On a sunny farm in the south of France lived Matilda, a little chick with golden feathers. She loved hopping about in the grass, pecking at a few seeds and, most of all, listening to the stories of Mémé and Mamé, two old hens, and of the young hens, Océane, Manon, Aurégane and Enora.
In the middle of the farmyard stood the big wooden henhouse, guarded by the fearsome (well, he thought he was fearsome) Captain Jack, a rooster with a soldier’s bearing, who crowed every morning as if he were giving orders to the whole farm:
“Cock-a-doodle-doooo! Rise and shine, soldiers!”
One day, as she was strolling near the fence, Matilda spotted a little red snout. It was Oscar, a curious young fox. Whatever the hens might think, he wasn’t mean at all. What he wanted most was to make friends.
“Hello!” said Oscar with a smile.
“Hello…” answered Matilda, a little wary.
“Do you want to play?”
Very soon, they became friends. They told each other stories, one on each side of the fence.
But after a while, Oscar couldn’t wait any longer:
“What if we could really be together?”
So, quick as a wink, he began digging a little tunnel under the fence. Matilda clucked with laughter:
“You’re going to get your beautiful fur all dirty!”
Once the tunnel was finished, Matilda tiptoed out, and the two friends set off for the river, where the water sparkled in the sun.
On the riverbank, they heard a strange noise… Splish! Splash! Whoosh!
A very busy beaver was whizzing down an enormous water slide that he had built above his dam.
“Hi! I’m Hector!” he called out, laughing. “Do you want to try?”
Matilda and Oscar nodded eagerly. They spent the whole afternoon sliding, splashing and giggling.
After all that playing, Hector said:
“Come over to my house for tea!”
But to get inside, you had to dive under the water. Matilda felt a little scared.
“I’m going to get all my feathers wet!”
“Never mind,” said Oscar. “You’ll be the shiniest hen in the henhouse!”
So they dived in, and discovered the beaver’s lovely home: walls made of driftwood, a floor carpeted with moss, and on the table… walnut cakes and apple juice.
But when the sun began to set, Matilda realised:
“Oh no! Captain Jack is going to notice I haven’t come home!”
They started running across the fields.
As they got close to the henhouse, they saw Captain Jack, standing very straight on his perch, keeping watch over the farmyard.
“How are we going to get in?” asked Matilda, worried.
“Let me think…” answered Oscar.
Then Oscar had an idea: ask Joe, the old farm horse, for help.
“Joe, could you bang your hoof on the water trough? That way, the rooster will be distracted.”
Joe chuckled and went BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Captain Jack, thinking it was an alarm, rushed off to check, shouting:
“To arms, my hens!”
In all the commotion, Oscar walked Matilda back to the henhouse. She went through the little tunnel and slipped inside, all out of breath but happy. Through the little window, the moon was smiling and the stars were twinkling.
That night, snuggled up between Mémé, Mamé, Océane, Manon, Enora and Aurégane, Matilda fell asleep, already dreaming of her next adventure with Oscar and Hector.