Back to Maggie's World Homepage
MAGGIE'S WORLD STORY...
"HITOP,
THE REDWOOD HOTEL"
Pack up your excitement boys and
girls...we're taking a trip to Maggie's World...that magical place where animals
do talk, but people don't always listen!
Maggie is a beautiful cocker spaniel who
lives with her human friend in a cabin at the edge of the great forest.
Maggie is a friend of all the creatures in the forest and they were
celebrating when she went to visit them today...
...Deep in the great forest is the
largest tree in the world, and it almost reaches the clouds!
It is 350 feet tall and 2,500 years old!....And its name is HITOP.
HITOP is a redwood tree that is a safe
place for many creatures of the forest. All
around its great big trunk the creatures have built dens and nests and make the
giant tree their home. There are
vacant dens and nests for other creatures to stay when they are on vacation.
Creatures everywhere call HITOP the Redwood Hotel.
There is a kind of speaker in every den
and nest--a hollow place that brings sounds down to the creatures.
When the wind blows, there is soft music everywhere.
When the nights are cold and the
creatures are all snug in their dens and nests, HITOP tells about the days long
ago when there were just a few people in the land and the forests were thick
with trees and many animals roamed free. All
of the creatures love HITOP and their dens and nests in the Redwood Hotel.
JOJAK, the bald eagle, has a penthouse
nest on HITOP's highest branch. JOJAK
flies high above the forest and is always on the lookout for anything that might
harm HITOP. Once there was a
terrible fire in a nearby forest. JOJAK
soared over the mountain and swooped down on the Ranger Station to attract
attention. He flew low through the
trees and led the Rangers to the fire. The Rangers called in smoke jumpers on
the radio and the jumpers came down in parachutes to put out the fire.
DAN'L COON is a special raccoon who has a
store in the Redwood Hotel. DAN'L
is always collecting things to stock his storehouse.
"Oh, I'm so glad I found this....I'm sure someone will need
it."
No matter what any of the creatures need,
they always find something at DAN'L COON's.
One of the most famous residents of the
Redwood Hotel is AMELIA, the flying squirrel.
AMELIA always wears her goggles and helmet because she flies every place
she goes. Of course, she can't fly
like JOJAK, the bald eagle, because she has no wings...Just a web of skin from
her front feet to her back feet. AMELIA
flies more like a glider, sailing through the air like a fur-covered Frisbee.
There is a special kind of library in the
Redwood Hotel. The librarian is a
very smart owl named WISE GUY. There
is only one book in the library and that is WISE GUY's diary ..."Whoos..
Whoos?....Mine, of course." In
it is all the information about things that happen in the forest.
So if the other residents need to know something, they just ask WISE GUY.
LILAC the skunk lives in the basement,
down among the roots of the big Redwood tree.
The other creatures do not like the strong perfume that LILAC sometimes
uses. "Pew!!" "Pew!!" They
run and hide when they see LILAC coming, and that makes LILAC feel sad.
She just wants someone to be her friend.
...One day, JOJAK was soaring high above
the forest when he saw woodcutters heading toward HITOP. AMELIA was gliding from tree to tree nearby and JOJAK swooped
down to a tree just ahead of her.
"Amelia," he yelled, "stay
close to the woodcutters while I fly back to warn HITOP. We cannot let them cut down the greatest tree in the
forest!!"
"What can we do to stop them?"
AMELIA asked.
"No time to talk...I must
hurry!" JOJAK answered. JOJAK
flapped his powerful wings and flew as fast as he could toward HITOP, while
AMELIA kept up with the woodcutters.
DAN'L COON was gathering berries for his
store when he saw JOJAK zooming over the treetops.
DAN'L knew something was wrong, so he hid his basket of berries and
scampered back toward HITOP.
JOJAK flew down to the library and called
WISE GUY. "The woodcutters are
coming," JOJAK screeched. "What
can we do to stop them?"
WISE GUY turned his head, looked up and
down and all around. Then his eyes
grew even bigger...."Where there is a will, there is a way!"
"Come on, WISE GUY," JOJAK
said, "We can't stop them with words."
"We shall see about that!" said
a determined WISE GUY.
WISE GUY ruffled his feathers and flew
down to HITOP's basement. He took a
deep breath as LILAC came out to see if someone had come for a visit.
"Some people are coming to visit," WISE GUY whispered to LILAC.
"Why don't you go out to greet them?"
"Oh, I love visitors." LILAC squealed with delight.
"Maybe they will be my friends!"
WISE GUY's big eyes were watering from
LILAC's special perfume. He took
another deep breath and flew quickly up to the library.
In the meantime, AMELIA arrived just
ahead of the woodcutters, while DAN'L COON was climbing up to his store.
All of the residents of Redwood Hotel watched as the woodcutters
approached HITOP. The men began to
sharpen their axes and saws.
"Well, boys," the leader of the
woodcutters said, "This big fella is going to make a lot of lumber.
Let's get busy. I want him down before dark!"
"Is there nothing we can do,"
AMELIA asked the other creatures.
"I can fight them," JOJAK
screeched. Maybe, I can frighten
them away!"
"There are too many of them,"
DAN'L COON whispered, "and you can't scare them all."
"Where there is a will, there is a
way," WISE GUY declared.
"Come on, come on," the others
said, "we can't stop them with words."
WISE GUY rolled his head around and
looked down at the woodcutters.
"We shall see about that... We shall
see!"
Just then LILAC rushed out of HITOP's
basement. She was so excited to see
all the visitors that she used a "LOT" of her special perfume.
....LILAC could not understand why the
men screamed and rolled on the ground, and ran away without their saws and axes.
After all, she had used "plenty of her special perfume" JUST
FOR THEM.
...JOJAK, AMELIA, DAN'L COON and WISE GUY
all agreed that LILAC had certainly won their friendship, as well as HITOP's
gratitude. They told her that she
didn't need to use her special perfume around good friends.
LILAC was so happy that she cried, and DAN'L COON invited all the
creatures to a celebration supper of nuts and berries at his store.
That night, when the wind blew through
HITOP's branches, there was soft music in all the dens and nests.
And HITOP thanked all the residents, especially LILAC, for saving Redwood
Hotel from the woodcutters.
(THE
END)
Maggie's
World Animal Adventure Series Stories
Written
by - M. P. Marshall,
(c)
A Lingovista Production