Previous book: Story Maze (Series, Book 2):The Eye of Ulam.

Next book: Story Maze (Series, Book 4):The Golden Udder.

The third in the "Storymaze" series follows the surfing adventures of Nico, Claudia, and Mikey through parallel worlds and across the universe. Nico is once again attempting to compete in the World Surfing Championships – the ones he keeps missing due to their adventures. In The Wooden Cow, the three use their time-traveling device, called M.I.T., to reach Fresia, a small planet in the Bovine Galaxy, and the location of the surfing championship. M.I.T., which doesn’t want to do as it is told, takes them to the location, but 4000 years too early and they find themselves on opposite sides of both a wall and a battle. The world they travel to is populated by cows. The battle is the siege of Queen Chateaubriand by Ulysses, who has been told by the Madame of the Maze, an oracle reminiscent of Sibyl of Cumae, in the Underworld, that if the Queen lays eyes on him they will fall in love and live happily ever after. Ulysses is attempting to break into her city to meet her, but she has resisted for nine months. Nico and Mikey, who have been trapped on Ulysses side of the wall, remember the story of the Trojan horse, from their school days and convince Ulysses to build a giant wooden horse to attempt infiltration of the city. The horse is initially successful and the Friesians haul it into the city; however, when the Queen hears a sneeze from inside the beast, the idea is thwarted and the horse tipped over a cliff into the ocean. Their second attempt is a wooden cow, which they believe more aptly suits the Fresian people. Niko, Mikey, and Ulysses purchase a false udder from a Scotsman who turns out to be the Madame of the Underworld Maze in disguise. They begin to recognise that everything is orchestrated by the Madame across the Storymaze. The wooden cow is also accepted by the Queen and then tipped off a cliff into the ocean, again subverting the traditional Trojan myth. At this point, McHaggis makes a deal with Ulysses offering him the Queen in exchange for the Golden Udder, which is kept in the palace. McHaggis is planning an escape from the Underworld. McHaggis, using a food truck to gain entry, sneaks Ulysses, Niko, and Mikey into the city. They are exposed by a flock of loud geese but when they are brought before the queen the prophecy is fulfilled and Ulysses and Chateaubriand fall instantly in love. Claudia, Nico, and Mikey are tasked by Ulysses with delivering the stolen Udder to McHaggis, but while trying to space-time travel they become lost and return to the future and then to a land where giant erasers are attempting to remove them from existence. They finally settle by the beach in Ithaca and the story ends with the heroes unsure of what to do next both with the Udder and with themselves.

Graphic novel for children, with a science-fiction and comedy approach to classical myth and antiquity. 

The Wooden Cow is a fractured re-version of the tale of the Trojan Horse. This time it is not Ulysses who is from Ithaca, but the human heroes of the story, who use their own knowledge of Greek history to inform Ulysses, the Bovine king, of the idea of a horse/cow that might trick the besieged city into allowing them entry. Interestingly in this tale, it doesn’t work and the Queen tosses the wooden animals off a nearby cliff into the ocean. The tale also includes a re-imagining of the tale of the Golden Fleece – in this case, a Golden Udder – and Ulysses’ victory over the city becomes tied to the theft of the Golden Udder. The story is a farcical interpretation of both myths and combines other elements of Greek story including the judgemental chorus-style narrator, references to Hades, Gorgons, and the Underworld, and a deconstructed storyline that is both self-referential and full of double-meanings. The language of the characters also refers back to Greek mythology, particularly their use of expletives such as “By Hades!” and “Who in the Pantheon are you?” The story ends with Ulysses gaining entry to the city but losing his victory due to the fact that he has stolen The Golden Udder and thus started a further war. This continues the series episodic style and connects the Trojan horse parody with that of the Golden Fleece.