It all started one morning in the third month of the Year of the Soupspoon. King Rufus the Intolerant, ruler of the Gobbos, was down by the riverbank watching the sunrise. He had just finished breathing a sigh of relief that, once again, the sun had returned, when suddenly a small basket floated ashore. He and a group of his Gobbo subjects huddled around it. Peering inside, they saw a baby crocodile. Naturally, they assumed he must be the early leader in the Annual Midget Crocodile Basket Race. Not that there had ever been such an event, but you never know about these things and many of the Gobbos placed bets just to be on the safe side. After a couple of hours, when no other baskets had come by, the Gobbos decided that perhaps there was no race, or that it had been called off the night before by crocodiles who shared their concern that the sun had gone away for good.
The Gobbos were at first wary of the little reptile but were quickly won over by his vulnerability and inquisitive nature. King Rufus decided that the Gobbos would raise the crocodile as one of their own and that he himself would care for it and instruct it in all the ways of the Gobbos.
The Gobbos had long told stories of the Dantinis, a band of villains known far and wide for their ruthless burning, wanton looting, and marvelous singing voices. What was worse was that wherever there were Dantinis, Baron Dante could not be far behind. King of all villains, Baron Dante was stronger than a thousand Dantinis and he had a long-established hatred for all things Gobbo. He had seen the Gobbos and Croc being blissfully happy and decided that enough was enough. It was time for the Gobbos to suffer. The valley swarmed with Dantinis as they captured Gobbo after Gobbo and threw them into cages. Dante watched it all, laughing his horrible laugh. King Rufus knew he had to save Croc. He tailswiped the Gong that sat in the center of the village and it rang, summoning Beany the Bird. She appeared immediately and King Rufus instructed her to whisk Croc away to safety. Rufus looked at Croc, "You're our only hope." Before he could say anything, Beany spirited Croc away in a shower of Magical Sparklies, just as Baron Dante snatched up the king in his iron hand.
