Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 THE VILLAGE WAS FILLED WITH rats. Big rats, short rats, thin rats, long rats. Rats scampered down the streets. They crawled into houses through windows. They slid under doors. They hopped onto roofs and dropped down the chimneys. They twitched their pink tails and grinned with their yellow teeth. The rats ran everywhere ... and everywhere they ran, the villagers ran too. "This is great!" said the rats. "So much cheese!"

Now, mind you, the rats were not hurting anyone. They certainly did not want to overly upset the villagers. All they wanted was cheese, and Baron Von Grump had been right. There was a lot of cheese in this village! But the villagers did not know what the rats wanted. The villagers did not stop to ask the rats why they had come in through the windows and down the chimneys, and why they were on the village streets. The villagers just ran in circles. They climbed atop wagons. They stood on chairs.

"There are too many of them!" said a villager. "We'll never get rid of them all!" said another. "They're eating our cheese!" cried a third villager. "Everyone!" said the mayor, shouting through a very loud bullhorn. "Gather your things. Pack your bags. Collect your children. We must leave the village!" Baron Von Grump clapped his hands together. He leaned out of his window and watched. "My plan is working!" he said. "Soon those cheese-eating, song-singing, gum- chewing, happy villagers will be gone and I'll be able to play, play, play my violin without any distraction!" He spun in a circle, jumped up, and clicked his heels together. Edgar sat on the

edge of a rafter and bobbed his head up and down. "Caw! Caw!" "Yes, my friend," said Baron Von Grump, "the sooner the better." He did not like the villagers' panicked hollering and shouting, and he certainly did not like the mayor's bullhorn. Baron Von Grump slammed his shutters closed again. He stomped to his favorite chair, sat down, and opened his violin case. He blew off the dust and the cobwebs and lifted the violin to his chin. He placed the bow on the strings. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and drew the bow across the strings. It made a terrible screech. "Caw! Caw!" shrieked Edgar. He flew straight to the window... and into the closed shutters.

"Well, of course it's not tuned!" growled Baron Von Grump, waving his bow. "How am I supposed to tune it when I can't even hear myself think?!" Edgar shrugged his wings. Baron Von Grump shoved his violin back into the case and slapped the lid closed.