At this summer’s C.S. Lewis Conference, I was knighted a member of the “Magnificent Order of the Mannerly and Mostly Martial Mouse.” This led me to think upon the illustrious deeds of Reepicheep, our patron…rodent. Surely he might have attempted other valiant endeavors besides the ones we hear about in the books. Write a short story or scene about one of Reepicheep’s adventures.

Example:
The mouseling stood, miniscule sword at the ready. The idea of running never occurred to him. He had been dreaming of adventures all his short life. His enemy rustled the tall grass before him ever so lightly, then emerged, the Great Lapsed Cat of Shuddering Wood, eyes glittering, hungry for young mouse. The beast had been preying upon their tribe for weeks now, trying to eat them, fellow talking creatures! He had not yet succeeded, but surely it was only a matter of time. “We should destroy it!” squeaked one mouse loudly. Us all together, or maybe we could summon one of those excellent archers, the dwarfs…” “That would be an abomination to Aslan!” said another. “I knew this creature once, on a less hungry time, and she was a good beast then. It may be she can still be cured. It has happened before, the old tales say, in the days when Corin Thunderfist boxed the Lapsed Bear of Stormness.” Then Peepiceek stood up, despite his youth, for he had a proposal to make, which he thought would meet the case. “You will all agree,” said he, “that our chief danger consists in the sly and treacherous manner in which the enemy approaches us. Now, if we could receive some signal of her approach, we could easily escape from her. “I venture, therefore, to propose that a small bell be procured, and attached by a rope round the neck of the Cat. By this means we should always know when she was about, and could easily retire while she was in the neighborhood.” This proposal met with general applause, until an old mouse got up and said: “That is all very well, but who is to bell the Cat?” The mice looked at one another and nobody spoke. Then the old mouse said: “It is easy to propose impossible remedies.” “Impossible!” piped a small voice. “Impossible? Surely not! I will do it. Let me!” All eyes turned on Reepicheep. There was an uproar of ‘nays’ from many of the older mice (and Reepicheep’s mother) but in the end, it was decided to let the youngster attempt the job, as no one else seemed to want it. Reepicheep stood silent, waiting. In one fluid motion, the Cat pounced, and Reepicheep drove his sword up into the pad of her paw as it came down on him. Yowling with pain, the Cat released him, trying vainly to remove the sword. She couldn’t seemed to get a good grip at it. “Here now!” shouted Reepicheep, “Shall I remove that sword from thy paw? Or leave thee so, in agony? I say, be quiet!” The Cat whimpered and laid down on its belly, looking pleadingly at Reepicheep. “That’s better. Now then, I am going to take this out, but I must have your promise of fair dealing with us mice in the future. Is that agreed?” The Cat nodded her head. Perhaps the Gift of speech was already lost to her. Reepicheep mourned but held to his purpose. “And in token of our new friendship, you will allow me to put this first round your neck, which you shall not find easy to remove.” The Cat, scowling, allowed Reepicheep to affix the beel round her neck, and then, true to his word, he removed the sword fromt he pad of her foot, and went further, binding it in a bandage made from the strips of his small cape (This frustrated his mother immensely). Leaving the Cat behind, Reepicheep returned to the acclaim of his tribe, which was never bothered by the lapsed feline again.

Honorable Mentions

Reepicheep’s Escape by queen_lucy_the_valliant
It was dark. Very dark. The only noise came from the huge beast. What it was, he could not tell, but Reepicheep had a sensation that he was going to find out.
“There’s no escape, mouse!” The beast screeched, taking a step towards him.
He wondered what would become of his tribe. Poor Peepiceep, all alone. He would never know how to take care of all those mice! They’d surely die!
Then Reepicheep thought again. He’d made his way out of many fearsome suituations, so he must be able to get out of this one!
“Beast! I will win! You cannot stop me!” The mous cried. Then he dove into the beast’ throat, and did not move. As he expected, the beast began choking and spluttering, and finally he zoomed out of the beast’s mouth, covered in greenish fur. The beast was to
distracted by his choking to realize that the little mouse was getting away. Soon he was out of the hole, and surronded by all his fellow mice.
“How did it go?” Peepiceep asked.
“Swell!” Reepicheep said. “But I need a bath.”
As he was bathing, Reepicheep thought to himself, “Ah, yes, the escape route of a cat is by the furball machine.”

