It is of note that the mouse people are not ever described as such within the story. It is uncertain if they are actually mice. Many aspects of their lives are mouselike—the fact that they are so very hardworking and practical, that danger is always imminent and enemies many, the practice of children being turned out from their families into the wider community very shortly after birth, that they keep no written records, the terrain they live in. They are described by the narrator, one of their number, as, when Josephine begins to sing, falling "quiet as mice"—aside from the title, this is the only time that mice are referred to. It is probable that Kafka intended the issue to be left up to our own judgment, the suggestion playfully bandied about but no explicit answer given. Either way, whether they really are mice is of little importance to our understanding of the story, while the necessity for the idea to be in the reader's mind is central to the reading experience.