In a vegetable garden, by an old farmhouse of wood and stone, there is a majestic apple tree. This tree with its delicious fruit stands right in the middle of the vegetables and aromatic herbs. It casts its shadow over them when the sun is too hot and protects them from storms and hail.

Today, after a hot summer day, all the plants in the garden relax in the coolness and start talking to each other. The humans have left, life begins again.

The beautiful apple tree looks at the beans and the little pumpkins hanging from a big wire. He says:

“Did you feel a bit of a gentle wind this afternoon?”

The pumpkins answer:

“No, the air was dry, we were all too hot. But luckily we exchange water through our roots.”

Then the apple tree looks at the potatoes and asks:

“And what about you, potatoes?”

“Everything is fine, apple tree”, they answer.

Suddenly, Fluette the thrush appears out of breath. She lands on a branch of the tree, right next to the nest she has built, and cries out:

“It’s terrible, terrible, I can’t find my little Fluflu! Have you seen him? I am afraid, because there are buzzards circling in the sky. My little Fluflu is so fragile, defenceless, in the wild. He can hardly fly.”

All the vegetables stop talking.

The onion whispers to his neighbour:

“Fluflu the son of the thrush, the little prankster bird?”

“Yes, he really is one of a kind!” the artichoke answers the onion.

The tomatoes exclaim in their clear voices:

“We haven’t seen him today. Why don’t you ask the rhubarb leaves, they know him well.”

Fluette the thrush listens to the whole vegetable garden, looking for her little child.

The rhubarb, who has heard everything, cries out:

“I know where Fluflu is, I know where he is!”

At the bottom of the garden, the rhubarb says to the apple tree:

“He is in the currant bush, the currants are ripe and he is hiding to eat them.”

Fluette flies to the tree. She finds her son under the leaves, his beak covered with the pulp of red fruit. His belly is huge, he has eaten too many currants. He sits like a sated elephant under his tree.

Fluette scolds him and tells him to go home, but he can’t fly anymore, he’s eaten too much. He has to cross the garden with his little legs and his belly touching the ground.

All the plants look at him and laugh heartily. Fluflu rolls like a huge currant. The inhabitants of the vegetable garden are reassured and the apple tree helps the prankster fledgling back into his nest.

The sun sets over the landscape, the atmosphere is cool and pleasant. Everyone is happy and content to have spent such a beautiful day.

THE END