Forests bring many benefits. They purify the air, provide food and firewood. Bears and deer, foxes and hares, raccoons and badgers, beavers and weasels live in the forests…
If you stop for a moment in a pine forest and listen carefully, you'll hear:
Tap-tap-tap…
That's a woodpecker breaking open a pine cone with its powerful beak to feast on the seeds inside. Magpies chatter, blue tits chirp, and occasionally you'll hear the heavy, frightening cry of an owl.
Forests can be deciduous or coniferous. In deciduous forests, oaks and birches grow, along with alders and aspens, bushes of raspberries, blackberries and wolfberries. Their clearings are covered with bilberries, wild strawberries and woodland strawberries.
In coniferous forests, pines, cedars and spruces grow. Under the reliable cover of fallen needles, you can find various types of mushrooms: porcini, chanterelles, boletes and saffron milk caps.
And how many different flowers you can see in the forest! Snowdrops appear first, followed by pasque flowers pushing through the earth, then lilies of the valley and buttercups. In each season, the forest captivates us with its beauty.
Once upon a time, such a marvellous story happened in the forest.
An ant decided to build a little house and live in it. He tried to lift a blade of grass — but couldn't manage it; the ant was far too small, and the blade of grass was too heavy for him. Then he found a wood chip. The chip also proved too heavy — he couldn't even budge it.
Where shall I live? How can I build a home?
The ant began to cry.
Come and live with us! Three of us can lift one blade of grass together, and five of us can manage a wood chip. It's more fun to work and live together!
Other ants called out to him.
The ant agreed with joy. And from that day on, he's lived in the ant hill.
Here's another story that happened in the forest.
A young sparrow grew tired of living in the sparrow flock. One autumn, he left his brothers and sisters and flew to another forest. He decided to see the wide world. At first, he enjoyed the new place. He saw many new things he'd never encountered before. Only one thing saddened him — the local sparrows didn't welcome him.
One day, he spotted a group of unfamiliar sparrows in a wide clearing, pecking at plant seeds. Feeling hungry, he joined them and began to peck. Suddenly, all the sparrows attacked him, pecking him with their beaks so fiercely that feathers flew!
Bedraggled and hurt, our sparrow barely made it back to his brothers and sisters in his home forest.
But they too drove him away, saying:
You abandoned us — now we don't want to know you!
Sad and lonely, the sparrow perched on a tree far from them.
That's what always happens when someone is ashamed of and betrays their family and loved ones.
There's another forest story. Here, have a read.
The nightingale sings better than anyone in the forest. Everyone loves his singing, which is why they call him affectionately 'nightingale dear'.
Nightingale dear, sing us your song.
The animals often asked.
Phew-eet, phew-eet, tr-r-r…
One thought gave him no peace.
He pondered:
"I've learnt to sing well, but I can't play any musical instruments".
And this upset him greatly.
In the same forest lived a bear. The animals loved this bear for his kindness and strength, and also because no one could play the balalaika like he could. When he struck the strings, everyone would dance — such cheerful and spirited melodies the bear played.
Only he couldn't sing at all, no matter how hard he tried; all that came out was a deep:
Boo-boo-boo…
One day, the bear and the nightingale met. They shared their troubles.
Play something for me, dear friend, and I'll listen.
The nightingale asked the bear.
He very much enjoyed the bear's balalaika playing. The nightingale couldn't help himself — he began to sing along to the cheerful music.
The bear was amazed:
I'd never heard a nightingale before. What beautiful singing!
From that day on, the bear and nightingale became friends and began performing together as an ensemble at forest concerts.
These are the incredible stories that happen in the forest with its inhabitants. Read fairy tales and your mood will always be good and uplifted.
