Once upon a time there lived a monkey. He lived in a house beside a small oak tree in Japan. He had a happy life feasting on fruits and watching wildlife. Monkey was very organised for his species. He didn’t get much visitors as he lived in the forest where it was very peaceful and quiet whereas most other animals lived in a small village or town.

 One day there came a loud booming knock on Monkey’s front door. Monkey slowly opened the door, turning the handle. The door squeaked as it opened. Monkey saw a fox in a smart black suit. “Hello, I am your new neighbour”. The fox continued, “Me and my family would like to invite you for dinner at our house tonight at 7pm sharp”. “Oh, by the way, call me Mr Fox or Freddie my actual name. What is your name? I didn’t catch it”. The Monkey replied, “Monkey, my name is Monkey or you can call me Max!”. “Bye Max, see you later!” said the Fox.

 Monkey closed the door but a few seconds later the doorbell rang. Monkey sighed and went back to the door, reluctantly. It was Mr Fox again. “Sorry for disturbing you again, but do you have any allergies?”. “No, I don’t” replied Max. “Right, see you at 7!” exclaimed Mr Fox waving and slowly starting to walk down the driveway. Max looked at his watch, 5:33 it read. Max had a shower and wore his white shirt , his red tie, black trousers, black waistcoat and his polished brown shoes. Max looked very sharp and smart. Max looked at his watch, 6:15, so he watched some TV.

 At Freddie’s house, Mrs Fox, Francesca fancied eating a monkey. “No! You can’t eat Max, he is going to be our friend and neighbour!” exclaimed Freddie, surprised that his wife wanted to eat their neighbour. But Francesca wasn’t listening so Freddie locked Mrs Fox and the cubs in the attic knowing that the cubs would try and help their mother. Mr Fox kept the key safe in a small box put next to the cubs toys in the playroom.

 A bit later Max came knocking on Freddie’s polished red door. Freddie appeared in front of Max in a casual T-shirt and navy blue jeans. Freddie welcomed Max into the house. They had pasta and potatoes followed by pear crumble and fruit salad. They both played games and had fun.

Meanwhile Francesca found a secret door on the floor and decided to go through, so she held the hands of her cubs and jumped straight down through the door. They landed in front of a greenhouse. Francesca decided to wander around and saw a sign written in Chinese.” Are we in China?!!” “How extraordinary!” she thought.

Francesca spotted a shop with pretty designer clothes hanging inside and desperately wanted to go in, but before she even had a chance to think, someone grabbed her cubs and ran off. The person who took the cubs had mistaken them for stuffed toys. Francesca wept bitterly.

Back at their house, Freddie decided to give Francesca some food, so he took the leftover pasta from the dinner on a small china plate. Max and Freddie went into the attic. It was empty! They spotted the secret door. But Max knew it led to China and it will be very difficult to find the door back once you’ve entered China. So Max offered to help and suggested to go by plane. He had his own private jet that he could fly to China. So they flew off to China! At first they decided to go to the toyshop thinking that Francesca might be shopping for toys for the cubs. But when they reached the toyshop they saw the cubs on the toy rack. Freddie was startled, he picked up the cubs and ran out of the shop with Max close behind.

1 hour passed and Francesca was nowhere to be seen. As time passed by, they found Francesca on the streets and she came running and begged Freddie “Please let me go home with you! I won’t try to eat our friends.” They all agreed that Mrs Fox could come in the jet back to Japan. But they made sure Francesca sat in the back away from the cockpit where Max was flying the plane. They flew back home and landed safely  in the happy neighbourhood.

 Moral : Always value friendship, good friends are hard to come by.