The Vain Little Mouse
The Vain Little Mouse (Spanish: La Ratita Presumida) is a folktale about a little mouse and her many suitors.
Plot
There are many different versions of this tale, but the structure is common. In the first part of the tale, a little mouse is cleaning her house and finds a coin unexpectedly. Then she wonders on what she should spend this newly found money, and mentions a series of items (which vary according to the person telling the tale) that she systematically discards with various reasons.
For example: Will I buy a needle? No, because I could prick my finger. Will I buy a bunch of sweets? No, because my teeth will rotten, and so on.
She finally decides on a ribbon to put in her tail to look more attractive.
In the second part of the tale, a rosary of animal suitors come to ask the little mouse to marry them, attracted by her enhanced beauty. To see if each suitor is compatible with her, she asks them what they will do at night. The suitor then replies with his characteristic sound: the dog barks, the horse neighs, the donkey brays, etc. She discards every one of them saying that they would frighten her.
Finally comes another mouse and he replies: "I'll sleep and be silent", to which the she-mouse agrees and they marry and live happily ever after.
Variants
There are many variants of this tale. In some versions of the tale the she-mouse is seduced by the answer of the cat, who sweetly meows when asked what he'll do at night. In this version the she-mouse marries the cat and she is usually eaten by the cat at the wedding night, though not always.
Other variants have a third part in which the he-mouse falls into a broth and dies, and even there is a fourth part, in which all the friends of the she-mouse give her some piece of them because they feel sorry for her. The main character of the story can also have different representations such as a little ant or a little cockroach. Template:Endspoiler
Origin
This tale seems to have been originated in the oral tradition and later moved to a literary form. The earliest reference to this tale is found in Fernan Caballero's La Gaviota (1856), but the complete tale is not written until later, in her compilation of tales Cuentos, oraciones, adivinanzas y refranes populares (1877). In this early version, the little she-mouse is actually a little ant, but she still marries to a mouse, called Ratón Pérez. This little mouse ("ratón" in Spanish), would later inspire Padre Colomar, who would make him part of the Spanish traditional folklore by turining him into a sort of Tooth Fairy.
A second literary reference can be found in Carmen Lyra's Cuentos de mi tía Panchita (1920), in which, although she acknowledges it to be the same tale as Fernan Caballero's, she also leaves room for an oriental or african origin. In fact, the tale is titled La Cucarachita Mandinga (Mandinga, the Little Roach) and Mandinga is just another name for the Mandinka people. This leads to believe of some influences from the slaves brought from Africa. The tales of the book became part of the Porto Rican folklore, but the Little Roach is also known in Cuba, Mexico and Panama. In Panama it became even more important after it was turned into a children's theater play by Rogelio Sinán. In the some versions, the cokroach is not Mandinga, but Mondinga and in the Cuban and Caribbean version it seems to be Martina. Additionally, the represntation of the main character can also change from country to country, probably depending on the greater influence of Carmen Lyra or Fernan Caballero. Puerto Rican Pura Belpre's version (as told to her by her grandmother) was the first one published in te US, translated as Perez and Martina: a Puerto Rican Folktale (1932)
Educational value
The structure of this tale makes it suitable for personalization and adaptation to the particular children hearing it. It's also useful in order to teach the little kids about the animals and their different sounds, or to make them participate doing the sounds. Finally, some sense of danger can be taught to the audience in the first part of the tale, by mentioning objects that can harm them or things they shouldn't play with.