toast,
20
jars of fjordberry jam,
25
logs of goat cheese, and
7
chunks of precious
Stenchberg.
When I finished,
the bag was
so
heavy!
19
You’re Hopeless!
“Lift that bag and run!” Max shouted.
“I WILL
GET
YOU
IN
SHAPE,
YOU
SMARTY-MOUSEKING!”
Crusher, Smasher, and Sprainer were waiting
outside. The three of them had already begun
their training, which consisted of:
100 PUSH-UPS,
100 sit-ups, and
100 PULL-UPS using their whiskers!
Guess what? Trap was nowhere in sight!
“Why don’t you all start the trip without
me?” I suggested. “I should wait here for
my cousin.”
“No need!” said Max. “Your cousin was so
excited about the trip that he left early.”
“Really?” I asked in disbelief.
“Yes, and you should follow his example,
you little shrimp!” Max bellowed. “I’ll
20
You’re Hopeless!
straighten you out, you smarty-mouseking!
Run, run, run!”
Then he began to chant:
“Our whiskers
always
make
us
proud!
We’ll
say
it
now!
We’ll
say
it
loud!
And if
the
dragons
we
should
meet,
We’ll
crush
them
in
a
fierce
defeat!
We work,
we
stink,
we
sweat,
we
spit!
But
we
will
never,
ever
quit!
Our enemies
will
feel
our
sting!
We
are
the
true
and
mighty
micekings!”
We ran through the village and began to
CLIMB up, up, up, all the way to Three
Lookouts Cliff.
Crusher,
Smasher,
and
Sprainer
ran behind me, shouting
all the way.
21
You’re Hopeless!
“Run or I’ll
Crush
you!”
“Run or I’ll Smash you!”
“Run or I’ll
Sprain
your tail!”
The hill we were climbing was so steep that
the weight of my bag caused me to
fall
backward, like a turtle in his shell.
Run, you
shrimp!
Faster!
You’re Hopeless!
How do I get into these terrible
situations?
Move it!
Heeeeelp!
Three Lookouts
Cliff
We finally reached the top of Three Lookouts
Cliff.
Max Musclepaw was there already. “You
call that running?” he scoffed.
But I was tired — finished —
exhausted!
I was also starving, so I opened my
backpack.
“What are you doing, you little shrimp?”
Max yelled at me.
“I—I was just preparing BREAKFAST,
oh brave one,” I replied hopefully.
He snickered. “I said you could bring
breakfast. I didn’t say you could eat it!”
24
I was puzzled, until
Max said, “The breakfast
“B-but . . . but . . .” I
stammered.
“Move it, shrimp!”
Max yelled.
He pushed me toward
the watchtower, where
three lookouts were
scanning the horizon.
The lookouts stay in
the tower DAY and
night.
They watch
the sky for dragons, who
The Three
Lookouts
These three micekings
never leave the
watchtower. They sound
a large horn as a warning
when dragons or other
enemies are in sight.
Three Lookouts Cliff
are always starved for miceking meat!
I handed the lookouts my backpack FULL
of food.
“Young micekings just aren’t the same
these days,” grumbled the first.
“Since when did micekings becomes such
jellyfish?” grumbled the second.
“This one looks as soft as a cheese ball,”
grumbled the third.
I sighed. Would I ever fit in?
Suddenly, Trap ran up to me. He looked
sweaty and
sticky
but seemed to be
full of energy.
“Good morning, Cousin,” he said
cheerfully. “A nice little run is a great way
to start the day!”
It was strange that Trap wasn’t exhausted
like I was. Even stranger, I thought I smelled
honey on him.
26
Three Lookouts Cliff
Are you
tired
already?
Puff .
.
.
pant
.
.
.
“It’s time to start our first exercise!” Max
called out. “You need to crush those
rocks!”
I looked at the rocks. They were giant
boulders!
Crusher, Smasher, and Sprainer started
pounding the boulders,
crumbling
them
with their bare paws.
27
Three Lookouts Cliff
“Snap to it, smarty-mouseking!” Max
yelled at me.
I tried to picked up the mallet, but
it weighed as much as I did!
1
When I finally managed to lift it,
I charged at the boulder, yelling, “Here I
goooo!”
2
But I missed it and face-planted into
the rock!
Kabaaaaaaaam!
Here I
go!
2
1
Oops!
Three Lookouts Cliff
3
The mallet slipped out of my
paw, flew through the air, and landed right
behind a goat that was munching on
some grass nearby.
4
The goat, furious, charged at
me with its head down! Squeak!
3
4
Squeeeeak!
The Great
Cliff Dive
I closed my EYES and prepared for the
worst as the goat
charged
toward me.
At the last second, Max Musclepaw grabbed
the goat by its horns and stopped it in its
tracks.
“YOU’D
BE
TOAST
IF
IT
WEREN’T
FOR
ME,
YOU
LITTLE
SHRIMP!”
he said.
He let go of the goat’s horns. The animal
trotted away, angrily huffing and
puffing.
The three lookouts had watched the whole
scene from the watchtower.
“In our day . . .” began the
first
one.
“We respected goats!” said the second one.
30
The Great Cliff Dive
“We certainly didn’t throw mallets at
them!” finished the third one.
Shivering
squids,
I
can’t
win!
Then Max gathered us together for our next
exercise . . . the great cliff dive.
I looked over the edge and got woozy. What
a dizzying drop down to the water below!
“I’m afraid of heights!” I whimpered.
“And I’m a terrible swimmer!”
At that moment, I felt a
sticky
paw on
my shoulder. It was Trap.
“Come on, Cousin!” he said. “Follow my
lead. I’m not
afraid
of anything!”
Max Musclepaw stomped up to us, sniffing.
