Sleezy the Fox
Story 1: Sleezy Gets a Second Chance
By
William Forde
Published by William Forde
Cover Illustration by Dave Bradbury
Inner Illustrations by Joel Stephen Breeze
Copyright December 2011 by William Forde
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
Thank you for downloading this ebook. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people.
Author's Foreword
The late Princess Diana liked the ‘Sleezy the Fox’ stories so much that she phoned me when the two young princes, William and Harry, were aged 9 and 7 years old and asked that I send her a copy so that she could read it to her sons at bedtime. It is nice to know that the next King of England had your book read to him by his mother when he was a child!
Each of us shall experience or perpetrate some wrong in our lives. At the critical stage of reconciliation and healing, it is vitally important that we are able to give others and ourselves the benefit of a ‘second chance’. And if you are like I used to be growing up, you may need to receive a ‘second chance’ many times before you eventually get it right.
In the four stories of ‘Sleezy the Fox’, one of the central characters, Gilbert Grim, is frequently referred to by other story characters as ‘the fat farmer.’ Despite it appearing politically incorrect to use, this reference is deliberately included by the author as it naturally helps to introduce the theme of the final story in the sequence which deals with the issue of name calling and bullying.
I rededicate this book to my sons, James and Adam who were the first to hear these stories many years before they were first published. I extend my thanks to artist, Dave Bradbury, for the beautiful book cover his art created and artist Joel Stephen Breeze for the inner illustrations in the four books.
William Forde, December, 2011.
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‘Sleezy the Fox’
by
William Forde
Book One
‘Sleezy gets a Second Chance’.
Many years ago, in a country called Transylvania, there were a great many angry farmers. The cause of their anger was a very clever fox called Sleezy. At the end of each day when their work was done, the farmers would put their chickens in the coop and their sheep in the pens. Every morning when they went out to start their next day's work, they found that one of their chickens had been stolen or one of their sheep had been killed. The only trace of the intruder was a set of fox's footprints in the ground!
All the farmers tried to catch this clever fox, but each one failed. Whatever kind of trap they set, the fox proved too clever for them. You see, Sleezy was no ordinary fox. He was probably the cleverest fox in the whole wide world!
One farmer dug a deep pit outside the entrance of the chicken coop and covered it up with twigs and leaves. He went to bed that night, convinced that his chickens would be protected as he slept, and that the trap would work if the fox came. The next morning he found the trap undisturbed and another chicken stolen. He was furious! He was angry to have had one of his best chickens stolen, but angrier still to have been outsmarted by a wild fox. "I just can't figure out how he did it!" the angry farmer exclaimed, as he tried to puzzle out how the fox had managed to get inside the chicken coop without falling down the trap he'd set.
Another farmer decided to hide inside the chicken coop all night long with a shotgun by his side. "He'll get no more of my chickens!" the farmer vowed. "Just let him poke his thieving face inside this chicken coop and I'll . . . . I'll blow his head off!"
At the appointed time when the sky had darkened, Sleezy saw the chicken coop in the distance and decided to check it out. He was a bit tired that day and didn’t particularly feel like taking too many risks. All he felt like doing was to get in the coop, grab the fattest chicken and get back home for his supper feast of feathered chicken without the risk of capture. So not wishing to announce his presence, Sleezy crept up on the coop to ‘case the joint’ before he broke in and stole his supper.
As Sleezy got closer to the coop, his nose began to twitch excitedly with the smell of feathered chicken. Then, he sensed a different smell coming from the coop. It was a human smell. "Ah...ah! Is that a farmer that I can smell?" he asked himself. Sleezy crept up to the coop and peeked inside. "Oh, no! Oh no, Buster!" he told himself as he saw the concealed sniper with his shotgun at his side, ready to blow his head off as soon as he poked it inside the chicken coop. "Oh no, Buster! You’re not going to get Sleezy so easily. You’ll not blow my head off, Mate! You’ll have to get up earlier in the morning to catch me out, Buster!"
Sleezy was far too wise for the poor unsuspecting farmer. Sleezy realized that where ‘patience is a virtue,’ the best thing to do where humans are concerned is simply to ‘wait them out’. Unlike animals that spend most of their lives waiting around, humans are infinitely much more impatient. Sleezy knew that humans quickly tire and give up in their efforts.
