Fairy Tales from country W

ISBN 978-80-971869-9-9 Fairytales from Country W

Bôriková, Alexandra – Fickuliak, Michal – Greguš, Martin

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Fairytales from Country W Bôriková, Alexandra – Fickuliak, Michal – Greguš, Martin All rights reserved.

This book, nor any part of it must not be copied, duplicated or spread without written approval of the copyright holder.

Copyright © 2014 Saint-Gobain Construction Products, s.r.o.

Publisher: Saint-Gobain Construction Products, s.r.o., Stará Vajnorská 139, 831 04 Bratislava Graphic design: Briland spol. s r.o., Beniakova 30, 841 05 Bratislava Translation: KAVALI s.r.o., Budovateľská 29, 821 08 Bratislava Printer: Briland spol. s r.o., Beniakova 30, 841 05 Bratislava First edition, 2014

ISBN 978-80-971869-9-9

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Acknowledgements When we were thinking about writing a book for kids, we had no idea, what important role they will have in this book.

That is why I devote my first THANK YOU to all talented and clever kids, who immensely enriched our book by all beautiful illustrations. I was very inspired by their pure and lovely looking at the world around us.

My second THANK YOU belongs to Jane, teacher of Ä˝. Rajtera Art school, in Bratislava, who cooperated on illustrations with kids and sensitively finished colouring that drawings would not loose irreplaceable kids script.

I admire her patience and ability to see beautiful drawing even there where I could not imagine it.

Third big THANK YOU I express to our external co-writer Alexandra, who was so enthused about idea of our book, that she affirmed cooperation after one minute of phone call without previous mention about amount of fee.

I really appreciate her personal approach and large dose of professionalism.

Last THANK YOU belongs to all colleagues, which supported us from the beginning. It is mainly them, who have largely contributed, so we can go back some years and again to live few moments for a while in the world, where each dream might become true. Without you my days in Weber would be sadder.

Michal Uncle manager

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Dear kids, dear friends of country W Time changes, fairytales stays. They can grow old with us, but they can also breath with the pulse of times.

Story of Bunny, his friends and little Samuel will go with you through our country W and its’ messages. My mother was always saying it is never too late for a fairytale. It is never too late for a comeback. For example comeback to childhood. Childhood, which means something different for each of us and yet still the same – Family. Warmth of home. Mother. Father.

Grand parents. Siblings… Truly happy are the ones, whose thoughts with the word childhood pleasantly touch their heart. And so it is charm of fairytale, charm, which we tried to prepare for you in this book. Fairytale’s charm lies in the fact that ordinary things become miraculous.

Our effort was to give in each from thirteen fairytales small lesson for all of us. Even harder understandable moral values are written and implemented into the story in the way that kids would naturally adopt them and identify with them. I will help myself with a part from story Family tree :

„ Owl

Weber-mama during night with tears in her eyes remembered about her ancestors and to each she wrote their life motto. When she summarized them, the result were four main principles of her ancestors: respect to others, fellowship, loyalty and helping others. She stood in the middle of room and was proud of her family.“ Maybe similarly your kids will start to behave when reading this fairytales book.

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Dear friends of country W, dear kids Let me invite you to magical country W. Let’s live mischievous stories of Bunny, little Samuel and his friends. Let’s learn more about this country, which is constantly changing, brings new ideas, but also honors the traditions, which are transmitted across generations. Let us also join the Weber family...

Martin Uncle director

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Weberland Once upon a time, there was a small brown rabbit living with a big family in a town. However, this was not his first family. People were swopping him

like a toy from one house to another. Children liked him for a while, but soon they didn’t even know they had him. In his current family, the rabbit had a friend for the first time in his life – a boy who had many siblings. His name was Samko, and he spent day after day with his rabbit, who was his best friend.

Samko used to be sick very often and when his siblings were at school and parents at work, he was playing with the rabbit all over the house. The rabbit loved the house. It had a beautiful yellow façade and thermal insulation, so it was always nice and warm inside. There was a big bathroom with blue tiles, where he enjoyed having a bath, and a floor on which they could slide with Samko until their heads were spinning around.

It was his home until Samko’s parents decided they didn’t want a rabbit anymore because they would get a dog. Samko and his little rabbit were very unhappy. When the rabbit was home for the last day, they made a promise to be friends forever and to find each other one day again. At that point, rabbit’s wandering in different families finished. Samko’s parents let him run into the forest, where he could rely only on himself.

Rabbit was not used to living in nature. He missed the warmth and comfort he used to have at home with Samko. The first night he spent on oak tree leaves, where he had hidden and kept himself warm. The following day he decided to be more courageous and find some other animal living in the forest. He must have gone on a long journey hiding from big animals and birds until he discovered a place that he found quite comfortable. There were many burrows and holes in the earth. He knew somebody he could be a friend with was living there. The first to run into the lonely rabbit was a deer walking in the forest.

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‘Hello. Who are you?’ She asked and looked at him from every possible angle.

‘I am a rabbit and I got lost. Will you help me?’ He looked down sadly and insecure.

‘I will help you. Where do you live? We will find your way back home.’

‘That will not be possible. I used to live in a house in the town, and when the people didn’t want to keep me any longer, they let me run into the forest.’

‘I am sorry to hear that, dear rabbit. Here there will certainly be a place for you. There are many good animals living here. Have a walk with me, and I will tell you everything about our Weberland.’ Rabbit happily joined the deer.

‘Look! A family of hedgehogs is living over there and Mrs Owl up there. She is very wise and enjoys looking after everybody. And over there is where the naughty wolf babies live,’ deer was explaining and showing everything to rabbit.

‘Are you living only in these holes in the earth and piles of leaves and straw?’

Rabbit was surprised.

‘You know little rabbit, we are not from the town. We have lived in the forest since we were born. Our homes are not beautiful, but they are warm and comfortable.’

‘Haven’t you thought about improving everything? I know a lot about houses.

Maybe I could help you, if you let me live in your Weberland,’ rabbit smiled on the deer.

‘It is worth trying,’ the deer laughed, ‘come with me; I will introduce you to the other animals.’

Everybody liked the rabbit, and they were very interested in his adventures from the town and original ideas to improve their living. Everyone wanted to show him a burrow or shelter under a bush, so the rabbit could tell them how to turn their home into a better, warmer and nicer place for living. Until the rabbit appeared, the animals had had nothing to do all day, but since then everything has changed. All of them happily started to work, to turn their Weberland into a new place.

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At the beginning, they had to collect as much material for building houses as possible. Young ones were responsible for fruits, grass and flowers from which the paint was made. Mums were in charge of collecting clay and mud; the stronger ones were picking stones, tree bark and other things. Most of the houses were constructed from wood, insulated with mud, and decorated with stones and marmolite, which reminded rabbit of the bathroom tiles. The walls were painted with paint made from fruit, grass and flowers. Later on they also made wooden house facades to make them nicer and colourful from the outside.

