Three Delicious Pies

Just a fairy tale about three little girls and their pies. Or is it? Number 14 of the No One Special Fairy Tales.

Three Delicious Pies

Once upon a time there were three little girls named Merryweather, Lucinda and Jane. Merryweather lived in the most eastern part of town, in a big beautiful mansion. She had long blonde hair and would always wear a blue frilly dress. Everyday she would sit in the garden of her estate and eat a delicious pie she’d made herself of blueberries and black berries in a crust, while she sat on her little white whicker chair. 

One day, a group of hungry mice came up to the garden and gazed longingly at Merryweather’s pie. They hadn’t eaten in days, and there was no food all around. Merryweather loved her pie dearly, and had worked very hard to make it, but as she looked at their sad faces she could feel her heart breaking, so she placed her tray down on the ground. The mice ate of it gratefully, and thanked her many times. 

The next day, in quite the same fashion, Merryweather made herself a delicious pie, and sat down in her white wicker chair to eat it. The group of mice however, much to her surprise, came back and pleaded with her to let them have her pie. Merryweather had already given them her pie yesterday, and had very much been looking forward to having it today after having been deprived. But as they looked up at her they said, “But you already gave it to us once, just one more couldn’t hurt, right?”

And so once again she gave them her pie, but this time the thank you was shorter and quieter. From then on the mice came everyday to her garden, and she would give them her pie. As the days passed by, she became weary of what had once been her favorite time of the day. She would set down the pie that she had worked so hard to make, and the mice would gobble it up. Eventually they stopped thanking her 

altogether. Actually, much to everyone’s surprise, the kinder that Merryweather was to the mice, and the more she let them eat her pie, the more angry and impatient the mice seemed to get. Soon they started to think, “Why does Merryweather get to have this house? And that pretty dress, and this garden and that chair? Why should she have them; what makes her better than we? Perhaps she doesn’t deserve them at all.”

Meanwhile, at the very west of the town lived Lucinda. She was a beautiful little girl with short auburn hair, who wore a green, sensible dress with not many frills or lace. Everyday she would make herself a sweet pie of delicious green and golden apples, and would sit in her garden to eat it. One day, a group of hungry mice came to Lucinda’s home, and pleaded with her for a crumb of her pie. She laughed at them and said, “I have made this pie, go away, it is mine to consume and mine alone!”

And so everyday she would eat her pie while looking down on them, and casting judgements upon the mice that they were lazy, and incompetent and a disease on her beloved town. She would shoo them away from her fair mansion, and greedily consume every crumb of her fair pie. Without anything to eat, the mice who came to beg food from Lucinda became very sick, so sick in fact that they all started to die and fall down dead right in her garden. 

In the middle of the town lived young Jane, a girl with black wavy hair, who wore a bold red dress and a crown of roses on her head. Everyday she would made herself a delicious pie of cherries and raspberries and currants, and sit in her garden to eat it. One day a group of hungry mice came to Jane’s house and humbly asked for a crumb of her pie. Jane smiled graciously at the mice and instead offered to teach them how to make pie for themselves. Some of the mice didn’t like her idea and scurried off to beg elsewhere, but many of them stayed behind and agreed. 

Everyday Jane would come out and eat her pie, then she would gather together the group of mice, and walk with them and diligently train them in how to find the flour and the berries, and the sugar and everything else needed to make a splendid pie. Soon, not only had her own pie making skills improved, but the skills of all of the mice as well. She and her mice friends decided to go into town one day and sell some of their pies, and they made a lot of money, enough for the mice to buy a house of their own. 

But strangely, as Jane lead them through the town to try and find a house for them to buy, they saw some things they did not expect. On the very east side of the town, they saw Merryweather’s house, but Merryweather was not there. At least, it didn’t appear that she was, but when they looked closer they saw that all that remained of Merryweather was was her bones. The mice, who had grown so greedy and hateful of Merryweather, could no longer be satiated by the mere pie they received everyday. Instead, they consumed her entire body, and taken over her house, running rampant through the estate. 

But a sad truth came to light once they destroyed all of her possessions, and taken them for themselves, as they mocked her and thought how much more deserving they were than she. Without her, their livelihood was over, and they would soon die with nothing but their short lived moment of rebellion to take with them to their graves. 

Jane and her mice friends sadly walked away from the terrible scene and decided to look for homes on the west side of the town. There, they happened upon Lucinda’s garden, but Lucinda was not home, or at least, she didn’t seem to be. When Jane looked closer, there was Lucinda, laying on the green grass in her green sensible dress. The mice that had once begged her for sustenance, which had all died, had then decomposed everywhere in her garden. Being around this ended up making Lucinda very ill, a terrible sickness which brought about her own death. She lay there with nothing to show for her own greed but a stomach full of pie. 

Jane mourned for the loss of her friend, but soon had to move on with her own mouse friends. She helped them finally find a proper house, with a beautiful garden, and she would walk from her own house to visit them often.

But a very curious thing began to happen. As the mice began to prosper, one day several flies came to their home, asking for crumbs of food. 

Author's Note

Purposefully written in the style of a classic fairy tale. Open to interpretation, although I'd prefer comments about the story as a whole, than about it's moral.

Reviews

[Alicia™]

This is beautifully written! The moral is great, but since you asked not to say too much about it, I won't go on anymore. The flow is great, and I really enjoyed reading it. It's sort of like a grown-up fairy tale to me. Something that made shorter and simpler, could be enjoyed by little kids, which is a good thing. I've missed reading fairy tales…

There's a typo here though, in "stared." I believe you meant "started."

Soon they stared to think, “Why does Merryweather get to have this house? And that pretty dress, and this garden and that chair? Why should she have them; what makes her better than we? Perhaps she doesn’t deserve them at all.”