Nikolas Tells a Lie
he troll bent over and scratched his head. He had clearly never seen a human before.
‘Please, Mr Troll. Elves don’t steal things. It’s against their nature.’ Thud frowned, and then shouted so loud he nearly knocked Nikolas off his feet. ‘YOU BE NOT ELF! MAYBE YOU BE URGA-BURGA THIEF!’
Nikolas stayed quiet for a long time.
Miika wondered what was going through his mind.
Nikolas was clever. And kind. And if there was anyone who could calm an angry troll down, it was probably him.
And then, finally, Nikolas said it. ‘It was me.’
‘WHAT BE YOU?’
‘It was me who stole the cheese,’ Nikolas lied.
Gasps and murmurs filled the air. Miika noticed Blitzen was looking angrily up at the giant troll, pawing his front hoof in the snow, as if preparing to charge.
And just then Thud’s hand swooped down and scooped Nikolas high into the air.
‘TAKE ME TO THE CHEESE!’ he roared.
‘I can’t do that, actually,’ said Nikolas, from inside the troll’s fist.
‘THEN I BE TAKING YOU!’
And with that, Blitzen galloped at the troll. He flew into the air and aimed towards Thud’s one eye, antlers angled forward. But Thud saw the reindeer just in time and batted him away with the hand that wasn’t holding tight to Nikolas, as if Blitzen was just a fly. A fly sent soaring and spinning towards the Tower, which Blitzen managed to swerve just in time.
Miika had never felt so terrible in all his life. This was worse than falling off a reindeer’s antlers to certain death. This was worse than saying goodbye to his entire family. This was even worse than the time when the Truth Pixie had been sick on him after making herself dizzy.
I am a thief, thought Miika. And I have always been a thief. Ever since I stole that mushroom from my mum.
He knew he wouldn’t be able to help Nikolas or the elves. He knew he would stay silent. He just had to face it. He was who he had always been.
A selfish mouse. A thief. And a coward.
he troll had started to walk away, back in the direction of Troll Valley, with Nikolas still in his fist, when he turned to ask the population of Elfhelm one last question.
‘WHO BE KNOWING WHERE THE URGA-BURGA IS?’
And there was silence. The kind of silence Miika had known before. A silence that felt a bit wobbly and weird, and made his tummy feel weak.
A hundred elves looked at one another. They shrugged their shoulders.
The silence kept on being silence.
But then Miika heard a voice.
‘Me,’ the voice said.
He realised it was his own voice.
And he was saying it again, a little louder. He was telling the truth – without the Truth Pixie even being there. He remembered what the Truth Pixie had said about changing, about how he could switch from truth to lies and from lies to truth, from timid to brave, from selfish to kind. You don’t have to be what other people think you are.
Miika realised at that very moment that it wasn’t what other people thought of him that was the problem. The problem was what he thought of himself.
Ever since he had stolen the mushroom from his family he had believed deep down that he was a thief and a coward. But he didn’t have to be any of those things.
He looked around at all the elves. At Nikolas. At the Truth Pixie, who had just arrived and was coming through the crowd. He saw Loka, and her sparkling eyes, who had so often given him tasty cheese out of pure kindness. He knew that he didn’t want any trouble to come to any of them. Ever. They were his friends. He loved them all. And that was all you needed to be brave. Love. His older sister had been wrong all that time ago. You couldn’t live life just looking after yourself. You had to live with yourself too. And he wanted to live not as who he had become. But as who he could be.
So he said it again. But this time louder.
‘ME!’
And now all the elves were looking at him, as he walked over the crisp, snow-sprinkled ground towards the troll, and he felt something he had never really felt before. Something he didn’t even know he had inside him.
Something called courage.
Thud looked around, confused. His forehead was creased like a bedsheet after a bad dream. ‘WHO SAID THAT?’
Miika gulped. He was petrified. His blood turned to ice. But still he kept walking until he was right in front of Thud.
Courage, he realised, wasn’t about not feeling scared. It was about feeling scared and keeping going anyway, standing in front of someone a thousand times your size, and trying to help a friend out of trouble.
‘Me. Look. Down here. The mouse. That’s me.’
And then Thud – still squeezing Nikolas in his hand – saw the small brown animal in the snow, no larger than a leaf.
‘YOU BE A MOUSE,’ said Thud, his one eye looking down at Miika.
‘Yes,’ said Miika. ‘I be a mouse. I mean . . . I am a mouse.’
Nikolas shouted up at the troll. ‘Don’t hurt him! He’s just a little mouse. He doesn’t know what he’s saying. Do you, Miika? I mean, look at the size of him. How could he steal a big lump of anything?’
The troll laughed and agreed. Trolls, generally, have a deep disrespect for all small creatures. The whole world, according to troll philosophy, is divided into two types of things. Big things and small things. Big things are good and strong, and small things are bad and weak, and Miika was definitely – in Thud’s eye – too weak to have stolen a huge piece of Urga-burga.
