Mini Pet Pals

It’s quite natural that the Mini Pet Pals ask themselves what there is beyond the park’s fence… as a matter of fact, one day, Top Hat asks Metuselah permission to go and explore these places that he has never been to before. Metuselah gives him permission, but only if the Mini Pet Pals follow the paths that are drawn on the map and that they stop to listen to the advice of some animals that they will meet along the way. Metuselah that is a wise joker, has hidden the pieces of the map in different places in the playground. Once the map has been put together the tree introduces the first animals that will accompany them in their expedition: the porcupine Martino, the Iridescent chameleon, Ester the turtle, Otto the spider and Franco the falcon. Here they are ready for their first great adventure out of the playground: we’ll start tomorrow!, The Mini Pet Pals are ready to start their adventure. Metuselah tells them to start by crossing the Pilgrim’s bridge. Soon our little friends meet Franco the falcon, that explains the genesis of the name of the Pilgrim’s bridge, named because his ancestor Camillo – that came from a faraway country and had black feathers on his head, like the ones of the hood of the pilgrims – would never move from there. Holly is the first to cross the bridge, and the other Mini Pet Pals follow… all apart from Top Hat, that has a panic attack. Everyone gives him a different piece of advice. Nameless goes back to help him. At a certain point, the chick loses its balance and is about to fall into the mouth of a hungry fox. At this point Top Hat crosses the bridge running, just in time to save Nameless!, In a large clearing in the forest, our friends find a hut and a circle of rocks around a fire that has already been lit. The Mini Pet Pals sit around it and Martino starts to tell the story of the forest and the animals that live in it. At a certain point Giovanni, the Eurasian eagle-owl intervenes, and he explains the origin of his name and of his silent way of flying… The fable is over: it’s time to get the backpacks and, put the fire out and go back to the park!, Today the Mini Pet Pals, following the directions on the map, go to the lake where they meet a family of pink flamingos. The Mini Pet Pals, intrigued, ask where their pink color comes from. The two baby flamingoes are the ones that answer: they love shrimp, and since shrimp are pink, gradually their wings and beaks became that color.

The Mini Pet Pals are going to the Little Forest, where the Shimmering Chamaeleon lives. The six friends are incredibly surprised but his ability to change color, and they ask him how he does it. “I don’t know what happens, all I know is that when I get close to something and I concentrate, my body becomes the same color of the things that I am close to…” , Ester the turtle also lives in the Shady Forest and the Mini Pet Pals are curious to meet her and to find out how old she is. “Many; I’m even older than Noah, Metuselah’s father! You’ve never met him? Come, I want to introduce him to you!”. Everyone walks following her, but Top Hat would like to go faster., Our friends meet Otto the spider, that is at the center of a large spiderweb. Pio, observing the spider’s dance on the spiderweb’s threads asks him how come he doesn’t get stuck in the threads “When I spin my web I leave some threads without glue, so when I move forwards and backwards on my spiderweb I know where to put my feet…” replies Otto. “And how can you tell those threads apart?” asks Top Hat, Top Hat has a dream, to fly. Metuselah advises him to ask Nameless to lend him a couple of his balloons, but the bunny rabbit, doing so, is barely able to get off the ground. Moby tells him that he could try with four balloons, but the result isn’t satisfying. “If you really want to fly, go to the Shady Forest and look for Franco, that has its nest exactly there”. Says their friend the tree. The falcon Franco, that the Mini Pet Pals have already met, is willing to make Top Hat fly and, after having made him climb up on his back he does a series of tricks at high speed in the air.

Nameless takes out a placard that portrays Noah, Metuselah’s father. Pio says that it would be nice if they go to the Shady Forest to keep him company. Noah is sleeping and the Mini Pet Pals decide to put on a surprise circus show for him. Moby brought his colors with him and the Mini Pet Pals start to put their make-up on. Top Hat, with his large mustache is the ringmaster. Holly the tiger does an act where she walks upside down along one of Noah’s branches; Moby the zebra does a magical show with a ball… that is Nameless disguised. Diva dances with (dressed up as a flamingo) and Pio-ladybug. Top Hat ends the show as the sword eater, oops, the carrot eater!, Diva arrives running in the park where her friends are playing: “Come, everybody run, a terrible thing has happened!”. The Mini Pet Pals follow her to the Little Forest, where the duckling shows them a hole that has “swallowed up” he bows. Diva cries desperately because getting the bow back seems impossible, but along comes a nice mole that offers to help because, as she says “…this is the perfect mission for Luigina the mole”., Holly has a question: “Why do insects fly from one flower to the other?”. The tree suggests that they go to Marietta the bee, in the Flowered Meadow: she’ll give them the right answer. The bee explains that when it’s spring she smells the air and chooses the flower whose perfume she likes the most; then she gathers the pollen to make some really good honey. At this point Diva takes out her perfume and sprays it on her lock of hair., It’s December: the six friends head towards the lake where, as Metuselah had said, a surprise is waiting for him. Once the Mini Pet Pals arrive at their destination they are in awe: the lake and the waterfall are completely frozen. After some of them slipping a couple of times, they are all able to move skillfully on the ice.

