Mr. Ocax, an owl, is governing the mice, and they have to ask permission of him to go places. When Ragweed and Poppy are on top of Bancock Hill (where they have to ask Mr. Ocax’s permission), he swoops down and eats Ragweed! He tries to eat Poppy, but Poppy runs away.
The leader of the mice, Lungwort — if you have read my other book reports (“Ragweed & Poppy” and “Ragweed”) you probably have some idea of who and what the characters are here — asks Mr. Ocax if they can move to New House. But Mr. Ocax says no, they cannot move to New House. Poppy would like to know why Mr. Ocax refused New House specifically. She journeys to Dimwood Forest, where she meets a porcupine. Her father was alerted by Mr. Ocax that porcupines were bad, but this one seems a kind of likeable unlikeable: he insults you a lot with his many made-up insults, but he is nice.