10 - Fritz the Church Mouse
A mouse cousin from Cologne comes to visit and gives a talk about Creation
By Pam Bateman
Chapter One - Introducing Fritz
It was a cold day and the tweedy mice – at City Gent’s request – had all gathered in the drawing room. Several of the more observant mice had noticed a tall mouse standing in the corner, respectfully waiting to be introduced. They were curious as to who this visitor might be. He wasn’t tweedy like them, but he was certainly a mouse, just a rather tall one. They didn’t have long to wonder however because once they were all there, City Gent pulled up the soapbox and stood on it to formally address them:
“It is my great pleasure,” City Gent began, “to introduce our cousin Fritz the church mouse who has kindly agreed to come and talk to us about important things and answer your questions.”
A lot of whispering was heard among the mice: “What could these important things be?” and “Is anything more important than our next meal?” and “What sorts of questions can we ask?” and other puzzled whispers in the same vein were heard.
“Ah-hem!” said City Gent, to get their attention. “It will all become clear soon. Please welcome Cousin Fritz in true mouse fashion.”
At this point, Fritz came out from his corner and stood on the soap box next to City Gent.
“Welcome, Cousin Fritz!” squeaked a 60-strong chorus of tweedy mice as they vigorously clapped their paws and jumped up and down. One of the older mice came forward and said politely, “Thank you for coming, Cousin Fritz. We hope you’ll like being with us. If there is anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask. My name is John, by the way.”
“Thank you, City Gent, for your introduction. And thank you, John and all the tweedy mice. It’s my pleasure to be here amongst you all. I have heard so much about you from the tweedy mice who went to live in my country, and I’m so happy to be able to meet you all.”
“Where are you from, Cousin Fritz?” asked Rufus.
“I come from Cologne, a very old and beautiful city in Germany,” Fritz replied.
“Oh yes, I remember now!” squeaked Patch excitedly. “We had a farewell cake party for Morag, Clementine, Trouble, Rosa, Sarah, Peebles, Paddy and Wick before they went! I did so miss Trouble for a few days… till Granny Mouse made another Trouble,” he said squeezing Trouble’s double.
“They went to live with such kind people, didn’t they?” remembered Melissa.
“Yes! And Rosina and William were waiting to welcome them!” said Patch. “So now they’ve got nine mice…” (Counting wasn’t his strong point.)
“Er. Eleven actually,” mis-corrected Ozzie. (Counting wasn’t his strong point either.)
Fritz smiled. “All ten tweedy mice in Cologne send you their fond greetings,” he said. “They miss you all, and hope some more of you will go to live with them before too long.”
Fritz, who had an outstanding memory, was introduced to each mouse in turn, having a little chat with each one, and getting to know them a little. Then Granny Mouse gave them lunch consisting of cheese, grapes and apples.
“We’re going to have a friendly free-for-all today, after Fritz has said grace” said Granny Mouse.
Duncan looked at Finlay who shrugged.
“What’s a free-for-all?” asked Duncan, puzzled. He and Finlay were the newest additions to the family.
“Instead of little chopped up bits, I thought that for a change we’d have a meal where you could just take little nibbles of something and then move on to the next thing.”
“Oooh, that sounds fun!” said Belinda and Rita together (two more new additions to the family).
After Fritz had thanked God for the food, they all tucked in.
It worked very well, with no one being greedy but all politely waiting for each other to have a nibble first. Fritz could tell he was going to be happy here among these dear little tweedy mice.
Chapter Two – The Talk
After lunch, the more energetic tweedy mice had a scamper round the garden, while the older ones chatted to Cousin Fritz.
Half an hour later, the scampering mice seemed to be slowing down nicely, so they were called inside. John and Keith were asked to arrange the mice so that they could all see Fritz from where they were sitting. He was amused to see that Patch, Trouble, Ozzie (and his teddy) and little Cyril (who lives in Fivepenny) had been placed in the front row, right in front of him. He was aware of their tendency to be mischievous but at this moment they were sitting quietly and attentively.
Fritz looked across the sea of eager, upturned little tweedy mouse faces, and gave a contented sigh. Nothing pleased him more than to talk about the things that mattered to him most. He certainly didn’t know everything about God (who does? – not even Granny Mouse, in spite of what Patch thinks) but he knew a lot more than any of the other mice in the room.
Fritz began: “City Gent tells me that a few weeks ago, some of you were asking questions about God, and that Sarah had explained that in the beginning God made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the sky and everything in them, and that God is the one who keeps everything together and provides food for all living things. Do any of you remember this conversation?”
“Yes, I remember!” said Dorcas, “And then I said ‘but God didn’t make us tweedy mice, did He?’ and Sarah wasn’t too sure but City Gent said that God didn’t make tweedy mice directly, but that everything that is made comes from what God put there in the first place,” said Dorcas.
“Yes,” said Sarah, “and then City Gent said it would be good to have a little talk another time, when we can all ask questions about such important things, but that it was time to eat right then.”
Fritz looked at City Gent who nodded. “Good!” said Fritz. “And now the time has come to have that little talk! I am not going to talk for very long today, and you can ask me questions afterwards, or even in the middle if something confuses you.”
“To start with,” said Fritz, “it is important to be clear on what we believe about the beginning of things – the very, very beginning. Some believe that everything just happened and that life began by chance, and that it all took a very, very long time, with some things changing into other things over time.”
At this point, many of the mice looked puzzled but they were keen to learn more.
“As you know, I am a church mouse. I lived in a church where there were lots of Bibles. I have also read it through many times and I believe it is God’s Word and that everything in it is true. I know Granny Mouse believes this too, and so do many of you tweedy mice. So when the Bible tells us how God made everything, I believe it.”
Several mice nodded and looked interested. All the older ones had heard such things from Granny Mouse.
“I shall start with God Himself. No one made God. He had no beginning and will have no end. He always was, He is now and He always will be. He made the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars and everything – the sea, the land, the rocks, flowers, trees, grass and all living things.”
“And cheese?” suggested Patch helpfully.
“No, Patch! Not cheese!” said Fritz with a chuckle. “I’ll explain about that another time. It’s a very good question though!”
“Mice?” suggested Trouble (well, at least it showed he was listening).
“Yes, Trouble, mice were created on Day 6,” Fritz said. “Look, I’ll give you each a little chart which you might find helpful. It shows the six days of creation and the order in which God did it. The Bible tells us that on the seventh day He rested.”
| The Days of Creation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Light, Day and Night | |
| Day 2 | Sky and Seas | |
| Day 3 | Dry Land and Plants | |
| Day 4 | Sun, Moon and Stars | |
| Day 5 | Sea Creatures and Birds | |
| Day 6 | Land Animals and Man | |
| Day 7 | Rest |
“Was God tired?” asked Ozzie who was already feeling a bit sleepy.
“No, Ozzie. God doesn’t get tired like we do. Right from the very beginning He set us a pattern – to work for six days and rest on the seventh[1] day, which is also known as the Sabbath day.”
Quite a few of the mice were stifling yawns, so Fritz wisely decided to stop at this point, until next time.
© 2019 PRAB.
Footnotes:
[1] Genesis 2:2-3 “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Also see Exodus 20:11 “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”
