Once upon a time, in a lovely forest, there lived many kind animals. Actually, this wasn’t a small forest at all, as many animals fit inside. There were deer, rabbits, stags, foxes, squirrels, owls, and many other animals.
It was February, the last month of winter. These little animals knew that it was customary to hold a carnival at this time of year. By doing so, they could banish the cold winter and await the arrival of spring. They set a date for when they would hold the carnival.
They decided that everyone would dress up as someone else. However, they had trouble figuring out what each animal should dress up as. Miki the squirrel came up with the idea of writing each animal’s name on a slip of paper, putting them in a hat, and having everyone draw one. If someone drew their own name, they would quickly put the paper back in the hat and draw again.
Everyone agreed to this, so that’s what they did. They were very enthusiastic because everyone liked the idea. They threw the slips of paper into a hat and asked the wise owl to supervise the drawing. They lined up, each one drawing a name. It was a very important rule that they couldn’t reveal whose name they drew, and they followed it well.
There was still a week until the carnival, so everyone had time to make their own costume. Some animals had a hard time figuring out how to dress up as their friend, but in the end, everyone solved the task very cleverly.
The day of the carnival arrived. The night before, every animal was so excited that they could hardly sleep. They got up early to decorate the forest. They made beautiful hanging decorations out of leaves and branches. They made little lanterns out of pine cones.
Fortunately, it was warm that day, so even the fireflies came out. They made sure there was enough light when it started to get dark. Unfortunately, they couldn’t stay long, they knew that the night was still chilly and they had to hide again not to freeze. But they could shine a little during the evening hours.
Then, the animals in costume arrived at the carnival. Everyone was amazed at how well the other animals were dressed up and how much they resembled the animal they had drawn. The costumes were so well done that it wasn’t hard to figure out who dressed up as whom. The fox dressed up as a rabbit, the rabbit as an owl, the owl became a stag, the stag drew the deer, the deer appeared as a woodpecker, the tree doctor squirrel wore a fox costume, and the squirrel dressed up as a fox.
They gathered around and sang and danced all night long. They brought delicious food, not forgetting that they would need dinner. They made tasty sandwiches and pastries. They even brought refreshments, as the squirrel skillfully stored the elderberry syrup for winter, making a divine drink out of it.
They had a huge party and danced until late at night. Then, when it got very cold and they got tired, everyone went home, went to bed, and slept well.
Sleep well too! Goodnight!
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