PRELUDE

A horrifying screech rang out through the usually peaceful forest awakening Suszette Squirrel with a start. "Something terrible has happened," she cried to herself. Without hesitation Suszette jumped from her nest high in a giant maple tree and onto the limb of an adjoining tree. The anguishing cry once again echoed through the forest. Leaping from tree to tree she hurried as fast as she could toward the wretched sound below. Within moments she had reached the clearing near the beaver pond. At the very edge of the opening Suszette observed her good friend, Johnnie Jumpup Rabbit, with his hind leg locked in the jaws of an ugly steel trap.


"Help me, help me!" Johnnie cried. The white fur on his leg ripped loose as he pulled. Tears fell from his eyes. The pain that pulsed through his body was becoming unbearable. Still he pulled with all his might. Suszette rushed down the trunk of the tree and across the clearing to his side just as the first sound of the dreaded footsteps reached them. "Pull, Johnnie, Pull," she cried. "He is coming, he is coming." Johnnie forgot the agony that rippled through him and with one exhausting jerk the skin and fur ripped from his leg and he was free. As quickly as possible Suszette helped him to the edge of the clearing and into the underbrush where he lay quivering.

"We must be very quiet," Suszette whispered. "You are too weak to run. He must not find us," She snuggled close to her friend and held her breath. At that very moment the footsteps crushed through the leaves at the other side of the clearing and the man stepped into the opening. His huge hand reached down to pick up the trap that had only moments before had held Johnny captive. "Bah!", he growled as he threw the ugly trap to the ground and looked around the clearing. "I'll get you yet, you pesky critters."

Suzette held her breath as the man circled the opening. What if they had left some telltale sign of their escape? She closed her eyes tightly as the man approached their hiding place. He paused for a moment and kicked at the undergrowth just inches away. "Bah!" he said again as he moved on into the woods.

Within minutes the clearing filled with the creatures of the forest. Each had witnessed the horrifying event from his own hiding place among the trees and bushes. "What can we do?" they cried. "The man will destroy us one by one."

"I think that help may be coming," Suzette said to her friends. "Yesterday when I was at Grandma Ruth's' farm collecting the walnuts she sets out for us I heard her tell her friend that Jako, The Florida Troll is coming to visit. We have all heard of Jako and the wonderful things he has done. Maybe, just maybe, Jako will be able to help us. But at least for now we know that Johnny Jumpup is safe."