After the rabbit’s arrival, Weberland changed from stone. Every family had its job. There was a family of façade workers, insulators, painters, floor and tiles workers and many others. Every single day animals were coming with new ideas for practical things for their houses. Recently Mrs Owl, called Webermum, discovered a new façade for stone houses on which no forest moss would grow. Soon rabbit realised that his release into the forest had a good reason, so he never felt sorry about that again.

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Rabbit‘s house While the rabbit and the other families worked mainly on the young ones’

rooms to make them happy, his friends noticed that he was still living in a standard rabbit’s hole. He was so busy with other animals’ houses facades adjustments in Weberland that he had no time for building his own.

One evening, when rabbit fell asleep from being tired, all the hardworking families met together to discuss rabbit’s hole. They all shared the same opinion.

‘Rabbit is working on our houses from early morning until night, and he hasn’t done anything about his own house yet. He changed our Weberland from stone and now we have to thank to him. Without him, no family here would have its current status and work. He also teaches every single young one new things, which is something we couldn’t have done ourselves before. It’s time to prepare a big surprise for him!’ Father hedgehog said and everybody happily agreed.

‘We will work at night, when rabbit is deeply sleeping after his hard days,’ hedgehog continued, ‘here is the house plan’. They opened it on the table, and everybody stood around it. ‘Wow! It’s a big house!’ The young ones were admiring the drawing. ‘Yes it is! Rabbit was used to luxury and that’s why we will show him our gratitude by trying to make a copy of his previous home.’

Next day the families were collecting and making as much material for the rabbit’s house as possible. The rabbit was so busy with his work on other houses, he didn’t notice anything suspicious. The next step of the plan was to bait the rabbit out of his hole for the night, so the others could work on it.

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‘Hi little rabbit!’ Deer came closer.

‘Hi deer. Sorry, but I am very busy with squirrel’s little room.’

‘Ok, I just wanted to ask if you wouldn’t like to stay overnight at my place. We could tell each other some spooky stories,’ she suggested.

‘Sure, we can do that. I will be happy to do so.’ Deer was pleased and she blinked at others so they knew the plan had been successful.

In the evening deer prepared a fantastic dinner for rabbit, so he enjoyed it and fell asleep. While strong dads were connecting the wooden foundation of the house, young ones together painted the picture with all animals from Weberland as one big family.

The house had three rooms and was probably the biggest they ever had in Weberland. While façade workers were making the house nicer from outside, floor workers made a mosaic floor from pieces of wood and flat stones. Some walls were smooth from dried mud, some were tiled with stones. The bedroom was painted red from strawberries and green from

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leaves. And eventually they hung a picture with all his friends there.

‘That’s beautiful!’ All the young ones were admiring the house and shaking hands for a job well-done. ‘Dear friends, I think we did what we could. I believe rabbit will call this house his home. I know all of you are tired, but let’s not miss rabbit’s big surprise,’ dad hedgehog told his friends.

Shortly before rabbit should have been getting up to work, all the animals hid behind trees around his new house and waited until he appeared. All of them were very impatient and curious about what he would say about it. Mums prepared many sweeties and cakes for a big dinner party as a way of saying thanks to him.

Suddenly they noticed rabbit walking home for the tool that he needed for today’s work. As he was walking, he was kicking stones with his head down. When he looked up, he suddenly noticed a big colourful house in front of him. What a façade that was! His eyes started to shine and his ears drooped in amazement.

‘Surprise!’ All the animals from Weberland jumped from behind the trees. Everybody was dressed well, carrying cakes, with a smile on their faces. When rabbit saw them, his eyes glistened in happiness.

‘All of this is for me?’ He asked with surprise, ‘thank you my friends, thank you for everything.’

‘No rabbit! We thank you for making us and our land better.’

When rabbit entered his new house, it really reminded him of his previous house and Samko too. After noticing the beautiful picture from the young ones, he knew that this is the place he belongs and where he has friends who are his family.

On this day, nobody worked. Everyone was having fun, celebrating the re-birth of their beloved Weberland.

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Hedgehog‘s spikes One day in Weberland the long-awaited spring was celebrated, when all

animals are happy and they play in celebration under Mrs Owl’s big tree. Every animal prepares its own game, which is then played by everybody else. From very early morning the forest is full of laughter, but the hedgehog was the only one home and didn’t feel like going out to play with the others.

‘Why don’t you join your friends, hedgehog?’ His mum asked.

‘I don’t feel like it,’ he replied and kept looking out of the window at his friends.

‘Is it because of your thistles?’

‘Yes. I don’t want them to laugh at me this year again.’

Hedgehog was slightly different from all other hedgehogs. His thistles were not pointed, so nothing stuck onto them.

‘All other hedgehogs are carrying various munchy things on their backs and they win every competition every year, but I don’t.’

‘If you play with a fox and rabbit, they certainly won’t let others make jokes about you. Don’t fear,’ his mum stroked him on his rounded small spikes.

‘Ok mum,’ little hedgehog summoned his courage and joined the other animals.

‘Hi kids, can I join you?’

‘Of course you can. We are just about to play ‘truth and courage’,’ they answered. Fox pulled him to her, and everybody sat down in the circle. Wolf siblings were sitting right opposite the hedgehog and as always, they were laughing from the beginning of the game.

‘Just ignore them, you know what they are like,’ rabbit calmed down the hedgehog. But just then he got courage and the wolves asked him to carry a pear and apple on his spikes. Hedgehog was unhappy because he knew that he couldn’t do it and so he had already lost.

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‘Don’t worry,’ rabbit whispered. After the previous year’s experience he had an alternative plan.

‘Ok wolves. Hedgehog will do it this year!’ Hedgehog looked at him frightened, because he didn’t know what rabbit meant by that. All three friends ran to the rabbit for an apple and pear.

‘How do you want me to keep it, when my spikes are round?’

‘Look!’ He took out a small bowl with some white sticky material. ‘This will certainly hold the fruit on your spikes. I was making it the whole night.

Owl Weber-mum advised me too, so don’t worry, it’s completely ecological.

I knew wolves would be cunning again this year,’ they laughed together.

‘Hurry up! We only have a few minutes left,’ fox was watching the time. Rabbit took out a small brush, he brushed hedgehog’s spikes and put the fruit on it.

‘In a minute they will hold there as if stuck.’

‘Rabbit, you are a genius!’ Hedgehog was happy looking at himself in the mirror.

‘You can be happy later, but if time passes we will lose!’ Fox shouted at them and pushed them forward. When they were back with the other animals they were speechless.

‘How did you do that?’ One of the wolves asked a little upset.

‘It is not important. The most important thing is that he completed the task and you can’t laugh at him. So can we continue?’ The wolves became very angry and left the game. The other animals were very happy because the most unfair players in the forest had eventually left.

‘Rabbit, thank you very much. You made my dream come true. Can I keep it on me today?’ Everybody started to laugh.

