Moorland friends

ANIMALS OF THE MOOR

MOORLAND FRIENDS

The sun slowly rose through the mist on the high moorland where Diana
and her family live. The Red Deer herd, led by her mother, had come out
of the woods very early this morning. It was going to be hot later on
and then the flies would drive them back to the shelter of the trees.
The only sounds to be heard were the calls of skylarks and the buzzing
of hard working bees. Diana was bored. She stamped her feet and flicked
her tail. Diana hated the flies and already they were beginning to sit
on her beautiful chestnut and white spotted coat. She'd wandered around
with the herd while they had breakfast. She'd played with her cousins
and friends and now they'd all gone to sleep in the sun! They looked
very peaceful. Their long legs were curled up underneath them. Their
big brown eyes were nearly shut and their large ears flicked gently as
the breeze touched them.
Diana looked around. Her mother was busy talking. Diana noticed a
butterfly sitting on a patch of purple heather flowers.

Diana watched it for a while. It had brown wings with bright flashes of
red, blue and cream. Diana noticed these as the butterfly fluttered its
wings, warming itself in the sunlight. The butterfly suddenly flew away
and Diana scampered after it. The butterfly flew into the woods.
Diana followed the butterfly into the shade of the trees. Inside the
woods Diana followed the narrow path. The butterfly flew among the
flowers and trees.
Turning a corner Diana heard a rustling sound. As she looked a small
pointed red/brown face with bright shiny eyes and pointed ears appeared
from behind a fallen tree trunk.
"Hello Diana," said Samuel the Red Fox cub, "do you want to play hide
and seek?"
"Oh, yes please", said Diana forgetting about her mother and the rest
of her family.
"I'll hide first," said Samuel, "the spots on your coat make it very
hard to find you in this dappled light."
Just then they were joined by Boris the baby Badger and William the
Weasel. "What you playing," said William "I'm playing and I'll go
first," he said not waiting to find out WHAT they were playing.

William wasn't very big but he was bossy so no-one argued. Boris and
Samuel winked at Diana. William rushed about, his reddish/brown coat
glistening. As he stood looking at them the white stripe that ran from
his chin to his tummy made him look much bigger than he really was.
Williams shiny black eyes looked at the three friends. "OK," he said,
"who's going to chase me."
"No-one," said Boris, shaking his thick silvery grey coat. Boris
winked at Diana and Samuel. As he did so Diana noticed that as he
closed his eye it blended into the black stripe on the side of his
white face. "We aren't playing chase, we're going to play hide and seek
and William is going to hide first. Do you want to play with us,"
continued Boris, turning his back to William. Diana knew that Boris was
getting cross. He always turned his back on anyone that he was cross
with!
"I suppose so," said William sulkily, "but I really wanted to hide
first. Go on then Samuel you hide, but I bet I find you first."
"You have got to promise to count to 20 before you come looking for
me," said Samuel. He knew that William was inclined to cheat!
Diana and Boris made sure that William stayed with them and that he
counted to 20 at the same time.

Samuel disappeared into the woods. He wasn't sure where he was going
to hide. He knew that it would have to be somewhere good or William
would find him long before the others.
Standing under a big oak tree wondering were to hide, William heard a
noise. Looking around he couldn't see anyone. He tilted his head on one
side and listened hard. There it was again it sounded like someone
jumping about. Where was it coming from? William turned around and saw
a movement in the undergrowth to his left. Curiosity got the better of
him and forgetting the game of hide and seek he walked slowly towards
the movement. Every time William walked forward what ever it was in the
undergrowth in front of him did the same thing. William jumped. He
landed on something soft and cool. He pushed his nose into the
undergrowth. His nose hit something slimy. It didn't taste nice.
William sat down and shook his head.
"OK," he said, "who and what are you. You don't smell or taste very
nice. Come on out and talk to me. I promise I won't hurt you."
Two bright eyes and a rather knobbly greyish brown body slowly
appeared. "Hello," it said, "do you know that you very nearly squashed
me?"

