The Mysteries and Medicines of Twyla Mouse

By Twyla Smith

A tiny mouse lives in the woods with her friends assisting them with all of their troubles and needs. They surprise her with a wonderful tea party to say "Thank You, Twyla Mouse, for all you do for us".

• Language: English
• Publisher: Three Yellow Feathers
• Release date: Feb 23, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386241140

Book preview

Chapter 1

Twyla Mouse had a magic garden, at least all of the other animals in the forest believed it to be magic. Most of them thought Twyla Mouse was magic too because of the way she could heal them and the many mysterious and wonderful things she knew. All of the grown-up animals know Twyla Mouse because she had treated almost every one of them for fevers, wounds, warts and lots more all of their lives. All of the young ones and grown-ups knew it was not safe for them to try to use plants to treat themselves or any one else. They knew that Twyla Mouse had studied for many years to know what to use safely to help her neighbors in the forest.

Twyla Mouse lived at the bottom of the biggest cedar tree in the forest. The little ones loved to go and visit her. Her house was decorated with such pretty things and smelled so good because she always had something baking.

She baked wonderful muffins that she shared with her visitors.

The muffins were wonderful but the jams and jellies she served with them were the very best in the forest.

The flavors of the jams and jellies were fresh and sometimes unusual as she made them out of the fruits and berries that she collected on her daily walks through the forest. She gathered wild strawberries, blackberries, sand plums, and rose hips just to name a few. She combined them into the most wonderful flavors the little ones had ever tasted. The older animals knew that on these daily walks, she was also looking for the ingredients she might need to have on hand if one of them became ill or was injured and needed her help.

The older animals had come to appreciate what Twyla Mouse knew and helped her find special things or notified her when her help was needed. When Lucy Mouse and Mary Mouse were quite little, they had gotten very excited, one early spring day, about

nibbling on the fresh, crunchy tips of the green briars. They had wandered deep into the green briar thicket. They didn't realize how much trouble they were in until they tried to go home. They had gotten very badly cut from becoming tangled in the green briars in their attempts to escape.

Dorothy Bluebird saw the cuts and deep scratches on the two young mice and saw that they were both bleeding. Dorothy Bluebird flew to Twyla Mouse's house and asked her to come right away. Having heard that Mary and Lucy were cut and bleeding, Twyla Mouse quickly walked into the back room of her house. She gathered some of the Wooly Yarrow leaves that W.R. Crow had helped her locate yesterday on their morning walk.

Twyla Mouse also wrapped some Purple Cone Flower root powder and Chamomile powder in pieces of cloth and placed them in a basket. She scurried immediately over to the house of her cousin, Karen Mouse, to look after Karen's tiny daughters, Lucy and Mary.

Dorothy Bluebird had flown ahead

of Twyla Mouse to let Lucy and Mary's parents know Twyla Mouse was on her way. When Twyla Mouse got to Karen and Gregory Mouse's house, Gregory was pacing nervously outside. He ran to her, gave her a quick but sincere hug then scampered over to

open the door for Twyla Mouse to go right inside. There, covered with a blanket and surrounded by their brothers and sisters, were tiny little Mary and Lucy. Sitting next to them on the bed, gently rubbing each one's face was their mother, Karen Mouse, and their loving grandmother, Lena. The brothers and sisters quickly got out of Twyla Mouse's way so she could work her magic on their sisters. Mary and Lucy looked up at Twyla Mouse and tried to smile. It was plain to see that they were weak and hurting from their cuts.

Lucy and Mary might have been very frightened except for the fact that they had gone with their older sister, Jane, and Grandmother Lena Mouse to see Twyla Mouse just last Saturday. They had such a wonderful visit eating little acorn muffins spread with delicious wild strawberry jam and sipping a creamy sumac tea. Twyla Mouse had shown Jane how to place one thimble full of powder for each cup of tea plus one thimble