How Small MouseWoman found her YoungMan

It was a stormy rainy day. The wind blew with fierceness, it howled through the trees, bustling branches together, clacking the boughs against one another. Down on the rock strewn beach a small canoe bumped against a large rock. Huddled inside was a Small Boy with hazel eyes and sandy blond hair. The clouds lightened, the wind slowed to a whisper and the rain stopped as the sun came out bringing with it warmth.
The boy peaked his head over the edge of the small canoe, the edges worn smooth from the weather of generations before. The boy sat up, he looked around, this beach was new to him, this island looked deserted, but just as he let that thought flit through his mind, a rustle sounded from a low bush just in front of his little boat.
Boy ducked below the edge of the canoe, and listened as the foot steps came closer. The voice sounded like a woman reassuring him in a soft melodic voice. When he looked up though, there was no one insight. He whipped his head around, looking to the North, looking to the South, he then heard, "Boy! I am down here!"
He looked down over the edge of his canoe, placing his hands in worn marks. There at the side of his little vessel stood a soft downy Mouse. "What are you called Boy? Where are you from Boy?" "I am from the Brick House on the Hill" replied Boy, "My name is..." but the Small Mouse woman did not let him finish, she sang out "Oh! Boy from the Brick House. Please follow me, we must leave this open space, quickly!"
As she said this, she looked about the big open beach wringing her hands together. Boy noticed a few bracelets lining her thin arms, and a necklace that looked like woven cedar bark.
Boy followed the Small Mouse up the beach to the forests edge and she squealed, "Hurry Boy! We must be quick! We have a far distance to travel!" Scurrying through the underbrush, it was task to follow the Small Mouse without losing her. Then she stopped at the foot of a large green plant.
 "Boy, please collect these..." she squeaked and she pointed at the curly tops of the plant. "These will be such a tasty treat for our feast! Fiddle head soup is Mothers specialty."
 So, boy collected a good amount of fiddle heads and placed them in a basket that Small Mouse had been weaving as he completed his task. Boy reached for more of the fleshy curled heads on the fern, but stopped suddenly when Small Mouse cried out:
 "Stop Boy! We have enough, you must never collect more then absolutely needed."
The pair continued on the path, a path through the tall trees that seemingly only Small Mouse could see. Again she stopped, placing her paws, now taking on the form more and more of a human, against the bark.

"Boy, this is Grandmother Cedar, she provides us with strips of bark for clothing, for smoking our food, and wood for our canoes."

 She turned her face, now slowly shedding the mouse form.
Looking up the trees massive trunk, she smiled and nodded as if the large tree were speaking to her. She showed Boy how to collect strips of the rich scented bark, and he placed just enough, one by one into the basket. "Thank you Grandmother" she whispered.
Boy nodded his head at the Grandmother Cedar, not entirely sure of what was expected of him.  
Soon they reached a gurgling stream full of salmon. "We are almost there! Quick, you must catch enough salmon to feed us. Use your cedar strips to make a net!" So Boy, with Small Mouse's help, rigged a net and caught 10 big salmon.
 He laughed as they flopped in the net at the side of the bank.
 Small Mouse shook her head.
"NO Boy! You must not laugh. You must always be thankful of the food you are able to gather. It is because of the forest that we have the tasty Fiddle Heads, the Grandmother Cedar that we have a basket to carry them and because of her too, that we were able to catch our Salmon. But it is because the Salmon are respected that they continue to come up this stream that we, that my people are able to eat and thrive here. We must always be thankful!"
Boy hung his head, and a great tear fell down his cheek he whispered, "I am, I am thankful for all that has been provided for me."
"There, there Boy from Brick House" said a voice that sounded much like Small Mouse, and a soft hand patted his arm. He looked up, and to his surprise, in front of him stood a beautiful mousy looking girl, with long soft chestnut hair. She was wearing a beautiful cedar bark dress, and colorful bracelets lined her arms.
She smiled at him, and said, "It has been a long journey, you have grown, and over that time I have come to trust you, I have come to love you and I welcome you into our family."
Boy watched as the stream gurgled by his side, and there on either side a village emerged from the surrounding trees.
 An elder woman came forward, "You have learned, you have become a fine Young Man" she smiled and took his hand in hers and placed it in her daughters.
That night, the Mouse People and Young Man from Brick House danced, and feasted on Fiddle Head Soup, Smoked Salmon and told stories.

But Small Mouse's favorite story will forever be the story of 'How Small Mouse found her Young Man.'