This is a short story about Anny and her baby brother Carl.

Living in the forest can be exciting! When you live in the forest, you can spend your time swimming through rivers full of fish and jumping between fallen tree trunks. Simply exploring a new trail can easily become a magical experience. By using our imagination, the magic in each experience will grow. This little story happened to Anny, a very special girl who lived outside of a small town, right at the foot of a huge mountain. The mountain looked very similar to a hairy sleeping giant. Anny was nine years old and lived with her dad, her mom, and her little brother Carl. They had a very warm wooden home that was warm even during winter, thanks to their firewood.

Anny was a very curious and determined girl, who had learned the art of survival from her dad. She was very good at remembering her way back home, so her mother did not worry too much when she went out with her notebook and her colour pencils towards the narrow stream that came down from the mountain, where she would sit on its shores drawing trees and birds. Sometimes, she even took a quick nap and dreamed of chattering trees and jumping stones. There was no doubt that she was a very happy little girl. She was also a very good older sister. Many a time, she would put a sweater on her little five-year-old brother and take him with her, letting him play and catch fish when the water was not too cold. She liked giving him his favourite cookies just to make him laugh. She loved her brother very much so she protected him.

Once, a wild chicken from the bush began chasing little Carl, and Anny had the courage to save her little brother. She rolled up the sleeves of her shirt and started running after the chicken until she finally caught up with it. At the risk of being pecked, Anny carried it all the way back to the box where the chickens slept and left it there.

“I ran because I was afraid of the chicken,” Carl said laughing “and you ran because the chicken was bad and you saved me, you are my heroine!” Anny laughed at all the crazy things her smiling little brother did and said. He often had crazy adventures and the strangest things always happened to him, because he was a very curious child just like she was, and he wanted to know everything in the world around him. As she was his older sister, Anny understood that when you are little you want to know how everything works. She explained to him why the trees grew up and why you could never catch all the fish in the whole river. When Carl got tired of jumping and running, he would take Anny’s hand and together they would go back to the cabin on the dirt road, singing nursery rhymes and doing runs from time to time to see who could run faster. As good siblings and good friends, they were the best in the world.

 

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Categories: English Short Stories