‘NO! BE NOT A MOUSE! A MOUSE BE NOT MAGIC! URGA-BURGA FLY! A MOUSE NOT BE MAKING URGA-BURGA FLY! WHO BE YOU STEALING IT WITH?’
‘No one. No one at all. It was just me. It was all my idea.’
‘HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!’ laughed Thud.
Miika closed his eyes and wished.
He wished very hard to save his human friend and all the elves. He took his mind over to the east, to the Wooded Hills, through the trees and their snow-heavy branches, on and on to the dark inner space of the Hollow Tree. He saw the cheese and wished it to rise, and then he wished it high into the sky, higher than the tallest tree. And then he wished it to fly to the Street of Seven Curves and over all the houses and shops and halls of Elfhelm.
He wished that special stinky cheese over the frozen lake and Reindeer Field until it was right in front of the troll’s face. The elves gasped in surprise.
‘Well, that was unexpected!’ said Noosh.
‘THE URGA-BURGA!’ exclaimed Thud, his eye wide in surprise.
‘THE URGA-BURGA BE FLYING!’
His face went from shock to a smile and then to a laugh of delight as he stamped his feet in earth-shaking glee, causing most of the elves to lose their balance and topple over.
‘URGA-BURGA! URGA-BURGA!’
Thud’s hand opened and Nikolas fell through the air. He landed safely on the back of Blitzen as the trusty reindeer dived through the air to meet him.
The troll seemed so happy, as he took the giant boulder of hovering blue cheese in his hands, that Nikolas began to laugh along nervously. And Father Topo and Noosh laughed too. And then Mother Harkus laughed. And then Loka and Moodon laughed. And then all the elves laughed. And then, even Miika laughed.
But he soon stopped laughing when a shadow crept over him and he saw one of Thud’s bare feet – his right – had lifted very slowly off the ground and was directly above his head. Miika looked up and could see the hairs of his large toes dangling over like a spider’s legs.
And all the laughter suddenly stopped.
Thud stamped his foot down on Miika so hard it shook the whole country and caused the King of Finland, hundreds of miles away in his castle, to spill his morning cup of cloudberry juice.
iika was squashed flat.
Right there on the ground. Flatter than a trodden leaf. Flatter than pastry. Flatter than a bookmark. Flatter than this page you’re reading right now.
Thud leaned over to inspect his stamping, his one eye squinting shrewdly.
‘GOOD! MOUSE BE DEAD! LET THAT BE WARNING TO THIEFS WHO STEAL CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!’
And then, satisfied, he walked away with giant stomping footsteps, carrying the vast lump of cheese all the way back to Troll Valley.
Things That Are Even More Important Than Cheese
ut, of course, Miika wasn’t really dead.
He couldn’t die.
He’d been drimwicked.
But even though he’d been drimwicked, he could still be squashed flat. His body started to transform, bulging from a flat-as-a-bookmark to a normal-round-mouse shape.
‘Aaagh,’ he said, as he opened his eyes to see Nikolas and Noosh and Blitzen and the Truth Pixie above him. ‘Eeek.’
But alongside the weird sensation of a body popping back into shape he felt something else.
He felt a fullness that wasn’t just to do with his body.
He felt, possibly for the first time ever, entirely himself.
A complete Miika.
Blitzen gave him a lick, pleased to find him still alive. The lick was disgusting.
‘It’s okay, Miika,’ said Noosh. ‘You’re still alive. And that nasty, stinky troll has stomped off back to the valley.’
‘And he’s taken the cheese with him,’ said Nikolas, crouching down beside his mouse friend.
Miika sighed. ‘I’m sorry about all this. I didn’t mean to steal the cheese.’ He saw the Truth Pixie’s doubting eyes. ‘Well, I did actually. I did mean to steal it. And it was really tasty cheese. And there was enough to live on for ever. But I realised that some things are more important than cheese . . . even excellent cheese.’
Nikolas smiled. It was the same smile he’d given the mouse the first day they’d met, after he had saved Miika from his father’s axe. ‘You’re a brave mouse, Miika. Kind and courageous. I’ve always seen it, even if you haven’t. And the thing with courage is that you sometimes don’t know it’s in you until you really need it.’
And these words felt good. Maybe even as good as the taste of troll cheese.
Just then Miika realised there was something he had to do.
Something that filled him with almost as much dread as a troll’s huge, hairy stomping foot.
‘Um, I’ve really got to go,’ he told Nikolas and the elves. ‘See you later.’
And he scrambled to his feet and headed out into the snow, trying to find one little bit of extra bravery, because he knew he was going to need it where he was going.
As Close to Shouting as a Mouse Can Get
ridget the Brave was stomping around in her tree hole, kicking birch leaves. She was clearly not happy.