“I smell honey.” He GRABBED Trap by the
belt. “It’s you! You rubbed honey all over
your fur to make yourself look sweaty.
You didn’t really run, did you?”
31
The Great Cliff Dive
“Um . . . well . . . I took a shortcut,”
Trap admitted.
“Is that so?” Max growled. “Then you can
jump first! And don’t try to
trick
me again!”
Max pushed Trap off the cliff! Then Crusher,
Smasher, and Sprainer each jumped
You first!
off. They all splashed into the
freezing waters of the
fjord.
I LOOKED down,
turning as pale
The Great Cliff Dive
as mozzarella, then as purple as a wild
berry, then as green as the mold on
Stenchberg cheese. Galloping goats, I’d
never make it!
Max tried to encourage me. “Watch me!”
he yelled.
As he dove off the cliff, he yelled, “Get a
move on, you little shriiiiiiiiiiiiiimp!”
The THREE LOOKOUTS approached
me.
“To get over a fear of heights, you just need
to hold your
breath
,” said the
first.
“No, he needs to eat
some snails,” said
the second.
“No way! He just needs
to stick
pinecones
in
his ears,” said the third.
I’m
scared!
33
The Great Cliff Dive
Then the first lookout sounded the horn
right in my ear.
Tooooooot!
Toooooooooot!
I was so startled I jumped right off the cliff!
I fell down,
down,
down . . .
34
Heeeelp!
That’s
how
it’s
done!
Seasick and
Heartbroken!
I made a mousetastic dive (well, more like
a
belly flop)
and splashed into
the waters of the fjord.
I can’t swim, so Max
fished
me
out of the water with a long oar. He pulled me
up onto the deck of a drekar — a miceking
ship.
“Stop splashing around, shrimp!” Max
yelled. “Our captain is waiting!”
Captain? My whiskers twitched. I hoped
it wasn’t . . .
“
! Hurry up and get on board.
We need to leave while the wind is still in our
favor,” barked
Olaf the Fearless.
36
Hurry
up!
We’re
leaving!
Noooooooooo!
Olaf was captain of the Bated Breath, the
creakiest ship on all of Miceking Island!
My tummy started to do
flip-flops
as
waves rocked the ship. Then I saw dark
clouds
forming overhead.
Squeak!
A
storm
was
coming!
“Don’t worry, Geronimo. A
true macho
mouseking
goes out to sea no matter what
the weather!” Olaf said.
I sighed and sat down on the rower’s bench.
37
Seasick and Heartbroken!
Then I heard a voice from the shore.
“You can
do
it!
Give
it
your
all!”
Squeak! It was Thora! She was running
along the shore waving a
miceking
flag
at us. Was she really cheering us on?
My whiskers trembled with excitement. I
stood up. “Oh, lovely Thora! I will give it
my all, just for you!”
Thora continued. “You can do it, BRAVE
ONE! Only you can turn that smarty-
mouseking into a real hero!”
Shivering squids,
Thora was
only there to cheer for Max Musclepaw!
How heartbreaking!
Max had me row the ship, but it was a
real disaster. I am not a sea-mouseking,
so the drekar just kept spinning around
and around!
38
Seasick and Heartbroken!
Max Musclepaw shook his
head.
“Forget the rowing!” he
boomed. “Climb up the
mast and set the sails!”
Give
it
your
all!
Come on!
My tummy . . .
Uh-oh!
got
I obeyed, but my paws
tangled
in the ropes. They
twisted around
me like strands
of string cheese!
At this rate, I
would never
earn a miceking
helmet!
40
Thea Stiltonord,
Goat
Whisperer!
The ship sailed back to the port in
Mouseborg. My sister, Thea, was waiting
for us on the dock. Max explained that he
had made an agreement with her for a
special exercise.
“You’ll all be riding wild horses,”
Thea explained, and my fur froze in fear.
Wild horses?!
“Geronimo, there are only four wild horses
to work with, so I’ve got a very special
ride planned for you,” she told me as we
walked.
“S-s-special?” I stammered
suspiciously.
&nb
sp; 41
THEA
the horse trainer
Thea is my sister
and a very skilled
mouseking. She trains
horses, and she has a
special skill she calls
“whispering.” When
Thea “whispers” to
any animal, big or
small, it listens to her.
She knows the secret
to communicating
with all kinds of
creatures!
Thea calmed me down.
“Oh, don’t worry. It’s just a
friendly goat!”
But as soon as I saw it, my
knees became as wobbly as
cottage cheese.
Great groaning
glaciers!
It was the very same
goat that had attacked me
on Three Lookouts Cliff! I
started to run, but Max
grabbed me.
“Where do you think
you’re going, shrimp?” Max
bellowed. “Behave like a
true mouseking!”
He threw me into the pen
with the goat, but that
Oh no,
you
again!
beast would not let me come near it! Then
Thea came into the pen and whispered
some words to the goat to calm it down.
“Okay, Geronimo, climb on,” she said.
And then she left me. Squeak!
1
The “friendly” goat began to
kick
and
huff.
2
Then it stopped short and threw
me off its back!
3
I spun through the air . . . and
landed in the boar pen!
43
Thea Stiltonord, Goat Whisperer!
That’s when Sven the Shouter stomped up.
“Max, bring Geronimo to Gullet
Valley
for his final test!”
Crusty codfish! Everyone knows that
Gullet Valley is very close to Beastgard, the
land of the fearsome
dragons!
He
doesn’t
like
me!
1
2
“Leave at once!” Sven yelled.
All the micekings shouted:
“so
says
sven
the
shouter!”
3
Um . . . hi!
WILD BEASTS IN
THE WOODS
Max Musclepaw proudly announced his plans
for our final test.
“TO
COMBAT
YOUR
FEARS,
YOU
MUST
FACE
THEM!”
he boomed. “And what are micekings, even