The End

It’s a Bird, It’s a plane, NO, you fools! It’s a M by Clodsley Shovel
“General, may I ask of what you are doing?” Asked Peepiceek on a fine Greenroof morning in the Western Wild of Narnia.
“I got my sword stuck up here when I threw it at an enemy bird from Miraz’s camp.” Reepicheep said as he gripped onto the trunk of a tall pine tree stiffly. “Not to worry, Private, it was a dumb bird, not a talking bird.”
“That is not what I am worried about, sir.” Peepiceek said a bit edgily. “I meant your safety. If you, sir, would please-”
“I value my safety, Private, now get back to your post. I will see you there in an hour.” Reepicheep said hastily.
“Yes, sir,” Peepiceek grumbled reluctantly. He slowly pattered away.
“Now, then, ” Reep said once he was alone. He continued up the tree with great haste.
“Got it!” He cried as he snatched his sword from the branch. “But I wonder what’s further up.”
Well, that was hard to tell for his size, for he had never been up that high before. That was the very den of Whoot, the evil owl who *loved* talking mice for dinner. And Reepicheep was climbing right towards his nest.
Farther up and Farther up the little mouse climbed, his nimble paws catching on every strip of bark it landed on.
“I do wonder what that large bowl up there is.” He thought, for he had never seen a nest before, much less large ones like the “bowl” he saw.
He climbed into the nest and looked around.
“Strange dwelling, this place is.” He said to himself as he looked around. A crisp, hooty voice came from behind him.
“Well, if I don’t say so myself, I think I have a guest for dinner!”
Reepicheep turned around and saw a large, cruel shape, with a hawk-like beak and large, dark wings, as dark as a storm on the horizon, and oh, such eyes! They were beating yellow and very strong. Reepicheep did not loose a beat.
“Have at thee, knave!” He cried heroically.
“Goodness me! It talks!” Said Whoot, for that was who it was. He picked Reepicheep primly in a talon. Reepicheep poked him just a little in the eye.
“OW!” Hooted the owl furiously. “Oh, I can’t see straight. It’s not dark yet!” It swerved around.
“Ha, ha!” Reep cried.
“Who?” Said the owl, looking like he had a bit of strength.
“ME!” Cried a voice behind them. Suddenly the owl, Whoot, cried a menacing hoot and shot into the air.
“Peepiceek!” Reepicheep exclaimed. “By the mane!”
“But,” said Peepiceek abruptly, how do we get down.
Reepicheep looked down. Someone was walking through the forest. He was carrying a spear and wore black mail and armor and a long cape. It was the Lord Sopespian, jaunting through the wood.
“I know a soft landing.” Reepicheep smiled.
Meanwhile one of Caspian’s scouts was looking out through a telescope and all of the sudden he, who was a faun, said, “sire, there is some screaming black thing and hooting brown thing flying through the air over there. They’re barely even the size of a mouse.”
“Let me take a look.” Said Caspian. He looked for a long time, then growled, “REEPICHEEP!”
by now Reepicheep was halfway down, and Sopespian hadn’t even seen them yet. Afterwards he wished he did.
The two mice pelted upon his head. Sopespian gave a scream like a little girl and ran around in circles.
“Hail is falling from the sky!” He cried dryly. He fainted.
You would never hear a mouse laugh harder than Reepicheep. He and Peep laughed and laughed, until they heard the sound of horse hoofs in the woods.
“REEP!” cried Caspian’s voice.

Reepicheep: Protector of the Nuts by Marriella
It was one of those mornings that Narnia looked ten times prettier than it usually did. The sunrise was just fading away so that the clouds were still pink and purple. Wet drops of dew still clung to the leaves of the trees. The woods were so beautiful that day that Reepicheep just had to take a walk.
It had only been five minutes before he came across another creature. It was a Talking Raccoon. Reepicheep was about to walk over to it and make his presence known. Perhaps even strike up a lively morning conversation with him, when his sharp eyes noticed that this raccoon was not just sitting around for fun. He was watching something… or someone&
Reepicheep silently crept closer to see what had caught the raccoons attention. It was a squirrel. Reepicheep wouldnt have thought this suspicious if he hadnt seen that this squirrel was doing the very hard task of hiding its nuts.
This was a hard task because it had to hide them in secret when no one was looking. Otherwise, everyone would know where its nuts were and they would steal them. And Reepicheep knew that this was exactly what that raccoon had in mind.
He strode quickly forward, coming out of the shadows of the trees into a small clearing where the raccoon was.
May I ask why you are watching a noble squirrel hide its nuts when you know this is not honorable? Reepicheep asked in his high-pitched voice.
The raccoon twirled around and saw the two foot tall mouse coming toward him. Once he saw that it was only a mouse, it said in devious voice, And what can you do about it, short one?
Reepicheep took this as a challenge. I shall show you!
With that, Reepicheep drew his sword and charged at the raccoon. The raccoon went up on its hind legs and extended claws in defense of the oncoming attack. It did not expect the mouse to be so quick.
Reepicheep demonstrated his skills with a blade quickly and efficiently. After a few well-aimed cuts, the raccoon began yelling and screaming.
Alright then, you win! it said in defeat.
With one last cut for good measure, Reepicheep finally stopped. But he was going to give the raccoon a fair warning before he escaped from his presence.
Hear now, Reepicheep said. His voice higher-pitched than usual. This happened any time he had just finished fighting. If you ever try to steal nuts again, you shall be punished!
The raccoon swore that he would never steal nuts again, then quickly ran away from the clearing and back into the woods. Reepicheep put his sword back in its sheath. Suddenly he noticed that there had been a whole audience of squirrels watching him and the raccoon a safe distance up in the trees. But when the raccoon was out of sight, they all rushed down to the valiant mouse.
Cheers were heard among the squirrels, Hail Reepicheep! Protector of the Nuts!
From that day forward, mice were well respected among the squirrels. And if you ever get into Narnia, you will still hear the squirrels refer to Reepicheep as The Protector of the Nuts.
The End

