Jungle Mice

## Stats

**Jungle Mice** is the 31st episode of the series *The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures* that aired on March 25, 1999. The setting in this episode is Africa.

## Summary

In Africa, Alexander and Emily ride on top of an elephant. Alexander pulls out a map that gives directions to a mountain named Elephant Peak, and they find it. Suddenly the elephant gets on it's hind legs which makes the two mice float in the air with Emily's dress, but they both fall. Although, Alexander falls into a delicious green fruit. They make it to their cousin Tio who has a human friend named Inguava. Inguava is ready to leave with Mary Kingsley, a famous naturalist who had come to inspect the Congo, and Inguava was chosen to be her guide. But she leaves without him, so he runs along and takes the mice.

However, Mary mentions that she doesn't need protection, because she has had all kinds of adventures and has never been in real danger. She almost steps in a hidden trap, but Inguava warns her. One tap of the trap sets it up, but Mary cuts it with her knife. They get to an area where they split up to look for insects. Alexander says that he isn't afraid of bugs, but a peculiar one taps him on the shoulder which startles him. Suddenly, there is wild shaking. Inguava, and Tio, realize this is a stampede, and sure enough tons of big wild jungle animals storm by, but it stops quickly. Mary is able to even get picures of it.

Alexander, Emily, and Tio have a rest under tree roots. Alexander sits down but he accidentally sits on a monkey's tail. The monkey starts screeching but Tio oohs and aahs back at the monkey, saying that he knows how to speak to it. In fact, he can speak many animal dialects, including a new one he's studying, parrot. Tio asks the monkey in its language what caused the stampede, and it begins making noise. Tio translates that there was a loud bang that startled them all, and it has happened before. When they returned, the trees have been cut down and without them their lives are over. This is true, as the trees are being cut in two, by a villain logger Mowdown Mac. Mary confronts him for cutting down the trees, but he doesn't care as much. She decides to find Mowdown's camp and tells Inguava to meet her back at camp. The mice help Inguava put together her equipment and are off.

But they are unable to find Mary anywhere, even though they have been following the trail for some time. Alexander is sure that she may have went off the trail to find bugs, so they go to find tracks. Alexander sees something move in the grass, but Inguava doesn't see anything. Alexander then finds a bare man with his face painted, which startles him back. Inguava and Tio say it must be a Pygmy, as Pygmies also lived in the jungle longer than anyone else and are excellent hunters, they must be mad at the logger. They see flattened grass and yellow cloth from Mary, from the same direction where the Pygmy is. They decide to find Mary before the Pygmy does and she gets mistaken from the logger. While the Pygmy steps away, Alexander decides to get the Pygmy's attention so he wouldn't be able to hunt Mary. Emily helps out as well, and the two shake grass. It works and the Pygmy throws his spear, but now he chases them to a dead end. Fortunately, a gorilla, who Tio knows, scares it away. The gorilla is named Cuntay and it also has a white gorilla baby named Chang. Alexander is amazed because white gorillas are rare, and wants to tell his society club but Tio says that if he does, poachers will know. Mowdown sees the gorila and decides to kidnap it. The gang decides to go to the camp to see if Mary's okay, and Cuntay knows a shortcut. But on the way there, Mowdown rolls a big boulder which scares Chang away, giving Mowdown a chance to bag him. He gets away and climbs up, and Cuntay follows, so do Inguava and the mice.

Mowdown bypasses an animal trap, when Cuntay catches up. Mowdown taunts the large gorilla, and he ends up getting caught in the net trap. Alexander and Emily decide to help Cuntay out, while Enguava and Tio chase after Mowdown. Alexander and Emily climb up the tree, with Alexander forewarned about tree snakes. Meanwhile, Mary falls down a mountain level and hurts her ankle, so she is stuck. Fortunately, she sees Enguava again at the level above her. A leopard appears, so Enguava throws a rock to scare it away, and he pulls her up using nearby rope. Back at Emily and Alexander, they chew the net to free Cuntay, and he manages to jump out. Alexander and Emily have to jump down now, but the former refuses to until a tree snake appears. Cuntay goes to Mowdown Mac's tent who is getting prepared to leave, and he leaves Chang's bag outside. The two mice get Chang for Cuntay, as there is a trap set up. But Mowdown gets the bag anyway, although he trips on a root and drops the bag, and the Pygmy starts to chase him away. Cuntay gets Chang back, and all's well that end's well for them. Mary realizes that she may need a guide after all, and allows Enguava to work with her. At Alexander's home, he says that the Pygmy wasn't really scary after all, and was just trying to protect his home. Alexander finds in the newspaper that Mary Kingsley had found a new beetle, which gives him something to say for the Scientific Society as he had met her himself.

## Trivia

* This is the second episode to take place in Africa. The first episode was *Diamond Safar*.