‘Of course you can. And you can enjoy the apple in the evening,’ rabbit winked.

All the animals then had even more fun, hedgehog probably the most of all – he had never enjoyed this celebration more than now.

‘Wow!’ hedgehog’s mum said amazed when she saw her son in the evening.

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‘You are a pretty boy. How did you manage to do it?’

‘Rabbit helped me. He glued the fruit on,’ hedgehog proudly told his mum.

‘Now you look like a proper hardworking hedgehog, do you know that?’

Hedgehog was very happy and gave his mum a cuddle.

Even though cleaning the glue was not easy at all, hedgehog and his mum really enjoyed the fruit afterwards. Since then, everybody in Weberland only used ecological glues.

‘I am happy to have such good friends as I have,’ hedgehog said before he fell deeply asleep after a demanding day.

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Family tree As every Monday all the young ones meet in the tree house of Mrs Owl and she tells them mysterious stories or Weberland’s history. Everybody loved these stories and always listened with ears wide open not to miss anything.

Cheeky youngsters used to call these evenings Weberation.

‘I love Weber-mum telling us the stories, especially in the evening. Mysterious things make me fearful,’ fox giggled. But hedgehog was not so happy with the darkness, candles and mysterious stories.

‘Don’t worry hedgehog. It’s just stories,’ his friend squirrel calmed him down and all the friends walked together to Mrs Owl’s house.

At eight, when all the young ones are usually already asleep, they were sitting in a circle on a round carpet and looking forward to the storytelling.

‘Welcome, my children. Are you ready for another night of mysteries?’ Mrs Owl asked after she walked inside.

Hedgehog’s teeth started to chatter.

‘Don’t fear hedgehog. I will be right next to you,’ squirrel gave him a cuddle.

Mrs Owl sat down in a huge armchair by the fireplace and started: ‘Once upon a time, hundreds of years ago, our Weberland was attacked by wild wolves from the forest…’

‘Huhuu!’ the small wolves shouted when they found out the story would be about scary wolves. Mrs Owl smiled and calmed down the wolves so she could continue the story. But hedgehog feared. He quietly left all the other listeners, and in the dark started to walk around Mrs Owl’s house. He didn’t want to leave, because the wolves would laugh that he fears wolves, but he was more interested in things in Mrs Owl’s house. His friends were so interested in listening, that even the squirrel who had been holding his hand didn’t notice

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that hedgehog wasn’t there anymore. He slipped through a half-open door into Mrs Owl’s bedroom, where he discovered things he had never seen before.

‘Wow.’ Everything was very old and dusty. He knew if Mrs Owl found him, she would be very angry, but his curiosity was much stronger. He opened a small bedside table where he found old pictures. There was an owl on each one.

‘That will be Mrs Owl’s family,’ he thought and suddenly got scared when the children started to clap after the story had finished. He quickly returned and sat down next to the squirrel.

‘Where had you been? Do you know how great the story was?’ squirrel was clapping enthusiastically.

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‘I just stretched my legs a little,’ hedgehog lied.

‘Do you have any questions children?’ The room turned silent and every young one was thinking what they could ask Mrs Owl about the story. Suddenly hedgehog started to talk.

‘I want to ask!’ Hedgehog raised his arm.

‘Go ahead hedgehog.’

‘Well…hmm… can you tell us something about your family Mrs Owl?’ He asked with curiosity. The room turned silent and everybody waited what Mrs Owl would say. She looked into the fire and rested her head. Suddenly hedgehog understood that the story of her family didn’t have a happy ending.

‘I think you would not be interested in this story. It is too late. Your mums are certainly waiting for you home. I wish you good dreams, my children.’

While hedgehog’s friends were getting ready to leave, he did a naughty thing. He went back to the bedside table and put all the pictures he had found into his rucksack.

‘What is in your rucksack?’ Rabbit asked suspiciously on the way home.

‘I will show it to you, but promise you won’t tell anybody and you will help me,’ hedgehog said and took the pictures out.

‘Why did you steal it?’ Fox and squirrel were shocked.

‘I didn’t steal it! I only told myself that if Mrs Owl has these memories of her family, it should not be hidden in a bedside table. She should have it visible.’

‘What do you mean hedgehog?’ Rabbit asked.

‘If you follow me now, I will show you what I mean.’ At home hedgehog drew the plan of his idea to his friends.

‘Wow, that is beautiful,’ his friends were happy when they saw that he wanted to create a real wooden family tree where he would hang Mrs Owl’s pictures.

All four friends worked on the family tree the whole day, to hang it ready on the wall before Mrs Owl woke up.

‘Sash! Be quiet!’ Fox kept reminding her friends, while the others were

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hanging the big surprise on the wall. Suddenly they heard a noise in the room.

They quickly hid on the veranda behind the house and watched Mrs Owl’s reaction through the window.

‘Wow!’ Mrs Owl was surprised, when she saw the beautiful piece of art on the wall. When her friends saw that she was nearly crying, they ran to her.

‘Surprise!’

‘Oh, my children. You don’t know how much you have pleased me. I thought that hedgehog had some secret plan...’

The friends giggled. Hedgehog didn’t know that Mrs Owl had seen him taking the pictures. Even though she didn’t like it, she trusted him and believed he wouldn’t do anything bad with them. In Weberland there aren’t any bad young ones, and all the animals stick together.

Owl Weber-mum at night, with tears in her eyes, remembered all her ancestors and wrote down everyone’s life motto. When she looked at it, there were four main behaviour principles of her ascendants: respecting others, fellowship, loyalty and helping others. She stood in the middle of the room and was proud of her family.

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Samko One day Samko decided to find his rabbit friend. He was very determined

not to return home until he had found him. He walked around the forest

edges, but feared walking deeper inside. When he had the courage to go inside the forest, he had the feeling of being watched by somebody. After every step, something rustled in the leaves. Samko quickly turned around and saw a small red-haired squirrel who was following him.

‘What are you doing in our forest?’ She stood in front of him with her hands on hips. Samko laughed when he saw how upset the squirrel is.

‘I am looking for my rabbit here.’

‘How does the rabbit look?’

Samko took out a picture out of his bag - a small brown rabbit with white fluffy chest.

‘That’s him. Haven’t you seen him?’

‘Well, that’s our rabbit!’ She shouted to the whole forest.

‘Do you know him? Can you take me to him?’

‘Wait a minute. You must be Samko then, am I right? Rabbit was talking about you.’

‘Yes, that’s me.’

‘If I show you where he is, will you take him from us?’ Squirrel asked with fear.

‘I don’t want to take him away from you. I only want to see him and make sure he is ok.’

‘Ok then, follow me.’ The squirrel was hopping in front of Samko, and led him deeper and deeper into the forest.

Samko didn’t fear anymore, when he knew that his friend was living somewhere around.

‘So this is our small land. It’s called Weberland. Be careful! You are very big.

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Don’t destroy anything here!’ Squirrel warned. Samko was looking at the little houses open-mouthed.

