It was early on a Thursday moving, and Doctor Snuggles was sleeping peacefully in his little house. His red woolly nightcap covered his head and his glasses were perched on his nose. Outside, the sun was beaming down and the birds were creating a noisy racket in the treetops. Doctor Snuggles was refusing to wake up when suddenly there was a load tapping at his bedrrom window.

Tap, tap, tap.

Doctor Snuggles awoke with a start. "Oh, it’s you. Good morning," he said, bravely stifling a yawn and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

It was the Treacle Tree, a member of the great family of syrup trees. Doctor Snuggles loved this particular tree whose branches reached right to his window. This morning the Treacle Tree looked rather glum. "Doctor Snuggles," he said, "I’d like to have a word with you. I want to fly!"

"Fly!" Doctor Snuggles echoed in astonishment. "That’s absurd. Trees can’t fly. They’re meant to stand still in one place."

"That’s right," said Ed, the squirrel, who had his home in the branches of the Treacle Tree, "only birds can fly, and you’re certainly not a bird"

"Well, that’s exactly it. I want to fly just like a bird," the Treacle Tree insisted. "Can’t you do anything to help? How would you like to remain in one place all the time? It’s boring."

At that moment Dennis, the badger, appeared and immediately viewed the problem from the practical side_. "Let’s try to help the tree to fly, shall we?" said Dennis "Now, the first things he should have are wings."

"But what sort of wings?" asked Doctor Snuggles.

"I don’t know." replied Dennis. "Let’s just make some and see."

They made two wooden wings and strapped them to the Treacle Tree. Then they tied a long rope to the tree, and the animals got together and pulled with all their might. Slowly the Treacle Tree lifted off the ground and into the air. Alas, it was a short flight. The tree hovered and fell to the ground with a load thud. So trees weren’t meant to fly after all…