For many hours the farmer managed to stay awake inside the chicken coop, but eventually as the night went on and on and on, he became so tired waiting for the fox that he fell fast asleep. Sleezy simply waited another 10 minutes after the farmer had fallen asleep and as the farmer’s snoring loudened; the clever fox quietly entered the chicken coop, bopped the fattest chicken on the head and promptly left the scene of the crime with a sumptuous feathered chicken in his mouth.
When he woke up the following morning, the farmer was furious. As soon as he opened his eyes, he found that one of his best chickens had been stolen from the coop beneath his nose while he slept. He also found a note fastened on a piece of string, which the fox had tied around his neck while he slept.
The note read:
"Thank you for my chicken dinner, Buster. It was so kind of you to wait up for me. See you again soon."
‘Sleezy the Fox’ (The cleverest fox in the whole wide world).
The farmer was enraged and he screamed and pulled his hair out! He was angry to have had one of his best chickens stolen from under his nose, but angrier still to have been outsmarted and tagged by a wild fox while he slept on.
Over the coming months, the village farmers grew angrier and angrier. One by one, the clever fox stole chickens from every farm in the village, but try as they may; none of the farmers were clever enough to catch him.
Whenever Sleezy got hungry, he'd simply go on a chicken raid, stealing feathered chickens from the local farms. Whenever Sleezy got bored, he’d play a kind of bullying game with the farmers’ sheep; particularly those in the flock which were slow of foot. He'd tease and taunt the farmers' sheep; chasing them round and round until the slowest among them dropped down dead with exhaustion!
Sleezy enjoyed giving the angry farmers and their sheep the run around; outfoxing each one of them in turn as they tried to trap him. It felt particularly satisfying to ‘get one over’ on the stupid humans who seemed unable to catch a cold unless it came up close and bopped them on the head!
At the end of each successful chicken raid, Sleezy would smugly congratulate himself and smugly remark, "They'll not catch me! Let them set their silly traps; I'll still outsmart them! I'm Sleezy, the cleverest fox in the whole wide world! They'll never catch me. Plonkers!"
As Sleezy grew older and more successful, he became over-confident and somewhat cocky in his chicken-raid exploits. Convinced that he was simply too clever to be caught, he grew contemptuous of the farmers’ efforts to ensnare him and he began to live more dangerously. He needed a bit of buzz and excitement in his life, so he decided to ‘even up the odds’ of the helpless farmers.
Sometimes, whilst out on a chicken raid, Sleezy would spy an unguarded chicken coop, filled to the brim with feathered chickens. But, instead of sneaking up on the chickens, he'd tell them he was on his way! He’d howl out a warning from the woodland’s edge, informing them that he was ‘coming for them now.’ "Watch out, Chucky Chucky. Watch out! I'm coming to get you, Chucky Chucky! Sleezy's coming to get you now!"
Upon hearing the fox, the chickens in the crowded coop would fly into a panic. Loose feathers would fly everywhere as they clucked in fear and dived for cover. Upon hearing the noise of the frightened chickens, the farmer would rush out with his shotgun, prepared to protect his poultry from the prowling fox, threatening as he waved his gun, "Where is he? Show your face you........thieving vermin. Show your thieving face and I’ll......I’ll blow it off!"
Sleezy was very clever though and would always position himself beyond the firing range of the farmer's double-barrelled shotgun as he announced his presence. Upon seeing the fox in the distance sitting there, the angry farmer would fire at him.
The clever fox would wait until the angry farmer had discharged both barrels of the shotgun. Then, instead of running for cover ‘away’ from the farmer; once both shots had been fired at him, Sleezy would run as fast as his legs would carry him ‘towards’ the farmer and the chicken coop.
Sleezy knew that it would take the farmer precisely half-a-minute to reload his shotgun, and before he could do so, Sleezy would have travelled the distance from woodland edge to chicken coop; knocking the farmer to the ground as he raced by him, proudly proclaiming, "Gotcha, Buster! Gotcha!"
Before the stunned farmer had recovered his senses and had managed to pick himself up off the ground, Sleezy would have entered the coop, snatched the fattest chicken in sight and have started his run back towards the cover of the surrounding woodland. If Sleezy timed it right, and was fast enough, he could usually manage to knock the poor, unsuspecting farmer down again on his return journey as he announced gleefully," Gotcha again, Buster! Sleezy’s gotcha again!"
