For three days and nights this waiting-game went on. 'How long can a fox go without food or water?' Boggis asked on the third day. 'Not much longer now,' Bean told him. 'He'll make a run for it soon. He'll have to.' Bean was right. Down in the tunnel the foxes were slowly but surely starving to death. 'If only we could have just a tiny sip of water,' said one of the Small Foxes. 'Oh, Dad, can't you do something?' 'Couldn't we make a dash for it, Dad? We'd have a little bit of a chance, wouldn't we?' 'No chance at all,' snapped Mrs Fox. 'I refuse to let you go up there and face those guns. I'd sooner you stay down here and die in peace.'

From 'Fantastic Mr Fox' by Roald Dahl. Text copyright © Roald Dahl Nominee Ltd 1970.
Published in Puffin Books 2001