Herman the Hedgehog
Bedtime Tales from the Woodland
by
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Herman the Hedgehog and the Strange Track in the Snow
A January Day in the Life of a Hedgehog Family.
One cold, snowy morning, Herman the Hedgehog woke up with a loud yawn. “Aaaah! Good morning Lisa,” he said to his wife. ”Did you sleep well?” “Very well,” she replied. “Very warm and snug under this blanket of old straw you and Henry got hold of.” Henry was Herman and Lisa’s son. They also had a daughter called Finny. Actually that was short for the lovely Irish name of Fionnulagh, (pronounced “Fin – noo – lah”) which is quite long, so everyone called her Finny for short.
“That’s good, and what would you like for breakfast this morning, my dear?” said Herman. “Oh, how about some snail omelette with a nice cup of tea?” “Coming up,” said Herman and he was soon busy getting breakfast ready.
After breakfast, Henry and Finny wanted to go out and play in the snow.
They called on their friends the mice children. Mr and Mrs Mouse had six children – Mabby, Mebby, Mibby, Mobby, Mubby -- and Fred. They all had squeaky high voices like mice usually have, except Fred. His voice was deep like a grown-up man. “Hello, Henry! Hello Finny!” squealed the five young mice. “HELLO,” said deep-voice Fred. The hedgehog and mice friends were soon having lots of fun making snowhogs and snowmice and throwing snowballs at each other.
Meanwhile, Herman set off into the wintry wood, which was covered in a white carpet. The branches hung low under the weight of the snow. A few snowflakes still found their way through the branches of the high trees and circled lazily around like fairies.
Herman was out looking for a few juicy snacks for lunch, but it wasn’t easy. It is hard for a hedgehog to find food in winter. Mostly they just slept all day, but Hermann was hungry, and so was Lisa. As he passed through the trees he saw ahead his old friends of the wood – Mr Rabbit and Mr Badger. They were looking at the snow in a funny way.
“H..H..H.. Hello Hermann,” said Mr Rabbit, “C..C..C..Cold, isn’t it?” Mr Rabbit stuttered sometimes when he talked. This was because rabbits are very nervous animals and their noses twitch a lot when they are talking. And also Mr Rabbit’s large teeth were chattering because of the cold. “Good morning, Herman,” said Mr Badger in his gruff voice. He didn’t like talking much, but he was a good old friend.
“What’s going on?” asked Herman, as he saw them gazing at the snow with puzzled expressions. “Well”, answered Rabbit, “L..l..l..look at this.” Herman looked down where Rabbit pointed, and sure enough there was strange track in the snow.
What could it be? It wasn’t made of footprints as an animal’s feet would leave. It was more like a line in the snow. It started near where the three friends stood, quite suddenly, and led off towards some thick bushes. “Be careful, might be a snake!” said Herman. “No,” Badger said, “Snakes leave wiggly lines in the snow and dirt when they wriggle along, not straight ones.”
“Let’s follow it and find out where it goes and what made it!” said Herman, who was very brave…sometimes. But he was careful to hide behind Badger, who was big and strong, as they followed along the track. Rabbit, meanwhile, who wasn’t very brave at all, hid behind Herman.
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About the Book
At around about six years old, Sophie Wingate found it hard to go to sleep, because life was simply too exciting. As her father it was my pleasant duty to tuck her up and tell her made-up stories. She would help and, usually, had better ideas than me. Often, I would fall asleep first and she would have to wake me up to carry on. This is how Herman the Hedgehog was created. He is a friendly, good-hearted hedgehog, whose family have some remarkable, sometimes scary, adventures in the quiet wood. There are twelve stories in this collection. Quite by chance each one takes place in a different month of the year. Herman and his family members come across many other animals in these tales, including Badger, Rabbit, the Mouse family and Owl. Fortunately, they all speak English, except the dogs, who are not very nice anyway, and the Frog, whose English is limited. Mums and Dads should read these stories out loud, and pay special attention to the voices!
About the Author
Frank Wingate has been a teacher, PR man, businessman and manager. In his career he has written and edited many things -- newspaper articles, business books, reports, proposals, plans and memos. However, the most enjoyable thing he has written, but not the easiest, is Herman the Hedgehog. The stories were actually told some years ago, when Frank and his family lived in Hong Kong. He would tell them to his daughter, Sophie, to help her sleep. But now they are written down for Sophie, who is now 18, to hand on one day to her own family. They are also available now for anyone else who enjoys the wonder of telling stories to their small children.