Fable Night is a place to find all the popular fables, fairy tales and bedtime stories for kids. This is a growing database of bedtime stories for kids. Have you ever heard about The Forest Telephone? No? Then it’s time to read our fable!
Once upon a time, as evening approached, a mouse burrow was quiet and warm. „Jack! Tilly!” called Grandpa. „Come here! I’ll tell you a fairy tale.” „We’re coming, Grandpa,” said Tilly, and together with Jack, they sat down next to Grandpa’s armchair, eagerly waiting for the nightly fairy tale. Grandpa waited a moment, then began:
Far away, in a great, old forest near a forest pond, an old badger had his den. It was a deep burrow dug under the roots of a huge oak tree. Inside, it was very cozy. Upon entering, one could see it was a combination of a kitchen, living room, and bedroom. It was a spacious room, lit by two windows, so it wasn’t too dark inside. The old badger was known as a good cook, at least that’s what his friends said: a squirrel who lived nearby in a tree hollow, a starling and an owl in the neighboring trees, a rabbit from the burrow across, and a mouse, the badger’s neighbor.
The whole gang met in the spacious badger’s hut. He usually cooked something, and they spent many afternoons and all winter evenings, spinning stories or discussing daily life.
Near the pond lived an elf named Tom, who knew everything and was the forest’s technical helper. He had various tools and could fix or build anything. One sunny winter morning, the old badger, clearing snow from the entrance of his burrow, heard a terrible noise in the squirrel’s tree hollow. There were bangs, thumps, and strange sounds.
Worried, he approached the squirrel’s tree, put his cold paws to his mouth, and called out:
– „Neighbor! Squirrel! Is everything okay? What’s all this noise?” The squirrel looked out the window and called back:
– „Good morning, neighbor! I’m doing a big cleaning and a bit of rearranging.”
– „And what inspired you to be so active in the morning?” asked the badger.
– „Maybe it’s the sun shining so nicely, it makes you want to run around. And I thought I’d use this energy for a little rearrangement; I want to change something and will need Tom’s help.”
– „Come over for a coffee and cookies, then you can tell me all about it, and fly over to invite our neighbors for coffee.”
– „Alright, badger, I’m on my way!”. Having said this, the red tail jumped out of the house and ran to the starling and owl, then informed the rabbit and mouse.
Badger was just setting cookies on the table when he heard the lively footsteps of the neighbors heading to his place for coffee.
– „Ooo! What scents!” said the starling.
– „As usual, our dear badger has treats waiting for us,” added the owl.
– „Come in, my dear friends,” invited the badger, opening the door.
The animals entered the room, sat at the table, ready to start the day with coffee and chats as usual.
– „Tell us, squirrel, what are you changing at your place?” asked the badger.
– „Well, you know, I wanted to renew my bedroom and will ask Tom to make me a new bed.”
– „What about the old one?” asked the rabbit.
– „I can give it to someone, does anyone want it?”
– „No, no,” they all said in unison.
– „We were just curious, maybe it broke or something,” added the starling.
– „Not at all, I just need a change,” replied the squirrel.
– „And I thought,” said the badger, „that I could use something like a telephone to invite you anytime, so I’ll take the opportunity when Tom is here and ask him what he thinks about it.”
– „A telephone?” the rabbit wondered. „What’s that?”
– „It’s a thing for transferring voice over long distances using, for example, a copper wire, which carries vibrations caused by the speaker’s voice, to the listener’s ear,” explained the owl, a wise and well-read bird, and an authority on all knowledge for her friends.
– „Ooo!!! That’s interesting, can you talk without leaving your house?” asked the mouse.
– „I think so,” replied the badger.
– „Starling!” called the mouse. „Then fly to Tom right away. I’m very curious about this project.”
– „Invite him over for coffee!” added the badger.
– „We’ll discuss both matters at once.”
Reluctantly, the starling left the badger’s burrow and flew to Tom. Tom’s cottage was a wooden structure covered with specially cut pieces of oak bark. The windows were two openings in the front wall, covered by a transparent material known only to Tom. The starling knocked on the door with his beak. From inside came a loud: „Who’s there?” „It’s me! Starling.” „Come in, starling! You’re welcome!” replied the voice inside.
The starling entered Tom’s cozy cottage. „What brings you here?” asked the elf. „I flew in to invite you for coffee and cookies at the badger’s. We have a matter to discuss with you in a wider group.” „Hmmm, let me think. I guess I can spare an hour,” replied Tom, then added: „Fly to the badger and tell them I’ll be right there.” „Ok,” said the bird and left the house.
It wasn’t fifteen minutes before the friends, over coffee and cookies, were having a lively discussion, finalizing the project details. Tom agreed to help the squirrel renovate her bedroom and promised to make a new bed, provided he took the old one, which he wanted to refurbish and give to his other wards. Regarding the telephone, the discussion lasted a long time and ended with a decision to build a telephone line, provided that the mole ruling the underground would allow his corridors to be used for stretching the telephone wire. Tom convinced the animals that it was necessary for safety reasons.
After hearing his arguments, everyone agreed. „Mouse,” said the badger, „talk to the mole. Your burrow touches his corridors.” „Ok, badger, I know the mole well, so I’ll handle this matter today. Strike while the iron is hot,” replied the mouse, then left her friends to find the mole.
The next day, work began in earnest. There were various sounds of knocking, scraping, scratching, and believe me, they were not ordinary sounds of forest life. Badger, starling, owl, squirrel, rabbit, mouse, and mole bustled about, following Tom’s orders, and the forest’s quiet near the pond looked like a construction site.
After a week of hard work, the squirrel had a new bedroom, and all the friends had telephones they couldn’t get enough of, and the mole’s corridors vibrated from the conducted conversations. The badger hosted a grand feast in honor of Tom and the mole, their new companion for frequent chats.
The end! Said Grandpa and covered Tilly and Jack with a blanket as the mice had fallen asleep listening to the fairy tale.
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