Murmel, her mother Genoveve Gnaw-Wood ,
her father Edgar Gnaw, and her friend Olly.






A recent magazine article described MURMEL as Mother Nature's answer to the invention of the chainsaw. This description wasn't the least bit kind or fair to the young lady! Yes, it's true, that her "woodwork" could be accomplished with the usual hardware-store woodworking tools -- but her abilities go far beyond that. Murmel's sharp gnawing-apparatus can do fine filigree work, chisel, drill and plane, but this doesn't always win her admirers! Her toothy enthusiasm often causes some nasty surprises for everybody she knows. When the 100-year-old oak found that out, when her mother only remarked that she found "oak parquet just lovely."


Mother GENOVEVE GNAW-WOOD is an easy-going, peaceful sort of creature, who has more on the ball than her husband. She throws the occasional fit when Edgar, sunk in thought as usual, forgets to use the doorknob, and in the truest sense of the word, "brings down the house." Genoveve can be very fashion-conscious, and will be sure to attend any local show that features the famous Italian designer "Vergnaschi."


 

 

 


Father EDGAR GNAW is good-natured, but he's been openly called a bit of a dope. It's hard for him to admit that he's already got his "Third Set" of teeth, that he keeps in a jar on the bedside table at night (this is a carefully-guarded family secret, and we request the Dear Readers to keep it to themselves!).

Friend OLLY, with his melancholy outlook, lives in the house next door, and is Murmel's best buddy. When you first see him, he seems a little simple and harmlos. That's to his advantage -- because in reality he's sharp as a tack, and though he causes just as much mischief as his friend Murmel, he's seldom caught at it.

The Gnaw family, or Gnaw-Wood (Genoveve feels strongly about this) live in a village with an excellent train-service to the nearby city. There are still a few small woods and beech groves, which you'd hardly expect, given the people who live there. It could just as well be the town next door.... so to speak....
 

RET