The Curious Raven and Friends

This tale begins a small lush green forest in Maine…

  One day a raven flew down from the north to survey the beautiful countryside, he notices many strange creatures that he had never seen before while flying across the clear open blue sky. He sails over the countryside swooping here and there to get a closer look at his surroundings, and spots a forest and decides to settle down there. The raven flaps his wings and soars towards the soft earth below him. His small stomach begins to growl because he hasn't eaten since early this morning. "I'm hungry, I wonder if they have any of the same berries and seeds as where I used to live." He moves his head from side to side and notices a small hole to his right; slowly he scuttles over to it. As he approaches, it begins to grow steadily larger. He takes a step forward and pokes his head down the hole, then yells "Hello, is anybody down there". No answer floods back up to his ears, so he begins to take careful steps as he drops down into the hole. "Hellooooo" he caws, still, no answer, he heads down the hole into the unknown.
. . .
Finally he reaches the end of the dark tunnel, a door stands before him, and he approaches and knocks upon it with his beak, and once-twice-three times, and awaits a reply. Then listens, no reply, not a single noise, so he turns around and starts to go back the way he came when a voice the behind the door startles him "Who is it". I wonder what kind of animal lives here he ponders to himself. He's what you would call a curious little raven. He then speaks up, "I am the raven, let me come in please", silence fills his ears once more. Then he hears footsteps coming closer, the door begins to open ajar, a large furry face appears between the crack (the creature unknown to the raven is a groundhog, he never saw one before). "What is it you want" asks the groundhog, I came to see the strange and exotic species that are to be my new neighbors" answers the raven. "Strange creatures???, Oh, you must mean us, you're not from around here are you. Come in and have some herbal leaf tea, I assure you, it is quite good" says the groundhog. He opens the door and motions for the raven to come in and have a seat, then scuttles over to the stove and puts on a pot of tea. The raven enters the den, shutting the door behind him. Then looks around, he's surprised at what he sees, it is a large room, not wet nor dry, but sandy and neat with a pleasant aroma about the air. The room contains many things, including pictures, a rug, stove, and a fireplace with a cozy little fire burning in it. He begins to walk over to the far wall, where there are two water holes, ones for washing up, and the other is for cleaning dishes that sit in the cupboard. "Ahhh" shrieks the raven as he turns around. "Who is that devilish looking bird" he asks, the groundhog replies, "That's a mirror, its but your reflection, it'll not harm you, see" he says approaching it. "Oh, it's only my reflection, what a relief" exclaims the raven. "Come, have a seat, the tea will be ready in a minute or two" announces the groundhog. The raven pads over to the table and takes a seat, and then the groundhog does as well, both begin to chat as they await the tea. The raven throws out more questions than the confused groundhog can answer at a time. "Slow down please, you're an odd one aren't you" he asks. "I'm like this because when I was young I left my nest to go find some juicy worms, but when I got back, my family was gone. I had lost my family when I barely knew how to fly" says the raven, as he begins to cry. The groundhog seeing that the memory brings him pain comforts him by patting him on the shoulder and saying its okay. "You truly are one of the nicest creatures I have ever met" says the raven, "why thank you raven" says groundhog feeling a bit embarrassed. The teakettle begins to whistle. "Ah, the teas done, do you want a full cup, or a half of one" asks the groundhog, "I'll have half a cup please" answers the raven. "By any chance do you have any berry juice to sweeten it up a bit" asks the raven, "I may, let me check the cupboard. Do you like walnuts and seeds with your tea" asks groundhog, "Yes, please, thank you for your generous hospitality" he exclaims, "Not at all" answers groundhog. He removes the steaming kettle from the stove and walks over to the table, and sets it down in the middle to cool down. Then he walks over to the cupboard and removes a platter, two plates, and two porcelain cups, and sets them upon it, closing the cupboard door with his foot, then heads back to the table, where he sets everything down. "Almost forgot the nuts, I'll just be a second" he says walking back to the cupboard to get the bag of mixed nuts and seeds, then heads back to the table and opens the small bag, and dumps the contents onto the two plates. He then ties up the bag and places it in the center of the table on the platters rim. He picks up the plates and sets them in front of both seats, then places the cups next to them. "Oh, I almost forgot" he says walking back to the cupboard and removes a jar of berry juice, then close the doors, and heads back to the table for the last time. He removes the lid and pours a few drops into each cup, a little more into ravens, then closes it back up and sets it next to the bag of nuts and seeds. Lastly grabs the kettle and pours half a cup for raven and a full cup for himself, then retrieves spoons from the cupboard and stirs up the hot tea. "Now, what was it we were talking about" he asks as he ponders, "Ah yes, now I remember" he exclaims taking a sip of his tea. Both spend the remainder of the afternoon talking and drinking warm tea.

