Little hadgehog goes missing

Little Hedgehog goes missing

Walking in the Karst Plateau, in the Doberdò and Pietrarossa Lakes Reserve, Cocolo is enjoying listening to the sound of woodpeckers in the trees. There are lots of them hidden among the branches of the Reserve’s many black poplars, but all of a sudden everything goes quiet. Something terrible has happened to Mummy and Daddy Hedgehog.
“Little Hedgehog hasn’t come home!” Mummy Hedgehog cries, rubbing her paws through her prickly spines.
“He might be in danger!” Daddy Hedgehog adds.
“Let’s go and look for him together, I’ll help” offers Cocolo. 
“But we can’t leave our nest, we’ve got all the other little hoglets to look after.”  
Cocolo tries to reassure them. “Don’t worry, I’ll ask my friend Bat to help.”  
“Bat? Really? Are you sure?” asks Mummy Hedgehog. “All he ever does is sleep…”
“Ok. Bat is a bit of a loner and a bit lazy, but his radar is never wrong. With his help, we’ll find out where Little Hedgehog has got to. I’ll go straight over there and ask him.”
It is almost evening when the little bear reaches the Val Rosandra Reserve. The mountains around this valley are full of caves and underground tunnels and lots of animals, who like peace and darkness live here, Bat included.    
The sun is going down and it is almost dinner time. “I’m so hungry! I really would like to eat a trout“ says Cocolo watching the fish swimming in the stream. “But I can’t stop now. I am on a mission: I must find Bat before he goes out for the night.”  
 
Bat is a champion sleeper and he is still snoozing in his cave, hanging upside down of course. Cocolo shouts his name, and his voice echoes off the cave walls. “Come on. Wake up! I need your help.” 
Bat shakes his wings and, still half asleep, peers out of one eye, even though he can’t see much.
“Who’s there? What’s going on? I was just in the middle of this great dream…”
“It’s me, Cocolo! I need you! Little Hedgehog has disappeared, we have to find him!”
Bat stretches out his wings and swoops down from the jagged rock where he had been hanging.
“Oh, my batty aunt, this is an emergency! A hoglet can not be out and about all by itself. It’s far too dangerous. There’s no time to lose.”
Bat, with his wings spread wide, spends all night searching, flying over the area and all the way down to the UNESCO Miramare Biosphere Reserve. Finally, just as dawn is breaking, he finds the little hedgehog sitting on a rock by the sea: Bat’s radar really is never wrong.  
Little Hedgehog may have got lost, but he certainly doesn’t seem at all frightened. Just the opposite. Somebody is making funny noises and Little Hedgehog is laughing his head off.
“Have you ever seen this face? Just watch… Yeh nemmeh, yeh nemmeh  yeh nem eeeeee! Peak-a- peak -a -boo boo!”
“Oh no, stop… please… my tummy hurts from laughing so much!”
“What about this one? Ever seen this before? Blubbilywubbily… boowoobooo blub blub!”
Bat knows at once who it is. Who else would be making these funny noises? It can only be the little Peacock Blenny fish? Her comic talents are famous throughout the region.  
Bat swoops down to water level and sees the Blenny doing everything she can to entertain the hoglet. “What are you doing so far from home, Little Hedgehog? Don’t you know that the world is a dangerous place?”
“Oh, you finally made it, Bat…!” exclaims Blenny giving him a wink. “I have almost exhausted my repertoire of funny faces! Your turn now, you’re so good at them…”
“Funny faces? Me? I am a serious bat, my dear……I ahhhhaahahooahh (Bat yawns) I only deal with important things.” Then he turns to Little Hedgheog and asks: “And you, you little rascal, how did you end up here?”
“I… well… I just walked south. I wanted to see the sea! Then I met her and…”
“And you just had to stop, because I am so funny and so lovely!” says Blenny, preening like a diva. “Even tourists, who come snorkelling here in the Protected Marine Area of Miramare are amazed by me!”
“Snor... snorkelling? What a funny word…” says Little Hedgehog. “What does that mean?”
“A snorkel is a tube that you can breathe through so you can swim with your face in the water and see all the different colourful fish underwater.”
While the Blenny is busy describing all the marvels to see on the seafloor in the Reserve, Cocolo arrives.
“I finally found you!” says the bear cub picking the Little Hedgehog up. “We’ve all been so worried about you. Are you ok?”
“Yes, I’m great! I wanted to see the sea and then I got lost. But Mrs Blenny kept me company! She’s amazing at pulling funny faces!”
The Blenny pipes up from the water’s edge. “If I may say so myself, I really am the best. With my acting skills I should win an Oscar! I don’t understand why Hollywood hasn’t called me yet...”  
“Oh, stop your chattering, Blenny, we’ve got more urgent things to do!” interrupts Bat.
“Yes, we’ve got to let Mummy and Daddy Hedgehog know that their little hoglet is safe and sound.” says Cocolo. “Can you do that, my friend?”  
“Of course. I’ll run, or rather, fly straight over there now to tell them!”
“Thanks! And I think Mrs Blenny and I should start getting things ready for a big party here by the sea! What do you think?”
“Oh, you’re a star Cocolo! I think that is a wonderful idea,” exclaims the fish. “This place is far too beautiful to want to leave straight away, don’t you agree Little Hedgehog?”
“Well then, let’s get to work, I want to invite all the friends I’ve met on my travels: the rock partridge, the eagle, the griffon vultures…”
“Yes, and the seahorse, the goose and the horse!” adds Blenny. “Everyone should come!”
 
Text by Mariaelena Porzio
Edited by Fondazione Radio Magica onlus