Ginger and Rocky meet the Fox and the Hound

Chapter 5

Early the next day, Widow Tweed had come to the difficult decision that she was going to take Tod back to the wild. 

The chickens were outside, waiting until they saw the old woman with Tod and got into her car. The birds quickly jumped in the back, being unseen as the car soon drove off. They felt nervous as they passed by Amos's house, sensing that the hunter was watching them. 

Once Amos was out of sight, the chickens ducked back down into the car and quietly talked amongst themselves. 

"Is Tod joining us on another holiday?" Babs asked stupidly while knitting. 

The others ignored the clueless hen and began focusing on more important things. 

"I don't see why Tod just can't stay with Tweed" Ricky said. "After all, we know she really doesn't want to let him go"

"Well, we know he'd be blown to smithereens had he stayed on that farm any longer" Bunty replied. 

"But it wasn't his fault!" Etta argued, being sad as tears started to form in her eyes. 

"I know, darling" Ginger told her daughter softly before the British hen frowned. "But hunters like Amos... they just don't understand"

The birds sighed, looking back at Tod. The fox was shown enjoying the car ride, unaware what was really going on. Widow Tweed started thinking of all the memories she had with Tod. But that's all they were going to be from now on... Only memories. 

Soon the chickens felt the car stop as they looked out seeing that they had arrived in the forest. They watched Widow Tweed carry Tod out, take his collar off and give him one final hug. Tod was confused, not knowing why his owner was so sad. 

Tweed knew that this was for the best. Tod needed to be in the forest where he truly belonged, even though it broke the old woman's heart. She started walking back to her car when Tod tried to follow her. But Tweed made it clear she didn't want him going back with her. 

The fox seemed sad and confused, not understanding why she was doing this. Tweed got in her car and looked back at Tod one last time with tears running down her face as she drove away. The chickens jumped out of the car without being seen and came over to Tod to comfort him. 

"Hey, Tod..." Ricky and Etta greeted the fox quietly. 

Tod only glanced to the flightless birds, being too sad to talk to his friends. 

"Why did she leave me?..." Poor Tod hung his head, thinking Tweed didn't love him anymore. 

"She did it because she loves you so much" Rocky explained, trying to get the fox to understand. 

"Aye, this was the only way to keep you safe" Mac added. 

"The things I've seen in my RAF days. Sometimes the hardest were making sacrafices for the ones we cared about" Fowler told him. 

Tod appreciated his friends for trying to comfort him, but was just too sad to show it. Just then, a loud thunderclap was heard making the gang flinch as it started raining on them. 

"Well, that's just great!" Nobby sulked. 

"Come on, we better find shelter" Ginger advised her flock. 

"Good. Cause I'm about to lose the rest of my tail feathers!" Nobby complained while he was soaking wet. 

Tod and the chickens searched anywhere they could take shelter in. But every place was occupied by other forest animals. They eventually found a spot under a tree, but it wasn't much help as they still got pretty soaked.