,,, (o o) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-oOOo-(_)-oOOo-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- o _---| _ _ _ _ _ o ---| o ]-I-I-I-[ _ _ _ _ _ _ _---| | _---| \ ` ' / ]-I-I-I-I-[ ---| | ---| |. | \ ` '_/ | / \ | | /^\| [*] __| ^ / ^ \ ^ | |*|| |__ ,| / \ / `\ / \ | ===| ___| ___ ,|__ / /=_=_=_=\ \ |, _| I_I__I_I__I_I (====(_________)___|_|____|____ \-\--|-|--/-/ | I [ ]__I I_I__|____I_I_| |[] '| | [] |`__ . [ \-\--|-|--/-/ |. | |' |___|_____I___|___I___|---------| / \| [] .|_|-|_|-|-|_|-|_|-|_|-| [] [] | <===> | .|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-| | / \ ] []|` [] ||.|.|.|.|.|.|.|.|.|.||- <===> ] []| ` | |/////////\\\\\\\\\\.||__. | |[] [ <===> ' ||||| | | | ||||.|| [] <===> \T/ | |-- ||||| | O | O | ||||.|| . |' \T/ | . _||||| | | | ||||.|| | | | ../|' v . | .|||||/____|____\|||| /|. . | . ./ - |//\............/...........\........../../\\\ ( ( ) ( ( ) ( ( ) (_ ( ) ( ( ) ^^^/^^^^/^^^^^^^^^^^ / /__ \__ / ? / /__ \ ( )( )________ /__ / /00 \ _ / / O_\\--mm---mm /_______) / / \/ . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . * He traveled far, far away, to a land . ____ . . . where only ice, mountains, cold and wind <WW>>> . . live and play music all the time . . /WWWI; \ . . . ____ between the stars. . * /WWWWII; \=====; . /WI; \ * . /\_ . . /WWWWWII;.. \_ . ___/WI;:. \ . _/M; \ . . . /WWWWWIIIIi;.. \__/WWWIIII:.. \____ . . /MMI: \ * . . _/WWWWWIIIi;;;:...: ;\WWWWWWIIIII;. \ /MMWII; \ . . . /WWWWWIWIiii;;;.:.. : ;\WWWWWIII;;;:: \___/MMWIIII; \ . /WWWWWIIIIiii;;::.... : ;|WWWWWWII;;::.: :;IMWIIIII;: \___ * /WWWWWWWWWIIIIIWIIii;;::;..;\WWWWWWIII;;;:::... ;IMIII;; :: \ . WWWWWWWWWIIIIIIIIIii;;::.;..;\WWWWWWWWIIIII;;.. :;IMIII;::: : \ WWWWWWWWWWWWWIIIIIIii;;::..;..;\WWWWWWWWIIII;::; :::::::::.....:: \ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%XXXXXXX %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%XXXXXXXXXX %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%XXXXXXXXXXXXX %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX This story, my little one, happens in a pine-tree forest, @ called the evergreen forest by its inhabitants. This *|* forest, as your probably know, my little one, was called @\|/* "evergreen" because the pine trees never lose their *\**|*@/* leaves, even in the Fall, and so this forest was @*\**\|/***/@ always, always green. **\**|**/** *\**@\|/**@/* /|_ @\***\**|**/***/ / |_ *\@**\|/***/* Every day, when the sun was / / ***@*\**|**/*@*** high in the sky, the news- / > @********\|/*@******@ bird (a beautiful blue- ( > _|_ tailed bird with large / / wings) ran from / / Every day, the newsbird pine to pine, singing / / talked to each of the inhabitants, the news for the _/ \_____ asking them: "Do you have any news? other inhabitants /- | is there something new to say to of the forest. / /-\ / anyone?" Then after a while, / / \--/ each day, he / / would leave to / / One day, it would be (\ sing the news ( > the rabbit family, \\__/(\ in the next / > having a new bunny Q Q \) forest. / _| child. The bird =(_T_)= / __/ would then sing high /_/ and clear in the pine forest: "Rejoice! Mr. and Mrs. Rabbit just have had a 17th child!" | They were stunned, and looked ridiculous, here |.| in this beautiful green and living forest, with |.| their black mourning shells and the mourning crepe |\./| on their horn... |\./| . |\./| . "Why are you in mourning?" asked \^.\ |\\.//| /.^/ one of the beautiful green Leaves, on \--.|\ |\\.//| /|.--/ a tree. "You both seem so sad!!" \--.| \ |\\.//| / |.--/ \---.|\ |\./| /|.