During September, October, and November, autumn is in full swing. Leaves change color and fall, the wind lifts our hats, and it rains more often. A lot of chestnuts also appear on the ground. Many children pick them up and take them home. That’s because these chestnuts are the best for making various figurines and animals. But have you ever heard of the lucky chestnuts?
One beautiful autumn afternoon, Valentina started gathering such chestnuts. She was a small, adorable girl who liked creating all sorts of things. She was walking around the park with her mother and every now and then she bent down to pick up another chestnut. Once her pockets were full of them, she was satisfied. She couldn’t wait to make something out of them. At home, she immediately spread all the chestnuts on the table, broke wooden skewers into small pieces, and started creating.
After a while, she had an entire zoo made out of chestnuts. The animals’ bodies were beautifully brown and round, and their legs, horns, and tails were made of skewers. Valentina was very happy when she saw that her animals had turned out really well. She played with them all afternoon.
In the evening, when she was going to bed and her room was quiet and dark, she heard something. She was about to close her eyes when she heard a small voice say: “Valentina did a really good job with us, didn’t she? Such beautiful deer. Those lovely slim legs and nicely round body. And you, giraffe! What a beautiful long neck! Valentina worked really hard.”
Valentina rubbed her eyes, unable to believe what she was hearing and seeing. She could see the chestnut animals talking amongst themselves. They were preening and looking down at themselves. They scuttled around, chatting incessantly. Little Valentina lay quietly in her bed, watching them covertly. She quietly giggled under her covers. The animals were so funny. They kept complimenting each other on how pretty they looked, talking to one another. Soon it was quite late. The animals made themselves comfortable in their spots and fell asleep. And Valentina as well.
In the morning, as soon as she opened her eyes, she went to take a look at her animals. They were sitting and laying there, motionless in their places. Valentina inspected them, but she couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. “Could it have been just a dream?” she wondered aloud. “Probably. Just a nice dream.” She smiled and took one last look at the animals. Just then, one of the deer winked at her. Little Valentina laughed.
She had to go to school now, but she couldn’t wait to come back home and play with her animals. And most of all, she never forgot that creating something and playing with ordinary things can also be extraordinary and magical.
