The Forest Game
“Come in, Come in” exclaimed Gruff wildy as he opened the door. “Come right in and have a biscuit before we start.”
“Before we start what?” said Mike the Muskrat as he waddled through the door.
“Yes, before we start what?” added Jed the Great Blue Heron. “You’ve had us start some other crazy things before and we demand to know what you have planned”.
“Oh I agree,” said Tom the Turtle as he lumbered past the others.
“I have invented a wonderful new game. We can all play it and have a chance of winning”
“Unlike the swimming game Tom invented” sneered Jed.
“Yea, or like the flying game Jed thought up” snorted the angry little Turtle.
“Oh, this is unlike any other game you’ve ever seen. It takes skill and patience…and a little bit of luck.”
Gruff led his motley entourage of friends outside and lined them up as though they were enlisting in the army.
“The object of this game is very simple,” said Gruff as he puffed up his chest and began to explain “You must put this acorn into that tiny hole.”
“Oh, this should be very simple, “ said Jed as he picked up the acorn in his long beak and began to drop it into the hole. “I believe that I am winning already.”
“No! I will win!” said Mike as he scampered past the stork with an acorn in his cheek.
“I don’t think I like this game at all!” exclaimed Tom as he approached the empty acorn container.
“NO NO NO” said Gruff as he rolled his eyes and put his paws on his hips. “Its not done like that! You must hit the acorn with this stick. And by the way, we start from over there.” Gruff pointed to a distant spot in the meadow. “Whoever gets it into this hole with the fewest number of hits will win. We will each take turns, and we each have our own acorn.”
Gruff’s friends looked at each other in a puzzled manner, trying to imagine the fun of hitting an acorn with a stick.
“It’s a great game. I have been secretly working on this for a long time. Why, I have several of these holes to hit our acorns into.” Gruff proceeded to explain the course to his friends, pointing out the obstacles involved with each one. Each of them was given a stick and a handful of acorns. Together they wandered off to begin the game.
Gruff carefully placed his acorn on the ground, explaining that it cannot be touched again until it is pulled out of the first hole. He waggled his little bottom and prepared to strike the acorn.
SWOOSH went the stick and all his friends gazed in the air to see the flying acorn.
“I don’t see it,” said Jed.
“Did it go in the hole?” said Tom.
“Perhaps it went past the hole by accident” said Gruff.
“Here it is” said Tom the Turtle.”Why, it didn’t move an inch. Gruff, you missed it completely!”
All the animals chortled as Gruff stooped down to pick up the acorn and examine it for defects.
“Perhaps I should try another one. This one seems too lumpy. We are all allowed two shots off the first hole.”
“Say Gruff, what are the rules for this silly game. I didn’t know we could hit twice, although it seems like a fine rule.”
Gruff announced to them all “I will tell you all the rules as we go along. There are so many that I can’t possibly think of them all right now.”
He dropped his acorn down and swung again. It dribbled about three feet forward. Frustrated, Gruff stomped his foot and pounded his stick on the ground. They all looked at one another wondering what rule they would learn about next.
“OKAY” snorted Gruff “NEXT.”
“Oh, this does not look so terribly difficult. I will go next,” said Jed the Great Blue Heron.
He carefully dropped his acorn from the end of his bill and aimed carefully. CRACK went the acorn as he hit it with the stick.
“WOW” they all said in amazement. “That went twice as far as Gruff’s did” as it rolled away.
Each one proceeded to take his turn, meeting with little more success than Gruff and Jed. They continued the thrashing of the acorns until they finally reached the first hole. Exhausted, they lay in a pile on top of one another.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” inquired Jim the Beaver as he looked up from his gnawed tree stump.
“Why, we’re playing a fabulous new game “exclaimed Gruff with feigned enthusiasm “and we’ve just finished the first hole.”
The others moaned as they thought of doing this 17 more times.
“Well, you’d better get playing. At the rate you’re going, you will finish this silly game by Christmas.”
“Hey. We’re just getting warmed up. Okay guys…what were your scores?”
“You mean all of our hits?”
