A story about a different squirrel

Once upon a time there lived a squirrel, who was different from the other squirrels. She lived on a tree in the woods where many other animals lived, but she did not have many friends. Her tail was not so bushy, so the other animals did not consider her a real squirrel. This is why she spent a lot of time on her own. Since she had no one to play with, she designed a game she could play on her own. She would pick hazelnuts from the hazel trees and then hide them in different bushes in the woods. After a week or so, when she has forgotten where she had hidden the hazelnuts, she would start to search for them.

One day, when she was searching for the hazelnuts, she met a small bear who she had never met before. Actually, she bumped into him when she was running towards a bush,  where she knew one of her hazelnuts was hidden. The bear was unusually small but was still bigger than her. “Oh, squirrel, are you alright? I am sorry I got in your way. I did not see you,” said the bear while the squirrel was getting on her feet and dusting her belly. She intended to get mad at the bear, but because he was so nice to her, she only said, “It is ok. I am fine,” and rushed forward. The bear wanted to say something else, but the squirrel was already gone.

The next morning the squirrel went hunting for her hidden hazelnuts again. She has  already searched all bushes in her neighbourhood, but half of her hazelnuts were still missing. Then all of a sudden, she saw that bear again, the same one she bumped into the other day. He was eating her hazelnuts! “Those hazelnuts are mine!” she cried out. The bear, who was just a few meters away, heard a scream and turned around to where it had come from. When he saw the squirrel, he started waving his hand and telling her to join him. Even though she was upset about her hazelnuts, she decided to join him.

“Would you like a hazelnut? They are really good. I found them today in that bush,” said the bear cheerfully and showed her the bush not far away from him. “These are my hazelnuts. I hid them in that bush.” said the irritated squirrel.  “Oh, they are yours? I am sorry. I did not know”, said the bear regretfully. The bear’s remorse surprised the squirrel and made her heart melt. “Well, if you like them so much, you can keep them,” said the squirrel as she smiled. “That is very nice of you. You know, I would not have taken them if I knew they were yours,” said the bear. He looked at her with his gentle eyes and she smiled to say she believed him.

“You know, if I did not have to eat so much, I would not have taken them,” continued the bear. “But I need to eat in order to grow and become as big as the other bears in the woods,” answered the bear, when the squirrel gave him a puzzled look. “I must become bigger for them to accept me,” he added with sadness in his voice. But then, as if he had tried to wipe away the sadness, he said in an excited voice: “Yesterday I wanted to tell you, you have a really beautiful tail, but you had already run away.” He waited for her to smile but she felt a mixture of pain and relief instead. “Other squirrels say my tail is not bushy enough and that is why I am not a real squirrel,” said the squirrel with the pain she has carried in her heart for a long time. The bear stopped smiling and gave her a gentle and understanding look. The squirrel’s loneliness disappeared and her mouth stretched into a smile. From then on they knew they were not alone anymore. The bear bent down and hugged the squirrel. He was just big enough to wrap his paws around the squirrel and the squirrel’s tail was just bushy enough not to tickle the bear on his belly.