The Fox Cub Bold facts for kids
First edition
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| Author | Colin Dann |
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| Illustrator | Terry Riley cover artist Frances Broomfield |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Animals of Farthing Wood |
| Genre | Children's, Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Hutchinson |
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Publication date
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1983 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 164 (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | 0-09-153860-2 (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 59083200 |
| Preceded by | Fox's Feud |
| Followed by | The Siege of White Deer Park |
The Fox Cub Bold is the fourth book in the popular The Animals of Farthing Wood series. It was first released in 1983. This book has also been published with Fox's Feud and as part of a larger collection called the "Omnibus" edition, which also includes In the Grip of Winter.
Contents
The Story of Bold the Fox Cub
Bold, a young fox, has left the safety of White Deer Park. He wants to explore what he calls "the real world." He meets a magpie who scolds him for looking for scraps during the day. The magpie thinks Bold should hunt for his own food.
Next, Bold meets a crow who warns him about humans. Bold ignores this warning. He feels confident because the humans he meets don't harm him.
Bold's Adventures and Dangers
A few weeks later, Bold finds a special wood on a farm. This wood is where game birds, like partridges and pheasants, are kept. Bold enjoys hunting these birds. He sleeps in a badger's home, but the badger soon returns. Bold is friendly to the female badger. She also warns him about humans in the area.
Bold ignores her warning too. He sees birds killed by the gamekeeper, who manages the game birds. Bold bravely eats a bird right in front of the dead animals. But a few days later, he finds the female badger caught in a snare, a type of trap. Bold bites through the wire to save her. The wire snaps back and hurts his eye. The badger is very thankful and promises to help Bold if he ever needs it.
A Difficult Injury
One day, Bold hears gunshots. He realizes he is in the middle of a pheasant hunt. A dog comes towards him to get a dead bird. Bold tries to run away. Because of his injured eye, he runs towards the hunters by mistake. One hunter shoots him in the leg.
Bold limps away with his injured leg dragging. He finally reaches a ditch where he can hide. He tries to catch a dormouse nearby, but he is too slow now. Bold cannot move far from the ditch. He mostly eats slugs and insects, which don't give him enough energy. He becomes very weak.
The crow he met earlier finds him. Bold asks for help. The crow first refuses. But when Bold says his father is the famous Farthing Wood Fox, the crow agrees. The crow goes to find the badger Bold helped. The badger arrives with three other badgers. They feed Bold. One young badger suggests Bold stay with them until he gets better.
Life on His Own
A few days later, Bold gets ready to go back to the game wood. He travels with the female badger, whom he calls Shadow because she watches over him. They travel very slowly because of Bold's injury. When Shadow goes hunting, Bold decides to leave. He does not want to depend on others.
He finds an empty fox den with leftover food from another fox. He eats it all. The next day, he tries to catch a vole but fails. Bold then decides to get food by raiding human supplies. He wants revenge for his injuries.
Bold visits a nearby farm. He finds two chickens, called bantams, nesting outside. They run away, but Bold eats their abandoned eggs. He returns to the farm a few days later and catches one of the bantams. He meets Shadow again while carrying the bantam. Bold does not want to share, but Shadow insists he keeps it all.
Bold goes back to the farm that evening. The other bantam is now locked away. The farm dog sees Bold, and he has to escape. Two humans use their dog to track Bold to his den. When they see how weak he is, they think he couldn't have caught the bantam. They believe his mate must have done it. Thinking Bold won't survive winter, they leave him alone.
New Friends in Town
Bold meets the crow again. The crow suggests he look for food in a nearby town. It takes Bold several days to reach the town. Once there, the two friends agree to help each other find food. The crow finds food first and tells Bold he ate food left for a dog or cat. Bold decides to call the crow Robber.
Bold's injury means he cannot jump over fences. This limits where he can search for food. One evening, Bold sees a female fox, called a vixen, in a garden. She ignores him, and Bold feels embarrassed. Several days later, Bold sees her again. He tries to dig his way into the garden, but she comes out to greet him. She tells Bold she moved to town for more food in winter. She offers to help him hunt, but Bold's pride makes him refuse.
A month later, the vixen sees Bold again. She wants to hunt with him, and this time Bold agrees. Together, they catch some rats. Bold calls her Whisper because she is so quiet. Whisper offers Bold a place in her den. But Bold goes back to his own home to give a rat to Robber. When Bold tells Robber about Whisper, the crow tells him to live with the vixen. Bold moves in the next night.
Bold cannot jump the wall to get into Whisper's den. But they find a hole he can use. Inside the den, Whisper thinks Bold is an older fox. She asks where he was born. Bold tells her he was born in White Deer Park and that his father is the famous Farthing Wood Fox. Whisper then makes a plan, but Bold does not know what it is.
A New Family and a Long Journey
A few days later, a large dog barks loudly outside their den. One day, Bold cannot get back into the den because the wall has been fixed. The dog chases him. Bold tries to dig a new hole quickly but gets stuck. Robber comes to help. The dog turns out to be friendly. He helps Bold make the hole big enough to get through. The dog, a mastiff, introduces himself as Rollo. He is lonely during the day. Rollo visits the foxes often in the following weeks, even though the foxes are trying to sleep.
As mating season arrives, Bold and Whisper become mates. Whisper soon carries Bold's cubs. Whisper tells Bold she chose him because he is the son of the Farthing Fox. She wants their cubs to be born in White Deer Park. Bold is upset by this, but he agrees to lead her there. Rollo feeds the foxes for their last few days in town. Then, they head back towards the countryside.
The Final Journey and Farewell
Heavy snow makes travel very hard for Bold. Their pace is slow. Whisper wants to go faster, but moving through the slush tires Bold out. He collapses in an open field. He tells Whisper to find shelter while he rests.
Robber, who has been following them, finds Bold on the ground. He promises to bring Bold some food. Robber goes back to Rollo. Rollo agrees to bring a bone he buried to Bold and Whisper. While waiting, Bold digs into the snow to hide.
Two men with two greyhounds are chasing a hare. One greyhound kills the hare. The other chases Bold. Luckily, Robber arrives and distracts the greyhound until Rollo gets there. Rollo grabs the greyhound by the neck, shakes it, and throws it away. Rollo brings the foxes his bone and the hare killed by the other greyhound. Then he goes back home.
As the foxes get close to White Deer Park, Bold leaves Whisper while she is sleeping. He hides himself away, forcing her to finish the journey alone. Whisper arrives at the park and meets Charmer. Charmer immediately tells her family that Bold has returned.
Meanwhile, Robber notices Bold hiding. He offers to feed him, but the injured fox wants to wait for his death. Robber sees Fox and Friendly searching outside the park. He leads them to Bold, meeting Vixen and Charmer along the way. The foxes arrive. Fox tells Bold how proud he is. Soon after, the young fox passes away.
Characters in The Fox Cub Bold
Television Series
The story from this book is shown in the second half of the second season of The Animals of Farthing Wood (TV series). The order of events is changed a little. Also, Rollo the dog is changed from an English Mastiff to a St. Bernard in the TV show.
