Once upon a time in Who-ville, the home of the merry and warm-hearted Whos, the ancient martial art of Taekkyon was developed as a method of protecting the Whos from invaders, including the Whats, a radical group that believed it should rule Who-ville and the world. Over the centuries, the art was refined until it became known as Taekwondo. Who warriors trained in Taekwondo and it became their primary method of hand-to-hand combat. Taekwondo became known as the way of the warrior, and it as well as the warriors were highly respected by all Whos.

Every Who down in Who-ville liked Taekwondo a lot, but the Grinch, greedy and green with a heart "two sizes too small," who lived on snowy Mount Crumpit, a steep, high mountain just north of Who-ville, did not. As he looked down on Who-ville, he grew greener with envy of the success of Taekwondo and he wondered how he could capitalize on its success and make himself even more greenback dollars.

The Grinch saw that the Whos were fascinated by the martial arts; they seemed spellbound by the martial art exolits they were seeing in movies and reading about in magazines. The more the Grinch thought about the success of Taekwondo, the more he thought, "I must control this whole thing!” I have watched it grow for many years now! I MUST take control of Taekwondo! ...But HOW?"

Then he got an idea! An awful idea! THE GRINCH GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA! He noticed that the few civilian Whos that were training in Taekwondo were making lifetime commitments to the art. Recognizing that money could be made from such commitments, the Grinch made plans to capitalize on the situation by stealing control of Taekwondo; however, he needed to do it without the Whos becoming aware of what was happening.

"I know just what to do!" The Grinch laughed in his throat and he made a many striped black belt. And he chuckled, and clucked, "What a great Grinchy trick! "With this black belt, I'll look just like a Taekwondo grand master!"

The Grinch crept into Who-ville unnoticed, took over a few Taekwondo schools, made himself the supreme grandmaster of Taekwondo, gradually took control of the Taekwondo organizational structure, and moved the organization headquarters to the top of Mount Crumpi. By requiring that each Taekwondo school be registered with Mount Crumpi, he insured that all the schools would have to obey his commands if they wanted to register and certify their student black belts. The Grinch required all the schools to send him a portion of their student fees and he sat back with his faithful, but dim, dog Max and enjoyed all the riches.