The Wonderful World of Rudolpha: Frost’s bad dream

The children at the North Pole Animal Day Care are napping under the watchful eye of their teacher, Rudolpha the reindeer. Resting on their soft mats, Mistral the penguin, Storm the fox, Bianca the rabbit and Snowflake the polar bear look like perfect angels.

Only Frost the snowy owl isn’t napping peacefully. He flaps his wings, twitches his feet and shakes his head from left to right. Suddenly, he opens his eyes and yells, “HELP! HELP ME PLEASE! NOOOO!”
The other children all wake with a start. Calmly, Rudolpha approaches the young owl. “Everything’s okay, Frost. It’s Rudolpha, you’re at day care and you’re safe here.”

Trembling and breathing hard, the little owl huddles closer to his teacher while the other children watch him curiously. Slowly, Frost calms down. “I had a terrible nightmare. I was so scared,” he says.

“Tell us what happened,” says Mistral.

“Yeah, we want to know what scared you so much,” agrees Storm.

“Do you feel like sharing, Frost?” asks Rudolpha gently.

“Okay,” he agrees, “but I’m warning you all, it’s really scary.

“I was all alone on the tundra when I heard something that sounded like a lion’s roar. I knew that lions don’t usually live in the North Pole but then I saw a huge set of pawprints in the snow. At first, I thought they were bear prints, but they didn’t look anything like Snowflake’s paws. What were they?

“I found out a second later. Suddenly, there was a huge monster next to me. It looked like a big cat with two gigantic fangs coming out of its mouth. I think it was hungry because it was drooling as it looked at me.

“I tried and I tried to fly away, but my feet were stuck to the ground and I couldn’t move. That’s when I yelled and woke everyone up.”

“It sounds like you were dreaming about a saber-toothed tiger,” says Rudolpha.
“What’s that?” asks Frost.

“It’s a huge prehistoric cat that, luckily for us, disappeared thousands of years ago.”

“Really? Well, the next time I dream about one, I’ll say, ‘I’m not afraid of you, big kitty, because you don’t even exist!’” says Frost, puffing out his feathered chest.

After the emotional episode, the children and Rudolpha put away their mats and carry on with their day. That afternoon, they decorate Christmas cupcakes for snack time.

Written by Johannie Dufour and Sarah Beauregard
Translated by Cyan Caruso-Comas