The Stowaway Mouse on the Longship

Down by a small harbour far up in Norway lived a tiny grey mouse named Lurv. He was no bigger than half a crust of bread, and his fur was soft as mist. Lurv loved the harbour. He loved the smell of tar and salted fish, he loved the cries of the gulls, and most of all he loved the evenings when the fishermen went home and the docks fell quiet. Then Lurv would peek out from his crack beneath the old shed wall and dream of everything he might find. A dropped scrap of cheese. A forgotten crumb of bread. Or, best of all, an adventure no other mouse in the whole harbour had ever had.

One evening, a very special ship lay moored beside the dock. It was long and slender, with a high shield at the bow and oars resting along its sides. Lurv had seen many boats, but never a longship so close. It smelled of fresh wood and wet sails, and beside the mast lay a great coil of rope, soft and round as a bed. Lurv crept nearer. His heart beat quickly beneath his little grey fur. He had never been on a ship before.

Lurv climbed up the mooring rope as quietly as he could. The line swayed under his paws, and he held his breath when he reached the deck. There lay the great coil of rope, so soft he nearly wanted to fall asleep at once. He crept down between the thick loops, turned around twice, and made himself a little chamber. 'Just a peek,' Lurv thought. 'Just a short while, and then I'll run home.' But above him, the stars began to light up, one by one.

Lurv dozed off. He dreamed of biscuits and of the mice's long corridors beneath the harbour boards. But suddenly he woke to a loud shout and a great jolt. The ship was moving. Oars splashed in the water, sails snapped in the wind, and giant footsteps thudded back and forth across the deck. Lurv pressed himself deep into his rope nest and hardly dared to breathe. When he peeked up through a gap between the loops, he saw the harbour sliding away, smaller and smaller, until it vanished behind a headland. Lurv had never seen the harbour from the outside before. He didn't know whether to be frightened or enchanted, and in his stomach he felt both at once.