Of Lakes and Mice
a Tiny Kingdom story about a lake, cheese and another world
One afternoon in France, the royal family stopped beside a lake. Prince Donder settled near the water and looked out across it with that serene expression he sometimes wore when everything around him seemed exactly as it should be. The Queen watched him for a while and wondered what he could possibly be thinking about. Perhaps life. Perhaps cheese. They were in France, after all, and there had been warm baguettes, village shops and more than enough Camembert and Munster to keep a thoughtful little Westie occupied. The idea made her smile, especially because she had called him her little mouse for years.
A short distance away, Prince Dingus was engaged in something far less serene. He had been digging furiously for some time, sending earth flying behind him as he worked his way deeper into a hole with the kind of determination that made it clear he had no intention of stopping before he found whatever he believed was down there. The Queen had no idea what that might be. Perhaps a mouse. Perhaps treasure. Or perhaps Dingus had decided that somewhere beneath the French soil lay the entrance to Narnia, a canine version where dogs could roam wherever they pleased and treats appeared without anyone having to ask.
Donder remained by the lake, apparently undisturbed by his brother’s excavation, while Dingus continued digging as though another world might be only a few paws away. The Queen sat between them, watching one little prince gaze peacefully across the water and the other disappear further into the earth, and decided that cheese and Narnia were as good an explanation as any.