The jungle was humid and so hot that day. Freddy, the baby elephant had been stumbling at the very end of the long line of elephants all day it seemed. He kept tripping over his right front foot for some reason and every time he fell his Momma had swatted him gently with her trunk and told him to be careful and to stop slowing everyone up. That is how he finally ended up at the end of the long line. Freddy was well known for stumbling and fumbling and not paying any attention whatsoever. Today seemed to be no different for him either.

As everyone else trundled down the jungle path with their heads held high so they could see where they were going, Freddy tried to keep up. Only his head wasn’t held high, he was looking here and there and listening to all the noises of the jungle. After all he was just a baby and everyone knows how curious babies are.

He had heard the music from way off in the distance and as it got closer and closer he was fascinated with the pretty little jingle of the bells he heard. He didn’t know they were bells but he would soon know a lot more things. He was really far behind the line now and was trying so hard to catch up but the tinkling of the bells kept his attention.  He had turned his head just to hear it one last time before he turned the corner and wasn’t paying attention again and smaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack a large thick branch had hit him right across his trunk. It surprised him so much his legs all ended up tangled and he went tumbling over and over again down the big hill. The dust was flying and he was trying to yell for his Momma but all he could do was squeak.  He skidded to a stop right at the bottom of the hill just before he would have gone flying into the river.

He just sort of sat there stunned for awhile. He had no idea of where he was and his Momma sure didn’t hear him crying for her. He had dusted off his little trunk and was busy trying to dust himself off when he heard those bells again. The ones that had gotten him into so much trouble in the first place.  Except when he heard them this time they were much much closer to him, almost as close as right behind him. He loved the jingling sound he heard and he turned his head to see where the bells were coming from.

His eyes were wide open when he saw them behind him poking their heads out through the bushes at him in just as much amazement as he was.  There they were, six little black spider monkeys. All of them had tiny little bells in their paws and sparkling garlands around their necks. The littlest one way on the end of the group was named Jimmy and he jumped right out from behind the bushes and stood right in front of Freddy. Freddy stared him straight in the eye as Jimmy jangled his bells in his face and demanded to know who he was and why he was intruding on their Christmas Parade.

“Whatsa Christmas Parade?” asked Freddy.  All six of the monkeys were out from behind the bushes by then and could do nothing but stare at him in disbelief.  Joseph’s mouth dropped open. He could not understand why anyone did not know about Christmas in the jungle. All six started chattering at once and Joseph told them to pipe down, that he would explain thank you. He was, after all, the unofficial leader of the bunch. Christmas Joseph said impatiently, is the one special time of the year when all of us in the jungle meet together to celebrate the birthday of Jesus.

We all decorate the clearing in the middle of the jungle with pretty candles and sparkling lights and tinsel. Everyone brings something special to eat and it is put out on the great big food table. Right in the middle of the clearing we have the biggest palm tree we can find and we decorate it with pretty lights and fancy sparkly balls and underneath is where the presents go. He explained that everyone draws a name out of King Leo the lion’s big top hat and then they make a present for whoever’s name they picked. They all eat and dance and sing and open presents and just have the bestest day of the year altogether.

Well Freddy was stunned to say the least. He wondered why his Mommy had never told him about Christmas and how come they were not there to. He was so excited and begged the monkeys to take him to Christmas. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease .

Well of course the monkeys could not refuse him. Today was after all the day of peace and love and goodwill for everyone. So off in a more or less straight line went the monkeys and stumbling behind in his usual way, at the end of the line was Freddy. With bells jangling and voices blaring they told Freddy to join in. Freddy didn’t know any of the music but that didn’t seem to matter to anyone. The loudest toots and the jingliest bells were heard as they got closer to the clearing.

In the clearing the Momma hippos and water buffalos were setting up the cushions and chairs for everyone to sit on. Right in the middle next to the most beautiful palm tree was a stage. That was where they put the two royal chairs for the King and Queen lions to sit and rule over the proceedings. Someone had to call the calls for the square dancing and the King was the best in the jungle at calling. He was also the King, so even if he wasn’t the best it would not have mattered.

