The Goose had had enough. She was tired, her foot hurt, she couldn’t stop eating biscuits & something was wrong with her boiler. But she was made of stern stuff & went out to buy some bread & coffee & olives, and then limped around the Heath for an hour in the snow.

There was once an Otter who despaired of provincial life. One winter, she sailed her boat to Paris, moored near the Bastille & began to live again. She wrote everyday – memoirs, plays, essays on Montaigne. At night, she drank, ate well & danced with philosophers & fellow bargees.

Old Fox was trying to persuade Wolf to come out of the wardrobe, where he'd been hiding since listening to the news early that morning. I'm never coming out, shouted Wolf. Old Fox sighed & sat down on the carpet. He really didn't blame Wolf, it was all so very exhausting.

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