How Sonia made friends
Chubby Sonia lived with her mother and grand-mother in a cottage near the woods. Her father who was a wood-cutter had died in an accident and so her mother had come to make a living with her grand-mother. Little Sonia was doted upon, loved, cared for and was the apple of their eyes.
She had rosy lips, chubby cheeks, dimpled chin, curly hair and lovely blue eyes and she looked - Oh! so cute and cuddly. She was never set down throught the day and was always carried around either by her mother or grand-mother. But Sonia loved to crawl and be allowed to explore things on her own. She loved the taste of mud and had a fancy for all things creepy and crawly.
One day mother had gone to collect twigs while her grand-mother was busy feeding the hens, pigs and sheep in the back-yard. The front -door was left open and Sonia saw her chance. She crawled out of the door and came out crawling on all fours. She sat and looked wonderingly at the little birds chirping outside. She clapped her hands in glee and gurgled in happiness. Then she saw that the wooden gate at the end of the small garden was also left a wee-bit open. She crawled to get there with such speed to avoid being noticed and get away before she be picked up again. This was her golden chance to be free.
On the way she saw her yellow smiley-rubber ball with which she used to play. She paused but only a wee bit of a second to play with it and set out agin with her smiley held firmly in one paw. Once outside the gate she sat to pause and look around her and play with the ball but it slipped out of her hands onto the path that led to the woods. Sonia crawled towards the ball to catch it but she tapped it with such force that it went further away leading Sonia into the woods till the reached the edge of the forest where the tall grass blocked smileys path. Finally Sonia got her smiley and she looked at the tall green grass and at the great big trees. She held her smiley firmly in her two little hands. But when she looked up she saw many balls of different colours yellow red orange and green all hanging from the trees. How she wished that she could play with them too.Then a little further she saw a red ball that fallen down the tree -actually an apple.
Sonia crawled to get the red apple mistaking it to be a ball.She got it. She set her smiley aside and put the red ball in her mouth trying to bite it with her two little teeth. But what is this? It seemed so juicy and sweet. She nibbled at the apple thus for sometime till Clumsy the monkey came along and lifted smiley and climbed up the tree under which Sonia was sitting.
Sonia looked up at Clumsy the monkey thinking that she had found a play-mate with whom she could play ball. She raised her hand at Clumsy monkey indicating that it should throw the ball so she could catch it. "Gu Gu Ga Ga" she cried.But the monkey had taken smiley thinking it to be fruit. It bit into smiley and having known that this was no fruit it threw it down with such contempt that smiley fell down not near Sonia but a little farther away from her. Sonia crawled towards it to get her ball.
Tired of all the excitement and all the crawling Sonia was hungry. "Wah, Wah"! she cried. Clumsy monkey who had noticing all this from the tree above scampered down and started playing all kinds of tricks with the ball so that Sonia would stop crying. But Sonia cried and cried and seemed to take no notice of Clumsy monkeys antics.
Realising that Sonia was hungry, the monkey climbed up a banana tree and brought down two ripe bananas, one for Sonia and the other for itself. It peeled the skin for Sonia and showed her how to eat. Sonia ate her banana and still looked at the Clumsy monkey , flickering her moist eye-lashes. Clumsy monkey brought another banana for her.Sonia ate this too and then they both played and frolicked.
After a while with hunger satiated she was ready for more adventure. She clapped her hands in delight looking at the vast grasslands and the trees around. "Gee", she cried.Clumsy skimpered along and Sonia crawled along happily and excitedly. Deeper and deeper into the woods they both went. There they met Browny the bearcollecting honey from bee-hives. Sonia was scared to see Browny bear and she started crying - "Wah,Wah"! Browny bear gave Sonia some honey in an old coconut shell to keep her from crying. The honey tasted like nectar and Sonia was happy to have found a new friend.And deeper and deeper into the woods all three of them went.
There in the middle she saw, 'Majestic' - the peacock, different kinds of parakeets the mynahs and cuckoos all the birds engaged in some kind of animated discussion each chirping and chirupping away to their hearts content paying little heed to the other. Sonia looked at all in wonder and amazement. Having eaten and drunk and tired of all the frenzy and excitement she felt sleepy."Yawn"! her mouth opened wideturning her cheeks rosy and her lips lush red. She wantedd mamma now. She wanted her to put her to sleep. "Wah, Wah"!, she cried.The birds stopped their chorus to look at Sonia. Majestic the peacock came near Sonia and started to dance a majestic dance fanning its feathers that appeared to soothen Sonia. Gander the goose wiped Sonia's tears from her face and appeared to pet her. Meanwhile the wise old owl suggested that all the birds shed some of their old feathers, gather them and make a soft bed of feathers for Sonia to sleep on. All the birds did so and my! What a lot of feathers were collected.Gander the goose quickly laid all the feathers into smooth soft bed for Sonia and Browny bear laid Sonia gently onto this bed. Melody the cuckoo sang a sweet lullaby to put Sonia to sleep. All were mesmerised to hear melody cuckoo's lullaby and they all stood watch over Sonia sleeping blissfully and peacefully.
Meanwhile her mother returned after collecting twigs and both she and grand-mother were alarmed at noticing Sonia's absence. "Sonia ,Sonu my love", they called.Their search brought them to the woods and saw that a lot of animals and birds were gathered around something.in the middle. They made their way and "Lo and Behold"! Weren't they gladd to see Sonia sleeping on a bed of feathers safe and unharmed!
Mamma immediately picked her up and rested her against her shoulder while grand-ma thanked each one and all for looking after Sonia so well. She invited each one present there to a feast at her cottage the next day and what a feast it was! As for Sonia she was happy ever after having found a whole lot of friends she could play about the whole day.
