Great Fictional Characters: The Amazing Maurice

Continuing with the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2015

M is for Maurice or, to give him his full title, The Amazing Maurice.

We've all heard about the Pied Piper of Hamelin, where a plague of rats descends on a small village...

"You didn't need many rats for a plague, not if they knew their business. One rat, popping up here and there, squeaking loudly, taking a bath in the fresh cream and widdling in the flour, could be a plague all by himself."

...and, when the people of the village demand action, the mayor calls in an expert...

After a few days of this, it was amazing how glad people were to see the stupid-looking kid with his magical rat pipe. And they were amazed when rats poured out of every hole to follow him out of the town.

...but do you know the whole story?


Artist credit

"They were so amazed that they didn't bother much about the fact that there were only a few hundred rats.

They'd have been really amazed if they'd ever found out that the rats and the piper met up with a cat somewhere in the bushes out of town, and solemnly counted out the money."

Maurice is no ordinary cat. He's the mastermind behind a scam so sweet that he's surprised no one has thought of it before. After becoming sentient due to a magical mishap, he rounds up a clan of similarly intelligent rats and sets off to make his fraudulent fortune.

All goes well until they reach the town of Bad Blintz, where an altogether more malignant trick is being played, and The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, along with Keith (the stupid-looking kid) discover they may have bitten off more than they can chew...