---/ "We came here for the funerals of a \--.|\ |\./| /|.--/ dead leaf," answered the snail couple. \ .\ |.| /. / "The newsbird told us we were invited!" _ -_^_^_^_- \ \\ // / -_^_^_^_- _ The two snails were very disappointed. - -/_/_/- ^ ^ | ^ ^ -\_\_\- - But then the sun said to them: | | "Don't be sad! It's Summer, now! All the leaves are restored to life! Laugh! and stay here for a while, enjoy the feast and take some vacations!" The sun was warming all the forest, and all the o o animals laughed, and singed, and everyone was so \_____/ happy that the two snails soon started to laugh /=O=O=\ _______ too, and decided to join the summer life. / ^ \ /\\\\\\\\ they painted their shell in beautiful sunset \ \___/ / /\ ___ \ colors, and removed their black mourning crepe \_ V _/ /\ /\\\\ \ and soon, they were laughing and playing with the \ \__/\ /\ @_/ / other inhabitants of the maple forest. \____\____\______/ Then later, they started their trip home, and who knows, my little one? maybe was it Fall again when they arrived? ___MMM___ ||| (0-0) (o o) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-oOO--(_)--OOo-=-=-ooO--\ /--Ooo-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- | | | | | | | V | | | | | | /// |||~ \\\ (0 0) (0 0) (0 0) __________________ooO_(_)_Ooo___ooO_(_)_Ooo___ooO_(_)_Ooo______________________ @|\@@ "Why should I? demanded the mosquito. "You're king of the - @@@@ jungle, not of the air! I'll fly wherever I want and land /7 @@@@ wherever I please." And so saying, he tickled the lion's / @@@@@@ ear. In the hope of crushing the insect, the \-' @@@@@@@@`-______________ lion boxed his own ears, but the mosquito -@@@@@@@@@ / \ slipped away from the now dazed lion. @/@@@@ / \ _______/ /_ _____| |__________- /,__________/ `-.___/,_____________----------_) "I don't feel it any more. Either it's \ / squashed or it's gone away, said the oVo lion to himself." But at that very moment, \___XXX___/ the irritating buzz began again, __XXXXX__ and the mosquito flew into the lion's nose. /__XXXXX__\ Wild with rage, the lion leapt to his hind / XXX \ legs and started to rain punches on his own V nose. But the insect, safe inside, refused to budge. With a swollen nose and watery eyes, the lion gave a terrific sneeze, blasting the mosquito out. Angry at being dislodged so abruptly, the mosquito returned to the attack: BUZZ . . . BUZZZ! . . . it whizzed round the lion's head. "Will it be okay?" ___ "Yes it will." __/ / \ | |/\ "But what if a big dog comes?" |_--\ \ /- \ \-___________/ / "You will know if it is friendly or not. \ : If its friendly, you run | : ____ your fingers through its | ___ \ ) / \__ thick brown and white fur. \| __/ </\ ) |\ / @ \ If it is not friendly, you | / \ \ \ \_______| \ .:|> stand perfectly still and |l ( l \ ##| | \__/ unafraid, and it stops |l ll | ####\__/ \ barking, and comes to you, |l |l / / ## \| and sit quielty beside you." / l / l / /__________\ \ --/ -- L_JJ \__JJ T H E U N I C O R N A N D T H E W H I T E D O E Poetry by Robert Grave <<<<>>>>>> .----------------------------. _>><<<<>>>>>>>>> / _____________) \|/ \<<<<< < >>>>>>>>> / _______________) -------*--===<=<< <<<<<<<>/ _______________) /|\ << @ _/ <<<<</ _____________) < \ / \ >>>/ ________) ____ | | | </ ______)____((- \\\\ o_| / / ______) \ \\\\ \\\\\\\ | ._ ( ______) \ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ | / `----------' / / \\\\\\\ \\ .______/\/ / / / \\\ / __.____/ _/ ________( /\ / / / ________/`---------' \ / \_ / / \ \ \ \ \_ \ ( < \ \ > / \ \ \/ \\_ / / > ) \_| / / / / _// _// /_| /_|