The Tales of Huckleberry Hound: Season 4

34. A Star is Reborn Part 1

Three months had gone by and Huckleberry Hound had been busy wrapping up the season with a few new cartoons to air in the coming weeks. He wasn't sure where he was going to go from here, if there were any more to follow, as nothing had been announced yet, but in the meantime, he'd been living life to the fullest. When he hadn't been simply having fun with his friends, he'd recorded several new albums of himself singing as well as telling stories of his adventures on TV. He'd starred in a whole bunch of children's storybooks. He had lots more toys and collectable merchandise of himself filling store shelves. He even starred in more ads for Kellogg's as well as some local spots to promote community events around Hill Street Neighborhood!

But more than anything, Huck had still been hard at work writing songs to sing in all of his appearances. He was starting to think that not only did he have a passion for inventing and for performing, but also for songwriting! He had asked some of his friends for advice on how he could keep finding inspiration. Thanks to some helpful words from the likes of Mr. Jinks, Hokey Wolf and Snagglepuss, Huck realized he could find it just about anywhere.

He was currently sitting at home, reading a book of poetry that he had purchased at the bookstore that morning. He had just come to a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that really seemed to speak to him. That poem was "The Arrow and the Song."

"I shot an arrow into the air," Huck read softly to himself. "It fell to earth, I know not where."

For a moment, he closed his eyes, remembering himself in his Robin Hood cartoon and when he had shot an arrow from a prop bow...not too shabby either.

"For, so swiftly it flew, the sight

Could not follow it in its flight."

He wondered how an arrow and a song were connected, so he read on.

"I breathed a song into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For who has sight so keen and strong,

That it can follow the flight of song?"

"Well that's strange," he thought. "Usually everyone hears me when I sing." Then he read on to

the last lines of the poem.

"Long, long afterward, in an oak

I found the arrow, still unbroke;

And the song, from beginning to end,

I found again in the heart of a friend."

A sentimental tear fell from his eye as he closed the book. What a beautiful poem! It almost

had some kind of symbolism about how things always came back to you, even if you thought

they were lost, sort of like his dreams that he had thought were broken at first, but then they

came back to him in a new sort of way!

"This is giving me an idea," he said to himself. "I could write a song about finding the dreams you thought were lost. It could inspire folks to never give up."

So, he sat at his piano, and started thinking of a melody for his new song.

"I want this song to have real meaning," he mumbled to himself. "But I also want it to sound happy and fun to dance to. Folks will feel much better if they hear a song like that."

So, he began to come up with ideas for lyrics. He put his paws to work on the piano keys as he hummed, trying to help put together a sound that he knew would touch people's hearts, but also make them want to dance. As he worked, his mind began to fill with the memories of the past few years. It almost seemed to vibrantly flash before his eyes, as if he were watching a movie of himself going through his journey.