Tale of Despereaux fic: The Tale of Abby
Title: The Tale of Abby
Author: winkingstar
Fandom: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
Pairing/Characters: Gen (original characters, with mentions of Despereaux and the Pea)
Summary: Being the story of a mouse who loved stories and a rather unusual friendship.
Wordcount: 1,000
Rating/Warnings: suitable for all audiences
Spoilers: takes place after the book, so very vague spoilers for that
Disclaimer: The Tale of Despereaux is a wonderful novel by Kate DiCamillo and I am just playing in her sandbox. Abby and Sophie, however, are entirely my own.
Notes: Written for picfor1000, Challenge Ate, to this photo prompt. This fic is also posted at the AO3 [here].
*
Abby Field loved stories. She began by making up her own to amuse herself during the daily chores and when she was grown enough to go out alone she listened for other stories, too. Her family lived beneath the porch of a house near the edge of town and she would often creep upstairs to listen to the humans telling tales beside their fire. But Abby discovered her favorite story when the Princess Pea rode by on her pony, an entourage of guards surrounding her, and a small brown mouse perched on her shoulder. The humans standing on the porch to watch the procession said the mouse was called Sir Despereaux, knighted by the King after braving danger and darkness to rescue the Princess. (Reader, if you would like to hear more about Despereaux's adventures, about the thread and the soup and the Princess, I am sure you can find someone else to tell you the tale. Our tale now is a different one.) Abby was fascinated. She stayed on the porch, watching the procession fade into the distance, watching until the mouse was no longer distinguishable among the Princess's tresses, and watching still until the Princess herself was out of sight.
Abby's mother, Caroline, did not like stories. Stories, Caroline told Abby again and again, were just words. Stories, according to Caroline, were of no value whatsoever-you could not eat them or build nests with them. But Abby had other ideas. For her, stories were full of life and adventure and possibility.
When she was learning the correct form of scurrying, she pretended that she was carrying a very important message to the Princess, dodging an army of feline assassins along the way. When she was sent to gather seeds from the field, she pretended she was on a quest to find the golden palace of the Sun Mouse and returned with more sunstroke than seeds. She was a great disappointment to her mother, who despaired of ever teaching Abby to behave as a proper young mouse should. So Caroline was not greatly distraught when Abby was caught by a cat one day-she merely saw it as the final fault of a wayward child. (Reader, do not be alarmed. Abby will be okay.)
Reader, it happened like this:
Caroline and a few of her children went down the road to fetch a bit of cheese from the dairy farm. Abby followed them, dreaming up a tale in which she had to retrieve a golden wheel of the Sun Mouse's chariot. When they reached the dairy, the others each broke off a piece of cheese to carry back with them, while Abby sniffed around for stories. She had just found a promisingly golden wheel of cheese that she felt sure would make a worthy wheel for the Sun Mouse when the other mice squeaked in alarm. Abby looked up to see them fleeing from a big brown cat. She forgot the quest for the Sun Mouse and ran after them. She scurried just as she had been taught, but she did not scurry quite fast enough. The cat's paw landed on her tail and she gave a distressed squeak. The other mice had reached the hole in the dairy wall, and her mother looked back. For a moment, she stared at Abby-and then she was gone.
Abby squeaked again, but no one came back.
This, reader, is the moment when Abby says her own story truly began.
Abby remembered the stories she had heard about bravery and she thought of Despereaux as she turned to face the cat. But it is one thing to fight monsters and cats in stories and something entirely different to find yourself looking up into a pair of bright yellow eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Abby's ears trembled and she nearly fainted with fright. She thought of one of the stories she had heard beside the humans' fire and, in as brave a voice as she could muster, she said, "Don't eat me! I can tell you stories!"
The cat blinked at her.
And then, reader, Abby did faint.
When she awoke, she found herself tucked into a straw nest in a corner of the room. The cat sat beside her, watching her through narrowed eyelids. The cat licked her lips and crouched down on her front paws, so that her face was in front of Abby's. Abby's heart beat faster, but the cat simply said, "My name is Sophie."
Abby let out a tiny squeak of relief. "I'm Abby."
The mouse and the cat quickly became the best of friends. Reader, have you ever heard of such a thing? It is a wonderful thing when two creatures find a friend where they least expect it. Abby found that telling stories was even more fun with someone to listen to the stories. She also used her tiny claws to scratch Sophie's ears and back, which Sophie’s human rarely did. Sophie, in turn, made Abby feel welcome and happy in a way she had never felt with her mouse family.
Unfortunately, humans are apt to be suspicious of things they do not understand, so when Sophie's human found the mouse and the cat together, she chased them both away with a broom.
Reader, there are many paths these two friends may take from here. They might find a new home, further down the road, where mice and cats are both welcome to warm themselves beside a fire. Or perhaps they will set off on a quest to accomplish great deeds in faraway lands. Or maybe, one day, they will find their way to the castle, where a small Knight-Rodentia with rather large ears and a Princess with a musical laugh will share a bowl of soup with them and the four will go on many adventures, great and small.
