Week 3 Storytelling: Saint Comgall and the Friendly Mice

There once was a friendly and loving Saint named Comgall who lived in the beautiful green hills near the town of Bangor. Even though the hills were luscious and filled with beautiful flowers and ancient trees, Comgall never felt quite right living on his own because of those he saw in the town. He felt badly for the orphans and poor children of the land, so he opened his own monastery where they could all learn, laugh, play, and be together forever. He taught the eager students to interact with nature and to love all animals they encountered, from the swans in the lake and the bears in the forest to the rabbits in the field and the mice in the monastery. Saint Comgall showed his students to look out for these dear animals and to perform small acts of kindness for them whenever possible because one day, these small animals may return the favor. In this way, the pupils continued for several years.

(Comgall's Monastery in the hills near Bangor. Photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Unfortunately, one winter, it became much colder than it had ever been in the past, which limited the amount of food that the town or monastery could gather and prepare. Comgall gave up his most of his own rations each day so that his pupils could eat and have full stomachs while they tried to learn. At last, however, the rations were so small that even Comgall's meager portions could not feed the poor children. They began to starve, growing weak and thin, with sunken faces and a diminished light in their eyes. Comgall could no longer stand the sight of such hunger in his precious children, so he decided to visit Prince Norbert, the monastery's neighbor, to ask for more portions of food. It was rumored that the Prince had more than his fair portion of grains and Comgall believed that he could appeal to the goodness in the Prince Norbert's heart by telling him about the children.
Comgall walked to Norbert's palace and knocked on the door, hoping to convince him to help the young pupils of his monastery. Instead, he was surprised to see a wicked, old woman crack open the door, peering through with one eye. She instantly slammed it in Comgall's face and then he heard a loud voice.

(The harsh winter they faced. Photo from Wikimedia Commons)

"Lurch! Dear, Mother Lurch! Who was at the door?!" a man shrieked in a high-pitched voice. The door immediately swung open to reveal the ugly and cruel Prince Norbert with a half-eaten loaf of bread in his hand. "What do you want?"
"My sir, Prince Norbert, my name is Saint Comgall and I own the monastery just next door. Our poor students are starving and they are but young children. Could you spare a loaf of bread or two?" Comgall pleaded.
Without hesitation, Prince Norbert responded, "No, Dear Lurch and I will have all of the bread to ourselves and, mind you, we will enjoy it!" as he slammed the door in Comgall's face yet again. Comgall was devastated and stood still for a moment before thinking to himself.
"Hmm...I know the world Lurch... it means "mouse"... and I know a few mouse friends of who would love to help me out..." Comgall pondered as he walked home to the monastery empty-handed.

As soon as he entered his home, he ran to the dining hall and clapped his hands twice- the cue for all of his mouse to run out of their holes in the wall. Over one hundred mice soon surrounded him, scampering around and on top of him, as he explained the monastery's plight. Each mouse, angered by the words of Prince Norbert and his mother Lurch, vowed to help Comgall however they could. They schemed into the late hours of the night before they settled on a plan and returned to Prince Norbert's palace. Comgall led the mice up to the door, where he pointed to a small hole in the wooden door he had noticed earlier, and let all of them scurry in one by one to overtake the palace.
Norbert and Lurch each awoke with screams as they felt furry bodies surround them and heard small squeals in the night before realizing that they were being carried out of the palace on the backs of a wave of small animals. They grasped at the doors and furniture to keep from being taken from the palace, but the mice were too fast and dashed to the door, still carrying the Prince and his mother. Comgall smiled with delight as he watched how Norbert and Lurch were so kindly escorted from the palace and into the dark of the early morning, leaving the door wide open and the grains unattended.

(The mice scheming all night to help Comgall. Photo from Pexels)

At sunrise, Comgall rushed home to the monastery to wake all of the hungry children and lead them to Prince Norbert's palace. When they arrived, he flung the door open to show the magnificent meal he had prepared after the mice had taken Norbert and Lurch. There were bagels, toast, fruits, oatmeal, apples, oranges, nuts, and anything else the children desired. They screamed with joy and swarmed Comgall to embrace and thank him while he stood at the door smiling at his happy students. And when he glanced out the door, he caught the eye of one of his mouse friends, who smiled at him before scurrying back into the forest to make sure that Norbert and Lurch never returned so the children of the monastery could fill their empty bellies at last.

Author's Note:
For this story from Saints and Animals, I kept the basic plot the same with Comgall owning the monastery, his kind and friendly interactions with animals, and when all of his students were starving during the harsh winter. When he asked for the Prince's help, he was turned away and asked his friends, the mice, to help him. However, in the original, the mice actually eat all of the grains and leave Prince Croadh and Lurch with nothing. I wanted to change the ending so that the children actually got to eat the food rather than only the mice being fed. I thought it would be a little happier of an ending for the young children to be happy and full! I also expanded on how evil and cruel the Prince and his mother were as well as changed the name of the Prince to Norbert, which I found to be even uglier and nastier than Croadh. I had fun trying to make this story sound like a children's book as well as making my own additions!

Bibliography: 
Link to Saints and Animals, based on Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown