This was a horrid little book written by Huxley in the darkest days of World War II for a young relative. Poor girl! The story is an obvious parable about Nazi Germany and the horrors of war. A nasty snake eats the babies of Mrs. Crow. So Mrs. Crow bands together with other animals and tortures the snake to death, using its corpse in a "funny" way at the end. Ha Ha. Complete with Barbara Cooney's graphic illustrations. Maybe this kind of heavy-handed stuff was "amusing" during the war, but it seems just grusome to the point of obscene today. This book scared the hell out of me as an 11 year old in 1973. It still does. Interesting for adult students of Huxley, and that's about it. Forget it for kids.