William didn't know what to say. He had never seen anything like this
person before. He was feeling a little bit foolish. "I'm sorry," he
said, "I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm Samuel and I'm a fox cub, who are
you?"
"I'm a toad," said the knobbly creature, rubbing itself all over with
its hind feet. "My name is Tobias, Toby to my friends. I was on my way
to the pond in the middle of the woods. That's where my family live. Do
you always jump on people?"
Diana, Boris and William had counted to 20 and were looking for
Samuel. They had looked in all his usual hiding places. They were
beginning to get worried. Samuel seemed to have disappeared. Where
could he be? William decided to look in every patch of bramble he could
find. "He won't be there," said Diana, "he's too big and he'd get
scratched if he tried to hide in the brambles."
"Well you never know", said William with his nose in the air. Boris
shrugged his shoulders. He had been down all the holes he could find.
Samuel was very good at getting into holes. Boris hadn't found him and
no-one that he had met had seen Samuel. William arrived back, covered
in dead bramble leaves.

"He's not in there", he said in a sulky voice. William hated having to
admit that he was wrong. Diana the tallest had looked in all the trees,
just in case Samuel had managed to climb onto one of the low branches.
She was beginning to get worried. The friends decided that they would
have to give up and admit that Samuel had beaten them. He was very
clever sometimes and this seemed to one of those times!
The three little animals walked slowly along the path that led into
the woods, calling Samuel as they went. As they rounded a corner in the
path they were met by a very funny sight. Samuel was lying in the
middle of the path with a funny looking greyish brown lump on his
head!
Diana stopped suddenly. Boris and William who were following bumped
into her. They were too busy looking for Samuel to watch what Diana was
doing. The three little animals ended up in a heap on the path one on
top of the other just behind Samuel. "Oh hello," said Samuel, "have you
met Toby?"
Diana, Boris and William got up shook themselves. "Who is Toby", asked
Boris.
"Never mind 'who Toby is'," said Diana, "we've been looking for you
for ages. We were getting very worried about you Samuel. You were
supposed to be playing hide and seek. Why are you lying on the path
with a lump on your head? Have you hurt yourself?"
Samuel felt a bit foolish. He had forgotten all about the game and his
friends. He had been so interested in talking to Toby and learning all
about the world of toads that he hadn't even realised that he was lying
on the path. He didn't understand why Diana thought he might have hurt
himself. What did she mean about him having a lump on his head?
Suddenly he remembered. He had suggested that Toby should sit closer
to his ear so that he didn't have to shout so loudly. Toby had decided
to sit on his head because it was as close as he could get to Samuel's
ear!
Samuel sat up suddenly and Toby fell off his head. "Toby's my new
friend," said Samuel, "he's a toad. I jumped on him as he was going to
the pond to meet his family."
"Why did you do that", asked William.
"I just saw something moving about in the undergrowth," said Samuel,
rather sheepishly, "I just needed to know what it was. I wasn't going
to eat it or anything. I'm a fox remember, I can't help being
curious."

