Trouble with a strange tree

The cubses and Spotty were out exploring when they stumbled upon the camp of Jagaswami, Balanandaswami, Krackaswami, and the disguised spotted dog. The camp was set up near the railroad tracks, perhaps to attract the attention of unsuspecting strangers.



Luckily the cubses were not spotted. They raced on.

"Let's play hide and seek!" said Tirucub. "You three hide while I count to twenty."

Spotty was just wondering where to hide when some friendly beavers beckoned to him and let him hide in their dam.



Omcub quickly slipped into a little cave, hoping the parrots above would not give him away.



Arunacub scrambled up a tree. He had seen the tree before and suspected it was hollow. Some monkeys leapt over from other trees and began shouting, "Be careful, little cub! Be careful!" and even trying to block his way.

How strange, he thought! Usually the monkeys were so fun-loving and also helpful. Why on earth would they want to ruin a good game of hide and seek? Arunacub kept climbing.



A most terrible thing happened as he poked his nose in the top. He saw it was indeed hollow ... but then there was a strange sucking sensation and he felt himself pulled in very fast. Before he could comprehend what was happening, he found himself standing in a strange bleak place.



Back at the hollow tree, the monkeys set up a terrible screeching. They sounded so upset that Omcub and Spotty both scrambled out of their hiding places and dashed, along with Tirucub, to the hollow tree.



"We tried to warn him!" the monkeys cried.

"Where is he?" Tirucub asked.

"Gone! Gone to the Island of Roving Egos," said one of the monkeys, and all the monkeys wept. "That is where this tree leads."

"How do we get him back?"

The monkeys cried harder.

"We must tell Bhagavan at once!" said Omcub, and they ran as fast as their little legs would carry them to Bhagavan.

______

Meanwhile, on the Island of Roving Egos, an odd bunch of thoughts were crowding into Arunacub's head. "Hmmm, what do I want? A big screened TV, nice and flat and huge ... gameboys ... LOTS of gameboys ...."

A distant hazy memory began to float up .... What was that name? ... "B- ... B - ... Bha ... who was that? ...."

He fought against the haziness and grabbed the name and shouted it. "BHAGAVAN!!!"

The moment the name was out of his mouth, he was at Bhagavan's side.



A few minutes later his three brudders came racing in, quite out of breath.



And stunned to see him.

"Arunacub! We thought you had gone to the Island of Roving Egos!"

"I WAS there. But Bhagavan brought me home as soon as I called to Him."

___

Later that day, Tirucub suddenly said, "The perfect place to send the pixies! They can chase and annoy the egos all over the Island of Roving Egos!" ... (to be continued) ...