by Orla Kelly
Owly wanted to move Victor away from where Lizzy and her family were hiding, so he said, “Let’s make this more interesting. Follow me!”
“I hope you aren’t playing games with me” squawked Victor giving Owly the evil eye. Owly thought Victor had special powers and could see right through him. “Could he see his heart beating so fast also?” Owly thought so!
Owly led Victor to the flattest part of the forest, but one that had secret underground traps that had been set by hunters passing through the area. He and other forest animals knew not to go there, but Victor wasn’t a forest animal.
Of course Owly had to be careful. He had to remember what the signs were for the trap underneath. He had to try to get Victor to fall into a trap without Owly falling in, but it would be difficult, especially when they were playing football.
Each of them picked a spot for scoring between two trees on opposite ends of the forest space. If Owly remembered correctly, the spot nearest his goal had the deepest trap. He was happy to let Victor score, but the trick was that Victor had to get close enough to the goal.
If he kicked from far away and scored, Owly would lose. He really wasn’t good at football. He just had to pretend long enough, and fool Victor, so Victor would get trapped.
All the forest animals gathered around, some covered their eyes, some turned their backs, and some hid in the trees. Every one of them was hoping that Victor wouldn’t figure out it was a trap.
Shirley squirrel threw down an acorn from the tree, to signal the game had begun. Owly got the ball first and darted and dodged passed Victor. Victor pecked at him with his beak, and made poor Owly bleed. Owlys fur was punctured by Victors sharp beak, and blood ran down his back. This was worse than he imagined.
Owly dropped the ball, pretending to stagger and fall. Victor smashed into him, and took the ball. He was heading for Owlys goal. Yes, the goal that had the trap underneath. “Oh no, I need to go after him, I don’t want him to score from this far away, it’s too far from the trap” exclaimed Owly.
As fast as he could, he caught up with Victor, just as he was about to kick the ball. Owly slid in underneath Victor’s legs so his legs got tangled up with Victors. Both of them came crashing to the ground.
Victor was so angry. He flapped his wings furiously, and opened his beak so wide, and then snapped it around Owlys wing. Owly howled in pain, and Victor swung him from side to side with each toss of his powerful beak.
Owly was dizzy, exhausted and in pain, but he had to stay close to Victor for the trap to work.
Suddenly Victor let go of Owlys wing, and took off again with the ball in front of him. He didn’t have time to kick, as Owly was right behind him. He was getting closer and closer to the goal. Just a few more steps.
Victor looked behind one last time before he kicked the ball, and it went in the goal. However, Victor was going so fast, he couldn’t stop on time and down he went deep into the trap.
All the animals cheered. Even though Victor had won the match, Owly had won the battle and saved the day. Victor couldn’t get out, and even worse, he had broken a leg. He was going nowhere.
Owly flew back, and got the medicine from the secret hiding place, and quickly ran to Lizzy’s hiding place. He pushed back all the leaves and climbed inside. Very carefully, he opened the leaf. Lizzy’s Mom and Dad held her up and opened her little mouth to let the drops of medicine in. One drop, two, three, four, five. Suddenly Lizzy started to blink, then open her eyes and look around, then move her arms and legs a little. She was going to be okay!
At this stage, all the forest creatures had gathered around. They all cheered for Owly, for Lizzy and for the medicine tree. Lizzy rested a while until she grew stronger.
“Owly you need to take some medicine too, you are bleeding” said Freddy Fox. Owly drank a few drops of medicine and poured a drop of it on his wounds also. Immediately he stopped bleeding, and the hole that Victor punctured in his little body, closed up.
“Wow, this really is magic” he thought. “It is magical because it made Lizzy, better, made me better and brought all of us forest animals together for the first time in years.”
Now we need to do something that requires we all work as a team. “Who wants to help me make the medicine tree well again and then making this an enchanted forest once more?” shouted Owly. “Me, me, me” they all shouted, hopping and jumping up and down. “Okay team, let’s go to work!”
“We need to call the Spirit of the Forest to help us. She will know what to do” exclaimed Owlys wise mom. “Yes, but how will we find her since no one has ever seen her” said Owlys dad.
“We need to start paying attention to the colors we see around us. I hear she loves to spread color everywhere she goes. Where we see something colorful that doesn’t belong, that is a sign we are getting closer” said Owlys mom.
“But the forest is so dull, and the colors are all so dark here, so we really need to open our eyes and search for colors anywhere and everywhere. Maybe they are hidden here somewhere or maybe we need to travel far away before finding them” said Owly.
“So let’s split up into teams with all different forest creatures on each team. Let’s work together. If your team finds something colorful, bring it back here, and put it next to the tree hole where Lizzy is. I am sure the Spirit of the Forest will come when she sees so many colors in one place” Owly hoped.
Owly Finds the Spirit of the Forest
