It seems like they were only asleep a little while when the pigs heard a knock at the door. Bobby got up and went to the window, it was Amanda.  “Billy, Amanda’s here,” Bobby called out. “It’s time to get up.” Bobby opened the door. “Good morning,” Bobby said to Amanda.  

“Good morning Bobby,” Amanda replied. “I brought breakfast for all of you.”  

“You did!” Billy called out, “oh boy! I’m hungry.” 

Amanda smiled and pointed to a picnic table she had set up outside. There were hot pancakes and waffles, maple syrup, orange juice, milk, and a big bowl of fresh fruit. “I hope you like it” Amanda said.

“It’s great,” Bobby replied, as he sat down at the table. 

Billy didn’t say much, his mouth was stuffed full of waffles. “Slow down,” Bobby said to Billy, “you’re eating like pig.”

Billy stopped eating and looked at Bobby with a puzzled look on his face. “I am a pig” Billy replied, and everyone laughed.  

“Where is everyone?” Amanda asked, “I brought plenty of food for everybody.”

Just then a deep voice came over the hill. “I smell waffles,” the voice said.   It was Brownie.

“Brownie, sit down and eat,” the wolf said, “Amanda made plenty of breakfast for everyone.”  Within a few minutes Randy and Raymond, Digger, and Alex were all at the table eating breakfast. 

While they ate they talked about the work that had to be done that day, because a storm was coming that night.  They would have to put up the walls and roof, finish the chimney, and put in the windows and door, before it got dark.

“Let’s stop talking and start working,” said Brownie.  

Everyone got up and started working except Billy, he was still eating. “Last one from the table does the dishes,” Bobby called out.   

Billy looked around; he was the last one eating.  “O.K.”, he said, “I’ll do the dishes, but not until I’ve finished eating.”

The wolf and Mr. Hare started working on the chimney, with Digger’s help, while the pigs, Amanda and Brownie started putting the wood in place for the walls. As each log was put in place Raymond and Randy cut it so it would fit just right.  Then the pigs and Amanda would nail it in place. 

One by one Brownie would put the big logs in place and slowly the walls of the cabin got higher and higher.  

“Make sure you look at the plan, so you put the windows and doors in the right places,” the wolf said. 

“O.K. Professor,” Billy replied as they rolled the plans out on the cabin floor, and looked at them.

“Everything looks OK”, said Bobby.  

“Yes, everything is fine,” replied Amanda. 

Brownie shook his head in agreement, and they all went back to work, except for Billy he kept looking at the plan.

“What’s wrong?” asked the wolf, as he stopped working and walked over to Billy.  

“The door, Professor,” Billy replied,” its wrong.”

“Wrong?” the wolf asked, “what’s wrong with it?”

“It’s too small,” Billy answered.

“Too small,” the wolf laughed, “why that door’s more than big enough.”

“No it’s not!” said Billy, “I want all my Woodland friends to come and visit, but the door is too small for my special friend.”  

“Your special friend?” the wolf asked.

Billy turned and pointed to Brownie “The door is too small for Brownie,” Billy replied.

Brownie stopped working and gave Billy a big bear hug.   “Thank you for thinking of me,” he said with a big smile on his face.   

“You’re right Billy”, the wolf said, “we are going to have to make the door much bigger.”

The Professor took out his tape measure and walked over to Brownie. “Hold still,” he told Brownie, as he used the tape measure to measure how tall and wide Brownie was.  

“What are you doing?” asked Brownie.

“Just making sure we make that door big enough,” he laughed.

Everyone worked very hard and by lunch most of the walls and chimney were finished.  After having a quick lunch of sandwiches and lemonade, everyone went right back to work. They still had a roof, windows and door to put on the cabin. Alex the Eagle went to the woodpile where the planks for the roof were stacked. One by one Alex picked up a plank, and with his powerful wings blowing dust all around; he lifted each plank to the roof, where Bobby and Amanda nailed them in place. 

While Alex, Bobby and Amanda worked on the roof, Billy and Brownie with the help of the beavers, Randy and Raymond, worked on the walls. They set the heavy logs in place and nailed them together.  Everyone worked very hard all afternoon, but as the sun started to set, they still had to shingle the roof and put the door and windows in the walls.  

“We’re running out of daylight,” Billy said. “I think we’re going to have to finish tomorrow.”  

“We can’t,” the wolf replied, “We have to finish before the storm comes,” pointing to the storm clouds forming in the mountains far away.

Billy looked off over the mountains and could see the lightning flashing in the sky. “I don’t hear any thunder,” Billy said.

“That means the storm is still far away,” Brownie replied. “If we only had some light so we can see what we are doing, we could finish in time.”

“What are we going to do Professor?” Amanda asked, “The campfire is not giving off enough light.”

“I don’t know Amanda,” the wolf replied.  

“I have an idea,” Alex said, as he flapped his wings and took off. “Keep working, I’ll be right back.”

Everyone watched as Alex flew off into the Woodland. “Where’s he going?” asked Digger, as he stuck his head out of the window in the foundation.

“We don’t know,” Brownie answered, “but we have to keep working before it gets too dark.”

Everyone worked as fast as they could, but it was almost too dark to see. Mr. Hare was on the roof just finishing the top of the chimney when he called out, “look” as he pointed to the Woodland behind the cabin. Everyone looked and saw the Woodland light up with a soft green light that kept getting brighter and brighter.

“What is it?” Billy asked. “It can’t be the sun or the moon.”

“No” Alex laughed as he flew out of the Woodland, “It’s my friends the fireflies, they have come to help.”

As Alex set down on the roof, hundreds and hundreds of fireflies flew out of the Woodland and formed a big circle over the cabin, lighting up the cabin and the area around it, with more than enough light to finish the work on the cabin. With the help of the fireflies they were able to finish the cabin before the rain started.

“Well everyone,” the wolf said, “It turned out very well. We have built a good strong cabin for our new neighbors, but now I think we should all go home before the storm gets here.” Everyone agreed and waved goodbye.

“Please wait” Billy and Bobby called out. “We want to thank you all very much. We could not have built it without your help and we would like you all to come back for a barbecue and party, tomorrow.”

“We’ll be here” Brownie called back, as they all walked over the hill.

“Well how do you like your home?” The wolf asked.

“It’s great Professor,” Billy replied. “I can’t believe how hard everyone worked.” 

“They worked hard because they like you and you’re their neighbors and friends.”

“They are very good friends, aren’t they Professor? “Bobby asked.

“Yes,” nodded the wolf, “very, very good friends.”

”Boy I’m tired,” said Billy. 

“Me too “replied Bobby.”

Well boys” the wolf said “let’s get back to my cabin before the rain starts, and have some dinner and get to bed.”

“Do you think our cabin will leak?” Billy asked. 

“I don’t think so, but we’re going to have some heavy rain tonight, so we’ll know in the morning,” the wolf said.

When they got to The Professors’ cabin, the pigs fell asleep while wolf was making dinner. The wolf didn’t wake them because he knew how tired they were. As the wolf ate his dinner the rain started falling and by the time he finished dinner the wind was blowing so hard it rattled the windows.  The lightning was so bright that it almost looked like daylight outside. The Professor looked out the window and saw the trees bend in the wind. “This will be a good test for the pig’s cabin,” he said to himself, as he put another log on the fire and went to bed.