A glorious Sunday morning greeted the residents of the Great Meadow. Even the laziest flowers woke up in the warm sunshine – they opened up their petals and smiled at each other.
Ildi Honeybee couldn’t stay under the blanket for long on a sunny day like this, either. She quickly jumped out of bed, washed up, stretched her muscles and flew off to Katie’s house.
Katie answered the door with a sleepy mumble.
“Who is this??”
“Hello, my friend! How about going on a picnic this fine morning?”
“Picnic? What’s a picnic?” Katie asked in a tired voice. “You woke me from the deepest sleep at the crack of dawn, and ask me to do something I’ve never even heard of…”
“Come on, Katie, don’t be such a grouch! Picnic means we go out for a nice walk and have breakfast outdoors. Or lunch, whatever…”
They packed some food into Ildi’s woven basket and set out. As they walked through the soft green grass, Katie’s little house slowly disappeared behind them. They marveled at the fine petals of the pansies and the purple shades of the wild carnations. When the sun had moved high up into the sky, they thought it was the perfect time to find some shade and dive into their picnic lunch.
“Here’s this brown mushroom, big enough for both of us to fit under. We’ll have more than enough shade for a good rest,” Ildi suggested.
“Here? Why not over there, under that shiny burdock leaf? It’s like a green beach umbrella.”
So they sat down under the leaf. They had barely unpacked their lunch, when the bright rays of the sun began to fade.
“It’s getting so dark under this burdock leaf that soon I won’t be able to see my hand in front of my face,” Ildi grumbled as she climbed out from their shelter.
Then, she looked up and noticed the scary, dark rain clouds covering the sky. Ildi became terrified.
“Let’s get out of here before we get soaked!” She quickly grabbed her basket.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure it’ll be no more than a few raindrops,” Katie dismissed Ildi’s urgent plea with a wave of her hand. “And we certainly won’t get wet under this beautiful green umbrella,” she added and took a big bite out of her cucumber sandwich.
So they continued their picnic under the big burdock leaf as the sky grew darker and darker. Suddenly, lightning flashed among the clouds and icy rain drops began to fall.
“Oh, no! We’ll get drenched!” Ildi moaned.
“Don’t worry! This leaf will protect us from the rain…”
But the hail fell harder and harder, pelting the burdock leaf angrily. Finally, the poor leaf could take it any longer and began to split into two.
“My hair!”
“My clothes!”
But the rain wouldn’t stop. Loud thunderclaps followed each lightning bolt that lit up the sky. The gap in the burdock leaf grew bigger and bigger. It was too late to run home safely, so the two friends just sat there huddled against each other: miserably wet from head to toe and teeth chattering from the cold. Their little wings stuck together, and cold rainwater ran down their backs.
“We’ll freeze to death!” panicked Katie.
“No, we won’t,” countered Ildi. “At worst we’ll… ah, ah, atchoo! …catch a bit of a cold.”
Ildi was still fishing around in her pocket for tissues, when the rain began letting up. Soon, the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. Katie climbed out from their shelter.
“It’s stopped raining! Hurray!”
“Katie, I think I’ve caught a cold…”
“Let’s get out of here! I’ll make you some hot tea at home. You’ll feel a whole lot better.”
“Sounds good to be. How aboud a warb scarb as well? I’be got to dip this cold in the bud…”
“I’ll lend you a scarf, don’t worry.”
So the Sunday picnic ended with tea, a scarf, and a toasty blanket. And Ildi Honeybee sneezing and shivering with cold all day… And Katie with a guilty conscience: she should have listened to her friend and picked the brown mushroom instead of the green umbrella, after all…