A Forest Story/The Animals Build a Theatre

by Josef Kožíšek

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THE ANIMALS
BUILD A THEATRE. Such a morning! The Beetle
tumbled about in the sunny air. From the bulrush tops Dragon Fly spread his thin wings and sailed off and away over the lily pond. Frisky Mouse twirled about among the deep grasses in high glee, until, too dizzy to stay longer on her wee feet, she toppled over. She lay squirming and squeaking beside Frog who had pulled himself out of the lily pool to bask in the May morning brilliance. Even the dark earth felt the

 

glow of it, for from his burrow Hedgehog clambered out and looked about. He sat upon his hind legs and sniffed for joy, standing like a sentinel of the guards beside the doorway of his hidden home. Such a morning! Such a wonderful, beautiful, sunny-sweet flowery morning! Who wouldn’t come out and be silly and gay?

But suddenly such a wind! Mad and wild from the top of the mountain, it came whirling over the land.

It bent the birches and swished through the bulrushes; hissed and whistled through the bushes and broke the stems of the fair tall flowers. It brought the clouds, all heavy with rain, and the thunder rumblings, and the lightning. Such a wild young wind! It spoiled the morning in May.—

»Here I go,« cried Hedgehog. »My burrow’s the best place, after all, for it’s going to rain good and plenty in about two minutes.«

»Wrong,« squeaked Mouse. »It is raining already.« The merry creature was wiping a great raindrop from her forehead with her dainty forepaws.

»Who cares?« laughed Frog hoarsely. »Not I! Let me sit upon a lily pad and feel the water swish under, and the water wash over me, and I’ll be as happy as Bee in clover.«

»Perhaps,« answered Hedgehog, »but by the looks of this little lump melting away on my foot, I should say you had better stay under that lily pad. This is to be no everyday sort of storm, for as sure as I’m born that lump is hail, and more of it we’ll have before you can say. . .« and he never said it.

Crash! Flash! Smash! Thunder! Lightning! Hail!

Such a terrible hail storm upon that morning in May!

The Frog turned toward the pool, while the Mouse wrung her pretty claws and worried about her four babies, left at home under the fern patch. The Hedgehog tried to comfort her, when from the great Above came a shower of pelting hail and a flare of blinding lightning, and the three scampered away from the clearing and into a thicket. The Hedgehog was the first to speak.

»No snivelling, remember,« he ordered grandly like a general. »We can’t get to our homes now. Better look about for some sort of shelter here.« The three, very frightened, scrambled but a few feet when they found a splendid shelter. On the ground lay an immense china water jug, large as a cavern to the bedraggled friends. True, the painted flowers on the pitcher had long since faded and the handle and spout were broken, but the bulging round sides were sound and waterproof, and the Hedgehog poked his head into the opening. Strange noises came from the dim corners.

»Ghosts! Demons! Something in the dark!« called the brave general, and without waiting for Mouse or Frog he dashed off madly into the storm.

»Fiddlesticks,« the brave Mouse called after him. »Never have I known such a talker and such a coward.« She humped herself into a grey ball and rolled down the smooth sides of the china jug, peering about, for there certainly were queer noises coming from its far corners.

»Why, they’re just a parcel of friends,« she gasped when she discovered the wee folk crowded into the jug. »A good joke on the brave Sir Hedgehog this time!« She looked at the little creatures, and they looked at her.

Cricket was stretching and rubbing his thin legs; Bumblebee grumbling over the loss of time during the busiest part of the honey season; Cockchafer sobbing over the herbs she had spread to dry, which most certainly were ruined by this time; Firefly and Dragonfly sulkily spreading their wet wings and fretting over the cramped quarters. But Mouse laughed and chattered and told them of Hedgehog and his mock bravery, and in less than a minute they were all laughing away as though they had spent hours longing for the storm. Frog had reached the jug by this time, and sat in the opening watching the hail and the rain, and looking about for Hedgehog. As time went on, however, and the rain turned into a drizzle, they all fell to telling tales and boasting of their adventures.

As for Hedgehog, he never stopped running till he tumbled head over heels into the hollow side of an old stump. He was as wet as a water rat, and as unhappy as a swallow in a snowstorm, but when he suddenly discovered himself in such a comfortable hollow along with a whole meadowful of friends, he stood up grandly on his hind legs and joined loudly in the conversation.

They were all there, every one of his dearest friends. The long-eared strong-legged Hare, the saucy chattering pretty-tailed Squirrel, the keen-eyed sharp-toothed Marmot, and the cranky old thick-coated Badger, and they welcomed him and admired his quills, and listened to him tell of his brave exit from the water jug. Then they all, to pass away the dreary time, fell to telling tales and boasting of their adventures.

