Season 3, episode 3
Zunzuncito, a tiny bee hummingbird, just wants to suck delicious nectar from beautiful flowers. But he is not the only one hunting for food. After being chased away from flowers by a group of bees, Zunzuncito is now trapped in a spiderweb. There are many large spiders in Cuba and some of them do suck the blood of little birds caught in their webs. How will Zunzuncito escape?
This story is told in the the present tense. Repeated words and phrases include bird, spiderweb, spider, cries, scared, and stuck.
Chapter 3: Trapped!
Zunzuncito is a bee hummingbird – the smallest bird in the world. He lives in Cuba and survives on a diet of nectar and very small insects. It seems easy to fly from flower to flower sucking nectar, but sometimes it is hard. Other birds also suck nectar. There other hummingbirds that are bigger than tiny Zunzuncito and they block the flowers. There are also insects like bees that collect pollen from flowers. Zunzuncito tries to look for flowers, but they are all occupied. The bees are annoyed with Zunzuncito. They form a group and attack the bird. He escapes, but he encounters another problem. He is stuck and can’t move.
Zunzuncito is trapped! He is trapped in a spider web. The spider web is big and strong. Zunzuncito moves and moves, but he can’t escape. Furthermore, when he moves, he gets more trapped.
“This can’t be happening,” Zunzuncito exclaims.
“Are you trapped too?”
Zunzuncito hears a small voice. He moves his head a little and sees an insect trapped in the spider web.
“Yes,” Zunzuncito replies. “I can’t escape. When I try to escape, I only get more trapped.”
“The same thing happens to me. It happens to all the insects in spider webs,” the insect says.
“So what now? Are we trapped in the spider web forever?” Zunzuncito asks the insect.
Suddenly, Zunzuncito hears a sound. Something is walking on the spider web. Zunzuncito sees long, thin legs. The long, thin legs walk towards the trapped insect. Zunzuncito counts the legs – there are eight. It is a spider! Zunzuncito does not like spiders.
“Hello boys,” the spider says. It is black, brown and big. The spider looks at the insect and then at Zunzuncito.
“H-hello,” Zunzuncito replies nervously. Zunzuncito is scared of spiders.
“You are a very small bird,” the spider says. “I think you will make a delicious dinner.”
Zunzuncito is scared. He doesn’t want to be a delicious dinner for an enormous spider! Zunzuncito doesn’t want to be in the spider web, he wants to be in a field of flowers.
“Please don’t eat me, Ms. Spider,” Zunzuncito cries.
“I’m not going to eat you, little bird. I am going to suck your blood,” the spider responds and touches Zunzuncito with one of her long legs.
Now Zunzuncito is really scared of the spider. Zunzuncito wants to escape. He wants to fly to the flowers. He wants to fly to his mom’s house. But he can’t. He’s trapped in the spider web.
Suddenly, the spider web moves. A big insect is trapped and moves the spider web. The spider looks at the insect and is annoyed.
“Just a moment. Don’t go anywhere!” the spider says to Zunzuncito as she leaves to inspect the new insect. Once the spider is gone, Zunzuncito starts to cry. He is very scared.
“I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die!” Zunzuncito cries.
“You’re not going to die, friend,” a voice says.
“Who is it? Who’s there?” Zunzuncito asks. He tries to move to see who is talking.
“I am a friend. Don’t move. I’m going to help you,” the voice replies.
Zunzuncito wants to escape from the spider web so he doesn’t move any more. Hands touch Zunzuncito. The hands break the spider web. They break all of the lines of the spider web that are connected to Zunzuncito.
Zunzuncito falls to the ground. He is free from the spider web! He moves his wings to get rid of the rest of the spider web. He is so happy that he sings a little.
The spider looks at Zunzuncito from her spider web. She is really annoyed because her web is destroyed and her dinner escaped.
Zunzuncito sticks his tongue out at the spider and looks for his liberator. He looks through all the plants but he doesn’t see anyone. Who freed Zunzuncito?
You can also watch a video of this story on YouTube!
Zunzuncito’s Adventure is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats.
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