Although he already had quite some animals to take home Thomas had the feeling that he was missing something. A special animal that would accompany him and would be his friend in this new phase of his life. After a stroll over the market he did not find any special animal that convinced him to buy it, until he entered a small path and suddenly was faced by a strange little pink animal.
The animal had very little hair, a strange snout and a little tail like he had never seen before. He approached the merchant and asked ‘What kind of animal is that? I have never seen an animal like that before’. The merchant replied, ‘To be honest, I have no idea. This animal is new in this country and I have only a few animals for sale’.
Thomas was very surprised and his curiosity was aroused. He asked ‘What do they eat? What is their use? Do they provide milk? Do they lay eggs? Why does it make such a strange ‘oink oink’ sound?’ The merchant was able to respond to some of the questions. He only knew the animal ate little acorns, it did not give any milk and did not lay any eggs but he did not know anything more about these special animals.
As soon as Thomas heard the term ‘acorns’ he directly thought ‘What a coincidence!’. This was the animal that he had to buy because on the farm there were quite a few oak trees that produced big shiny acorns and for this animal they could be used as food. Also, Thomas was enchanted by the pink round snout, the big ears and the small curly tail of the animal. He could not get the sweet soft ‘oink oink’ sound out of his mind, so he bought one of the strange animals.
Together with his new animals he began the trip back to the farm where his wife Miranda was waiting impatiently to see which animals her husband would bring home. When he arrived Thomas told her about his fantastic adventure at the market and showed her the chickens, the sheep and the little kitten he had bought. Miranda was very pleased with the animals because now they had a source of eggs and soft wool. Miranda was terribly afraid of mice so she was very happy with the cute kitten.
Suddenly Miranda moved with her nose and noted a peculiar smell. ‘Argh, what a foul smell! What do you have in that crate that is making the strange ‘oink oink’ sound?’, she said. Then Thomas showed her his new friend. Miranda looked horrified at the sight of the animal and asked ‘What kind of animal is that?’, to which Thomas replied with a big smile ‘This is a very strange animal, which we know very little about but I am sure we will be very happy with this animal, I have called him Valentine.’.
Miranda was not so happy with the bad purchase her husband had made and she asked him about the advantages of the animal. ‘It does not lay eggs, does not have warm wool, does not give any milk, what is its use?’.
Then suddenly Miranda realised that her husband had forgotten to buy some cows. Without cows they would not have any fresh milk to drink in the morning and would not be able to make tasty cheese.
Miranda told Thomas that he should return the stinky pink animal and attempt to trade it for a cow. Although Thomas at first did not agree eventually he promised Miranda that the next morning he would travel to the market and trade in his friend Valentine and buy a cow.