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Rats and Mice in Native American Lore

© Karen Yang

In most Native American stories, small creatures such as rats and mice represent the traditional everyman/everywoman figure. They are the humble, little ones who learn and grow and transform, showing us that if it is possible for a mouse to become an eagle, we can certainly step beyond ourselves into something greater, too. Rats and mice can also be clever tricksters, representing our sneakier sides. Sometimes they get away with their pranks - and sometimes not. So, pop some corn, gather your rats around and spend the evening telling stories!

Dance in a Buffalo Skull

This story is from an e-book containing a very interesting collection of Zitkala-Sa's Dakota stories from 1901. Dance in a Buffalo Skull is a great story of mice who party too much and too loudly and almost get eaten. The mice-in-buffalo-skull theme is one that will also appear in Why Blackfeet Never Kill Mice. Also worth checking out is another story from the same book, Iktomi and the Muskrat, a funny tale about what happens when one doesn't politely share food with small furry animals!

The Little Mice

This is a Sioux story from a collection by Marie L. McLaughlin, which was first published in 1916. The story has a very familiar theme - industry versus sloth. It's the story of an industrious animal who prepares diligently for the coming of winter and her cousin, the lazy one who dances and sings her time away and then must scurry to make up for lost time.

Mice from the Hotcâk (Winnebago) Tradition

This page has links to five Hotcâk stories featuring mice as characters (mostly minor ones). In this storytelling tradition, rats/mice are mostly dangerous, destructive trickster beings, reflecting the violent, and sometimes crude, themes of these myths. Also, the chief spirit of mice appears in one story, Warughápara, as a helper of the main character, but it is still a sad, violent tale. These are my least favorite stories of the ones I've found online, but they do illustrate how closely rodents reflect human characteristics in mythology. It's funny how violent humans will usually tell stories of violent rats.

The Story of Jumping Mouse

This is a beautiful hero-journey story told by Hyemeyohsts Storm about a very brave mouse who looks beyond what others see and hear and finds his way to a wonderful truth. My mother sent me a copy of this story just before our rats Coffee and Monte died. This story means a lot to me since, while Coffee was so sick and wanting to be with people, I sat with him on my lap and read it to him and my daughter. Of course, we substituted rat for the word mouse, but I think this story is really about a kangaroo rat, anyway! Now I can't read it without thinking of brave Coffee, our little Jumping Rat, who is now as free as an eagle. This site has the complete story along with wonderful pictures.

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