The Animals of Little Meadow, Part 5: Nuts for Everyone

The Animals of Little Meadow, Part 5: Nuts for Everyone

The Story Begins

Morning on Little Meadow was soft and fragrant. The grass still sparkled with drops of dew, and a busy bee hummed by the little stream.

Bobo the Hedgehog walked slowly along the path with his blue scarf around his neck. Timo the Bunny straightened a little stone beside the path so no one would trip over it. High on an old branch sat Uma the Owl, looking at the meadow through her tiny spectacles.

Suddenly, a happy cry came from the edge of the meadow:

“Oh! Wow! There are so many!”

It was Liza the Squirrel. She jumped out from beneath a green bush, her tail puffed up with joy, and held one large, smooth nut in her paws.

“Look what I found!” she called.

Nuts lay beneath the bush. Round, brown, shiny nuts. Some were hiding in the grass, while others rested by the roots. Liza sniffed one, then slipped it into her green pouch with a picture of an acorn.

“One for me,” she said. “And one more. This one is lovely and big! Oh, there’s another!”

Her paws moved faster and faster. The pouch filled and filled.

For a while, Bobo, Timo, and Uma simply smiled at their friend. Liza loved nuts very much. Whenever she found some, her eyes shone brighter than the morning dew.

Before long, the pouch was so full that it could hardly be closed. The squirrel lifted it, but it tipped to one side.

“Three more will fit,” she said firmly. “Maybe four. Or five, if I squish them a little.”

Bobo came closer carefully, so as not to spoil her joy. He carried a fallen leaf on his spines.

“Liza,” he said kindly, “do you really need all the nuts at once?”

“All of them?” Liza stopped. Then she looked at the bush and at the nuts in the grass. “Well… they are so tasty. I’ll take them to my secret hiding place. I’ll have a big supply!”

Timo sat down beside a small pile. His ears moved gently in the breeze.

“Sometimes a dormouse lives beneath the bush,” he said softly. “And a little tit may find a nut. Or a mouse, when it comes to look around.”

“But what if someone finds them before I do?” Liza asked, pressing the pouch to her tummy.

Uma flew down to a lower branch. She did not speak at once. First, she noticed a small nut that slipped from Liza’s paw and rolled between the blades of grass.

“Look,” she said calmly. “That one found a place of its own. Nature’s stores do not always have to be in one pouch.”

Liza watched the nut. It stopped beside a root and stayed there like a tiny brown ball.

“But I want to save food for winter,” she whispered.

“That is a good idea,” Uma said with a nod. “Supplies are useful. But not everything we find has to become part of our supply.”

The squirrel looked at her overflowing pouch. Then she looked at the nuts beneath the bush. For a moment, she did not know what to do. She very much wanted to take them all. At the same time, she remembered how she and her friends had helped the meadow before with small kind deeds. They had left the paths clean and taken care around the flowers.

“So how much is enough?” she finally asked.

“Let’s find out together,” Bobo suggested.

They made three little piles on the grass. Timo carefully placed the nuts with his paws so they would not roll onto the path. Bobo brought two more on his spines. Uma counted slowly so everyone could follow.

When Things Start to Change

“This pile will be for Liza in winter,” said Timo.

“This one can stay by the bush,” Uma added. “Animals passing by can find it here.”

Bobo pointed to the third, smallest pile. “And these can stay where they were. Some good things belong to the meadow too.”

Liza looked at her winter pile. It was neither huge nor tiny. It was just right: small enough to carry and not so big that it would crowd her secret hiding place.

“I thought I needed more,” she admitted. “But this really is enough.”

Then she smiled and placed one large, shiny nut back beneath the bush.

“I’ll leave this one for someone else.”

“That is a lovely nut,” said Bobo.

“That is exactly why,” Liza replied, happily waving her tail.

Later, they got to work. Bobo carried Liza’s winter pile to the hollow tree. The nuts swayed gently on his spines as he walked, but not one fell off.

Near the little tree, Timo made a quiet storage nook from dry leaves. It was neither too deep nor too large. Liza placed her nuts inside and covered them with a light leaf.

“This way, I’ll find them when the colder weather comes,” she said happily.

Meanwhile, Uma flew around the bush. She checked that nothing had been left scattered in the grass. The nuts meant for others lay neatly among the roots and beside the low flowers.

“Now it is tidy here,” said Timo.

“And there is room for visitors too,” Bobo added.

Liza stood at the edge of the bush and looked for a while. She no longer had a full pouch or a giant pile just for herself. But she had her own supply, a peaceful hiding place, and the knowledge that something had been left beneath the bush for others too.

“Next time, I’ll look around first,” she said. “Maybe I’ll find strawberries. Or acorns. And perhaps I won’t pick them all straight away.”

Uma smiled. “That is a wise beginning.”

At last, the four friends sat beneath the tree. Bobo rested his paws on his tummy, Timo smoothed his ears, and Liza tucked her tail close to her sides. Above them, the leaves rustled softly.

A few nuts gleamed in the grass by the bush. They waited for the right time and for whoever might find them one day.

Today, Little Meadow was helped because some nuts were left for others.