Peter was no normal hedgehog. No, Peter was much, much different than the others. The others were rowdy. They would do bad things like steal an extra serving from their siblings, or poke other hedgehogs they didn’t like with their spikes. Some of the other hedgehogs would just stay curled up in their burrow all day, never to move a muscle. Some would say mean things to Peter and ruin his day. If you can believe it, some were so bad, they would even say that God doesn’t exist.
Peter didn’t believe them when they said this, of course! Peter knew God was the reason he had everything, like a place to sleep, food to eat, a world to explore and a beautiful wife to live with. Peter would add on to his home whenever he could, finding twigs and grass to make it better than ever. Peter always enjoyed finding food, and took a great delight in finding new places to observe all of creation. Above all, Peter wanted to know all he could about God, and his wife shared his desire.
One day Peter felt strange. He wasn’t happy adding on to his house any longer, or in gathering food or even going to his favorite places outside. Peter felt the need to go—to where, he did not know. He felt God was telling him to go on an adventure! So he swept up his wife and off they went! They saw all sorts of new things on their journey. They walked through a big forest, crossed giant plains and even climbed mountains together. But the greatest of all their discoveries was what they were sure was the biggest, fattest tree in the world, and a man with a beard hanging down to his toes!
The hedgehog family looked around and to their surprise they saw thousands of new animals they had never seen before! Tall ones with long necks, short ones with no necks, scaly ones with no arms and furry ones with arms! All of them climbed aboard the big tree with the bearded man, and felt safe.
While on the tree, there were loud sounds, and rocking, and swaying! It was a terrifying experience. Peter and his wife stayed cozy in the pouch of one of their bouncy new friends, a Kangaroo.
Soon the ruckus was over. Peter and his wife found great joy in climbing down the tree, back into the safety of the land. He wondered what happened to all the other hedgehogs. Were they still doing bad things off at home? Peter was sad, but happy to have a wife to love with a baby on the way.
