The Boy and the Little Salamander

A boy spends his mornings in the forest behind his house, wearing his mustard-yellow rain boots and carrying a canvas satchel filled with a notebook of sketches. Following a narrow path to his favorite stream, he finds a tiny dark-brown salamander on a wet rock, its speckled skin glossy and its round black eyes blinking slowly. He draws it and records what he sees, then tiptoes away so he will not frighten it. At dinner he asks his mother why salamanders like wet places, and she explains that their skin must stay moist and that they hide under rocks and leaves where it is cool and damp.

Returning the next day, the boy finds a whole family of salamanders under fallen leaves, but farther along the bank he notices empty cans, plastic bags and a broken bottle tangled in the roots. The stream looks messy and sad, and he knows the salamanders need it clean. He hurries home, and together with his mother he knocks on neighbors' doors. Mr. Okafor, who caught minnows there as a boy, brings his litter picker, and others promise to come too. Written by Aysel Banu YAVUZAL, this nature tale can be read on Masal İzle.