AUTUMN GETS TO A MAGIC FOREST
This summer, just as every summer, a girl called Autumn came to the village to visit her grandmother.
Every year, the whole family comes here for the summer holidays.
And at last, Autumn has grown up and is old enough to go out on her own.
It was still two hours before lunchtime, and the girl decided to ask to go for a walk near the forest, where there were huge old trees.
She had only been allowed to go there with adults before, but now she could go there unsupervised.
Mum allowed her to go but asked her not to go too far so that she wouldn't get lost and would be back in time for the plum pie, which Grandma makes more delicious than anything else in the world.
Autumn went outside the wicket. The sun was warming up, birds were singing in the trees, and the girl ran happily towards the forest.
In the shadows of the forest, she stopped and looked around. Nearby, two large trees had their trunks intricately joined to form a hollow. The girl stepped closer. The hollow was as big as she was.
“How awesome,” she thought and looked inside.
It was quiet and smelled of fallen leaves.
The hollow was larger than it looked from the outside, and the roots created a strange labyrinth.
“Amazing!” Autumn thought as she stepped inside, “I've never seen anything like this before. I wonder if there is an exit on the other side?” She went into the light that was coming from the opposite side of the labyrinth.
The hole in the hollow was much smaller here, but if she ducked down a little and pulled her belly in, she could squeeze through.
Clutching her dress tighter so it wouldn't cling to the bark, Autumn climbed out.
The forest was much darker on this side.
“That's because of the thicker trees,” Autumn thought and looked up.
But no, it wasn't the trees...