The farmer would be wild with rage as he hit the ground for the second time. He’d be furious at the lightning speed and sheer bravado of this wild fox. By the time he'd fire his gun at the chicken-stealing fox, Sleezy would be well out of firing range once more. Shaking his fist at Sleezy in the distance, the angry farmer would yell murderously, "I'll get you, you thieving fox! Just you wait. I'll get you next time!"
Sleezy would usually add insult to injury by howling back, "Oh, no you won't, slowcoach! You'll never get me, Buster! I'm Sleezy! The fastest and cleverest fox in the whole wide world! Thank you for my chicken dinner, Plonker! See you again soon!"
Sleezy's chicken-stealing and sheep-killing exploits carried on for years. The farmers sensed that this clever fox was laughing at them, but they found themselves powerless in their efforts to stop him. Eventually, the angry farmers became so enraged that they offered a huge reward for Sleezy's capture, dead or alive.
After a meeting had been held in the Village Hall, at which the reward was agreed, notices were placed on every post and tree around the country. The notice read:
‘500 crowns for the capture of ‘Sleezy the Fox’, dead or alive!’
500 crowns was a huge amount of money, and before very long, every farmer and hunter in the surrounding villages were out looking for Sleezy; hoping to catch him and make their fortune.
The reward notice was read by Farmer Hans, a newcomer to the village. Farmer Hans was a poor but kindly man who'd recently come to Transylvania with his wife and seven children. Farmer Hans had arrived in Transylvania with just enough money to buy a small farmhouse, a few chickens and seven sheep. As he read the reward notice Farmer Hans thought, "If only I could catch this fox, I could ease my situation considerably. I could claim the reward and have enough money to buy some more chickens and increase the size of my small flock of sheep."
While having few possessions, Farmer Hans was a very wise man who knew a great deal about foxes. In the country where he'd been born, there were many foxes and he'd discovered many clever ways of catching them.
Having heard all about the exploits of Sleezy the Fox from some of his neighbours, Farmer Hans realised that Sleezy was no ordinary fox and that no ordinary trap would ever be capable of catching him. "I shall need to prepare my plans well if I’m to catch this clever fox," the gentle farmer told his wife." If what I've heard is true, this fox is probably the cleverest fox in the whole wide world!"
The next day, Farmer Hans went into the village and announced his intention of catching ‘Sleezy the Fox’ and claiming the 500 crowns reward. After Farmer Hans had told them he would catch the fox, all the villagers and farmers laughed at him. "What chance has a stranger of catching this sly fox, when none of us locals, who knows the surrounding woods and land like the back of our hands, have been able to do so?" they jeered.
"You've got more chance of catching a fat pig down a rabbit hole!" sneered an overweight farmer called Gilbert Grim. Gilbert had lived in the village all his life and he invariably acted as self-appointed guardian to all of the village’s concern. He also believed himself to be the best fox catcher for miles around and he couldn't possibly believe that any stranger would succeed where he and others had failed.
The more they laughed at Farmer Hans, the more determined the gentle farmer became to catch Sleezy. In a quiet, but confident voice he replied, "Have the reward ready one week from today, when I'll return with ‘Sleezy the Fox’."
"Ha...Ha!" yelled Gilbert Grim. "You’ll not catch the vermin, stranger. You’ll have more chance of catching a fat pig down a rabbit hole!"
For the next four days, Farmer Hans thought about many different ways of catching this clever fox alive. Eventually, he decided upon his best plan. Two days later, he moved the chicken coop away from the farmhouse and placed it in the middle of the field where his sheep grazed.
When the other farmers and villagers heard of what he'd done, they couldn't believe their ears and came to see for themselves. A large crowd of them laughed at Farmer Hans; mocking his seeming naivety in the siting of his chicken coop. "Just look at what he's done!" yelled one farmer mockingly. "Fancy moving a chicken coop ‘away’ from the close protection of the farmhouse and putting it in the middle of an open field where any prowling thief can easily get to it!"
"Everyone knows that the best place for a chicken coop is next door to the farmhouse, not in the middle of an open field!" another villager laughed. "If he leaves his coop there overnight, all his chickens will be gone by morning!"
"It looks like I've got a fool for a neighbour instead of a farmer!" sneered Gilbert Grim.
Farmer Hans simply ignored their laughter and continued moving the chicken coop towards the middle of the field.
