Tradition: Austrian Mythology
Alternative Names: The Thankful Mouse, The Grateful Mouse
Category: Rat
The Myth
The Grateful Mouse is a folk tale from the Bohemian Forest, recorded in the Austrian Sagenkränzlein and associated with Reichenau. It tells of a poor shopkeeper travelling through the forest who stopped to eat his only piece of bread. When a little mouse approached him, he kindly shared his food, giving the animal crumbs from his own meagre meal.
After eating, the shopkeeper went to a nearby spring for water. When he returned, he found a coin on the ground. The mouse appeared with another coin, placed it beside the first, and ran back to a hole to fetch more. Following it, the shopkeeper discovered that the mouse was carrying coins from a hidden treasure. He opened the ground and uncovered a hoard of old gold pieces.
The mouse then disappeared, leaving the shopkeeper with the treasure. Rather than keeping it all for himself, he divided the gold in two: one half was given to the poor, while the other was used to build a church. According to the tale, the story was carved in stone at the Holy Trinity Church in Reichenau, preserving the memory of the grateful mouse and the kindness that led to the discovery of the treasure.
Sources
“The Grateful Mouse.” SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/oesterreich/allgemein/Fraungruber/dankbare_Maus.html