It is a universal law of nature that three boys let loose in any wood, in any part of the world, will get themselves into some sort of trouble before teatime.
‘And so I says, “Ha ha, Soozie Brick, you’ll never catch me and I don’t care if I’m not wearing any trousers - or pants!” and that’s why I ran into Gustus the Pig Herder, ’cos I was looking the other way, and so that’s how he fell backwards and got stuck halfway down the well and Father Mally had to borrow that donkey - the one with the funny teeth - to pull him out ... and anyway, it’s a good thing he is sooo fat, otherwise he would have fallen all the way in and we’d have to go all the way to the river to get our water, ’cos you wouldn’t want to drink anything Gustus had been in ...’