The young sheep plodded along the dusty road in front of her, her hooves making small pitter-patter noises as they struck against the ground. She was carrying some books under one arm while using the other to shield her eyes from a bright midday sun which beat down on the open road in front of her. "Ouch! Hey, stop pushing me!"
"You're too slow, Emly," said Dolly Gurney, who had been at the back of the group. "Why don't you move faster?"
Dolly was a fat little pig girl who often got into trouble because of her gluttony. It seemed that she couldn't get enough food, even though there was plenty for everyone else. When it came time for dinner, she would stuff herself full until she couldn't eat another bite. Then she'd go around asking everybeast if there was anything left over so she could store it for later. Her parents tried their best to curb her eating habits but she was still a bit of a problem child.
Emly didn't want to cause any trouble, so she decided to just ignore Dolly. But Dolly wasn't about to let things slide.
"I'll bet your family doesn't feed you properly, either." Dolly giggled. "They probably give you scraps like old bones and dead mice."
Emly looked away from Dolly. "My mum feeds me well. We have lots of nice food to eat."
Dolly snorted loudly out of her thick snout. "You look half starved to me. I'm surprised you can walk straight. You should be ashamed of yourself, being such a skinny thing."
Emly stopped walking. "What do you mean? I'm not thin at all. My body is perfectly proportionate. What are you staring at anyway?"
Dolly blinked rapidly, as if she hadn't heard what Emlyn had said. She took a few steps closer to Emlyn. "Your coat is really shabby looking, Emly. It's torn and frayed. And you smell funny—like something died in your coat. Did someone die in your coat?"
Emly backed away nervously. "No, I've never seen anyone dead before. Why would you say that?"
Dolly grinned wickedly. "Because you stink! Your fur stinks, it's disgusting!"
The other animals nearby turned to stare at the two girls. Wattle the weasel whispered something to Titch the rat, who ran over to join Dolly. The weasel followed after her.
Titch smiled at Emly. "It's true, isn't it? You stink. Let's see how bad it is."
Wattle nodded her head vigorously in agreement with Titch. "Yes, she does stink. Let's get rid of those dirty clothes of hers!"
The other animals watched on silently as the three bullies approached Emly. Dolly started ripping open the books under Emly's arm, scattering pages everywhere. "Here, let me help you with these. They're heavy, aren't they?"
"Hey! Stop that!" Emly protested. "You're ruining my books!"
"We don't care about your stupid books," snorted Dolly. "Let's get this nasty stuff off of your hide and then we'll give you a good wash."
Emly glanced around. There were a lot of eyes watching her. Some of them were friendly, but others looked very mean and cruel indeed. "Please... don't..." she whimpered pathetically, tears forming in her eyes as Dolly and her friends moved towards her.
"Come on, let's get her stripped down." Dolly pulled out a pair of scissors and reached for the hem of Emly's school skirt.