Fear of mice in general. Fear of mice Fear of mice and rats is one of the most common specific phobias. It is sometimes referred to as musophobia (from Greek "μῦς" "mouse") or murophobia (a coinage from the taxonomic adjective "murine" for the family Muridae that encompasses mice and rats), or as suriphobia, from French "souris", "mouse". The phobia, as an unreasonable and disproportionate fear, is distinct from reasonable concern about rats and mice contaminating food supplies, which may potentially be universal to all times, places, and cultures where stored grain attracts rodents, which then consume or contaminate the food supply. In many
The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was attempts to learn fear, which eventually leads to his awareness of mortality. This tale type did not appear in any early literary collection but is heavily influenced by the medieval adventure of Sir Lancelot du Lac called "", where he spends a night in a haunted castle and undergoes almost the same ordeals as the youth. A father had two sons. The younger, when asked by his father what he would like to learn to support himself, said he would like to learn to shudder. A sexton told the father that he could teach the boy. After teaching him to