Mossflower lay deep in the grip of midwinter beneath a sky of leaden gray that showed tinges of scarlet and orange on the horizon. A cold mantle of snow draped the landscape, covering the flatlands to the west. Winter had muted the earth.

The muffled stillness was broken only when a hare popped his head out of the snow. Bugs Bunny looked around. He didn't recognize this place at all. "Musta taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque," he mused.

On one side of him, there was a forest full of trees. On the other side, Bugs could see some mountains in the distance. Then he turned around and saw a big red castle looming behind him. "That don't look like a very friendly place," he said to himself. "Well, I guess I'd better scout around an' see if I can find anyone who knows the lay o' the land hereabouts." He shivered.

Bugs jumped out of his rabbit hole and set off into the woods. He hadn't gone far when he came upon a little house. He knocked on the door.

A gruff voice called from inside, "Be off with you and leave us alone. There's not enough food in here to go around a decent hedgehog family. You've already taken half of all we have to swell the larders in Kotir."

Bugs was taken aback. "Say, Doc, what kinda greeting is that for a poor hare who's freezin' his tail off?"

The door opened. A hedgehog was standing there. "My apologies, friend. I didn't realize you were a hare. I thought you might a been one of Verdauga's soldiers, lookin' fer more vittles."

"Who da heck is Verdauga?" Bugs asked.

"You're not from around here, are you?" said the hedgehog.

"I sure ain't."

The hedgehog's face wrinkled with concern. "Well, you've picked a poor time to visit Mossflower Woods, my friend. You'd best come in and rest by my fire. My name's Ben Stickle."

"Pleased ta meet ya, Doc. My name's Bugs Bunny." Bugs came in.

As Bugs sat down in a chair by the fireplace, Ben introduced him to his wife Goody Stickle, and their four children, Ferdy, Coggs, Posy, and Spike. "This is a nice cozy place ya got here," said Bugs.

"No, it isn't," said Goody Stickle. "We live under the shadow of a tyrant. Lord Verdauga Greeneyes."

"Oh yeah, Ben said somethin' about him. Who is he?"

"Lord Verdauga Greeneyes is an evil cat," Ben explained. "He came to Mossflower and took it over."

"Does he live in that big red castle I saw?" Bugs asked.

"Aye, Castle Kotir, that's the one. We all have to do what he says or else he'll send his vermin soldiers to kill us, weasels 'n' stoats an' the like."

Before Bugs could say anything, there came a knock at the door.

Bang! Bang!

"Open up in there! Come on, get this door open! This is an official Kotir patrol."

The frustration was clear on Goody's face. "I knew we should have run off and left this place, like the others!" She threw a blanket over the hedgehog kids, hiding them.

Ben reluctantly lifted the latch, and the door burst open. There were three soldiers, a weasel, a ferret, and a stoat. They all tried to come through the door at once and got stuck.

"Spread out!" Scratch, the weasel snarled, raising his paws and smacking the other two vermin. He pushed past them into the living room. "Well now, dozy spikes, where are you hiding all the bread and cheese and October Ale?"

Ben could scarce keep the hatred from his voice as he answered the sneering weasel. "It's many a long season since I tasted cheese or October Ale. There's bread on the shelf, but only enough for my family."

The stoat, Splitnose, spat into the fire and reached for the bread. Ben tried to stop him, but the ferret, Blacktooth, whacked Ben over the paw with the handle of his spear.

Goody placed a restraining paw on her husband's spikes. "Please, Ben, don't fight 'em, the great bullies."

Bugs chimed in, "Yeah, there ain't much you can do against spears, Doc."

Blacktooth turned to Bugs as if seeing him for the first time. "Huh, what're you doing here, long ears?"

Ferdy poked his head out from under the blanket. "He came in for a warm by our fire. You leave him alone!"

Splitnose burst out laughing, spraying crumbs from the bread he was eating. "Look out, Blackie. There's more of 'em under that blanket. I'd watch 'em, if I were you. Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck!"

