Our story happened a long time ago in a small farm just outside Littleville. All the animals lived in peace there, spending their time having fun and playing in the sun all day long. They had nothing to worry about; all they had to do was provide food for their master. So the cows gave milk, the chickens laid eggs, the dogs guarded the farm, and the horses helped the master in his daily work.
The little duck, the baby dog and the piglet were best friends. They played together all day and they shared everything. But they were naughty and did not listen to their parents. They were often punished for doing bad things.
One day, they were playing near the chickens’ coop. As they were running around, chasing each other they accidentally broke all the eggs.
“What have you done?” asked the angry Dog Father. “Look at this mess. The master will be so angry. You know you’re not allowed here.
What were you thinking?”
“You’ll spend the rest of the day cleaning up this mess,” said the rooster. “If this happens one more time you will not be allowed here anymore.”
The rooster was the head of the animals. He looked after the farm and made sure everybody was doing their job. He hated the three
friends because they never listened and they were always creating
problems.
“I hope the master will take them away from the farm,” he often used to say.
That day the three friends decided to run away from the farm.
“I am sick of everybody telling me what to do,” cried the piglet.
“Yes, me too. We’re not allowed to do anything around here. The rooster is always shouting at us and our parents are always angry,” said the little dog.
“We should run away,” proposed the duck. ‘If we go somewhere else we’ll be able to do whatever we want and no one will ever make us do these stupid things.”
“I agree. Let’s leave tonight. We could get out when everybody’s sleeping.”
The rooster overheard the discussion and came up to them.
“Why would you want to leave?” he asked. “Don’t you like it here?”
“No, we don’t,” answered the three friends. “You’re always so mean to us.”
“Me? I’m not mean. I just have to do my job. But you are right; you should be allowed to leave if that’s what you really want. I’m going to help you escape tonight,” said the evil rooster as he left.
“He’s not as bad as I thought he was,” noticed the duck. “We were wrong about him. We shouldn’t be mad at him; he’s just doing his job.”
“Yes, that is true,” replied the little dog. “And he is so nice for helping us.”
As they planned, the three friends met with the rooster that night. He showed them a hole under the fence that led them outside.
“You’ll be able to fit through there,” said the rooster. “Now, be careful, be very quiet. You don’t want to wake anybody up. Now hurry! I’ll keep an eye out for you.”
“Thank you mister rooster,” the three whispered as they were getting out.
“No, thank you!” thought the rooster as he was returning to the farm.
It was already morning when the three friends reached the nearest forest. They decided to hide in the forest in case someone came looking for them. Being very tired, they soon fell asleep.
Meanwhile, back at the farm, the friends’ parents were going crazy.
“Where could they have disappeared to?”
“They must be around here somewhere, there is no way out of the farm,” replied the horse.
“No, there is a way,” said the cat.
“No, there is no way out!” shouted the rooster. “The master must have taken them. It is a tragedy but there is nothing we can do about it now. Everybody should get back to work. The master will be back soon.”
“No, the master didn’t take them. I would have heard him last night,” answered the dog. “We’ll go look for them. Where is the way out?” he asked the cat.
“Everybody back to work,” shouted the rooster.
“NO!” shouted the dog, moving towards the rooster. “You’ve always hated the little ones. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were behind all this. We’re going to go look for them and that’s the way it’s going to be, is that clear?”
“How dare you? I love them. I wouldn’t hurt them.’”
“Good, than you’re going to help us look for them,” said the angry dog.
Back in the forest the three friends were waking up. The first one to wake was the piglet.
“Come on, wake up. I’m hungry,” he said to the others.
“Yes, I’m hungry too,” said the little dog.
“Me too!” they heard someone behind them. “And here’s my lunch!”
“It’s a wolf!” the duck shouted. “Run!”
“I want to go back to the farm,” the piglet shouted as they were running.
“I don’t know the way! Do you?” answered the duck.
“No!” said the piglet in a trembling voice.
“Faster, faster, he’s gaining on us!” shouted the little dog.
“Here, here!”
They spotted a small hole in the ground and hid there. They were small so they had no problem getting in. But the hole was small and they could all barely fit.
“Ah, I’ve got you!” said the wolf as he was trying to get in. But he was too big to reach them. “You think you’re safe there?” he laughed. “You’re not!” and he started digging around the hole.
The three friends were so scared. For the first time they realized the stupid thing they had done. And for the first time they missed their home. They looked around but there was no way out.
“What are we going to do?” asked the duck.
“We have to fight him. We have to try to escape,” answered the little dog.
“But we can’t do that, he’s so big, he’ll eat us all.”
As they were arguing about what to do they heard their parents calling them.
“We’re here, we’re here,” they all shouted. “Help us!”
“Look! What’s that wolf doing there? They must be in that hole,” said the Father Dog. “We must hurry.”
But the horse was already galloping fiercely towards the wolf. “Get away from there!” he shouted. ‘You are not going to hurt those little animals!” he said just as he jumped on the wolf. Soon the dogs arrived to help the horse. The wolf was outnumbered and weak in the face of all the raging animals and ran back into the forest.
“I’m so glad you found us,” said the piglet with tears in his eyes.
“I am so sorry, Father. Please forgive me. Please forgive me. I’ll never disobey you again.”
“Please forgive us. We didn’t mean to cause any problems,” cried the duck.
“And the rooster said it was for our own good, and that if we wanted to go we should be free to do so. We’re so sorry,” added the little dog.
“I said no such thing!” exclaimed the rooster. “I told them not to go, but they didn’t listen.”
“Really?” asked the horse. “But you said you didn’t see them. You said that the master must have taken them. How did you tell them they shouldn’t go if you didn’t even see them?” “That’s right, you’re lying,” said the Mother Duck.
“Now you’re the one who should be running. You are not welcome at the farm anymore,” added the dog.
All the animals returned to the farm leaving the rooster to find his way through the forest.
And what happened to our friends? Well, they’re not little anymore. They have their own families now, but they will never forget the scary adventure they had when they were younger.
