The Adventures of Katie Ladybug

The Sick Timekeeper

One afternoon in July, the Magpies invited over Katie and Ildi for tea. The invitation said 5 o'clock.

"We should start getting ready. Your alarm clock says it's four already," said Ildi as she reached for her bag. She had been sitting on pins and needles since morning, and could hardly wait for it to be time to go.

"It's usually a bit fast. I'm sure we have plenty of time," Katie replied. Go check the forest clock instead, to be sure."

The forest clock was a real live timekeeper: Mrs. Cuckoo herself. She lived in the tallest tree of the forest, and did her job of telling the time dependably and with pinpoint accuracy.

"Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Two o'clock!"

Well, if it's only two o'clock there's certainly no hurry," they agreed. Before long, however, they could hear the cuckoo calling again:

"Cuckoo! One o'clock!"

Ildi and Katie looked at each other, totally confused. How could it be one o'clock, if it was two o'clock a few minutes ago?

After a few minutes, the cry of the cuckoo could be heard again; only this time it was nine o'clock. Then after that, it was quarter to five. And a little after that, three in the morning.

"That does it. Mrs. Cuckoo has finally gone crazy," they said, beginning to panic. "Let's get Doctor Owl right away!"

And that's just what they did. Doctor Owl had already noticed something strange, when at high noon the cuckoo cried one in the morning.

So they went to take a look to see what had gone wrong. When they found Mrs. Cuckoo, she was moaning loudly from a stomachache, and was so dizzy that she nearly fell from her tree.

"My dear Doctor Owl," she said. "What brings you here so late at night?"

Doctor Owl listened to her heartbeat and examined her breathing. He checked her eyes and her bill. He took her temperature, and peeked into her throat with various types of instruments. Then he said:

"Mrs. Cuckoo has a fever and is delirious. She must have ingested some poison."

In soon became evident that Mrs. Cuckoo had tried a new recipe the day before. She picked the red, spotted mushrooms she found under the leaves on the forest floor, thinking she would be preparing a delicacy. Except that the mushrooms turned out to be poisonous.

"The fly-bane had better be left alone," said Doctor Owl sternly. "It's nowhere near as safe as it seems to be. "In fact, strange mushrooms should be avoided altogether, because they might be poisonous. It's a miracle that Mrs. Cuckoo is still alive. We had better give her lots of water to flush the poison out of her system."

With that, they lay Mrs. Cuckoo on her back and although she struggled, they held her down with the help of the other animals that had gathered. The Field Mice held her wings, while Milton Magpie sat on her legs. The sparrows placed cold compresses on her forehead, and Katie and Ildi took turns pouring water into her bill, until Doctor Owl said it was enough for sure.

Then they put her to bed and covered her with a warm blanket. The fireflies offered to watch over her all night, and let Doctor Owl know if her fever goes up again. Doctor Owl in the meantime volunteered to keep time in Mrs. Cuckoo's place until she got well enough to resume her duties.

And sure enough, it took days for Mrs. Cuckoo to recover. The animals began getting used to the owl's hooting, when suddenly they heard the lively cry of the cuckoo again.

"Hooray! Mrs. Cuckoo's back!" they all cried.