When Sophie the Tiger was big enough, she loved to go on adventures with her big sister Rosie. Rosie loved to teach Sophie all the things she’d learnt, like how to prowl, how to growl as ferociously as possible, how to catch fish and which ones are the tastiest, and the best places to lie in the sun on a warm day. Sophie loved to follow Rosie around and try to do whatever she did. But mostly the two sisters loved to be near each other.
One sunny autumn afternoon, after they had spent the morning practicing their ferocious growls on a small family of beetles (or perhaps it was a family of small beetles, I don’t quite recall), and the beetles had gotten so upset that they had scurried into a crack in the ground and refused to emerge until the following spring, Rosie and Sophie were lying on a grassy bank watching the stream flow lazily by, and wondering what to do next.
Rosie lay on her back in the warm grass, feeling the sun on her tummy fur. A mother duck was swimming downstream, leading her family of five fluffy ducklings. She gave a cautions “quack” when she saw Rose and Sophie, and lead her ducklings towards the middle of the river. The last and littlest duckling swam curiously towards the bank. Sophie turned and sniffed at the duckling who paddled away furiously to catch up with his mother and siblings.
“I know,” said Rosie, “Let’s go and look for dinosaur bones.”
Sophie jumped to her paws. “Are there any dinosaurs?” she asked, her ears quivering with excitement. “I’ve never seen one.”
“No,” said Rosie, “the dinosaurs are all gone. But some of their bones have turned into fossils. I learnt about them at pre-school when we went to the Hall of Science.”
“What’s a fussel?” asked Sophie.
“They’re things you dig up,” said Rosie, not being quite sure herself.
“You mean like a carrot?” asked Sophie. “I dug up a carrot once. But I gave it to a bunny rabbit.”
“I think so,” said Rosie. “Only I think you have to dig deeper. More like a potato.”
“Oh,” said Sophie, and thought a little. “They have potatoes at that people-village up in the hills,” she said. “Maybe they grow fussels there too?”
“Yes,” said Rosie. “They’re sure to”, she said. “Come on. Let’s go.”
And so the two tigers headed off together.
Rosie and Sophie walked side by side along the path that ran by the side of the river. After a while the path became narrower and Sophie and Rosie had to walk one in front of the other. They came to a place where a narrow path lead off to the right. There was a post in the ground, and a board nailed to it upon which was written “Little Pig”. Underneath was a smaller board saying “No soliciting”, and underneath that was a piece of note paper, upon which was written, “No Big Bad Wolves”. Rosie turned to Sophie and asked “Shall we see what’s down here?”. Sophie nodded.
The path ended in front of a small brick house. On the porch, a small, pink pig sat in a rocking chair, chewing a piece of grass. “Hello little Tigers,” said the pig.
“Hello,” said Rosie curiously, “Do you live here by yourself?”
The pig explained that his two brothers used to live next door, but that their houses had been demolished due to not meeting the local building codes, and they had moved to Florida, so he was feeling a little lonely. “Would you like some tea?” he asked.
Rosie and Sophie followed the pig into his house. He made a large pot of tea and put out a plate full of scones with a bowl jam and and another of clotted cream.
“We’re looking for dinosaur bones,” said Sophie after she’d finished her fourth scone. “Would you like to come?” she asked, and licked a blob of clotted cream of her nose.
“Oh yes!” said the piggy. “I have a a very good nose for finding things that are buried.”
The two tigers and the pig set off through the forest. The pig put his snout to the ground and sniffed and the tigers followed. They threaded their way between the trees and up a muddy river bank. Suddenly Rosie stopped. “Look!” she called. Sophie came to stand beside her and the pig scurried back to see what she had found.
Rosie pointed with her nose at the mud in front of her. “Tracks,” she said. The other animals peered at the paw prints in the mud.
“What are they?” asked Sophie. “They look like tiger paws, but they’re too small.”
“But they’re much too big for a kitty-cat,” said the piggy.
“Maybe a leopard,” suggested Rosie thoughtfully. “Let’s follow them and see where they lead.”
The two tigers and the pig set off, this time with Rosie in the front. The tracks continued through the trees for a little while longer and then climbed a hill. At the top was a mound of loose earth. The pig sniffed. “There’s something buried underneath,” he said. Sophie and Rose started to dig with their big front paws.
After about ten minutes, Sophie’s claw hit something hard. There was a small metalic “clink” sound. They carefully dug a little further and brushed the dirt away to reveal a large wooden box, fastened with iron straps and hinges. It was too heavy for either tiger to lift by herself, so Rose took one side and Sophie took the other, and together they lifted the chest out of the pit.
Fortunately there was no lock on the box. But the hinges had rusted and creaked loudly as the three animals pushed and pulled at the lid to open it. At last, with one last creak, the like swung open, and inside Rosie and Sophie saw the largest bone they had ever seen. It was a soft mottled white colour, smooth, and several inches longer than Rosie’s tail. Around one end was tied a paper tag on which the words “This dinosaur bone belongs to Baby” were written in large letters, and on the other side of the tag was written just “Baby” in big letters.
“Wow!” said Sophie, licking the tip of her nose.
“We’d better put it back,” said Rosie. “It belongs to someone else.” They put the bone back in the box, lowered it into the pit, and filled it up with earth until it was just as they had found it.
When they were done, Rosie and Sophie noticed that the pig was busy sniffing around the base of a tree and burrowing with his snout. After a minute he came up holding something black and wrinkly between his teeth. “Look!” he cried triumphantly.
“What is it?” asked Rose and Sophie together, coming a bit closer.
“It’s a truffle,” said the pig. “They’re delicious, and only we pigs can find them. C’mon!” And he trotted back to his home, holding the truffle proudly between his teeth, while Rose and Sophie followed curiously behind.
By the time Rose and Sophie reached the pig’s little brick house, he had already put on his apron and put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. The pig made three plates of fresh pasta and put shaved truffles and parmesan cheese on top. The two tigers were so hungry after all the digging they’ed done, that they both licked their plates clean. They both said “Yum!” and thanked the piggy lovingly for his hospitality, and then went on their way, purring softly to themselves.
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