Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 BARON VON GRUMP COVERED HIS ears. He growled. He groaned. He grimaced. Why is everyone so loud? And happy? Why, he'd even heard a villager say "Good morning" to another villager just a minute ago. Every villager was out and about, young and old, waving their little cheese flags, and wearing hats made of cheese wheels. There was even a parade and a wagon piled high with cheese. White cheese, yellow cheese, pink cheese, cheese with holes. Square cheese, round cheese. Cheese, cheese, cheese, CHEESE! "They are driving me crazy with all of their noise!" he said to Edgar. "How am I

supposed to practice my violin with them making such a racket? And oh, the stench! The horrible, terrible stink of their cheeses." Baron Von Grump pinched his nose shut with a clothespin. "Bud I hab a plan. I doh justh whut to do!" "Caw! Caw!" said Edgar. Baron Von Grump went down, down, down the sagging staircase of the Old Windmill, all the way to the basement. Edgar flew down the stairs, leading the way. Baron Von Grump hardly ever went down to the basement. He lived in the top room of the very old, very rickety, very crooked windmill. The basement was dark, and damp, and filled with rats. Big, hairy black rats with long pink tails and bright red eyes. Baron Von Grump lit a candle. The rats blinked. There were a lot of rats. There was a lot of blinking.

"Hey," said a very big rat, munching on a wedge of cheese, "put that candle out!" The rats did not like light very much. "How would you like all the cheese you could eat?" asked Baron Von Grump. The rats liked cheese a lot. They liked cheese more than they disliked light. The rats listened to what Baron Von Grump had to say. Baron Von Grump said that there was a lot of cheese in the village. He said that each house was filled with cheese. He also said that the rats could have all of it... as long as

they chased the villagers away. And chewed their cheese quietly. "Hmm," said the big rat. "I'll put it to a vote." The big rat called all of the other rats together and explained Baron Von Grump's offer. The rats thought this was a very good idea. Unfortunately, the village was much brighter than the basement of the Old Windmill, but the village was also filled with cheese. "We'll do it!" said the big rat. He swallowed his wedge of cheese. He burped. He did not have very nice manners. Baron Von Grump smiled. It was a very small smile, a crooked smile, certainly not a full smile. But it was something. Edgar's beady little black eyes seemed to smile as well. "Soon," said Baron Von Grump, "those villagers will be gone, and I'll finally have

some peace and quiet. I will finally be able to play my violin without all of their cheering and chattering and cheese stink!"