One day the Countrymen noticed that the Mountains were in labour; smoke
came out of their summits, the earth was quaking at their feet, trees
were crashing, and huge rocks were tumbling. They felt sure that
something horrible was going to happen. They all gathered together in
one place to see what terrible thing this could be. They waited and
they waited, but nothing came. At last there was a still more violent
earthquake, and a huge gap appeared in the side of the Mountains. They
all fell down upon their knees and waited. At last, and at last, a
teeny, tiny mouse poked its little head and bristles out of the gap and
came running down towards them, and ever after they used to say:
“Much outcry, little outcome.”