But Sprout doesn’t die, and with the help of Straggler, a wild duck, she manages to escape before the weasel has a chance to attack. Unable to return to the safety of the farm and too worn down to ever produce an egg of her own, she longs for a purpose beyond merely surviving the weasel. She soon stumbles across an abandoned egg in a briar patch, and when no mother returns that night, she claims it as her own, claiming in the process a new lease on life. She is now the protector of the egg, a nurturer, a mother-in-waiting. Her choices and wellbeing take on new vitality, even though the egg turns out to be a duck.