Mr Bunnsy Has An Adventure

With grateful thanks to Elli Puukangas via Twitter 

Title: Mr Bunnsy Has An Adventure 

Author: Not known 

Publisher: Not known 

Source book: The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett (Discworld #28)

The Amazing Maurice and his educated rodents are a scruffy tabby tom cat and a clan of rats who suddenly learn to speak and write (some of them), and think. Quite thoughtful thoughts for cats and rats sometimes even including philosophy, and maybe the beginnings of a religion.

The rats lived on a rubbish heap behind Unseen University and everyone knows that wizards throw out all sorts of magical stuff, and again everyone knows rats will eat anything. So that’s probably how they suddenly learned to talk in the language of humans. But Maurice begged at the kitchen door and the cooks wouldn’t feed magical milk or fish to a cat. So none of them know how he learned to talk. Until it turned out that he unknowingly ate a talking rat (name of Additives) and inherited the talking.

Some of the rats learn to read and discover a picture book called Mr Bunnsy Has An Adventure. It features a cast of animals who wear clothes and talk to humans (Farmer Fred) in the land of Furry Bottom. The characters include Mr Bunnsy, a rabbit who wears a blue suit; Ratty Rupert, a rat who wears a red waistcoat and carries a sword; Doris Duck (apparently she loses a shoe and the entire story is about searching for it - obviously it was under her bed all the time); Ollie the snake, yes he wears a collar and tie; a hen; an owl and Old Man Donkey.

Mr Bunnsy Has An Adventure was written, according to Malicia Grim, by a silly woman. Whoever she was, she also wrote Mr Bunnsy’s Busy Day, Ratty Rupert Sees It Through and possibly more. Malicia’s father enjoyed the books when he was a child and read them to his daughter when she was little. I’m not sure she was impressed.

Short extracts from Mr Bunnsy are featured at the beginning of each chapter of The Amazing Maurice.

Also mentioned is The Seventh Wife of Greenbeard, a fairy story from Grim Fairy-Tales by Agoniza and Eviscera Grim; Malicia’s grandmother and great aunt.

Thanks to martymousehouse.com