This day in history - 21:06:0879.4

On this day the end of the ‘Year of Mice’ came to a conclusion. It is listed in the annals of Gurdendorf history as one of the great five plagues to have hit the city. It reports that there was singing and jubilation resounding throughout the city. Strangely, this was not recorded anywhere else, with little evidence found of any such plague taking place.  Historians have since put this down to the drinking habits of King Edgar IV, a king who enjoyed bouts of heavy drinking throughout his reign. It was not unusual for the king to hold extravagant banquets where little food was served, but with each guest sat next to his own cask of mead and a wide selection of bottles. Delirium tremens has long been hinted as a cause of the reports of mice invading the kingdom, as other strange occurrences were also recorded around this time. Everything from ghosts and spirits to cows with five legs and ducks with their bills on backwards.  One report of the king stated he was greatly alarmed when he encountered a man walking upside down in yellow britches. Anyway, it seemed that the reported plague of mice only dissipated when the king was found murdered with a loaf of bread. It is also noted that the guild of rat catchers and other affiliated trades went into a season of mourning and many smaller companies left the city altogether, claiming the gravy times were now over.  Strangely, with the rise of ‘ so called’ rodent catchers in the city over the previous year, the actual population of rats grew by an estimated six fold.