‘All of this we were taught by your little rabbit, he built all this.’

‘I know, because all the houses are similar to ours.’

‘Come on, we are almost there.’ Samko stepped over a few houses and then noticed a rabbit working on one.

‘Rabbit!’ He shouted with happiness so loudly that he could hear him. When rabbit heard Samko’s voice, he turned and ran to him.

‘How did you find me here my friend?’

‘I knew I would find you. Your friend squirrel helped me. I am very happy to see you. I missed you a lot.’

‘I missed you too my friend. Will you stay for dinner?’

‘Even though my mum won’t be happy about it, I certainly will.’

Rabbit introduced Samko to all the forest animals. He explained that every family has its own job, and he also explained the process of building new houses.

When Samko was sitting on a big tree stump, hedgehog noticed his pockets and some strange things inside. He carefully removed them - it looked like bits of stones.

‘What are you doing hedgehog?’ Rabbit had caught him, ‘you can’t do this, it’s impolite.’

‘Never mind’, Samko smiled at the hedgehog.

‘What is it?’ Hedgehog asked curiously about the pieces he was holding.

Samko smiled.

‘These are just pieces of material from my dad’s work. I often go there and play with everything. My pockets are always full of bits and pieces.’

‘Mess?’ Rabbit asked and suddenly got an idea.

‘What are you thinking about rabbit?’ The animals asked and moved a bit closer to each other. They collected all bits of plasterboard, tiles and other materials.

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‘Maybe for Samko it’s just a mess, but for us it is something new. It’s something which could help us - the builders - to make our houses better, stronger and nicer. There would no longer be a risk that the house would collapse due to the wolves’ games and arguments. This is what Samko can give us without doing any harm to anybody.’ The animals were delighted by rabbit’s idea and they clapped with joy.

‘What do you think Samko?’

‘It’s a great idea. I will happily help you with everything. Rabbit’s friends are my friends too,’ he smiled at the animals. And so it was decided.

Every week Samko would bring some of the ‘bits and pieces’ and the animals could enjoy the new work awaiting them.

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Shining path The houses were no longer only green, yellow or brown. Thanks to Samko, they had all the different colours of the world. The surface of the

houses could now be glossy, matt, and uneven, or have different types and shapes. Weberland had grown and was more and more colourful.

However, some things hadn’t changed yet. In the evening, all the young ones should have met by the meadow to play hide and seek. But hedgehog’s mum didn’t want to let him go because they both knew that he couldn’t find his way home in the dark. Hedgehog was very sad when everybody asked him to come, and he was ashamed to tell them the truth. Only the rabbit knew his secret, and stayed with him at home so that hedgehog wouldn’t be sad.

‘Don’t worry hedgehog. When you grow up, you will find your way home with your eyes closed. It just needs time,’ rabbit tried to comfort him.

The following day Samko should have come to bring more material for the animals to use for building. They couldn’t wait to see him, like every week before. Not only was he bringing material for them. He was also telling them stories from school or from his dad’s work that had happened during the week. The animals were fascinated by human’s life, and they were more and more interested in all the opportunities humans had compared to them.

This time Samko brought many beautiful things, and even something they didn’t know it existed.

‘I hope you will be happy with this,’ Samko smiled. Hedgehog held something, and another hedgehog was looking at him.

‘What is it?’ He got scared and jumped away.

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‘Don’t fear - it is just a piece of mirror.’

‘Why is the other hedgehog there doing exactly what I do?’ He looked into the mirror with fear again.

‘It’s just you in the mirror, nobody else. It is your own reflection, so you see yourself there. Understand?’

All the animals stood around the pieces of mirror and looked at their own reflections. Samko and rabbit were having fun, because they didn’t find a mirror very special. Suddenly rabbit got an idea and ran to Mrs Hedgehog’s house.

‘I am listening to you rabbit, what is on your mind?’

‘The moon reflects in the mirror, so at night the mirror pieces shine. I got an idea - we could make paths between the houses and places we often go, so that hedgehog can find his way home in the dark. What do you think?’

‘That’s a great idea rabbit! We must try it before it gets dark,’ Mrs Hedgehog suggested.

‘We have to be very quiet. Hedgehog is ashamed of his weakness, so nobody should know what will happen with the mirror.’

While all the animals were listening to Samko’s stories, rabbit and Mrs Hedgehog camouflaged themselves and started to carry the pieces of mirror they needed for paths. Nobody noticed them at all. Samko realized all the mirror had disappeared, but he knew rabbit and was sure that he had started to work on something, which was true.

When it was getting dark, the young ones met again by the meadow to play hide and seek.

‘Hedgehog, will you join us today?’

‘You know I can’t.’

‘Yes you can!’ His mum said from the lounge.

‘How will I get back home?’ He asked curiously.

‘Rabbit has a plan,’ his mum smiled, and winked at the rabbit. Hedgehog

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was not very happy about it, because he feared getting lost as he had many times before.

‘Look at the ground hedgehog, and follow the mirror,’ rabbit advised.

‘Well, that’s clever, but how will I see it in the dark?’

‘Leave that to mother nature. She will show your way home.’ Hedgehog was getting more and more impatient. During the whole game, he was just waiting what would actually happen.

When the sun went down and the moon rose, the beauty blinded hedgehog and everybody else in Weberland. The animals sprang to attention and their parents came from houses.

‘What a beauty, rabbit!’ Hedgehog was very happy. All paths from mirror pieces shone brightly. Nobody would ever get lost again. Suddenly hide and seek became boring, as it was much more fun just to jump from mirror to mirror. Paths were useful as well as fun, judging from the animals’ good time.

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Cradle The long-expected moment was about to come, and all the animals were coming to deer’s house bringing various gifts. Everybody was impatient,

holding a huge basket of forest fruit, or hand-made toys for the baby deer. A new member of the forest should be born and everybody was very happy. The young ones were expecting Samko, who had promised to bring his pictures from when he was just a baby. The whole forest was waiting for something that day. While mums chatted with each other, young ones played football with a fir cone.

‘Look, Samko is over there!’ Rabbit shouted after he had scored a goal.

‘You are a good football player rabbit,’ Samko said.

‘I am good too, aren’t I? Hedgehog said proudly.

‘Indeed, all of you are good! Here I have what I promised to bring.’ He took out pictures of when he was just a baby from his pocket.

‘Wow. Is that really you?’ The animals surrounded the pictures and couldn’t stop looking at how small Samko used to be, and how quickly he had grown up.

‘Will our baby deer be so small too?’ Squirrel asked.

‘Yes, it will. Everybody is very small after being born.’

Rabbit stroked a picture where Samko was in a cradle.

‘What are you lying in here?’ He asked Samko.

‘That’s a cradle. Babies sleep in it.’

‘It doesn’t look very comfortable,’ hedgehog said.

‘The point is that the cradle rocks so that babies sleep better.’

Rabbit got an idea, and everybody had guessed what it was.

