I was horrified this morning as, looking out of the kitchen window, I saw a rat attempting to eat bird food from a bird food but squirrel-proof container. Thankfully it couldn’t manage, so it rapidly scarpered off. No such luck in Birmingham where stacks of rubbish pile up in streets due to the ongoing strike of refuse collectors. Copious amounts of food mean rats getting fatter and bigger. Press reports of rats as big as cats have enlarged the rats into the size of small dogs. Reports of these rats are horrendous, worse than a return to Hamelin in the tale of the Pied Piper where the rats attacked babies, ate the cheese, stole “soup from the cook’s own ladles”, gobbled up ”salted sprats” as well as constantly shrieking and scratching.
Most people, except the few who keep them as pets, dislike rats. Winston in 1984 had a rat phobia, so terrified at the thought of them being released near his face that he capitulated to the wishes of O’Brien. I, like many, have booed vociferously at evil King Rat in the pantomime, Dick Whittington but cheered the cat as he destroyed the rats in the Sultan’s palace making Dick very rich indeed.
The plague
As I was taught in school, a very long time ago, it was oriental rats that brought the plague to England. The plague raged between 1347 and 1351, with deaths of 25 million worldwide. By August 1348, the plague had reached England killing half the population. In 1665 the Great Plague in London killed a quarter of the city’s population. Researchers from the University of Oslo and Ferrara attribute the rapid spread of the plague to “human fleas and body lice”.
Eyam Plague Village could demonstrate this. In 1665 the village tailor received a bundle of fashionable clothing from London intending to unpick and reuse the expensive material. These clothes were covered in fleas. They had arrived from plague-ridden London. A fortnight later the tailor’s assistant died from plague followed by his household. The vicar and his predecessor persuaded the villagers to isolate to stop the spread to neighbouring villages. Their sacrifice during this lockdown resulted in the deaths of 75% of villagers but the spread of plague was halted.
Pet owners would say most people have been brainwashed into hating rats. They insist rats are sociable, intelligent and affectionate animals. There may be some truth in that but somehow mice appear to be different, except for the farmer’s wife who cut off the tails of three poor blind mice with a carving knife.
Mouse stories and films
Aesop’s fable of the Town Mouse and the Country Mouse was cleverly adapted by Beatrix Potter in the “Town Mouse and the Country Mouse.” The anthropomorphism of the mice, their names Johnny Town Mouse and Timmy Willie the Country Mouse, both dressed in appropriate human-style clothes draws the reader into a cosy, satisfying tale. Beatrix Potter’s Mrs. Thomasina Tittlemouse, the wood mouse desperately attempts to keep her house tidy despite unwelcome guests messing it up, especially Mr Jackson, the sodden toad who leaves watery footprints that she has to mop up.
Mice feature in cartoons. MGM’s Tom and Jerry featured the constant rivalry between Tom, the cat and clever, cunning Jerry, the mouse. Although comic, it was violent but on occasions Tom and Jerry appeared to be on friendly terms especially when both were in danger. Terrytoons Mighty Mouse and Super Mouse were super heroes, battling against tyrannical cats attempting to destroy the mouse world. They wore Superman-style clothes to combat the terrorising cats.
One cannot forget Disney’s Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Mickey started life in Steamboat Willie in 1928. He evolved to have a pet dog Pluto and best friends Donald Duck and Goofy. Mickey appeared in Fantasia as the Sorcerer’s apprentice. There were comics and clubs based around him as well as merchandise like watches, clocks and even video games. Mickey and Minnie are mascots in the Disney Theme Parks. Mickey Mouse is one of the most recognised characters in the world. On his 80th Anniversary President Barack Obama commented that Mickey Mouse is a “world leader who has bigger ears than me.”
One can even feel sorry for a mouse, well, a dormouse. The poor sleepy dormouse sat between the Mad Hatter and March Hare at their tea party. Poor dormouse, fast asleep didn’t notice they used him as a cushion. Briefly waking from his slumbers, telling a nonsensical tale of three sisters who lived in a treacle well, his poor little head was pushed into a teapot by the same Mad Hatter and March Hare
Mice it would seem have had a better press than rats. However, although Little Tommy Tittlemouse who lived in a little house is portrayed as a small boy fishing if he was portrayed as a mouse, a real live mouse, I would certainly not want him living in my little house.
