The Fox and the Child

NOCTURNAL INSECTS CHIRRUP FROGS CROAK

BIRDSONG

TREES RUSTLE

'My story started one day by chance on the way to school.'

'I remember it only too well.'

'I was just 10 years old.'

'It was the first time I had seen a fox so close.'

'And he hadn't heard me.'

'He stayed there and I watched him.'

Don't be afraid, fox.

Don't be afraid.

Fox...?

'My heart was beating flat-out.'

'He was so cute.'

'For a moment I thought I might be able to touch him.'

'Throughout the day at school

I could only think of the fox at the big beech tree.'

'On my return to the place where we met,

I was sure I'd find him again.'

'I'd decided that I would try and tame this fox.'

'At that point, I had no idea it was the beginning of a great adventure.'

CROW CAWS

BIRD ALARM CALL

'As autumn advanced, my fox was not to be found.'

'My walks had become an obsession.'

'I found the forest more and more mysterious

now I knew my fox lived there.'

VARIED BIRDSONG

'Then one evening I was struck by how small I was

in the midst of all that nature.'

'I spent my days learning to read, write and add up,

and yet I was still unable to find any trace of my fox.'

'But he had to be there. Somewhere. Right under my nose.'

'The snow that night had acted like a magic powder -

all was there to be seen.'

'The paw prints of rabbits, deer and badgers.'

'And then there in front of me...

my fox's tracks.'

# Paw by paw and step by step Who is it that went this way?

# Paw by paw and step by step Will my little finger say?

# On his way the rabbit leaped With his feet together

# Spiky hedgehog cross his hands In any weather

# A mark of three treads in the snow It's a bird, no, it's a crow

# A wild pig with no shoes on Makes a cut of four big holes

# Paw by paw and step by step Who is it that went this way?

# Paw by paw and step by step Will my little finger say?

# So finely curved little track And there we saw a stoat

# Two small soles, two small heels What a fine turn you promote

'It was amazing to walk in his steps.'

'He showed me another way of getting around.'

'He made me cross the same path again and again -

changing his mind all the time.'

# Paw by paw and step by step Who is it that went this way?

# Paw by paw and step by step Will my little finger say?

# In the snow and in the cold The fox goes on so bold

# With both paws and claws displayed Let's hide as the wolf parades

WOLF HOWLS

WOLF EMITS LONG HOWL

THUMP! Argh!

'I was stuck home for the rest of winter,

afraid I'd lose track of him forever.'

'My parents had found me a book on the life of foxes.'

'Already I knew it almost by heart.'

'I tried to imagine him.'

'I was becoming, little by little, like a fox in the middle of winter.'

SQUEAKING

PANICKED SQUEAKING

LOW GROWL

'I had always seen winter as a beautiful season,

but for my fox, every day was full of danger.'

'The book kept repeating - eat and not be eaten.'

'And I repeated to myself - Be strong, my fox.'

'Hold on. Our paths will cross again.'

'I remember the evening I heard them calling to themselves on the mountain.

'It was terribly cold.'

FOX CALLS

'It was the end of winter, the time of year when they pair off.'

WIND HOWLS

FOX YELPS

SHE MIMICS SOUNDS

'Somebody had told me their courtship was a strange mix of love and war.'

SHE MIMICS FOX CRIES

'Their cries sounded like the shriek of witches.'

SHRIEKS AND HOWLS

'My thoughts lingered on my fox.'

'Out there, amidst the shadows and stars...

..he lived in his kingdom.'

SHRIEKS AND CRIES

FOXES' CRIES PUNCTUATE SILENCE

SQUEALS, SNORTS, "GROWLS"

BIRDSONG

CRACKLING

'Spring was not far off, but I was worried about my fox.'

'There was a big campaign in the area to get rid of them.'

'Anything and everything would be used - poison, traps, guns...'

'Some people thought them pests,

but I thought them beautiful and fascinating.'

'But my opinion didn't count.'

DISTANT GUNSHOT

BIRDSONG

GUNSHOT

BIRDSONG

'I was free again, after two months indoors.'

'I was mad with joy!"

'I took up the tracks of my fox.'

'My father had told me how to find their dens.'

'I just had to be careful not to get too near them.'

'Foxes don't like it when you get too close to their homes.'

Oh, no...!

'But I only found empty dens.'

'Or even worse - blocked ones.'

'It would seem the war between man and fox will never end.'

