A Mouse in the House 🐁 A Story Whale Bedtime Story 🐳

There’s a mouse in the house!

G’day, g’day!

It’s time for a new little story for the weekend ahead! It’s been a while, but we’re back.

A special thank you to the wonderfully talented Jehan for the brilliant new Story Whale logo at the bottom right of today’s front cover! ❤️

Today’s story is part of the Princess Hanna universe. You can find the rest of those stories here:

📚 Princess Hanna 📚

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Hanna was fast asleep when a random foot itch drew her awake. She scratched at it with her other foot and shifted in her bed, trying to get back to sleep. But the itch returned. It was infuriating! What was it?! She blinked her eyes open and flipped her bedsheets aside.

A mouse!

Hanna squealed and the mouse squealed too. She leapt out of bed like it was lava and bolted across the room.

It was the early morning and warm sun was pouring into the room.

She looked back and the mouse was in a wild panic of its own. It sprinted back and forth across the bed, unsure where to go, seemingly lost.

Hanna breathed a spark of fire in the mouse’s direction but quickly realised that was a very VERY bad idea.

Maybe because of the heat of the flames, the mouse finally made its move. It jumped off the bed and scuttled across the room for the far corner. It reached a crack in the wall that Hanna had never even known was there and immediately, like a puff of dragon smoke, disappeared into the darkness. Gone.

Once Hanna had caught her breath and composed herself, she promptly uncomposed herself and stomped downstairs to confront her parents.

Hanna was calling out before she had even entered the room: “Mum!”

She walked into the living room to find her mum calmly reading a book in her chair.

“You should read this,” said Hanna’s mum, holding up the book and smiling. “It’s from the new library.”

Hanna didn’t have time for any of that.

“There’s a mouse in the house!” said Hanna, sheer outrage in her voice.

“Oooh,” said Hanna’s mum, unfazed. “Was it a big one?”

“How can you be so calm about this?!” cried Hanna. “This is serious!”

Her mum started to laugh and Hanna couldn’t take it any more. She stormed out of the living room and back up the stairs to her bedroom. She was going to take things into her own hands.

Hanna grabbed a book from her bookshelf and marched over to the crack in the wall where the mouse had gotten in. She pressed the book up against the crack to block it off. But it wasn’t quite enough. No, she needed more.

She went back, grabbing book after book and piling them up against the crack until there was a mountain of literature. Finally, she was content. No mouse was making it through her gauntlet of stories.

Hanna felt better but was still slightly on edge as she went about her day. Any sound she heard in the house snatched her attention. The books were only a quick fix. The mouse was still there somewhere.

*

Early the next morning, Hanna’s brothers and parents left early for a game of fireball in the town square. Hanna had chosen to sleep in and had told them she would head over later.

After a long sleep, she went down to the kitchen for some porridge before she got going. Her mum had left the cauldron on at a gentle simmer for her.

Yawning between bites, Hanna chipped away at her big bowl of breakfast. As she lifted the spoon to her mouth, she discovered she wasn’t alone in the house…

“Mouse!” Hanna cried out.

The little white-furred fellow was scuttling across the kitchen bench, carrying a little hunk of cheese between its pearly teeth. Hanna’s squeal immediately grabbed the mouse’s attention.

“Uh oh,” said the mouse.

Hanna immediately snatched a pot and swung at the mouse — not to squish it but to trap it.

The mouse was fast and leapt forwards off the bench and out of the way. It landed on Hanna’s leg and sprinted down it towards the floor. As the mouse ran down her leg, Hanna broke into a wild involuntary dance, yelping between squeals.

The mouse got to the floor and made a b-line for the back door of the house which had been left open for a breeze.

Hanna went straight after the mouse. She wasn’t letting them get away this time. She chased it out into the garden, trying to close the gap.

It was a dreary and cloudy day outside and the garden floor was spongy with morning rain. Still, the chase went on.

A few seconds later, the mouse took a sharp turn. Hanna tried to follow it. Turning suddenly, Hanna’s foot slid in the mud and she hit the ground on her side.

She was coated in mud like a chocolate bunny at Easter. She looked up and the mouse was running back towards the house.

Hanna pulled herself up with pot in hand and charged after the mouse. One final push.

She pumped her wings for an extra push of speed as she whizzed across the garden. The mouse ducked back into the house and Hanna charged through right after them.

In the sprint, Hanna had managed to close the gap. They were in the kitchen again now and Hanna saw her chance. She dove through the air like a pouncing tiger. She held out the pot at full stretch.

Suddenly, for the mouse, the world went dark. They were trapped.

In the pitch black, the little fella frantically scratched at the metal walls around him.

Hanna snarled like one of the greedy treasure guarding dragons of old.

“I’ve got you now!” she said. “Say goodbye to this house. I’m taking you somewhere far away.”

Hanna grabbed a plate from the kitchen table and was about to slip it under the pan to trap the mouse properly and take them away.

“Wait!” the mouse cried out. “I have my family here!”

Hanna could barely hear the mouse’s muffled voice.

“What did you say?” she asked.

She pressed her ear to the pot and listened closely.

“My family is here,” said the mouse. “You can’t split us up.”

Hanna was taken aback.

“Please,” said the mouse. “Let’s talk for a moment. I won’t run.”

Hanna thought it over. Strangely, she trusted them.

“Ok,” she said. “We can talk.”

She lifted up the pot and, sure enough, the mouse stayed where it was.

They both settled.

“Who are you?” Hanna asked.

“My name’s Cheddar,” said the mouse. “You’re Hanna.”

“How do you know that?” Hanna asked.

“I’ve been living here for a very long time,” said Cheddar. “Since you were little.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, me and my family,” he said.

“But this is our house,” said Hanna. “Mice are messy.”

Cheddar looked back towards the door to the garden. During the chase, Hanna had created a massive trail of mud and dirt. Hanna looked too and understood the mouse’s point.

“We only have tinsy tiny little feet,” said Cheddar. “And we’re always careful. We only eat leftovers and a few little bits and pieces from the garden. We actually try to clean up crumbs and any extra rubbish we see.”

Hanna put the pot away.

“Can I meet your family?” Hanna asked.

Cheddar left to get his family. He went through a crack into the walls of the house. He told his wife and three little ones what had happened.

“It’s ok,” he said. “Trust me.”

The family of mice went back to the kitchen. Hanna had set the table with cheese and crackers.

“Let’s eat,” said Hanna.