But sometime rain must stop, and sometimes talkers must eat. When the first glint of sunlight filtered through the misty air, the little folk in the china jug and the big folk in the hollow stump came picking their feet high over the soaked grasses, sniffing here and there for something to eat.

Such a surprise! Such a treat! Mouse discovered it first. There were wild strawberries as red as jewels hanging daintily from little vines all about the pitcher, and in an overturned basket lay hazelnuts, bits of bread, a square of cheese, and a rather wet but very sweet piece of cake.

»Hmm!« sniffed Hare. »The food that the Children of Men eat.«

»They must have dropped it when the storm broke, and scampered home,« said Marmot. »Seems we’re in luck.«

»Should we eat it? They might come back for it,« ventured honest little Squirrel. »I always go back for food when I leave it, though I do take care to hide it well.«

The animals thought a long time about their rights to the lunch, for they were very fair little folk, and had long since learned to let Man’s things alone. It was true Mouse went into the pantries and Marmot into the rye fields, but neverthless they liked to believe they only took what was their own.

»Oh, they’ll not come back for this,« said Mouse. »And it’s such good Man’s food. I’ve hunted everywhere to find out where that fruit grows, but it’s only to be found in Man’s house. Just you taste it, Marmot.« She broke off a bit of the cheese, but the other animals would not venture. They were content with the bread, the cake and the nuts. As for Cricket and Bee, they nibbled at the strawberries.

It was Frog who ate the least, so he sat thinking and planning. He was sure the Children would come for the food and the basket.

»Good!« he exclaimed at last. »I have a plan. We can pay for the things. People like pay for things, and they’ll take anything for pay.«

»But what can we pay with?« asked Cricket. »I’ve nothing.«

The animals stopped nibbling and began to think of how they could pay.

»What do Children of Men like?« asked Badger at last.

»Sensible animal,« cried Hedgehog in admiration, but it was as hard to think of what Children of Men would like as it was to think of pay. Some of the things were dreadful, such as dogs and cats. Some of the things were difficult, such as mothers and play.

»Why, we wouldn’t dare find a dog for them,« said Squirrel, »and how can we get play for them? That’s what they love, but we can’t get it.«

»I know! Oh, be still, and do let me know!« squeaked clever Mouse. »I know a bit about this play. Once I went creeping into a nursery, and saw the Children all dressed up and play acting. It’s really quite easy. All you must do is pretend to be what you’re not, and talk a lot.«

»And once,« added Squirrel, »I was in a tree and watched the Children of Men looking at some wooden children who had a thing they called a Theatre. They did that play acting just as the Mouse says. We could have a Theatre and some play acting.«

»But we haven’t a Theatre and we haven’t a play, and I hate Children,« chirped Cricket. »They poke straws into the ground where I sleep, and turn me on my back.«

»Oh, don’t be such a grumble-body,« croaked Frog. »We’ll have play acting. I’ve watched the big Men do it on the balcony above the lily pool. I really know all about it. We’ll give the Children of Men a great performance.«

»Where? Where?« asked Dragon Fly.

»In the Theatre we’ll build in the clearing,« answered Hare. »The Carpenter Bug has been listening, and I know he’ll build us a lovely one.«

»I was hoping you’d ask me to build the Theatre,« cried Carpenter Bug. »I’d be badly disappointed if I couldn’t.«

»I’ll weave a curtain of silver threads,« said Spider. »Like this!« She began spinning a web over the opening of the water jug to show her skill. The animals all began thinking of things to do while building the Animals’ Theatre, and elected Frog as Manager and Firefly as the Stage Light.

»I’m glad to be Manager,« consented Frog. »For without me I can see you’d completely forget the play itself. We must think of that.«

»Let’s make them out of the brave stories we’ve been telling,« said Hedgehog, and they all eagerly agreed with that splendid idea. Off they went to build both Theatre and Play, and by sundown they were ready.

»Will the Children come?« squeaked Mouse, doubtfully, when all the actors were ready.

»Who knows?« answered Frog, wisely. »We had best give our performances here every night, and should the Children discover us, then they’ll surely be paid for their bread and their cake. Should they stay at home in their stuffy houses, when they could be down here in the clearing in the dingle dell, listening to our marvellous work, then I’m sure all we can say is that we’ve done our best.«

»Well said, Manager,« applauded Badger, and he beat upon a gourd to summon all who could to attend the opening performance. Firefly flew to her corner of the stage, the actors giggled and gulped behind the curtains, and Frog in the glory of a flowered waistcoat and scarlet top coat steppedbefore the curtains and recited the prologue toAnimals’ Story Plays.