Arlo and the boy were walking along the river when they heard a strange voice call to them from behind the trees. "Hello."

 

Arlo looked around, timidly. "Hello?"

 

"We've been watching you," the voice said.

 

Arlo walked toward the voice and saw a collection of creatures perched on the branches of a tree. They were all staring directly at Arlo.

 

"We thought you were going to die," the voice said.

 

Arlo still couldn't tell where the voice was coming from. He searched the animals in the branches, trying to figure it out.

 

"But then you didn't," the voice said.

 

Finally, two eyes appeared, revealing a Styracosaurus with big branch-like horns. Small creatures of all sorts perched on the outstretched horns. The dinosaur¹ took a step forward, abandoning the camouflage² created by the woods.

 

His name was Forrest Woodbush and the animals sitting in his horns were his collection.

 

"That creature protected you," Forrest said. "Why?"

 

"I-I don't know. I'm going home," Arlo said. "Do you know how far Clawtooth Mountain is?"

 

The red bird sitting in Forrest's horn chirped⁴ and he responded. "Good idea..." He said, turning back to Arlo. "We want him."

 

"W-why?" Arlo asked.

 

"WHY? Cause it's terrifying out here. He can protect me, like my friends." Forrest introduced all the creatures to Arlo, explaining how each one helped to keep him safe in the wilderness⁵. The red bird, whose name was Debbie, chirped again and Forrest nodded. He said firmly to Arlo, "We need him."

 

"W-wait," Arlo said. "He—he's with me."

 

"If he's with you, what is his name?"

 

"His name? I-I don't know," Arlo answered.

 

"Hmmm... then I will meditate⁶ on this." Forrest calmly closed his eyes for a moment. Then he opened one and quickly blurted⁸, "I name him. I keep him."

 

Forrest continued to hum, closing his eyes and shouting out names as they came to him. "Mmm... Killer⁹!"

 

All eyes darted¹⁰ toward the boy. He gave no response.

 

"Mmm... Beast!"

 

The boy still didn't answer.

 

"Mmm... Murderer!"

 

Arlo was all of a sudden nervous. He started throwing names out, too. He had no idea what he was doing. But Arlo couldn't lose him again.

 

"Uh... Grubby!" Arlo said, trying to get the boy's attention.

 

The boy sniffed¹¹ around in the dirt, ignoring them.

 

Arlo and Forrest continued to blurt⁷ out names, but nothing seemed to stick.

 

"Violet!"

 

"Spike¹²!"

 

"Lunatic!"

 

Finally, Arlo cried out, "Spot!"

 

The boy stopped, turned, and looked up. A big smile grew across Arlo's face. "C-come here, Spot! Come here!"

 

The boy happily trotted¹³ over to Arlo and Forrest sighed. "He is named. You clearly are connected... Good for you. On your path to Clawtooth Mountain, that creature will keep you safe. Don't ever lose him."

 

Then the red bird began to chirp³ loudly and angrily. "No. No...no! You—you can't have him Debbie!" Forrest scolded the bird. She took off and flew at Arlo, chirping¹⁴ wildly, scaring him. Spot jumped at her, growling¹⁵. Then the two ran as the bird continued to follow.

 

"Debbie!" They heard Forrest call. "Stop! You're better than this!"

 

Arlo and Spot hid behind a boulder¹⁶ to escape. As Debbie flew by with Forrest chasing behind her, the two unlikely friends looked at each other and laughed.

 

阿乐和小男孩正沿河走着，突然听到树林后面传来一道奇怪的声音：“你们好。”

 

阿乐环顾四周，怯生生地问：“是谁？”

 

“我们已经观察你们很久了。”这个声音说道。

 

阿乐循声走去，看到一群栖息在树干上的动物，他们的眼睛直勾勾地盯着阿乐。

 

“我们原以为你会死。”这个声音说道。

 

阿乐仍然分辨不出这个声音来自哪里，他探查起树干上的动物，想找出答案。

 

“但是，后来你没死。”这个声音又说道。

 

终于，阿乐看到一双眼睛，才发现这是一只戟龙。他头上长满了像树枝一样的大角，各种小动物都栖息在他向外突出的角上。这只戟龙向前走了一步，不再用树木打掩护。

 

他的名字叫福里斯特·伍德布什，坐在他角上的动物是他的部下。

 

“那个小东西保护了你，”福里斯特说，“他为什么救你呢？”

 

“我，我不知道。我要回家了，”阿乐说，“你知道这里离爪牙山有多远吗？”

 

坐在福里斯特角上的红鸟唧唧叫了几声，福里斯特回答：“好主意……”他回过身，面向阿乐说：“把他交给我们。”

 

“为……为什么啊？”阿乐问。

 

“为什么？因为这外面危险重重，他能像我的那些朋友一样保护我。”福里斯特向阿乐一一介绍他的部下，解释了每一只动物如何在荒野里保护他的安全。名叫黛比的那只红鸟又唧唧叫了叫，福里斯特点点头，然后坚定地对阿乐说：“我们需要他。”

 

“等……等等，”阿乐说，“他跟我是一起的。”

 

“如果他跟你是一起的，他叫什么名字呢？”

 

“他的名字？我……我不知道。”阿乐回答道。

 

“嗯……那我得好好想想这件事了。”福里斯特平静地闭目沉思了一会儿，然后睁开一只眼，脱口而出道：“我给他起了名字，他就归我了。”

 

福里斯特继续哼哼。他闭着眼睛，一想到名字就喊出来：“嗯……杀手！”

 

所有的眼睛齐刷刷看向小男孩，但他毫无反应。

 

“嗯……猛兽！”

 

小男孩仍不作声。

 

“嗯……凶手！”

 

阿乐突然紧张起来，也开始起名字了。他不知道自己在做什么，只知道他不能再失去小男孩了。

 

“额……矮子！”阿乐说着，设法引起小男孩的注意。

 

小男孩嗅了嗅周围的泥土，没理他们。

 

阿乐和福里斯特继续说出了一些名字，但看似都没能沾边。

 

“小羞羞！”

 

“钉钉！”

 

“小疯子！”

 

最后，阿乐喊出：“小不点！”

 

小男孩停下来，转过身，抬头看着他。一抹大大的微笑出现在了阿乐脸上。“过……过来，小不点！到这儿来！”

 

小男孩高兴地小跑到阿乐面前，福里斯特叹气道：“他有名字了。很明显你们两个很投缘……好样的。在你回爪牙山的路上，这个小家伙会保护你的安全，永远不要把他弄丢了。”

 

红鸟又开始愤怒地大声唧唧叫着：“不，不，不！你……你不能要他了，黛比！”福里斯特责骂了这只鸟。鸟飞向阿乐，疯狂地唧唧叫着，想要吓唬他。小不点跳向她，大吼。然后，他俩跑起来，红鸟在后面一直追。

 

“黛比！”他们听到福里斯特在叫她，“停！你不该这样！”

 

阿乐和小不点躲到一块巨石后面，想要逃跑，黛比直接飞了过去，福里斯特还在后面追着她。两个不可能成为朋友的朋友互相看着对方，笑了。

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