Mouse Deer and Tiger

Story

Tiger wants to eat Mouse Deer for his dinner but tiny Mouse Deer is cunning and outwits Tiger.

Why we chose it

Mouse Deer and Tiger was part of The Story Museum’s original audio stories collection. Children love trickster tales and Mouse Deer is an usual trickster who may not be familiar.

Where it came from

Sang Kancil, the Mouse Deer is a trickster character who appears in a number of stories from across Southeast Asia, generally outwitting a larger predator. He uses his tricks and his cleverness to save other animals as well as to help himself. A Mouse Deer is an animal with the face of a mouse but the markings of a deer, about the size of a baby deer.

Where it went next

Storyteller Aaron Shepard and illustrator Kim Gamble produced a picture book version, The Adventures of Mouse Deer: Favourite Tales of South East Asia.

Associated stories

There are a number of stories about Mouse Deer. In Mouse Deer and the Crocodile, Mouse Deer tricks the crocodiles into lying side by side so that he can cross the river. In Mouse Deer and the Farmer he plays dead to escape the angry farmer who catches him stealing vegetables.