Author: Fern The Leopard

Fern was sitting on the couch with Bella coloring and wondered what Bella had been doing before she had met her.

“Bella,” Fern asked her, “why did you come to live in the wizard’s old tower?” Fern had found out about the Wizard’s Tower right before her eleventh birthday. She had come upon it on her first adventure when she took Bella with her back to the rainforest and befriended her. They had saved the Toucan Village from the wizard’s spell. And Bella had been living with Fern the past year.

“Well,” said Bella, “it all started a long time ago when I was just a little baby…”

“I was born in a little underground cave that had a tiny tunnel connecting it with the outside world. It came out in the middle of a clearing with a little stream running past it. Inside we had a simple little mushroom table with an oil lamp on it and three moss beds.  One bed was for my dad, one was for my mom, and one was for myself.  I was in the middle.  My dad was a lumberjack and carpenter, he had a big ax with a wooden handle that he carried everywhere with him. And my mom was a weaver and had seven different kinds of needles and yarn.  

“My family was very poor, but we were still happy.  My dad usually went out to cut the wood, and he made lots of beautiful shoes and boots to sell and for us to wear.  My mom usually stayed at home with me and hummed little tunes while she worked on her big carpets and scarves.  She taught me to weave little scarves and mittens for when it got cold. 

“I didn’t know what I’d be yet.  I liked the idea of weaving, and I liked how soft the yarn was and how comfy the blankets were, but I also loved the cozy warmth of the fireplace burning the wood that my dad had cut down. 

“Then one day, my dad said to me that it was time for me to go and get my own house, because it was getting very crowded. My bed was getting too small for me.  So I grabbed my only things that belonged to me (which were my stuffie, a little ball of yarn with a needle and a sack of food) said goodbye to my parents, and started on my way.

“I walked for about fifteen minutes and then I got to a patch of cleared grass. I found a little hole in the center of that clearingThe glow Bella saw coming out of the hole was the torch light from the secret passageway. and tried to get in, but it was too small.  And besides there was a glow coming from it so I wondered if someone else was already living there.

“Next, I kept walking and soon found a huge burrow, but it smelled like weasels. Weasels eat mice so I started running as fast as I could, and soon found a hollowed-out tree.

“Well, that tree was way too big!  I told myself I could stay here for one night and then keep going on my way tomorrow. So I knitted a little scarf and mittens for myself. Then I fell asleep, and the next thing I knew, I woke up by a loud clap of thunder. I realized the tree stump was flooding.  I very carefully gathered up my food, yarn, needle and stuffie and waded through the water for a long time, maybe an hour. And then the rain finally stopped and I could see again.  I looked around and realized I wasn’t in the rainforest anymore! I realized I was in some place with no trees, and lots and lots and lots and lots of wooden huts, with barely any grass – mostly dust.  I sneaked around the village and then found the Wizard’s Tower!

“I found a little hole where another mouse had probably lived and I snuck inside.  It reminded me so much of my parents’ old den that I stayed there. Instead of a mushroom there was a little rock ledge with a point coming out that reminded me of my mom and dad’s table. There was also another little ledge, which was longer and thicker and lower down, and it had a tiny woven really old blanket. The blanket was made out of grass. There were a few spider webs so I cleaned them up and had a snack, and then went to bed. 

“The next day I woke up and peeked out of my hole. It was darker than I had expected and two humans were walking around the room. And then one of the people said: “Mr. Wizard, have you finished your spell for that village in the rainforest?” And the other human, who was probably the wizard, said: “Not yet, it’s almost finished. And I’ll be ready soon.” 

“I told myself it wasn’t important, went back to my den and ate my breakfast from the sack of food. Halfway through my breakfast I realized that I was running low on food. So after breakfast I slipped through the hole back to the outside world. I scurried through the village and got to the edge of the rainforest. I scampered up a tree and picked some mangos.  I had brought my food sack along with me and I picked each mango and dropped it in the sack. Then I scampered back down the tree with the sack and came to a huge cocoa tree. I climbed up and opened up some cocoa pods, took out some seeds and dropped them in my sack. Then I went back home to the wizard’s tower. 

“That’s how I came to live in that old tower.  But I like your castle much better,” said Bella to Fern.

“Wow,” said Fern. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“It’s okay,” said Bella. “It happened a long time ago anyway.”

“Bella, why didn’t you come back into the rainforest and tell your parents you wanted to live with them?”

