The basket ride

Ribbit

One day Ribbit the rabbit and his cousin Ben were out in the green meadow looking for carrots, when they stumbled upon a huge basket."WOW, said Ribbit.  It sure is big! I wonder what it is doing in the green forest?"

"I don't know Ribbit, we better leave it alone."  No sooner had Ben responded when he saw Reddy the Fox hiding behind the big oak tree. "Ribbit, don't look now, but Reddy is behind the oak tree"

Cousin Ben

"Hey, Ben, jump into the basket quick. We can hide until Reddy leaves us alone." Reddy did not see the two bunnies jump into the basket.  Wondering where they went, he gave up waiting and went back to his den.

Peering over the top of the basket, Ribbit and Ben could see that Reddy had left.  He wasn't around, so the two bunnies felt quite confident and safe in the basket.

Ribbit found a long rope hanging down inside the basket and started to pull it. Before the two bunnies knew it, they were going up, up up into the air.  They didn't  recognize that a balloon was attached to the basket until it was too late.

"Oh my jumping beans," loudly exclaimed Ribbit.  "We are up in a helium balloon"

"What are we going to do Ribbit.  We are in trouble.  I don't know anything about a  balloon"

"Don't worry Ben.  I will get us down.  Let's just enjoy the ride.  It is a beautiful day" The two bunnies floated around for an hour before they noticed that it was getting dark and that they had better quickly find a way down!  Ribbit noticed a pole laying on it's side on the bottom of the basket with a very sharp point at the end.

"Hey Ben, would you help me with this pole?  I think I can poke a hole in the balloon and then we will come down faster." The two bunnies tried to poke a hole in the balloon.  It wasn't very easy.  It took both their strengths to force the point of the pole into the balloon and then.....the helium came rushing out faster and faster.

"Ribbit, it is too fast!  slow it down!

Ready the fox

"I can't Ben.  We are on the way down and I don't know where we are going to land." What the bunnies didn't know was that the balloon was going to land on top of the trees in the BLACK FOREST where all the gray, red, and white foxes lived. They had been warned many times about the Black Forest. It was a very dangerous forest for bunnies. As the balloon came down, Ribbit and Ben noticed that the foxes were gathering together for some kind of trouble.

"Oh Ben, don't look now but I think that we are landing in the Black forest.  It is a good thing that foxes don't eat carrots.  They cannot see us in the dark.  We eat our carrots and they don't.  We better stay right in the basket for the night."

"I'm scared Ribbit.  We never should have been so curious about the basket. What are you going to do?"

"Sleep Ben.  We are going to sleep and decide in the morning."  The two little bunnies snuggle down and tried to sleep.  In the morning they decided to get out of the basket, climb down the tree and try to find their way home to the Green Forest.  They didn't travel too far when a gray fox spotted them.

"Don't look now Ribbit, but I think someone is following us."  This was not good news. Before they knew it a whole pack of foxes were spying them out.

Just as they were thinking there had no hope to survive, from behind them a huge dark shadow swooped down, picked both bunnies up in its claw and fly out of the Black Forest. What could it be?  Who could it be?

Mr. Owl to the rescue!!!

Before Ribbit and Ben knew it they were back safely in the Green Forest. It was  Mr. Owl, who was aware of the grievous situation and acted quickly to save the bunnies' lives.

"Oh, Mr.Owl.  We can't thank you enough for saving our lives. If there is ever anything we can do for you, please let us know." I don't think we will ever see ribbit and Ben in a hot air balloon again.  What do you think?

 

Cubby Thinks He Knows It All

Cubby

Cubby was the most independent little bear cub in the green forest.  It seemed that he had to learn everything the hard way. His mother was very patient with him, but it was hard to teach him anything.  He thought he knew it all, until one day when he discovered he wasn't so smart.

It was the season for the salmon run and Cubby didn't want to miss it this year. Now, he was old enough to catch his own salmon.   One afternoon after his nap , he noticed it was unusually quiet, so he  climbed up into his favorite look-out in a tree in the green forest. He noticed that all his buddies were down by the river. Cubby thought,"This is great. I'm going down and catch myself a salmon." But what he didn't know was that it was VERY DANGEROUS to catch salmon in this particular river, because of a quick drop-off.  Without warning you could be swept down stream towards the dam.  But Cubby didn't think much about danger.

By the time he arrived at the river , all of the other bear cubs with their mothers were having a feast. There was plenty of salmon jumping out of the water to satisfy their hunger.  Cubby thought to himself, "This is be a snap. I can do this!."  There was only one problem. When Cubby started to wade out to the salmon, He didn't know about the quick drop-off. Before Cubby knew it, he was over his head and he didn't know how to swim. He never took time to learn.  The river was flowing very fast and Cubby was caught in a whirlpool that started to pull him down stream.   He grabbed a piece of a broken tree limb floating by and for the first time in his life HE WAS SCARED!  The water was cold and his fur was wet and very heavy.  The salmon were jumping up stream all around him  as he was being pulled swiftly down stream.. Cubby could only look at the salmon as they jumped  upstream.

Grizzly and Cubby

His friend Grizzly saw what was happening and quickly ran along the river bank waiting for the right place and time to jump in to rescue Cubby. Grizzly was three years older than Cubby and understood what to do. Cubby was heading for the waterfall and he was moving faster and faster screaming out, "Help, help!, help!" Grizzly didn't waste any time. He noticed that Cubby was holding onto a tree limb.  That was perfect.  Grizzly called out to Cubby, "I 'm coming Cubby, don't let go of the tree limb."  For once Cubby knew he wasn't so smart.  Grizzly was swimming out to save his life at the risk of his own. Grizzly grabbed hold of one end of the tree limb and pulled Cubby back to shore.

 As they came to shore they were surrounded by all the other bear cubs and their mothers, who had seen what was happening. They had stopped their fishing to follow Grizzly.  Cubby's mother wasn't there because Cubby had never told her where he was going. Then off in the distance came Cubby's mother running like lightening.  Grizzly's mother had told her about Cubby. When Cubby saw his mother coming, he ran as fast as he could towards her. "I am so sorry mommy for not asking if I could go to the river.  Please forgive me."  Cubby's mother was kind and took this opportunity to teach Cubby that he wasn't so smart after all. If he wanted to catch salmon he had better learn to swim and to remember to always ask his mother if he could go to the river. 

Cubby and his mother heading home.