‘If babies like sleeping in a cradle, why not to make one for our new

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young one? What do you think, my friends? Shall we make a gift for a baby deer?’

‘Yes!’ All the young ones shouted, and immediately started to work.

While they were rubbing pieces of wood and nailing it together, Samko ran to his dad’s work to get some paint and decoration they could use.

Fox and the squirrel used pieces of mirror again, and made an interesting toy for the baby deer to be hung above the cradle. Exactly how Samko used to have it some time ago.

‘The mirror pieces are beautifully shining,’ they said as they looked at their work. Rabbit was very busy trying to make the cradle rock, and he succeeded as always before. When the job was almost done, somebody from the deer’s house shouted: ‘It’s a new-born deer girl!’ Everybody

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was happy that they would have a new baby girl in the forest. When the young ones heard, they immediately knew how the cradle would look.

After Samko came back, he was asked to paint it pink and put wallpaper on the frame.

Soon everything was done, and the animals stepped back to look at what their brilliant team work had achieved. All the animals helped carry the cradle to the deer’s house before she came out with the baby.

‘Welcome between us, little deer!’ All the animals said together.

Mrs Deer was very touched when she saw what the young ones had made for her baby. She had never seen anything like that before, and Samko assured her that it was the best thing for the baby deer. She carefully put her baby inside the cradle lined with grass and leaves, and started rocking it with Samko.

‘See, it is perfectly safe,’ Samko smiled.

‘It is beautiful! Thank you all.’ Baby deer looked very satisfied in the cradle, especially when she saw the glittering decorations above her head.

It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep being rocked slowly.

After welcoming the new baby, celebrations started in Weberland.

Everybody was happy, because all of them lived there together like a big family.

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Playground One day the family of hedgehogs, the façade workers, decided that with the

rabbit they would fix all imperfections on their houses. Very often a piece of façade was damaged on some house during the games of the young ones.

‘They are at the age when no explanation works,’ father hedgehog complained to rabbit.

‘Every day they damage some furniture or façade,’ he continued.

‘And try to imagine having a baby wolf at home. They must have a really big mess at home,’ rabbit thought, ‘something should be done about it.’

‘What are you thinking about?’ Father hedgehog was interested.

‘The young ones obviously need more space for playing and games. Since it’s not possible inside the houses, we should make something else for them.

What do you think?’

‘It sounds like a great idea, but where should we start?’ Father hedgehog was thinking and together with rabbit they created a plan.

‘Let’s wait for Samko, we will tell him about our plans, and maybe he can get us some material that we could start with.’ They clapped after reaching this great idea.

Until Samko came, they tried to fix everything which was needed. Most of the time they spent on the houses where little wolves and wild pigs live. As if not busy enough, the young ones were also running around them, having fun and breaking everything which had already been fixed.

‘You certainly wouldn’t want to have this at home,’ Mrs Wild pig said.

‘Don’t worry, we are already working on this problem,’ rabbit winked. She was pleased to hear that, because she knew rabbit’s ideas solve every problem.

Samko came to the forest straight after school, sat down on a tree stump,

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and started to talk about his news from school. After getting a good grade, he was praised and given forest raspberries and strawberries which he enjoyed.

After he showed his good grades, father hedgehog and rabbit called him to the side and explained him their problem, plan, and solution.

‘Well, that’s a brilliant idea. Even my school mates would like this, not only your little naughty young ones.’

‘Will you help us Samko?’

‘You can be sure I will!’ They shook hands and started planning.

‘First of all, we need a fence to mark their play area - right?’ Father hedgehog asked.

‘Good idea. They will be safe there and their parents will know where they are,’ Samko agreed. He knew exactly what he was talking about, because also in the humans’ world there are many problems with kids and parents always worry.

‘We will measure a bigger area, so we can add new attractions when the old ones are no longer interesting.’

The playground plan was soon done. Now they only had to wait until Samko came the next day to bring everything necessary for the playground.

They didn’t tell anything to the young ones in advance, so they wouldn’t be disappointed if the plan didn’t work. Before Samko came, they found space for the playground at the beginning of Weberland, so nobody would be disturbed by the mess and shouting of playing young ones. For this reason, a fence was necessary. In the evening, after the young ones went to bed, they started to work on the playground.

Samko had his inspiration from various attractions in his amusement park in the town. They built slides of various shapes and colours, sand pit, swings and merry-go-rounds. It didn’t take as long as they expected, because Samko started during his afternoon activities. Rabbit always thought Samko took after his father, because he is talented like his dad. He was right – all the slides and

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merry-go-rounds were a perfect fit for the various sizes of young animals.

‘It’s fantastic!’ Mums said. They came to have a look at the new project and help with the final adjustments.

At the end they put a red ribbon around the playground, so it could be officially opened the following day. Samko considered every single detail. When the young ones woke up and started to make mess at home again, their mums took them to look at something. They were very impatient, so all the families met at the playground early in the morning.

‘Wow!’ The children were amazed.

‘Now we officially open your playground. I hope you like it,’ Samko smiled and cut the red ribbon. Little hedgehogs, rabbits, squirrels, foxes, wolves, wild pigs and baby deer – they all ran to the playground to try all the new attractions they had never seen before. Rabbit was thinking about the boys too, and built a new football pitch for them. Happy children’s voices and laughter came from the playground. Everybody was happy, especially the parents, because they no longer had to worry about their houses. In the evening, the young ones came home so tired they went straight to bed and fell asleep happily.

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Unexpected visit Samko couldn’t any longer keep his secret about having forest animals

from his friends at home, so he decided to take them to visit the animals’ beautiful Weberland.

Three of his friends went with him to the forest, they were keen to visit animals’ land. Samko worried that the animals would get scared, but he planned to assure them that his friends are the same as he is.

‘Somebody is coming!’ Squirrel whistled. Everybody sat up.

‘That’s Samko,’ rabbit said.

‘But he is not alone!’ Mr Wild pig got scared.

‘Don’t fear my friends. I am coming with my school mates, who I would like to introduce to you.’ Even though the animals feared a little bit, they trusted Samko and knew that he would never put them into danger.

‘This is Maťko, Kubko and Janko,’ he introduced his friends to the animals.

‘Glad to meet you,’ the animals relaxed and started to talk to the boys. The young ones showed everything, and told them the story about how this all began thanks to the rabbit.

Maťko liked the squirrel a lot, and he was playing with her all the time during the visit. She showed him the forest. It seemed they would become friends. Animals’ mums offered forest fruit to the boys and they happily munched.

The boys promised that if there was anything they could think of which would be useful in the forest, they would tell Samko.

When the boys had to go home for dinner, Maťko became very sad and so did the squirrel.

‘If only I could stay, we could play hide and seek the whole night,’ he said sadly.

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‘I am sure you can join Samko again, and we can play together the whole day!’ Squirrel encouraged him. Maťko was pleased to hear that, he said good-bye and went home.

