Snoutie and His Friends

Little Snoutie was a dear, comical little creature, who looked like a funny cross between a baby elephant and a piglet. The most incredible thing about his face was his snunk, which was a short trunk that ended in the small button of a snout. It was extremely flexible, and he was always stretching it w-a-a-a-y far out and pulling it w-a-a-a-y back in as he poked at everything he came across. Snoutie used his snunk to dig up sweet potato tubers from the ground and shuck juicy ears of corn, which he loved more than anything.

Snoutie’s ears looked like the ears of an elephant, but they were softer and covered in a delicate down. He had a thick hide, which was hidden under a short, brown coat of fur. Although Snoutie was born with stripes and spots, these disappeared as he got older, and his fur grew darker and turned rough, just like his Mama’s and Papa’s. Like them, he also had neat little hooves on his paws.

Snoutie was quite chubby, which often made him seem clumsy and silly, but he was actually very flexible. He was able to jump up very high, and he had no trouble crawling under fallen trees. Papa Snoutie taught Little Snoutie how to swim and how to stand on his hind legs while resting his front legs against the trunk of a tree so that he could reach the green branches more easily. You see, adult Snouties have no problem walking around on their hind legs, but this is harder for the little ones.

Sometimes Snoutie would get completely lost in his thoughts and dreams. When he was daydreaming about something, he would sit back on his hind legs (even though they look clumsy, it is actually quite easy for all Snouties to sit this way), close his eyes, and stroke his big ears with his front paws, remaining very quiet the whole time. Snoutie also had a very good idea of the things he wanted most in life, and he enjoyed sitting this way and letting bright, lifelike pictures, float before his eyes. He imagined things like a tricycle with a loud horn; an enormous, tasty sponge cake filled with custard; new rakes; and a comfy straw hat for those happy dances through the cornfields with Papa.

As he grew older, Snoutie started to love collecting ripe berries and fruits. He was already strong enough to lift an enormous pumpkin off the ground and load it into a wagon all by himself. He also liked to spend his time writing happy songs in the garden or the vineyard.

CHAPTER ONE,

IN WHICH THE LITTLE TRAVELERS SET OUT FOR THE BIG FOREST AND DADDY TELLS MICHELLE ABOUT SNOUTIE

One morning, when Snoutie was still deep asleep, a beautiful butterfly flew in through his open window. It circled around his bed for a while and then settled down right on his snunk. This tickled Snoutie. He sneezed loudly, woke up, and saw the butterfly flying away.

“Well this is turning out to be an interesting morning,” thought Snoutie. “Probably something unusual will happen today.”

Then he sucked in some air through his snunk and caught the mouthwatering scent of corn cereal and warm milk floating in from the kitchen. Snoutie sighed deeply with pleasure, stroked his plump tummy, and bounced off to breakfast.

That day, like all other days, Snoutie played in the green meadow in front of the house and swung on the swings. Then he helped his Papa by watering the juicy vegetables in the garden from his red watering can.

“I really did have an interesting morning,” thought Snoutie, remembering the butterfly’s visit.

No sooner had he thought of this than he again saw the same butterfly sitting on an enormous cabbage leaf.

“Now I’ll catch you for sure!” exclaimed Snoutie and, grabbing his net, he started chasing after the butterfly.

His morning guest left the cabbage leaf, flew over to a dandelion, and then started circling over the swings. Then, after resting a minute on the gate, she flew off somewhere in the direction of the forest.

“You still can’t escape me!” shouted Snoutie, waving the net around.

He continued to run after the butterfly and didn’t even realize that he had jumped over the fence around his little house.

As he chased after the butterfly, he failed to notice how far he had traveled from home. Meanwhile, the butterfly had disappeared into thin air! Suddenly he heard a delicate little voice singing a happy song not far from him. Just to be careful, Snoutie hid behind the trunk of an old oak tree. Then, after a bit, he cautiously stuck his snunk out. He saw a small, beautiful girl gathering a bunch of bright yellow dandelions. She was singing something softly and had no idea that Snoutie was there. Snoutie was pleasantly surprised and started studying her from his hiding place.

She really was quite pretty. She had thick, chestnut-colored curls that gleamed in the sunlight and enormous blue eyes with long lashes. She was wearing a pink dress with a white lace collar and a big bow in the back.