Zvieratká z Malej lúky, časť 4: Potôčik šepká potichu

The Animals of Little Meadow, part 4: The Stream Whispers Softly

The Story Begins

On Little Meadow, the morning was soft and smelled like grass. Between the yellow flowers, Timo the Bunny hopped and tried to jump over three small stones at once.

"One, two, three!" he called, and landed right in a tuft of clover.

Liza the Squirrel laughed from the lower branch of the hazel tree. Her fluffy tail waved like a little broom. Bobo the Hedgehog walked slowly along the path, carrying one light dry leaf on his spines. Uma the Little Owl sat on an old branch over the bank and watched the meadow carefully.

Then Liza stopped jumping from branch to branch. She tilted her head and whispered, "Do you hear that?"

Timo lifted his long ears. Bobo sniffed the damp air near the grass. For a moment, everyone stayed very still.

A little stream flowed by the meadow. Usually it gurgled happily between the stones: swish-swish, glug-glug. Today, it sounded very quiet. The water still shone, but it moved slowly, as if it did not want to hurry.

"The stream is only whispering a little today," Uma said calmly.

"Maybe it is tired?" asked Timo.

The little owl blinked gently. "Maybe something is in its way. Let us look, but carefully."

The animals walked along the bank. Meanwhile, the grass around them swayed softly, and tiny drops on the blades sparkled in the sun. Bobo walked the slowest, so he was the first to notice a shallow curve in the stream near a big smooth stone.

"The water is a bit tight here," he said, and pointed with his nose.

They all leaned over the bank. In the narrow path of water lay two brown leaves, one yellow leaf, and a few thin twigs. They had caught between the stones. The water could only push through in tiny little streams.

"Let us clean it up!" Timo cried, and was about to put his paw into the water.

"Wait," Uma stopped him kindly. "First look around. Small plants grow by the bank, and tiny bugs may live near the stones. We do not need to break or pull anything."

Timo slowly pulled his paw back. "Then I will be very, very gentle."

Liza jumped onto a low branch and brought a thin little twig. "We can use this to move the leaves!" she said. But then she paused. The twig was dry, and its end could break easily.

"I will not poke with it," she decided. "I will use it only as a little pointer."

Uma nodded. "That is a good idea."

First, Bobo carefully stepped closer to a stone. One dry leaf caught on his spines when he bent down. The hedgehog did not move fast at all. He only turned his round back a little, and the leaf slid aside to a safe place near the grass.

"One is gone," he said happily.

Now it was Timo’s turn. He touched the second leaf with his soft paws. The water made a nice little sound over his paws. The bunny pushed gently, but the leaf caught on a small twig.

"Oh," he whispered. "It does not want to go."

For a moment, everyone was quiet. The stream still whispered softly.

"Do not try harder," Uma advised. "First loosen the twig."

Liza pointed with the thin stick to the place between two stones. "This twig is stuck here."

Bobo moved a little closer. Timo held the leaf so it would not float back, and the squirrel lifted the end of the twig very gently. Not much was needed. Only a tiny little move.

Suddenly, the twig popped out of the small gap.

When Things Start to Change

"Hooray!" Liza cried, but she quickly covered her mouth. "I mean… hooray quietly."

The leaf moved, turned on the water, and slowly floated to the bank. Timo gently guided it into the grass, where the first dry leaf already lay. There, they did not bother anyone, and the wind could carry them away later.

One small twig was left. It lay low near a grass root. Uma flew down from the branch to a stone by the bank and looked through her little round glasses.

"We leave the root where it is," she said. "We move only the twig aside."

Together, they managed it. Bobo softly supported it with his spines, Liza held the dry end, and Timo placed it on the soft earth beside the stream.

The water path was open.

At first, nothing big happened. Then a thin silver line appeared between the stones. After a while, it grew wider, curled around the smooth stone, and ran on happily.

Swish-swish. Glug-glug.

The stream was not only whispering now. It was singing again through Little Meadow. Cool water washed over the stones, the grass by the bank drank from it, and the flowers seemed to stand up a little straighter toward the sun.

"Listen to it!" Timo called. "Now it sounds like before."

"Maybe even better," Liza added, and smoothed her tail with a happy smile.

Bobo noticed that the water carried a tiny bubble all the way to the willow roots. "Just a few leaves and twigs," he said thoughtfully. "And the stream had a narrow road again."

"That is why we look carefully," Uma said. "Sometimes a small, gentle help is enough."

Later, the four friends sat in the soft grass. Bobo placed his dry leaf beside the others. Timo dipped one paw into the water and pulled it out quickly, because it felt nicely cold. Liza watched a little cloud reflection wobble on the surface.

The stream kept bubbling along. In its sound, the animals seemed to hear a soft little message: "A little farther… maybe tomorrow…"

Uma smiled. "It seems the stream will show us one more place another time."

"Tomorrow we can look there," said Timo.

"Slowly and carefully," Liza reminded him.

Bobo nodded happily. The grass moved over the meadow, the flowers smelled sweet, and the clean stream sang between the stones.

Today, a clean stream helped Little Meadow.