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bounds that they were known for were, here, limited to short bouncing hops, due to the fact that their long, powerful tails were quite rigid from the cold, sticking out behind them. They, too, disappeared into the mist and into the mountains where, some time later, they encountered a flock of fortunate mountain goats. Together they were eventually to sire a hybrid species, known as mountain goataroos, which was capable of incredible jumping feats. These goataroos could cross wide crags in a single bound, where previously some of the antecedents of the goats had attempted to cross in two bounds. Why this destructive behavioural trait had not been evolutionarily self-culling  is still a mystery to the zoologists studying them.

Next came the two swamp elephants, small ears pinned back in uncertainty, trunks questing the night air. Since they hadn’t been in cages to begin with, but had merely been kept in by a low fence, they’d decided to set themselves free, but now were unsure of what to do with their newly found freedom. They therefore did the only sensible thing and set to grazing upon the bales of hay stacked off to one side.

Finally, over the heads of a troupe of cycling monkeys, went the members of The Amazing Parrot Choir Of The Deepest Eastern Jungles of Pilau. Squawking and cawing they fluttered to the top of the circus tent where, after a few false starts and missed cues, they gave a rousing rendition of When The Saints Go Marchin’ In.

“So, my friend, you will be on the road again tomorrow, I assume? To the next village, to entertain and enlighten? I especially enjoyed the Beasts From The Six Provinces section of the show. A clever innovation. But you know, I have been thinking.”

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