Three Nice-Mice Birthdays

“Everyone likes something different,” says Mother Mouse, and hints that everyone must respect the other even if the other`s taste is different from one`s own. This is the conclusion to which Shlomit Cohen-Assif is working in this story, which describes three birthday parties celebrated by three mice: Pico, Mamoula and Yul Yul. All three parties are similar but slightly different, and the third is the happiest and the most pluralistic of all.

First is Pico. He loves wearing yellow hats, and when he invites all the mice to his birthday party, he announces that everyone must come wearing a yellow hat. When Mamoula the mouse arrives wearing a red hat, the doorman refuses to let him in. Mamoula is offended and goes back home. Time passes, and when Mamoula`s birthday draws near, he announces that the guests may wear hats of all shapes and in all colors. But what will Yul Yul do? He hates hats and arrives at the party without a hat. “A hat makes the head happy, and if the head is happy – the whole body is happy,” say the mice. But Yul Yul claims that his whole body is happy only if his heart is happy. And so, when his birthday comes around, he invites all the mice without any conditions. Multitudes of mice come to his birthday party, and the sounds of joy and the dances can be heard for many miles around.