Part One: The Little Panda Goes to the Big City
Once upon a time, there was a little panda bear living all alone in the big bamboo forest. She would sleep in the wood, and eat in the wood, and play there all day long. She had had a mommy and daddy, but they had gone away when some mean men came and took them. The little panda had hidden in the roots of the big tree as her mommy told her and stayed there very patiently and very still until she was sure the men were gone. And when she was very, very sure they were gone--because men make lots of noise--and very, very hungry, she came out from among the roots of the big tree. But, Mommy was gone, and Daddy was gone, and the little panda bear was all alone.
'Maybe, if I am very patient,' thought the little panda bear, 'they will come back.' So, she waited and waited and watched the sun climb in the sky and descend it again many, many, many times, but neither her mommy nor her daddy came back.
Then she came to what was very likely a very foolish decision. 'Maybe, if I go and ask the men nicely where they took my mommy and daddy, they will tell me and I can go be with them.' So, she took up a sack lunch of the best things to eat in the bamboo forest and set off to find the place where men live.
She hadn't gone very far when she came upon the bamboo wood-cutter's son. "Good morning, good man-person. Men came and took my mommy and daddy away many days ago. I've waited patiently for them to come back, but they haven't. So, could you please tell me where they took my mommy and daddy?"
The small boy thought for a long time while the little panda stood patiently waiting for him to answer. "I could ask my daddy," he said at last. "My daddy knows many things. I'll bet he would know where the hunters took your mommy and daddy. I'll go ask him." And, with that, he jumped to his feet and ran off to the place where his father was cutting bamboo trees.
The little panda sat down and waited some more.
Several minutes later, the boy returned. "My daddy says they may have been taken to be sent to a zoo."
"A zoo," exclaimed the little panda bear. "Is that a good place?"
"I don't know," said the little boy, who had never actually seen a zoo or knew what one was. "But it seems to me that the bamboo forest is the best place to be in the whole world. I don't think I would like living in a zoo. Maybe you should go back to your house and wait some more."
But the little panda didn't really understand the idea of "house." The canopy of the bamboo forest was all the roof she had ever really known, the clean lines of the timber, the only walls. Besides, she was tired of waiting. So, she thanked the boy very nicely for answering her questions the best that he could and went on her way.
Soon, she left the woods altogether and came to a plain of wide fields. The fields were divided into largish squares that were quite flooded with green shoots growing up through the water and narrow, flatened-topped ridges of beaten earth between them. A man in high rubber boots and a straw hat was sitting on one of these ridges, just preparing to eat his lunch. He looked up as he saw the little panda coming toward him. "Good day, little panda. Have you come to share my lunch with me," he asked, smiling.
"Good day, kind sir. Thank you very much for the offer, but as you can see, I have brought my own lunch with me," the little panda patted her sack lunch. "I don't think I ought to eat it too soon though. I have come all the way from the bamboo forest, and I think I may have farther yet to go. Several days ago, some hunters came and took away my mommy and daddy. I do not know where they took them. The wood-cutter's son thought they may have been sent to a zoo. Have you seen my mommy and daddy?"
"No, little panda, I am sorry. I have not seen them. The wood-cutter's son may be right though. If the hunters took them to the zoo, they would be in the big city, and that is very far away indeed. I would not go there if I were you."
"Is the zoo a good place?"
"For some, it is a good place, but for a young panda like you, perhaps, it would not be. Perhaps, you should go back to the bamboo forest."
But the little panda shook her head. "Thank you very much, sir, but I do think it would not be much fun living all alone without my mommy or daddy in the big bamboo forest. If it is all the same to you, could you tell me how to get to the big city?" So, the rice farmer gave her directions to the big city and the little panda went her way.
Soon, the little panda came to the path of one smooth rock that the farmer had described to her. By this "road," as he had called it, was a sign on a metal pole, which read: "Bus Stop," just as the farmer said it would. And, beside this pole, were an old woman and a young girl. The little panda went up to the old woman. "Pardon me, please, but is this where I get the bus to the big city?"
