One warm summer day, filled with the fragrance of herbs and flowers, a little gray Mouse named Rosie was walking through a forest clearing. She was gathering flowers for a bouquet when she suddenly spotted a wheat stalk on the path.
Mouse Rosie picked it up and examined it closely—it was filled from stem to tip with plump, golden kernels. The little Mouse carried it along with her flowers to her burrow, which was located on the other side of the forest clearing. As she walked, bent under the weight of the wheat stalk, she met a timid little rabbit named Long Ears.
He watched the mouse straining and said:
Hey, Mouse Rosie, why do you need that heavy wheat stalk? Don't carry it, don't strain yourself. Throw it away!
Rosie looked at Long Ears with a disapproving glance and said:
No, I won't leave the wheat stalk, I won't throw it away—it will be very useful to me.
And she continued on with her heavy burden. She walked and walked, and suddenly saw a squirrel named Fluffy Tail sitting on a tall, branching pine tree, gnawing on nuts and pinecones.
The squirrel also noticed Rosie and said:
Mouse, that wheat stalk is so heavy, so big—it must be hard for you to carry it. Drop it, and your journey will be easier.
No, I won't drop it.
Said the Mouse in a tired voice, and continued on her way to her cozy burrow. Little Rosie walked along the clearing for a long time and grew tired. She entered her burrow, rested a bit, took a special threshing device, threshed the wheat stalk, and all the kernels fell out.
She sifted them, poured them into her little mill, and ground the kernels—out came flour. Rosie's flour turned out white as snow and fluffy as a cloud. She took a bit 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, appetizing, and aromatic. The smell could be detected throughout the entire forest. Then Mouse Rosie brewed tea from forest herbs, set the table, and invited Rabbit Long Ears and Squirrel Fluffy Tail over as guests.
They were very surprised:
Rosie, where did all these treats come from?
It all came from that wheat stalk.
The Mouse answered them.
I worked hard and didn't slack off, and these pies are the result of my labor. Help yourselves and think carefully, remember how you tried to convince me to abandon that valuable wheat stalk, without which these delicious and aromatic pies would never have existed.
In the little Mouse's words rang great wisdom about how every effort is rewarded and is never in vain. And what you make yourself, with your own hands and efforts, is especially valuable.
