Maybell Mouse

Maybell Mouse has a story and like many in the long History of Stories, she is the Messenger. The one who comes with the Warning. Maybell was born in a place called Over the Hill. This was not a village of Elderly People gone past their prime. (It use to be "Up over the Hill" but that is another story.) Over the Hill was a location in the 60 acres that surrounded the Baggaraggs. It was a place like the Branch, or the Cliffs, or the Wineberry Patch. The Baggaraggs was hidden deeply in a Forest that lost its leaves in the Fall and found them again in the Spring. The Baggaraggs was the home of the Tenderstitch family.

Maybell Mouse was born on a Sunday in May. The Church bells were tolling the Sunday meeting when her Mother, Marvel, looked at her tiny form for the First time. She was neither a good child nor a wicked one. She was medium, I would guess and knew that both of these opposites, like the sunshine and the shadow, were woven together in her tiny soul. Maybell possessed the kind of curiosity that could lend itself to either situation. She could find things to do that would at times lead to a little trouble, or be helpful with the sewing, gathering of wood for the fire, or telling of the stories. She mostly liked to play alone and dress up the Toads for the Toad Circus.

Maybell also liked to listen to her Mother tell stories about her long friendship with the Tenderstitch family. The Tenderstitch family had one unusual Gift. They could speak to animals and the animals could speak to them.