Tosia the squirrel and Frankie the hedgehog find strange tracks by Silver Pond and creep after them, but a quiet splash in the water suggests someone else is still there.
In the Green Forest, beside the shimmer of Silver Pond, lived a little squirrel named Tosia. She never ran out of questions, and she could turn even an ordinary morning into a game. Her best friend was Frankie the hedgehog, who carried a bright handkerchief and always seemed to have a clever idea waiting in his paws.
One morning they were playing hide-and-seek near the water when Tosia skidded to a stop.
"Frankie! Come here quickly!" she whispered.
In the soft mud at the pond’s edge were strange little footprints. They were too big for a frog and too small for a beaver. Tosia crouched lower, her tail twitching.
"Who could have made these?" she asked.
Frankie adjusted his handkerchief and leaned close. "Maybe a forest visitor," he said. "A very quiet one."
The two friends followed the marks one careful step at a time. The trail curved past reeds, slipped under a low branch, and vanished where the silver water lapped the bank. The forest seemed to hold its breath. A leaf trembled. Then another.
Tosia and Frankie crept closer.
Just then, from the far side of the pond, came a tiny splash.
Both of them froze.
Something pale moved just beneath the shining water, and then, for one blinking moment, a pair of bright eyes looked back at them from the reeds.