This week's picture book 'The Mouse Takes a Bride'

There is a nursery rhyme about a mouse taking a bride:

January 1, the first day of the new year

January 2, the second day of the new year

The third day of the new year, go to bed early

The mouse is taking a bride tonight

In Chinese custom, the second day of the new year is the day when the mouse takes a bride, and do you know the origin of it?

Legend has it that at the foot of a farmstead lies a village of rats.

Once upon a time, there was a village of rats at the foot of a village wall. The mayor's daughter was so beautiful that all the young men in the village wanted to take her as their bride. The mayor didn't know who to marry his daughter to, so he thought about it and decided to let his daughter throw an embroidered ball. The one who catches the ball will be the one to take her as his bride.

On the day the ball was thrown, all the rats in the village came.

The mayor's daughter stood on the stage and threw the embroidered ball ......

Suddenly there was a meow, and a big black cat came out

The rats squeaked in fear. "The mice squeaked in fear and didn't know where to run. The big black cat knocked down the high platform with one claw, and the village chief's daughter fell from mid-air. Luckily, a mouse named Arang caught her and ran away, pulling her by the hand.

The black cat pounces and bites, making a mess of the village.

At night, the village headman had a nightmare. He dreamed that the big black cat attacked the village and his daughter was caught by the black cat. The mayor woke up in fear and got into the quilt shivering while saying, "It's horrible, for the sake of my daughter's happiness, I must find a son-in-law who is stronger than the cat, the strongest in the world."

Who is stronger than a cat? Who is the strongest in the world? The mayor thought of the sun. So, he went out to find the sun.

The mayor walked for a long time and finally climbed to the top of the mountain. He asked the sun, "Are you the strongest in the world?" The sun proudly let out all its light and heat and said, "Of course, I am the strongest in the world. Who in the world can resist my light and heat?"

The village headman wiped the sweat from his head and said, "I am the headman of the mouse village,I want to marry my daughter to you ......"

Before the village headman could finish his words, suddenly a dark cloud came and covered the sun.

Seeing that the cloud covered the sun, the village headman said loudly, "I am the headman of the mouse village, and I want to marry my daughter to the strongest in the world. Are you the strongest in the world?"

The dark cloud smiled and said, "Yes, I am the strongest in the world, because I am the only one who can cover the hot sun."

Before the dark cloud could finish its words, a gust of wind came and blew the cloud away.

The Mouse Mayor said to the wind, "I am looking for the strongest man in the world so that I can marry my daughter to him. Do you know who is the strongest in the world?"

The wind said, "Who in the world is stronger than me? I can blow away the clouds, I can blow away people's hats, and I can blow you home." The wind puffed up its mouth and blew out a strong gust of wind, which blew the mayor into the air.

As the wind was blowing, it hit a wall. The mayor of the village hit the wall hard, and while rubbing his buttocks, he said to the wall: "Wall, wall, are you the strongest in the world?"

The wall held out its chest and replied, "I'm not afraid of the sky, I'm not afraid of the earth, I'm the strongest in the world!"

The wall was talking when it suddenly shouted, "Aaah!" A hole was made in the corner of the wall, and Lang came out of the hole.

The wall whispered, "I'm not afraid of the sky, I'm not afraid of the earth, but I'm afraid of the rats coming to beat the wall."

The mayor of the village realized that even though the mouse was small, it had skills that others could not match. He said happily to Lang, "I've decided to marry my daughter to you."

On the third day of the first month of the lunar calendar, the village chief's daughter rode in a sedan chair made of straw sandals to marry Arang.