In an old hut near a thick, dark forest lived a little dog named Elvin. Next to Elvin’s hut was an old, dingy cottage where the dog’s master, an evil wizard named Ambrosius, lived. But Elvin was a very sad little dog because he had never experienced what it was like to have a real friend. The wizard did not like his dog at all. He often sent him into the dark forest to get all sorts of herbs or berries that he needed for his magical, but very dangerous, potions.
During his experiments, Ambrosius often dreamed of how he would one day rule the entire dark forest and how every creature in the forest would obey only him. Ambrosius was afraid of the forest, so he sent only Elvin there. He often told the dog of his terrible plans, and Elvin was very afraid of the day when his magic would become so powerful. So the dog often brought his master the wrong herbs and the wrong berries. Elvin exchanged them for similar ones, so the wizard’s spell would fail. He was a wise and brave dog, but no one knew that he was the one trying to protect the whole forest from his master’s evil spells. The only thing that made Elvin happy were the nights when he looked up at the sky full of magical twinkling lights. Although Elvin didn’t understand what these magical lights were, he hoped that maybe somewhere beyond the deep forest a better life awaited him, where he would find true friends. As he fell asleep, his only company was a snowy white owl that sat on the roof of the cottage and hooted goodnight.
One dark night, as the moon slept high in the sky and the stars twinkled merrily in the sky, Elvin heard a loud crash and a cry from the wizard’s cottage. He quickly jumped up on his brown paws and ran out of his hut to peek in the window to see what was going on in the wizard’s cottage. “You, you stupid dog! You changed my herbs! You tricked me!” The wizard hissed in anger as he flipped through the wizard’s book, stirring the purple bubbling potion with his other hand. Elvin was frightened and froze, unable to move, until his brown hairs stood on end. Ambrosius noticed the dog in the window and quickly crossed the dark cottage towards the door. “Wait, what am I going to do with you!” He shouted angrily, but his black cloak caught unluckily on the pot of potion and the entire potion spilled onto the dark wooden floor, burning the wizard’s feet. “AH!!!” the wizard screamed, jumping in pain. The dog was very afraid of what would happen next. “Come on, you have to run away from him, now is your time! Don’t be afraid, come on!” said the owl to Elvin. “I’m scared…” stammered the dog. “I’ll come with you, but we must hurry while the wizard is busy!” the snow-white owl urged the little dog. Elvin gathered his courage and quickly jumped down from the windowsill. The owl flew into the sky and the little dog followed it into the deep forest. “I’ll catch you!” The door of the cottage opened and the wizard shouted at Elvin as he stood in his doorway fearfully waving his magic wand at the little dog. Fortunately, his wand didn’t work. The owl led the little dog to safety, and Elvin ran as fast as his paws could carry him. Even when he couldn’t, he kept running and running. By the time they were almost at the end of the dark forest, the sun was slowly making its way into the sky. The owl stopped and perched on the branch of a tall tree.
“You can rest,” she said, “we are safe. He’ll never find us here again.” And she smiled at Elvin. “I, I don’t know how to thank you,” the dog told her wearily, and sat down on the green grass. He noticed that this part of the forest was not so dark and spooky. “You don’t have to thank me, I watched you every day as you traded herbs and berries to the wizard, how brave you were to protect my forest, that’s why I protected you every night while you slept,” the owl told him wisely. “I just didn’t want him to rule the whole forest and all the animals in it,” Elvin replied. “I know, and we all know, I told everyone about your good deeds and courage,” said the owl, and from behind her the red squirrels emerged, the bear cub peeked out from behind the tree, and suddenly the little bunnies and fawns came running. “Thank you!” said all the animals who had come to meet their hero. “In return, we will now build you a hut here in our forest where you can live with us. And we will be one big family!” said the little brown doe cheerfully and began to play with him.
And so the animals and Elvin never heard of the wicked wizard again, who was so afraid of the forest that he wanted to rule it. For he had no one to bring him the ingredients for his potions, and so he could not do magic. And our hero, the brave little dog Elvin, was happy by his shining friends, the stars in the sky. And he found real friends who were grateful to him for being brave and for defying his evil master and thus saving not only the forest but himself.
