Little Tiger & Tiger-Duck

Please help me finding my best friend! Little Bear should be on her way to Panama too, to meet me there.

Help us finding each other in Panama, the land of our dreams, so we can look for our lovely home together which may be back in our little cottage.

I will need lots of pictures. So I can show my best friend Little Bear what happened meanwhile. We both believe in adventurous and daring and reasonably weird caches out in the beautiful nature -
oh, and in soft, plushy sofas of course.

Can you fill up my story with what's happened next in a short note? The cutest and most adventurous stories will be added up here!

And the most fanciful one of all will be awarded with a special prize, once Little Bear and me find the home of our dreams together.

Little Bear and me are best friends. Because with a friend like that, you don't have to be afraid of anything.

We lived together in a cosy little cottage down by the river Elbe with everything we needed for being happy.
"How happy we are!" I used to say. "We have all we could wish for, and we don't have to be afraid of anything. That's because we're also strong, aren't we, Bear?"
"That's right," said Little Bear. "I'm as strong as a bear, and you're as strong as a tiger. That should do."

Every day, Little Bear took her rod and went fishing and I went out in the woods looking for mushrooms. Little Bear cooked dinner every day, because she is a good cook. Everything she cooks tastes sooo good.
"Would you rather have the fish cooked with salt and pepper, Mr Tiger, or lemon and onion?"
"All of them!" I said. "And the biggest helping!"
After the fish we ate stewed mushrooms, and then bilberry jam and honey. We really did lead a happy life in our nice little cottage down by the riverside.

One day a crate came floating down the river with a lovely smell of bananas and the word "Panama" on it. Little Bear fished it out of the water and said:
"This crate comes from Panama, and Panama smells of bananas! Oh, Panama is the land of my dreams!"

She ran home and told me and went on talking about Panama far into the night.
"In Panama," Little Bear said, "everything is different, you know. Much bigger. Much nicer. Because Panama smells of bananas from top to bottom. Panama is the land of our dreams, Tiger. We must start for Panama first thing tomorrow, mustn't we, Tiger?"
"First thing tomorrow," I agreed.

Next morning, it was already slightly late in the year, we got up even earlier than usual. I took my stripy Tiger-Duck and Little Bear took her black hat and her fishing rod.
"Because if you have a rod, you needn't go hungry," said Little Bear.
And then she also took a really big sailcloth. "You never know", said Little Bear, "sailcloths can be sooo useful!" And that is true.

"If you don't know your way," said Little Bear, "the first thing you need is a signpost." So we built a signpost out of the crate. And in no time we waved our cosy little cottage good buy and set off for great adventures, going the way, the signpost pointed.

And since we didn't really know exactly, where Panama is, we just asked. Made some friends along our way. Surfed some comfy couches and discovered we believe in soft, plushy sofas!
"A sofa like this," I said, "is the most beautiful thing in the world! We'll buy ourselves a sofa like this when we get to Panama, Bear, and then we shall have everything we could wish for, shan't we?"

One day we arrived at a place called Angel's Churches and I asked: "Left or right, Ms Bear, what are you up for?"
"Well," said Little Bear, "up would indeed be very reasonable. There you have the best view." And off we set, straight to the highest point we stumped.

"Oh, there's a duck aviation school", Little Bear suddenly cried glowingly. She pondered for a second and then jubilated: "I'll do that, too!" In the twinkling of an eye she knotted a fancy paraglider out of the sailcloth and the fishing line.
"Give me a push, Tiger!"
"But you don't go too far, do you?"
"Why, no. We are best friends - and best friends always stick together."

Well then. And up she went. Yippee, that was fun. It was splendid to see the sun and the wind play with each other. I waved Little Bear and Little Bear flew a beautiful loop for me.

But all of a sudden the wind got moody. Puffed and blew and Little Bear staggered and was blown over the electrical fences, far and farther away. Out of sight.

"Oh, what shall I do now?", I asked Tiger-Duck. But she didn't answer. So we searched the whole hill for Little Bear, found the weirdest mushrooms - but no Little Bear.

"Where might little Bear have been blown to? Maybe right to Panama, the land of our dreams?" I'm going to take a short rest in the small crate up here and tomorrow, first thing tomorrow someone will surely take me to Panama, over the wide ocean, where Little Bear certainly already waits for me!

And then I had a loooong rest. I tried to count the days on my fingers, but there were not enough of them. And I became really hungry. "Oh, if I only could smell the aroma of Little Bears roasted chestnuts", I thought by myself. But one day, I snuffled and smelled the scent of fried spare ribs. How fabulous! I followed the scent all the way to Rothaargebirge, where I met a crow. "Birds are clever," Little Bear used to say, so I asked her the way.
"What way?" asked the crow. "There are hundred and thousand ways! But first come in and have dinner with me in my nest." Oh, I was so lucky!

We spent a couple of days together and had a great time.
"How about, you just stay with me?" the crow asked.
"Well, you know", I said, "I'd love to. But my friend Little Bear is waiting for me. I can't wait to see her. We are up for the land of our dreams!"
"Oh, that I understand."
"If you kept your eyes peeled on where my friend Little Bear wound up, that would be marvelous!"
"Of course. But how can I reach you, Little Tiger?"
"Oh, nothing's easier than that. Birds can SIP, do they?"
"Sure!"
"Then just call sip:Tiger@Panama.ath.cx. Or ask mole-control on hosepipe-network to connect you to Panama Eight Three, and then Six Five and Seven Seven and Nine and you'll be right with me! I love calls!"
"Bon voyage!" the crow said, because she also knew a bit of French.

But already the next day winter fell on Rothaargebirge and surprised by a snow slide I was trapped and paralyzed under a knoll of soft moss and tons of snow for what seemed months. Luckily, just before I took off for spring, I met an expert, who sold me a new pair of shoes and shared his legendary Ferguson with me. What a relief!

When the crocus sprouted, I left in company of a chaotic Captain for my beloved friend Little Bear.

To be continued...

Our story is based on a famous German 1978 coloured children's book series by the author Janosch, a story about true friendship and appreciating what you have, since in the end of their quest, the two heroes realize that the land of their dreams was right there, where they've always lived.
There's something about the exciting narration, Janosch's silly logic, and the obvious devotion of Little Tiger and Little Bear to each other that makes the stories so endearing.