A long time ago, in a town called Bethlehem, there lived a cheese-eating, mystery-solving
mouse.
‘Waaaahhh!!!!’ ‘Waaah!!!’
‘Where is all that racket coming from?’
grumbled Mouse.
Then he spotted new noisy neighbours.
Some had sticks and looked quite hairy, some had gifts and looked quite clever, and there
was a Mum and a Dad and a noisy human baby!
‘Waaaaaahh!’
‘Ouch! I definitely didn’t agree to such a NOISY neighbour!’
‘EE-AW’ ‘Yikes!’ squeaked Mouse.
‘Sorry I startled you little rat.
I’m Donkey.’
‘I am NOT a rat!
I’m a cheese-eating, mystery-solving mouse!’
‘Oh, I do beg your pardon,’ said Donkey.
‘Well Donkey, there’s a mystery to solve…
Who are my new neighbours?
And who is the noisy one that everyone is staring at?’
Donkey told Mouse about his adventure with Mary and Joseph.
How they clipped and clopped from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
‘On the way, they said MANUEL will be born!’ ‘Manuel?
That’s a strange name for a baby’ thought Mouse.
Donkey said that upstairs was full and that’s why baby was born downstairs and placed in
the feeding trough.
‘And that’s when the ones with sticks and the ones with gifts came to visit.’
‘But why? Do they think baby’s special?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Donkey, ‘But Sheep will!
Sheep knows everything there is to know about the ones with sticks – the Shepherds.’
With a clip and a clop, they trekked up a hill and met a grass-munching sheep.
‘Hello Sheep, what can you tell us about the Shepherds?’
‘Baaaahhhh-sically… it all started the other night,’ said the sheep.
‘An angel shone in the sky and the ones with sticks went all wobbly with shock!’
‘The angel told us “No need to get all wobbly!
Jump for joy because a baby has been born who will RESCUE God’s people!”
‘Hmm….Interesting.’
‘Loads more angels appeared in the sky and the Shepherds went to find the baby!’
‘But what about the ones with gifts, Sheep?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Sheep, ‘But Camel will.
If we leave now, we can still catch her!’
‘Hello Camel, I believe wise men met my rather noisy neighbour.
Do you know why?’
‘Well, we followed a star a really long way just to meet the baby one.
It stopped outside your house, and the wise men gave…’
‘Cheese!?’ interrupted Mouse.
‘Don’t be silly.
Gold, frankincense and myrrh – three gifts fit for a King.’
‘Aha!
That must mean baby is…a KING!
But I didn’t spot a crown on his head…’
‘Well, the wise men said that someone special from Bethlehem will take charge of God’s
people.’
Back at Mouse’s house, Mary and Joseph held the now not-so-noisy neighbour.
‘Camel says baby is KING, Sheep says baby is RESCUER,
And Donkey says baby is MANUEL?’
‘Wait!’ said Donkey, ‘On the journey, Mary and Joseph didn’t say “Manuel”.
They said “Emmanuel”.
It means God is with us!
Their soon-to-be-born baby boy, was somehow going to be God too!’
‘Wow!
You really are something special – you’re RESCUER, KING, and EMMANUEL – God is with
us!’
‘Now if only I could solve the mystery of your name…’
‘Look Joseph!
Our little Jesus has got another visitor,’ said Mary.
‘JESUS – Oh I’m so glad I met you!
I don’t have a gift fit for a King, but what I do have, I want to give you.’
‘You’re a kind mouse,’ said Donkey.
‘Today, I’m the mouse who shared a room with JESUS.
The greatest one who ever lived…
The RESCUER, the KING and EMMANUEL – God is with us.’