The Animal Kingdom was thriving and the addition of Lolo and Hoofoo to the household made it really fun. Pingoo and Willoo continued to try to find a way for Lolo to get back home, each morning, but they continued to come back disappointed. Sometimes, Lolo would cry at night in her bed, remembering her mother and father, but she was also enjoying living there in the house with the animals all around her, trying to do their best by her.
Hoofoo was a responsible little calf, and each day, he would get up early in the morning to go get milk from his Mother Cow. He also did a number of odd jobs around the house, and when he was not working, he would lie back in the garden and chew grass placidly, his beautiful brown eyes content and happy. Everyone loved the little calf and Lolo would often join him in the garden, where the two would sit in companionable silence.
Pingoo and Willoo would also go out to explore the forest each day, and bring back interesting fruits or sometimes some honey wrapped in leaves, if they managed to find a honeycomb without angry bees. The days passed by, and summer turned to fall. The leaves began to turn brown and fall off the trees, and there was a nip in the air.
One such cool morning, when the sun was behind some clouds, Lolo decided she wanted to go on a walk. “I want to explore as well!” she said to Hoofoo, who had just come back with two bottles of milk. Hoofoo turned his eyes on her and said, “Ok, but I go with you. You should not wander about in the forest alone – you can get lost..”
“But I am already lost!” said Lolo her lower lip quivering as she thought of the home she could not find her way back to.
“Yes, maybe, but you are here with us, and we would not want you alone in the forest where anything can happen to you. So I will go with you” replied Hoofoo in a firm tone and that was that.
The little girl and the calf set out together and started walking down a path, where wildflowers grew on either side, and the leaves fell softly around them in the fall breeze. When Willoo heard that they were going out, he had packed a picnic lunch for them, which Hoofoo carried on his back.
As the day progressed, the two felt the beauty of the forest like never before. It was quite and calm and Lolo began to forget her troubles and started to enjoy the beautiful day. At noon, they stopped to have their lunch on a small patch of soft green grass growing near some bushes.
As they sat down, both of them heard a chirping sound coming from somewhere. Hoofoo and Lolo looked at each other and all around them to see who or what was making the noise, but they could not see anything. The chirping came at intervals and it continued. Lolo got up and started to look here and there to see if she could find the source of the noise.
She soon realized, that it was coming from under the bushes nearby, and she began to look under each one. Under the third one, she saw that a little baby squirrel was lying there and making chirping sounds from time to time. It seemed weak and unable to move, only able to chirp. “Hoofoo, come here quickly!” she exclaimed. “This squirrel seems to be hurt!” Hoofoo came and looked and said, “Oh my! Yes! He must have fallen off a tree and hurt himself. He is just a baby!”
“We must take him back with us!” said Lolo and without further ado, she gently picked up the baby squirrel and started to carry him. Hoofoo quickly emptied the food from the lunchbox they had with them, and said, “Put him in here, it will be easier to take him back…”
So, the little calf and the girl carried the baby squirrel back in a lunchbox to their house in the forest. The squirrel was weak and unable to move. Torty took one look at him, and quickly prepared a bed out of an old cardboard box and some cotton which they took out of a cushion.
Pingoo managed to find a tiny dropper in the house, and Lolo would feed the little squirrel with milk from it three times a day. For two or three days, it seemed touch and go whether the little one would make it or not, but then on the fourth day, when Lolo woke up and went downstairs to feed her little friend, she got a pleasant surprise.
The squirrel was sitting up in its box, and was all bright eyed and bushy tailed. It drank the milk eagerly and from there on, started to improve each day, until a week later, he actually jumped out of the box, when he saw that Lolo was coming to feed him.
Everyone was thrilled and they named him “Squee”. After a week, Squee was no longer weak and lying down, but would jump around the house all day and say in a high voice, “I am Squee! I am a squirrel.” He was super fast and would streak here and there like lightning. He was great friends with Lolo whom he loved and would jump on her shoulder whenever he could.
Willoo and Pingoo brought back some acorns and wild nuts they had found one day, and Squee loved to nibble on one, every now and then. He was a bright and energetic squirrel but he was also very naughty and would listen to no one.
The only two people whom he did listen to sometimes, was Lolo and Hoofoo, and often after he broke something in the house or did something naughty, one of the animals would call Hoofoo to get him to scold Squee.
However, in spite of all his naughtiness, he was a lovable little fellow and fit right into The Animal Kingdom. He was the youngest and spoiled by everyone.
So now there were five animals and a little girl who were living there, all by themselves, all happy and carefree in their very own Animal Kingdom!
Note: The image has been sourced from Google.
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