A TALE IN THREE PARTS

THE ANIMAL’S PICNIC, THE 3 BRAVE ANTS & THE OLD AARDVARK'S TALE

Part 1 - THE ANIMAL’S PICNIC

This story was told to me, long ago, by the Old Aardvark himself. So sit your selves right down on that there big, hollow log and I'll tell it to you, same as he did me:

Every Summer the animals in the forest got together for a big annual picnic.

They started to get prepared weeks ahead of time. There was so much work to be done!

There was always lots of country style fried chicken and biscuits, enough for everyone, courtesy of The Badgers.

Mrs. Giraffe liked to prepare a mess of buttered green beans from her prize winning recipe.

And you could also always count on The Hedgehogs to bring lots of sweet and tender corn, chilled watermelons by the cartload and jugs and jugs of ice cold lemonade (with a little hint of mint).

They organized summer picnic games and contests such as scavenger hunts, potato sack races and their annual blueberry pie eating contest.

Mr. Hyena always seemed to win that last one, beating the Hippos and even the Elephant, for you see, my dear; in this case, size does not matter, it is technique that's important.

They would also swing on an old tire hung with thick rope from the strongest branch of the tallest tree by the lake and jump into it, and splash and swim in the cool summer water for hours.

And you could also always count on games of croquet, volleyball or badminton to be played in the open field sometime in the afternoon.

Everybody had a grand old time during the games and other activities.

But the highlight of the day was yet to come.

After everyone had had their fill of the good food and was starting to get tired from the games, especially after some of the younger ones had been sent under the shadiest old oak to take a brief nap, all the animals got together to listen to the Old Aardvark tell his favorite tales.

The Old Aardvark would first tell the story of the time of the time when the Elephant got her trunk stuck in a butter churner.

Nobody could figure out how to get the Elephant's trunk unstuck, and only after they talked to the old Tortoise did they get a clue on how to do it.

Turtles and tortoises are experts on getting stuck things out of the things they are stuck in.

Everyone laughed and cheered at that story.

The Old Aardvark would then tell the story of the time when the Bear triplets sneaked into the Rabbit's garden to get some sweet, tender carrots only to get caught.

The only thing they managed to get was to be sent home with empty stomachs and tender behinds.

Bears are famous for liking sweet, tender carrots.

That was an even funnier story, and it always got bigger laughs and more cheers.

The big finale would be the Old Aardvark's story of the time when the Hippo family got a hold of Mrs. Squirrel's paint buckets and proceeded to get in a paint fight amongst themselves.

Anyone in the forest could see pink, yellow and purple splashed Hippos.

A colorful Hippo is one of the most unusual sights you can see in a forest.

It took them days to get fully cleaned up.

That story always got the biggest laughs and the loudest cheers.

As soon as the sun started getting lower on the horizon, but before it got dark, the animals would pick up their trash, gather their food baskets and utensils, their croquet and badminton sets, their volleyballs and their nets, and get ready to leave.

They would thank and say goodbye to each other, and everyone would go to their own home.

What none of the animals realized, or even imagined, was that they had not been in the forest by themselves.

Others had been there enjoying the picnic, and would remain for a while longer, even after all the animals had left, and gone home.

To be continued…