Piumino lands on the bell tower. He taps the big Christmas Bell. Tap. Tap. Silence.
Piumino tilts his head. The iron beneath his talons is ice-cold. He thinks: "Where did the sound go?"
Piumino glides above the wooden rooftops. He searches for the sound through the snow. He stops: a brown tail pokes out from the white.
A mouse is trapped. Its burrow is buried under the snow. It shivers and whispers: "Help me."
Piumino scratches at the snow with his beak. He moves it in little mounds. Mound after mound, the cozy dark of the burrow reappears.
The mouse huffs: "Ah-CHII!" and slips inside. Piumino shakes out his feathers. Still silence. No bell sound at all.
Piumino goes back to the bell tower. He sits on the stone ledge. He watches the mouse's footprints in the fresh snow.
The mouse sneezed. Piumino laughs, beak wide open, flapping his wings. And just then: BOOM.
The Bell bursts with gold among the pines. The sound rolls over the wooden houses. Windows tinkling, snow dancing.
Piumino fans his wings wide and glides. The village sings. The Bell won't stop anymore.