5 Legends and Myths that Could Use More Mice: A Guest Post (and Bonus Book Trailer!) from Mice of the Round Table Author Julie Leung

Though the tales of King Arthur and his knights have been with us for centuries, there are still new stories that can be tilled from the familiar. Such retellings are compelling because they play off what you think you already know about a plot and twist it into something unexpected. In Mice of the Round Table, I reimagined the classic setting of Camelot from the point of view of the castle’s smallest inhabitants.
When I first set out to reinterpret The Sword in the Stone from the perspective of a mouse, I didn’t realize how much possibility still lay in that well-known story. And it got me thinking: what other myths and legends could benefit from a little rodent perspective?

Robin Hood and His Merry Moles
The reason this band of brigands were so hard to track down in Sherwood Forest was because they spent most of their time underground. Robin Hood wouldn’t have gotten very far without his trusty mole sidekick, Little John. Sure, all the stories claim that Little John was a big, brawny human, but that was just a ruse to keep the Sheriff of Nottingham on his toes. The truth was right there in his name.

The Otterssey
How do you think Odysseus managed to get home after ten years at sea? It wasn’t from his keen sense of direction, I can I tell you that. His capable crew of sea otter mariners did most of the hard work in guiding the hero home. Together they sailed past the enthralling song of the Siren Rats, escaped the clutches of the one-eyed Cyclopybara, and managed to elude the sea monster Chinchillascylla.

Hamster and Gretel
The modern fairy tale insists that it was a pair of human siblings lost in the woods who stumbled upon a gingerbread cottage and a witch with an appetite for gingerbread children. But in truth it was only Gretel and her pet hamster Hansel. Hansel’s keen nose led them to the cottage, but his diminutive build let him slip through the bars of the witch’s cage to help Gretel escape.

Ali Baba and the Forty Mice
In later retellings, the story was embellished to make Ali Baba the hero for stealing treasure from a bunch of thieves after he discovered their secret cave. He was far less noble in the original, which had him making off with the entire winter food supply of a colony of mice. Why did you think their password was about sesame seeds?

Beoweasel
A clan of weasel warriors fought bravely to defend their hall from a monstrous chipmunk invader named Grendel, but only the mighty Beoweasel was strong enough to defeat him. He also punched out the chipmunk’s mom for good measure. And finally, just to prove his awesomeness, he slew a giant flying squirrel.
 
 
 
 
 
The smashing book trailer for Julie Leung’s Mice of the Round Table is below!

Mice of the Round Table is on B&N bookshelves October 4!