It was a day straight out of a storybook. Birds sang in all the bushes, the grass was growing, and the air was so full of spring that old Pettersson and his cat could finally tend to their vegetable garden. The old man dug, raked, and sowed, while Findus, who couldn't stand vegetables, planted meatballs; that is, when he wasn't darting around scaring bugs. Everything was as it was every year—until a bunch of wild chickens, a pig, and six cattle caused a commotion in the vegetable patch.