In a green valley there was a small cabin. The cabin had white windows and a balcony full of flowers. In the house there lived a girl called Molly. She was a good girl, but very lazy. Her curly hair was always tangled because she was too lazy to comb it. Her cheeks were dirty because she didn’t want to wash them. She never cleaned her little room. She never helped her mother with anything. She just didn’t want to. She was too lazy.
Her mommy was unhappy. She didn’t know how to get her to do anything. When the winter started, her mother had to go to the forest to collect wood to make firewood for the cottage. It was already cold outside, so she dressed herself properly, prepared the basket in which she carried the firewood, and said goodbye to her daughter. “I must go and gather wood. The frost will start soon and we need it to keep us warm.” Moly just turned over and waved to her mother. She didn’t even think of going with her or asking if she could help.
So the mother went out into the woods and Molly stayed in her bed. The forest animals saw Molly’s mother going to get wood by herself. They decided that they would help her so she wouldn’t have to do it on her own. The mother was very happy to have such helpers. So the squirrels started picking up small sticks, the beavers started picking up bigger sticks, and the raccoons started breaking and stacking everything into the basket. Everything went like clockwork.
When all of a sudden, the mother slipped and hurt her leg. She couldn’t even stand on it. The animals knew they had to do something. They can’t just let mother sit there and freeze to death. They have to run to get Molly to help Mommy. The badgers and beavers stayed with the mother and the squirrels ran as fast as they could to the cabin. As soon as they were at the door, they started pounding on it. But no one came. So they climbed up on the balcony and banged on the windows. Sleepy and tired, Molly slowly opened the window. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the squirrels jumping and fussing. They started pulling her outside and showing her where to go. Molly didn’t want to go anywhere. She was lazy. But the squirrels wouldn’t give up so easily.
Finally, they managed to get Molly to go with them. They kept nudging her to be faster. As they were approaching the woods, Molly could see her mother’s basket in the distance. At that moment, she realized why the squirrels were rushing so urgently to get there. Something must have happened to her mommy. Molly forgot her laziness and ran so fast that even the squirrels couldn’t keep up. She ran quickly to her mother and hugged her as hard as she could. She was so worried about her. She helped her up as quickly as she could. She supported her mother all the way home. All the animals went with them and carried a full basket of wood.
When they got home Molly thanked the animals and gave them some treats to let them know how grateful she was. For a long time after that, Molly had to take care of her mother and the cottage all by herself, but she was happy to have her mommy home and safe. And so she completely forgot what it was like to be lazy. She realized that if she had helped her mother earlier, nothing might have happened. She decided she wouldn’t be as she was before. And she did the right thing.
