Max and blew his
stinky breath
in the
mouseking’s face.
“We caught you, you moussseking
troublemaker!” Magmar hissed. “You will
be sssuch a tasssty
sssnack!”
He opened his jaws, ready to gobble up
Max.
“Ssstop!” roared Rocky. “That’sss not
how you do it!”
76
No Mouseking Left Behind!
“What do you mean?” Magmar asked.
“You’re sssupposed to rinssse a
moussseking before eating him!” Rocky
insisted.
Magmar shook his large head. “That’sss
not right! You’ll wash off the flavor! I want
to eat him now!”
“You don’t know what you’re
sssaying,”
Rocky argued. “I worked in the dragon
kitchen with
Sssizzle,
Gobbler’s cook.
You mussst rinssse before eating.”
Magmar tried to distract him. “What about
those other micekings? Did they essscape?”
We hadn’t. We were
hiding
behind some
trees, trying to decide what to do.
Rocky looked around. “They won’t get far.”
“Ssso let’sss eat thisss one
now,
and then look for the othersss,” Magmar
suggested.
77
“Fine!” growled
Rocky, shooting FIRE
from his nostrils. Then the
two dragons flew off, carrying
Max
with them.
“Go back to the drekar
without me!”
Max yelled bravely.
What a hero! He was truly a
fearless mouseking.
They
got
him!
Run!
We’ll
be
back!
No Mouseking Left Behind!
Believe me, I wanted to RUN. But we
couldn’t leave Max in the
clutches
of those terrible dragons. I glanced at my
companions.
Crusher, Smasher, and Sprainer are
beefy, bold,
and courageous,
but without the guidance of Max Musclepaw
they didn’t know what to do. And Trap is
good with inventions, but he’s not exactly
brave.
It was up to me, the shrimpy smarty-
mouseking, to save the day.
“We will leave no mouseking behind!”
I cried.
The other micekings nodded.
“I need your help,” I said. “Together we
can do this.”
Crusher, Smasher, and Sprainer’s eyes
lit
up.
80
No Mouseking Left Behind!
“He’s right! We’ll
crush
them!” said
Crusher.
“We’ll smash them!” said Smasher.
“We’ll
sprain
their tails!” said
Sprainer.
Only Trap seemed unsure. “Okay, but how
will we find the dragons?”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I know what to do.”
I had already come up with
a
mousetastic
idea!
What
an
idea!
81
ON THE DRAGONS’
TRAIL
I explained my plan, but my companions just
LOOKED at me, confused.
“Are you sure it will work?”
Trap asked.
My paws were shaking nervously as I
replied, but I tried to sound confident. “Of
course! If we climb up one of these trees, we
will be able to see all of Gullet
Valley.
From there it will be easy to spot two
ENORMOUSE dragons, and we can
see where they’re taking Max.”
Crusher, Smasher, and Sprainer were not
convinced.
“The BARK is too slippery!” said Crusher.
82
On the Dragons’ Trail
“The TREES are too tall!” said Smasher.
“We’ll need a really long ladder,”
said Sprainer.
I thought about it. “We will be the ladder,”
I replied. “Each one of us can stand on
the shoulders of the other. It’s like I said:
Together we can do this!”
Trap slapped me on the back with his paw.
“Good idea, Cousin!”
“I’ll be on the
BOTTOM!”
said Crusher.
Let’s
climb!
83
On the Dragons’ Trail
“And you can go on the top, Geronimo!”
Trap said.
Only then did I understand the TROUBLE
I had gotten myself into. My paws began to
shake like a bowl of cheese curds.
“B-but . . . but I’m afraid of heights!” I
stammered. “Can’t one of you do it?”
“You’re not making sense, Cousin,” Trap
replied. “You couldn’t possibly hold up any
of us with those shrimpy muscles of yours.
You’ve got to climb to the top!”
I sighed. It was my plan, after all, so
I couldn’t back out. Besides, with each
second that passed, Max Musclepaw was in
DANGER of becoming
dragon dinner!
Smasher climbed on Crusher’s shoulders.
Then Sprainer climbed on top of Smasher.
Trap climbed on top of Sprainer. Then it was
my turn.
84
It’s high up
here!
Hurry!
Your turn!
Do I
have to?
No
kicking!
I see them!
