The Story of the Forest Animals’ Annual Party
Every year, about just this time of year, all the animals of the forest get together and have their annual party. Mr. and Mrs. Deer and the baby fawns come. Mr. and Mrs. Bird and the baby chickies come. Mr. and Mrs. Rabbit and the baby bunnies come. Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel and the baby squirrels come. Mr. and Mrs. Mole and the baby moleys come. Mr. and Mrs. Bear and the baby cubs come. Mr. and Mrs. Fox and the baby kits come. Mr. and Mrs. Porcupine and the baby pips come. And, Mr. and Mrs. Raccoon and the robber babies come.
All day long preparations for the party are being made. Mr. and Mrs. Deer collect flowers from the meadow to bring as decorations for the party. Mr. and Mrs. Bird collect fresh leaves to serve as tablecloths and napkins. Mr. and Mrs. Rabbit pull up turnips and parsnips to eat at the party. Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel gather nuts and berries. Mr. and Mrs. Mole dig under the trees to find the softest, tastiest roots. Mr. and Mrs. Bear are bringing honey from the honeycomb for a special treat. Mr. and Mrs. Fox find sticks to make a nice fire to keep everyone warm at the party. Mr. and Mrs. Porcupine are busy gathering the softest dry moss to make comfortable places to sit. But, Mr. and Mrs. Raccoon don’t bring anything to the party except for the robber babies.
As evening approaches all of the preparations are completed and everyone meets under the tallest oak tree in the forest. Everyone is delighted to see each other. Mr. and Mrs. Deer place the flower decorations all around to make it bright and festive. The tables are set with the fresh leaves that Mr. and Mrs. Bird bring. Mr. and Mrs. Rabbit’s parsnips and turnips are laid out on the tables. Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel arrive with lots of nuts and berries. The sweetest tastiest roots are offered by Mr. and Mrs. Mole. Mr. and Mrs. Bear pass around the honey from the honeycomb. Mr. and Mrs. Fox pile up the sticks they have found. The guests sit down on the dry moss that Mr. and Mrs. Porcupine have gathered. But, Mr. and Mrs. Raccoon bring only their robber babies.
After everyone finds a seat, they are all perfectly quiet together for a few minutes. Then they start eating and talking and having fun as animals will do at the annual forest animals’ party.
After everyone has eaten their fill, they clean up the crumbs and fold up the fresh leaf tablecloths and napkins. While the adults are talking, all the babies start to play their forest animal games. The baby bunnies are playing hide and seek with the baby moleys who are scurrying in and out of the tunnels under, around, and through the roots of the giant oak tree. The baby squirrels are playing tag by running up the trunk of the oak tree trying to catch the baby chickies who are flying in and out of the branches as fast as they can. The baby foxes and the baby fawns are playing a running game called “chase.” The baby porcupines and the robber babies are playing a forest animal version of “cops and robbers.” Naturally, the baby raccoons play the robbers.
When all the talking for the year is finished and the children are tired from their forest animal games, everyone gathers around the base of the old oak tree. Mr. and Mrs. Fox use the sticks they found to make a small fire to keep everyone warm. The animals quiet down as they wait for the annual story from Mr. Owl. They all look to the top of the oak tree where Mr. Owl sits with one eye open and one eye closed. His face is scrunched down in his thinking kind of scrunch. A story is brewing in the bottom of his feet. All the animals say, “Please, tell us a story, Mr. Owl.”
Mr. Owl only says, “Whooo, whooo, whooo.” The story starts to bubble and gurgle and it boils up inside of Mr. Owl getting ready to be told.
All the children are laughing at the bottom of the tree, screaming delightfully, “Please, tell us a story, Mr. Owl.”
But, Mr. Owl sits at the top of the tree whoooing with one eye open and one eye closed. His face is still scrunched down in his thinking kind of scrunch. The story is boiling over. It finally makes it to the surface and Mr. Owl begins.
“This is the story of the human people’s annual party.”
The animals laugh with glee to think of such a silly thing.
“Each year, about just this time of year, all the people in the world gather together to have a wonderful party.”
