Along the same vein, the rat became Daikokuten's divine messenger because of a myth that a rat saved Okuninushi from being burnt to death after the god was tricked by Susanoo (for more information, see the myth of Okuninushi no mikoto's visit to Nenokuni, lit. "root land").
また、大国主がスサノオの計略によって焼き殺されそうになった時にネズミが助けたという説話（大国主の神話根の国訪問を参照）から、鼠が大黒天の神使であるとされる。