All mice must die.

Blauen Sänger are singing a song called... well, it's an incomplete (but lengthy) sentence in German, but the title isn't important. What matters is the text. It begins by talking about all the different kinds of mice, which sounds nice, right? Field mice, house mice, water mice...

Fact: When I was little, I had a lot of books about mice (Beatrix Potter, anyone?) But specifically, there was a book called "The Biggest Pumpkin Ever." It was about two mice, one from the city and one from the country, who unwittingly fertilized and nurtured the same pumpkin (gasp)! Mr. City Mouse gardened during the day and Mr. Field Mouse gardened at night. The night before the big pumpkin contest, they found out that each other existed, but thankfully were able to resolve their socio-economic differences and enter the contest together.

(And of course they won. It was the biggest pumpkin ever.)

So this was my mindset; happy, cheery mice from different homes. That is, until we sang (in a cheery 16th C. melodic fashion, of course:)

"Alle müssen sterben und verderben!" All must die and be ruined.

This, friends, is the most stereotypically German thing I've experienced first-hand. I mean, of course the mice die, because everyone dies! All the mice die! Yes! Hyper-awareness of mortality!

Happy endings are hard to find in German lore, so I really shouldn't be surprised, but... it made me laugh until I was in tears. Brilliant.

(Speaking of mice, Heather and I saw this little guy running along the sidewalk. Blurry, but still adorable.)

^ must die.