After The Mouse War

by Victor D. Sandiego

After the war, Mouse returns to his palace by the ocean. In a fit of rage over his humiliation and defeat, he has several of his advisors lashed  with thorny branches.

His wrath spent and quivering, Mouse enters a lower portion of the palace where a servant girl lives. At first, the girl cowers but Mouse commands her to stand. He orders her to take Mouse’s closest manservant and flee south. As customary, this must be done without question. Mouse gives the girl a few moments to gather some of her things while the manservant is summoned.

“Jacob,” he says when the manservant arrives, “begin your journey at once. Take this girl and go south before the war follows us here. You have served me well and are free to start your lives anew.”

As he bids them farewell, Mouse leaps forward and bites the girl in the hand. The girl rears back more in surprise than pain but says nothing. In later years, after several retellings of this incident, the legend of the Mongoose is born.

Jacob and the girl leave the palace quickly and take the southern road. Along the way they meet others who are also fleeing south. The smoky smell of unrest is in the air. They band together and the group grows larger.

Before long, bad tidings catch up with them from the north. Fickle Mouse is now hurrying south to catch and punish those who had deserted him. Mouse’s forces are small but well trained and equipped. Although a larger group, the band of refugees has no weapons or training.

They quicken their pace and go only a few more miles before they come to a banana grove. Jacob takes charge and urges everyone to take a stand against Mouse.

Everybody arms themselves with as many bananas as they can carry. When the forces of Mouse appear, they surge forward and use the bananas as clubs and spears. There are no injuries or casualties among Mouse’s forces but the vigor, surprise, and oddity of the attack drives them back. Dispirited, they return to the north. In later history, this conflict is referred to as The Battle of The Bananas.