Small fox, Big Adventure, Big Fox. Volume I

Deep in the woods there once lived a small red fox, he was the runt of the litter. His ribs were visible through his thin fur. It seemed that his mother didn’t care, she loved him the same. As the tiny runt of a fox grew up, he realised that he was very different than everyone else. His siblings had been learning to hunt, but he was unable to join in as his muscles were small to non existent. Plus, he was still tiny and could not keep up. He was no bigger than a rabbit. He didn’t mind being so small, it made him good at hide and seek. His brothers and sisters had different views.

‘Oi, you little beggar. Why don’t you roger off’.

They would shout. This pretty much happened everyday all day, they were ruining his confidence. His mother was his only friend; she didn’t want to intervene with al of the bullying nonsense. The tiny runt had had enough, he had put up with this awful behaviour for far too long now. It would never get better; he would always be smaller than the others. That’s the way it would always be. No one could do anything about it. He left the pack in the middle of the day when everyone was tucked away in bed asleep. He knew that no one would miss him apart from his mother, she had always cared about him. The fact of the matter was that his mother did not miss him, she hadn’t even realised that he had gone. The tiny runt travelled for days, not knowing where he was going or where his next meal was going to come from. On his journey he saw a lot of things that he didn’t even know existed.

Giant trees, mushrooms and blossom.

Pears, lakes and conifers.

Hedgehogs, apples and birds with giant horns.

He managed to stay alive by eating algae from the river that he was walking up, he didn’t mind. If he stayed next to the river at least he wouldn’t get lost. Weeks past until he finally fell down and past out from exhaustion, he was a goner.

He awoke, to the tiny runt’s surprise, he was still alive. He looked up. He looked around. He was in some kind of a cabin. It was covered in wall hangings, rugs, blankets and pottery. A strange figure walked in holding a large bowl, the figure placed the bowl in front of the runt. It smelt awful, like burnt sugar, bark and mould. The skinny fox looked up and saw the figure. It was not what he had imagined. He was horrified.

A gigantic, grinning badger with no more than fifteen eyes stood there gripping a large staff, mumbling under his breath and licking his lips. The fox almost jumped out of his skin (which probably wouldn’t be hard due to how malnourished he was), the creature seemed to be holding him hostage and feeding him pure rot. This however was untrue, the fox gradually realised who the creature was. He was told myths about a vile, giant shaman that looked after unfortunate animals in the disguise of a grotesque badger. The badger shaman pushed the bowl of brown gloop towards the tiny runt and winked. The tiny runt was slightly freaked out.

‘Will this make me better?’

He asked. The reply was simply a series of grunts and a lick of his lips. The runt was scared, the creature was strange, his eyes bounced as he walked and his neck was too large to accommodate his body. The poor runt ate as much of the gloop as he possibly could and then...

Ka-Boom! Bang! Wizzz!

The tiny runt was fully recovered. Surrounded by a green fog, he stood up. He was well again. But wait... he was larger than he used to be. A lot larger. He was almost as big as the badger shaman. Much larger than his awful siblings. The badger squealed in happiness. And nodded toward the door. The no longer tiny runt walked through the door and took a look at the world outside through the eyes of a tall creature. As he stepped outside, he realised just how big he was. He could eat grass off the near by tree. He was the size of a horse.

The fox stood forward, opened his wings. Wait, foxes don’t have wings. Apparently they do now. He jumped into the air and stretched out his wings and flew towards his home.

He was not expecting what he would find...