Later that night, after supper and when the children had gone to bed, Farmer Hans prepared to catch the clever fox. He opened a large, old trunk, which he stored in his bedroom. Next, he took out the hide of a sheep, which he had planned to turn into a fireside rug at some future date. Then, he carried the hide to the field where his seven sheep grazed and prepared to catch the fox. After unpenning the seven sheep, he placed the hide over his head and shoulders and lay down on the ground, disguised as one of the flock.
The night got darker and as the moon shone down on the field, the shadow of a fox appeared at the woodland’s edge. Sleezy was out on another chicken raid. Sleezy stopped at the edge of the field and looked around. He spied the unpenned sheep and counted eight of them fast asleep in the open field. "I'm too tired to chase silly sheep tonight," he thought.
"Now, that's more like it!" he announced suddenly as he looked beyond the flock of sheep nearby. It was the unprotected chicken coop in the middle of the field. "A good helping of feathered chicken will do me nicely before I bed down for the night, "he said, licking his lips. "What a silly farmer. Fancy building his chicken coop so far away from the protection of the farmhouse. What a Plonker!"
Being somewhat tired this evening, Sleezy decided against announcing his presence. He decided to use his quiet skills to sneak past the eight sleeping sheep, enter the chicken coop, snatch a fat chicken and get back to the safety of the woodlands.
Sleezy began to make his way ever so quietly and ever so slowly across the field towards the chicken coop. As he approached the eighth sleeping sheep, he could smell his waiting supper in the chicken coop. He paused briefly, allowing his nostrils to savour the scent of feathered chicken before he pounced. Just then, Farmer Hans rose up ever so slowly and ever so quietly; and before Sleezy became aware of the danger, the farmer slipped a big sack over the fox's head and body and quickly pulled the cord tight.
"Gotcha, my clever friend! Gotcha!" Farmer Hans said with satisfaction. He had caught ‘Sleezy the Fox’ and had not lost one chicken in doing so. He was delighted and hurried back home to tell his wife the good news. Sleezy was left bagged and tied up in the barn overnight while Farmer Hans lay alongside his wife in bed, discussing how they'd spend the large reward. The very next day, Farmer Hans walked triumphantly into the village and rang the bell in the square. Whenever the villagers heard the bell, they hurriedly made their way to the Village Hall; knowing that someone had some very important news to tell them. The villagers and farmers were both surprised, yet delighted; to discover Farmer Hans waiting for them with a large bag slumped across his broad shoulders. As Farmer Hans held the wriggling sack up high for all to see, the crowd could sense that it contained a live creature.
P
ulling
the bag off Sleezy's head and body, Farmer Hans proudly announced to
the assembled crowd, "Here's your fox! I give you ‘Sleezy
the Fox’ as promised. I now claim the 500 crowns reward."
"Hurrah for Farmer Hans!" someone at the back of the hall cheered. "Three cheers for Farmer Hans, the cleverest fox catcher in the land!"
"Hip hip hurrah! Hip hip hurrah! Hip hip hurrah!" the villagers cheered, as they came forward one by one to pat their hero on the back for a job well done. There was much celebration in the village during the next three days. Farmer Hans quickly became accepted as though he'd always lived there. Even those farmers who'd previously laughed at him had to admit that he was cleverer than they had been.
Meanwhile, Sleezy was placed in an iron-barred cage, which was securely locked. As most of the villagers celebrated, Sleezy began to contemplate his fate. Each time someone passed his cage; they'd wave their fists angrily at the fox and call him, ‘Chicken thief’ and ‘Sheep killer.’ Sleezy had never seen so much hatred before and the fox soon began to fear for his life.
When the celebrations were over, a meeting was convened in the Village Hall to decide what they were going to do with ‘Sleezy the Fox’. Every villager, farmer, man, woman and child was present at this meeting. As the Mayor of the village called the meeting to order, Sleezy's iron-barred cage was placed at the front of the hall. The Mayor of the village pointed to the caged prisoner and asked those assembled, "What shall we do with ‘Sleezy the Fox’?"
"Run him round and round the Village Square until his legs won’t run one step farther, like he did to one of my sheep," suggested one bitter farmer, "and when his puff is exhausted, set the dogs on him and let them finish him off!"
"Kill the chicken thief! Gun him down for the vermin he is!" yelled one farmer.
"Shooting's far too good for him!" cried out another villager.
"Boil him alive in a pot! Cut him up, make a pot of fox stew and feed him to the dogs!" screamed another. "Make him suffer before he dies!"
