"Emil, come to the garden!" Pippa implored as she and Pauly climbed up on the daybed, where Emil was reading.
"There's a snake in the garden!" Pauly exclaimed. "We need you to talk to it and see what it wants."
"We think it wants something," Pippa explained. "We aren't sure what, but it doesn't seem happy."
"We know that you're the only one who can talk to animals," Pauly said, "so we need you!"
Emil thought for a moment. He knew that some snakes are dangerous, the ones that have a kind of poison called venom (VEH-num). Of course, Pippa and Pauly could only pretend to be hurt, because they are made of vinyl. In fact, biting them might hurt the snake. Emil closed his book.
Two of The Writer's grandsons had just been visiting, and they had not been bitten, or Emil and Pippa would have heard about it. With so many dolls living in the house, a child being bitten by a snake would get around. Emil decided that maybe the snake hadn't been there then or the boys hadn't found it or it wasn't the kind of snake that bites or the boys had found it and left it alone... which was unlikely.
Emil also knows that snakes are good to have around. He explained to Pippa and Pauly that snakes eat pests like small rodents and slugs. "They can also be food for birds and other animals," he told them. "I read that in a book about animals that live around here."
"If it's a dangerous snake," Emil said, "it should be removed from the garden by someone who knows what they're doing. I had better go and have a look at it. If it is a dangerous snake, The Writer will call Animal Control to come and get it."
"Come and look at it," Pippa told him. "Then you can find out what it wants."
"Maybe it wants Animal Control to come and take it to another place," Pauly suggested.
The three dolls made their way down the stairs, which is faster than going up, especially for Pippa and Pauly, although they are good climbers because their elbow and knee joints are so flexible.
They went down the hall.
They went through the kitchen and the family room, then out through the dog door.
Pippa and Pauly didn't need any help getting through the dog door, but Emil held the flap open for them anyway. He likes to be helpful.
When they were finally down to the yard, Pippa and Pauly led Emil to where they had seen the snake. It was still there.
Pippa and Pauly looked at each other. They still thought the snake was unhappy.
Emil looked at the snake. He would have smiled, except that his face is made of vinyl. However, he smiled on the inside. This snake would never bite anyone. This snake could only pretend to bite.
"Hello!" Emil said to the snake.
"Ssssssello!" the snake replied. Emil heard the snake. "He says hello," he told the others.
"These dolls think you're unhappy," Emil told the snake and gestured toward Pippa and Pauly.
"Sssssthat's right," said the snake. "Sss I am very unhappysss."
"You were right," Emil told Pippa and Pauly. "The snake is unhappy, but this isn't a real snake, so we don't have to have The Writer call Animal Control to take it away. This is a toy snake."
Turning back to the snake, Emil asked, "Can we do anything to help? What is making you unhappy?"
"I want to go back to my home," the snake said. "Some boys were playing with me and left me here. I miss my bed, where it's cozy. I've been rained on and it gets cold at night. Snakes can't make their own body heat, so I've been lying here, pretending to suffer from the cold all night long, each night."
Emil explained the snake's problem to the two smaller dolls. Then he asked Pippa if she had any idea where the snake is kept. She usually knew what was in each drawer and on each shelf in the house, because Pippa likes to investigate things.
"I don't know about the snake," she said, "but the toys for the grandchildren are almost all in the guest room bookcase or in the guest room closet."
Emil thought about that. Then he turned back to the snake. "Mr. Snake," he said, "if we show you where we think your home might be, will you be able to tell us if that's the right place or not?"
"I could go there by myself," the snake replied, "if I could only move. The boys brought me out here."
"Why can't the snake move?" Pauly wanted to know, after Emil had explained the problem.
"This snake was molded all in one piece," Emil explained to the smaller dolls. "He doesn't have joints like ours, and he doesn't have a flexible backbone like a real snake."
"I think we can carry him, though," Emil said. "Let's take him to the guest room and see if that's the right place."
Pippa and Pauly were overjoyed that they could help the snake. Emil picked up the snake and carried him to the steps to the back deck. Pippa and Pauly helped get the snake up the steps and through the dog door.
Emil carried the snake down the hall to the stairs.
Then they worked together again to get the snake up the stairs.
They walked down the hall to the guest room, with Emil still carrying the snake.
"He says he recognizes the room" Emil told Pippa and Pauly. "He wants us to open the door to the closet."
Emil put the snake down to help open the closet. Then the snake told Emil which shelf was his home.
After the dolls had put the snake on his shelf, the snake said, "Thanksssssss ssssssso muchssss!" and Emil told the others what he had said.
"We'll come back and visit you!" Pippa told him and then looked at Emil to see if the snake had understood.
"He says he would like that," Emil told her. "He also says to tell you thank you. He's happy to be back on his shelf. He says his name is Sassafras."
"I'd better go home now," said Pauly when they had closed the closet to let Sassafras rest after his ordeal. "Jeffy should be home from summer camp soon, and he will want me there to play."
"Today," Emil told him, "you will have a lot to tell Jeffy." Adventures you have where you end up helping someone are the best kind, he thought to himself.
As the dolls walked down the hall, Emil heard Sassafras snoring in his sleep. It sounded like "Sssssssssss. Ssssssssss."
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia
"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
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Copyright © 2022 by Peggy Stuart
Congratulations children, you are always ready to help others, it's beautiful. However, be careful, helping a snake could be dangerous if you mistake the species and think that one is not poisonous when it is.
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