Mr. Turtle however was the one pouring the tea kettle as his wife washed the dishes.
"Mom? Dad?" Franklin spoke up. "Is Spring ever going to come?"
"It does seem like we've had a long winter, doesn't it?" Mr. Turtle replied.
"It sure does." Junior said.
"What if it never comes?" Franklin frowned as he sat down with Sam on the table.
"It'll come, Franklin." Mr. Turtle reassured.
"But the baby's supposed to be born in the Spring," Franklin reminded his parents. "If Spring's late, doesn't that mean the baby will be late too?"
"No, I'm sure the baby will arrive on time." Rosie assured him.
"And we'll be ready." Mr. Turtle added as Mrs. Turtle then smiled and held her stomach.
"I wish Spring would come." Franklin gave a small smile.
"Maybe we'll have to wait for the Green Knight to bring Spring to Woodland." Mrs. Turtle suggested.
"The Quest of the Green Knight!" Mr. Turtle smiled as he used the towel as a lasso.
"The Green Knight?" Junior and Rosie asked out of confusion.
"I remember that story!" Franklin instantly smiled. "You haven't read it to me in a long time."
"What's the story about?" Rosie asked.
"Well, let's see, shall we? Here it is!" Mrs. Turtle smiled as she took the book right off the shelf. "Franklin's Great-Aunt Harriet gave me this book when I was a little girl."
"Great-Aunt Harriet always gives the best presents." Franklin smiled back as he patted a chair for his mother to sit in and read the story to all of them.
"I bet it's a great story." Junior said.
"It is." Franklin smiled.
"Cool." Rosie smiled.
Mrs. Turtle then sat down with the book.
'Oh, I can't wait to hear the story.' Junior thought to himself.
Mr. Turtle smiled as this looked like it was going to be special and fun for the kids.
"The Quest of the Green Knight," Mrs. Turtle began to read aloud. "One day, which feels quite like yesterday, but not so far as a long time ago, there was a not too tiny village in a land fairly far away. Nobody knew why, but winter had lingered far too long. Indeed, Spring was long past due, and the people were very worried. 'If we can't plant our crops for the summer, we'll starve come the winter!', the people cried."
"Sounds like they need help." Junior said.
"Indeed," Mrs. Turtle agreed as she turned the page. "The brave knights came from far and wide, all pledging to bring Spring to the village."
"Yay!" Rosie smiled.
"'Hooray for the brave knights!' the people cheered'," Mrs. Turtle read before turning the page again. "But although they tried very hard, the brave knights failed in their quest to bring Spring."
Junior and Rosie frowned to that.
"'We're doomed!', the people cried'," Mrs. Turtle continued. "But all was not lost, for in a castle overlooking the village was the bravest knight of all: The Green Knight'."
"Look, Mom!" Franklin pointed to the frog in shining armor next to a warthog. "The Green Knight really is green!"
"Just like a certain turtle we know." Mrs. Turtle smirked in amusement.
Rosie and Junior nodded. Franklin chuckled himself.
"'Alas, Green Knight, I fear we will all go hungry!', said the Squire'," Mrs. Turtle continued to read. "'I fear of nothing', said the Green Knight'."
Rosie thought this knight looked rather smug and full of himself.
"'And so, the Green Knight and his faithful Squire ventured forth, searching for Spring'." Mrs. Turtle continued to narrate.
"Ooh." Junior said.
The Green Knight was determined to bring Spring to the wintered wasteland that was the village while the Squire looked nervous as he thought they were probably lost. There was then a cry for help heard in the distance.
"I shall bring Spring back to this sad and drained place, for I am the bravest knight in all the land; the people shall cheer for no one but me." The Green Knight said.
"Me thinks we may have taken an unwanted direction, Sire." The Squire replied as they seemed to be lost.
"HELP!" a voice cried out in the distance.
"And me thinks I hear something." The Green Knight then said, putting his hand to where his ear would be if he had one.
"HEEEELP!" the voice yelled out. "HEEEELP!"
"Or someone harks, Squire, someone needs my help." The Green Knight said as he pulled out his sword.