and the winner

I Will Avenge You by Clodsley Shovel
“Reepicheep, come back here!” Said a mouse named Keemileek one morning.
“But mother,” said the young mouse. “I am not finished practicing my fencing yet.”
“You can finish after supper,Reepicheep.” said his mother scornfully. “You are the youngest in the litter and too young to be fencing.”
“But mother…” started the mouseling.
“no buts, my son,” said Keemileek. “it is suppertime.”
After supper, the young mouse Reepicheep went out and continued his fencing. He was indeed the youngest of his thirteen brothers and sisters, but he was the most valiant and most brave.
His father, Neemilkeek, came towards him.
“Reepicheep.” He said. “come and speak with me.”
“Yes, father. What troubles your mind, sir?” Reep came forward cautiously.
“Your mother told me that she had to ask you three times to come to supper. Is that true?”
“Yes, sir.” Said Reepicheep reluctantly.
“Is something wrong?” Asked his father in a fatherly way.
“No, sir,” replied the mouseling. “I just couldn’t stop fencing then.”
“Reepicheep, look at me.” His father said a bit sternly. “You are yet too young to start fencing. You shouldn’t be thinking of battles and quests at your age. If you were at the age of your brother, Eemileek, then I would have a different say about it, but…” he paused.
“What is it, sir?” Reepicheep asked.
His father, now yelling, replied, “get to safety, NOW!”
Reepicheep turned around. Green eyes, large and round, stared back at him.
The pack.
The pack was a huge pack of large black cats that had furocious claws and long sharp teeth. They were great enemies to Reepicheep’s family.
“NOW!” yelled Neemilkeek once again. Reepicheep dodged his father as he ran for safety, in his family’s little mouse hole. What is father going to do? Reepicheep thought, very afraid. His mother and thirteen siblings were all running around, squealling, “They’re back! They’re back!”
But Reep was too worried to be afraid now. He plucked up all his courage and scurried back up the hole.
“Reepicheep! What do you think you’re doing?” His mother cried frantically.
“Father needs help!” The mouseling replied hastily as he continued up the hole.
Once he had reached the mouth he saw his father trying to get at the cats with his rapier. He seemed to be loosing. Reepicheep lunged forward, squealing as if it was his battle-cry, and started poking at the cat’s feet with his fencing sword. The cats screeched and pawed furiously at him. Reep swerved to the right and stepped on his tail and tripped.
“Reepicheep, what do you think you are doing?!” Yelled his father, fighting off a large tom.
But Reep couldn’t answer, for a tom had just stepped in front of him. Reepicheep smacked the cat’s face with the flat of his sword. The cat crunched up its face and ran off. A cat was really getting at Neemilkeek. Reepicheep went at that cat until the tom ran away.
When all the cats had had enough, they all ran away.
Neemilkeek laid still.
“Father.” Reepicheep said, out of breath.
“Son,” said the dying mouse dryly. “You have valor and bravery. I have never noticed that in you. You must look after the family, and you will be the leader of the army when you are older.”
“I will cherish those words forever, sir.” Reepicheep said, a single tear coming down his furry face.
Neemilkeek smiled weakly, then laid his head down silently and did not bring it up again.
“I will cherish those words, father,” said the mouse bravely. “and I will avenge you.”

 

Don’t forget to check out the winners of the last .