Nino, the little mouse who lived on a farm.
Once upon a time there was a small mouse named Nino. Nino was white and he had this heart shaped black birthmark right behind his ear. The other animals on the farm used to make fun of Nino for his birthmark because it looked like a small fly was sitting behind his ear. Growing up Nino used to get very upset. He tried so many time to get rid of this mark. He washed his ear with soap and water, tried to hide it with a wooly hat and once, in a moment of absolute desperation he dyed himself blue!
You are wondering how did that happen? Well for days, he sat on the fence and watched Mark, the farm boy, dye cotton cloth blue in the big tub of indigo dye. It was a very special dye, it was brought from a far away land where everything was colorful and bright. So he saw this day after day, pieces of pale cotton cloth would go into the tub and come out bright blue. Pale as he was himself, he thought wow, If I dipped myself into the dye, I would be fully blue, and the bright color will hide my birthmark. Nino was a naïve little mouse. He forgot that no one has ever seen a blue mouse, he was the only one at the farm so in his mind, if he turns blue then he will be the only blue mouse at the farm. So off he went to turn himself into the blue mouse! A quick dip in the tub and he would come out blue and bright, just like the cloth!
He was happy with the results, he looked at his reflection in the window and smiled. Finally for the first time in his life, the dreaded black birthmark was nowhere to be seen. He was now sure that no one would make fun of him, as he was now all the same color! He proudly went off in search of the other animals on the farm to show off his new look.
Peggy, the farm pig was busy running around in the mud. She was a very young pig and still enjoyed getting dirty all day. When she saw Nino, who is now blue, she squealed so loud that windows of the cottage rattled a little. And everyone including Browns, the farm horse, Chikkie and Kenny, the farm chickens, the farm boy Mark, all came running out. "What's happened here, huh Peggy? Why are you making such a ruckus?" shouted Mark, the farm boy. Peggy swerved her head towards the blue mouse! And that was the moment which was heard across the village as the animals went wild and Mark, the farm boy ran off to the cottage screaming!
Nino became very scared! He also ran the opposite way! He was crying and running for what seemed like a long time. It was getting dark and it started to rain.
Pebbles, the farm cow, was peacefully grazing in the field. She started to notice that it was getting dark and decided that it was time to go home. And just then something slammed into her foot! She looked down and saw this mouse who seemed to be white and blue! She looked at it and was very confused for a moment. Then she started to laugh loudly,
"You look like a smaller version of me! Only you have a bit of blue going on".
"Oh Peggy, It's Nino, can you tell its me?" cried the little mouse!
Peggy poked him a little with her foot. "Oh yes!, what happened to you?"
And Nino, narrated his story through the stream of tears flowing down his face.
"Oh little Nino, do you know why I am called Pebbles?".
"No, why?", asked Nino.
"Because I am white with black spots that look like pebbles. Peggy is a pig, so she is really just piggy, Chikkie and Kenny are "chickens" and Browns is a brown horse!"
Suddenly Nino was thinking deeply.
"Our names are just a reflection of how we look."
"My name is Nino and everyone makes fun of me for my scar. My name is not a reflection of how I look." mumbles Nino.
"Well it is. Nino means a small boy. And you are just that. You are the youngest here. And we don't make fun of you. You are our little Nino with a beautiful heart! We were named after how we look, but you my dear Nino, were named after how you were and what you meant to our dear Master William. You were his little darling Nino."
Nino smiled a little.
"Never feel ashamed of you are. Never apologize or try to change what is good about you. Your heart shaped scar makes you unique. If tomorrow we get 100 little mice at this farm, we will always know which one is Nino!" smiled Pebbles.
Nino felt so proud of himself.
"You are a kind and sweet mouse, Nino. Don't let the world change that about you. Love yourself for how you are and let that love shine within and on the outside."
Nino felt as if he was full of light. The happiness in his whole body just beamed! He felt like he was set free and could literally fly!
From that day onwards, Nino never felt bad for his mark. In fact he felt proud of it and showed it off to anyone who would care to listen.
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