Part 3 - THE OLD AARDVARK'S TALE
This is the last part, where everything comes together:
Well, my dears, the Old Aardvark just loved the idea!
He invited the three brave little Ants in for tea, and asked them to tell him their story.
He carefully listened to them tell it, asked them some questions and even took some notes on his scribble pad.
He also asked them to stay the night, as it was getting to be more than a little late, and quite a bit dark. But the Ants couldn't do that; they needed to return to their homes as soon as possible.
There was so much work to be done!
The next Summer, all the animals prepared for their picnic as they did every year.
They baked lots of blueberry pies for their pie eating contest.
Mr. Badger was feeling specially confident that year, he felt he had figured out Mr. Hyena's pie eating technique, and had been practicing for a while.
Incidentally, he had also been putting on quite a little bit of weight, with all that practicing.
They washed and ironed their red and white checked tablecloths and mended and painted their long wooden tables.
They added lots of ice to their lemonade (they also added that little sprig of mint, don’t forget) and they chilled the watermelons with big blocks of ice.
The picnic was proceeding as usual, and everyone was having great fun.
Mr. Badger surprised everyone by winning the pie eating contest and beating Mr. Hyena.
Mr. Hyena was a very good sport about it and congratulated Mr. Badger, shook hands with him, and personally pinned the blue ribbon on him.
The winners of the games and contests received surprise gifts from the judges.
The biggest surprise ever, however, was yet to come.
After all the food and games were over, And after some of the younger animals were lightly snoring in the cool breeze under the tall trees, all the animals got together, as usual, to listen to the Aardvark's tales.
There was a light buzz among the crowd; some were still commenting on Badger's surprise victory.
The Old Aardvark stood up.
A hush fell.
"Ahem..." He cleared his throat.
"Friends," he started "every summer all the animals get together for the big annual picnic.
We make fried chicken and biscuits, Mrs. Giraffe makes a mess of buttered green beans from her prize winning recipe.
And there's always lots of sweet, tender corn, watermelon by the cartload and ice cold lemonade (with a little hint of mint)."
"We play games and have contests and some swim in the lake for hours."
"Everybody has a grand old time, and after everyone has had their fill of the good food and is tired from playing the games, we get together and I have the honor and privilege of telling you my stories."
"I generally start with the story of the time when the Elephant got her trunk stuck in a butter churner, and how only the old Tortoise was able to solve that pickle.
Everyone laughs and cheers at that story."
"I also tell the story of the time when the Bear triplets sneaked into the Rabbit's garden for some tender carrots and how the only thing they managed to get was caught and to be sent home with empty stomachs and a tender behind.
That gets even bigger laughs and more cheers."
"And I always finish with the story of when the Hippos got a hold of Mrs. Squirrel's paint buckets and how they got in a paint fight amongst themselves, and how anyone in the forest could see pink, yellow and purple Hippos, even days after.
That story always gets the biggest laughs and the loudest cheers."
"I will not tell those stories this year."
There were surprised murmurs at this.
The Old Aardvark then proceeded to tell them the wonderful and exciting story of the Ants who braved previously untold dangers in their days of travel to the picnic grounds.
All the animals listened in absolute silence and attention.
There were some gasps from the younger crowd as some of the more exciting passages were related.
Ants are known to be just about the tiniest animals there are, yet they are also known to be among the strongest and bravest animals of all.
When the Ant's story was finished, the Old Aardvark got the biggest and loudest cheers in his storytelling career.
After the noise settled down, the Old Aardvark called the Ants to the front and all the animals clapped and cheered even louder than before.
It was a perfect way to end the day.
It was already starting to get dark, and it was time for everyone to get ready to go home.
So all the animals gathered their things and picked up their trash.
They said their thank yous and their goodbyes, and everyone went home.
Everyone but the Ants, of course, there was so much work to be done!
THE END
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