A charming Christmas story, ideal for a family concert. The Narrator tells the story, featuring each of the instruments of the wind quintet. The Bassoon (a sleepy bear), cor anglais (a romantic lady), clarinet (a mad cobbler) and piccolo (a fisher-boy) are all visited in turn by the precocious "Mountain Wind" (the French horn) in Stephen Pegg's imaginative story which is based on an ancient Chinese fable.

Duration: approx. 20 minutes. Commissioned by John Essias for the Oxford based wind quintet 'The Five Winds' for a Children's Christmas concert in Oxford in 1985. Later performed at the Holywell Music Rooms in Oxford and on tour by 'The Oxford Wind Quintet.

16 MP3 samples dating from these early performances are available to listen to, and although the sound recording is poor, they do convey the essence of the piece. There is also a video presentation available on YouTube.

This new edition was re-published in 2020 during the composer's 60th year as part of Spartan's 30th anniversary. The score and parts have been fully typeset to the highest standards and replace the old legacy 'facsimile' edition of 1990.