Everyone looked up when they heard the clatter coming towards the clearing. This was not the beautiful bell music they were used to at all. They wondered what could be making such a noise. They all watched in amazement to see the six monkeys and a stumbling baby elephant parade in. Of course Freddy had to stumble and fall once again just as he was in front of the King and Queen. The dust flew then and made everyone sputter and choke as it did. Poor Freddy tried desperately to pick himself up and dust himself off but in the effort he seemed to make the dust fly worse and all you could see was a cloud of dust and a bright red blushing baby elephant.

The King was busy sputtering and banging his staff furiously on the stage. “This must stop” he roared. In the meantime the monkeys were surrounded by the royal guards, four stately gazelles, who were shooing and pushing and waving white hankies trying to clear the dust as well. Freddy by now was trying to back out of this mess and hide himself under a bush. Kinda not easy when you’re a elephant, even if you are still a baby. By now the cobra sweepers has arrived and were trying to clean off the stage as best they could, the ladies in waiting were dusting down the Queen and she was sneezing all the while. Finally it seemed like the dust had settled and everyone tried to re-compose themselves. The groups of monkeys and Freddy had tactfully left the center stage by then and were sitting quietly well out of the way of the King.
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It seemed like everyone had finally arrived during the little dust storm and was seated where they should be. The King banged his staff twice on the stage and roared “Let the party begin”. With that the horns tooted, the bells rang and the little drummers pounded as loudly as they could on their drums. They weren’t very good at it mostly because they were little baby zebra drummers and were very clumsy still with their long legs and arms and just could not quite get the hang of drumming. But they did their best and everyone cheered loudly as they finished playing. No one seemed to know what music it could possible have been but they liked it anyway.

The band struck up the Kings favorite square dancing music and the party was on. All of the Mommas and Dads got up and started to follow the Kings calls. Some of the babies even tried but they fell and got mixed up more than anything. Freddy wanted to try to but he was also worried about his Momma and his being lost. He was searching all of the clearing for some elephants like him and maybe they could help him find his Momma. It wasn’t he who found her in the end but she who found him. He was tapped rather rudely on the back while he was stumbling along and when he turned to toot his anger he saw his Momma standing there. Tapping her big foot impatiently and asking where in the world he had been. Her temper stopped quickly and she smiled her biggest smile and hugged him tightly with her trunk. He was so glad to see his Momma all he could do was toot toot toot.

He led her to the group of monkeys who had saved him from being lost forever and she gave them all a gentle hug with her trunk to thank them and invited them to join the elephant family for Christmas dinner. They were all settled way over to the left side of the stage and almost right in front of the big palm tree. All were watching the dancing and their tails were swaying in tune with the music.

Just then the music stopped and the King announced it was time for gift giving. He and his Queen royally walked over to the tree and started handing out the gifts. It seemed to Freddy like his name would never be called and he was very impatient about it. Stomping his little feet every time someone else was called and got to go up to the King to get his present and receive a special jungle red and green candy cane from the King himself.
Finally he heard his name, he darted off as quick as Freddy could and fell flat on his trunk. Everyone laughed when they saw this and Freddy should have blushed but he wanted his gift so badly he didn’t even hear the laughter. Just picked himself up and was off again. As he reached the King he was handed his gift and his candy cane, but the King took it back and said a special little baby like him deserved much more for making the Christmas party so special. He handed him a whole box of the best red and green candy canes and Freddy smiled as big as he could and bowed to the King and Queen and thanked them very much.

After all the presents were handed out everyone joined together in a huge circle around the palm tree and said their thanks yous for such a special day and all joined in singing Silent Night in the Jungle. This was one day out of the whole year where enemies became friends and forgot what they were mad about and everyone respected and loved each other. After they were finished singing they all hugged and the King made his little speech and told everyone he hoped they had a very Merry Christmas and he hoped they would all be a little nicer to each other throughout the new year coming up. This was followed by the loudest of Merry Christmas yells ever heard deep in the jungle.
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