The True Story Of A Mouse Who Never Asked For It

"The True Story of a Mouse Who Never Asked for It is based on the older, more radical version of "La Ratita Presumida" [sometimes known in English as The Vain Little Mouse] --a folktale still told to this day that became popular in Spain and Latin America only after it had been transformed into a moralizing fable about knowing your proper societal place as a woman. ... Folklorist Ana Cristina Herreros uncovered a different, older version of the tale in the collection of 19th-century Mallorcan folktales of Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria. In this telling, the mouse-protagonist isn't conceited or foolish at all: she works hard to make herself a home, and she is eaten by the cat because such is the nature of these two animals, not out of punishment for her vanity or pride. ... For Herreros, there is no need to look any further than the archduke's collection for a feminist take on the folktale: "This has been my job, to look for old and true versions, which speak a symbolic--and therefore, universal--language, and to create my own versions, which is how I contribute as an author." The story Herreros found in the archduke's collection, and the retelling she presents in this picture book belong to a long line of stories told to teach girls how to identify and protect themselves from predators."--