This folk tale about a pair of mice parents who are seeking the perfect bridegroom for their perfect daughter felt familiar to me. I'm sure I've read some variation of it before but I had no idea that its origin was Mayan. That's the wonderfully curious thing about folk tales, they can travel about and change. In a postscript Judith Dupre explains that the fable is told by the Chol Indians who live in the rainforest in Mexico. They have no written language, but their "words sound like the rain hitting rock and reflect their love of music and sense of play." She explained "This myth is told and retold to each generation of children so that they might understand the circular ways of Nature and make peace with the harsh sun and torrential rains of their home."
Judith Dupre
illustrated by Fabricio Vanden Broeck 1993
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