| “ | So why is it that I get to go on this trip with you, rather than do real work? Since when do you play favorites? | „ |
| ~ Rose Red to Snow White |
"Road Trip: Part One of Animal Farm" is the sixth issue of Fables, with a cover date of December 2002. It was published on October 9, 2002.[1]
Publisher's summary
The mystery of her sister's murder has been solved, and the guilty parties have been punished. This leaves Fabletown's Deputy Mayor Snow White physically exhausted, spiritually drained, and in need of a big rest. So she decides to personally drive one errant Colin Piggy back up to the Farm, the remote, upstate annex where the non-human Fables reside. But rest and relaxation will have to wait for our heroine. Something wicked is brewing in upstate New York and Snow White's untimely arrival lands her in the thick of it.[1]
Plot
Jack and Rose are starting the community service that they were sentenced to in the previous issue. Jack is assigned to assist Flycatcher with his janitorial duties at the Woodlands. Rose is being assigned to work at the Farm. Snow is driving Rose and Colin to the Farm so she can do her semi-annual inspection and have an opportunity to talk with Rose.
They see signs of suspicious activity during the trip. They find spent ammunition on the road; the Farm appears deserted when they arrive; the Farm's residents are holding a meeting, which they break off as soon as the visitors arrive, and the Farm's leader, Weyland Smith, has disappeared.
Back at the Woodlands, Boy Blue is at work. A line of people want him to help them with the problems Snow usually handles. Blue says he can't help them and they should wait until Snow returns for routine problems or go see Bigby with any emergencies. Blue also finds out that Bufkin and the Forsworn Knight have gotten drunk in his office.
Dun, one of the three little pigs, is now acting as the community's leader. He tells Snow and Rose that Weyland resigned and left. Dun says that the non-human Fables resent their confinement on the Farm and want to lead a return to the Homelands where they can live openly. Dun realizes Snow is suspicious but feels his claims that he has done nothing more than talking will delay her response.
After Snow and Rose leave, Dun questions Colin. It's revealed he hadn't gone to the Woodland just to enjoy city life as he claimed. He was supposed to get the key to the Woodland Business Office and make contact with people who would help the uprising. Colin admits that he failed in his mission.
As Snow and Rose are settling in for the night, Snow attempts to talk to Rose about the bad feelings that exist between them. Rose makes it clear she doesn't want to discuss this. Snow then looks out the window and sees that Colin has been killed and his head has been impaled on a pole for public display.
Appearances
Characters
- The Adversary (mentioned)
- Beauty
- Beast
- Bigby Wolf
- Bluebeard (mentioned)
- Boy Blue (first appearance)
- Br'er Gator (first appearance)
- Br'er Rabbit (first appearance)
- Bufkin
- Cheshire Cat (first appearance)
- Chicken Little (first appearance)
- Cinderella
- Dickory (first appearance)
- The Dish and the Spoon (first appearance)
- Flycatcher ("Fly")
- Forsworn Knight
- Grimble
- Jack Horner
- Johnny, Donny and Lonny (first mentioned, indirectly)
- King Noble (first appearance)
- Ladybug (first appearance)
- Lauda (first appearance; flashback)
- Luna (first appearance)
- Mail mice (first appearance)
- Mister Sunflower (first appearance)
- The moon (first appearance)
- Mr. Toad (first appearance)
- Owl and Pussy Cat (first appearance)
- Pinocchio
- Playing cards (first appearance)
- Prince Charming (mentioned)
- Puss in Boots (first appearance)
- Reynard the Fox (first appearance)
- Rockford J. Raccoon (first appearance)
- Rose Red ("Rose Bush")
- Snow White
- Stinky (first appearance)
- The swallow (first appearance)
- The Three Bears (first appearance)
- Three Blind Mice (first appearance)
- Leland
- Prescott
- Thaddeus
- Three Little Pigs
- Thumbelina (first appearance)
- Tom Thumb (first appearance)
- The Tortoise and the Hare (first appearance)
- Trusty John ("Johnny")
- The Walrus (first appearance)
- Weyland Smith (first mentioned)
Fictional species
Multispecies
Species
- Bovalunaris (first appearance)
- Flying monkey
- Troll (bridge troll)
- Wind (hybrid)
Items
Locations
- Homelands (flashback)
- Prince Charming's Fable world
- Magical forest (first appearance; flashback)
- Lauda's cottage (first appearance; flashback)
- Magical forest (first appearance; flashback)
- Prince Charming's Fable world
- Mundane world
- Albany, New York (mentioned on sign)
- The Farm
- The Great Woods (first appearance)
- The main village (first appearance)
- The barn (first appearance)
- The blacksmith's forge (first appearance)
- The giant shoe (first appearance)
- The kitchen garden (first appearance)
- The main house (first appearance)
- The VIP guest room (first appearance)
- The Pumpkin House (first appearance)
- The square (first appearance)
- The stables (first appearance)
- The Three Little Pigs' house (first appearance)
- The well (first appearance)
- New York City
- Fabletown
- The Woodlands
- Ballroom floor (mentioned)
- Business Office
- The foyer
- Woodland's garden
- The Woodlands
- Fabletown
Other
Continuity
- Flycatcher states that the reason he is always stuck on community service is that Bigby keeps catching him eating flies in public. In Fables #33 — "Until the Spring," it is revealed that the real history behind this is that Bigby developed a system of convenient deception to help Flycatcher cope with his depression, whereby Fly was made to work off a never-ending series of short community service orders for a series of minor infractions (usually eating flies). Fly thus remains in the job that he enjoys, and where he feels important in the service to his fellow Fables: If he has a job that he can choose to quit, he will have to do so and return to the Homelands to seek his missing family, which will almost certainly result in his death.
- Boy Blue is upset when he finds Bufkin drunk. It is revealed in Fables #59 — "Burning Questions" that Bufkin steals alcohol from the mayor's liquor cabinet, because he is an expert lock picker.
Trivia
- We see three books which Grimble, the bridge troll from the fairy tale of the "Three Billy Goats Gruff," keeps behind his desk in the foyer of the Woodland: a New York phone directory, Troll Bridge by Neil Gaiman, and Shreck! Gaiman has never written a book titled Troll Bridge, although Terry Pratchett, Gaiman's co-author of the novel Good Omens from 1990, has written a short story with that title, published in 1991. Shreck! is presumably a reference to the picture book Shrek! from 1990 by William Steig, about a repugnant green monster who leaves home to see the world and ends up marrying an ugly princess. It is the basis of the movie series of the same name.
- Rose Red states that the Farm looks "sort of like Old MacDonald meets Walt Disney meets Munchkinland." "Old Macdonald" is a reference to the traditional children's song and nursery rhyme "Old MacDonald Had a Farm." "Walt Disney" is a reference to the famous American animator and film producer. "Munchkinland" is a reference to Munchkin Country from the Oz books, which is known as Munchkinland in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.
- During the animal meeting in the barn, Dun is quoting a line from William Shakespeare's Hamlet, "Take arms against a sea of troubles"; which he refers to as something more than just artful speech from a master wordsmith, and something which should be treated as a literal advice.