The horse neighed and bucked up to go after the cry for help.
"CHARGE!" Franklin called out, getting into the story.
"Very good." Mrs. Turtle smiled which made her son giggle.
"CHARGE!" The mother and son then said together and even Junior and Rosie joined in.
"Charge!" The Green Knight called out as he charged in on his horse.
The Squire ran after, trying to keep him.
"HEEELP!" a creature was in the grasp of a rather vicious griffin.
The griffin looked like it was about to eat thee creature. The Green Knight came against the griffin and they both stared each other down.
The frog knight hopped off of his horse's back and came to the mean creature with his sword in place. "Release that goblin immediately!" he then demanded.
The griffin screeched at the sight of the cold iron blade, it then dropped the creature from its talons and flew off out of the snowy forest.
"Cool." Junior's voice said.
The Green Knight stood tall and brave as he put his sword down as the griffin flew away.
"Oh, thank you!" the goblin jumped to the Green Knight's leg and hugged it instantly. "Thank you! What courage, what heroism!"
"Yes, yes," the Green Knight replied boastfully. "And now, I must be off. Spring still alludes us," he then hopped back onto his horse's back. "Squire!"
"Sire." The Squire bowed as the sword was put back in his bag.
"Oh, wait!" the goblin told the Green Knight and Squire. "If it is Spring ye seek, then let me repay you for saving my life! Go deep in the forest where the sun rises and the rainbow ends, is a cherry tree as old as time itself! Take of its blossoms and scatter them about thy land! Spring will come."
"Point us into the direction, Goblin." The Green Knight said.
The goblin smiled to them and then pointed them in the direction as was asked of him. The frog and warthog then looked to see the rainbow in the distance and they almost couldn't believe their eyes.
"The Green Knight's close to finding Spring, isn't he?" Franklin smiled to his mother.
"Very close," Mrs. Turtle nodded. "'The Green Knight followed the goblin's directions and came upon a tree that burst magic cherry blossoms'."
"Ooh." Junior and Rosie smiled.
"Squire." The Green Knight commanded.
"Sire..." The Squire nodded before going toward the tree as he grabbed onto a pink branch. "What joy to touch the heart of Spring!"
"'Suddenly, a voice came from nowhere and suddenly everywhere'." Mrs. Turtle narrated.
"Halt! Who goes there?" Junior quoted. "Right?"
"Close," Mrs. Turtle told him before reading what was in the book. "'Halt, I am the Guardian of the Tree'."
'Ooh.' Junior thought to himself with interest.
'Who dares to approach?' The Guardian's voice demanded which scared the Squire away back to his lord.
"I am the Green Knight," the frog introduced himself. "I have come to take thy blossoms so my country may finally see Spring!"
"These blossoms are not yours for the taking..." a cloaked lynx appeared before the two. "You must prove yourself worthy, Green Knight."
The cloaked lynx soon disappeared before a dragon appeared. That made Junior and Rosie gasp.
"Gosh!" Franklin seemed shocked.
"'Oh, my lord!', said the Squire'..." Mrs. Turtle began.
"This is the most fearsome of dragons!" The Squire looked terrified.
"I fear-eth nothing," The Green Knight glared as he put on his helmet. "My lance, Squire."
The Squire bowed as the knight got his lance to charge for the dragon.
"Charge!" Franklin, Junior, and Rosie cheered.
The dragon snarled and exhaled fire and smoke which startled the horse away and made him run off, knocking the Green Knight into the snow.
"That's gotta hurt." Junior said.
The Green Knight removed his helmet and saw that his horse was running off. The dragon then came over top of the Green Knight and was about to squash him with a foot.
Rosie whimpered and held onto Junior as this story was starting to scare her worse than Queen Gnorga. Franklin soon covered Sam's eyes as this was getting scary.
The Green Knight's lance even broke from the dragon which worried him deeply. "The dragon's hide, it is like armor! No lance can penetrate it!"
The dragon roared and was about to squash the knight and the Squire even turned away and covered his eyes.