One O' clock… "A friend of mine shall be arriving shortly. I hope you will s5tay to meet him" says groundhog, "What's he like" asks the raven. "Well, he's as nice as I am, but that's all I'll tell you, you have to meet him yourself" says the groundhog. Suddenly there is tapping at the door, "who is it" ask groundhog, "It is I the snaaake" replies the voice from the other side of the door. "Come in, come in" says the groundhog, "I cannot open it, can you do it for me please, I would very much appreciate it" says snake. "Raven will you be so kind enough to open the door for snake, I forgot he cannot open them" says groundhog to raven. The shaking raven scuttles over to the door afraid that the snake may try to eat him when he opens the door. He closes his eyes and turns the knob, and the door creeps open, slowly he opens his eyes and gasps, not in fright, but in surprise, the snake is small and green, only slightly bigger than he is. He slithers past the raven over towards the fireplace, "I'tsss getting quite chilly outside these days" says snake, "And maybe I should knit you a sweater that should keep you warm" says groundhog. "Maybe I need one to" says groundhog, all fall down laughing themselves silly. The snake lies back down and takes a short break; the groundhog and raven do the same.

About an hour later the raven wakes up with an idea in his head, "Do you guys want to do something fun". The snake and groundhog are puzzled, "what did you say" asks groundhog. "Lets get into some trouble" says the raven, "No, that's not a good idea, to get yourself into trouble" replies groundhog with a serious look about his round face. "Fine then, I'll go by myself" exclaims the raven as he walks out of the groundhog's den.
. . .
When he reaches the top of the hole, he begins to shiver, "Burr-it's cold out here, colder than earlier" he says to himself. He stretches his wings and begins to flap them as he's lifted off the ground and into the cold evening sky. He lands on a tree to seek shelter, it's too windy to fly in, he perches on a tree not to far from the groundhogs hole. He walks along the branch and comes to stop in front of a hole, then peers inside, nothing but darkness is all he sees. He leans in further and tumbles down, during his fall; he hurts his wing, until he finally hits the bottom, then climbs to his feet. He tries flapping his wings, but it is no good, the right one is hurting too much. He sits back down and begins to cry for help, "Help, will somebody help me" he caws.

Meanwhile back in groundhogs den, the groundhog and snake hear a faint noise, "What's that noise' asks snake, "I think it's the raven, he sounds like he's in trouble, and we have to go help him" exclaims groundhog, "Right" replies snake. The groundhog and snake hurry out the door and through the tunnel out into the cold evening air. "Raven, where are you" hollers snake, "I'm up in the tree, I'm stuck, and I think my wing may be broken" cries raven with tears dripping from his eyes. "How are we going to get him down from there" asks snake, groundhog pauses for a second to think of a way to help, suddenly a bright idea pops into his head, "snake go into my house and get that rope I keep in the bottom drawer of the cupboard" exclaims groundhog, "Alright, I'll be back as quick as possible" he says as he slithers off back down the hole into the house.

A few minutes pass, finally the snake comes back out with a rope hanging from his mouth. "Here's the rope you asked for, now what" asks snake, "watch" answers groundhog. He takes one end of the rope ties it around his chubby belly, "Snake, can you take the other end of the rope up the tree and drop it other that branch" asks groundhog. "Yes, but are you sure it's long enough" asks snake, "I'm sure of it" exclaims groundhog. Snake grabs the end and begins to slither up the side of the tree, he reaches the branch which is at least five feet from the ground, if he falls, and he can get hurt. "Now drop the rope over the branch" yells groundhog over the winds whistling. Snake slithers out onto the branch and lowers the rope down the side till it touches the ground, "Stay where you are, I'm coming up" hollers groundhog. He grabs the rope and slowly begins to pull himself up the tree. It takes him a few minutes, but finally he reaches the branch, snake helps him onto it, being careful not to fall out of the tree. Both move over to the hole to see if the raven is okay, "Raven, are you okay" hollers both, "I'm okay, but please get me out of here" he exclaims. "What now" asks snake, groundhog replies "I cannot reach him, but maybe you can". Snake replies "Grab onto my tail, and slowly lower me down to him", so he grabs his tail and lowers him down into the dark hole, doing it carefully as not to trap the snake and raven together. "Grab onto my neck, quickly, but do be careful" says snake, raven grabs on with one wing and holds on, "Not too tight now. Alright groundhog, pull me up" yells snake. He begins to pull him up out of the hole, as the snake reaches the branch, he lets go of raven and coils around groundhog's leg. "Here, climb onto my back and hold on tight" says groundhog kneeling on one knee, raven climbs onto his back and wraps his wings around his neck, which is a little too chunky. Carefully, groundhog slides down the rope, band back onto the hard cold earth. Snake uncoils himself from around groundhogs leg, and raven climbs down off his back. Groundhog pulls the rope down, unties the other end from around his waist, and then wraps it back up. "Let's go to my house and get that wing bandaged up. After that, you can rest up and we can all sit around the fireplace drinking warm cocoa" announces groundhog, "Sounds lovely" states raven, "Me too" answers snake. The three head back to the groundhog's hole. In the end, they become the best of friends.

The End


Moral: Friends are a good thing to have, especially when you need help the most.