I slowly began to climb. I have
never been good at climbing tall trees.
I’m not good at climbing short ones, either!
One by one, I climbed up my companions.
“Ouch! You stepped on my ear!”
cried Crusher.
“Ouch! Watch the whiskers!” cried
Smasher.
On the Dragons’ Trail
“Ouch! No kicking!” cried Sprainer.
Finally, I stepped onto Trap’s head and then
climbed to the top of the tree.
Holey cheese, what a view!
A Sweet Plan
From the top of the tree I could see all
of Gullet Valley, from the green
Elderberry Honey Woods all the way to the
barren land of the dragons.
“Can you see the dragons, Geronimo?”
Trap yelled up to me.
I scanned the scene. Mostly, allI could see
were the thick forest trees. Then I spotted
something: two balls of FIRE, followed by
puffs of smoke. I yelled down to the others:
“I see the dragons! They’re in a clearing
north of here!”
“Good job, Cousin! Come back down!”
Trap yelled.
This excited the other three micekings,
88
who started to
pound the trunk
of the tree with their
paws.
“We will crush them!”
“We will smash
them!”
“We will sprain
their tails!”
The tree began to shake!
I lost my grip and
slid down the trunk.
THUD! I landed
on my tail. Trap
helped me up.
I’m
sliiiiipping!
“Now how are we supposed to free
Max Musclepaw?” he asked.
“Yes, how?” echoed Crusher, Smasher,
and Sprainer.
“I’m not sure yet,” I replied. “Let’s get a
closer look at the situation.”
I was deep in thought as we walked toward
the clearing, and almost bumped into a
beehive.
“Watch it, Cousin!” Trap warned.
“You don’t want to anger the brown
bears again.”
Crusty codfish, that was all we needed!
Unless . . .
An idea hit me. Another MOUSETASTIC
idea!
“Listen up, everyone,” I told the others.
90
Plop!
“We can use the brown bears
to chase away the
dragons. We just have to make them
believe that the dragons want to steal
their honey!”
I pushed on a tree trunk, trying to
get a beehive to fall.
But since I’m a shrimpy
smarty-mouseking with
puny muscles, I couldn’t
move the tree even
half a tail.
Luckily,
Crusher, Smasher, and
Sprainer helped out.
Plop!
Plop!
I’m too
weak!
A Sweet Plan
A dozen beehives fell to the ground. The
sweet smell of honey spread through the
woods.
A loud roar came from the bushes, and
the big brown bears rushed out! They had
A Sweet Plan
fierce claws and jaws filled with
sharp teeth! We grabbed the beehives
and ran away as FAST as we could.
The Charge of the
Brown Bears
When we reached the clearing, Rocky and
Magmar were washing Max in a river along
the rocky shore.
“How many timesss do we have to rinssse
this moussseking?” Magmar complained to
Rocky. “I’m hungry!”
Rocky lifted up the soggy mouseking.
“Ssscrub under his pawsss a bit more,
Magmar! You’ll sssee how tasssty he will
be!”
“Wouldn’t he be tassstier with sssome
ssseasoning?” Magmar argued. “Like maybe
a sssprinkle of hot pepper?”
“No, he would not,” Rocky replied. “A
94
Put me down,
you ugly lizards!
SCRUB
SCRUB
fresh mouseking today is better than a
COOKED one tomorrow!”
My whiskers shivered in fright when I
heard those words. But I had a MISSION
to complete! I couldn’t turn back!
Then the dragons spotted us. “LOOK,
Magmar! The micekings have returned!”
Ricky cried.
“Sssweet!” hissed Magmar. “Now we can
have desssert!”
95
The Charge of the Brown Bears
I gathered my courage. “Micekings,
prepare to attack. Now!” I yelled in a
trembling voice.
At that signal we all tossed our beehives
at the two dragons. The hives burst
open, covering the dragons in sticky
honey.
“I will gobble you all in one sssingle bite!”
Magmar roared, lunging toward us.
At that moment, the brown bears ran into
the clearing. They were big, hungry,
and . . .
SOOO SPEEEEEEDY!
Taken by surprise, Magmar and
Rocky dropped Max. The mouseking quickly
scurried off just as the bears jumped on the
two dragons.
Lick!
Slurp!
96
Gobble!
The Charge of the Brown Bears
The bears began to eat the honey that was
stuck to the dragons.