In fact, to say Bridget the Brave was not happy was like saying a cat was not a bicycle.
She was really, really, really not happy.
Just listen . . .
‘I am not happy,’ she said, twitching her tail in frustration.
‘I know,’ said Miika, cowering in the corner of the tree hole.
‘Don’t you see what you’ve done? You’ve given away a lifetime’s supply of cheese. And not just any old cheese. The most dreamy and delicious cheese in the entire universe! And you did it without asking me. The absolute cheek of it!’
‘I couldn’t ask you,’ said Miika, nervously stroking his whiskers. ‘There was no time. No time at all. Thud was threatening to destroy Elfhelm. He was threatening to kill the elves. He was going to kidnap Nikolas.’
‘So?’
‘So? Nikolas is my friend! And so are the elves!’
Bridget the Brave huffed. ‘Am I not your friend?’
‘I don’t know, to be honest,’ squeaked Miika.
‘What?!’ Bridget the Brave stopped stomping and turned to look straight at Miika.
‘Well, I saved your life and all you did was insult me for it. And you only seem to like me if I can give you something. You only made friends with me again so I could steal the cheese from the trolls. And it is stealing. Not taking.’
At that, Bridget the Brave got very angry indeed and started to shout. Well, as close to shouting as a mouse can get, which isn’t particularly close.
‘You are a stupid, stupid mouse.’ She shook her head. ‘No. Not even that. You are a stupid, stupid nothing. You will never be a mouse. You are not like any other mouse in the whole world. You are a pathetic little creature. You are worse than a troll because at least a troll is a troll. You are not one thing or another. You are a pathetic in-between kind of creature. Not true mammal, not true magic—’
‘Bridget the Brave, please stop,’ Miika squeaked.
But Bridget the Brave wasn’t going to stop. ‘You had one chance. One chance of being something. One chance of adventure. No one would have ever found the Hollow Tree. No one would have ever known. We could have been thieves and legends and full of cheese for ever. You gave away our happiness for a life of dull, old mushrooms.’
‘But we can have cheese! I know an elf called Loka who—’
Bridget the Brave mimicked Miika cruelly. ‘I know an elf called Loka who . . . Have you heard yourself? What freaky kind of a mouse likes elves and pixies?’
Miika thought about this for a little while. Once upon a time, Bridget the Brave’s words would have upset him. But now he realised that it really was a choice. Bridget the Brave’s opinion of Miika didn’t have to be Miika’s opinion of Miika.
‘Tell me!’ Bridget the Brave went on. ‘What . . . kind . . . of . . . mouse?’
‘A me kind of mouse,’ Miika said. ‘That is the kind of mouse I am. And I don’t need you to like me any more, Bridget the Brave. You can think whatever you want. And to be honest, I didn’t like the feeling of being a thief. Even a cheese thief. Yes, Urga-burga is delicious. But no cheese tastes as good as being kind feels. And that’s what I want to be. I want to be a kind creature. And sometimes the very bravest thing is to be who you want to be.’
‘Ugh!’ grumbled Bridget the Brave. ‘You sound just like an elf!’
‘Well, I’m not an elf. But, as I said, you can think what you like about me. So, see you around.’
And with that, Miika left Bridget the Brave’s tree hole and went out into the cold, clear air and started to walk home.
‘Hey!’ shouted Bridget the Brave after him. ‘Hey! Come back, you stupid non-mouse! Hey! Miika! Miika! Stop ignoring me! Hey! Hey!’
But Miika kept going. He scurried over the snow, weaving past rocks and pine cones, and he didn’t look back once.
It’s How Things End That Matters
hat evening, Nikolas, Father Topo and Noosh came to visit Miika in the Truth Pixie’s cottage.
Father Topo wanted to show Miika the latest front page of the Daily Snow. The Truth Pixie was warming a sweet bumbleberry pie in the oven.
‘Look at that headline,’ he said excitedly. ‘MOUSE VERSUS TROLL: THE CASE OF THE MISSING CHEESE! Look, Miika, look there in the second paragraph. They call you a hero. And then our mouse hero used his new magic powers . . .’
‘I was hardly a hero. I nearly caused Elfhelm to be destroyed and Nikolas to be kidnapped. I was a cheese thief.’
‘Well, yes,’ said Nikolas, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, with his red hat in his hands and his head touching the ceiling. ‘That’s true. You were a cheese thief. But you did the right thing in the end. And it’s how things end that matters.’ Nikolas had tears in his eyes. ‘And there’s nothing more important in the whole world than a good friend.’
‘Well, that’s kind of you to say,’ Miika said, smoothing his tummy fur. ‘You’re a good friend too.’
