to Macmillan, who were his publisher at the time and subsequently published the book. Plot A mouse walks through a wood and encounters three predators—first a fox, then an owl, and finally a snake. Each of these animals invites the mouse into their home for a meal, the implication being that they intend to eat the mouse. The mouse declines each offer, telling the predators that it plans to dine with a "gruffalo". The mouse then describes the gruffalo's frightening features, such as "terrible tusks, terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws". The mouse tells each predator that they are the gruffalo's favourite food. Frightened that the gruffalo might eat them, each animal flees. Convinced the Gruffalo is fictional, the mouse says: Silly old fox/owl/snake, doesn't he know? There's no such thing as a Gruffalo! After getting rid of the last animal, the mouse is shocked to encounter a real Gruffalo, which has all the features the mouse thought that it was inventing. The Gruffalo threatens to eat the mouse. Instead, the mouse insists that they themselves are the scariest animal in the wood. Laughing, the Gruffalo agrees to follow the mouse. The two walk through the wood, encountering each of the three predators again. Each predator is terrified by the sight of the Gruffalo and escapes to their home. The Gruffalo believes that they are actually scared of the mouse. Exploiting this, the mouse threatens to eat the Gruffalo. The Gruffalo flees, leaving the mouse to eat a nut in peace. Themes Trickery The Gruffalo is an example of a trickster story—a genre which has examples in traditions including West African folklore, Native American stories, Russian fairy tales, and Bornean folk tales. In every example, the story features a trickster—a character who is neither good nor bad—fooling another character by making them think something beneficial to the trickster. In The Gruffalo, the mouse is the trickster. It lies, is assertive, does not make it clear to the audience what it is thinking, and uses humour to get away with its deception. Michael Burke writes that deception occurs when the mouse tells the Gruffalo that everyone is afraid of it, seemingly proves that assertion when the predators run away from it, and then says that its favourite food is "Gruffalo crumble". Burke writes that this trickery requires a theory of mind, with which the mouse in the story