The Mouse Who Did Not Forgive - El ratón que no sabía perdonar

In a small village called “Mouseington” there lived the mouse Juanito in a house built from the inside trunk of an ancient tree.

From time to time, he´d leave to wander through the village but these days he´d always walk with his tail  hanging down because he was feeling bitter. He was disappointed by his friends humiliating and offending him. For this reason, he cut ties with everyone and decided to live alone.

One day, while Juanito was out gathering nuts, a blue bird came to “Mouseington” singing out a warning of the arrival of a great storm.

Face with this warning, all the mice ran away towards the mountain to build tunnel-shaped dens among its rocks.

When Juanito had finished making his den, a very friendly little mouse came near, offering him soft feathers to make the den´s floor more comfortable, but Juanito refused.

Juanito was also approached by a mice couple asking him for some nuts, but Juanito did not give them any.

An elderly mouse, seeing Juanito´s behaviour, decided to come up and ask him a question:

_What is going on with you, Juanito? Why are you behaving in such a way with the others?

_Because they offended me and hurt me in the past! – replied Juanito.

_But don´t you realize that you´re also hurting others’ feelings with your behaviour? It´s impossible to walk through this life without hurting and being hurt.

Juanito remained silent and the wise old mouse added:

_You must to learn to forgive. Forgiveness is the best path to achieving inner peace because it frees us from resentment.

In that very moment the rain began to fall and Juanito asked the wise old mouse to stay with him in his den.

A few hours later, the storm passed and all the mice, wearing their little sunglasses, left their dens to sit on the rocks and enjoy the first rays of the sun.

At that moment, Juanito arrived with his tail high in the air and shared his nuts and seeds with everybody. In doing so, he had apologised for his behaviour and forgave those who had hurt him.

Author: María Abreu

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (Matthew 6:14)

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