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Overview
A mouse’s prayer that her second child be beautiful is followed by the birth of a peacock. Before leaving for the forest, he gives her feathers and instructions to throw them into the air from a hilltop and call his name three times. When the king demands four peacocks for the palace’s golden roof pinnacles, the mouse sends her youngest son to seek this brother.
The peacock answers, calls from a high tree and gathers many birds. Four strong peacocks carry the boy in their claws to the palace, where the flock displays its tails and the king chooses four. The brother is the mouse’s biological child in this tale, whereas the other birds are helpers of unstated parentage. Neither flight while carrying a human nor the mixed-species family is offered as natural history.
Origins & earliest records
Tibet; collected historical narrative
Records & interpretation
Full relevant tale and collection preface directly read.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Folk Tales from Tibet
XII, The Mouse’s Three Children, pp. 68–75
Family, evolution & connections
The Mouse’s three sons — O’Connor 1906
Explicit births and sibling relationships in Story XII, a Nepal-set tale in O’Connor’s Tibetan collection.
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Mother and offspring named directly in the narrative; birth sequence retained. The Mouse initially lives with a husband, but the births do not explicitly identify a father. Prayers do not establish divine parentage. Recruited tigers and peacocks are not additional siblings. This is a translated literary witness, not biological evolution.
Jewel-haired son of the mouse
The tale identifies these two among the Mouse’s three sons. The other tigers and peacocks recruited to satisfy the king’s demands are helpers, not additional children of the Mouse.
Primary records and illustrations
W. F. O’Connor, Folk Tales from Tibet (1906)
XII, The Mouse’s Three Children. pp. 68–75
Entire tale read. Mouse mother and three offspring explicitly identified; other recruited animals not given shared parentage. Original paraphrase; mythical elephant anatomy not biological evidence.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical tale collectionO’Connor, Folk Tales from Tibet — XII, The Mouse’s Three Children, pp. 68–75Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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