To all little adventurers out there. Keep wondering, keep exploring.
Tere once was a little mouse who wanted to fnd a house. Te mouse put on its backpack, waved goodbye to the family, and wandered of into the woods.
Te mouse thought it might be smart to take a look at how other animals were living — to get some inspiration!
A little rabbit came hopping by.
“Hi, Rabbit!” said the mouse. “Where do you live?”
“I live in a burrow with my family. I’m on my way there now,” replied the rabbit with a happy hop, glancing at the mouse.
“Come along! I’ll show you,” said the rabbit, waving the mouse to follow. Te mouse thanked them for the ofer and skipped along, quite pleased.
When they reached the burrow, the rabbit invited the mouse inside. The mouse followed eagerly. “This is cozy!
Something like this could be perfect for me,” thought the mouse as they stepped in.
But — OH! It was packed!
There were rabbits everywhere! In every nook and cranny!
“Nope, this is way too cramped for me,” thought the mouse, and politely said goodbye.
“Something more open would probably suit me better,” thought the mouse and continued the journey. It had wandered out onto the wide open plains of the tundra and spotted a herd of reindeer.
“Well, this definitely isn’t cramped — so open and breezy,” thought the mouse, and walked up to a young calf grazing.
“How do you live?” the mouse asked.
“We live here or there,” said the calf. “When we’re hungry, we eat. When we’re tired, we sleep. Otherwise, we wander.
The whole tundra is our home.”
The calf kept munching on some moss.
“Wonderful! What freedom!” thought the mouse.
“This could be something for me.”
SWOOOOSH!
A gust of wind came sweeping in, knocking the mouse over. Te mouse got up, dazed, and looked at the calf who stood frm, still munching like nothing had happened.
SWOOOOSH!
Another gust! Tis time, the mouse grabbed onto a cloudberry and held on tight.
“Freedom and space, sure... but this is way too open for me,” said the mouse, and waved goodbye to the reindeer calf.
“ Tis much I know: I don’t want to live too cramped, or too open.”
“Well, that’s something,” thought the mouse, and wandered on.
Can a mouse fnd a house in the forest?
Text © 2026 Henriette Sørli Reinertsen
Illustrations © Hugo Duarte, 2026. www.behance.net/hduartesn.
Written by Henriette Sørli Reinertsen
Illustrated by Hugo Duarte
First edition, 2026
Part 1 of the Can a mouse fnd a house series
Published by Little Saga AS Oslo, Norway
www.littlesaga.com
ISBN: 978-82-94248-01-8
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission from the copyright owner.