Hen Hanna wants to go to the alpine pasture

In a small village in a beautiful mountain valley in Tyrol, Henne Hanna lived on a farm with her friends, Kuh Karoline, Pferd Paul-Gaul, and Schaf Olli. Life on the farm is a truly wonderful thing; everyone always had a lot of fun. Only once a year was Henne Hanna very sad – always when her friends were allowed to go up to the alpine pasture in early summer, but Henne Hanna had to stay home. The farmer thought it was much too steep and too strenuous for Henne Hanna on the alpine pasture. Every day, Hanna looked longingly upwards, where the mountain peaks and alpine meadows shone. „Oh, how I would love to come with you tomorrow," Hanna said to her friends.

Suddenly, Hanna had an idea: „How about," she said, „if I hide and you take me to the mountains?" „A truly wonderful idea," said Karoline the cow. And so Hanna tried to hide on Karoline. That didn't go well at all; the farmer would have discovered her immediately. Then she tried hiding under the mane of Paul-Gaul the horse. That didn't work either; a body part always peeked out. Finally, she tried it with Olli the sheep—and lo and behold, Hanna burrowed into Olli's wool so well that the farmer could no longer see her. Early the next morning, the four set off. Hanna was terribly excited—now she too would get to go to the alpine pasture, which she only knew from stories. Clinging tightly to Olli, a long march began. For Olli, it was no problem; he was as fit as he could be. Up a steep path through a dense fir forest, along a rushing mountain stream, and past a crystal-clear mountain lake, they reached the colorful, blooming alpine meadows after many hours. „In five minutes, we'll be at our destination," said Olli. Henne was very happy then, because clinging to Olli's wool was becoming quite tiring.

Once they reached the mountain pasture, Hanna simply couldn't contain her curiosity any longer. „Don't run too far away!" her friends called after her. Hanna didn't hear them anymore; she couldn't wait to explore the mountain pasture. It was wonderful, with so many flowers and butterflies she had never seen before. And the view! She could even see the farm from up here. In her joy, Hanna placed a colorful egg at every new spot she discovered.

On her exploratory tour, she passed by strange holes dug everywhere in the ground. Out of curiosity, Hanna poked her head into one of the holes and shouted loudly: „Yoohoo – is anyone there?" But there was no sound. Driven by her curiosity, she crawled into one of the holes. Underground tunnels stretched out everywhere, one small cave after another. Suddenly, someone nudged her from behind: „Who are you?" „Hello," said Hanna. „I'm Hanna the hen, and who are you?" „I'm Max the marmot." He whistled loudly and all his siblings came running. „Wow!" said Hanna, „it's so cool how you live here." Max then told her that it was also the best place in the world to play tag. And so it began. Together, they played tag and hide-and-seek with all their might. Only when Hanna was completely hen-tired after many, many rounds did she notice that she had completely lost track of time. „Oh, for goodness sake!" Hanna said to Max, "I think I have to go, otherwise my friends will get worried." She said goodbye to Max and his siblings. When she stuck her head out of the marmot burrow, she noticed that it was getting dark and she had no idea how far away the alpine pasture was.

Indeed, her friends Sarah, Karoline, and Olli, as well as the children vacationing on the mountain pasture with their parents, were already desperately searching for her. One could even hear the farmer calling from a distance: „Hey, hey, hey - Hen Hanna, come here!" „Hey, hey, hey," Hanna thought, „hopefully this won't cause any trouble." She ran off with her feathers fluffed, towards her friends, the children, and the farmer. They were perhaps relieved when they saw Hanna healthy and cheerful again. Out of joy, she immediately laid another large, colorful egg. "We're so glad you're back," said Olli. The farmer also said, relieved: "It's a good thing you laid so many eggs everywhere, otherwise we probably would never have found you.".

Then they all shouted loudly in unison: „Henne Hanna, you're a hit, we'll gladly have you back."