text: [Themes: Fantasy, fantasy]
  
  > Look around
  The Phil is in a simple, windowless, shepherd's hut. There is no sign of the shepherd, which is odd. A length of rope - which was used to tie up the cat - coils across the floor.
  
  The Phil can see a cat here.
  
  The cat purrs along at the Phil's heels. The Phil isn't sure he likes the look in its eye.
  All of a sudden, the cat opens wide and swallows the Phil.
  
  The Phil wakes up screaming and finds it's all a dream.
  
  > leave
  But the Phil isn't in anything at the moment.
  
  The cat purrs along at the Phil's heels. The Phil isn't sure he likes the look in its eye.
  All of a sudden, the cat opens wide and swallows the Phil.
  
  The Phil wakes up screaming and finds it's all a dream.
  
  > Examine staple
  The Phil briefly considers the staple. Not worth further investigation.
  
  > Go north
  Sunken Lane (East)
  
  > look at the grass
  A patch, about two feet in diameter, where the grass is growing shorter, weaker and paler than elsewhere.
  
  Predictably, the Phil's eyes water.
  
  > Go west
  A shepherd's smock lies on the ground here.
  
  > get smock
  The smock is a skittish and faintly magical thing. As the Phil reaches out to take the smock, a little wind springs up, and blows it away.
  
  > Go southwest
  A shepherd's smock lies on the ground here.
  
  High in the branches of the blasted oak is the Magpie. It has the brass key in its beak.
  
  > go to the south-east
  Sunken Lane (West)
  
  > Go east
  Sunken Lane (East)
  
  > check what you're carrying
  The Phil is carrying:
  a brick
  a bow
  a rusty ring (to which are attached a red ribbon, a blue ribbon and
  a yellow ribbon)
  a purse
  five pennies
  a hat (being worn)
  a little card
  
  > go south
  Securely tied up here is a very big cat.
  
  > go to the north
  Sunken Lane (East)
  The cat purrs along at the Phil's heels. The Phil isn't sure he likes the look in its eye.
  
  > go to the east
  Standing firmly in the middle of the bridge is Bill the Bowman.
  
  Bill the Bowman looks the Phil up and down.
  
  The cat purrs along at the Phil's heels. The Phil isn't sure he likes the look in its eye.
  
  All of a sudden, the cat opens wide and swallows Bill the Bowman.
  
  > examine the cat
  The cat is a big one - not far off the size of a small lynx - orange-yellow and very fat. It has a smug expression on its face and an unnerving look in its eye.
  
  Predictably, the Phil's eyes water.
  
  The cat purrs along at the Phil's heels. The Phil isn't sure he likes the look in its eye.
  
  > go north
  Standing stoutly behind the bar is Bardolph the Innkeeper.
  
  The Phil can also see a violin, a mug (in which is a teabag) and a scruffy black bound book here.
  
  Bardolph sneezes.
  
  The cat purrs along at the Phil's heels. The Phil isn't sure he likes the look in its eye.
  
  All of a sudden, the cat opens wide and swallows Bardolph.
  
  > Go east
  The cat purrs along at the Phil's heels. The Phil isn't sure he likes the look in its eye.
  
  > go to the east
  The Phil is in the middle of  an island in the river. It's a pleasant place, quiet and grassy (although the grass on the far bank to the east looks a tiny bit greener). The stones of the old west bridge, washed away in a flood, litter the west bank of the island. A new plank bridge leads west, and and a stone bridge east.
  
  Walter the Woodcutter - his famous magic Axe on his shoulder - is here.
  
  The Axe shuffles onto a slightly more comfortable spot on Walter's shoulder.
  
  The cat purrs along at the Phil's heels. The Phil isn't sure he likes the look in its eye.
  
  All of a sudden, the cat opens wide and swallows Walter the Woodcutter.
  
  Cursing furiously, the Axe falls to the ground.
  
  > get Axe
  The Phil is carrying too much already.
  
  The Axe glares at the Phil.
  The cat purrs along at the Phil's heels. The Phil isn't sure he likes the look in its eye.
  
  > Go east
  The Phil is on an ancient stone bridge. On each side of the bridge, a carved head of a snarling dog has been placed to face up (or down) the river.
  
  Lurking under the bridge is an extremely ugly Troll.
  
  The cat purrs along at the Phil's heels. The Phil isn't sure he likes the look in its eye.
  
  All of a sudden, the cat opens wide and swallows Troll.
  
  > Go east
  The Phil is in a thin belt of woodland on a road by the outskirts of a village. The road leads east towards the village and, over a stone bridge, west across the river. A damp path follows the river to the northeast, and there is a clearing by the side of the road to the south.
  
  The cat purrs along at the Phil's heels. The Phil isn't sure he likes the look in its eye.
  
  > Go east
  The Phil is wandering down the main street of a good sized village, with sweet little cottages all around.
  
  The cat purrs along at the Phil's heels. The Phil isn't sure he likes the look in its eye.
  
  > go east
  Here is the place where the main road through the village starts to open into the market place, off to the east. There is a curious stump here.
  
  The cat purrs along at the Phil's heels. The Phil isn't sure he likes the look in its eye.
  
  > Go east
  The Phil is in the Market Place - small and irregular in shape, and overshadowed by a huge oak tree right in the centre. It is crossed from east to west by the road, and a narrow alley runs north. At one end of the Market Place are an ancient village cross, a stone bench and a pump. It isn't market day, so there are no stalls. The Phil notices that the door of a mean looking house in the southeast of the Market Place stands open.
  
  The Phil is sure someone is watching him from the upper room of the house to the southeast.
  
  The cat purrs along at the Phil's heels. The Phil isn't sure he likes the look in its eye.
  All of a sudden, the cat opens wide and swallows the Phil.
  
  The Phil wakes up screaming and finds it's all a dream.
  
  > Go north
  Sunken Lane (East)
  
  > Go north
  Standing stoutly behind the bar is Bardolph the Innkeeper.
  
  The Phil can also see a violin, a mug (in which is a teabag) and a scruffy black bound book here.
  
  Bardolph takes up a clay pipe and blows smoke rings.
  
  > ask Bardolph about the shepherd
  "The Shepherd?" says Bardolph. "A long fellow. And fat. I have not seen him these two days."
  
  > ask Bardolph about the cat
  "The Shepherd has a cat," says Bardolph, "but I have never liked the look in its eye."