Mini Pet Pals go for a walk in the Shady Forest. Metuselah tells them that at the edge of the forest there is a little house on a tree where you can see migratory birds. Thanks to Nameless’ telescope, Holly notices a white furred wolf that is spreading out grains of wheat on the ground to attract the birds so that he can eat them in one bite. The cat has an idea: all together they build a scarecrow, that is placed next to the grains of wheat to warn the flock of birds of danger., It is Halloween. Methuselah tells the Mini Pet Pals that the dormouse Lucio at sunset will take them to the Shady Forest to take part in a big party. At night our little friends take a lantern, and in a line, they go into the forest. During this nighttime walk, Lucio warns them, they will see flying pumpkins and some nocturnal animal, but they won’t have to get scared… , Moby is digging a hole for his bone when he finds a small, red, round object. What could it be? Metuselah tells them that it’s a seed and that it will create a plant. “By what plant exactly?” asks the curious dog. Methuselah advises them to ask Noah, that explains: “That red and black seed is the seed of a bean plant…”, and he continues by telling the story of jack and the beanstalk., It is a very windy day and the Mini Pet Pals decide to go and visit Noah to check if he is well. The old tree explains that the wind only tickles him a bit and takes away a couple of his leaves, but he is worried for the nest that is on one of his branches: if the wind makes it fall, the egg will break.

It’s summer and it’s really hot: the Mini Pet Pals ask methuselah permission to go and have a swim at the waterfall. Along the road Top Hat trips and he calls his friends in a frightened manner: there is a menacing spider next to a bush! The Mini Pet Pals run here and there petrified, until Berta the lizard reassures them: “It’s not a real snake! What scared you is simply a snake’s skin and it can’t hurt you!” Berta explains that snakes change their skin once or twice a year to change it for another one when they grow and the one that they have is too small., Metuselah calls the Mini Pet Pals: Ester the turtle is waiting for them ant the Shady Forest’s entrance to show them a plant that is very strange. The small friends are happy: they can’t wait to discover what it is, and they each have their own assumptions. Ester shows them a small carnivorous plant that scares the Mini Pet Pals a bit as they fear for their safety, but the turtle reassures them., It is a beautiful sunny day, perfect to go on a trip to the lake. After having arrived at their destination the Mini Pet Pals rest for a bit and none of them want to play with Top Hat, that is getting bored and he wants to do something at all costs. The friends decide to “teach him a lesson” and they invite him to play a game that involves climbing: his opponent will be the gecko Ivan. Top Hat thinks that the small gecko won’t be able to do it, but Ivan surprises him by climbing in an agile manner., The beautiful Autumn day makes you want to take a walk and Nameless suggest that they go all the way to Belvedere to look at the scenery. Methuselah reminds them to come back before it gets dark: they days in autumn are shorter. While the Mini Pet Pals are on the road that takes them back home night falls, and the small friends are worried: they got lost, and around them they can hear sounds that scare them a lot. From a bush Paolino the deer comes out: he has also gotten lost and he can’t get back home.

Top Hat would like to go with his friends to the edge of the valley. It will be a long walk, the Mini Pet Pals have never gone that far, and Metuselah tells them to be very careful. Everyone is happy to go on the adventure apart from Pio, that confesses that he is a bit scared. The only one that can help Pio is Otto, the spider that lives near the Little Forest. The Mini Pet Pals go looking for Otto and, looking up, they see him arrive flying using dandelion seeds to move., The Mini Pet Pals go and play in the Flowered Meadow. Before leaving Diva shows everyone her new necklace that she made using a shiny stone. Playing catch with that heavy necklace is difficult therefore the duck entrusts the piece of jewelry to Top hat. The rabbit obeys but he is invited to play a game of soccer and the temptation is strong and he forgets the promise that he made to Diva. Shortly after, the necklace has disappeared!, Diva has arrived at the park with her first aid kit and she is looking for a “patient” to cure amongst her friends. As soon as she sees Top Hat, she asks him if he would be willing to get a shot, but the rabbit doesn’t want to, and he actually asks Metuselah to distract the duckling., The Mini Pet Pals go to the Shady Forest: Metuselah said that there is a surprise for them! Once they get to the forest, they hear a mysterious noise: what could it be? Pio sees a big turtle and he tries to speak to her, but without succeeding, since – as Diva makes him notice - the turtle is made of wood. The woodpecker Nicola, the sculptor, arrives in that moment and Diva asks him to help her play a trick on Top Hat. Not long after the bunny rabbit is face to face with another rabbit that looks a lot like him and is holding a carrot.