WOODPECKER HAMMERS

SHE HUMS HAPPILY

SHORT NOISE - INDISTINCT

CROWS CAW

Anyone there?

FLY BUZZING

Oh, fox!

Oh, fox?

'So this was where my fox lived.'

'I was so happy again.'

'Now I'd found him, I wanted to see him.'

Wait! Wait!

'My fox was a vixen and she'd given birth to cubs.'

'She was moving them to another hiding place.'

'She'd heard me.'

'Why wasn't I more careful?!'

CUCKOO CALLING

Cuc-koo! Cuc-koo! BIRD "REPLIES"

'I knew she couldn't have gone very far with the little ones,

so I climbed up into the big beech to keep an eye on the valley below.'

'I had seen her here once before, surely I'd see her again.'

'I was happy to wait until she appeared.'

CUCKOO CALLING

'I was beginning to doubt my patience,

when an idea came from nowhere.'

'On four paws.'

'If my sandwich could attract a hedgehog,

it could do the same for a fox.'

Psst! Go away!

Hey! Go now!

Hey! Come here!

Don't be afraid - come...!

Why are you going so soon? Wait!

You'll come back, won't you?

Yes!

THUNDER

'Days came and went. My fox didn't come back.'

'I didn't want her to forget me.'

'Every day after school I went to the tree

to let her know I was still there. Waiting for her.'

'It was now two weeks since I had seen any sign of her.'

'It was quite a lonely time.'

'I asked the old trees to keep an eye out for me.'

'These old boys must see everything from high up in their branches.'

'But they're not very talkative.'

WHISTLE

SHE WHISTLES

FLIES BUZZING BIRDS CHEEPING

SHE PLAYS SIMPLE TUNE ON WHISTLE

TUNE HEARD AMIDST FOREST SOUNDS

MOTHER MAKES LITTLE GUTTURAL NOISES

You're not going again.

'I had just made a giant step, and I had to follow her.'

'I didn't really know where I was going, but that wasn't important,

I didn't want to lose her.'

BEAR SNORTS AND GROWLS

BEAR SNIFFS AND SNORTS

BEAR GROWLS

SEQUENCE OF SHORT GROWLS

'The old grouch of the mountains!'

'No one had seen him for years.'

'But I had.'

'I never told my parents about it.'

'More and more I felt I had to find her again.'

'I had the whole holiday ahead of me.'

'I learnt to be patient.'

'Sometimes many days went by before I saw her again.'

'I loved waiting for her.'

'Little by little I earned the right to get closer.'

'There was no question of stroking her.'

'But it wasn't wrong to try.'

Come on, come here.

Here, look, it's for you.

Come here.

"GROWL"

No, come back here.

Here.

Hey!

'You unpredictable fox!'

'I loved it when she appeared like that, by surprise.'

'As if she had always been there.'

'It was exciting to go deep into the forest with her.'

'It had the scent of adventure.'

'It's funny, at times she would wait for me -

as if I wasn't going quickly enough for her.'

'One day I followed her to the Giant's Footprints.'

'That was really something special. I shouldn't have been there.'

'Every child knew it was the most forbidden place imaginable.'

WATERS ROAR BELOW

BIRDSONG

Wow...!

Oh, no, fox, I wasn't making fun of you!

Oh, fox!

'I never imagined that a fox could sulk, but sulk she did.'

'It was sweet.'

'It inspired me to give her a name, which just came to me.'

Lily!

Lily!

'Lily. It was cute.'

'Especially for someone so moody.'

Look! Look!

Look!

DISTANT THUNDER

THUNDER OUTSIDE

Is that you there? VOICE ECHOES

You knew it would rain?

How did you know that?

Lily!

It's not the first time you've come here.

Do you know many places like this?

Fox, this isn't funny.

I want to get out of here.

Aaaargh!

FROG CROAKS

STRANGE ANIMAL SOUNDS ALL AROUND

HISSING

Stop! Stop!

Everyone, stop!

NOISES GET LOUDER AND MORE NUMEROUS

VOICES CALLING

Where are you? >

VOICE CONTINUES

Mum, over here! Dad!

'As a punishment for my escapade, I wasn't allowed out for a week.'

'My parents had been more afraid than me.'

'I never stopped thinking of Lily,

pictures of her were constantly running through my mind.'

'I enjoyed reliving the moments we had shared together.'

'I wanted so much to find her again.'

PIPE MUSIC PLAYS

SHE PLAYS PIPE

ANIMAL CALLS

SHE BLOWS NOTE FOX "REPLIES"

Hey, wait!

