into her dress pocket, they took the stairs down and went outside. Patrick stuck his head out of his pocket a bit and looked around to check whether anyone was near.
“So, what shall we do?” asked Patrick.
“We can catch some butterflies, or I can read you a book,” answered Sophie.
“No, it’s boring. How about taking a stroll?” suggested the little mouse. “I’ll show you the oak where I was found by Aunt Mary and Uncle Timo.”
“My mother and father do not allow me leaving the farm. If they see me gone and found out that I’d broken the rules, they will punish me,” replied Sophie.
“We’ll be quick, just back and forth,” said Patrick.
“All right then,” said Sophie.
Once Sophie disobeyed her parents. Holly and Leon, Sophie’s mom and dad, go to town every year for the fall festival, the biggest fair that attracts all the farmers in the region. Her mother makes jokes about it teasing Father Leon that this fair is just for boasters who come there to brag about their crops.
“Didn’t your parents tell you that it is not good to brag?” Holly asked Leon, “Your crop might die, for example, because of a drought or locust infestation. You’re setting a bad example for Sophie.”
“Yes. Yes. Yes. I know, my love,” Leon replied, “You have told me many times that it is not good to brag, it is disrespectful.” Leon got up from the table, came to Holly, embraced her, gave her a kiss and said, “What would I do without you?” Leon approached the table at which Sophie was seated eating an omelet and drinking milk. Leon squatted down, took Sophie by the hand, and told her, “My princess,” (he always called Sophie that way), ‘your mum is right, never forget that it is very bad to brag.”
“Why?” asked Sophie.
“Let me explain you,” Leon said. “Imagine that you have a lot of candies or cookies, or, for example, you have a lot of your favorite books about the magical world that you are in such a deep love with, but the other girl does not have such books, maybe she, as you, loves fairy tales, but her parents cannot afford buying her books, because they are very expensive for them. If you are going to boast of your books to this girl, she will turn very sad and start crying.”
“Maybe I could present a book to this girl since she doesn’t have any books of her own?” Sophie asked piteously with her big blue eyes raised to her father.
“My princess, you are the smartest girl in the world!” said Dad with a smile on his face. “You have learned two lessons: the first one is that it is very bad to brag, and the second one is that you should be generous to people who don’t have things that you do. Well now, we shall be going,” Sophie’s dad picked her up and headed to the door leading outside. Leon closed the door behind him and said, “Holly, honey, we will be waiting for you in the car, please, hurry up, I don’t want arrive at the fair late.”
Leon and Holly met at Uni; they were classmates. In the beginning, Holly didn’t like Leon because she considered him rude and arrogant. But, anyway, she liked how he looked like – tall, slender, with dark eyes and hair. But Leon liked Holly at first sight, as she always wore beautiful dresses, was very smart and insanely gorgeous. In a little more than a month, Leon proposed to Holly, and of course she said yes.
“I’m on my way, dear,” said Holly.
The farm workers loaded all the boxes of vegetables into the van. Holly got into the car, put on Sophie’s belt first, then put on her own belt.
“Leon,” Holly said to her husband, “Don’t forget to fasten your seat belt.”
“I am already doing it, my love,” he said.
Sophie loved visiting the city with her father and mother, the nature was very beautiful in these places in the warmer months: green meadows, plenty of flowers and trees lush and full of green leaves. But it was often foggy in the autumn. On their way, Sophie liked to watch mountains, they barely could be seen, but she liked it, light fog and clouds covered the tops of the mountains, they looked very mysterious, and she always wanted to climb up these mountains and see what they conceal behind the clouds. Leon turned on the radio right at the moment when their favorite band Modern Talking was on air, Leon and Holly started singing loudly. Whey they listened to Modern Talking, the memories of their bright youth always popped up in their heads, the way they used to dance to this band when they were young. Although Sophie did not know the performers, she was sure that they were popular when her parents were young.
Three hours later they arrived at Stuttgart. It was a large, beautiful and very modern city. With her parents Sophie often came to Stuttgart for big holidays, and the holiday she loved the most was Christmas. Her father and mother always bring vegetables to the fair during the last Christmas week. They grow vegetables in greenhouses in winter months. While they were unloading vegetables, milk, eggs, and meat from the car, Sophie decided to take a walk around the square, but her father strictly forbade her to go far, because he was afraid that she might be lost. Sophie took her bag with her and walked along the other farmers’ tents to see what they had brought to the fair. The square that hosted the fair was very pleasant. There were small houses, three or four floors high on its area. The first floors of these houses accommodated shops with beautifully decorated windows. They had a lot of cafes with tables, all occupied, mostly by elderly people, someone was seating and telling jokes making everyone laugh tears, and someone was seating alone with coffee deep in their thoughts. Walking and looking around, Sophie did not realize that she had already left the fair and found herself close to a park. When she stopped and looked back, she understood that she is not at the fair, but somewhere in a strange place, she trembled with fear, tears rained down her cheeks, she realized she was lost. Sophie burst out crying. An old man passing by saw Sophie crying. He went up to her. The old man was wearing a strange hat and a trench coat.
“Girl, why are you crying?” asked the old man.
“I was walking around the fair and did not even realize that I lost my way,” said Sophie.
“What’s your name?” the old man wondered.
“Sophie,” asked the girl.
“And my name is Merle,” the old man introduced himself. “Where are you parents, don’t you know?” asked Merle.
“Yes, they are at the city fair,” replied she.
“Then let me take you to them,” Merle suggested.
“My mom and dad always taught me not to go out with strangers,” Sophie said.
“Your parents are good people since they teach you the right things, and it is good of you that you remember it. But didn’t they tell you not to go far from them?” Merle asked.
Sophie lowered her head and started crying.
“All right, stop crying,” said Merle. “You are not that far from the fair, we will quickly get there and, perhaps, your parents still do not know that you are missing,” Merle took Sophie’s hand and they headed to the fair. Sophie got puzzled with a question, and she decided to address it to Merle.
“Why are you wearing such a strange outfit? Is it carnival going on right now? And your name reminds me the name of the wizard from the books I read.”
“Really?”
