ChristStory Bestiary

RATS & MICE

THE DEVIL

There are many legends about the origins of mice. Early Egyptians thought that the mud of the Nile gave birth to them. In other countries, they were thought to have fallen to the earth in a rain storm or to have been given birth to by bushels of grain. One story says that the Devil, seeing his chance to destroy the remnant of humanity, created the first mouse on Noah's ark. He hoped his mouse would either eat a hole in the ark causing its occupants to drown, or eat up their stores and starve them to death. Fortunately, when Noah threw a glove at the mouse, it became the first cat and put an end to the Devil's wicked plan. In Germany, witches were said to be able to create mice from scraps of cloth and send them out to destroy their enemies' fields and stores.

For the most part, mice and rats play identical roles in legend and symbolism. In many countries they are identified with the human soul. It is thought that the soul leaves the body in the shape of a mouse either at death or while dreaming. If the soul does not return or if the dreamer is awakened before the soul returns, he immediately dies. That is why it is considered bad luck to wake up a dreamer or sleep-walker. It is also thought that a mouse chewing on a sleeping person's clothes is a warning of that person's imminent demise. Witches were believed to travel about in the form of mice. Unborn infants capered about in the shape of white mice.

Because of their destructive ways, mice and rats were considered unclean creatures of ill omen. They were symbols of evil, pestilence, death, decay, infirmity, plague, demons, and the Devil. Like Satan and his minions, mice and rats were believed to thrive off the misfortunes of the children of God and to enjoy bringing humans to ruin. They were sometimes bold enough to nibble at the Tree of Life itself. Ancient Greeks carried mouse coins to protect themselves against the mouse's evil eye and in India rat temples were built to appease the demons associated with these creatures. Mice and rats were images of greed, miserliness, hypocrisy, and thievery. "Mousing" became a synonym for "looting." In China misers were called "money rats."

The activities of mice and rats were believed to be quite prophetic. They were said to flee sinking ships and houses where death was imminent. They appeared in large numbers as an omen of war - most likely ready to feast upon the impending destruction. In Rome, white rats brought good fortune. In Germany, white mice brought either good luck or death with them. The scurrying and squeaking of mice indicated that a storm was approaching. An unhappy turn of events was foretold when a mouse or rat chewed on religious items.

In Ancient Greece, the destructive side of Apollo was called Smitheos or Apollo Smintheus from the Greek word "sminthus" which means "mouse." Sacred mice were kept in his temple and he was believed to shoot the arrows of plague. Strangely enough, under his beneficent aspect, Apollo guarded the harvest from infestations of mice. Rats are the companions and mounts of gods such as the elephant-headed Ganesha of the Hindus and the Japanese Daikoku, god of wealth and good fortune. Mice were associated with Jupiter or Zeus and, because of their lasciviousness, Aphrodite (a.k.a. Venus), the love goddess. Jews considered the mouse an unclean creature, possibly because it was associated with idol worship (Lev 11:29). In the book of Isaiah, the Lord warns that those who gather about an idol to eat swine's flesh and mice will themselves be consumed (Is 66:17).

Rats are an attribute of St. Fina, who, after many years of illness, was disabled by paralysis. She chose a wooden board as her bed so that her sufferings, which brought her closer to Christ, might be increased. While she languished upon her board in a rat infested attic, she was often attacked by the rats which she was helpless to drive away.

When the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant, their towns were plagued with rats bearing disease, possibly bubonic plague. In order to free themselves from the tumors brought on by the disease, they returned the Ark with a trespass offering of five golden tumors and five golden rats - one for each of the cities and lords of the Philistines (1 Sam 5:1-6:18).

The idea of hoards of mice and rats being sent out as agents of God's wrath led to "mouse tower" legends. The most famous of which is that of Bishop Hatto's mouse tower in Germany. Bishop Hatto was a powerful man who levied heavy taxes upon the population. In addition to these, he built a tower on the Rhine so that he could collect a toll from all the ships passing by. When famine came to the land, Hatto added to the disaster by hoarding all the grain and selling it for outrageous prices. One day, he invited the poor to his barn where they expected to receive some food. Instead, Hatto locked the door behind them and set the building afire. That night he slept soundly, but, the next morning he awoke to find that rats had eaten his portrait out of its frame. Before he was even dressed, he learned that rats had consumed all the grain he had locked away in his barns and that ten thousand hungry rats were running his way. He fled to his mouse tower on the Rhine but the rats followed him and consumed him even as he said his rosary upon his knees. Many people believed that the rats were the embodied souls of those whose deaths he had caused either through starvation or burning.

Rat tails were associated with tangles of confusion, misfortune, and rumor. To show the passage of time, Renaissance art sometimes depicted night as a black rat and day as a white one. Chinese mythology states that the rat brought the gift of rice to humankind. There and in other places, it is a symbol of prosperity, wisdom, and prophecy. The desert rat has been used as an emblem of British soldiers in desert campaigns such as the Gulf War.

The word "mouse" has been used as an affectionate nickname. Mice are believed to be the terror of elephants and so have become a symbol of the weak triumphing over the strong. They are also associated with humility and timidity.

All scripture quotes are from the NKJV Bible unless otherwise indicated.