My granddaughter had seen some terrifying things on television, somewhere, about tornadoes and earthquakes and floods, and her mom asked for a quick story to help soothe the situation and her fear…

Hedgie the Adventurous Little Hedgehog and the Flittery, Fluttery, Skittery, Scattery Pigeons 

This is a story about a curious little hedgehog named Hedgie who lived in a forest neither near nor far from where you sit right now. She had an adventurous spirit and loved to wander about the shady woodland paths each evening, nibbling and munching, then collecting leaves and bark and moss to make a little nest where she could crawl in, cozy and safe, to sleep during the daytime.

One thing you may not know about hedgehogs is they really do not like the hot sun and the bright, bright light of day. Oh no, they prefer the soft dark night, filled with the hooting of owls, the soft swish-swish sighing of breezes, the quiet rustle and patter of other nighttime animals and the delicious smell of the pine trees.

In and around her forest lived many other creatures: Scamper the Squirrel, Chatter the Chipmunk, Bumble, the kindly old black bear,Hippity and Hoppity, the rabbits, Rosy the red fox, Whoowhoo the owl, and many more. Although she was a friendly little hedgehog, Hedgie was also rather shy. She had a big heart and was very kind, yet sometimes she was afraid. She did not like loud noises, especially in the dark when she needed to go out and hunt for caterpillars and grubs and worms and such… her favorite foods ( aren't you glad that you aren't a hedgehog!). Occasionally she did go out into the early morning light, and this story takes place on one of those days.

On this particular day, the weather felt ..well, strange to her…you know what I mean by “feeling strange?” You somehow just feel uneasy, but you are not sure just why. Maybe it is the quality of the light: a bit too grey; or the feel of the wind: a bit too blustery; or the look of the clouds, scudding very fast across the sky overhead. But she also could feel the dampness in the air, and knew that if she ventured out into the edges of the meadow , she could dig around under the soft mossy logs for juicy bugs. Mmmm! And her tummy was grumbling and rumbling.

So off she waddled and wandered, sniffed and huffed and snuffled as she nosed about. She scritched and she scratched; she munched and she crunched. Suddenly two things happened: first she heard a rumble and grumble. What was that? She felt a bit anxious. Then a flock of flittery, fluttery, skittery scattery pigeons screamed and flew up right in front of her, nearly knocking her over. “Help! Help! Help!” They screeched. “The sky dragon is swooping down to eat us all!” Forgetting that pigeons were, after all, rather, well, flighty creatures- even when there was nothing really, truly scary going on- Hedgie froze.

She panicked, afraid to go further, but afraid to run back to her nest. The wind indeed did pick up and began to swirl and twirl. Small branches began to blow about. The morning sky DID look very dark. And PLOP! A big, fat raindrop came down and landed on the tip of Hedgie’s nose.

Do you know what hedgehogs do when they get startled? They curl right up into a tight little ball, with their prickles all sticking out everywhere. Well, that is just what happened. Hedgie panicked and rolled herself up… 

When the next gust of wind came, it tossed her ‘round and ‘round and then, bump! She stuck onto something…something big and warm and furry. Something that breathed with slow, calm breaths. Can you guess what it was? Or...who it was?

Yes, she had stuck with a soft plop right onto wise old Bumble’s deep, thick furry chest. “Well, well,” said Bumble slowly and calmly. “What indeed do we have here?” He rumbled softly and soothingly deep in his furry chest. ( Bumble had seen many seasons come and go, and was not easily startled or alarmed.)

He kept steadily pad, pad, padding towards his rocky cave. Bears only nap here and there during the spring, summer and early autumn, but now that the cold north wind had begun to blow and bluster, he was looking forward to his deep rocky cave to sleep in through the frosty, snowy winter months. Bears also like to sleep for the winter in the hollows of giant fallen trees; he had done that when he was younger as well. But now, with white hairs on his chin, he rather liked returning to the same deep, deep cave each year.

He always invited the other little forest creatures to use his rocky cave on very hot summer days, or during long periods of rain…or whenever they wished or needed to feel the comfort of its firm, secure walls. .He was truly a generous, kind-hearted soul. 

