The Golden Boughs Retirement Village is a fictional prison masquerading as a retirement home for fables in the Fables spin-off Jack of Fables. It is run by a man called himself Mr. Revise. The name is an explicit reference to The Golden Bough, a lengthy study in the comparative mythology, religion and folklore of hundreds of cultures, from aboriginal and extinct cultures to 19th-Century faiths.
The facility
The Golden Boughs consists largely of a series of cottages assigned to the various inmates, along with a number of public buildings such as a pub, plus the various buildings required to run the place. Security consists of a fence, moat and guard towers, which are constantly manned by the junior librarians. In the event of an escape, the facility has a number of carefully trained tigers which can be released to track escapees, along with a group known as the Bagmen, powerful creatures of unknown type that inhabit an all-encompassing outfit that gives them humanoid shape and which can be folded down to resemble a large bag. Each guard tower is equipped with a Doubling Rook, a magical bird that, when released, will multiply quickly until all available food is exhausted, and can be used to deal with any attempt at an aerial escape. The Golden Boughs resembles the Village of The Prisoner in some ways, and as he escapes from the Golden Boughs, Jack Horner explicitly makes the connection in a narrative aside to the reader about the place "in the British TV show" guarded by the evil "weather balloon." After the Bookburner's strike on the Golden Boughs, Jack, his fellow Fables, the Literals and the librarians were forced to release Wy'east Klickitat and Loo-With, Native American mountain spirits who unleashed a roaring volcano upon escape, marking the end of the Golden Boughs Retirement Village.
Staff
The facility is overseen by Mr. Revise, a Literal who has made it his mission to rid the world of magic. He is supported by the Page Sisters, referred to as senior librarians, and a host of lesser staff members. Of ambiguous status is the Pathetic Fallacy, Revise's Literal grandfather, who personifies that concept.
The little oysters from The Walrus and the Carpenter.
Black Caroline, from Edmund Dulac's story White Caroline and Black Caroline, from Edmund Dulac's Fairy Book. The cottage that Jack moves into is referred to as "Black Caroline's old place".
The Caterpillar ; a violet/pink caterpillar, which may or may not be The Caterpillar, is shown eating a leaf while Humpty Dumpty tries to convince Jack to let him escape with the others.
