The Story of Hundore, the Fierce.

This story is dedicated to my three granddaughters, Amber, Emma and Layla.

It was a long cold winter, as His Majesty, the Prince and his wife,
the Princess Sadie Bell, were snug in their castle.

Prince said, "Princess, those pesky raccoons are raiding our bird feeder again.
It's bedtime now, but when I get up,
I'll try to figure out a way to keep them away from it."

Prince said, "I am going to put my crown away, and I will be right up...
Man, the wind is howling so,
it's rattling the window panes!"

...meanwhile, Hundore, a powerful Viking Raccoon warrier,
traveled back to the other side of the lake.
He addressed his fellow raccoons
and said to them...

"My Good Fellows! I have a wonderful idea!
His Majesty, the Prince is very rich with both treasure and fine food!
Let us go there and pillage him,
so that we can have food for our families this dreadful winter!
Let us prepare for battle!"

They were ready in a jiffy, and set sail across the lake!

They arrived and Bekan, Griss, and Leif went ahead as scouts.
They climbed into a tree, looked into the castle windows,
and saw that the Prince was sound asleep!

Then, the three sneaked into the castle
and stole every one of the jewels,
as Hundore had instructed them!

They stole away with the jewels and set sail for home!

Meanwhile, Prince awoke and went to the jewel case to put on his crown.

Prince exclaimed,

"Halp! Halp! My jewels have all been stolen!"

The Prince, and his best friend Pookie, decided it must have been
the raccoons across the lake, who stole his jewels,
because they found raccoon tracks in the snow,
everywhere outside the castle.

Because the Viking Raccoons are such a formidable lot,
Pookie advised His Majesty to gather all the cats,
dress up as Swashbuckling Pirates, and go demand the jewels back.
Prince was quite afraid of the viking warriors,
but reluctantly agreed...
and so they set sail for Hundore's kingdom.

Prince and Pookie discussed the possible scenarios they might encounter.
Prince insisted they were too fierce to deal with;
Pookie advised Prince to "swagger in there like you own the place, and demand the jewels back".
Prince was highly doubtful that would work,
and was secretly glad he had brought along enough shrimpies to hopefully,
bribe the entire army!

After a protracted period of time,
while Prince was rehearsing the speech he intended to give Hundore and his followers,
he noticed that they seemed to be veering off course.

Prince said, "Charlie!...er...Cap'n Blackspot!
It's just a straight line to the other side of the lake!
We are veering off course!"

All Charlie said was, "Yo Ho Hoooo, and a bottle of Yum...er...Rum!"

Prince helped him correct the course.
And snatched away his bottle of rum.

Finally, they arrived at their destination!
Prince timidly stepped forward and addressed the horde of viking warriors.
He mustered up his courage and announced
in his best "Braveheart" voice:

"My Fellow Raccoonians!"

"WE GOT SHRIMPIES!!!"

One raccoon replied, "You mean you will FEED ALL of us?
Even our women and children?
for ALL WINTER???"

Pookie spoke up then and said,
"I can vouch for His Majesty!
He's a "straight up" kinda guy!"

At this, Hundore said,
"Okay, guys, give him back his jewels!
These are some COOL CATS!"

And the moral of this story is: Share your riches with those who are less fortunate!

Back in Elizabethan times, after they had finished eating,
the servant girl went around the table with a basket in her arms
and collected the leftovers as they were given to her.
She would call out, "Alms for the poor..."

THE END.

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