“Well, well, well!” Bumble gently exclaimed, a bit surprised and curious as he approached the cave’s entrance. For there huddled inside the overhang of the cave were …Scamper the Squirrel, Chatter the Chipmunk, Hippity and Hoppity the rabbits and even Rosy the Fox and WhooWhoo the owl! The animals all began to talk excitedly at once, about what the pigeons had said…. “Dragon! Dark, mean, monstrous! Will toss us up into the air and gobble us ! The loud roar will blow away our nests and sweep away all of our nuts! It will chase us with sticks and stones! It will bring RAIN and floods!”  Even WhooWhoo, a brave owl who never seemed fearful of anything, added his comments.

“Hoomhum!” Bumble’s voice rose above the din. “Now, now, quiet everyone. Has anyone seen this mean, monstrous dragon?” Silence. 

“Well…no..” they said,” BUT the pigeons…”

“Ahhhh,” said Bumble. “ The pigeons. What does the flock do when acorns fall onto stones? What do the pigeons do when Bartholomew Beaver makes the final cut and a tree falls into the pond? What do the pigeons do if human children are playing in our forest and start loudly  laughing? What happened just last week when Stripe the Skunk sneezed because the milkweed fluff tickled her nose ?

“Oh…” they all said quietly. “Ah-ha, oh…”. Then all was quiet and still.

The silence was almost loud as the animals remembered. Then a few little chuckles could be heard.

” Each of us has his or her own fears,” went Bumble. “Each of us has his or her own nature. It is the nature of pigeons to be flustery and flighty. They do indeed need to alert each other if a hawk or an eagle is on the hunt. But sometimes they just forget to pause and think. They hear something or think they hear something… then suddenly, ‘tis a whoosh of wings and up they flap, flap, flap and zoom away with a flutter and fuss.

“Now, let’s all pause and listen,” he continued. “ Let’s look out from under this overhang and see what we shall see, and hear, and smell.”

The animals did so, even little Hedgie who had by now slowly uncurled herself. What the animals heard was wind…yes, it was blustery and huffing and puffing. Branches were crackling and snapping and falling here and there. The sky was quite dark. Thunder did grumble and lightning flashed once or twice.. which was startling, but it hardly seemed like a monstrous dreadful dragon searching to gobble them up. Rain was pelting down and it was rather loud, but even as they listened, it began to slow down, then pitter-patter, then drip, drip, drip. The air smelled fresh and clean. The morning light had replaced the gloomy dark.

“Well, “ directed Bumble (who was old and wise, having lived through many seasons) ” Together we will now go out and see what has happened. Together we will clear away fallen branches. We will help each other to tidy up and repair our homes, if necessary. Then with winter coming right around tomorrow’s corner, we will make sure that all of the animals who curl up for the winter have cozy linings for their nests and dens, and have enough food to store away for the winter.” He laughed ‘Or like me, have enough stored in here! ” and he patted his big furry tummy. We will also check on our friends who are not here, to make sure that they are alright and do not need help; perhaps they will also join us as we make the rounds of forest and stream, meadow and pond.”

All the animals then started out, except for two…for Whoo-whoo had tucked her head under her wing and was humming in her sleep, and Hedgie quietly snored as she peacefully slept…safe, secure and a bit wiser. After all, it is the nature of both of these friends to sleep during the daytime and to be busy at night.

Within a few weeks Hedgie was curled up again, this time not in fear, but with happy contentment. She had munched and crunched, so her own little tummy was full. She slept in a snug nest newly lined with cozy moss, bits of birch bark and even a soft white milkweed-silk shawl, thanks to help from her forest friends. She in turn had helped them during the night, to gather nuts and berries, or to find soft lining for their dens and nests.

And so for most of the next months, she would dream of springtime and warm nights. She knew that from now on, she she would be just a bit braver on days when the sky turned dark, the thunder growled and tried to startle her with flashes of light, for she was part of a forest family; together, they would always be there for each other, no matter what might come.