"Slit his throat and hack off his legs," yelled Gilbert Grim. "That's what I'd have done if I'd caught him near my chickens!"
"Hark at the fat farmer!" a voice from the back of the Village Hall laughingly yelled. "By the look of your size, Gilbert, you've eaten more chickens than ten foxes could gobble in any lifetime!"
Gilbert Grim shrank in embarrassment at the jibe to his overweight condition. He angrily yelled back to the anonymous heckler, "Who said that? Identify yourself, if you dare, and I'll hack your legs off also!"
"Order! Order! commanded the Mayor. "We're here to discuss the fate of the fox, not the eating habits of Gilbert Grim."
One by one, all the villagers and farmers had their say. As each one spoke about which way they ought to kill the fox, Sleezy began to wish that he'd never set eyes upon a feathered chicken. Sleezy hung his head low in shame as the angry farmers began to inform the Mayor of how many innocent chickens he'd stolen and how many sheep he'd killed over the years. Farmer Hans looked across at the caged fox and he saw a teardrop fall from Sleezy's eye. The fox's face was filled with fear and the voices of the angry farmers were filled with hatred and vengeance.
As Farmer Hans watched on, he became greatly disturbed by the anger of his neighbours. He'd never before witnessed so much anger housed beneath one roof. The gentle farmer, who’d been initially overjoyed at capturing the fox, now began to feel compassion for the fox he'd so cleverly caught. The more he looked at Sleezy and the more he heard his neighbours talk about the different ways of killing him; the more Farmer Hans knew that the fox did not deserve to die.
When everyone had spoken, the Mayor, realising that Farmer Hans hadn't yet said anything, called the meeting to order and said, "Be quiet everyone and let us hear what Farmer Hans has to say. After all, he was the one who caught the fox and the only one among us clever enough to do so. I'm happy to let Farmer Hans decide the precise manner of the fox's fate. What say you?"
"Aye! Let Farmer Hans decide what's to be done with the chicken thief and sheep killer!" the assembled crowd replied.
Farmer Hans came to the front of the Village Hall and stood upon a large, wooden barrel, so that everyone could hear him. The assembled villagers fell silent as they waited for Farmer Hans to speak.
"It seems to me," said the gentle farmer, "that human beings ought to be wiser and more humane than foxes. It is not our true nature to behave like savages."
"What do you mean?" snarled Gilbert Grim. "I'll break the neck of any man who dares to call me savage! The fox killed four of my best chickens, so why shouldn't he die?"
Farmer Hans continued, "It seems to me that the fox only did what any wild fox would do when he got hungry. Killing chickens for a wild fox is only natural. Why, it's as natural as a starving human stealing a turnip from a farmer's field."
"A thief’s a thief!" snarled Gilbert Grim. "If you thieve chickens, you’ll just as soon thieve turnips also!"
"The fox has never been taught to do anything else. But it's unnatural for human beings to kill in anger or revenge," said Farmer Hans. "Haven't we been taught better than this wild fox? Don’t we know better?"
"The fox is a thief and deserves to die!" cried out Gilbert Grim viciously from the back of the hall. "He's a thief and we're not. That's what makes him a beast of the field and the rest of us human!"
"But, what shall we do with the fox if we don't kill him?" asked one villager.
"If we let him go free, he will only continue to kill more of our chickens and sheep," another villager said.
"I shall teach him not to kill chickens or sheep," said Farmer Hans confidently to the assembled crowd.
"But you can't teach a fox not to kill chickens," laughed another farmer.
"I remember how you once laughed at me before," Farmer Hans said, "when I told you that I would catch the fox, and again, when I moved the chicken coop away from the farmhouse and into the middle of the field where the sheep grazed. You all laughed at me then," Farmer Hans reminded them.
The other farmer stopped laughing, thought a while and then said, "You're right, Farmer Hans. Perhaps a man like you, who was clever enough to catch this fox that’d managed to outsmart all the rest of us for a number of years, is also clever enough to teach the fox not to kill chickens?"
So the life of Sleezy was spared. Farmer Hans unlocked the cage and took Sleezy back home to live on his farm. He also gave Sleezy the job of collecting the eggs from the chicken coop and guarding his flock of sheep.
