Main story The story begins with Dobrzyk fighting a spider in the forest. Eventually, Dobrzyk overcomes the spider, who begs for mercy and says that it is an endangered species. Dobrzyk leaves the spider be and continues the hunt, finding a large cuckoo egg, however, he is begged by some smaller birds into not eating the egg. He returns to Shrews’ Valley, unaware that he is being followed by a mink, and meets Śmiłka, who points out that he did not catch anything, as usual, and shares a snack, an earthworm, with him. She calls him out on being a softy, but he denies that. He pulls up his shirt to show that there is not a gram of fat on him, also revealing a strange, crown-shaped marking. Unknown to the shrews, the marking is seen by the mink. Meanwhile, the shrews retreat to their burrows. The mink walks away, monologuing about how he will dispose of the shrew with the “king's mark” and that then, minks can take over. Then, the scene cuts to Korina stuck in a plastic bottle, calling for help. The call is heard by two shrew guards on duty some distance away, but they dismiss it. Suddenly, they encounter a bottle cap, and then, a cloaked shadow covers the ground. Meanwhile, the scene cuts to Dobrzyk sleeping in his burrow when he is woken by Korina, who is trying to tell him something. Dobrzyk is confused by this and wakes up before he can learn anything. Dobrzyk is woken by Śmiłka, and they head to the local school for their final exams. Along the way, they encounter the birds from earlier, who are having trouble with the cuckoo chick, that has since hatched. Dobrzyk confronts the cuckoo chick and advises it to go live with larger birds, like a local crow couple, who can provide it with more food. The chick takes off, and Dobrzyk and Śmiłka arrive at the school, that is, a clearing under a tree. They meet Sorek, the only teacher at the school, who quizzes them on shrew-appropriate behavior. During the test, the guards from earlier barge into the school, saying that they saw a “Black Enemy”. Everyone except Dobrzyk knows what is happening and Sorek wakes up his friend Fiodor, the ancient turtle, and asks him for help. Dobrzyk suddenly remembers the evil's name, calling it a “hume” (a warped version of the word “human”, in the Polish version “ludź” as in “ludzie”, humans). Fiodor then recounts the prophecy about the Black Enemy and the Shrew of Destiny, that the Black Enemy will destroy the forest. However, there is also a positive part of the story. When the Enemy comes, a shrew of destiny will appear to battle them. Dobrzyk, hungry and bored, chases a butterfly to the riverbank, however, the butterfly slaps him with its wings, and he gives up the chase. He then notices an upturned fish and decides it will do fine too. However, he is then attacked by a water shrew, who intends to steal the fish. Then, Dobrzyk notices that all the fish in the river are upturned. Concluding that the river is poisoned, Dobrzyk stops the water shrew from eating the fish. The water shrew apologizes and introduces himself as Labhallan, a “Bloody warrior and ladies’ man” before he suddenly escapes into the nearby grass. Śmiłka approaches the riverbank, and Dobrzyk tells her about the water shrew. She then notices what happened to the river. They return to the school and inform Sorek and Fiodor of the problem. Fiodor closes his eyes, thinking how to recognize the Shrew of Destiny, not knowing that a grasshopper has landed on his head. Dobrzyk follows the insect up to Fiodor's head, and it escapes. Dobrzyk loses his balance, and tips onto the turtle's face just as Fiodor opens his eyes, and the turtle recognizes Dobrzyk as the Shrew of Destiny. Everyone is surprised by this, and Dobrzyk faints. Again, he encounters Korina in his dream, this time in the bottle where she is trapped. She tells him to find and free her, and that she is where the Black Enemy is. Dobrzyk wakes up, and Fiodor gives him some tips for the quest. Sorek tells the guards to take Dobrzyk to where they saw the enemy. Dobrzyk and the guards reach a polluted area where the Black Enemy is. Suddenly, the Enemy appears, revealed to be a local man who has been throwing his trash into the forest. Dobrzyk escapes from the human down a hole and finds himself in Korina's bottle prison. Upon meeting her, Dobrzyk is fully convinced that she is real, and he attempts to bite through the bottle. When that fails, he resorts to calling for help. Śmiłka then appears and rescues them. After an introduction, they learn that the guardian of the forest is the only one who can stop the human and that they need the nail in the tree stump. They acquire it, and rainfall starts. During a crossing of a slippery tree trunk over a river, Dobrzyk falls into the water and is saved by Labhallan. Labhallan tells the group that he met the guardian of the forest once, and he will take them to where that happened. The rain stops, and they continue the march before they come to a path between two trees guarded by Kosmacz, the hedgehog. Kosmacz challenges Dobrzyk to a duel, and if the shrew could win, the group would get free passage. The battle begins, but the Endangered Spider from before jumps on him. Dobrzyk tells the hedgehog, who is afraid of spiders, to lie down so that he can get the spider off. Since the criteria for victory was to get the opponent to the ground, The group gains passage. Kosmacz decides to join the group after realizing that he is not unbeatable. They come upon the Owl Meadow, where owls grab unsuspecting prey. They choose to avoid it using a Badger burrow. They find their way using echolocation but are blocked from exiting by a badger. Dobrzyk manages to answer the badger's riddle, and they are let through. Dobrzyk is then captured by an owl but manages to escape its grip by shrinking himself. In his absence, Sorek joins the group, having followed them. Dobrzyk falls into a hole in a tree, that is filled with bats, and hitches a ride on one of them. However, the Bat drops him. Unconscious, he encounters Śmiłka in the dream. Upon awakening, Śmiłka and the rest of the group encounter the mink. Kosmacz holds the mink off while the rest of the group can escape. Dobrzyk then appears, and the mink attacks him but is suddenly scared off by the guardian of the forest, a European bison. Dobrzyk climbs the bison with the nail from the tree stump and asks him for help. The bison refuses and throws Dobrzyk off, but he is caught by the small bird and lowered safely to the ground. Without the bison's help, the group goes off to fight a desperate final battle against the human, and Dobrzyk leaves the nail in the ground. Korina reveals that she also has a king's mark, and that the mink had been sent to destroy all of the royalty in Shrews’ Valley. The group reenters the polluted area, where the human is bringing new trash. He notices the group, and the battle begins. The Human prepares to stomp the group when he is stopped by the European bison, who forces him to pick up the trash. In the end, Kosmacz leaves to find another path between trees, Korina and Labhallan leave on a honeymoon, and Dobrzyk becomes the king of the shrews. However, the mink is still plotting to establish Shrews’ Valley as mink territory.
Epilogue 1 (“Romantic Ending”) Dobrzyk is fighting a caterpillar and loses to it. Śmiłka then gives him another insect and says that he can always count on her.
Epilogue 2 (Thriller ending) The human's wife points out to him that he has brought all the trash back. Then, a forest ranger comes to visit them and informs them about recycling and trash cans.
Bonus Story (Sorek and Fiodor: Explorers of the Forest’s Darkest and Lightest Secrets) Sorek and Fiodor are searching for the Sleeping Doormouse to wake her up. They find the stump where she is sleeping, only to be scared off by slugs.
Bonus Shrew Movie Posters A collection of shrew themed movie posters humorously referencing classic movies: “Shrew Saga Episode I” (Star Wars Episode I), “The Planet of Minks” (The Planet of Apes), “Dancing with the Shrews” (Dancing With the Wolves), “Raiders of the Lost Dormouse” (
Raiders of the Lost Ark), “To Kill a Beetle” (To Kill a Mockingbird), “The Silence of The Shrews” (The Silence of The Lambs), “Shrew Park” (Jurassic Park), “The Game of Tails” (The
Game of Thrones). == Reception ==