Miranda Dickinson 2 Book Bundle. Miranda Dickinson

with a smile. This was the usual, expected answer and delight lifted every line in Eli’s face.

      ‘Then I will tell you of the time Ivan Ivanovich’s cow became stuck in the river…’

      Eli proceeded to spin his tale, painting characters as vivid as the intricate designs on a Matryoshka doll. He told us about Ivan the schoolteacher, who had bought a cow for his aged mother only to find the animal preferred the lush grass of his own garden; nevertheless he persisted in leading the stubborn bovine down the dusty road from the village to his mother’s house at the forest’s edge, again and again.