"Hark!" The Green Knight looked behind the dragon further down the way. "This dragon's tail is not covered in armor!" he then ran to the end of the dragon, picked up his tail, and was then about to bite into it.
"Wait a minute, frogs don't have teeth." Franklin said.
Mrs. Turtle giggled to him. "You're right."
"Sire?" The Squire walked over with a smile.
"Squire." The Green Knight smiled back and allowed the warthog to take a bite instead.
Franklin then made a chomp sound with his mouth.
The dragon soon felt pain in his tail and ran off whimpering. Junior and Rosie's voices then giggled.
"Now my country will know that I, The Green Knight, am the bravest, most heroic knight of all!" The Green Knight smiled smugly.
"So, it is glory you desire, not your people's good," the cloaked lynx returned. "You may have defeated the dragon, Green Knight, but alas, you are not worthy."
"Sounds like the Green Knight's wanting to bring Spring back for the wrong reason." Junior said.
"Yes," Mrs. Turtle nodded. "Sometimes doing something good isn't enough especially in that case."
"So, what did The Green Knight do?" Franklin asked.
"The only thing he could do." Mrs. Turtle replied.
"He admitted that the guardian was right?" Rosie guessed.
Mrs. Turtle smiled and nodded to her.
The Green Knight came to the cherry blossom tree to give up his sword. "I am not a true knight," he confessed. "A true knight acts with a true heart." he then stood up and walked away with his Squire.
"But, Sire!" the Squire frowned.
The Green Knight was about to climb onto his horse's back.
'I have a feeling the guardian might give him permission.' Junior thought to himself.
"Pretty late, Green Knight," the lynx returned. "With those words, thou has redeemed thyself. You may take the cherry blossoms."
"Thank you, Guardian of the Tree," The Green Knight smiled to the lynx. "You are wise and you are kind."
"Goodbye, Green Knight... Squire..." the lynx smiled back before fading away again.
"Cool." Junior smiled.
'Fare thee well...' the lynx's voice echoed before it disappeared.
The Green Knight sniffed the cherry blossoms with a hopeful smile for his village.
"'And so, The Green Knight and his Squire hurried home and cast the blossoms on the winter wind'." Mrs. Turtle narrated.
'I'm happy that they're doing this for the people.' Rosie thought to herself.
"Fare thee well, Winter, we bid thee welcome, Spring." The Green Knight smiled as he reached into his bag and tossed out the cherry blossoms.
The villagers all smiled to the falling cherry blossoms as they stood under the bare trees in the snowy grounds of winter. As soon as the flowers touched the snowy grounds, they cleared and there was instantly green grass and all of the plants grew instantly. The sun shined brighter than ever, birds chirped, and flowers bloomed.
Junior and Rosie were happy for them.
"The Green Knight beamed with joy," Mrs. Turtle continued to narrate as the story was almost over. "For he had let Spring enter beautifully into his heart. The End!" she then closed the book.
"Wow!" Franklin was amazed by the storybook. "What a great story! Can you read it again, Mom? Can you, please?"
"Maybe tomorrow, Franklin," Mrs. Turtle smiled gently. "Right now, it's time for bed."
"She's right." Junior yawned.
"Aww, I'm not sleepy." Franklin frowned before he then yawned since Junior yawned and yawning was contagious.
"But I am." Mrs. Turtle smiled apologetically as she was of course tired with the new baby on the way.
Franklin soon went to his mom and hugged her. Mrs. Turtle smiled and hugged him right back.
"Good night, Mom." Franklin smiled.
Mrs. Turtle giggled from the hug.
Junior and Rosie then went into their guest room to go to bed as Franklin went to his room.
"We sure could use the Green Knight right about now, huh, Sam?" Franklin asked his stuffed toy after a big yawn.
Soon enough, they were all soon asleep. The next day was a school day for the Woodland kids. Junior and Rosie were of course going to go too, they just hoped Franklin's teacher wouldn't mind, though the driver who was Fox's father didn't seem to mind them, though he was curious of where they came from as he hadn't seen them before.