to love collecting ripe berries and fruits. He was already strong enough to lift an enormous pumpkin off the ground and load it into a wagon all by himself. He also liked to spend his time writing happy songs in the garden or the vineyard.
CHAPTER ONE,
IN WHICH THE LITTLE TRAVELERS SET OUT FOR THE BIG FOREST AND DADDY TELLS MICHELLE ABOUT SNOUTIE
One morning, when Snoutie was still deep asleep, a beautiful butterfly flew in through his open window. It circled around his bed for a while and then settled down right on his snunk. This tickled Snoutie. He sneezed loudly, woke up, and saw the butterfly flying away.
“Well this is turning out to be an interesting morning,” thought Snoutie. “Probably something unusual will happen today.”
Then he sucked in some air through his snunk and caught the mouthwatering scent of corn cereal and warm milk floating in from the kitchen. Snoutie sighed deeply with pleasure, stroked his plump tummy, and bounced off to breakfast.
That day, like all other days, Snoutie played in the green meadow in front of the house and swung on the swings. Then he helped his Papa by watering the juicy vegetables in the garden from his red watering can.
“I really did have an interesting morning,” thought Snoutie, remembering the butterfly’s visit.
No sooner had he thought of this than he again saw the same butterfly sitting on an enormous cabbage leaf.
“Now I’ll catch you for sure!” exclaimed Snoutie and, grabbing his net, he started chasing after the butterfly.
His morning guest left the cabbage leaf, flew over to a dandelion, and then started circling over the swings. Then, after resting a minute on the gate, she flew off somewhere in the direction of the forest.
“You still can’t escape me!” shouted Snoutie, waving the net around.
He continued to run after the butterfly and didn’t even realize that he had jumped over the fence around his little house.
As he chased after the butterfly, he failed to notice how far he had traveled from home. Meanwhile, the butterfly had disappeared into thin air! Suddenly he heard a delicate little voice singing a happy song not far from him. Just to be careful, Snoutie hid behind the trunk of an old oak tree. Then, after a bit, he cautiously stuck his snunk out. He saw a small, beautiful girl gathering a bunch of bright yellow dandelions. She was singing something softly and had no idea that Snoutie was there. Snoutie was pleasantly surprised and started studying her from his hiding place.
She really was quite pretty. She had thick, chestnut-colored curls that gleamed in the sunlight and enormous blue eyes with long lashes. She was wearing a pink dress with a white lace collar and a big bow in the back.
Snoutie shifted from paw to paw and did not realize that he might snap a dry twig until a loud crack rang out.
“Oh, who’s there?” asked the scared girl, looking over at the tree.
“It’s me. Please forgive me,” mumbled an embarrassed Snoutie as he came out of his hiding place. “I really did not mean to frighten you. I am Snoutie. Who are you?”
“My name is Michelle. I live near here, on the other side of the hill. Mama let me go out on a walk to pick dandelions.”
“And I was chasing after a butterfly and ran beyond the fence by accident. My house is over there, at the very edge of the Big Forest. Have you ever been there?” Snoutie asked his new friend.
“No, never! My Mommy and Daddy do not let me go that far,” answered Michelle. “You know, Daddy told me that a magical white flower grows in that forest. If you see it and make a wish, your wish will most certainly come true. But it is very hard to find this flower. It grows in a thicket that is impossible to pass through.”
“It would be great to find it!” Snoutie’s eyes gleamed and he started noisily sucking in air through his snunk with excitement. “Maybe we should try? We’ll find it quickly and be back before the sun sets so our parents won’t even have the chance to get worried.”
“OK,” agreed Michelle, “but we have to be back home by evening. Otherwise my parents will be very upset.”
So Snoutie and Michelle set off quickly in the direction of the Big Forest.
* * *
Snoutie and Michelle bounced along the forest path. Everything around them seemed magical: the heavy branches hanging over their heads; the thick, prickly bushes with sour berries; the soft carpet of green moss; the splashing of clear water in the stream; the songs of birds; and the rustling of fallen leaves.
The little travelers ran merrily off into the depths of the forest, singing a happy song as they went along. Butterflies of all sorts of colors fluttered in the air, and gay grasshoppers jumped around in the deep grass. It seemed to the two travelers that the Forest, which had been warmed by the rays of morning sunlight, wanted to be their friend.
Then Snoutie thought he heard the splashing of water somewhere up ahead, and the two friends soon found themselves on the banks of the forest stream. The stream was so wide and fast that there was no point in even thinking about crossing it. The travelers began to feel a little tired and hungry.
“I think we’ll find a tasty lunch on the other side of the stream,” said Snoutie. “We just have to figure out how to get over there.”
“But first let’s sit down and rest,” answered Michelle.
A large, flat, brown rock lay near the shore. The tired travelers decided to sit on it and take a little break.
But as soon as they sat down, they felt the rock begin to move.
“You’re not very courteous, are you, young creatures? You have just sat down right on the roof of my house, which, if you must know, is not a bench for tourists!” said a scratchy voice.
Michelle jumped up in alarm, and Snoutie grunted in fear and rolled off onto the grass.
“There’s no reason to jump up and grunt!” continued the grumpy voice.
“Oh, please excuse us,” said the travelers in unison, still unsure who the voice belonged to. “Would you be so kind as to tell us the best place to cross this stream? It’s so wide and so fast.”
“I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you,” said the same grumbling voice, and a small, wrinkled head popped out from under the stone they had just been sitting on.
“I am Turtle,” said the head in a scratchy voice. “Nice to meet you!”
“Nice to meet you, too,” said Snoutie, embarrassed. “My name is Snoutie, and this is Michelle. We are traveling through the forest. We want to cross to the other side of the stream to find something tasty to eat, but we don’t know how to do it.”
“Walk down that way a little farther. It’s narrower there and the wind has blown a lot of branches into the water,” explained Turtle. “You won’t find it very hard to cross at that point.
