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Winter has been over for a while, even the first spring day has been already gone and all the snowmen in the gardens have been also gone for good. Warm sun rays lured the people out for first spring walks.
There were only daddy, mummy and a little girl walking on a dirt road. The girl was having fun chasing butterflies and plucking dandelions. They all agreed together to have a longer rest next to an old oak tree near a crossroad far from the village. They wanted to spend the break by creating a dandelion wreath.
That idea made the little girl so happy that she was running ahead to be the first one near the tree. Therefore she has not noticed that the sky became much darker and cloudy and strong wind started to blow. It has even started to rain. The girl started to run even faster to hide under the tree which was not so far away now. There was a dry place under the tree but the wind has been blowing all the dust from the dirty road right to the girl’s eyes. So she could not have seen how the raindrops have changed and it started to snow heavily. When she finally rubbed the dust out from her eyes there was a curtain of snowflakes around her. She was not able to see a few steps ahead. Only now she realized she is lost and does not know where her parents are. She started to shout but the wind was strong and carried all her words away. But as the storm has suddenly arrived, it was quickly over as well. It was sunny and bright again, but the parents have been nowhere around. There was only snow all around covering all the first spring plants and flowers; all of them had been seen before the storm. It looked like the nature wants to take a little nap and covers itself with white blanket.
But the girl has noticed some footprints in the fresh snow. They were leading somewhere away from the oak tree. Each footstep was created by five small imprints which looked like being in a small circle. “What is this?” asked the girl herself loudly. “We had been left here by the fox”, replied the footprints. “Follow us and you will be like a fox yourself. Quick, smart, sly and very, very beautiful. You will be able to talk to the people, to persuade people and to lie to the people, so you will achieve everything what you want and you will be given everything what you desire. Or you will take it without asking first. And if you get caught, you will be able to escape everyone, to slip away and to hide. Almost nothing will ever happen to you.”
The little girl liked it a lot. She has always wanted to be more beautiful and smarter than everyone else. She was about to follow the footprints but suddenly she noticed different ones not so far away. And yes, they were quite different. They looked like a big triangle with five fingers. “What a huge footprints”, cried the girl.
“Yes,” the big footprints replied, “we were left by a big bear. Can you see how deep into the snow we go? It is because the bear has strong legs. Follow us and you will be much more like him. Big and strong. Everybody will be afraid of you. Everybody will listen to you and follow you. You will be the leader. You can do and say whatever you want and nobody will be brave enough to oppose you. Moreover, nobody will be brave enough to approach you, too.”
This was a very tempting idea. Being strong, yes, that is what really matters. While she was thinking about which footprints to choose, she noticed another ones. They were made by simple imprints of smaller and larger shoes. They looked quite familiar. “We are the footprints of people”, they said, “and if you follow us, you won’t be the strongest or smartest. You will be just an ordinary girl. People will sometimes scold you, sometimes criticize you, you will be not allowed everything and sometimes you will even cry. You will be often scared and you will often fail, and won’t be the best in everything you would like to be. But you will be loved just because the way you are as a person”.
The girl suddenly felt a heat around her heart. It was so intense that she stopped noticing the snow and stated to run, following the latest footprints. It did not take her long and she saw her parents looking for her all around the fields. The joy of their meeting was so strong that it woke up the spring sun. The sun quickly tore all clouds up and it was shiny and warm again.
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