Book 1, The Wall, Chapters 1-8 Summary

Matthias, a clumsy novice at Redwall Abbey stumbles into Abbot Mortimer, who takes him aside to explain that the age of warriors is past. A tapestry portrays the early history of the Abbey, including the heroic Martin the Warrior, an early champion of the Abbey, whom Matthias wants to imitate. Mortimer sends him fishing with Brother Alf to provide for his jubilee dinner that evening. Meanwhile, in Chapter 2 Cluny the Scourge, a tough, one-eyed, long-tailed rat with a vicious temper, charges toward the Abbey in a hay cart filled with his army of 500 rats.

In Chapter 3 the Great Hall of Redwall hosts a high-spirited dinner attended by woodland creatures. Matthias sits with beautiful young Cornflower. In Chapter 4 Cluny is in a foul mood as the horse collapses, exhausted, and is indifferent when the rat that...