“Well,” said Bella, “I kind of didn’t think my parents would take me back.  Also, I was kind of getting bored of that old den.  But now that I think about it, I miss my parents and my mom’s blankets and my dad’s cozy fireplace and the three moss beds.”

“Wait, how old were you when you left?”

“Umm,” said Bella, “maybe six or seven?”

“So you’d been living in that tower for…”

“More than a year,” answered Bella.

“Did you have any friends before you went to the Wizard’s Tower?” asked Fern.

“I only had one friend.” answered Bella. “And that friend was a tiny little insect that barely talked. He was pretty boring. But I have way more friends now thanks to you.” Bella smiled at Fern. 

The End.

Once upon a time, there was a leopard named Fern who was princess of the rainforest.  She was six years old and loved the rainforest.  It was her favorite place in the whole world – even though she’d never been anywhere else.  She adored the bromeliads, she cherished the ipê trees, but most of all, she loved her friends and family.

One morning, Fern was sitting on the couch, bored.  She had been bored since she woke up and it seemed like there was nothing to do.  Nothing had cheered up Fern – coloring hadn’t cheered up Fern, or reading, or taking a nap, or having a snack, or going to the Forest Market or not even visiting Marsh.  Then suddenly, she got an idea.

“Mama,” Fern called to the kitchen where Mama Leopard was busy making a snack for herself.

“Yes, honey?” Mama Leopard answered.

“Can I go for a walk?”

“Of course,” purred Mama Leopard.

Fern’s idea was that she would walk around and look at everything she loved, and she could go to her favorite lake. By then she’d probably not be bored.

She scampered through the door and started walking in the direction of her favorite lake, past the Toucan Village.  Soon, she spied a giant hibiscus.

Wow, thought Fern.  That’s a huge hibiscus!

She kept walking and was startled to see her pathway blocked by a humongous, giant tree.

That’s probably a kapok tree, Fern thought.

She went around it and soon came to a watering hole.  It looked like the hole had been abandoned because it was covered in a green mat.

Water lilies! Fern thought.  She remembered that the Amazon Water Lily was the world’s biggest lily, and could hold four caymans.

She wondered if she should walk across it.

“Well,” thought Fern out loud.  “This might be my only chance!”

She poked one claw at the water lily.  It swayed a little, but stayed there.  She cautiously tiptoed on to the lily.  It stayed afloat, and started sailing across the water with the push of her weight, like a boat.  

It smoothly slowed to a stop at the bank of the watering hole.

That was so fun! Fern thought.  I wonder why lilies don’t grow in the Amazon river. It’s probably because the Amazon river has water going far too fast for it. It would just be swept along with animals on it!

She continued on her way to the pond.  Soon, she spied something orange hidden inside the bushes.

Fern went to the bushes and moved the branches aside to reveal the most beautiful flower she’d ever seen.  It was shaped like a bell; a mustard yellow-orange on the outside; on the inside it was a pale yellow with a pinkish, reddish tongue thing and it had brownish-black speckles on the outside.

Everything is a mix of colors!  What should I name it? Fern thought.  I mean, it’s a very pretty flower but I don’t know if it has a name or if anyone has discovered it yet.  I know!  I’ll name it The Orchid.

Fern collected some of the seeds in a little pouch she had brought along and started tossing them wherever she went.  She saved some seeds so that she could grow them in her backyard.

Soon, she came to a little river with no way to cross.  On the other side was the Toucan Village and beyond that was her favorite lake.

Almost there! Thought Fern.  But how do I get across the river? I know! I’ll weave a raft!

Fern started getting materials.  She collected some thin branches and long grass, and got a sharp stone and a long stick, and whittled the stick to be an ore. Next, she weaved all the branches together into one nice, floating, water-proof raft.

She got on and paddled all the way across the river to the other side.  Then, she left the raft to dry on the bank with the ore, and planned to go back that same way.

She got up and walked a long way until she realized she felt hungry.  She looked around and saw a big mango tree.

Fern walked over to the tree and started climbing the thick bark to get some of the ripest mangoes at the top.  She grabbed three of them and scampered back down the tree.

She sat down on a patch of nice soft grass, and started eating.  Then, she got up and went to the river to drink some water.  She hid the ore and raft in a clump of tall grass and went back to her picnic area and finished one of the mangoes and started on her way.

She saw lots more amazing sights on her way to the lake, but finally she got there.

