Season 3, episode 4
It’s not easy being the smallest bird in the world. You have to deal with bigger bully birds, bees that don’t want to share and spiders that want to suck your blood. Zunzuncito is tired of being small. Perhaps if he is big and strong he can save himself from these sticky situations. After all, the animal that saved him from the spiderweb must be big and strong, right?
This story is told in the the present tense. Repeated words and phrases include bird, small, trapped, big, and small.
Chapter 4: I Want to be Big
Zunzuncito, the small bee hummingbird only wants to suck sweet nectar from the prettiest flowers in Cuba, but he has had a lot of problems. First, the bigger hummingbirds blocked the flowers. Then, a group of bees attacked him because they were using the flowers and didn’t want to share. Then he got trapped in a spiderweb. All these problems occurred because Zunzuncito is small. He is the smallest of all the birds. Zunzuncito doesn’t want more problems. He doesn’t want to be small, he wants to be big!
Zunzuncito looks for the animal that saved him from the spiderweb. He thinks it is a big, fantastic animal because it was able to destroy the spiderweb and free Zunzuncito. Zunzuncito wants to be a big, fantastic animal like his rescuer.
Zunzuncito searches and searches, but he can’t find the animal that freed him. He is very thankful and he wants to express his thanks to his rescuer, but where is he?
“I don’t know where you are, but thanks for saving me,” Zunzuncito yells.
“You’re welcome, friend,” a voice responds.
Zunzuncito hears the voice and looks for an animal, but he doesn’t see anything. He imagines that it is a big animal to have been able to break the spider web and free Zunzuncito.
Suddenly, Zunzuncito is very sad and frustrated. He doesn’t like being small. He has problems with other birds because he is small. He has problems with bees because he is small. He has problems with spiders because he is small. He almost died because he is so small!
Zunzuncito sits on the ground and cries. He cries because he is little and he wants to be big.
“What’s wrong, friend?” the voice asks him.
“I’m small. I’m very small. I don’t want to be small!” Zunzuncito cries.
“Being small is not so bad,” the voice responds.
“You don’t understand because you are probably a big, strong animal. I have a lot of problems because I am small,” Zunzuncito closes his eyes and cries even more.
Two little hands touch Zunzuncito. He opens his eyes and sees a frog. The frog is black with two yellow lines. But the biggest surprise is that the frog is little. The frog is smaller than Zunzuncito.
“It’s okay friend,” the small frog says. When Zunzuncito hears the tiny frog’s voice, he recognizes the voice of his liberator. His liberator isn’t a big animal. He is a small animal. He is a really small animal.
“You aren’t big. You’re small,” Zunzuncito exclaims.
“Being small is not so bad,” the frog repeats himself.
“I don’t like being small. It only causes problems. I want to be big,” Zunzuncito says. Then he explains his problem with the large hummingbird, his problem with the bees and his problem with the spider. The tiny frog listens attentively and thinks about Zunzuncito’s problems. He thinks he has an idea.
“Do you really want to be big?” the tiny frog asks Zunzuncito.
“Yes. I don’t want to be little anymore,” Zunzuncito replies.
“I have an idea. There is a special flower. The nectar in the flower is magic. The animals that drink the nectar receive a wish. You can drink the nectar and wish to be big,” the frog says.
Zunzuncito thinks about the plan. He thinks it is a fantastic plan. He wants to suck the nectar from the flower right away.
“Where is the magic flower?” Zunzuncito asks.
“I don’t know where it is,” the frog responds.
“Then how are we going to find the flower?” Zunzuncito exclaims. He is anxious to be big.
“We can talk to Majá.”
“Who is Majá?”
“Majá is the smartest creature in the forest. She knows everything. Let’s go!” the tiny frog explains.
Zunzuncito is surprised. The tiny frog wants to help him. He just met the frog. They are talking about an adventure and he doesn’t even know his name yet.
“My name is Zunzuncito,” he introduces himself. “What’s your name?”
“I am the Monte Iberia frog. My friends just call me Monty.”
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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