Once upon a time, at the edge of a dark and hairy forest, high up on a top of a big mountain, lived a creature like you’ve never seen. His name was Mr. Shnutzel and he was quite friendly. He was short, round and happy. He did not know that the forest he was living in was actually a giant`s big nose.
One day, the giant grabbed him with his humangous fingers and tortured him. He squeezed him, pressed and roll him so much that poor Mr. Snutzel got really dizzy and fainted.
When the giant got tired of toying with him, he flicked him. Poor Mr. Shnutzel flew all the way down to the ground where he landed on a pile of rags. He had to wait for the giant to be asleep in order to get back to his cave.
All that wait made Mr. Shnutzel feel uncomfortable. He hated getting dry as it was making it difficult for him to move and he had to climb back all that mountain to reach his place.
At the first snores he heard coming from the giant, he headed towards him and then started his ascension. It took him couple of good hours to be back home. When he entered his house, he could not believe his eyes. Half of it was gone. The back walls were completely missing. The giant had ruined his home.
He had built his house all by himself and he always took pride in it. He liked to spend his evenings on the porch and gaze at the sunset, thinking how lucky he was to have a place of his own. Suddenly he did not feel that lucky anymore!
He worked hard to patch the cracks in the walls and fix all the damages caused by that terrible giant and his greasy fingers. Little he knew that it won’t last long until his beautiful house would get hit by another disaster.
A few days after he settled in, one morning he woke up all scared. Although he was asleep, he had felt the earthquake that just shook his entire house. When he opened his eyes he was saddened to see that half of his house was in ruin and that most of his furniture had been destroyed.
Once more he got upset and felt so powerless. In spite of his sadness, he continued to redo his dwelling. Since he was very handy and crafty, it did not take him too long to repair everything.
The following morning he woke up just to see his dwelling getting flooded. All of his pieces of furniture had been taken away by the water that gushed in without any warning.
This time, the giant got Mr. Shnutzel mad. He came out on the doorsteps of his house and shouted at him as loud as he could: “Enough is enough!” He pulled one of the hairs with all his strength and jumped up and down trying to take out his anger.
All that movement of the hair in the cave tickled the giant’s nostril and made him sneeze. That sneeze was so powerful that it send Mr. Shnutzel flying out of the cave.
This time, since the giant was having a walk outside, Mr. Shnutzel landed on a leaf, at the bottom of a white mushroom. He was relieved to see he was still alive. He was even more pleased to find himself in a cozy shaded area.
He marvelled at the beautiful coloured flowers and got a bit worried by the sight of butterflies. The other insects that crawled around looking for food gave him a good scare as he thought they would try to eat him.
Thus he took refuge under the mushroom’s head and stayed hidden for a few hours. When his arms could not hold on anymore to the striations of the mushroom, he slid down on its leg.
To his surprise, the leaf he had landed on earlier wasn’t there anymore. The wind had blown it away.
A few warm raindrops fell down next to him which made the soil muddy. His feet got stuck and he was barely moving. He looked around him and quickly decided to head towards the big tree standing in front of him. There he could take shelter between the many crevasses of the bark.
When he finally made it to the tree, he was exhausted. All this new adventure got him really tired. He wasn’t that young anymore. He fell asleep with his back against the tree and dreamt of his house up high on the mountain.
The following morning, a loud sound woke him up. It was a dog barking at a chipmunk that scurried up the tree. Mr. Shnutzel froze at the sight of that hairy monster with a thundery voice: "Wooof! Wooof!"
As the dog got closer, Mr. Shnutzel tried to make himself less visible. All of the sudden, the dog sniffed the tree and Mr. Snutzel closed his eyes in terror. He screamed for help but no one was around to save him.
Poor Mr. Snutzel fainted again. When he came back to his senses, he saw he was in a cave. A wet and dark one. He did not know how he got there. All he could remember was that hairy beast getting closer to him.
He walked around exploring the cave and waited to see if it belonged to someone. At the end of the day, since no one came to kick him out, he claimed the cave as his.
He liked his new residence as the moisture made it easier for him to build his furniture. It was just the right temperature for him.
The only inconvenient was that once in a way his cave would get flooded for a second or two, but he was fine with that. He had learnt from his previous experiences to anchor his furniture to the walls so that it won’t get taken by the water.
Mr. Shnutzel thought this was the best house ever! He lived there happily ever after! He might still be alive today! If you get closer to your dog’s left nostril, you may see Mr. Shnutzel waiving at you!
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@2020 Lavi Picu aka Lyme Poet. All rights reserved.
