CHAPTER 5 - THE CANOPY SYMPHONY
Koji the panda was climbing as fast as he could up the Jolly Green Climbing Tree, but he could not reach the top before the Evil Angry Dragon would reach them. There was no end of the tree in sight. It just went into the clouds.
There was no longer any space between them and the jaws of their death. The dragon was so close Michaelah could see the drool falling off its scary yellow fangs. But right before the dragon was going to eat them, something pulled on its tail and it snapped backwards, away from Michaelah and Koji.
Behind the Dragon was a giant. A giant called the LollyGagger. He was so tall. He was as tall as the tree they were climbing. The giant LollyGagger looked at the dragon, holding it like a dragonfly, and then flicked it like a booger. The dragon screamed in terror as it rocketed high into the sky.
Michaelah laughed.
Koji said, "He has to be more than a hundred feet tall!"
The dragon did not scare the giant at all. The bully was gone. And the giant just kind of walked away without a care in the world. Michaelah was glad the LollyGagger happened to be walking by. He saved them from being eaten by the dragon. She wondered if the giant even realized that. Michaelah also thought maybe if she was as big as the giant she would not be so scared of the Evil Angry Dragon either.
Koji the panda was still climbing up the Jolly Green Climbing Tree. According to the panda they were almost at the top. Together, Koji and Michaelah (still holding onto his shoulders), climbed through the clouds, and when they came out on the other side they found a wide canopy as far as the eye can see.
A canopy is the top part of the jungle. The part that is very high above the ground, where animals live. It is made up of top branches, leaves, and vines from the many jungle trees. They all come together to form a world of its own, up above, separate from the rest of the jungle.
A real jungle canopy on earth, like in the Amazon jungle, was not as extreme as the canopy in Pandamonium. Regular canopies are not located way up above the clouds. While Michaelah and Koji were looking around, a monkey swung by them.
"Excuse me!" said the monkey as he swung by.
His fur was mostly brown, but he had black and white stripes going up his back to his funny pointed ears.
"Where are you going?" asked Michaelah.
"I'm late," said the monkey.
"Late for what?" asked Koji the panda.
"I'm late for the symphony!" answered the monkey.
"What is a symphony?" asked Michaelah.
The monkey stopped swinging from the vine, landed on the tree branch, and looked at Koji and Michaelah.
"What are you two doing up here?" the Monkey asked, instead of answering Michaelah's question.
"I am Michaelah, and this is Koji the panda, we were running from the Evil Angry Dragon, but now it is gone," answered Michaelah.
"Well, I am Manchester the Monkey, and if you hurry along with me, you can come to the symphony," he said.
Michaelah looked at Koji, who nodded his head, yes.
Manchester the Monkey lead them further into the canopy.
Koji asked Michaelah, "What do you think a symphony is?"
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it is important that Manchester gets there on time," said Michaelah.
They passed a couple of trees when they got to a gigantic oak tree with its inside hollowed out. There were five rows in a chorus of about fifty birds, all different colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Michaelah looked around and saw all kinds of birds. There were hummingbirds, red robins, blue jays, cardinals, owls, parrots, sparrows, parakeets, pigeons, gulls, ravens, crows, and then five very special birds Michaelah had never seen up close before. There was a bald eagle, a mighty condor, a great falcon, a red-tailed hawk, and one bird Michaelah did not know. She leaned over and asked Koji what kind of bird that was.
Before Koji could answer, Manchester flipped over to her and said, "He is King Albee the Albatross, the proudest of all birds. And this is his symphony."
Michaelah looked around and asked Manchester, "Is a symphony a meeting of birds?"
Manchester answered, "That is a good guess, but no. A symphony is a meeting of sounds, a grand meeting. You see each bird sings a different song. And together they sing the most enchanting song of all."
Koji whispered to Michaelah and they both giggled.
Then Michaelah asked, "Well Manchester, what kind of song do you sing? Oo oo aah aah?" After Michaelah said that, both she and Koji laughed.
"No," said Manchester the Monkey proudly. He ran up the tree and grabbed two coconuts. "I play the drums!" He broke open the coconuts, laid them on the floor, and began to hit them with his furry hands. As soon as Manchester started playing, all the birds got ready. Albee tapped his wing on the wooden stand before him. It was thin and upright with carvings of musical notes in it.
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Albee gestured to the hummingbirds. They started humming low, in rhythm with Manchester’s percussion. Albee then gestured his other wing to the red robins and the blue jays. Both color groups starting singing a melody over the hummingbirds. Albee gestured with both hands.
The big birds around him flew to their individual sections. The eagle sang with the sparrows and got the owls to hoot and who. The condor cooed and cried with the pigeons and gulls. The gulls singing almost sounded like laughter, but Michaelah liked it because it reminded her of home and vacation at the beach.
The falcon chirped while the parrots, ravens and crows scat-sang, a type of singing that used made up words. Ravens are some of the most intelligent birds and able to replicate speech like parrots. The hawk led the rest of the birds, including the cardinals and parakeets to complete the compliment of the chorus. The sound was finally full. The Canopy Symphony echoed through the trees in musical splendor.
