It was a loud knock on the door that woke up the pigs and The Professor.

“I’ll get it, ” said Bobby. 

“Make sure you look and see who it is before you open the door,” The Professor called out, “You shouldn’t open the door to strangers.”

They all looked out the window.  “It’s Brownie and he has a lot of Woodland animals with him.” 

“Open the door and tell him we’re almost ready,” The Professor replied. 

Bobby opened the door, “Good morning Brownie,” he said.

“Good morning Bobby” said Brownie, “I brought some of my friends to help with the cabin. You know Randy and Raymond, but I’d like you to meet Mr. Hare. He’s a very good bricklayer and he’s going to help with the chimney.” Mr. Hare was a large brown rabbit.  The pigs also met Digger the groundhog, and Alex the Eagle.

“Thank you all for coming,” the wolf said, “the more help we have the faster the cabin will be finished.”

The Professor showed everyone the plan for the cabin, and told each one what they could do to help.  Brownie was going to get the large rocks for the foundation, while Digger the groundhog dug holes for the rocks.  Alex the Eagle would fly over the woodland looking for good trees to use for lumber, while the beavers cut them down.  

“What will we do,” asked Billy.

“Here,” replied the wolf “take this box of seedlings and wherever Randy and Raymond cut down a tree you must plant a new one.”

“Why are we doing that” asked Bobby.

“You must respect everything Bobby, including in the Woodland. You must never take from nature without giving something back.  If we all took trees to build our cabins and didn’t replant new trees the Woodland would soon be gone.”

“We understand Professor” Billy replied, “We’ll make sure we replace every tree we take.”

Everyone set out to do his job. Digger started digging the holes for the foundation, while Brownie went down by the stream to get the large rocks for the foundation.  As Brownie and Digger set the large stones, The Professor and Mr. Hare cemented them together to make the foundation very strong.  Meanwhile, with Alex’s help Randy and Raymond cut down all the trees that they would need, and then cut them into planks and logs for the cabin.  The pigs planted a new tree for each one they cut down, and watered them so they would be sure to grow.  Alex flew back and told the wolf that the beavers have cut all the wood already.

“Just-in-time,” the wolf replied, “we just finished the foundation.”  “O.K. everybody, “The Professor said,” let’s go help the pigs and beavers get the wood back here.” 

Brownie went and got a large wagon that he used to haul firewood in the winter. “We’ll use this Professor,” he said, “It will make the job easier.”

So with everybody’s help the wagon was loaded with wood for the cabin, but it was so heavy everyone had to work together as a team to get the wagon back up the hill to the cabin site. 

“Boy that was hard work, “said Randy the Beaver, “and I’m thirsty, and hungry too.” 

The Professor smiled, “I think we’re all thirsty and hungry,” and just as he said that a small brown and white rabbit carrying two large picnic baskets came up the hill. 

“Who’s that?” Billy asked.

 “It’s my daughter, Amanda,” Mr. Hare replied. “It looks like she brought us some lunch.” 

All the other Woodland animals knew Amanda and ran over to help her with the basket and thank her for bringing lunch. “I hope you like it.” Amanda said, “Mother and I baked chocolate chip cookies for dessert.”

“I hope you baked a lot,” Alex said, “You know how much Brownie likes chocolate chip cookies.” Everyone laughed because they all knew how much Brownie likes chocolate chip cookies; it was his favorite food.

“Come boys,” The Professor said to the pigs, “I want you to meet Amanda.”

”Hello Professor,” Amanda said, as they walked up.

“Hello Amanda,” replied the wolf. “I would like you to meet Billy and Bobby Hoggs.  They’re going to be our new neighbors.” 

“Hello Billy and Bobby, it’s very nice to meet you,” Amanda said.

“Hello Amanda,” The pigs said, “and please thank your mother for the wonderful lunch she made.” 

“I will” she replied. “I see your cabin is coming along fine.”

“Yes” Billy answered, “Would you like for Bobby and I to show you around.”

”That would be nice” she said, and the three walked off towards the cabin.

Mr. Hare turned to the wolf; “they seem like nice boys, I’m glad they moved to the Woodland. Amanda has been lonely, she needs friends her own age to be with,” he said.

“Did you see her face when she met the boys?” The Professor replied. “She was all smiles; I don’t think she’s going to be lonely anymore.”

“I think you’re right Professor,” Mr. Hare replied.

The pigs showed Amanda around the foundation of the cabin. “It looks very big,” Amanda said, “How long do think it will take to finish.”

“The Professor said we could have it done by tomorrow night if we work hard and have enough help,” Bobby replied.

“I could help”, said Amanda, “that would be another set of hands working on it.” 

“Great” the pigs replied. “Can you nail flooring?” Billy asked.

“Well I’ve never done it before, but I’ll give it a try,” Amanda replied, “but before we start let’s get some of those cookies, I see Brownie is done with his sandwich and looking for dessert.”

“Well if he really likes your mom’s cookies, he can have our share,” said the pigs, “because he’s worked very hard today”.

After lunch everyone went back to work on the cabin. The Professor and Mr. Hare started working on the chimney while Digger was mixing the cement and getting it all over himself.

“Be careful Digger” Mr. Hare told him, “if that cement gets hard you’ll turn into a statute and we’ll have to set you on the pig’s lawn.”

Everyone thought that was funny and laughed. The pigs, Amanda, Brownie and Alex started working on the floor. Brownie moved the large floor beams and put them in place, with the pigs and Amanda’s help.  As the beams were set in place, Alex, who is a bald eagle, with very large and powerful wings, lifted each floor plank like a large helicopter and lowered it into place so it could be nailed. The pigs and Amanda started nailing.

“This is fun,” Amanda said, as she quickly hammered one nail after another into the planks. The pigs were surprised at how fast Amanda could nail.

Billy scratching his head said, “How did you do that so fast?”

“It’s all in the rhythm” Amanda smiled. “It’s just thump thump thump, next nail, then thump, thump, thump.”

“That works great “Bobby said.” I’m going to try it.”

”Me too,” said Billy.

In no time the floor was all nailed down, but as the floor was going down so was the sun. As long shadows fell over the woodland everyone knew the day was coming to an end. 

They all said goodbye to each other, and started home.

“Good-bye everyone” said the pigs, “we’ll see you tomorrow.”

”Goodnight” they all replied. 

“Bright and early tomorrow boys,” Brownie said, as he walked over the hill. 

“Bright and early, Brownie,” the pigs replied. 

The last ones over the hill were Amanda and her father. She stopped and waved good night to Bobby and Billy. “Thank you for letting me help.”

“No Amanda” Billy said,” thank you for helping. We’ll see you tomorrow, goodnight.”

The pigs and The Professor went back to the Wolfs’ cabin. While the pigs took a bath the wolf made dinner. After they were clean the pigs sat down to eat and as they ate they talked about the day’s work.

“We got a lot done” the wolf said, “do you see what you can get done when you have good friends, and you work as a team.”

“Yes Professor” Billy replied, “everyone worked very hard, but did you see how hard Amanda worked? She was nailing faster than the two of us put together.”

“I think Amanda’s going to be a very special friend to you two. Now finish your dessert and off to bed. Tomorrow will be here before you know it,” the wolf said smiling. 

The pigs jumped into bed and pulled the covers over them. “Goodnight Professor,” said Billy.

“Goodnight Professor,” said Bobby.

“Goodnight boys,” said the wolf, “lights out.”