All the animals laugh and laugh to think of the people getting together for a party.
“They have lots of good things to eat like cakes, candies, cookies, grapes, oranges, apples, peaches, pumpkin, squash, potatoes...”
The animals can not believe this long list of food and begin twittering and chattering among themselves while Mr. Owl continues.
“ham, beef, chicken, turkey, peanuts, pecans, almonds, ham and cheese breads, biscotti, spaghetti with tomato sauce...”
The animals had never heard of such wild and exotic foods but Mr. Owl just continues.
“pomegranates, dates, coconut, chocolate covered cherries, peppermint sticks, peppermint candy, peppermint tea...”
The animals can’t believe their ears. Who could imagine such a wonderful party? Mr. Owl just keeps going.
“carrots, lettuce, cabbage, peppers, celery, tomatoes, tomatoes, oh I said tomatoes...”
Finally it seems to everyone that Mr. Owl has run out of ideas but the animals are wrong. Mr. Owl continues.
“licorice, milk, butter, cheese, corn, and many other delicious foods.”
The animals sigh a sigh of relief to find that Mr. Owl is finally finished with his long list of food.
Then he says, “After the people have finished their feast, they exchange gifts. Each person gives a small gift wrapped in shining paper to another person. Then that person gives a gift wrapped in shining paper to another person and so on and so on until everyone has both given and received a gift wrapped in shining paper.”
“What a wonderful idea!” says Mrs. Deer to Mr. Deer.
“Indeed,” says Mr. Deer.
Mr. and Mrs. Fox agree, “That is a lovely idea to give gifts at a party.”
Mr. Owl continues, “They unwrap the gifts and everyone says ‘Oooh! Aaah!’ when they see the surprises inside which are usually small homemade items made for each other by the people who come to the party. Many hours of loving care go into the preparations for these gifts.”
By this time in the story, most of the baby animals have fallen asleep. The porcupine pips are the first to drop off into slumber land. They roll over on their spiny backs, throw their arms out and throw their legs out, exposing their soft underbellies. The bellies are rising and falling, rising and falling, rising and falling with the breathing of the porcupine pips. They are making soft rhythmic sounds; in, out, in, out, in, out.
The next to fall asleep are the fawns who are tired out by their running game. Soon after them the fox kits fall asleep as well. The baby chickies are asleep in their nests. The baby moleys are asleep in their tunnels. The baby bunnies curl up in tiny fury balls and fall fast asleep. The baby squirrels use their tails for blankets. The bear cubs are snoring. In fact, all of the baby animals are asleep except for the raccoon robber babies. They are doing their best to keep their eyes wide open and listen to Mr. Owl’s story.
Mr. Owl continues, “After all of the human people open their gifts and say, ‘Oooh!’ and ‘Aaah!’ at the surprises inside, everyone goes back to their own homes to sleep.”
By this time even the raccoon robber babies have fallen asleep. It is time for the animals’ annual party to end. Mr. and Mrs. Deer gather up the baby fawns and return to their mountain home high above the forest. Mr. and Mrs. Bird fly to their nest in the oak tree where the chickies are already fast asleep. Mr. and Mrs. Rabbit carefully pick up the furry balls of bunnies and hop away. Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel take their babies back inside of the oak tree, curl up with their bushy tails and fall asleep. Mr. and Mrs. Mole carry their babies under the roots of the oak tree to the very bottom of their longest tunnel. Mr. and Mrs. Bear carry the snoring cubs back to their cave. Mr. and Mrs. Fox return to their den with the baby kits. Mr. and Mrs. Porcupine carefully roll their babies back upright and take them to their home not far from the oak tree. Mr. and Mrs. Raccoon gather up the robber babies and carry them to their home by the river. Everyone returns home to sleep.
Mr. Owl is the only animal in the forest who is still awake with one eye open and one eye closed. His face is no longer scrunched in a thinking kind of scrunch. Instead, he is looking rather satisfied with himself for telling such a silly story.
Forest Animal’s Annual Party by C. Walker ©03