Scratch pulled the blanket off, exposing the other three young ones. "Hmm, they look big enough to do a day's work."

Goody Stickle sprang fiercely in front of them. "You let my liddle ones be. They ain't harmed nobody."

Scratch ignored her completely. He knocked the bread out of Splitnose's paws. "That food's not for you, ya dope! It's for the royal family. You tryin' to ruin us?" He picked up the loaf of bread and hit the stoat over the head with it.

Splitnose made a noise like "MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!"

"Aw, why don't you leave him alone?" said Blacktooth.

Scratch held out a fist. "See that?" He brought his fist into Blacktooth's face. Blacktooth cried out in pain.

"Now come on, you chuckleheads. We're leaving!" Scratch looked back over his shoulder at the Stickle family. "And I want to see those four little ones out in the fields tomorrow. Either that, or you can all spend the rest of the winter safe and sound… in Kotir dungeons!"

Anger had been building up inside Bugs as he observed the vermin's bullying ways. Now he spoke out. "Say, Doc, don't ya want some tea before ya go?"

"Tea? I don't see no tea," Scratch scoffed.

Bugs was hiding something behind his back. "I got it right here, Doc. Now do ya want one lump or two?"

"I want two!" cried Blacktooth.

"Okay, here ya go," said Bugs. And he pulled a giant mallet out from behind his back and gave Blacktooth his two lumps, right on top of the head. Bugs turned to Splitnose. "How many lumps do you want? One or two?"

"Two! No, wait, more than two! I want a whole lotta lumps! Woo, woo, woo!" the stoat shouted.

"All right, Doc, you asked for it," Bugs said. And he let Splitnose have it with the mallet, raising a whole lotta lumps on top of the stoat's head.

"I'm a victim of circumstance," Splitnose groaned.

"Now how many lumps do you want, weasel?" Bugs asked Scratch.

"I don't want any lumps!" Scratch snapped. "I know what you're gonna do! You're gonna hit me on the head just like you did those other two saps! I'm not as stupid as I look, you know!"

"That would be pretty difficult to imagine," Bugs said. "If you don't want any lumps, then beat it back to your castle and leave this hedgehog family alone. I'm normally a pretty nice guy, but when I see bullies like you pickin' on weaker creatures, I get mad!"

Scratch's face flushed with fury, but he knew when he was beaten. "Come on. Let's get out of here!" he ordered the other vermin.

"An' you can just leave that bread right where it is!" Bugs added. With scowls on their faces, Scratch, Blacktooth and Splitnose departed.

"Oh, Mr. Bunny, you were marvelous!" Goody exclaimed when they were gone.

"Aw, it wasn't nothin'. I deal with schmucks like that all the time. In my old neighborhood, there was a guy named Pete Puma who was always trying to eat smaller animals. I used that same trick of offering tea with a whole lotta lumps to get rid of him."

"Well, you can't stay here now," said Ben. "They're sure to come back looking for you now. Some of the animals that work for Verdauga are ten times as dangerous as those stooges. We'll have to take you to the Corim."

"What's the Corim, Doc?" Bugs asked.

"It's an acronym. C-O-R-I-M, Council Of Resistance In Mossflower. They're the animals who fight against Verdauga and his family. They live in a place called Brockhall. We'll go there tonight, if we can find it."

"Ben, come 'ere, look at this!" Goody was standing by the window.

Ben went to join her. "What is it, wife? They're not comin' back already, are they?"

"No, Ben. Ho-ho-ho, lookit that, by hokey! See the punch he landed on that weasel's nose? Go on, give it to 'em, laddo!"

Bugs came to the window too. "Punch? Who punched a weasel? What's happening?" He looked outside and saw a mouse, struggling with the vermin. They were trying to capture him, but the mouse battled on heroically, swinging at them with a sword. Finally, they managed to take it away from him and tie the mouse up.

Ben was momentarily crestfallen, but then he clapped his paws together. "Now is the time, while the patrol's busy with the fighter. They've got a job on their paws, draggin' him back to the cat's castle. Come on, let's get a-goin' while the goin's good."