Sare and Hanne were the best of friends, as different as sunshine and moonlight. Sare, with her bright, curly hair, loved to explore, always seeking out new paths in the Glimmerwood Forest. Hanne, with her quiet smiles and gentle eyes, preferred to sit by the shimmering Crystal Stream, drawing pictures of the forest creatures. But when they were together, magic always seemed to happen.
One breezy morning, Sare burst into Hanne’s clearing, her eyes wide with excitement. “Hanne! I heard a sound from the Roaring Waterfall!”
Hanne, who was carefully sketching a particularly fluffy caterpillar, looked up. “The waterfall? Everyone says it just makes a lot of noise, Sare.”
“No, this was different! The roar sounded like a voice! It said, ‘Seek the seventh stone, find what is lost, make it whole again!'” Sare bounced on her toes. “It sounds like a grand adventure, Hanne!”
Hanne hesitated. Adventures usually meant getting muddy, or worse, leaving her drawing pencils behind. But Sare’s enthusiasm was contagious. “Lost? What could be lost?”
“That’s the mystery!” Sare declared. “We need to go!”
So, with Sare leading the way and Hanne carefully packing her drawing supplies (just in case), they set off towards the Roaring Waterfall. The waterfall was deep within Glimmerwood Forest, where the trees grew so tall their tops tickled the clouds.
The journey was full of Sare’s usual daring and Hanne’s quiet observations. Sare climbed over fallen logs, imagining them as dragon’s spines. Hanne pointed out tiny, iridescent beetles hiding under leaves. They giggled at a squirrel trying to fit too many nuts in its cheek and waved at a family of deer.
Finally, they reached the Roaring Waterfall. It wasn’t a gentle trickle; it was a mighty cascade of water that roared as it tumbled down the rocks into a sparkling pool below. The mist from the waterfall tickled their noses.
Sare put her ear close to the thundering water. “It’s hard to hear anything now!” she shouted over the noise.
“Maybe the message is in the place, not the sound,” Hanne suggested, looking at the smooth, colorful stones lining the edge of the pool. “The message said ‘seek the seventh stone’.”
Together, they began to search. They counted the stones carefully. One, two, three… Squeaky and Barnaby would have been proud of their teamwork. Seven! The seventh stone was a beautiful, deep blue, shining softly.
As Sare picked up the seventh stone, the sound of the waterfall seemed to swell. “What is lost… make it whole again…”
Suddenly, a tiny, luminous butterfly fluttered out from behind the waterfall. It flew around them, its wings glowing with a soft light, then landed on Sare’s hand, right on the blue stone.
As the butterfly touched the stone, the stone split in half! It wasn’t one stone at all, but two! And inside each half, there was a tiny, clear piece of a butterfly wing, sparkling like a shard of rainbow. The butterfly on Sare’s hand was missing the tips of its wings, which looked exactly like the tiny pieces inside the stones.
“Oh!” Hanne whispered, her eyes wide. “The butterfly’s wings! They were lost! They need to be made whole again!”
Sare carefully held out the two stone halves. The little butterfly fluttered its damaged wings, then gently landed on the tiny wing pieces. Instantly, the pieces glowed brightly, shimmered, and then fused with the butterfly’s wings! The butterfly’s wings were now complete, beautiful, and whole!
The butterfly stretched its now perfect wings, fluttered happily around them, and then flew off, leaving a trail of shimmering dust.
Sare and Hanne looked at each other, grinning. “We did it!” Sare cheered.
“We made it whole again!” Hanne added. “But…” she paused, looking at the now empty stone halves. “That’s it? No treasure? No magic wand?”
Sare shrugged, then a wide smile spread across her face. “No, Hanne. The treasure was making it whole again. The adventure wasn’t about finding something for us, it was about helping someone else!”
Hanne thought about the sad butterfly and its now complete, beautiful wings. “You’re right, Sare. That’s a much better treasure.” She pulled out her sketchbook. “And I have the best thing to draw now!”
As they walked home, Sare, still buzzing with excitement, thought about all the other sounds in the world. And Hanne, sketching diligently, realized that sometimes, the greatest magic isn’t in what you get, but in the kindness you give. The waterfall still roared, but to Sare and Hanne, it now sounded like a gentle reminder: true adventures are about helping, and true treasures are found in making things whole again, not just for yourself, but for others.