“Well, yes…those are the rules. We count all of our hits.”
“106”
“113”
“100”
“Well, I had 99” Of course that doesn’t count that first one,” said Gruff as he wrote down the score.
“And since I had the low score, I get to go first this time” he said with an anxious tone.
“Watch us, and perhaps you will want to join us” said Gruff as he waggled again.
SWOOSH…..another three-foot dribble. They each took their hits and began hacking their way toward the next hole. About halfway to the hole, they heard a PING and a bullet-like sound overhead. An acorn rocketed past them and landed five feet from the hole. They dropped their sticks in amazement as they watched Jim wave to them from a distance and yell “ Oh Gentleman, would you mind if I played through?”
He waddled past them and popped his acorn into the hole. Some time later, they arrived and fell into an exhausted heap. And agreed that two holes was enough for one day. As they caught their wind, they noticed Jim. As he placed his acorn on the ground to begin the next hole, he turned around and swatted it with his big, flat tail. PING went the acorn with a marvelous sound and flew out of sight.
“Well good-by fellows. Perhaps we shall play again sometime,” said Jim as he sauntered away.
“Hey Gruff” chipped Mike “Is that in the rules that you can use your tail?”
They all sat down to discuss the situation. After agreeing that using a tail was indeed not in the rules, perhaps something could be done to improve the stick method.
“I know,” said Tom the Turtle “Let’s each get a piece of tree bark and use that to hit our acorns. That would be kind of like a tail.”
“Excellent idea” they all agreed and scampered about to find the best piece of bark they could.
SPLAT! THUMP! CA-CHUNK! Went the acorns as they all flailed madly with the tree bark. Although they were not getting much further than before, they were all able to at least hit the acorn. They continued toward the hole and lay in a heap once again as Gruff collected the score.
“79”
“84”
“66”
“Well I had 65. Of course I didn’t count that one that fell into the pond. The wind caught it you know,” said Gruff with the pencil in his paws.
Just then, Fluff came wandering by. She was out for her daily walk, picking flowers and singing cheerful songs.
“Hum Dee Dum Dee Dum Dee Dum
Being a Bunny is so much fun….”
“Gruff, what are you and your friends doing? You’ve been gone so long.”
“We are playing the game. You know! The one I have been working on for so long.”
“Oh yes! I remember. Well, you must have played several times. It’s getting quite late.”
Gruff said shyly “Well, we haven’t quite finished the first game yet. But we made a new improvement. Do you remember the sticks I made to hit the acorns with? Well, we saw Jim the Beaver smack his acorn very far with his tail, we all are using these because they look like a beaver tail.
Proudly, they all held their tattered bark for Fluff to see. Gruff demonstrated the new method of bark hitting. Fluff patiently stood there while he batted it around created a huge cloud of dust.
As Fluff wiped the dust from her bunny eyes, she said “That is all well and fine for a beaver, but it seems quite clumsy for a Raccoon. Or a Turtle. Or a Muskrat. Even a Great Blue Heron like you Jed. Why don’t you just tie a flat piece of bark to your sticks and hit the acorn with that?”
She hopped away singing her little song, leaving Gruff and his friends staring blankly at one another. Finally, one of them had the courage to say, “Let’s try it.”
Each one fastened a piece of bark to his stick and approached the next hole. Gruff dropped his acorn and everybody gazed nervously as he waggled his tail. Then he waggled it again. Finally he sighed a deep sigh and said “Here goes.”
PING went the acorn with such a beautiful flight that they all stood in utter amazement for several minutes. Each one scampered to lay his acorn down and try it. PING! PING! PING! They each experienced one glorious shot after another until they all arrived at the hole and tapped their acorns in the hole.
“8”
“6”
“7”
“Well, I had a 6. But the rules say you can hit twice if you land under a log” said Gruff as he wrote down the scores. They each made a note of the new rule. And prepared for the next hole. They played until it was too dark to see anymore and had to stop. However, they agreed to meet each other the next morning and play again.
They played every day all summer long and sadly put their club away only at the first snowfall. All winter long they planned next year’s games and recounted the triumphs of the summer.