Foreward
Many years ago, in the little forest of Farthing Wood, humans moved in and began to cut down the forestland in order to build homes for themselves. At first it wasn't too much of a problem, until the heavy machinery started causing some of the animals serious distress, and costing other animals their lives.
So, led by the brave fox Rusty, the remaining animals decided to leave Farthing Wood, after a plucky old toad named Clarence spoke of a nature reserve he'd once visited called White Deer Park, for the idealized reserve at once. They all undertook an oath known as the Oath of Mutual Protection, which meant the carnivores like foxes, badgers, weasels, adders, owls and kestrels had to sacrifice their meat-eating tendencies in the name of protecting the smaller animals that were travelling with them. This didn't please all, but it kept the moles and mice and the like safe as they journeyed through thick and thin.
Many of the Farthing Wood Animals lost their lives on their way, but the ones that made it received a reward and a half. White Deer Park was everything they'd hoped for. Under the benevolent leadership of the White Stag, Chalk, and his mate, Limestone, the park was a peaceful place where the animals planned to spend the rest of their lives. Although a peaceful recuperation wasn't quite what happened.
A cruel blue fox named Scarface who lived at the park believed red foxes like Rusty and his mate, Bramble, who he had met on the journey from Farthing Wood, were common and should be eradicated from White Deer Park. He set about trying to drive the Farthing Wood Animals out, until Victoria, the cunning Farthing Wood Adder bit him on the leg, poisoning him. The rest of the Blue Foxes decided to leave the park, all except for Scarface's son, Ranger, who had fallen in love with Rusty and Bramble's daughter, Charmer.
Speaking of Rusty and Bramble's children, they had been blessed by four cubs; Bold, Charmer, Friendly and Dreamer. Dreamer was cruelly slain as a cub by Scarface, but Bold, Charmer and Friendly all made it to adulthood, when Bold became fed up of his father's protective stance and ran away to the city. There he met a city fox named Whisper, and the two fell in love. Whisper soon became pregnant with Bold's cubs, and wanted them to be born in White Deer Park. They returned, but soon after Bold died of exhaustion from the whole journey after making peace with his father. Whisper gave birth to a sole cub named Lucky.
But the trouble wasn't over yet. Next a plague of fierce rats arrived, led by a tyrant named Bully, tried to take over White Deer Park for himself. As he planned to ambush the park on one fateful night, Rusty devised a chasing strategy, in which all the animals pulled together and drove the massive plague of rats into the hands of the foxes, who finally finished them all off. But they had been damaged by heavy casualties, including Rusty, who had been growing old. He finally met his end at the hands of Bully, and was avenged by his fuming mate Bramble. Before he died, Rusty named his grandson, Lucky, his successor. It seemed, finally, that the Farthing Wood animals were entering a peaceful era at White Deer Park.