Chapter 1 — Save Robin, the robin!
Cari was a teeny tiny girl who lived in her Very Tiny House down by the base of the tree where Mr. Owl had his perch. They were good friends, with Mr. Owl teaching Cari about all the different creatures in the Garden and other things about life. Now, Mr. Owl was very wise, from all the experience he had acquired. He sensed that the sun was about to set on his life, and began preparations.
“I don’t want the crows and dogs to get me once I’m gone, you see. Rather have The Compost People working on me. So I’m digging this grave,” he told Cari as he shovelled the mud away. It was right down his hole — “so when I kick the bucket, I can just fall right in.” he explained. Suddenly, they heard a thud on the other side of the Tree, where Cari’s front door was. Cari ran towards the sound to find Robin fallen, with an arrow sticking out of his breast. “Oh no! You’re hurt!” Cari exclaimed, while pulling the arrow out. Robin winced. Cari ran to her Very Tiny House to get some rags and bandages. “It’s not working.” Cari said as she tried to press down some dry bandages on the wound. A pile of blood-soaked rags were lying around. “I’ll go fetch Mr. Owl, he’ll know what to do!” she said as she ran towards Mr. Owl.
Mr. Owl checked the wound. “Hmm. It isn’t clotting as fast.” He gathered some thin shoots from around the garden, flew to the neighbouring tree and plucked a leaf, got a couple of berries from the bushes and told Cari to mash them all by a stone. He tasted a little of the paste, seemed unsatisfied, and told Cari — “We need some Witch Hazel.”
“A Witch?! Is she in the Big-People-House?”
“No, a Witch Hazel.”, Mr. Owl explained. “It’s a magical flower. It’s about as big as you, with thin golden petals. It has some brilliant healing powers.”
“Should I look for it by the Berry-bushes, among the Flower-plants?”
“No, this doesn’t grow in our regular Flower-garden. You have to look for it beyond the Thick Undergrowth. You may find a family or two just outside of it.”
“Okay! Hang in there, Robin, I’ll be as quick as I can.”
“Do you know where the Thick Undergrowth is…” — but Cari was gone even before Mr. Owl could finish the sentence.
Cari, in a fit of adrenaline, ran to the clump of trees behind her home. In the middle of a particularly large clearing, she realised she didn’t know where the Thick Undergrowth was and stopped. Unfortunately, a Bee that had been circling overhead had smelt her flowery shampoo and swooped down on her. On realising that she was not a flower, and that she could not, in fact, pick up nectar, the Worker Bee just picked Cari up imagining it would be a nice present for the Queen. She would then also know what the flowery-smelling-solid-not-flower was because the Queen was much older, and hence wiser than herself. Thus Cari went up, up and away towards the large hive, stolen by The Bees. Little did she know this was a stroke of luck since it would take her closer to the Thick Undergrowth.