Reader, there are many adventures waiting for you, too, if you know where to look. I hope you find them.
Author: winkingstar
Fandom: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
Pairing/Characters: Gen (original characters, with mentions of Despereaux and the Pea)
Summary: Being the story of a mouse who loved stories and a rather unusual friendship.
Wordcount: 1,000
Rating/Warnings: suitable for all audiences
Spoilers: takes place after the book, so very vague spoilers for that
Disclaimer: The Tale of Despereaux is a wonderful novel by Kate DiCamillo and I am just playing in her sandbox. Abby and Sophie, however, are entirely my own.
Notes: Written for picfor1000, Challenge Ate, to this photo prompt. This fic is also posted at the AO3 [here].
*
Abby Field loved stories. She began by making up her own to amuse herself during the daily chores and when she was grown enough to go out alone she listened for other stories, too. Her family lived beneath the porch of a house near the edge of town and she would often creep upstairs to listen to the humans telling tales beside their fire. But Abby discovered her favorite story when the Princess Pea rode by on her pony, an entourage of guards surrounding her, and a small brown mouse perched on her shoulder. The humans standing on the porch to watch the procession said the mouse was called Sir Despereaux, knighted by the King after braving danger and darkness to rescue the Princess. (Reader, if you would like to hear more about Despereaux's adventures, about the thread and the soup and the Princess, I am sure you can find someone else to tell you the tale. Our tale now is a different one.) Abby was fascinated. She stayed on the porch, watching the procession fade into the distance, watching until the mouse was no longer distinguishable among the Princess's tresses, and watching still until the Princess herself was out of sight.
Abby's mother, Caroline, did not like stories. Stories, Caroline told Abby again and again, were just words. Stories, according to Caroline, were of no value whatsoever-you could not eat them or build nests with them. But Abby had other ideas. For her, stories were full of life and adventure and possibility.
When she was learning the correct form of scurrying, she pretended that she was carrying a very important message to the Princess, dodging an army of feline assassins along the way. When she was sent to gather seeds from the field, she pretended she was on a quest to find the golden palace of the Sun Mouse and returned with more sunstroke than seeds. She was a great disappointment to her mother, who despaired of ever teaching Abby to behave as a proper young mouse should. So Caroline was not greatly distraught when Abby was caught by a cat one day-she merely saw it as the final fault of a wayward child. (Reader, do not be alarmed. Abby will be okay.)
Reader, it happened like this:
Caroline and a few of her children went down the road to fetch a bit of cheese from the dairy farm. Abby followed them, dreaming up a tale in which she had to retrieve a golden wheel of the Sun Mouse's chariot. When they reached the dairy, the others each broke off a piece of cheese to carry back with them, while Abby sniffed around for stories. She had just found a promisingly golden wheel of cheese that she felt sure would make a worthy wheel for the Sun Mouse when the other mice squeaked in alarm. Abby looked up to see them fleeing from a big brown cat. She forgot the quest for the Sun Mouse and ran after them. She scurried just as she had been taught, but she did not scurry quite fast enough. The cat's paw landed on her tail and she gave a distressed squeak. The other mice had reached the hole in the dairy wall, and her mother looked back. For a moment, she stared at Abby-and then she was gone.
Abby squeaked again, but no one came back.
This, reader, is the moment when Abby says her own story truly began.
Abby remembered the stories she had heard about bravery and she thought of Despereaux as she turned to face the cat. But it is one thing to fight monsters and cats in stories and something entirely different to find yourself looking up into a pair of bright yellow eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Abby's ears trembled and she nearly fainted with fright. She thought of one of the stories she had heard beside the humans' fire and, in as brave a voice as she could muster, she said, "Don't eat me! I can tell you stories!"
The cat blinked at her.
And then, reader, Abby did faint.
When she awoke, she found herself tucked into a straw nest in a corner of the room. The cat sat beside her, watching her through narrowed eyelids. The cat licked her lips and crouched down on her front paws, so that her face was in front of Abby's. Abby's heart beat faster, but the cat simply said, "My name is Sophie."
Abby let out a tiny squeak of relief. "I'm Abby."
The mouse and the cat quickly became the best of friends. Reader, have you ever heard of such a thing? It is a wonderful thing when two creatures find a friend where they least expect it. Abby found that telling stories was even more fun with someone to listen to the stories. She also used her tiny claws to scratch Sophie's ears and back, which Sophie’s human rarely did. Sophie, in turn, made Abby feel welcome and happy in a way she had never felt with her mouse family.
Unfortunately, humans are apt to be suspicious of things they do not understand, so when Sophie's human found the mouse and the cat together, she chased them both away with a broom.
Reader, there are many paths these two friends may take from here. They might find a new home, further down the road, where mice and cats are both welcome to warm themselves beside a fire. Or perhaps they will set off on a quest to accomplish great deeds in faraway lands. Or maybe, one day, they will find their way to the castle, where a small Knight-Rodentia with rather large ears and a Princess with a musical laugh will share a bowl of soup with them and the four will go on many adventures, great and small.
Reader, there are many adventures waiting for you, too, if you know where to look. I hope you find them.