OUSELAND
A Political fable told by Tommy Douglas in 1944. 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. Below is the web site
that will give you the story in animated form.
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.
They even had a Parliament. And every four years they had an election. Used to walk
to the polls and cast their ballots. Some of them even got a ride to the polls. And got
a ride for the next four years afterwards too. Just like you and me. And every time
on election day all the little mice used to go to the ballot box and they used to elect
a government. A government made up of big, fat, black cats.
Now if you think it strange that mice should elect a government made up of cats, you
just look at the history of Canada for last 90 years and maybe you'll see that they
weren't any stupider than we are.
Now I'm not saying anything against the cats. They were nice fellows. They
conducted their government with dignity. They passed good laws--that is, laws that
were good for cats. But the laws that were good for cats weren't very good for mice.
One of the laws said that mouseholes had to be big enough so a cat could get his paw
in. Another law said that mice could only travel at certain speeds--so that a cat could
get his breakfast without too much effort.
All the laws were good laws. For cats. But, oh, they were hard on the mice. And life
was getting harder and harder. And when the mice couldn't put up with it any more,
they decided something had to be done about it. So they went en masse to the polls.
They voted the black cats out. They put in the white cats.
Now the white cats had put up a terrific campaign. They said: "All that Mouseland
needs is more vision." They said: "The trouble with Mouseland is those round
mouseholes we got. If you put us in we'll establish square mouseholes." And they did.
And the square mouseholes were twice as big as the round mouseholes, and now the
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