The Great Owl Queen

Fastidius Mousekowitz fretted so fraught,
wringing his fidgeting forepaws in thought.
“What are we ever to do?” he despaired.
But nobody answered. Nobody dared.

Nary a furry face round him spoke up.
They knew, if they did, they’d likely choke up.
For all of them felt the too terrible fate
of their brother, Demetrius, fallen of late.

Felissa Mousefrau, through her storm and distress
said “This dreadful demise we must somehow redress!”
But “somehow” was muddled and murky at best.
The huddled crowd burbled with murmurs, depressed.

They all still were reeling in horrible shock
from the newest, harsh death by the demon-eyed hawk.
But, finally, Felonious B. Mousterstock
leapt up on high on a neighboring rock.

“Though chances are slim and the journey be mean,
I’ll go seek the aid of the Great Owl Queen!”

Felissa put forth: “But she eats mice for lunch!”
But good, brave Felonious, he had a hunch:
“I must face that fear, though it does give me pause,
or we’ll live evermore in the shadow of claws.”

And so off he went, this small, furry speck,
on the long, dark and dreary and dangerous trek
that led to the land of the mountains of Breen
where lay the domain of the Great Owl Queen.

The mightiest mountain stood towering high.
Felonious climbed, though he knew he might die.
Onward and upward until he was weak
he pushed himself up to the tippy-top peak.

Exhausted and raw at the base of each paw,
Felonious finally looked up and saw
there, in a rare tiny patch of deep green,
the wondrous creature: the Great Owl Queen.

The regal raptor rotated her head
and opened her great, gaping eyes

Spying the mouse who’d invaded her bed:
This mammal of minuscule size.

“Who would you be? Who dares come to me?”
she pried in her plumed majesty.

Felonious swallowed a very large lump
but raised himself upright to plea:

“Great Queen, do forgive my intrusion, I beg,
I’ve come such a very long way.

You are the only hope we can be saved.
so, please hear me out as I say:

A hawk does stalk and kill my kind
within the Wood where willows wind.
I bid to beg you: come and feast
and rid us of this loathsome beast.”

The Great Owl Queen considered this,
eyeing wee Felonious
Would she help? Or barter back?
Or simply eat him as a snack?

Time stood still, or so it seemed.
Then, the Great Owl Queen so deemed:

“A kindness and a meal in one?
I’d say, my friend, a deal is done.
So, rest a while, then homeward go;
and I will take care of your woe.”

And sleep he did, for he was spent,
and, waking, homeward bound he went.
When he arrived, his brethren cheered;
the Queen had come; the Wood was cleared.

And songs and poems there came to be
about this mouse’s bravery.
For never had one ever seen
a mouse who met the Great Owl Queen.