Squirrels and hedgehogs in beautiful fall day

On a beautiful fall day, a family of squirrels combined with a family of hedgehogs to go camping in the Forest of Joy.

   Parents were talking about their children's school and their children were playing hide and seek...

Suddenly, it began to rain a lot and there was a great thunderstorm!

The small hedgehogs, with their squirrels’ friends, decided to take refuge in a cave, without knowing that a bear was there. Soon they became friends: they ate and stayed together. Going out from the cave, they built umbrellas by using straws and origami technique. 

Soon the sun was shining again so families decided to have a picnic on a colourful field. Squirrels took a pile of mushrooms and nuts. Hedgehogs brought ripe apples and pears. Mums made a nice carpet from fall leaves. Small squirrels and hedgehogs played games.

While they were playing, a little duck called Lucy saw them and approached to know. When the duck realized that hedgehogs’ back was full of spears, immediately scared and tried to get away. Fortunately, the squirrels followed her and said that the hedgehogs were friendly animals. Made sure about that, Lucy came back towards them and became their friend, ready to play together. 

But soon the daylight grew dim as autumn days are short and the two families, the squirrel family and the hedgehog family, started their way back home. They said goodbye to Lucy the duck and promised to meet again. On the way home they didn’t say a word. They stopped to hear the owls hooting and the robins singing beautiful night songs. They smelled the wet tree leaves and the moist soil of the forest. The sounds and smells of Autumn are so tender!

When Lucy came back home she wrote in her Diary 

‘I am happy. Today I met new friends.’ Little squirrels started to draw some nice fall pictures. Little hedgehogs sang a song a ‘Picnic song’. 

And what about the bear? The bear was asleep and had a wonderful dream.

In his dream, Lucy was explaining to new friends (who were afraid of hedgehogs), that hedgehogs had no spears in their bodies, but thorns. And that they were like this and did no harm to the other animals. They realized the explanation and ended up singing, playing, dancing. Everyone so was happy that agreed to have a picnic every week, because that friendship could not end.

The idea was that other animals would appear and that each time the animation would be even bigger, because each one brought novelties, different types of food and different games.

Then the bear woke up and looked around. He realized that it was only a dream. He decided to make a dream the reality. That’s why he went to visit his friends to tell them about the idea. Squirrels, hedgehogs and a duck liked the bear’s idea and divided the tasks. Squirrels’ task was to make up the games, the hedgehogs’ task was to find a blanket, the duck’s task was to find a place and bear’s task was to prepare food. 

They decided to meet the next day. All the animals came but the bear didn’t appear. They went to the cave and found out that the bear fall asleep .... 

The Snowstorm 

On a winter Saturday, Pedro, Joana, and Nina, Pedro’s dog, went to the playground to play. While children slipped, walked on a slide, swam and jumped on the trampoline ... the dog Nina was digging holes in the ground to find bones to gnaw at.

Suddenly there was a very strong wind, it was very cold and it started to rain. The kids lodged under the slide and they called her to come to them. Nina came to them and sat down next to the two children.

Quickly, in the cold the rain turned to snow. Joana and Pedro were very happy because they had never seen snow and decided to play in the snow.

But the storm has increased and ... the sky turned gray and there was a lot of wind. The children stopped playing with the snow and sought shelter. They found a house, knocked and were greeted by a gnome. The friendly landlord will prepare an exquisite snack: hot chocolate for everyone.The children warmed up and admired the snow from the window. Then they called Nina, around the house but she didn’t answer, she was not there. So they decided to go out with torches because it was dark.

They were very worried about Nina and asked the tiny host for warm mittens for them and a spare blanket just in case for Nina. It wasn’t too long till they found her under a tree in the snowy backyard of Mr. Gnome's house. She was curled up in a furry shivering white ball, almost blending entirely with the scenery. 

Pedro and Joana were beside themselves with joy when they noticed Nina. Without wasting any more time, they ran up to her. However, upon reaching they heard small muffled sounds. Worried, the two friends looked closer what was wrong and they realized that all this time Nina was trying to keep warm a teeny-tiny abandoned baby kitten. How courageous she was, Pedro's Nina!