The story within the little hollow tree

A Story by silverfox

Enjoy reading my amusing Tolkien and Beatrix Potter mix up!

In a quaint little tree, deep in the forest, lived a somewhat pleasant badger.

No, no, the badger did not live up the tree, he lived inside it! The badger lived within this quite thick and hollow tree for all his lonely life; surprisingly he never did wish for a mate, nor for a close friend, he was quite content living all alone.

Sometimes he would poke his wearisome head out of his hollow tree and investigate the forest around him but, of course, not for long - just to gather some of the many fruits the badger had at his disposal, just minutes away from his home.

Many other small animals and even admiring female badgers would try to attract this lonely badger’s attention; however he always acted as if he was far too busy for their 'nonsense'! There was nobody within miles that could entice this badger, nobody except from the lost, young girl.

It was a very warm day; a warm day among many others to come, and the badger was sitting against a small pack of ice whilst reading a book about grumpy woodland creatures. There came a rushed knock, knock, knock at his oval wooden door; the lonely badger did not respond straight away as you see, he was not used to guests arriving at his hollow tree... He had not even heard the first several knocks!

Then there came another, knock, knock, knock at his door, and this time the badger ignored the alerts on purpose, he simply slouched further down into his seat and indulged himself further into his good read. The knocker was everything but relaxed, they were very persistent, and very aggressive; knock, knock, knock!

Now, the badger was confused, and also quite irritable, so he quickly slammed down his book and hobbled to the door... hesitant to open it. “Now who is it that has the audacity to knock on my door in the middle of the afternoon; well, I just can’t wait to see!” the now very angry badger exclaimed whilst unlocking his wooden door. He had his usual grumpy face at the ready to look this individual directly in the eye (and hopefully scare them off!). The annoyed badger opened his door and looked out at the forest… which looked empty, “where is this nuisance of a creature? Where are you?” he shouted out to the woodland for everyone to hear; and just after he did, he felt some extra weight upon his gown, “w-w-what is this?!” the badger yelped in fear, he looked down and could only see long black hair, and large pointed ears protruding out of the long black hair. “You are an elf!” the badger, yelped even more, and following the yelp was a screech, and a yap, and even a squeal! The young elf let go of the grumpy badgers gown, and she stood tall, yet short, at his doorstep. “Hello!” squeaked the child, and she pushed her way through the badger and into his hollow home.