Season 3, episode 10
After crossing the grand lake, Zunzuncito and Monty must pass through the land of giants. The land of giants is fascinating, until Zunzuncito sees something horrible: animals in cages. Seeing the animals in cages makes him think of being trapped in the spiderweb. He has to do something, but what can a tiny bird do?
This story is told in the the present tense. Repeated words and phrases include cage, lock, beak, break, and open.
Chapter 10: Animals in Cages
Zunzuncito and Monty crossed the great lake and now they are in the land of giants. The giants are very tall. They walk on two feet. The land of giants is fascinating with a lot of strange objects and interesting homes. But there is something that Zunzuncito doesn’t like. He sees a house with animals trapped in cages. Seeing the animals makes him remember his time trapped in a spiderweb. Monty freed him from the spiderweb. Monty is smaller than Zunzuncito. If Monty can free Zunzuncito, then Zunzuncito can free other animals too.
Zunzuncito looks at the animals in the cages and he is sad and angry. It is not okay to be trapped. He wants to liberate the animals.
Zunzuncito flies to the first cage. There is a green parakeet in the cage. The parakeet seems sad. Zunzuncito talks to the parakeet.
“Hello parakeet friend. Everything will be okay. I’m going to free you!” Zunzuncito announces.
“How are you going to free me? You are really small. You can’t break the cage,” the parakeet replies.
Zunzuncito thinks for a moment. Yes, he is very small, but he doesn’t need to break the cage, he needs to open the cage. Zunzuncito examines the door. There is a lock on the door. Zunzuncito examines the lock and has an idea. He puts his beak in the lock. He moves his beak, hears a click, and the door opens.
The green parakeet looks at Zunzuncito. He is surprised and happy. He moves his wings, leaves the cage, and flies through the door.
“Thank you!” he shouts at Zunzuncito as he flies outside.
Zunzuncito looks at the rest of the cages. He needs to work quickly. He flies to the cages and puts his beak in the locks to open the doors. Monty works on the bottom cages. He uses his small hands to open the cage doors.
They open a lot of cages and free a variety of animals. They free birds and lizards. They free mice and reptiles. They free dogs and cats. Some of the animals leave immediately and others form a group close to the door.
There are only two more animals: a snake and an enormous, hairy spider. Zunzuncito is afraid of snakes and spiders. He doesn’t want to open their cages. Monty goes and works on the snake’s cage, but the cage with the hairy spider is up too high for Monty. Zunzuncito is scared of the hairy spider, but he doesn’t like to see the animal in a cage. So, he flies up to the cage and opens it.
“Thank you!” the hairy spider says.
“Don’t eat me!” Zunzuncito shouts as he flies up high in the air.
“I’m not going to eat my liberator,” the hairy spider replies. “Furthermore, I am a special spider. I am a tarantula. I prefer to eat insects, mice, and small reptiles.”
The tarantula looks at Monty. Monty is an amphibian, not a reptile, but tarantulas eat frogs too. Zunzuncito is afraid for his friend.
“Don’t eat my friend!” Zunzuncito shouts. He flies to Monty, grabs the tiny frog with his feet, and leaves the house of animals. When he leaves, the group of freed animals follows him.
“Where are we going?” they ask Zunzuncito.
Zunzuncito doesn’t have a plan for a group of animals. He only has a plan for himself and Monty.
“We are going to pass through the land of giants,” he announces to the animals. “Where is the other side?”
“I know!” a dog exclaims. He starts running through the street and stops when he doesn’t see the rest of the group.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Dog. You are big and fast and we are small,” Monty tells him.
“No problem. You can sit on me and I’ll give you a ride,” the dog tells the other animals. He lowers his head to the ground and some animals climb on the dog. Monty and Zunzuncito sit on his head. A lizard and a small snake sit on his back. Some birds fly above in the air. When all the animals are situated, the dog walks through the streets.
The dog walks for a long time and Zunzuncito only sees giants and houses. Finally, a parakeet announces that he sees the forest. After a few minutes, the animals don’t see any more houses or giants. They just see the forest.
The animals shout “Thank you!” to Zunzuncito and Monty and they each take off in different directions. Zunzuncito looks at his little friend. He is really happy because they are close to the magic flower.
“We are on the other side of the Land of Giants!” Zunzuncito exclaims. “Now, to the Valley of Snails!”
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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