Gone Ferret

How it came to be: the origins of FELIX THE RED.

A prologue set in the ancient past in which we meet Felix's great ancestor Pollux, an African polecat, whose ghost will haunt him throughout the remainder of the tale. 

In which we meet our hero Felix, a hairless ferret with blood red eyes, who is ostracized by the other ferrets in the barn. We are also introduced to She, his surrogate mother, who will guide him throughout the rest of his journey.

In which Felix proves himself to be a great hunter to the Breeder at long last, but a final message whispered to him by his first kill troubles his newfound sense of identity.

In which Felix becomes celebrated as "Felix the Red, Greatest Hunter of Them All" by the other ferrets in the business and finds himself a mate in the form of a mysterious new addition to the barn named Kara. 

In which Felix comes to question his identity after his first litter of kits is stillborn and responds to the crisis by killing a rabbit with his teeth for the first time. Meanwhile, the Breeder considers an offer that might change the course of Felix's life forever.

In which the Bride arrives from halfway around the world and the Breeder attempts to explain his decision to Felix beneath the full moon.

In which Felix and the other ferrets in the barn are reaped by the Smeller of Blood.

In which the listener is asked to imagine the nightmarish circumstances of the ferrets transport by steamship across the water to New Zealand. Despite the horrible conditions, Felix successfully manages to locate Kara alive in the cargo hold of the ship along with him, and for a brief time the two are happy. But then an ancient ancestor is brought onboard to upend all their hopes and dreams for the future and to cast Felix down into the greatest depths of his despair.   

In which the farm boy Amos sails to the colony sometime after the ferrets have been shipped there, fleeing his own personal tragedy, and is delivered to the estate of the Bride's father, a prominent figure in the New Zealand Company, by a mysterious aboriginal guide.