Night was coming and the animals were slowly preparing for sleep.

Squirrel was falling asleep with a smile on her face thinking about her new great friend.

‘Psst. Are you sleeping squirrel?’ Somebody whispered. Squirrel opened her sleepy eyes.

‘Are you sleeping?’ Somebody asked again.

‘What are you doing here in the middle of the night Maťko?‘ Squirrel was surprised after she looked out of the window.

‘I was wondering if you wouldn’t like to join me at night. I would show you my toys. In the morning I would take you back home on my way to school. What do you think?’

‘Do your parents know you are not at home?’ She asked.

‘No, they don’t. I climbed out of the window. I couldn’t fall asleep and I was bored by myself. Will you join me?’ Maťko asked curiously.

‘Ok, but promise you will bring me home in the morning!’

‘I promise!’ Maťko smiled. Squirrel jumped on his shoulder, expecting a new adventure. They walked through the forest until they suddenly saw many lights and houses.

‘Wow!’ She said and couldn’t believe her eyes.

‘Different, isn’t it?’

‘Beautiful!’

‘Wait until you see my room.’

In the morning, rabbit decided to invite all his friends for breakfast.

‘Good morning squirrel. Will you join us for….’ But squirrel wasn’t there.

‘Hello. Are you home?’ No answer. Rabbit quickly ran to the hedgehog.

‘Have you seen squirrel?’ Scared rabbit asked.

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‘No, I haven’t,’ hedgehog answered drowsily. Every animal gave rabbit the same answer.

‘Look! Somebody is coming!’ Deer shouted. A man’s figure was coming from the forest.

‘It is definitely not Samko,’ the animals were frightened.

‘Don’t worry friends. It’s me and Maťko,‘ said squirrel with a smile.

‘Aha,‘ said a relieved rabbit.

‘Do you know how much we worried about you squirrel? You could have told somebody where you were going.’

‘If only you knew, my friends, what I have experienced this night!’

Squirrel started to talk excitedly. When she told the animals about huge lights, houses and rooms, they couldn’t believe it. Exactly like when rabbit told them his stories some time ago.

They believed all of them would experience this type of adventure sometime, even though their Weberland was still the most beautiful place for them.

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Death cap mushroom The sun was already shining through the falling leaves, and the animals had an early morning wake-up time. Samko had the idea of collecting mushrooms today and the animals happily decided to join.

‘Good morning friends. Ready to collect basketfuls of mushrooms?’ He smiled and pointed at two empty baskets from his parents.

‘Why do we have to go so early?’ Hedgehog asked drowsily. It wasn’t surprising the animals were tired. Winter was coming and winter sleep as well – some couldn’t wait until hibernation.

‘Because otherwise somebody else will collect them.’

‘Aha, now I understand,’ hedgehog smiled and rubbed his eyes with paws. The animals took their baskets and walked deep into the forest.

They walked in a column, like the dwarfs in Snow White. Only squirrel was hopping on the trees in front of them, and she pointed when she found a mushroom. In the middle of the forest, the animals split into smaller groups, so everyone could find something.

‘Wow!’ Squirrel shouted.

‘What’s going on? What did you find?’ The other animals ran to catch up with her.

‘What a beautiful mushroom this is. I have never seen it in our part of the forest,’ squirrel admired a big red mushroom with white dots.

‘Don’t collect that one!’ Samko warned the squirrel. Everybody was scared and stepped back from the mushroom.

‘That is the death cap mushroom. It is poisonous,’ Samko said seriously.

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‘Wow,’ they kept admiring the mushroom from a distance.

‘So why is it so beautiful when poisonous?’ Squirrel asked sadly, because she wanted to keep it.

‘I don’t know why it is so beautiful. But it is good, because you can recognize her easily from other mushrooms and you will know not to collect it.’

‘But I like it!’ Squirrel stamped and her cheeks puffed up. Samko was thinking, how he could put her off the death cap mushroom, but rabbit had a better idea.

‘Maybe we could make a death cap mushroom like this one. It would not be poisonous, and you could keep it. What do you think Samko? We could do that, couldn’t we?’ He winked at Samko and saw the squirrel’s eyes shine immediately.

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‘Could you do that? And would it look exactly like this one?’ She asked excitedly.

‘Well, we could try at least,’ Samko agreed.

As soon as the animals had filled their baskets with edible mushrooms, Samko took it home and looked for something from which they could make a death cap mushroom for squirrel.

‘Some plaster could do, newspapers, a bit of glue…’ Samko mumbled while he was throwing things into his rucksack. When he got into the forest, it was already getting dark so they had to use the torch to make it.

While Samko with rabbit and hedgehog were making the death cap mushroom, squirrel and fox were mixing the paints so they could paint it exactly like the one they saw in the forest.

‘That’s a well-made one!’ Squirrel said.

‘It’s even nicer than the one in the forest, isn’t it?’ Samko smiled at the squirrel.

‘Thank you my friends,’ she thanked them with a big hug. After the paint had dried, they helped her carry the mushroom to her house. The red death cap mushroom made the room very colourful. The animals and Samko were satisfied that they made squirrel’s dream come true with their skilled and hard-working hands. That’s what friends are for.

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School As soon as Samko came to the forest after school to meet the animals

and tell them proudly about his grade one in maths, they told him about their new idea.

‘Samko, we would like to have a similar school to yours!’ The little wild pigs said on behalf of his friends.

‘Really? Would you like to study?’

‘Yes, we would. And we made up our own subjects. What do you think?’

‘It is an excellent idea! Where would the school be?’ Samko wondered.

‘By the playground. We kept free space there in case we wanted something new,’ wild pig reached this conclusion with his friends.

‘Well, many things are needed to run a school. Do you know that? We would have to make all the desks, chairs, teacher’s desk and all teaching aids. And most importantly, we would have to find a teacher!’ Samko smiled.

‘We have already been thinking about it,’ they pointed at Mrs Owl’s house.

‘Really? Do you think she would want to be your teacher?’ Samko asked.

‘Why not? She has no job and is very clever.’

‘So am I!’ Mr Wild pig started to laugh so much he had to hold his belly.

All the animals in the forest really liked this idea. Parents of the young ones wanted them to be smart, and they wanted to be like Samko and get good grades at school. They probably thought school would be easy and full of fun. But Samko corrected their optimistic expectations. He had to explain how to behave at school and the rules to follow. However,

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the young ones were convinced that they would have no problems with good behaviour, so Samko’s lectures didn’t put them off. All the parents started to prepare the wood, and make desks and chairs, and Samko visited Mrs Owl to tell her about the animals’ idea.

‘I should be their teacher?’ Mrs Owl laughed loudly.

‘You don’t have to teach them anything too complicated. At the beginning the alphabet, numbers and drawing will do, or the story telling you are so good at,’ Samko smiled. He knew Mrs Owl would agree, because she likes the young ones a lot and would happily spend time with them almost every day.

