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| A friend is like a book: you don't need to read all of them, just pick the best ones. |
One day Harold the rabbit and Oscar the duck (whom had been best friends as long as either could remember) were talking about the wonderful pond in the next valley over.
"I just love spending my evenings floating around in that pond," proclaimed Oscar, "plus there are always humans there who feed me delicious bread."
"Oh how I wish I could see that," replied Harold, "I haven't been there since I was a Kit."
"Well, why don't we go today?" Was Oscar's reply, "if we left now, I'm sure we could be there by lunchtime!"
But suddenly Harold looked sad and began to clean his paws nervously. Oscar was confused, for he couldn't understand what might have upset his dear friend so.
"What's wrong Harold? If you don't want to go, I'm sure we could find something fun to do here.." Oscar suggested, attempting to cheer up his friend.
"Oh Oscar," cried Harold glumly "of course I want to go to the pond, but you always forget that I can't fly! It would take me all night to get there."
Oscar smiled sheepishly, for he knew his friend was right: Oscar, being a duck, always took flying for granted, and often did forget the limitations of his four-legged friend.
"I'm sorry Harold, you know how featherbrained I can be.." began Oscar, "But if you want to go to the pond, let's meet tomorrow at dawn! That way we can make the journey together on foot."
Harold's face lit up, and he excitedly ran around the clearing they were sitting in, jumping this way and that, just happy to have a great friend like Oscar.
"It's a deal then." Proclaimed Oscar, smiling brightly.
And for the rest of the day they played and planned out their trip. And the next day when Harold woke up and left his burrow, there was Oscar, preening his feathers while he waited.
"Good morning Oscar!" Beamed Harold, "I'm so very excited to get going."
"Then let's be on our way," Oscar said, also grinning.
And so they set off, the early morning sunlight casting odd shadows between the towering trees they walked amongst. But the day was beautiful, and as the sun rose higher in the sky, their moods only got better. And soon they were talking about all manner of things, from the best place to look at the stars, to how many toys they had lost to 'that nasty old badger' who lived close to where the two had grown up.
Soon however Harold began to notice that Oscar seemed to be having trouble keeping up. Harold, who loved his friend more than anything; had no problem slowing down for Oscar, but also couldn't resist poking fun at his friend.
"Boy Oscar, you may be fast when you fly, but boy are you slow on the ground.." laughed Harold.
"Laugh all you want Harold, but the only reason I have to walk at all is that you couldn't keep up if I flew." Replied Oscar grumpily, for he was getting tired from this unusual amount of walking.
"You know, I don't know about it, considering how slow you walk, I doubt you could keep up with me even if you flew." Quipped Harold childishly.
This began a very long and somewhat heated argument about who would win in a race. And it went on like that for over an hour, until finally Oscar; even more tired than before; had had enough.
"Harold, good friend, I'm tired of trying to convince you that you are wrong. So why don't you put your money where your mouth is!?!" Oscar shouted at Harold.
"Wh..wha..what do you have in mind?" Harold asked, sounding as though he might cry from getting chastised.
When Oscar saw how his friend had deflated, he immediately felt a pang of immense guilt, because after all; this whole trip had been him trying to do something nice for his friend. And so a plan formed in his mind.
"Look Harold," began Oscar with sincerity, "I'm very sorry for getting angry with you, but the idea of a race does sound like fun, what do you say?"
Harold; who was very happy that his friend was not actually angry with him, perked up immediately.
"Sure, Oscar!" He exclaimed, "what were you thinking?"
"Do you see that oak in the distance?" Inquired Oscar, pointing with his wing at the largest tree in the Forrest
"The really big one?"
"That's the one, what do you say we see who can get there faster?"
This excited Harold a great deal because as far as he knew, he was the fastest animal in the woods, but he also knew in his heart of hearts that Oscar; with his ability to fly; would probably easily beat him to the tree.
"Sure oscar!"
And so they lined up facing the tree in the distance. Harold started stretching while Oscar began to flap his wings, warming up before they got started. But soon both were ready.
"Alright Harold, on your mark," began Oscar, observing his friend tensing up so as to get a good fast start. "Get set... GO!"
Harold took off like a bolt of lightning, keeping his body low to the ground while his legs pumped underneath him, seemingly with a mind of their own.
Oscar on the other hand took off lazily into the sky, determined to let his friend win.
'I'll stay close to him so that when we reach the tree he'll think it was a really close race!' Oscar thought to himself.
Meanwhile, Harold had no thoughts, for he was so focused on the tree in the distance as he zipped around trees and over rocks in the path.
Suddenly as Harold rounded a corner, he realized much too late that the path had been washed out by rain since last he had been in this part of the Forrest.
His paws skittered helplessly in an ill-fated attempt to stop, but it was no good; Harold tumbled head over heels into the ditch.
"HAROLD!" Cried Oscar desperately, "Harold are you all right!?!"
But there was no response. Horribly frightened, Oscar flew down into the ditch; where he found his friend sprawled out on the ground.
"Harold?" Oscar asked quietly, suddenly even more afraid for his friend.
Harold suddenly groaned and stretched painfully. He felt where he had hit every rock and root on the way down, but amazingly he felt mostly okay.
"It's okay Oscar, I think I'm fine!" He said loudly as he was getting up. But as he stood up, he couldn't see Oscar anywhere.
"Oscar?" Called loudly. But there was no sign of him. Because, no harm, no fowl.
Source - Image: ©Æ Firestone/Storyteller
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