The moths and butterflies came out with the ants and caterpillars to listen. The rest of the monkeys appeared to cheer on Manchester. The leopards and panthers laid down on the big branches, sun bathing their furry bellies as they listened to the tunes. The snakes emerged from their dark holes to hiss in appreciation.
The harmony of all the songbirds coming together made the melody impossible to ignore. Its amazing sound and energy stretched further and further bringing all sorts of creatures from far and wide out to listen. Even the bats came out of their caves during the day to hear the beautiful melodic tones of the Canopy Sympony, because bats love sound the most, above all creatures.
Michaelah found her hips swaying to the music the same way the bigger birds were dancing as they sang. Did birds even have hips? Michaelah thought. She tried to mimic what she saw and then added her own dance moves. Some finger flares and cartwheels, things the birds might not be able to do.
Even Koji was tapping his foot on the ground. Michaelah saw his cute little dance and instantly grabbed him. She took hold of both his paws, feeling the soft fur on her hands that she loved so much. Koji looked unsure at first. But when Michaelah started trying to sing along La la laa la! Koji laughed and lightened up a little. Together they danced around and sang along.
La la laa la!
Manchester was right, it was the most enchanting song in the world!
Koji and Michaelah held hands and swung each other round and round dancing non-stop. The song was so beautiful that the trees themselves seemed to be swaying to the music. Not just the trees, but also every little leaf, on every long branch, on every treetop opened up, and danced around.
Michaelah stopped dancing. She could see the sky. But more than that, she saw something coming at them, a herd of some kind. A herd is a group of animals. But these animals had wings. They flew over to the Canopy Symphony. The herd must have heard the sound of the beautiful song. One of them split off and landed right next to the singing birds, and Michaelah got a good look at him.
He was a magnificent pure white horse with a single golden horn coming out of his head, and long white wings. Michaelah learned from her travels through Pandamonium that its better just to assume everything could talk. For a second she wondered about the Evil Angry Dragon. Maybe she could have talked to it? She quickly focused back on the flying horse before her.
“Hi there!”
“Hello, my kin would like to know what is happening here.”
“This is the Canopy Symphony, the most wonderful song in the world. Won’t you join the fun?”
The magnificent beast looked worried, almost embarrassed.
“We do many things well but none of them are singing.”
“There is no reason to be afraid.”Michaelah was starting to understand what made the Canopy Symphony so beautiful. “I cannot sing as well as the canopy birds but together with them, I can add to their sound, and suddenly our voices become unique and better at the same time.”
“Is that true?” asked the white horse with wings.
“Just watch!” Koji said as he sang along with Michaelah and the rest.
La la laa la!
The horse tried to sing but just neighed. The rest of the flying horses all neighed out in the sky. It actually sounded good along with the Canopy Symphony chorus. Michaelah was right, every sound added to the song. It only made it better, even if the addition was not perfectly pitched. The bigger the song got the better the sound got. The horse laughed in giddy amusement and gestured with his wing for all his kin to join the party. The horses flew over them and landed, dispersed between all the birds. It was quite a sight to see. The big white horses with the small colorful birds all singing, laughing, and dancing together.
The party went on like that for awhile.
Michaelah walked up to the strange flying white horse with the golden horn and asked, "Are you a unicorn?"
The magical creature looked around and then looked at Michaelah, "I am the Haveldasher. What is a unicorn?"
Michaelah never heard of a haveldasher before.
“Well ... it's a horse," answered Michaelah.
"What is a horse?" asked the Haveldasher.
"Umm, it's an animal that looks a lot like you without the wings and the horn."
Koji laughed. He still danced beside them but could hear their silly conversation.
The Haveldasher looked surprised that such an animal existed, "And what are you?"
"Ugh!” Michaelah sighed, "Hasn't anyone here ever seen a human before?"
But then a thought popped into the Haveldasher’s head, "I know a place where I have seen many animals that look like the hor..us..ssies you speak of. Beasts like me without wings and horn."
"Horses! You mean horses!"
Michaelah immediately thought that the place the Haveldasher was talking about was her home. It made sense, the Haveldasher can fly, and creatures that can fly know many places.
"Can you take me there?" asked Michaelah.
"Of course, I can," answered the Halveldasher.
"And can Koji come with us?" asked Michaelah.
"Of course, he can," said the Haveldasher, “There is plenty of room for both of you aboard my hide, for I am the Haveldasher!"
Michaelah and Koji stared at the horse and each other, unsure if they were supposed to do something like clap. So, they just climbed on top of the Haveldasher and flew out of the canopy, leaving the symphony. Michael and Koji did not want to waste anymore time being lost. As fun and beatiful as the party was, it was time for them to go home. The adventure was over. The Haveldasher flew them away from the magical canopy in the clouds, atop the Jolly Green Climbing Tree.
After a while, they could no longer hear the symphony playing in the distance. Michaelah was sad that they could not stay to hear the rest of the beautiful song. But she also felt happy that she was able to hear the song to begin with and would always remember the jungle music sounding spectacular, like no other. Together, Michaelah, Koji the panda, and the Haveldasher flew to what Michaelah thought would be home.