 Winkie, in the meantime, is free after the Free Winkie Committee pays for his bail.He travels to Cairo, Egypt with Françoise – a lesbian cleaning woman who mended him after he was shot during his arrest in the forest – where he begins to accept and understand why everything has happened to him.The "Dallas Morning News" praised the character of Winkie, saying that he is "one the most memorable stuffed animals since the Velveteen Rabbit."