The Shuffle Thumpus

This is the story of the shuffle thumpus, a creature whose name is derived from the way it shuffles and thumps through the Emerald Forest beneath the Tree of Life. Gi and his thumpi friends have just completed the Spring Rumpus competitions, coming of age tests which prepare them for adulthood. They win the opportunity to go to the Golden Meadow on an expedition to explore the mystical regions north of the Thunder Mountains, where it is rumored that unicorns run freely in fields of yellow flowers.
Near the end of their stay in the Golden Meadow they get their first look at the elusive unicorns; unfortunately they also run into the dreaded loose skins, creatures determined to subjugate them to work in the gold mines in the Northern Mountains. How can they escape and how do they avoid the loose skins now they know the thumpi exist? Can unicorns and a pack of rats really be the answer?