Description: Crossdogs and the Wolf Pit Let me tell you. Let me tell you... once there was a village - not a big village, not a small village, just a middling village, much like this place used to be. And what was the name of that village? - I know what you''re asking. Why, that village was known as Brunt Boggart. And who was it who lived there? Let me tell you. I can see that you''re curious. I knew that you''d want to know. If I didn''t tell you, you''d make up your own stories. And that''s just what the boys did who lived there: Hamsparrow and Bullbreath, Larkspittle and Longskull, Shadowit, Scarum, Scatterlegs and Crossdogs - they all made up stories. Every night when the old''uns were busy, weaving and sewing and sleeping off their supper, all the boys who thought they were men and all the men who wished they were still boys, they''d all come and gather in the mossy hollow that lay in the middle of the Green that was in the middle of Brunt Boggart. A middling village, just like I told you. Much like this place used to be. What stories did they tell? I knew that you''d ask me. Every tale is worth telling, even if it''s half-forgotten. And for every tale there is to tell, there must be someone to listen. So - are you listening? Good. Let me tell you... The boys would sit around in the mossy hollow and tell each other stories of the wolf who lived in the woods: how big he was, how strong. How sharp his teeth, how long his claws. In each boy''s tale the Wolf grew more terrible. They said he did dreadful things. They told how he came to the village each night and gobbled up all the food. He broke down the fences and tore leaves from the trees and smashed the window of Old Mother Tidgewallop''s cottage. He drank the water in the well. He stole the wine from Snuffwidget''s cellar. "That''s nothing," said Longskull, the next boy in the circle. "I know the Wolf steals more than food and wine. I think he tries to steal our sisters. Why, where are they now while we''re all sat here? They''re not indoors neither, safe and sound. They''ve sneaked out same as we did while the old''uns are creeping and slopping and sleeping. Listen - you can hear them laughing, hear them tittering, hear them shrieking - over there by the woods. That''s when the Wolf comes to take them." Bullbreath and Scarum looked over and nodded. They could hear the wind howl through the tall whining trees. They could hear the snapping of branches. They could smell hot smoke like wolf''s breath in the breeze. Then Larkspittle spoke. His voice was so quiet it was almost a whisper. All the other boys gathered round, crowded in close, so that they could hear. "I think my sister''s new baby must have come from the Wolf." The boys were aghast. They were shocked and surprised. But then they realised - yes, it could be true. "Her baby does not look like us. It is hairy and howls every night at the moon." "It is not one of us. It does not have our ways. It has a long chin, long ears and a long pointy nose. Larkspittle is right. His sister has been taken by the Wolf!" Across the way and over they could hear their sisters laughing. They could hear their sisters skittering, screaming and shrieking. Crossdogs sprang up. "We must drive the Wolf away!" Hamsparrow nodded. "Better to catch him. Catch him and kill him." "How shall we do it?" Larkspittle asked them. "With a net!" bellowed Bullbreath. "Dig a pit!" clamoured Scarum. "Hit him and hit him..." Scatterlegs gibbered. "... with sticks," muttered Longskull. "... with staves," echoed Shadowit. "... with stones!" they all cried. The boys danced in a circle, in the middle of the Green. They were maddened. They were angry. They fixed their gaze on each other''s eyes. "Listen!" hissed Longskull. They stopped their cavorting. "I can hear nothing," Scatterlegs wheezed. "Nothing is not what we heard before," Longskull retorted. "We heard our sisters laughing and shrieking. Now it is silent." "Where have they gone?" "The Wolf''s come and taken them!" "Let''s go and find him and bring our sisters home." The boys stood quite still and watched each other, waiting to see who would move, who would lead them, who would be the first to tread the path to the edge of the wood. Out of the darkness they heard an owl''s mournful wail, the whisper of the wind. The crack of a branch. And then silence. Nothing more. Nothing more. None of them moved. Where were their sisters? I know what you''re asking. Why - they''d crept up behind the boys on their way back home. Ravenhair and Silverwing, Moonpetal and Dawnflower, Duskeye, Scallowflax, Dewdream and Riversong: they rushed out of the darkness, chasing their brothers all the way to the cottages where the old''uns were waiting beside warm glowing fires.

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