It’s the story of a place called Mouseland. Mouseland was a place where all the little mice lived and played, were born and died. And they lived much the same as you and I do.
[…]
Presently there came along one little mouse who had an idea. My friends, watch out for the little fellow with an idea. And he said to the other mice, “Look fellows, why do we keep on electing a government made up of cats? Why don’t we elect a government made up of mice?” “Oh,” they said, “he’s a Bolshevik. Lock him up!” So they put him in jail.
But I want to remind you: that you can lock up a mouse or a man but you can’t lock up an idea. – Tommy Douglas, 1944
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Brad Wall, 2006;
Why even at the NDP convention last fall the Premier updated the Mouseland fable originated by Tommy Douglas.
You know that fable about Mouseland where the cats were governed all the creature the gophers who tilled the land the beavers who worked in forestry and pigeons who reported the news� until the mice led by Tommymouse changed the government. It is a clever fable. And it was delivered by a great orator
Well, Lorne Calvert updated the fable last fall. He talked about Bradcat who was a nice enough cat who tried to look like a mouse.
There have been other updates also pretty clever by journalists when they were out of things to write about. So we have read about Roy Mouse and Elwincat and the list goes on.
Well I think that fable needs a final chapter. But who should do that? The Final Chapter in the Mouseland Fable:
But after 60 years �other animals began to realize something about mice.
They�re not exactly the most productive species in the animal kingdom.
In fact, they don�t really produce anything accept droppings.
What they are good at is wrecking stuff that others have produced.
They chew holes in things.
They just generally leave a mess wherever they go.
And these particular mice were the worst.
One time, they got into the potatoes.
Now, the crazy thing about that is,�
Mice don�t even like potatoes.
But they had this one mouse named Eldon Mouse,�
Eldon mouse talked the other mice into it. He told them they weren�t really potatoes�”just cheese with peelings..�
And by the time they got done chewing through the potatoes,�
The potatoes were completely ruined,�
And the other animals were left to clean up the mess.
And here�s the other thing about mice. Even though they had promised a way for creatures to be healthy – a lot of mice in one place isn�t always good for health.
And a lot of the other animals were getting sick.
But when they went to the mice for help,�
The mice wouldn�t actually do anything to help.
The mice would just tell them how lucky they were they didn�t have to pay to see a doctor bird.
Except that there weren�t any doctor birds.
The mice hadn�t bothered to get any.
They were too busy chewing on potatoes.
So every day, the mice would force all the sick animals to stand in line and wait to see a doctor bird,�
But nobody ever got to see a doctor bird. So they just stood in line.
One day, all the animals were standing in line, grumbling about the mice,�
When one little gopher named Yogi looked up at his dad and said,�
�Dad, why don�t we just get rid of the mice?�
His dad looked down at him sadly and said,�
�We can�t get rid of the mice. The mice run things. The mice have always run things. That�s why they call it Mouseland.�
And all the other animals heard this and just nodded sadly in agreement.
Except for one old gray horse named Milt.
He�d been around longer than the rest of the animals,…
And he said, �That�s not quite true.
�The mice don�t have to run things.� �In fact� he said �when given a clear choice between cats and mice�.who would choose a mouse�they wreck things?�
And at that moment, all the other animals looked up and down the line,�
And they realized something.
There were more of them than there were mice.
They were all different animals, but they had a lot of things in common.
They didn�t like the mice wrecking all their food.
They didn�t like their babies moving to that place that had never been run by the mice.
They didn�t like standing in line when they were sick.
Most of all, they were just tired of the mice.
They began to realize that a lot of mice in one place for a long time is not a government but an infestation:
How will we deal with this infestation? We gotta get us some cats!! They said. Clear minded, compassionate cats with a plan and a vision for mouseland
And the animals chose the cats who cleaned up the mess left behind by the mice.
One day soon after that great change�a cat that liked details and going on about stuff and reading a lot ..named Wayne Cat discovered an old history book about Mouseland. He dusted it off and was shocked but what he found.
Why Mouseland wasn�t even the actual name of this place after all. This place was called Sask Cat chewan.
(Updated with notes from speech as delivered)
SaskParty now has the Mouseland 2006 audio available on their website, Look for the link at the left of the main page.
