We had ridden the willing horse to a standstill.

I thought mother was so kind and healthy that she would never get sick.

The deer was so tame that it came to him and walked around him.

These docile lunatic automatons are no more trouble to their guards than cattle .

As she explains in an opening monologue, she has a life most kids would envy : no school, a bevy of tame animal friends and a whole island to herself.