The friends continued to talk. Toby suddenly jumped back onto Samuel's
head making them all jump.
"Excuse me," he said, "but when you have all finished talking about me
I'd better say goodbye and continue on my way to the pond. If I don't
keep going it'll be dark before I get there and I'm expected for
tea."
"Would you like us to take you there," asked Samuel, not yet ready to
say goodbye to his new friend.
Diana frowned and looked at the other three. She had suddenly realised
that she hadn't been home for ages. Her mother didn't know where she
had gone and she hadn't told her that she was going to play with her
friends. Diana was beginning to feel guilty. Diana was about to say
that she should go home when there was a fluttering sound above their
heads. Diana looked up and saw her friend Jason. Jason, whom is a very
handsome Jay looked down at Diana.
"Diana," he said sternly, "do you know that your mother is worried
about you. She has sent me to look for you."
Diana looked at Jason. He was a very striking bird. He had beautiful
pinkish brown feathers on his body. On either side of his beak there
was a black stripe. His wings were flecked with black and had very
bright blue patches on them. When, as now, he was cross and he turned
his back there was a white patch at the base of his tail, under his
wings. Diana felt ashamed. She had never gone away from home before and
she knew that she should have told her mother where she was
going.
"I'm sorry Jason," she said, "is Mum very worried?"
"Well, she was," said Jason looking directly at Diana, "but she
noticed that you had gone after about 5 minutes and asked me to find
you. I have been following you for the last hour. I am disappointed
that you didn't remember to go back and tell her. I did that for you so
she knows that you are OK."
Boris, William and Samuel came and stood beside Diana. They all felt
guilty.
"It's just as much our fault as Diana's," said Boris, speaking for all
of them, "we should have thought. We haven't told our parents where we
are either."
"I know you haven't," said Jason, "they were just as worried as
Diana's mother."
"Perhaps we should all go home now", said Samuel looking
distressed.
Jason scratched his head. He looked at the group of friends with his
head on one side.

"No," he said, "I think you have learnt a lesson. Your parents know
you are OK. You have made a new friend and offered to help him. It is
important to help especially when you have offered. Take Toby to the
pond and then make sure that you all go home as quickly as possible.
I'll go back and let everyone know what is happening."
"Thank you Jason," said the little group, "we will be back as soon as
possible."
Toby sat on the ground feeling confused. "I didn't mean to make
trouble," he said, "if Samuel hadn't jumped on me we wouldn't have
started talking and then Samuel would have remembered that he was
supposed to be playing with the others. I'll be OK going to the pond by
myself."
"No," said Jason, "Samuel offered to take you to the pond and now that
it is getting late I think it's a good idea. None of us want you to be
late for your tea. Off you go all of you. But just remember your
parents will want to talk to you when you get back!"
On the way home from the pond, where Toby was safely having his tea
with his family, Diana, William, Boris and Samuel discussed what they
thought would happen when they got home. "I bet we'll be grounded for
weeks", said Boris.
"Yes, I think you're right," said Diana, "but we should have thought
about that shouldn't we!" The four friends continued to make their way
home. They all felt ashamed and knew that they shouldn't have just
wandered off.
As they got nearer home and the trees began to thin out they saw that
their parents were standing together on the open moorland.
Samuel, feeling VERY guilty stepped out of the trees' first. His
father turned around and shaking his head, he stepped forward towards
Samuel, as he did his bushy tail with its white tip was wagging from
side to side. Samuel looked at him and knew that he was in trouble. At
least his father's tail was wagging and that meant he was pleased to
see Samuel.
Diana's mother trotted towards her. Her feet looked as though they
weren't touching the ground and her knees nearly touched her chin.
Diana's father, on the other hand, stood back and looked at Diana very
sternly.
Boris's mother was sitting down. Boris knew that she was cross. She
was sitting down with her thick coat covering her legs. When she did
this she looked very big and Boris knew he had been naughty!

William couldn't see his parents. He knew that they had probably been
out most of the day looking for him. William's parents didn't like
crowds. He knew that they would be waiting for him when he got
home.
The three little animals walked up to their parents. "We're really
sorry," they said together. All the Mums gave their children a hug and
said 'don't do it again.' The Dads were not so easy going. The friends
found, as they had feared, that they were banned from playing anywhere
that their parents couldn't see them for ONE whole week!
William turned to go home. As he did his father stepped out from under
a large gorse bush. 'Come on William,' he said, 'your mother is waiting
for you. You too will only be allowed to play where we can see you for
the next week'.
Turning to look at all the little animals Williams father said, 'I do
hope you have all learnt a lesson. Please remember that parents worry
about their children when they don't know where they are.'