In a small village called “Mouseington” there lived
the mouse Juanito in a house built from the inside trunk of an ancient tree.
From time to time, he´d leave to wander through the
village but these days he´d always walk with his tail hanging down because he was feeling bitter.
He was disappointed by his friends humiliating and offending him. For this
reason, he cut ties with everyone and decided to live alone.
One day, while Juanito was out gathering nuts, a blue
bird came to “Mouseington” singing out a warning of the arrival of a great
storm.
Face with this warning, all the mice ran away towards
the mountain to build tunnel-shaped dens among its rocks.
When Juanito had finished making his den, a very
friendly little mouse came near, offering him soft feathers to make the den´s
floor more comfortable, but Juanito refused.
Juanito was also approached by a mice couple asking
him for some nuts, but Juanito did not give them any.
An elderly mouse, seeing Juanito´s behaviour, decided
to come up and ask him a question:
_What is going on with you, Juanito? Why are you
behaving in such a way with the others?
_Because they offended me and hurt me in the past! –
replied Juanito.
_But don´t you realize that you´re also hurting
others’ feelings with your behaviour? It´s impossible to walk through this life without hurting
and being hurt.
Juanito remained silent and the wise old mouse added:
_You must to learn to forgive. Forgiveness is the best path to achieving inner peace because it frees
us from resentment.
In that very moment the rain began to fall and Juanito
asked the wise old mouse to stay with him in his den.
A few hours later, the storm passed and all the mice,
wearing their little sunglasses, left their dens to sit on the rocks and enjoy
the first rays of the sun.
At that moment, Juanito arrived with his tail high in
the air and shared his nuts and seeds with everybody. In doing so, he had
apologised for his behaviour and forgave those who had hurt him.
Author: María
Abreu
For if you forgive other people when they sin against
you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (Matthew 6:14)
LEER EL CUENTO EN ESPAÑOL: El ratòn que no sabía perdonar
