baked pies with various fillings: raspberry, nuts, mushrooms, cheese…
The pies came out golden, appetising, and aromatic. The smell could be detected throughout the entire forest. Then Mouse Freda brewed tea from forest herbs, laid the table, and invited Timothy Long Ears the Hare and Bushy-Tail the Squirrel round for tea.
They were very surprised:
Freda, where did all these treats come from?
Well, it all came from that wheat ear.
The Mouse replied.
I worked hard, I didn't laze about, and the pies are the result of my labour. Help yourselves and think carefully, remember how you tried to persuade 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 labour is rewarded and is never in vain. And what one makes oneself, with one's own hands and efforts, is especially valued.