‘Well if you – young man – think I would be a good teacher, then I certainly will be,’ she smiled at Samko and stroked his back.

‘Youngsters, let me introduce your new teacher,’ he stepped aside so the young ones could see Mrs Owl. They started to crow with happiness.

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‘Wait a minute! I would also like to teach our kids something. What about production processes or physics?’ Mrs Wild pig said.

‘We could teach them cooking,’ Mrs Fox and Mrs Deer added. Suddenly so many subjects came up that the young ones could never do it all in a week.

And they had worried that there would be nothing to study.

On the playground, at the beginning of Weberland, under a big oak tree was a teacher’s desk and 12 small students’ desks where all the young from the forest squeezed in. Small ones and big ones, everybody was interested in learning something new.

Samko made cards with numbers and letters for learning, and he also brought some books to Mrs Owl to read from if she ever ran out of her own stories. However, that never happened. Every single day, she made up a new story which was always very exciting. Most of the pupils were very smart, but there were some naughty ones too, such as the young wolves that were never tamed by Mrs Owl. But every class has a few naughty ones. This idea changed Weberland forever, because since that time only clever and skilful young grew up there, and soon it would be them bringing something new, extraordinary and unique to Weberland.

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Weber company It was a lovely autumn day, and Samko got a task at art lesson to draw forest animals with his water colours. He was pleased, because this was his favourite theme for drawing. He knew his friends would happily help. When he came home, he removed all school books from his rucksack, and packed paper, paint brushes and paint, and went to the forest.

‘Welcome Samko. We were waiting for you. What’s new at school? Here, have something to eat,’ Mrs Wolf offered him a snack.

‘Thank you very much. I have homework that you will happily help me with.’

The animals started to listen carefully and were curious. They sat around Samko on home-made small benches covered with colourful leaves, and listened carefully.

‘I should paint forest animals. So I thought I would draw my favourite friends. What do you think? Can I?’ Samko smiled.

‘Of course,’ all the animals said together, and were very happy that Samko had this idea.

Before they started, he positioned them from the smallest to the tallest, so everybody was clearly visible. Everywhere around was a mixture of orange, yellow and brown. The sun shone through falling autumnal leaves, and Samko’s friends’ faces were happy and satisfied like never before.

Samko did his best that everybody would look in the picture like in reality. He wanted to have a nice memory of them, and also wanted his teacher to like it.

The animals stood close to each other, keeping warm, and waiting to see the final work of art. Even the young ones didn’t move much. For Samko, they would do anything necessary.

‘Job done,’ Samko made his final flourish with the paint brush. Everybody ran

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towards him to see his art work.

‘Samko, it is beautiful,’ all the animals’ mums were touched, ‘we are like a big family in the picture. Your family!’ Mrs Hedgehog pointed to Samko.

‘I am very pleased you like it. Let’s have a big hug!’ Samko said, and everybody jumped on him so he fell down on the floor. There was much happiness and laughter. They had a lovely day thanks to Samko’s homework. He promised that he would keep the picture, and would always have it with him no matter what happens.

‘Samko, it is your turn now. Come and show us your homework,’ Samko’s teacher said. He stood and showed the picture to the class.

‘Wow,’ everybody in the classroom whispered.

‘It is a very nice picture Samko, really very nice. Is this how you imagine forest animals look?’ The teacher asked.

‘No, this is exactly how they look,’ Samko said proudly, and smiled when he thought of his friends.

‘You are very skilled, Samko. You will get grade one with a star for this. What do you think, children?’ The teacher asked her classroom.

‘Yes, he deserves it,’ Samko’s friends Maťko, Kubko and Janko replied. They knew exactly who was in the picture.

After school, Samko went to his dad’s work to tell him proudly about his grade.

‘Give me a second Samko, I just have to deal with new customers,’ Samko’s dad said, and so he waited.

‘So, show me what you have there.’ Samko gave him the painting with forest animals.

‘These are my friends from Weberland. I had homework to draw them and I got grade one with a star. Do you like it?’ He asked his dad curiously.

‘Well, it’s a beautiful picture. You are very talented – you must take after me,’ Samko’s dad joked and they laughed together.

‘What is the name of that land?’

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‘Weber. Why do you ask?’

‘I like the name. Would you mind if I name my building company after it?’

‘Would you really do that?’ Samko asked excitedly.

‘Of course. Can I?’ ‘Yes, of course. I must go and tell the animals about it. It will make them very happy.’

‘So go and do that!’ His dad smiled.

‘Listen to me, my friends! You won’t believe this!’ Samko ran into the forest with a big smile.

‘Did they like your picture at school?’ Rabbit asked curiously.

‘They did, but that’s not all. I got grade one with a star - and my dad liked it so much, he decided to name his company Weber. What do you think?’

Samko smiled happily.

‘Really?! That’s amazing,’ all the animals were pleased and celebrated with Samko until the evening.

In this beautiful Weberland, there was a big family of happy animals living, who had a special place in a small boy’s heart.

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Anniversary The biggest and the most anticipated day of the year was coming. All

the animals just couldn’t wait for the big Weberland celebrations. All the mums were baking cakes at home, and dads were preparing the stage and benches for guests. Mrs Owl was nervously preparing her speech and microphone to be ready for the celebration opening. Only the young ones did nothing but look forward to munching the cakes. While Mrs Owl was watching them, she knew that something which would catch their attention was soon to come.

‘Dear ladies, gentlemen and young ones. I’d like to welcome you all, together with Mayor Hedgehog, to the big celebrations of the 25th anniversary of Weberland. As we all know, our land only came into existence thanks to our rabbit, who turned normal animals into skilled workers, and simple holes in the ground into beautiful houses. He moved us and our forest forward, and that’s why he deserves big thanks.’ Rabbit stood quite still and could hardly hide his affection. All the animals owed the rabbit for everything he had done for them, as well as for what he experienced before coming to the land.

Before everybody could dance and eat, Mrs Owl – Weber mum told the young ones some interesting information. ‘Dear children, you can expect something that you will remember for the rest of your lives. Your parents already had the honour of this phenomena when they were your age.’ The animals impatiently awaited the surprise. It was probably the very first time that they stood still almost without a breath. Their parents were watching them smiling, and thought back to when they too awaited with the same impatience.

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‘I will take you, without your parents, to a place far from here. The journey will be very difficult and long. But those who make it certainly won’t have any regrets. Over some mountains and across some valleys is a forest completely different than ours. You will feel like in a different land there - wonderland.’

The young ones sat on benches with their legs swinging beneath and wide-open mouths. They were listening to Mrs Owl so carefully that she even found it funny. ‘What surprise will be there?’ the hedgehog asked first. ‘I am glad it’s you that is asking, dear hedgehog, because you’ll be involved a little bit. It’s a coincidence that tomorrow, after our own land’s anniversary, something else has an anniversary too. The Tree, father of all our trees in Weberland, will be celebrating his 350th Birthday.’