The lake was a big pool of water in the shape of a flower.  It was dotted with a couple of small islands and had one sandy, pale-yellow island in the middle, like the center of a flower. On that island was a little palm tree and a mat fern had woven on the day she had discovered it.

Fern had also made a canoe with a paddle to get to the island.  Fern put the rest of her mangoes and orchid seeds inside the canoe and started paddling toward her island.

She got there and had a picnic on her mat.  She stayed there for about an hour listening to the squawks of the birds and the hums of the insects and the hisses of the snakes.  Soon, she realized it was getting late.

My mom must be worried about me, Fern thought.  She stayed there for a minute longer and then got up and went to the canoe.  She had saved the ripest mango for her mom.

Fern got inside the canoe and paddled back to the bank.  She got out of the canoe and put the mango in the pouch with the seeds.  She swung the pouch over her back and started walking in the direction of her house.  

She paddled across the river; 

…she passed the mango tree; 

…she collected more seeds from the orchids; 

…she sailed across the lily boat; 

…she went around the kapok tree;

…she passed the giant hibiscus;

…and finally, finally, finally got to her castle.

“Mooooooom,” Fern called through the front door.  “I’m hooooooome!”

“Oh honey!” Mama Leopard said bursting out of the door.  “Where have you been this whole time? I’ve been so worried! You’ve been gone for two and a half hours!”

“Hi mom, I found these cool seeds on my walk.  And I named the flowers Orchids because they’re super duper beautiful, and I’m wondering if we can plant them.  Can we? Can we???”

“Of course, honey!” purred Mama Leopard.

Fern went around the house to the garden and climbed over the gate to get to her flower patch.  She planted all of her seeds (ten seeds) and got the watering can and watered them a little bit.  Then, she went through the door to the kitchen and hid the mango behind her back.

“Hey mom,” Fern called. “Come here, I have a surprise for youuuuuu…”

Mama Leopard scampered into the kitchen and looked at Fern’s paws holding the mango behind her back.  

“What is it?” she asked Fern.

“This!” said Fern, revealing the mango from behind her back.  “Surprise!”

“Oh Fern, that’s so thoughtful of you! Thank you,” purred Mama Leopard.

“You’re welcome,” said Fern, smiling.

“It’s very nice and all, but where did you get a mango?

“Oh,” said Fern, “on my walk.”

“Where did you go on your walk?” purred Mama Leopard.

“Oh,” said Fern, “I just went to an ordinary, little lake.”

The end.

Fern had just finished dinner and was going upstairs to read books – this is how she usually falls asleep.  She said goodnight to Bella, Mama Leopard and Tsunami, and made herself comfortable in her bed.

Once upon a time when Fern was eight years old,  it was the day before Halloween Night and Fern was very anxious because she was not prepared for Halloween at all!  She wanted to carve jack-o-lanterns, she wanted to make a costume, and most of all she wanted to have a big Halloween party.  She was not ready at all!

“Mama,” Fern told Mama Leopard. “I don’t know what to start with!”

“Well,” said Mama Leopard. “Start at the beginning. What do you want to do most of all?”

“I want to do the party… a big party, with jack-o-lanterns and lots of candy, and you can dress up, and all of that!”

“Well,” said Mama Leopard, “Let’s see. First we have to go to the Forest Market to get all this stuff.  First of all, it sounds like we’re gonna need pumpkins.  How about we make a list of the stuff we need to buy?”

“Okay mama!” Fern meowed.  She dashed out of the room and came back with a clipboard, a piece of paper, and a pencil. “Can you write it all down?”

“Of course, honey,” Mama Leopard purred. “Okay so what do you want?”

“First, pumpkins.  And then I also want candy, balloons, and jack-o-lantern carving tools.  I also want fake spiderwebs and other Halloween decorations.  We also want a lot of food, like, like, the oranges can be drawn on to look like jack-o-lanterns and the bananas can be giant scary smiles!”

“All right, i wrote it down,” said Mama Leopard. “I’ll call Marsh and ask him if you can go to the store with him.”

“Okay mama,” Fern told her.  She went up to her room and went over the list of stuff while Mama Leopard called Marsh and asked if he could go to the store with Fern.

“Fern,” Mama Leopard called upstairs, “Marsh said it’s okay if you go with him and is coming soon.”

“Okay mama,” Fern called downstairs. “I’ll be here the whole time!”

Fifteen minutes later there was a knock on the door.

“Marsh!” Fern called.  She scampered over the door, dropped her coloring book, and opened the door.  And there was Marsh!

