The sun was rising over the farm in the south of France.
Just like every morning, Captain Jack, the rooster in charge of the henhouse, climbed up onto the roof and gave his famous army wake-up call:
“Cock-a-doodle-doooo! Up you get, you lazybones!”
Of course, he always sang a little out of tune, but nobody dared to tell him.
Matilda, the little golden chick, was playing quietly in the farmyard when all of a sudden Oscar, her fox friend, appeared.
“Hey, Matilda! Come on, let’s sneak off!”
“What, already? But Captain Jack will tell me off!”
“I found a mysterious map in the forest… We have to show it to Master Herculus, the wise old owl.”
Curious, Matilda followed Oscar. They walked all the way to a big house perched high up in the trees.
“Master Herculus!” called Oscar.
But the owl didn’t answer.
“MASTER HERCULUUUUS!” shouted Matilda.
The owl, who was a little deaf, jumped, lost his balance and… whoops!
He tumbled off his branch into an enormous pile of leaves.
“Ouch, my feathers!” he grumbled, picking himself up. “What do you want?”
Oscar held out the map. But Master Herculus couldn’t hold it with his wings: it slipped, it dropped, it flew away.
Oscar and Matilda burst out laughing.
“Use your talons, Master Herculus!” said Matilda with a cluck.
“Ah, yes, good idea!” replied the owl, scratching his head.
Once they were in his study, full of dusty books, he looked closely at the map.
“Hmm, hmm… I see… The map shows a special tree in the forest. A treasure is hidden there!”
Quick as a flash, Oscar and Matilda set off. They followed the map and came to an enormous hollow tree. Suddenly, crack! scritch! splosh! Noises were coming from inside.
Inside, they found Galileo, a cheeky little bear, busy hiding pots of honey.
“But… the treasure is your honey!” cried Matilda.
“Yes! My super sweet treasure!” replied Galileo with a big smile.
Instead of getting cross, they introduced themselves and spent the afternoon playing together. Galileo had them climbing trees, running through the tall grass and even sneaking a little taste of honey.
At the end of the day, Galileo’s parents, Giorgio and Gina, invited them for tea. On the menu: honey cakes and fresh apple juice.
When the sky turned pink and purple, Oscar panicked:
“Quick! We have to get Matilda home before Captain Jack starts shouting!”
They ran all the way to the farm and found Joe, the old horse.
“Joe, now’s the time! Distract Captain Jack!”
Joe banged his hoof hard on the water trough: CLANG CLANG CLANG!
Captain Jack leapt up, shouting:
“Take cover! Enemy attack!”
In all the panic, Oscar slipped Matilda under the fence. The little chick crept quietly into the henhouse and snuggled up against Océane, her mummy, and then her aunties and grannies.
With a big smile, she fell asleep, already dreaming of honey, of a clumsy owl and of a new bear friend.
✨ The end… but not for long!