When Little Pine was very small, she was interested in absolutely everything. Wherever she looked, something fascinated her. The most wonderful things of all were the changes in nature.
In summer, all the trees looked the same. She was just like everyone else. And everyone was like one big, friendly family.
But then, when the heat eased off and the rain set in and the cold weather arrived, something started happening to her friends. Their leaves changed colour and turned speckled. Little Pine couldn't get enough of looking at them: how beautiful they were! And she kept waiting for her own prickles to become just as bright.
Yellow or red, or maybe orange? Every evening as she drifted off to sleep, she dreamed of her outfit changing. But morning came, and nothing had happened.
Oh!― Little Pine sighed sadly. She felt so sorry for herself. And she was so cross with her prickles, which simply refused to change. Instead, they grew stiff and sharp, while her branches became fluffy and spread out wide.
So Little Pine stayed sad until the strong winds blew in. One morning she woke up and thought she had stepped into a storybook. The ground looked as though it had been painted in yellow, red and orange, everything she loved.
Oh, how lovely! Look! she exclaimed, calling out to her friends the trees.
Yes, yes, they replied slowly, as if they were nodding off, we know. This happens every autumn.
Autumn! So that's what it's called. Aaah-utumn, sang Little Pine, admiring the speckled carpet of leaves. Then she noticed that these beautiful leaves were breaking away from her friends' branches and falling, and the trees were becoming bare and defenceless, offering their branches and trunks to every wind and rain.
Now she felt sorry for the trees. That was when Little Pine came to love the prickles she had only recently been cross about. After all, it was her prickles, staying green, that protected and saved her slender little body from the wind and cold.
My prickles may not be able to change colour, and I may not have such a show of beauty, but I feel safe and calm right now, she thought. Yes, I am always the same, but I actually like that even more. Let it always be this way!
Little Pine had no idea that her green needles were loved by others too, because in winter they remind everyone of summer and warmth. They also smell wonderfully of pine needles and resin.
