Pip was a very small mouse, even for a mouse. He lived with his family under the floorboards of Old Man Tiber’s bakery, a wonderful place that always smelled of warm bread and sweet cinnamon. But Pip didn’t dream of crumbs or cheese. Pip dreamed of *building*. He wanted to build something magnificent, something everyone would admire.
The other mice chuckled when Pip told them his plans. “You? Build something? You’re the littlest mouse in the whole bakery!” squeaked Millie, a rather bossy mouse with a fondness for sugar cookies. “Building is for strong mice, for mice who can carry big things!” Others nodded in agreement. Pip’s whiskers drooped, but he didn’t give up.
He decided he would build a tower. A tower of bottle caps! Old Man Tiber collected bottle caps, and there were heaps of them in the storage room. Pip started collecting them, one by one. It was slow work. Each cap felt enormous compared to him. He’d drag a cap a little way, rest, drag it a little more, and rest again. It took all day to move just three bottle caps.
Discouraged, Pip sat amongst his small pile. He wished he *was* bigger and stronger. Just then, he heard a tiny voice. “Need some help?” It was Squeaky, a very shy mouse who usually kept to herself. “I… I can’t carry the caps, but I can roll them!”
Pip’s ears perked up. “You can?” Squeaky nodded, and soon she was expertly rolling bottle caps towards the growing pile. Then, Barnaby, a clever mouse who was good at finding things, offered to gather the caps from all over the storage room. Even Millie, after seeing how much progress they were making, joined in, using her strong legs to push the caps along.
Working together, the mice were amazing! Squeaky rolled, Barnaby gathered, Millie pushed, and Pip, with his vision, directed where each cap should go. Slowly, steadily, the tower began to rise. It wasn’t perfect. It wobbled a bit, and some caps were a little crooked, but it was *their* tower.
Old Man Tiber, while sweeping the bakery floor, noticed the tower. He smiled. “Well now,” he chuckled, “that’s a mighty fine tower for such little builders!” He even left a tiny, perfect crumb of cheese at the base of the tower as a reward.
Pip beamed. He realized it didn’t matter how small he was. He had a big dream, and with the help of his friends, he had made it come true. He learned that even the littlest mouse can achieve great things, especially when they believe in themselves and work together.
That night, snuggled with his family, Pip thought about his tower. It wasn’t just a tower of bottle caps; it was a tower of friendship, perseverance, and believing in the power of ‘we’. And as he drifted off to sleep, he dreamed of all the other wonderful things he and his friends could build together.