“Hi, Fern! Ready to go?”

“Of course I am,” Fern cheered. “Let’s go!”

“Bye mama,” Fern called back to her mom as they set off through the forest.

They walked until they got to the Forest Market.

“Okay,” said Fern.  “Here’s my list of stuff.  First we have to get pumpkins.”

“Great,” said Marsh.  “I see a pumpkin stall over there.”
So they went over to the pumpkin stall and picked out eight pumpkins, since there were going to be eight party guests, including herself.

They paid and put them in a cart Marsh had taken with him.

“Next, we need candy!”

“Hmm,” Marsh looked around. “I don’t see any candy stalls.”

Fern giggled. “They’re right behind you!”

“Oh!” Marsh spun around and there was the candy stall.

“Which candy should we get?” Fern asked him.

“Hmm, maybe some M&M’s? And Lollipops? And Skittles and KitKats? And Bubblegum?”

“Bubblegum isn’t a candy,” Fern pointed out.

“Yeah but it’s still good,” said Marsh.

“Fine,” Fern replied.

They went into the candy stall and realized there were bucketfuls of candy all around them.

“Woah,” said Marsh. “That’s a lot of candy!”

“I know!” Fern squealed with delight.  “This is the best place in the world!”

“Fern, don’t eat all of it yet.  Remember, we’re just buying some for your party.  Not buying it for yourself to eat in one second!”

“Awwww!” Fern meowed.  She looked around.  “I don’t see any Skittles.”

”Let’s go ask the store owner where they all went.”

So he and Fern went up to the front desk and asked the shop owner (a very aggressive looking panther) where all the Skittles went.

“We ran out,” purred the panther.  “But don’t worry, we’ll have it refilled soon.”

“How soon?” Fern asked the owner.

“Oh, in a couple of days,” said the panther.  He looked down at her. “There is another candy shop, if you’re looking for Skittles, that has all the types of candy.”

“Great,” said Fern. “We’ll go there for the Skittles.  Anyways, how much is ten packs of M&M’s, eight packs of bubble gum, five packs of lollipops, and three packs of KitKats?”

“That’ll be ten cocoa beans, miss!”

“Thank you!” said Fern.  She gave him ten cocoa beans plus one extra as a tip.

Marsh put the candy in his cart and pushed it over to the other candy shop.

They got four bags of Skittles and went on to the Halloween decorations store.

In the Halloween store there were costumes everywhere and they got five costumes and a bunch of scary Halloween decorations and spiderwebs.

“Phew,” said Fern. “I think that’s enough. Come on, let’s go back home and give it to Mama Leopard for the party.  I’m so excited I can hardly stand it!”

So they went back to Fern’s castle and found Mama Leopard reading on the couch.

“Fern!” she cried. “You’re back! And Marsh. Come on, come on, let’s decorate the yard and the house!”

So Fern and Marsh started decorating.  They decorated the front door with spiderwebs and eyes and they decorated the hall with ghosts and zombies and skeletons.  The ceiling had thousands of cobwebs on it with fake big black spiders, and in the yard there were white balloons everywhere with ghost faces drawn on them (floating) and in the middle of her yard was a big see-through canopy made out of thin leaves and there were cobwebs on the gate and there were zombies and spiders hanging down from thin wire that they tied to the trees up above, and blankets with ghosts drawn on them tied to the trees, and there was even a pretend coffin to play in.  And they made a show platform and put a coat rack with all the costumes in and different backgrounds.

“Phew,” said Fern.  “I think we’re finished!”

The sun was setting and it was almost dinnertime.

“Yay!” everyone cheered.

“I have to go home,” said Marsh. “Bye Fern, bye Mama Leopard.”

“Bye,” Mama Leopard and Fern called as they waved back.

“Well, it’s dinnertime,” said Mama Leopard. “Who wants some ice cream?!”

The end.

Once upon a time, there was a little leopard named Fern.  Her favorite color was blue.  She was a princess and was very creative.  She was two and loved the color blue.  Everything in her room was blue.  Then, one day, she met a beetle.  This beetle was a shiny green, mixed with some blue and yellow – but mostly green.

“Hi!” said Fern.  “I love your shell!”

“Thank you,” said the beetle.

“Can I play with you?” asked Fern.

“Sure,” said the beetle.  “What do you want to play?”

“We could play… tag!” suggested Fern.

“Great idea,” said the beetle.

