Jack and Annie must be given four special gifts to help free an enchanted dog, Teddy, from a spell. They have already received two gifts from two journeys.
It was time to get their third gift from a forest far away. The title of their research book was "Wildlife of India"
In the tree house, they landed in a tree by a stream at the edge of a forest with Teddy. Two langurs, which Annie named Kah and Ko, led them all into the forest like paradise, but Wildlife meant scary animals, too.
When a tiger appeared around them, they joined the langurs like climbing from branch to branch. Just then, the snake, python, was slithering around the their trunk. The python is not a poisonous one, but squeezes its prey to death. The langurs swung over bushes and tall grass and landed in another tree. Jack and Annie copied them.
How could they escape from the tiger? Then, an elephant passed beneath their tree. Because their book says tigers don't attack elephants, they climbed down the tree until they was close to the elephant's back.
They traveled through the forest on the back of the elephant, named Saba, with herd of elephants in line. Suddenly, a long roar split the night, but Saba paid no attention. They rocked in sleepy rhythm with Saba's walk, and soon their head rested on.
When they were in hazy sunlight on a muddy stream bank, they said thanks and goodbye to Saba.
Just then, Teddy barked from the edge of the forest. They found a tiger which was lying on and his front paw was caught in a steel trap. He might have gotten caught last night. That was the sad sound they heard. They saved him taking off the trap, and the tiger didn't move. And then, they tiptoed back toward the langurs. But, soon the tiger was on his feet and snarled at them, and started toward them.
When the huge tiger limped closer and closer to them, racing over to the bank they heard Teddy's barks turn to fierce growls like a wild dog. Their book had said tigers often avoided wild dogs like many smaller cats.
And then, when they all went around the bend, they saw a man sitting cross-legged on a rock. He was a hermit who lived in the forest, so he could learn from nature. He said that he had listened for so long, they had all begun to sound like one voice which was the one great voice of the forest. The voice told him that a tiger got caught in a trap and other story they had experienced.
The hermit let them bring him one of the white flowers floating on the stream. Annie hurried there and then she took the flower, muddy root and all, to the blind man. He said that the perfect lotus blossom grows from dark, thick mud, and its beauty cannot live without its ugliness. Adding, he said that when they saved the tiger, they saved all of him. They saved the tiger's graceful beauty and his fierce, savage nature. You cannot have one without the other.
The hermit gave the lotus as a thank-you gift from all the forest for saving their fierce friend. He said that our world not be complete without him. The lotus was a gift from a forest far away, which they would find on this trip.
The tree house was close by. The elephants had walked in a large circle. So they were back at the place where they started. After they were back to their woods, they hugged the two langurs, great tour guides.
They sat on steps before they went inside their home. If the hermit couldn't see, how did he know about the tree house, and how did he know that they had traveled all night with the elephants, Jack asked. Annie answered that the one great voice of the forest told him.
Jack closed his eyes for a moment and listened. All the sounds were like one great voice, particularly their mom's saying "Time for dinner, kids.", out of home.