"Yes, little panda," said the old woman, "but why would you want to go to the big city?"
So the little panda told the old woman her story. When she was done, the old woman looked very sad. "Yes, you should not be separated from your parents, but the big city is no place for a little panda. And, I do not think you would like living in a zoo. Perhaps, you should go back to your home.
"Thank you very much,"said the little panda, "but I must find my mommy and daddy."
"Well," said the old woman, "do you have the bus fare?"
"Bus fare," asked the little panda.
"To ride on the bus, you must have the money for the bus fare. I would give you some, but I only have enough really to get my granddaughter and myself home to the city as it is."
"What is money," asked the little panda.
The old woman took out some coin and some paper from her pocket and showed the little panda. "Among people, we use this to pay for things. You must have money to ride on the bus."
"Oh," said the little panda, who didn't have pockets much less money. How would she ever get to the big city to find her mommy and daddy now?
The little girl, then, tugged on her grandmother's jacket. The old woman leaned over and the little girl whispered something in her ear.
"That is a very good idea, child," said the old woman. "Can you be very patient and very still, little panda?"
The little panda knew she could be very patient and very still. "Yes, ma'm," she said.
"Then climb on granddaughter's back and wrap your ams around her neck and your feet around her waist and pretend to be a knapsack. Many children have knapsacks that look just like little pandas. The bus driver will never know the difference."
So the little panda climbed on the granddaughter's back and pretended to be a knapsack and the bus came, and they all got on board the bus and rode all the way to the big city. And, when the bus neared the city zoo, the little panda thanked the old woman and her granddaughter and bid them goodbye, slipped in among the people waiting to get off the bus by the back door, and scurried out when the doors openned.
The big city was indeed a scary place, filled with man noises and big and little busses, and people on bicycles and people walking this way and that. All the people seemed to know where they were going, but that didn't make it seem any the less chaotic to the little panda. But, not far away was a big iron gate with an arch over it that said "Zoo," and the little panda went as fast as she could toward that gate. 'I will go inside and make them give me back my mommy and daddy,' thought the little panda. And so she marched up to the gate as quickly as her little legs could carry her.
"Woah, there, little panda. Where do you think you are going without a ticket," asked a man in a white suit with a black brimmed white hat, who was standing by the gate.
"Please, sir," said the little panda, "I've come all the way from the bamboo forest." And then, she told the ticket man her story.
When she was finished, the ticket taker looked very said. "I am very sorry, little panda. We do have a panda inside, but he is a very old one, who was rescued from hunters long ago. We do not like to take pandas away from their home. They are much happier in places like your bamboo forest. No, if the hunters took your mommy and daddy, it was not for our zoo."
The little panda was now very sad too. She had been hoping she would find her parents here. Great tears welled up in her dark eyes and her little nose started to run. "Where will I find my mommy and daddy?"
"Well," began the ticket taker, "it is possible that the hunters put them on a plane to send to a zoo in another country."
"What is a plane," asked the little panda.
Just then an angry noise filled the sky above the zoo. The ticket taker looked up and then pointed. "That is an airplane," he said. "It can take people all over the world, any where they want to go."
"How do I get on the airplane," asked the little panda. "I want to go where my mommy and daddy are."
"You have to get a ticket at the airport. That's where the planes land and take off."
"Thank you very much, sir," said the little panda. She had already made up her mind, 'if the airport is where you have to go to get on a plane, then it is the airport where I must go.' She turned and started in the direction she had seen the big silver plane in the sky going.
"But, little panda, wouldn't you like to come in and have something to eat?" The little panda had missed her lunch because one couldn't very well be still and patient and pretend to be a knapsack while eating at the same time. Her little tummy was beginning to complain too, but no, she had her sack lunch and she must be on her way. "Oh, I have my sack lunch," called back over her shoulder. "Thank you very much though." And the little panda began to run down the road toward the pedestrian crossing.
End Part One.
This story was written by AngelPie_Mouse exclusively for Guiding On The Go!
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