The mountain was huge but his home was tiny. Humble McBumble lived all alone in a wee hut half way up Ben Macdui, in Scotland. His hut was built out of pine from the forest and nearly everything that he ever needed he was able to get from either the forest or somewhere else on the mountain. He wasn't very tall but he was very old and very wise. He had a long ginger beard and wore a really funny floppy hat and a kilt (even in the winter). Although I said he lived all alone he still had lots of friends. All the animals and the birds were his friends and he had different names for almost all of them. . The air was becoming cold and flocks of birds were flying south towards the sun, winter was nearly here. All the golden coloured leaves from the trees had fallen to the ground and the mountain looked very bleak. Some of the animals that lived in the forest had, for a long time been gathering food for their hibernation and they would soon be going to sleep until the spring! This story is about one of those animals that lived in the forest, Johan the fox. Johan the fox was strolling through the forest one morning in the middle of December looking for breakfast. The weather was bad, snow lay on the ground and the wind was getting stronger. Food was scarce at this time of year so Johan had to search further than usual and the snow and wind made hunting very difficult. The wind was getting much stronger, Johan wanted to turn back and head for home but he said "just a little further, I'm too hungry to go home without eating." But just then the wind howled through the trees. Johan didn't realise that he was walking under a slightly rotten tree. He heard a long cracking sound and as he turned around to see where the noise was coming from he saw the huge dark tree crashing toward him. He started to run... as fast as he could, but his paws were getting caught in the deep snow. He thought he had escaped when the tree crashed to the ground right beside him. But just as he was about to make his final bound to freedom the trunk of the tree rolled over gently and on to his tail. Poor Johan! There he was, hungry, a long way from home and his tail trapped under a huge heavy tree. He wasn't happy at all. Luckily though, because the snow was soft, it didn't hurt very much, but no matter how hard he tried the tail would just not free itself. Just at that moment it started to snow again and Johan had a horrible thought.... If it snowed too heavily and for quite a long time the snow would rise above his head and he wouldn't be able to breathe! Now he was very worried. That morning Humble McBumble was out for his usual early morning stroll through the forest. He hadn't walked far when he thought he heard a very quiet cry. "What was that noise?" He muttered to himself but supposed it was just the wind and carried on walking. Then he heard it again and started to look around to see if he could find where it was coming from. He heard it again and this time was able to tell that it came from the direction of a fallen tree. Rushing as fast as his old spindly legs would carry him, he worked his way through the snow. When he arrived at the fallen tree he couldn't see anybody...until he peered over the other side and there lay a small fox curled up and sheltering from the wind and snow. "Johan! What are you doing there?" said Humble. "The wind blew this rotten tree over and it rolled on to my tail as I tried to run away," whimpered Johan. He was becoming very cold. "I've been here for hours and the level of the snow is slowly getting higher. I've tried everything I can think of to get free, but my tail just will not come free" he said. "Well, I'll just have to give it a push and you can be on your way" said Humble. But Humble McBumble wasn't very strong and try as he might he just couldn't move the tree. "OK" he said, "we'll try something else, now let me think...mmm…" After some serious thinking and much head scratching Humble McBumble eventually said "I know what we'll do" and off he went searching around the forest floor. He returned with a branch from one of the pine trees that had also fallen in the wind. He tried to lever the tree trunk off of Johan's tail, but he was just not strong enough and the tail stayed trapped under the tree. Humble McBumble took a step backwards and looked at the tree trunk, then at the fox, back to the tree trunk and then again back to the fox. He looked at the snow that lay all around him and then he looked up at the sky. It didn't look as if it was going to stop snowing for a long time...something had to be done quickly. Humble McBumble had an idea. He hurried back to his hut and when he eventually got there he disappeared for a short while into his tool shed and then all of a sudden he came rushing out carrying a large saw. Back into the forest he went, hoping to remember the way because of course the snow had now covered his footprints. As he struggled through the snow he thought to himself, I hope I'm quick enough I couldn't bare the thought of Johan dying under the snow. The snow fell even heavier and the wind howled even louder but Humble McBumble kept on going. Eventually he came across the place where Johan had been lying. But all he could see was the tree trunk and white snow covering the ground. He thought he was to late, but just then he saw a little brown nose poke its way through the snow, he rushed over and started digging at the snow with his hands and there was Johan, still alive. His idea was a clever one. He was going to saw the tree, not in half but into three pieces, two long pieces at each end and a small one in the middle where Johans tail was so that the small piece wouldn't be very heavy and therefore easy to move. This was exactly what he did. He was absolutely exhausted when he had finished but he was able to roll the middle piece off of Johans tail and pick him up in his arms and wrap him in a blanket, which he had also brought from his hut. Humble McBumble carried Johan slowly back to his hut. He lit a nice warm fire and cooked a lovely pot of "hot forest" soup for them both. It was getting late now and Humble McBumble and Johan had had a hard day, they were very tired and decided to go to sleep in front of the fire, Johan on the rug and Humble McBumble in his favourite chair. When they woke up in the morning they both agreed that it would be wonderful if Johan could stay with Humble McBumble for the whole of the winter and that is exactly what happened.The End