There lived a hedgehog in the forest of Quiet. He was a very nice hedgehog. He had sharp needles, cheerful spirits, big blue eyes and hunger for knowledge. One time having gotten sick of thinking and not acting while walking through the Mist of The Forest Of Quiet he started to yell at twilight.
“Help! Help! I wanna learn English!”
Right at once a snide nose of a clever Fox popped up out of the Gardenia bush. It sniffed the delicious whiff of the succulent Hedgie.
“I can help you, my little friend”, the Fox purred, “please, just come in to my den and I will give you the first class and she pointed her furry paw with claws, sharp as knives—Freddy Krueger would envy—at the entrance of her hole under the old thickly barked oak with a note hammered neatly on a plaque A Very Kind Fox Lives Here. Welcome!
The Hedgehog was all the delight - it was a dream of his to learn English and just when he was about to walk there, jump in the air, perhaps, whooping and nodding enthusiastically demonstrating his consent - cautious thought had crept into his mind. He remembered terrifying stories from other hedgies on the subject of what had happened when they encountered the Fox. One in particular that stuck in his mind which made his blood curl involved gnawed to the bone limbs of a poor hedgie who went astray and got lost in the mist.
So he squinted suspiciously “How do I know that you will not eat me?”
The Fox seemed to be thinking along the same lines - noticing the raising panic in his eyes and smiled kindly, she was a pro (a good therapist too).
“Because I’m a teacher”, she replied paternally.
“Look, what a beautiful book I have, it’s called—” and she said in English and the Hedgehog obviously didn’t understand the title How To Cook Curious Hedgehogs, and the Fox said it beautifully too in English enunciating the sentence. Little Hedgie didn’t understand what it all meant but he loved the accent.
“Oh”, he replied, almost longing from ecstasy.
“See, I’m not a hedgehog-eater”, said the Fox seriously, “such a ridiculous thought to allow”, but she didn’t quite meet the Hedgehog’s eyes.
Little Hedgie pondered for a sec. The desire to study English was so strong - it overwhelmed his inner critic and Fox's pronunciation was also very lovely, he was lost in thoughts for a few seconds. Finally he nodded and took a step into the Fox’s den.
“Atta boy!” she whispered and slowly bolted the door with a clank. And blinked slyly in the darkness. From that moment on nobody saw the cheerful Hedgehog in the forest again.
His blue-eyed good-natured eager for knowledge disposition vanished from the mainstream as a mist above the water in the full sun. But other hedgies of the Forest of Quiet placed a billboard with a note around the place the missing Hedgie was supposed to have been seen last, that said:
These Are Dangerous Parts Of The Woods. Caution! Please, Do Not Manifest Your Yearning To Study By Yelling at Twilight. They also excluded this place from their usual paths of traversing.
English Via Storytelling 2024 Doggedly Extracted From The Adventurous Midst Of Turquoise Imagination Via Sergey Denisov.
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