Once Upon a Forest 2013

In a sunlit meadow named Dapplewood, a small group of animal students—a mouse named Abigail, a mole named Edgar, a hedgehog named Russell, and a young badger named Michelle—study under the guidance of Michelle’s uncle, Cornelius. On a routine hike through the nearby woods, they stumble onto a road and witness a series of misfortunes that will change their world. Russell nearly gets struck by a car, and a glass bottle is hurled from a window. Moments later, a poison-gas truck careens toward them when its tire is punctured by the broken bottle, sending the vehicle skidding off the road and rupturing its tank. Gas begins to seep into the forest as the driver hurries away, leaving the small travelers in a suddenly dangerous landscape.

Dapplewood is quickly overwhelmed by the toxic fumes. Michelle rushes toward her home, crying out for her parents, and its warnings are drowned out by the panic and fear of the moment. Inside, Abigail follows and retrieves Michelle, who is rendered comatose by the gas. Tragically, Michelle’s parents are found dead in the aftermath. Back at his house, Cornelius explains a painful chapter from his past: gas pollution once chased him and his sister from their own home, forcing them to flee in fear. To save Michelle, they must gather Lung-wort and Eye-bright, two healing herbs. Yet the plants near Dapplewood are destroyed by the catastrophe, so the group must venture to another meadow and return with the antidotes in two days’ time.

On their first night of travel, Abigail, Edgar, and Russell attract the attention of a monstrous one-eyed barn owl. The owl snatches Abigail into its nest briefly, but she escapes, and the trio presses on to find a safer place to rest. The next morning, they encounter a flock of wrens gathered for a poignant moment: they are helping to bid farewell to a young wrens’ chick whose feet are stuck in a mud puddle. Edgar orchestrates a rescue, halting a pretend funeral and freeing the trapped hatchling, earning the wrens’ gratitude as they celebrate the successful rescue.

A wrens’ leader then explains that the meadow they seek lies beyond the land of the yellow dragons, which is revealed to be a sprawling construction site. The trio must slip away from the danger by escaping through a sewer grate and emerge in a pond adjacent to the distant meadow. They quickly catch the attention of locals and manage to reach a field where Eye-bright grows, though Lung-wort remains high up on a treacherous cliff. While they work on a plan, Russell uncovers sketches of a flying machine drawn by Cornelius, and the three set to turning those designs into a working vehicle. They build the machine and prepare to take off.

Abigail volunteers to climb out onto the wing to grab the Lung-wort as they pass by the cliff. She loses her balance at a critical moment, but Edgar reacts just in time to save her from a fall. The missing Lung-wort is finally discovered, snagged on the edge of the wing as the trio roars back toward home. A storm brews on their flight, and they barely manage to crash-land in the woods below, but they have made it back to their meadow with the herbs in hand.

Back at Cornelius’s door, they rush to restore Michelle, who has been left to recover under strain. The group watches as humans peer in the window, prompting a hasty retreat through the back door. Edgar becomes separated from the others and falls into an animal trap; a kind human eventually frees him, disposes of the trap, and ensures the area is safe again. Michelle receives the remedy, yet she remains unresponsive for a moment before Cornelius sheds a single tear that lands on her forehead and triggers a revival. The sight of the miraculous return to life fills them all with relief, and Cornelius is left astonished by how far Abigail, Edgar, and Russell have come, as well as by the flying machine that now stands as a symbol of their maturation.

The surviving residents of Dapplewood gradually return to their homes, drawn back by the hope that safer, kinder days lie ahead. Abigail, Edgar, and Russell reunite with their families, while Cornelius welcomes Michelle into his care as they all acknowledge the need to continue working together. The tale closes with a quiet sense that even in the wake of disaster, cooperation, courage, and a shared resolve can heal a community and safeguard the memories of those who were lost.

A botanist briefly appears in the story, portrayed by Francis Hallé.