This is classic Eoin Colfer style. What a fantastic short story. This story could have been twice as long and never had the punch this one does. There are a lot of subtle themes running through this but my favorite was the passing of one generation on to the next. And that as one generation had their way to handle problems so another generation will approach it differently and yet it is not that they are doing it wrong. Another was the mending of the previous generations wrongs. There is a lot to this one but the story itself is charming and fun to read.