A forest had many colonies of animals. One of these was the Mice Colony.
Meeku Mouse lived in that colony with his parents. Though Meeku's parents loved him very much, he always remained sad and unhappy. He was unhappy because he had an extraordinarily long tail.
Meeku's school friends teased him for his long tail. Even the children in his neighbourhood kept teasing him.
"Meeku's long tail has a really long tale," they would sing and dance on seeing him. One afternoon, Meeku was returning home from school. He heard somebody crying. The sound of weeping was coming from a nearby bush. Meeku went near it and saw Chinu Mouse squeaking loudly. Chinu was his classmate. He was one of the students who teased Meeku.
So, at first Meeku thought of going his own way. He did not at all feel like consoling Chinu. But Meeku was very kind and friendly. He felt pity for Chinu. So, he went up to him and asked him why he was crying.
Chinu told him, "I had to pay my fees today. So, Mummy had given me her purse, which had the money for the fees. On my way to school, I saw some mice playing her in this field. Soon, I also joined them to play. While playing, I forget all about the purse and it slipped off my hands. Later, when I found my purse missing, I searched for it everywhere. Just then the owner of the field, Tomu tomcat came here. All of us ran away. Now, Mummy will beat me. I will also be thrown out of school for not paying the fees.'' Saying this, Chinu began to squeak loudly. Hearing this, Meeku at once thought of going and telling his mother everything. But he decided against it.
Consoling Chinu, he said, "Do one thing. Don't tell your mother that you have lost your mother that you have lost your purse. The last date for paying the fees is 2 days away. In the meantime, I will help to find your purse. Now you go home."
After Chinu left, Meeku thought, "Chinu must have dropped the purse in a ditch or bush. They had to run on seeing Tomu. If I search for it carefully, I may get the purse."
So, Meeku went to that field. There he saw Tomu Tomcat keeping a strict vigil. Stealthily, Meeku sneaked into the field. He searched each and every corner. But he could not find the purse.
By that time, it was evening. Meeku became disappointed. He sat in the bushes. The bushes were just under a banyan tree. Thought Meeku was hidden inside the bushes, yet his long tail was outside the bushes.
He had sat there hardly for a few minutes when Tomu Tomcat came there. Not realizing Meeku was there; he sat just near the bushes.
Meeku saw a purse in Tomu's hands. He saw Tomu at once realized that it must be Chinu's purse. He saw Tomu counting money from it.
Tomu Tomcat was very happy to get the purse. But since he had to spend the night in the field itself he decided to hide the purse somewhere. He looked all about him. Seeing the banyan tree, he thought of an idea.
Tomu got up and tied the purse to a thin root of the tree. Then he pushed this root along with the purse into the bushes. But what had actually happened was quite different. The root with which he had tied the purse was nothing but Meeku's tail. Tomu had mistaken the tail for a thin root of the banyan tree.
Meeku was overjoyed to see this. For the first time, he realized that his tail had its uses. Soon, Tomu left the field. As soon as Meeku saw him leaving, he moved out of the field. In no time at all, he unknotted the purse from his tail and began to run fast. Meeku stopped only when he reached home safely with the purse.
The next day, Meeku gave the purse to Chinu. Chinu's happiness knew no bounds. He hugged Meeku affectionately. Meeku then narrated everything to him.
Soon, the tale of Meeku's long tail spread in the entire school. All the mice came and congratulated Meeku. Meeku felt very happy.
After this incident, Meeku stopped feeling sad over his long tail. Instead, he now felt that his long tail was a boon to him. The other mice also stopped teasing him.
And Chinu? He became his fast friend now.
