Once upon a time there was a mother cat, and she had a little son—a kitten, whom she named Fluffy.
They lived deep in the forest in a forester's cottage. The kitten had a happy childhood; his mother loved him, she caught mice for him every day and played hide-and-seek with him.
In the evenings, the forester would sit the kitten on his lap and stroke his soft fur for a long time, and Fluffy would purr with pleasure.
Around the house there was much to explore. The kitten loved to investigate everything—he would crawl into holes beneath tree stumps, play with fallen leaves, bask in the sun's rays, sprawled out on the porch.
One early morning, the kitten woke up next to his mother and told her about an interesting dream he'd had. It seemed he had many friends, and they had fun and played together.
Little Fluffy became sad, realising it was only a dream. He decided that he absolutely must find friends for himself, because living alone was very boring.
When his mother cat went out hunting again, the kitten quietly slipped out of the house and headed along a path towards the forest thickets.
Making his way through them, brave Fluffy found himself in a small clearing through which a stream flowed. Drawing closer, he saw fish in the water and tried to talk to them, but they all remained silent.
Crossing the stream, the kitten continued on his way. After going a bit further, he nearly collided nose-to-nose with a wolf. Fluffy tried to talk to the wolf, but it only bared its teeth and tried to catch the kitten. The little one barely managed to escape from the grey predator.
Making his way through the bushes, the kitten met a beautiful red fox. He offered her his friendship, and the little fox smiled and licked her lips. She slowly began to approach Fluffy, wanting to catch him and eat him through cunning. But the little traveller managed to climb a tall tree, and the kitten sat there until the fox grew tired of watching him.
After the fox left, the kitten climbed down from the tree and was about to head back home, as he understood that he wouldn't be able to find friends.
But suddenly he heard cheerful voices and headed towards them. In the clearing where the kitten had already been, little rabbits were frolicking, and above them squirrels were leaping through the trees, and even little hedgehogs were there. They were playing a merry game of tag.
The kitten politely greeted everyone and asked to join the game. The little forest creatures gathered around Fluffy and looked at him with interest. The kitten explained that he lived in the forester's cottage, but he was bored there alone without friends. And then the squirrels, rabbits and hedgehogs offered him their friendship. Fluffy gladly accepted this offer.
The little ones played almost all day, and in their game didn't notice that the sun was already beginning to hide and evening was falling. Then the squirrels offered to walk the kitten home and promised that they would come to visit him every day to play. The rabbits also asked to visit Fluffy, which made Fluffy very happy.
The kitten returned home, and his mother cat was very pleased. She had been worried, as there was much danger lurking in the forest for little ones. But the kitten reassured her and told her about his adventure and how he had made many friends. Mother cat was happy for her son.
From then on, Fluffy was visited by his friends every day—sometimes one at a time, and sometimes all together. They always found something to do, because with friends it's always more fun.
