Once upon a time, there was a special place in the forest, where the squirrels chatted andran up the barks of the trees, and the baby birds chirped in their nests Where rabbits lived under large roots in the trees, and old owls sat hooting, and deer grazed on the brush. There was a cherry tree that grew in the forest. The animals liked the tree very much because of its sweet cherries. They played and ate around the tree all the time.

    The cherry tree is a small tree, and the larger trees in the forest were a little jealous of all the attention that the cherry tree got from the animals. The larger trees got together and came up with a way to stop all the attention towards the cheery tree. They all moved their branches, over the cherry tree so it wouldn’t get much sunlight.  (Dim the lights or hold your arms over)  Now it was dark where the cherry tree stood, and the cherry tree grew weak.

   It was a mild winter for the cherry tree but spring came, and that is when the cherry tree really needed the sunlight, but the larger trees held firm and hung their branches over the cherry tree.

   The cherry tree had very little flowers that spring. That summer, there were very few cherries for the animals. The animals stopped coming around because there were no more sweet cherries. They also stopped coming by the large trees too.

   There was no more squirrels running up the barks of the tree. There was no more chirping of little chicks in the nests of their branches. No more rabbit holes under their large roots. There was no more hooting of the old owls, and no more grazing deer. It was silent and dark in the forest that summer. The large trees didn’t realize the mistake that they made, and were real lonely. They all got together and came up with a new plan, and hoped that it wasn’t too late to help the cherry tree.

   Well it was a rough winter and the large trees were worried now that the cherry tree was too weak. They tried their best to block the cold winds that fly through the forest.

   Spring finally came and the large trees moved their branches as much as they could to give the cherry tree all the sunlight that they could. The sun warmed the cherry tree, and it started to grow strong again. It’s branches reached up to the sky. The larger trees were glad that the cherry tree was doing well again

   Later that spring, the blossoms on the cherry tree were the largest, and whitest flowers, that anyone has ever seen. It was so bright, that the animals could see it through the thick forest, and could smell the scent of the flowers. When the cherries came, they too were the biggest and sweetest cherries that you ever saw. All of the animals came back and ate and played by the cherry tree, and the large trees too! The squirrels chatted ran up the barks of the trees, and the baby birds chirped in their nests and rabbits lived under large roots in the trees, and deer grazed on the brush and the old owl sat in the branches hooting. Once again, it became a special place in the forest.

                                                                        

                                                                             THE END

TIP  Kids love making animal noises so this is a bedtime winner.

         Kids are used to noise so when the forest gets quiet just pause and make no sounds.

         Maybe they know more animals that live in the forest!

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