0:00 Bertram the badger believed there was a right way to do things, and approximately ten thousand wrong ways.0:08 He’d heard the story about his cousin, Bartholomew, and the big detour that led to a big discovery.0:16 Bertram just sniffed; a proper badger, in his opinion, wouldn't have needed a detour in the first place, because a proper badger would have been on the proper path to begin with.0:30 And Bertram was, in every way, a proper badger.0:33 His mornings were a perfect, unchangeable ritual.0:37 He would wake in his tidy burrow, where the roots of the old oak tree made a pleasant pattern on the ceiling.0:46 He would shuffle down the main tunnel, his claws making a soft, familiar scratching sound on the packed earth.0:55 At the entrance, he would pause, lift his nose, and take three distinct sniffs.1:01 One for the weather, one for any trouble, and one just for the pure, earthy smell of the woods he called home.1:10 Then, and only then, would he set out for breakfast, his short legs carrying him along a path worn smooth by generations of his own footsteps.1:21 The path always led to the same place: a small, sun-dappled clearing where a magnificent patch of wild garlic grew.1:30 For Bertram, this wasn't just food.1:33 It was the ONLY food.1:34 The sharp, spicy crunch of the leaves was the perfect start to any day.1:40 It was reliable.1:41 It was correct.1:42 One Tuesday, however, the world went wrong.1:46 He arrived at the clearing, ready for his breakfast, and stopped.1:51 His heart gave a little jolt.1:53 The garlic was gone.1:55 Not some of it.1:56 ALL of it.1:57 The ground was a mess of churned-up dirt and torn roots.2:01 It looked like a wild boar had thrown a party, a very rude and destructive party.2:07 Bertram stared, his whiskers twitching in disbelief.2:12 This was not possible.2:13 This was not on the schedule.2:16 He circled the ruined patch three times, as if viewing it from a different angle might bring the garlic back.2:24 It did not.2:25 A wave of indignation, followed by a cold dread, washed over him.2:30 What was he supposed to eat?2:32 For the rest of the day, he searched.2:35 He retraced old paths.2:37 He stomped through unfamiliar undergrowth, muttering to himself about the lack of consideration shown by other woodland creatures.2:47 He grew hungry.2:49 His stomach, accustomed to its morning garlic, began to rumble a low, mournful protest.2:55 He saw a squirrel meticulously burying an acorn and felt a flash of irritation.3:02 Pointless.3:02 He passed a rabbit nibbling on sweet clover.3:06 Silly food.3:07 He even saw a young fox delicately plucking blackberries from a bush, its muzzle stained purple.3:14 Bertram sniffed in disdain.3:16 Berries were for birds.3:18 The next day was worse.3:20 The hunger was no longer a rumble; it was a hollow ache.3:24 Every smell that wasn't wild garlic seemed like a personal insult.3:30 The sweet scent of honeysuckle, the damp perfume of moss, the rich aroma of the forest floor—it all just reminded him of the one smell he was missing.3:42 He grew grumpy.3:43 He grew tired.3:44 His perfectly ordered world had shrunk to the size of his own empty belly.3:50 He spent the afternoon sulking in his burrow, trying to nap away the hunger, but his stomach wouldn't let him.3:58 It was a stubborn, noisy emptiness.4:01 He was right.4:02 He was also, in ways he didn't yet understand, completely wrong.4:07 That evening, the sky turned a bruised purple.4:11 The wind picked up, and a summer storm rolled through the woods.4:16 Rain lashed down, and thunder grumbled overhead.4:20 Bertram, safe and dry in his burrow, listened to the chaos and felt a strange sense of satisfaction.4:28 The world outside was as messy and out-of-sorts as he felt inside.4:33 The next morning, the air was washed clean.4:36 The world sparkled.4:38 Bertram emerged, weaker than ever, driven by a desperate, last-ditch hope that some garlic might have magically reappeared.4:47 It had not.4:48 But something else had happened.4:51 The storm's fierce winds had shaken the old pear tree on the edge of the woods, a tree Bertram had ignored his entire life.5:00 The ground beneath it was littered with fallen fruit.5:05 The air, which he had sniffed for the scent of garlic, was instead thick with a smell that was overwhelmingly, intoxicatingly sweet.5:15 It was the smell of ripe pears, their skins broken by the fall, their sugary juice leaking into the soil.5:23 Bertram found it appalling.5:26 And… wonderful.5:27 He tried to walk past, to stick to his principles.5:31 But his legs were tired, and his stomach felt like a hollow drum.5:36 One pear, golden and bruised, had rolled away from the others and lay directly in his path.5:43 He stopped.5:44 He stared at it.5:45 It was new.5:46 It was strange.5:47 It was wrong.5:48 He lowered his nose and nudged it.5:51 The skin gave way, releasing another burst of fragrance.5:55 He couldn't help it.5:57 He took a small, tentative lick.5:59 And the world tilted on its axis.6:02 It was a wave of pure, liquid sunshine.6:05 A sweetness so profound and surprising it seemed to reset every grumpy thought he’d ever had.6:12 He took a bite.6:14 The soft, grainy flesh melted in his mouth.6:17 It was nothing like garlic.6:19 It was not sharp or spicy or what he considered proper.6:23 It was simply… glorious.6:25 He devoured the entire pear in a matter of seconds, juice dripping from his whiskers.6:32 Then he looked around, saw the dozens of others, and felt a feeling he couldn't quite name.6:39 It was the opposite of his empty, hollow hunger.6:43 It was a feeling of… abundance.6:45 He ate another.6:47 And another.6:48 He felt the sugar hit his system, a rush of energy and warmth that spread to the very tips of his claws.6:56 He felt strong again.6:57 He felt… happy.6:59 Bertram did not abandon his old ways.7:02 The very next day, he found a new, smaller patch of wild garlic in a different part of the woods, and he was deeply pleased.7:11 But his morning routine had changed.7:14 After his garlic, he would amble over to the pear tree to see if any more fruit had fallen.7:21 His path now had two stops.7:24 Sometimes, he would try other things.7:26 A crunchy beetle he found under a log.7:29 A fat earthworm after the rain.7:32 Not every new thing was as wonderful as the pears, but he found that the trying was its own kind of meal.7:40 His world, which had once been the size of a single garlic patch, had become as big and full as the entire woods.7:49 He was still Bertram.7:51 He still believed there was a right way to do things.7:55 But he was beginning to suspect there might be more than one.8:00 And as the sun set, you could often find him sitting at the edge of the woods, not thinking about right ways or wrong ways at all.8:10 Just a badger, contentedly munching on a pear, with the sweet juice dripping from his whiskers.