Farmer Hans had, over the years, become an astute observer of animal behaviour and human instinct. He'd learned long ago that the best way to change bad or unacceptable behaviour was through love and kindness, not hatred and fear! Farmer Hans realised that each creature, which lives in our world, whether animal or human, has the capacity to change their behaviour for the better; providing others give them ample opportunity to do so! Farmer Hans also knew that change isn't always easy to bring about or cope with, and that, for some of us, we may need to receive the benefit of second chances many times before we get it right. And even when we get it right and have managed to change our bad behaviour, it's still important that others around us recognise that change has taken place and give us credit for it!
Sleezy became the only ’Sheep Fox’ in the whole of Transylvania, and each day when his work was done, he'd be given a nice, warm vegetarian meal in the barn where he slept. Often, before he went to sleep, Sleezy would remember his life as a wild fox and he would think of how close he came to being killed. He felt very fortunate to have been given a ‘second chance.’
Living with the kind and gentle farmer over the years, naturally led to Sleezy becoming kinder and gentler. As time went by, ‘Sleezy the Sheep Fox' grew to love his master and the flock of sheep he protected daily. Even the chickens grew to trust the fox, which would politely knock on the door of the coop each morning before entering to collect their eggs in a basket. If ever you go to Transylvania and happen to see a fox chasing sheep around a field and going into a chicken coop with a basket in his mouth, don't shoot him, because it might be Sleezy; the cleverest fox in the whole wide world!
I'm glad that Sleezy was given a ‘second chance.’ Aren't you?
(To be continued)
©William Forde, December 2011.
Author's Background
William Forde was born in Ireland and currently lives in Haworth, West Yorkshire, England. He is the father of five children and the author of 28 published books and a musical play.
He is unique in the field of contemporary children's authors through the challenging emotional issues and story themes he addresses, preferring to focus upon those emotions that children find most difficult to appropriately express.
One of West Yorkshire's most popular children's authors, his books have been publicly read in over 2,000 Yorkshire school assemblies by over 800 famous names and celebrities from the realms of Royalty, Film, Stage, Screen, Politics, Church, Sport, etc. The late Princess Diana used to read his earlier books to her then young children, William and Harry and Nelson Mandela once telephoned him to praise an African story book he had written. Others who have supported his works have included three Princesses, three Prime Ministers, two Presidents and numerous Bishops of the realm. Former Chief Inspector of Schools for Ofsted, Chris Woodhead described his writings to the press as ‘high quality literature.’
Forever at the forefront of change, at the age of 18 years, William became the youngest Youth Leader and Trade Union Shop Steward in Great Britain. In 1971, he founded Anger Management in Great Britain and freely gave his courses to the world. Within the next two years, Anger Management courses had mushroomed across the English-speaking world. During the mid-70's, he introduced Relaxation Training into H.M. Prisons and between 1970 and 1995, he worked in West Yorkshire as a Probation Officer specialising in Relaxation Training, Anger Management, Stress Management and Assertive Training Group Work.
He retired early on the grounds of ill health in 1995 to further his writing career, which witnessed him working with the Minister of Youth and Culture in Jamaica to establish a trans-Atlantic pen-pal project between 30 primary schools in Falmouth, Jamaica and 30 primary schools in Yorkshire.
William was awarded the MBE in the New Year's Honours List of 1995 for his services to West Yorkshire. He has never sought to materially profit from the publication of his books and has allowed all profit from their sales (approx £200,000) to be given to charity.
Previous Titles include:
'Everyone and Everything'
'Douglas the Dragon': Books 1,2 and 3
'Sleezy the Fox': Books 1,2 and 3
'Annie's Christmas Surprise'
'Our World' (A collaborative book of environmental stories by William Forde and Kirklees Primary School children)
'Midnight Fighter'
'Maw'
'Butterworth's Brigade'
'Nancy's Song'
'Action Annie'
'Tales of Bernard'
'Fighter'
'Douglas the Dragon Omnibus'
'Sleezy the Fox Omnibus'
'Tales from the Allotments'
'Robin and the Rubicelle Fusiliers'
'Lost'
'Two Worlds - One Heart'
'One Love, One Heart'
'Bes'
'Greed'
'The Kilkenny Cat' (a presentational publication for schoolchildren in Falmouth, Jamaica. Written originally as a single book but later revised and incorporated into 'The Kilkenny Cat' Trilogy)
'The Kilkenny Cat: Book One: Truth'
'The Kilkenny Cat: Book Two: Justice'
'The Kilkenny Cat: Book Three: Freedom'