3.The Favorite Tree

03- the favorite tree

the early morning sun had just begun to warm the meadow. It was the start of a long, hot day- one full of wonder and surprise for the Nutbrown Hares.

“Big Nutbrown Hare, are you asleep?”

“Yes, fast asleep. Why aren’t you?”

“There’s something tickly on my nose! Good morning Little Yellow Butterfly! Where did it go? Ah… there it is! Oh look! the flower is smiling.”

“It is! I’d never thought of it like that.”

“Maybe all the other flowers in the meadow are smiling too. There are smiling. Whoa! Hello Little Field Mouse!”

“Let’s play!”

“Yes, follow me! Let’s play ‘jump over the grass!’“

“That was too high for me. Little Nutbrown Hare!”

“Oops, sorry.”

“Let’s play ‘hide in the hedge‘!”

“I can’t fit in here. I’ll get stuck! Then how about climb the tree?”

“I’m not very good at climbing.”

“There’s knobs all the way up the trunk. Use them to help you.”

“Oh, you’re right, it’s easy. Look! Berries.”

“They’re too high up to reach.”

“How will we get back down?”

“That’s how.”

“Again.”

“I love this tree. It’s my favourite tree ever!”

“Mine too.”

“I’m puffed!”

“Me too! Phoo!”

“It’s so hot. That breeze is nice.”

“It’s lovely.”

“Look.”

“The storm is coming. We’d better go home.”

“Do we have to? I want to keep playing.”

“We can come back after the storm.”

 “Big Nutbrown Hare. We found the most amazing tree!”

“It’s our favourite tree! We climbed up it like this …”

“And then slid down it…”

“Like this! Weeee…”

“Oh, that does sound like fun!

“Oh. The flower. Is it sad?”

“It just need water. It’s a hot day. And it’s about to get a good drink now. let’s go and find somewhere to stay dry.”

“Ooh… make way for me…”

“Hello. Little Redwood Fox!”

“And me! Little Grey Squirrel!”

“The rain is so heavy.”

“The lighting is so bright.”

“It’s a mighty big storm.”

“Everything smells so clean. And it looks so really shiny!”

“Look-some branches have blown off!”

“Look! The birds are playing.”

“Let’s play too.”

“Oh yes! In our favourite tree!”

“Yes, just wait till you see it. Come on!”

“Follow me! It’s this way!”

“Oh, the flower is smiling again!”

“Little Nutbrown Hare!”

“See you later! Little Purple Flower.”

“Oh no!”

“What happened to our favourite tree?”

“It looks like it was struck by lightning.”

“Can lightning make a whole tree fall down?”

“It can. And so can the wind.”

“The storm broke our tree.”

“We can’t have fun now.”

“No fun. Are you sure? There must be some fun that you can find.”

“Maybe. All those leaves… they look like a hedge now.”

“What’s he doing?”

“These berries look delicious. Can we eat them?”

“Yes, they’re mulberries. Very good to eat.”

“We couldn’t reach them before!”

“These roots look like a whole different tree.”

“An upside down tree!”

“Hey, this branch is bouncy! Weehee…”

“This… is still…my most…favourite… tree…ever! Woo-hoo!”

“It’s not the same favourite tree, it’s even better now!”

“Let’s play hide and seek!”

“You’re it Little Nutbrown Hare!”

“One mulberry, two mulberries, three mulberries… ready or not, here I come…!”

Everyone enjoyed the favourite tree for the rest of that day. They played and played until the sky turned pink. And the first star appeared. Finally… it was for a tired Little Nutbrown Hare and his father to go home.

“I wish today didn’t have to end.”

“You weren’t disappointed that your favourite tree fell down?”

“Well yes… but then we found different fun things to do. And that was even better!”

“So something you thought was bad turned out to be good.”

“Yes… that’s just what happened.”

“Can we look at the flower?”

“Yes.”

“it’s all closed up.”

“That’s what flowers do at night.”

“Good night Little Purple Flower. But it’s okay, Big Nutbrown Hare. It means we get to watch it smile again in the morning.”

“I look forward to that.”

“Guess how much I love you.”

“As much as all the fun we had today?”

“Today. Tomorrow and all the fun days yet to come.”

“That is a lot.”