“OUCH! These bearsss bite!” Rocky
yelled.
“Get them off me!” wailed Magmar.
Trap taunted them. “Now you’ll learn not to
mousenap any of us, you lousy
lizards!” he called out.
Trap was lucky that the dragons couldn’t
chase him. They had too much honey
stuck to their wings — and too many bears
climbing on them!
The bears pushed the dragons back one
step . . . two steps . . . three steps . . .
splaaash!
Rocky and Magmar fell into the river!
Everyone knows that dragons can’t stand
97
Mission accomplished!
I’m free!
They bite!
Ouch!
The Charge of the Brown Bears
clean water. It washes off their terrible
stench (which is terrible to everyone but
them). It also makes their scales squeaky,
and can give them colds!
“Not freshwater!” Rocky wailed.
They yelled and blew SMOKE out of their
dripping nostrils. But the water washed
Uh-oh!
The Charge of the Brown Bears
off the honey.
We watched them, satisfied, as they flew
away.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
Max Musclepaw RAN up to me.
“Looks like I made you into a true
macho mouseking, didn’t I, my shrimpy
friend?” he asked.
I nodded and held out my paw. “Thanks!”
He shook it firmly. “I thought you were
supposed to be a smarty-mouseking.
The Charge of the Brown Bears
I am the one who should be thanking you.
You saved me!”
Crusher, Smasher, and Sprainer lifted me
above their heads.
Hooray!
Long live
Geronimo!
102
The Charge of the Brown Bears
“Hooray for Geronimo!”
Then they tossed me in the air and cheered:
“Hip, hip, hooray!”
“Hip, hip, hooray!”
“Hip, hip, hooray!”
“Hip, hip, hooray!”
I was so touched that I couldn’t squeak!
Max looked like he might even cry.
To hide his feelings, he THUNDERED,
“Back to the drekar! True macho
micekings never stop!”
103
My First
Miceking Helmet!
The return trip went smoothly, and we
arrived in Mouseborg at sunset. The
whole village was waiting for us.
Sven ran to meet us. “So, smarty-
mouseking,” he shouted, “did you manage
to pull a dragon’s tooth?”
Great groaning glaciers, we had
forgotten!
We were so worried about saving Max that
we had forgotten about our final test!
“Well, you s-s-see —” I stammered, afraid
to answer.
Max interrupted me.
“Valiant Sven, we did not finish the test,”
104
My First Miceking Helmet!
Max said. “Two dragons captured me.”
Everyone gasped.
“Max Musclepaw was captured?” asked
one mouseking.
“The hero who earned 1,753 helmets?”
asked another.
“How did he get free?” someone else asked.
Max motioned for everyone to be silent.
“I’m free thanks to Geronimo. He saved us
all!” he announced.
Sven patted me on the
back. I“m proud
of you!”
It’s about
time!
My First Miceking Helmet!
My nephew Benjamin pushed through
the crowd. He threw his arms around my
neck.
“I knew you could do it, Uncle!” he
cried.
Thea and Trap hugged me, too. And
then, the charming Thora approached.
“You were so brave, Geronimo!” she said.
Shivering squids! Thora had just
You are a
hero!
Ummm . . .
I . . .
Well done,
Cousin!
Hooray!
Yippee!
Hee, hee!
My First Miceking Helmet!
called me BRAVE! I blushed from the tip
of my tail to the tops of my ears.
“Umm, actually, I didn’t really do anything
s-s-special,” I stammered nervously.
Thora shook her head. “You behaved like
a real hero, Geronimo, even without a
miceking helmet!”
“That’s right!” Max interrupted. “A feat like
that should be rewarded with a miceking
helmet!”
Sven nodded. “Micekings of Mouseborg,
REJOICE! Geronimo will receive
his first — and possibly last — miceking
helmet!”
Everyone let out a celebratory cheer.
LONG LIVE GERONIMO!”
HOORAY FOR THE SMARTY-MOUSEKING!”
WE’RE ALL WITH YOU!”
107
My First Miceking Helmet!
“We will celebrate with a lavish
banquet!” Sven shouted. “And my wife,
Mousehilde, will prepare
gloog for the
entire village!”
Mousehilde nodded. “I will make a huge
pot of gloog! And when it’s done, I’ll