It had been over ten summers since my beautiful wife Sylvia turned into a fox

I may have been a little uxorious at times but we were quite happy

Until the evening that she turned into a fox

I had been working on my biography of Wolfe Tone and had left her alone for a few minutes

But when I returned Sylvia has turned into a fox and had gone into the wild

She had left a note for me noting that the change was permanent and that I should marry my cousin after seven years

I neither married my cousin as I did not accept that Sylvia’s condition would be permanent

But it was and I soon became aware that my wife had given birth to a number of litters

About once a year Sylvia would leave a note for me in the vestry of the local church

Usually it was just chit-chat and the note always urged me to remarry my cousin

She said that Alice was very attracted to me and would make a fond wife

But this year her note was full of fear as she had discovered that The Berry Valley Hunt was now going to hunt north of Broadstock due to difficulties with the railway people

The hunt had used to hunt in an area to the south of the village but because of an extension to the railway it had been forced to relocate and Sylvia feared for her own life.

I immediately walked to meet the Master of the Hunt who lived in a manor house not far from the church

Major Phillips was an unpleasant man and I found him baiting traps in Bowen Forest

I asked him not to hunt to the north of the village and to choose another place to hunt if they had to hunt at all

The Major laughed at me and told me to get off his land

He also added that all foxes were vermin and that there was a bitch of a vixen that he would gladly kill with his own hands

I really do not know what came over me but I picked up a log and smashed it into the Major’s head

It had obviously killed him and I sat next to his body stunned by the enormity of my actions

When my senses returned I made haste and returned home to bathe

It was unlikely that the authorities would suspect a war hero of such an act

The blame I thought would be laid at the gate of poachers or gypsies

Nevertheless I kept my appointment with the Bishop and the War Memorial Committee

I was quite surprised that I remained so cool during the evening given that I had just killed a man

But then again I had killed many men during he awful years of the war and I knew that my senses had been blunted

As I passed the Manor House I wondered if the Major had been found or if anybody really cared

Yet none of these questions prepared me for what happened next

I had been asleep for a couple of hours when I felt a movement in my bed

The distinct feel of a woman’s breast caressed my scarred back and her naked legs were tangled with my own

At first thought I was dreaming as I often had erotic dreams but as I turned I saw her face

It was a face that I knew very well

It was Sylvia’s

I jumped out of bed in shock

It was Sylvia

She had returned and was no longer a fox

We made love straight away and in the hours that followed discussed what had happened

Sylvia told me that when The Green Man appeared in the valley she knew that she would have a choice

Either to remain as a fox or to became human again

She had chosen the latter

But there was a catch as although The Green Man had returned it was only for a month and a day and if Sylvia wanted to retain her human form then she would have to kill freely and without mercy

I told her that I had killed the Major and then almost together we hit on the same idea

Why not kill all the members of The Berry Valley Hunt and poison their hounds

If all the members of the hunt were dead then there would be no hunt railway or not

It was glorious in its simplicity

Sylvia has explained that during her other life she had given birth to many children and that although some had left home there were many whose lives were endangered by the hunt.

But we had to work fast and my wife murdered three senior members of hunt on the first night using a gun that I had removed from a dead German soldiers severed hand

How could anyone suspect Sylvia as she was thought to be dead and had not been seen for over ten years

In all between us we killed seventeen members of the hunt plus all the hounds bar one

All the other members of The Berry Valley Hunt fled in terror but amongst the terrible chaos my Sylvia returned to me

The story was that she had fallen for another chap and had left me

But he had been a swine and had left her without support in Peru and with difficulty she had made her way back to England

Fantastic yes but the police had multiple murders on their hands and were not at all interested in the domestic trivia of our lives

We moved to Eastbourne for a while until the fuss died down and returned again taking up residence in our perfect cottage

No one ever successfully explained the murders and for many years afterwards the village would receive train loads of tourists eager to follow the murder trails

Not one person ever suspected us and our innocence was further cemented when Alice came to live with us as an unofficial companion for Sylvia

The two women who were devoted to each other could often to be found in the low meadows playing with the fox cubs and tending to the vixens

The Berry Valley Hunt never reformed as it was thought to be cursed and the foxes and all the other creatures of the village have thrived without pain or hostile attendance to his very day