“By the way,” asked Fern, “what’s your name?”

“My name is Shiny,” answered the beetle.

“Cool,” said Fern.  “My name’s Fern!  Anyways… tag, you’re it!”

She scampered off through the trees.

“Hey, wait up!” called Shiny. “I can’t run that fast, you know!  But….” said Shiny to himself.  “I can fly!”

He took off flying very fast.  After a long time, he found Fern.  She was sitting on a tree stump.  The beetle decided to jump out and scare her.  So he quietly landed on a leaf and climbed his way down to the forest floor.  Silently he crept over to the log where Fern was.

Suddenly, he jumped up onto the log and yelled, “BOO!”

“Aaaaah!!” yelled Fern.

“Relax,” said Shiny.  “It’s just me!”

“Uh oh,” said Fern, and scampered off through the trees again.

Shiny took off flying after her as fast as he could again.

He saw Fern right in front of him.  He reached down and…

“Tag, you’re it!”

“Hah!” said Fern.  “Oh, by the way, how did you get to me so fast?”

“I flew,” said Shiny.

“I didn’t know beetles could fly.”

“Of course beetles can fly,” said Shiny.

“I was just distracting you,” sang Fern, and jumped up and tagged Shiny.

“All right,” said Shiny.  “Can we have a little break? I’m tired.”

“Sure,” said Fern.  “By the way, why are you green? I thought blue was the best color.”

“Nope, it’s green, for sure!”

“Why?” asked Fern.

“Oh, because green is the color of everything. It’s the color of plants, it’s the color of flower stems, it’s the color of grass, it’s the color of unripe mangoes, it’s basically the color of everything.”

“Ohh,” said Fern.  “Well, do you want to go home and have a snack?”

“Sure,” said Shiny.  “But where is your home?”

“You don’t know where my home is?”

“Nope.”

“Wow.  Well, come on, I’ll show you.”

Soon they arrived at Fern’s castle.  It was just a plain old wooden castle, and they didn’t have a lot of money, but they were still very happy.

“So this is my house…” said Fern.  “Oh come look at my room!”

“Okay,” said Shiny.

So Fern led Shiny upstairs.

“This is your room?” said Shiny.  “I expected it to be more, um, colorful.”

“Oh,” said Fern.  “Well, blue is my favorite color.  Anyways, do you want to go have a snack?”

“Yes!” cheered Shiny.

So they went downstairs where Mama Leopard was sitting on the couch, reading a book.  She looked up when Fern and Shiny came bursting down the stairs.

“Oh hi Fern,” she purred. “Who’s your new friend?”

“This is Shiny,” Fern answered.  “We’re wondering if we could have a snack.”

“Of course,” meowed Mama Leopard.  “Which do you want: mangoes or bananas?”

“Mango please,” said Fern.  And at the same time, Shiny said, “Banana please!”

“Which one?” meowed Mama Leopard.

“Umm,” Fern and Shiny looked at eachother.

“I’m okay with mangoes,” said Shiny.  “But I’d still rather have bananas.”

“Well,” purred Mama Leopard, “it seems that Fern wants mango, but Shiny would rather have banana.  Hmm… oh I know!  I’ll give you guys both!”

So Fern and Shiny seated themselves at Fern’s table while Mama Leopard grabbed a big fancy plate and cut one banana into quarters on one half of the plate, and on the other half, she cut a mango into quarters.

“Mmm,” said Shiny.  “This is a very good banana!”

“I know,” meowed Fern.  “And the mango is really good too!”

“Thank you,” purred Mama Leopard.  “Shiny, would you like anything to drink?”

“Yes please!” said Shiny.

“Me too mama! I want something too!,” meowed Fern.

“So would you want plain water or something else?”

“Plain water please,” Fern and Shiny said at the same time.

So mama leopard got them two cups of water.

After they were done eating and drinking, Fern said to Shiny, “Hey wanna go play outside?”

“Sure!” said Shiny.

So Fern and Shiny played Hide and Seek the rest of the evening.

“Okay,” said Shiny when they had finished playing hide and seek. “Well… oh! My mom’s calling me, I better go home.  Bye!”

“Well,” meowed Fern when Shiny left. “Shiny is very funny.  But I think I’ll make my color green. Blue has been my favorite color ever since I was a little kitten, so I think now I should make it different.”

And green has been her favorite color since then, and still is green.

So when you ask Fern what her favorite color is, she’ll say,” Green – I love green.”

The end.