Thanks to Lee Gold for asking the question that inspired this story.
Mouse was watching her latest litter. A few more days and they would see, and soon they could find their own food. Was that a sound ? Outside ? Coming closer ? Too late ! Snake slithered into the nest. "You have sssso many children, that you won't misssss a few" hissed Snake as he swallowed them one by one.
Mouse had time to save only one, she grabbed it in her mouth and ran and ran and ran. But Snake was still hungry and he swiftly slithered after her.
The chase was long and hard. Mouse was faster but she carried the burden of her child and she was tiring. Then she saw a cave and ducked into it to hide.
Swift and his brood were nesting in the cave. "Who are you ?" screamed Swift, diving over Mouse, "what do you want here ?".
"Please Sir," said Mouse. "Snake is chasing me. He has already eaten all but one of my brood and he wants to eat the last, too. I only want somewhere to hide".
Swift was not pleased. "You must leave!", he screamed. "If Snake follows you here he will eat my brood, too". "Go, go, go!".
But Mouse did not want her child to be eaten, and she knew that Snake would catch her if she tried to carry it much further. "Please Sir," she squeaked, "I will lead Snake away from here if only you will look after my child".
"It'd better not eat eggs", said Swift, grudgingly accepting.
Mouse ran out of the cave and led Snake a long and fruitless chase. But she never went back to the cave, and her child grew up with the swiftlets.
All was well for a few days. Swift fed the mouse-child with his nestlings and they grew healthy and strong. Then came the time to leave the nest. "But I have no wings" squeaked the mouse.
So Swift collected leaves and made a pair of wings for the mouse from the strongest dry leaves he could find, stitched with spider-silk and glued with spittle.
"But I cannot see in this dark cave" squeaked the winged mouse. "I have a bargain with the spirit, Echo for me and my children" replied Swift. "I will adopt you as my child and Echo will help you, too. All you need to is shout and Echo will reply - but Echo can only use your own words, for it has none of it's own so you must shout as I instruct you". And so it was.
The little mouse grew up and had children of his own. But he was not a swift, nor was he a mouse any more, and so he took the name Bat for himself and his children. And so it is that Bat is a Beast by birth, a Bird by adoption and not entirely either.
Everway is copyright Rubicon Games 1996. Everway is a trademark of Rubicon games. This document is not intended as a challenge to those rights.
This document is copyright Paul King 1997.