Keepers by The Compendium Company, LLC
The story
He wears a small hat and carries a satchel, and he works the rooftops of the Spanish-speaking world by night, going under pillows without ever waking anyone. Where the Tooth Fairy is made of light, Ratoncito Pérez is made of practicality: he is a small working mouse with a job, a route and a tin he goes home to. He is said to be excellent company and a terrible timekeeper.
Where it actually comes from
Ratoncito Pérez has an author and a date, which is rare. The Jesuit priest Luis Coloma wrote him in 1894 for the eight-year-old King Alfonso XIII, who had just lost a tooth — the queen regent asked for a story, and Coloma produced one in which the boy king shrinks to mouse size and tours the poor quarters of Madrid with Pérez, seeing how other children live. The moral was deliberate. A plaque now marks the mouse’s address at Calle Arenal 8 in Madrid, and there is a small museum. The tooth-collecting rodent is far older and far wider than the story, though, appearing across Spain, Latin America and France for centuries.
What it does for a child
The mouse works better than the fairy for some children, and it is worth knowing why: he is not magical, he is just small and good at his job. For a child who finds fairies babyish, or who is anxious about a being with powers moving around their bedroom, a mouse with a satchel is far easier to accept. He is also the natural choice for a Spanish-speaking family that wants their own tradition rather than an import.
Ratón Pérez and the Little King
A story to read aloud · about 5 minutes
Once upon a time, in the city of Madrid in Spain, there lived a little king named Bubi. He was only six years old when he began to reign, and he was very kind to poor children and to mice. He built a workshop to make dolls and cardboard horses for the children, and he made a law that nobody could ever set a mousetrap.
One morning, while King Bubi was eating his bread and milk, one of his teeth began to wobble. Before long, out it came, as round and white as a little pearl. That night Bubi tucked his tooth under his pillow, because everyone in Spain knows that Ratón Pérez comes to fetch it and leaves a lovely present in its place.
Bubi meant to stay awake and see him. But his eyes grew heavier and heavier, and at last he fell fast asleep.
Suddenly, something very soft tickled his forehead. Bubi sat up. There on his pillow stood a tiny mouse in a straw hat, little canvas shoes and big gold spectacles, with a red satchel slung across his back. The mouse took off his hat and made a very low bow.
Bubi was so surprised that all he could think of to say was, “Good night.”
“A very good night to Your Majesty,” answered Ratón Pérez. After that, they were the best of friends.
Then Pérez said he must hurry, because he had to fetch the tooth of a very poor little boy named Gilito. The way was dangerous, for a big cat named Don Pedro lived nearby.
“Take me with you!” begged Bubi.
Pérez twisted his whiskers. Then he sprang onto the King’s shoulder and tickled his nose with the tip of his tail. Ah-choo! Bubi sneezed so hard that he turned into the most darling little mouse you ever saw, with little green eyes like emeralds. Pérez took him by the paw, and away they scampered through a tiny hole hidden under the carpet.
First they stopped at the Pérez home, at number 8 Arenal Street, in the cellar of a grocer’s shop. There, behind a big pile of Gruyère cheeses, the whole family lived in a biscuit tin, beside a cozy fire of raisin stems. Pérez’s daughters, Adelaide and Elvira, poured tea into tiny cups made from the skins of white beans.
Then off they went with a guard of mouse soldiers, their needle bayonets gleaming. They tiptoed right past Don Pedro, asleep by the kitchen fire with his great whiskers rising and falling.
At last they reached Gilito’s attic. It was all cracks and drafts, with icicles hanging from the roof, and Gilito lay asleep on a bed of straw and rags. When Bubi saw how cold and poor it was, he began to cry. He decided then and there that he did not want a single blanket on his own bed until every child in his kingdom had plenty.
Pérez brushed away a tear with his paw. Then he tucked a bright gold coin under Gilito’s pillow in place of his tooth.
Back in the royal nursery, Pérez tickled Bubi’s nose once more. Ah-choo! There he was, a boy again, safe in his own warm bed.
In the morning, where his tooth had been, Bubi found a case holding the Order of the Golden Fleece, sparkling with diamonds. But Bubi hardly looked at it. He lay very still, thinking about Gilito. “All the children of Spain are like my brothers and sisters,” he said at last. “And a king must be the eldest brother, and take care of them all.”
That is just what King Bubi grew up to do. As for Ratón Pérez, he still hurries through the secret passages of Spain in his straw hat. When your tooth comes out, you may feel a soft little tickle on your forehead, just as King Bubi did.
Adapted from Luis Coloma; adapted by Lady Moreton, Perez the Mouse (adapted from the Spanish of Padre Luis Coloma’s ‘Ratón Pérez’, 1894) (1914). Public domain. Read the original.
More from the story
A few more pictures to look at together.