Where are we going?

'I liked watching her.'

'I wondered what she liked.'

'If she was happy to be with me.'

'If she liked flowers.'

'If she saw things in the same colours as I did.'

Lily!

'She was always alert.'

'Always checking around her.'

FLY BUZZES

VARIOUS INSECT NOISES

Come on, that's it, come here.

BIRD SINGS CRICKETS CHIRRUP

TREES RUSTLE IN BREEZE

BEE BUZZES

HIGH-PITCHED BUZZING

NOISY BUZZING

BIRD SINGS CRICKETS CHIRRUPING

FOX PANTS AND SNIFFS

DISTANT WOLF HOWL

BIRD SINGS

LOUD BUZZING

'There was always a moment on our outings

when I felt like she wanted to leave.'

'Usually I was right, and seconds later she'd disappear.'

Why are you going?!

What's wrong? Wait for me!

FOX CRIES OUT

FOX WHIMPERS

WOLF GROWLS

AAAAARRRGGH! GO AWAY! GO!

'I dreamt of wolves all through the night,

and wondered if I would see her again.'

'But there she was.'

'More playful than ever.'

Lily.

Come on.

SHE PLAYS WHISTLE

'They were incredibly funny.'

'I had a wonderful time with them.'

'The fox cubs didn't take long to adopt me.'

'It was extraordinary!'

'The summer days flew by without me noticing.'

Come on. Come here!

DISTANT CHURCH BELLS

Look, you shouldn't be afraid.

This is where I live with my parents.

That's my house over there.

It looks funny, doesn't it?

And that's my father driving his car home.

DOG BARKS

-CAR STOPS MAN WHISTLES

-Here boy! Come on, boy!

Dinnertime!

And that means supper's ready.

All right, see you tomorrow.

DOG BARKS

BIRDSONG

'I was so happy. I felt at last we'd become real friends.'

'She was so excited when we met again, she put on a show for me.'

'I knew she was happy to see me.'

'At that moment, I felt that I really understood her.'

'She was my secret.'

Come on, let's have a race!

Last one there's a rotten egg!

Come on.

You're the rotten egg!

Lily, here, don't be afraid. Look - it's a fire.

Let's play something.

Let's say it's winter and there's snow,

and you've come to my house to get warm.

Shall we play?

So we've returned. We're come to the land of fairies,

and we have to live somewhere.

There's the walls. Good.

And this is our house.

This is my chair.

And this here is the door.

And you coming in?

Hey, stay still.

Let's pretend this is your collar.

Is that OK?

Come on.

Uh, you just hit your head against the wall.

So we'll say you were waiting for me

while I went for some mushrooms in the forest.

Good. Now you can't keep running off.

Hey! Sit down!

Sit down!

Hey, stop!

Come back here, right now, or I won't be your friend!

'It upset me to see her run off like that in the middle of our game.'

'As usual, I had to wait till she wanted to come back.'

'It would've been nice if she'd listened to me for once.'

WIND BLOWS WINDOW RATTLES

SHE BLOWS WHISTLE FOX CALLS

So, there you are, Lily!

Why do you look sad?

Lily, Lily!

Lily, Lily, Lily!

You're not angry with me any more?

Come on, I'll show you my bedroom.

Lily, Lily!

What are you doing?

Lily!

Come on.

Come in.

You see, I have my own den.

Do you like my bedroom?

FOX WHIMPERS

Let's play hide and seek.

FOX WHIMPERS

I see you!

I saw you. DISTRESSED YELPS

Aaarrgh!

FOX YELPS FRETFULLY

What are you doing?!

Stop!

NO!

Wake up, Lily. Wake up.

Please get better.

You can't do this now.

What will I do then?

I promise you, I'll never do anything you don't like.

I'll play the games you choose.

Lily?

'I was so relieved that she hadn't been killed.'

'It was in that moment that I understood

why foxes always flee when they see us.'

'They have known for a long time that we could never truly be friends.'

'It wasn't by keeping her that she would remain mine.'

'What I loved was the excitement of the wait.'

'I'd confused possession for love.'

'The days went by and I returned to the forest.'

'I called to her.'

'Sometimes she answered me, sometimes not.'

'Then one day I waited for her. I looked for her.'

'But I was never to see her again.'

'Maybe she understood something.'

'Maybe she didn't want to see me any more.'

'Maybe she had been called somewhere else by the forest.'

'But I was sure from that day on that foxes knew what love means.'