Cloud flavour ice cream

In the Friuli Venezia Giulia mountains lives a lovely little bear cub with soft fur. His name is Cocolo. Just like all youngsters, Cocolo has always been very curious about the world and loves adventure. He sniffs and tastes everything, he digs holes in the ground and climbs like a champion free climber. In the region where he lives, there’s also lots of coastline to explore. Cocolo loves swimming in the sea in Grado, playing in the fine golden sand in Lignano Sabbiadoro and exploring the seabed in the Gulf of Trieste. But there is one thing that the little bear has never managed to do: jump around between the clouds. They look so soft and white, almost as if they were made out of whipped cream.
“I want to taste the clouds.” Cocolo says to his mummy one morning. He starts flapping his paws in the air like two big wings and asks, “Will you teach me how to fly?”
“Taste the clouds?” grunts Daddy Bear who is looking for honey in a tree trunk. “We can’t fly, we’re too heavy.”
But Cocolo is stubborn and refuses to give up. He wants to taste the clouds! And so, he sets off to see if Rock Partridge can help. Rock partridge is a bird, who lives in the Julian Prealps Park. Her nest is very well hidden amongst the shrubs and brushwood on a sunny mountainside, but the little bear manages to find her without any problem.
“You know how to fly, can you teach me how to do it too?”
“I’m terribly sorry but I’m very busy. I’ve been sitting on these eggs for weeks and now I’ve got to go and find some food for my little chicks. I’m so hungry that I would eat anything I could get my beak on! I really don’t have time to teach you but why don’t you ask my friend eagle? She’s an expert at flying!”
Cocolo scratches his head. “An eagle? But I’ve never even seen an eagle…”
“Oh, you’ll know it’s her as soon as you see her. She’s a goddess! With those enormous wings of hers, the air currents carry her all around. You can find her in the Natural Park of the Friulian Dolomites. Tell her I sent you.”
And so Cocolo sets off again. He walks all day and all night through the woods. At dawn the next morning he reaches the top of a mountain and looks to the skies. He looks this way, and that way and then…There she is! He sees her at last. The eagle really is magnificent, her curved beak looks like a hook and her talons are even longer than Mummy Bear’s claws! Eagle has already spotted Cocolo, nothing escapes her eagle eyes.
“What are you doing up here? This is not a safe place for bear cubs.”
“Rock Partridge told me that you can teach me how to fly.”
Eagle bursts out laughing. “Teach you how to fly? But that is impossible, you haven’t got… these,” she says, spreading out her huge wings. Cocolo is speechless.
“Why do you want to fly, little Bear?”
“I want to taste the clouds.”

“Taste the clouds? Goodness, I’ve never heard such a bizarre idea. With all the yummy things that there are to eat around here… marmots, hares, tasty little snakes.”
Snakes? Yuck, Cocolo thinks to himself. He looks at the sky again and he almost feels like crying because how is he ever going to get up there. Eagle, who deep deep down has a kind heart, moves closer to him and becomes quite motherly. “I can’t teach you how to fly, but if your dream is to taste the clouds, then I’ll help you. I’ve got a couple of friends, who live in the Cornino Lake Reserve. They’re griffon vultures and they might be able to do something for you.”
Cocolo scratches his head again. “But I’ve never seen a griffon vulture…”
“Now listen very carefully to what I’m going to tell you. They don’t have any feathers on their neck or head and their eyes are as deep and dark as a cavern. They are always perched on the biggest branch of the Great Oak, and they are all bent over as if they had hunchbacks. Lots of people think they look very scary but take no notice. They are not at all dangerous.”

The little bear says goodbye to the eagle and sets off once more. He finally arrives at the Cornino Lake Reserve! He is soooo tired that he decides to have a little rest, he leans against a big tree trunk and falls asleep. But when he wakes up from his nap and opens his eyes…
Help!!! Perching right above him, on the biggest branch of the tree, there are two huge, strange-looking birds. They are watching him.
“I told you he wasn’t dead.”
“You were right. He was just dead tired.”
The two birds burst out laughing then hop down from their branch and step closer to Cocolo with a strange little bow.
“Nice to meet you, my name’s Mortimer.”
“And I’m Vlad. We heard a rumour that there’s a bear cub that wants to learn how to fly.”
“Yes, yes, that’s me! Eagle sent me here. I want to get up there, I want to taste the clouds!”
“Ha, ha, ha! The clouds. Did you hear that, Mortimer? With all the delicious carcasses around here, he wants to eat cloud…”
“Vlad don’t be such a meanie, you vulture. If he really wants to taste them, let’s help him out. He’s a very brave little bear, he has followed his dream and that deserves a reward.”
“But… Mortimer, have you seen him? He’s all chubby and furry and not even a hint of wing on him! How on earth do you think he’ll be able to fly?”
“Humans don’t have wings, and they made it all the way to the moon, Vlad… Right, little one, come on then. Climb aboard and hold on tight, we’ll take you up there.”
Cocolo grabs hold of Mortimer’s bald neck. The two griffon vultures spread out their wings and take to the air. In the blink of an eye they are up high above the ground. The sky is blue but right in the middle there is a big, fluffy, white cloud.
“Come on then, have a taste and tell us what you think!” shouts Vlad as Mortimer flies closer to the cloud. Cocolo closes his eyes as he gleefully takes a bite.
“It’s cold and soft like ice-cream. Cloud flavour ice cream!”

Text by Mariaelena Porzio
Edited by Fondazione Radio Magica onlus