Deep in the jungle lurks Alan the alligator, descended from a long line of very scary alligators. He prepares carefully—polishing his scales, brushing each of his big scary teeth, and practicing his frightening faces—then sneaks into the jungle to terrorize all the jungle critters.

But after a long day of scaring, Alan likes nothing better than to enjoy the crossword, run a warm mud bath, and take out his teeth, which nobody else knows are false. Until one morning when Alan wakes up and finds that his teeth are gone! Without those teeth, he’s just not very scary, and scaring is the only thing he knows how to do…or is it?