And Nikolas lowered his head and frowned and gave Miika a slightly guilty look. ‘And I’m sorry I haven’t had much time for you recently. I’m going to be a better friend to you. I’ve been spending far too much time at Elf Council meetings. And not enough time with you.’
‘Thank you, Nikolas. I love you, dear friend – with all my heart.’
The Truth Pixie looked like she was going to be sick. ‘Oh, please. No soppiness here. This is a pixie house. It’s forbidden.’
‘Well, you’re a good friend too, Truth Pixie,’ said Miika. ‘Like it or not.’
The Truth Pixie crinkled her face in disgust. ‘Gross.’
Miika smiled, looking at the snow falling outside the window.
Meanwhile, Noosh leaned back in the rocking chair, with a spinning top resting on her lap. ‘I’ve been wondering, Miika . . . Did anyone make you do it?’
Miika shook his head. He may no longer be friends with Bridget the Brave but he didn’t want to get anyone into trouble. ‘No,’ he said softly. ‘No one.’
‘He’s lying,’ said the Truth Pixie, who could spot a lie from a mile away. She put her hand over her mouth. ‘Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. But you know me, I just can’t help it.’
Miika sighed. ‘Well, there might have been someone else involved. But I didn’t have to steal the cheese. It was up to me. And I used my powers badly.’
‘Well,’ said Father Topo, smiling, ‘I did warn Noosh it was dangerous to drimwick a mouse!’
Miika smiled.
‘Magic is a gift. It’s precious. You have to handle it with care,’ said Father Topo.
Miika nodded a tiny mouse nod. ‘I will, I promise. There’s more to life than cheese. I know that now.’
Then Nikolas remembered something and pulled a little parcel out of his pocket. ‘Oh! Talking of cheese, Loka asked me to give you this. It might not be a lifetime’s supply but it should at least get you to the end of the year. It’s a new variety of cheese. She’s calling it . . . Miika’s Delight.’
Nikolas placed the parcel in front of Miika and unwrapped it for him. It was a pale cheese with what looked like bits of nut in it. Noosh broke off a morsel for Miika, who sniffed it and nibbled it. It had a very delicate taste. A taste that took a while to truly notice and understand, but which was really rather lovely.
It wasn’t Urga-burga cheese, but in a way it was even better. Because this cheese had been made with love and given to him by someone who cared.
‘Miika’s Delight,’ said the mouse. ‘That’s catchy. I may be biased, but I think it’s a very good name. I think it will be a bestseller.’
And Miika thought he would save a bit. And tomorrow he would take it into the Wooded Hills and leave a little bit outside Bridget the Brave’s tree hole. Even if they weren’t friends any more, he still wanted her to taste good things.
Just then, a little bell rang to indicate that the pie was ready. And Miika soon discovered that cheese went surprisingly well with warm, sugary bumbleberry pie.
‘Mmmm,’ said Father Topo, thanking the Truth Pixie. ‘This is delicious. We should have this again at Christmas.’
Noosh became suddenly excited. ‘Oooh, Christmas! It’s so exciting! Only one hundred and eighty-eight sleeps to go!’
fter Nikolas and the elves had gone home, Miika curled up on the warm fireside rug.
‘Well, that was quite a day, wasn’t it, Truth Pixie?’
The pixie was tucked up in her little bed. ‘It was. Quite a day. And quite a pie.’
Miika sighed with agreement. His eyes felt heavy as he looked into the fire, watching the glow of the embers gently fade away.
‘I think I used to worry too much about fitting in.’
‘Yes. Same here. It’s quite rare I agree with you, or anyone in fact, but the truth is, not everyone will like us. Not everyone we meet will always want the best for us. And not everyone will know our truth. If people want to hate us, it’s easier to let them. You see, it is better to be disliked for being who you are than to be liked for who you are not. Being who you are not is exhausting.’
Miika yawned and nodded.
‘Be you,’ the Truth Pixie continued. ‘Be the full you. Don’t try to make yourself small to match someone else. And, sure, fitting in is fine. But it’s not as great as standing out. Standing out is’ – she searched for the word – ‘outstanding.’
Miika smiled softly. ‘Thank you, Truth Pixie.’
‘Hey, don’t thank me. Thank the truth.’
‘Thanks, truth.’
And they were quiet for a little while.
‘Miika?’ said the Truth Pixie sleepily.
‘Yes?’ said Miika.
‘I’m glad you’re here.’
‘Thank you, Truth Pixie. I’m glad I’m here too. And I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad we’re here.’
And with that, the mouse rested his eyes, ready for sleep.
He felt, for once, grateful to be who he was.
In a way, Bridget the Brave had been right. He wasn’t one thing or another thing. But why would he want to be? He wasn’t half this or half that. He was a whole himself.
Yes, he thought to himself, there is no one else I would rather be than me.
A warm mouse.
A sleepy mouse.
A happy mouse.
A mouse called Miika.
