Once upon a time in a land not-so-far away and not-so-long ago, there stood a ranch house in which lived a community of mice. The mice had enjoyed moderate success and grew a bit each year. Larger and larger numbers of mice came to live in the community. Soon, the mice were bursting at the seams.

This overpopulation led to more mice caught by the cats, infighting among the mice and more and more dumb, brutal mice that started fights with other mice. Soon the mouse community said, “Enough! We need new leaders. We cannot continue to have all these new mice added to our community so quickly”

The mice were led by a mouse council, which numbered five, four councilmice and a Mouse King. Two were elected every so often and two were elected every other so often. The King was elected whenever the others ran for council. The mouse who had served long as King decided his time had come to step aside. There was great rejoicing.

Many mice ran for King, but one of the current councilmice, Godly Mouse, won. Many mice were puzzled that Godly Mouse won the election, despite his already serving on the council. For you see, Godly Mouse, while a well meaning, God-fearing mouse, was thought by many to be a few holes short of a slice of Swiss cheese. Somehow, just enough mice thought him good enough to serve.

Two mice were newly elected to the council, Woodworker Mouse and Singing Mouse. Each were from among the number who thought little of the new King, especially as he was a hold-over from the group that had created the mess they were in to begin with. Godly Mouse needed to have his vacated council spot filled by decision of the Mouse Council. Woodworker and Singing Mouse talked it over and decided to find a candidate that would help them keep the King in check.

They searched among the other mice and decided on Worker Mouse. He had served the mice community well and had disputed many years with the likes of Godly Mouse. Surely, Worker Mouse would fit well with them to control the King. The new King wanted another choice, and the fifth councilmouse, Go-along Mouse, was perfectly willing to do as the King chose. Go-along hated to make waves and did what ever the King did regardless of who was King or what they did.

The King saw that a stalemate would occur, with the new councilmice adamant about their choice, so the King relented and Worker Mouse joined the council. There was great rejoicing, for surely the ranch house mouse community would be set right now. Worker Mouse was happy as could be, for now he could right the wrongs he had seen for so long.

Time passed and to the dismay of Woodworker Mouse and Singing Mouse, Worker Mouse turned out to be a clone of Go-along Mouse. Worse, it seemed the King lacked a filter between mouth and brain, causing him to utter orations in which he accused those who objected to his desires to have dark, hidden agendas. Worker Mouse would join the King, lashing out at others for unexplained reasons. Many were puzzled. What happened to Worker Mouse? Had he been hitting the moldy bread? Breaking into the hard cider jugs?

As time continued, Worker Mouse got worse. Woodworker Mouse and Singing Mouse began to plot against him. “We must rid ourselves of this mistake,” said Woodworker Mouse. The next every so often came along. The King, Go-along Mouse and Worker Mouse were put up for reelection. Woodworker and Singing Mouse worked hard to un-elect the trio of mice.

The King was thrown out and sent to live among the rats that ran the ranch woods, who, as it turned out, were throwing a few extra morsels the King’s way all this time. As new mice came toward the ranch, the ranch wood rats charged the new mice to find them accommodations. The King was paid off to go along with whatever scheme the ranch wood rats came up with. Now that he was of no use to them, the ranch wood rats told the now-deposed King to come to a party in his honor and was left exposed for a patrol cat to find. Worker Mouse returned to his hole in retirement, where he was promptly ignored. Go-along Mouse, being a cute little mouse that rarely said a thing, was returned again to the council to act as the third vote for whatever the new King chose, because no one was sure what Go-along Mouse was about.

And all was the same as it always was, forever and ever