The little mouse stopped in front of the icy gate.
The letters inside it chimed softly, but no word came together as a whole.
Suddenly, a quiet hoo… sounded from the branches above him.
Out of the white silence descended an owl 🦉, silent as the snow itself. She wore a tiny cap on her head and a scarf of bird feathers around her neck.
“The letters are not listening to you,” she said calmly.
“They listen only to those who read not just with their eyes 👀, but also with their heart. 💖”
The little mouse pulled the golden letter out of his pocket.
As soon as the owl saw it, she nodded. “You have the letter, so you have read the fairy tale. Good…”
Then the owl suddenly spread her wings, and the world fell silent for a moment.
She gently blew toward the gate.
The letters flew apart, spun through the air, and one by one found their places.
The gate opened, and in its center appeared the little word:
✨ COURAGE ✨
The little mouse felt that he was no longer afraid.
His small fear vanished…
because he suddenly knew that COURAGE is not JUST a word from a fairy tale, but WHAT HAPPENS when you realize that YOU HAVE A BRAVE HEART! 💖
The owl smiled.
“You see—you found more than just the word that got lost from the fairy tale,” she whispered and disappeared into the night sky.
Beyond the gate, the forest changed.
It was brighter, quieter… and waiting. 🌙
The little mouse passed through the gate…
and the forest smiled softly.
The snow stopped falling so thickly, the branches straightened, and the path revealed itself clearly, as if it had been waiting for him all along.
The golden letter in his pocket warmed gently—it no longer felt lost and was looking forward to returning to the book and to the fairy tale.
The little mouse walked back toward his home in the hollow oak.
He did not seem bigger. He was not stronger either.
But he walked differently. More confidently.
The way home was shorter than he remembered.
The hedgehog waved at him from the bushes 🦔, the squirrel dropped a pinecone in greeting from a branch 🐿️, and the little birds chirped him good night 🐦.
The old oak welcomed him with a soft creak of its little door.
Inside it was warm, the lantern light was still waiting, and the book lay exactly where he had left it.
The little mouse carefully slipped the letter back between the pages.
The book opened by itself…
and the empty chapter filled with words once again. ✨
The little mouse sat down again, snuggled into his blanket, and read on with a smile.
He knew that courage doesn’t have to be loud or big.
And he now knew well where to find it.
There’s no need to step into the darkness…
to search for it and return home. 🌙
Courage has its little home in his heart.
With this knowledge, he read the lovely fairy tale for a little while longer.
The lantern dimmed, and the little mouse yawned with sleepiness.
Outside, snow was quietly falling, the book seemed to close itself as if by magic, and the fairy tale about courage fell peacefully asleep—just like our little mouse, who loves to read so very much 💖🐭📖✨
