Melilot left off preparing his apple and strawberry crumble to admire the mole’s delicious-looking pudding. “It certainly is a beauty, friend. You’d best light the back oven to cook one that size. There’s plenty of wood and charcoal in the burner, just put a light to it.”

Gubbio lit a taper off a candle, shuffled across to the oven and poked the light underneath. It went out. He lit the taper and tried a second time. Still the light went out. Grumbling to himself, the mole lit the taper from the candle again. “Hurr, they’m bain’t makin’ ee taperers loike they’m used to, burr no!” When he poked the lighted taper beneath the oven a third time, Foremole distinctly heard the puff of air, accompanied by a giggle. Throwing open the oven door, he confronted the Dibbuns seated inside. “Gudd job oi never loighted ee oven, lest we’d be ’aven baked Dibbuns furr ee party, hurr hurr!”

The mousebabe Dwopple dismissed Foremole with a wave of his paw. “Go ’way, moley. Us’n’s be’s livin’ in ’ere now. G’way!”

Brother Melilot came to his friend’s aid, a big oven paddle in one paw. “And what, pray, are you Dibbuns doing inside our oven?”

Dwopple wagged a small mixing spoon under the good Brother’s nose. “We maken a shrimberry pie. Don’t asturb us, it very dissifult!”

Without another word, Foremole and Melilot exchanged glances. Between them they pushed the big wooden loaf paddle beneath the busy Dibbuns and slid them out on to the floor, bowl, mixture and all. Melilot sorted indignant Abbeybabes out from the ingredients. “What’s this? Dried watershrimp, blackcurrants, hotroot pepper, pears and radishes? You can’t make a pie with that lot!”

The molebabe, Blinny, glared at him challengingly. “Who’m sez uz can’t? We’m h’inventerers, makin’ et furr ee Skipper!”

Foremole advanced on them with a long baton loaf. “Ruffians! Rarscals! Out, afore oi makes ee into a sangwich!”

The Dibbuns fled, hurling dire threats at both cooks. Rimrose and Ellayo passed them as they dashed from the kitchens. Rimrose shook her head, smiling as she watched the tiny figures scurry off.

“I remember when my liddle Songbreeze was like them. What a pawful that ’un was, I can tell ye!”

Brother Melilot bowed to them both. “Ladies, we can always use some extra help down here. Would you be willing to aid us with Redwall’s Midsummer Feast?”

Rimrose returned the bow with a pretty curtsy. “That’s what we came for, Brother. I was thinking of making a cheese and celery flan with sage and parsley trimming. My mother is very good at baking blueberry and almond turnovers. Oh my goodness, what’s all this mess?”

Melilot threw up his paws in despair. “Those wretched babes were inventing a pie with it, for Skipper.”