‘Oooowww!’ the young ones softly said. Their parents started to laugh when they remembered that their own reactions had been exactly the same.

‘So today don’t party too long, because early tomorrow morning you have to be ready to start the journey,’ Mrs Owl said as she joined others around the table full of food. The whole day and evening the young ones couldn’t wait until the next morning. They would happily start the journey right now, but they didn’t know that their mums would have to pack their little rucksacks for the following day. They were falling asleep restlessly and with difficulty. Their eyes were shining in expectation - mainly the hedgehog’s eyes after what Mrs Owl had told him. ‘How could she possibly have meant it?’ he asked himself, and thought about it all evening.

In the morning all the young ones with their rucksacks were queueing in front of Mrs Owl’s house. They were impatiently hopping from one leg to the other, not knowing that soon their little legs would be aching after the long journey. They said good-bye to their parents and started their journey. Step by step they were following Mrs Owl, and kept asking her

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many questions on the way. But she didn’t want to say anything before they saw the tree with their own eyes. For that, there was a reason.

‘How did you mean it Mrs Owl that I will be involved?’ the hedgehog asked. ‘Don’t be so curious, little one! Everything has its timing, and you’ll find out soon enough. I’ll only tell you one thing – it’s related to the whole past.’ She winked at him. The hedgehog was thinking about it again.

Before they left the forest, some animals were already moaning that their legs were hurting. Mrs Owl naturally expected this, that’s why they often had breaks during the walk. When they were getting closer to the expected forest, they started to feel a kind of weird energy. Everything was big and colourful, and the whole forest was hidden in a bluish mist. But the deeper they entered the forest, the narrower the path became - and things around them were unknown. They were walking behind each other, speechless, when they saw giant pink and violet mushrooms around them. They had never seen anything as magical as this. ‘Are we dreaming, Mrs Owl?’, the squirrel looked around with eyes wide open. ‘No, squirrel. It is real.

And the best thing is just to be seen.’ The owl smiled at her. They walked a few more steps, and then they suddenly saw it. The tree as tall as all of them combined. It reached the clouds and sparkled like morning dew. On every branch were beautiful, glossy mirrors that reflected every corner of this magical forest.

‘Here we are. Let me introduce you to the oldest, biggest, most beautiful and precious tree in the whole world. For people it is the biggest natural treasure ever grown.’ The young ones sat down in amazement. Mrs Owl was having fun, because she knew the tree well - she had led many previous generations to this place.

‘So youngsters, sit down, and I will tell you everything I know about this forest. Hedgehog, listen to me carefully,’ Mrs Owl warned when she saw that he couldn’t stop staring at the tree.

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‘A long time ago, more than 350 years ago, there was a young hedgehog who liked himself a lot. He enjoyed looking and admiring himself so much that he went to the pond during daylight or moonlight, where his illuminated face was reflected on the water’s surface. But this was not enough for him. The pond was drying out over time, which he was very unhappy about. Wherever he went, he sought a solution of how to make something to replace the pond. Once he ran into some animals in the forest that he had never seen before. They were walking in the forest heads down, as if looking for something on the ground. He thought that they might be looking for the same thing as him. But when he told them that he couldn’t find anything to replace the pond’s surface, they just laughed at him. The unknown animals were experienced gardeners from Venice, and had seeds for everything - even what the hedgehog was looking for. He was very pleased with that, and said he would happily wait until the animals returned to his forest again. It didn’t take long, and they really did come with the seeds too. The little hedgehog, full of expectation, planted the seeds the very same day. He was told that the mirror would grow from the seeds. The weather was good, and after much sun and rain something resembling a tree was growing.

The taller the tree, the unhappier the hedgehog, because he thought that the unknown animals had cheated him. There are plenty of ordinary trees everywhere. But soon he found that it was no ordinary tree. Small mirrors really did start to appear on the tree, and soon they were as big as him. But what was the benefit when he couldn’t climb the tree to collect them? When the hedgehog was really desperate, he met the gardeners again. They came to see how their seeds were doing, but were amazed at how quickly they had grown from the tree. Of course they helped the friend from the forest and collected the mirrors for him, so more new mirrors could grow on the tree again. Suddenly the hedgehog had an

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idea: they could build a hall of mirrors, where the mirrors would be everywhere he looks so he could admire himself as much as he wanted.

It turned out to be a great idea, because all visitors to the forest became interested in the hall of mirrors. Then animals from evry corner of the world started to visit this hall that they also could see this remarkable beauty.’

Mrs Owl took a deep breath after she had finished and looked at the hedgehog. ‘The hedgehog from the story is your great-greatgrandfather,’ she said calmly. Hedgehog was very happy that this tree was built by his family. ‘Wow, my great-great-grandfather was famous.’

Hedgehog was amazed by that and so were the other animals.

‘So, children, do you have any questions?’ Owl asked and the young ones started their endless questioning. ‘Well, I could have expected that,’ thought the Owl to herself. She was happy that this legend was increasingly catching the attention of new generations, because this tree is unique and deserves the attention of all animals and people around the world.

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Content Weberland

9

Rabbit’s house

12

Hedgehog’s spikes

17

Family tree

20

Samko

25

Shining path

28

Cradle

33

Playground

36

Unexpected visit

41

Death cap mushroom

44

School

49

Weber company

52

Anniversary

57

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Authors of illustriations in this book are: Illustration page 8, Erik Jakubáč, 9 years Illustration page 11, Hana Vongrejová, 9 years Illustration page 13, Žofia Rovňáková, 8 years Illustration page 14, Soňa Brandísová, 9 years Illustration page 16, Lima Prágerová, 6 years Illustration page 19, Hugo Michalík, 10 years Illustration page 21, Agáta Janišová, 11 years Illustration page 23, Zuzana Potočová, 9 years Illustration page 24, Šimon Štefanec, 8 years Illustration page 27, Váleria Argunová, 8 years Illustration page 29, Andrej Gašaj, 6 years Illustration page 31, Matej Škop, 7 years Illustration page 32, Viktória Flaškárová, 9 years Illustration page 34, Reneé Hauskrechtová, 12 years Illustration page 37, Michal Štanga, 8 years Illustration page 39, Žofia Rovňáková, 8 years Illustration page 40, Barbara Urbanová, 9 years Illustration page 43, Peter Jakubec, 10 years Illustration page 45, Libuša Gregušová, 9 years Illustration page 46, Libuša Gregušová, 9 years Illustration page 48, Libuša Gregušová, 9 years Illustration page 50, Libuša Gregušová, 9 years Illustration page 53, Hugo Michalík, 10 years Illustration page 55, Tereza Búci, 11 years Illustration page 56, Zuzana Potočová, 9 years Illustration page 61, Žofia Rovňáková, 8 years Cover page, Jana Smutná, 26 years

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ISBN 978-80-971869-9-9 Fairytales from Country W

Bôriková, Alexandra – Fickuliak, Michal – Greguš, Martin