“Hurry, Little Pine! Something is happening!” the elves called. A loud, musical humming was filling the air. “It’s vibrating!” the elves said, pointing to the platform.
Little Pine joined the circle they had formed around the big, black platform and stared at it as the humming grew louder and louder and the vibrating got faster and faster.
All of a sudden, there was a sharp clap of sound. The humming stopped, and right before their eyes, in a shower of sparks, a small creature that looked like a squirrel appeared, holding a hockey stick in his paw.
“It worked! Wow! I’m here!” it shouted in a high, excited voice. “This is fantastic!”
Little Pine and the elves whooped in surprise. Seeing them, the squirrel laughed and said, “Yo! Earthlings! Greetings from the Spirits of Fun! I am the Squirrel Spirit and I’ve come to play! Where’s the ice? Where are the nuts? Who are you?”
The elves burst into laughter. “We’re the elves,” they said, “And this is our friend, Little Pine. Welcome! Welcome to our woodland!”
The oldest elf stepped forward and reached out to shake Squirrel Spirit’s paw. “I’m Teddy Elf,” he said, “and we have nuts aplenty for you. Our own squirrels have been gathering our finest for weeks now. Follow me and we’ll fix you up and give you a tour of our woods.”
As they scampered to the elves’ house, Teddy told Squirrel Spirit that their pond hadn’t frozen yet and apologized for the lack of ice. The squirrel just laughed and said, “No matter. I can slide on water just as well.”
He stared at the trees, and marveled at the heaps of leaves that blanketed the ground. His little nose wiggled nonstop as he took in all the fragrances of the woods. “This is amazing!” he said. “It’s so big, and rich, and, and, well, solid!”
The elves giggled as he chattered. You could see that he was nearly beside himself with excitement. He explained to them that the Spirits of Fun would be coming every day now. He got to come first because he was highly skilled at leaping and would clear all the circuits as he made his way here, just to make sure everything was working correctly for the others.
The other spirits could see him from the platform in their own world where they were lined up, ready to come. And he heard them laugh as he touched down here.
When they got to the elves’ home, Mother Elf set out a huge bowl of nuts, seeds and berries, and Squirrel Spirit chortled in delight with every bite he took. The more he ate, the happier he got, and his happiness floated into air around him as if it was a magical scent, and everyone breathed it in and was filled with merriment.
After they were finished with their snack, they started toward Holly Trail to begin their tour.
Little Pine excused himself, saying he would catch up with them when they reached the pond, and he hurried home to tell his mother that the first Spirit of Fun had arrived and that he was, of all things, a squirrel!
Mother Pine said she would spread the word to all the other pines and they would tell the woodlands’ own squirrels. She was sure they would want to gather to greet him.
And so the word spread. And when the elves and their special guest finally reached the pond, a whole choir of squirrels was waiting with a small mountain of seeds and nuts, and they burst into song, and the entire woodland sparkled with delight.