The Hedgehog's Golden Crown

In the heart of the forest, where ferns uncurl and sunlight dances on moss, lives a little hedgehog named Harry. One morning, while searching for ripe blackberries, he finds a golden crown with a red velvet band tucked beneath a hawthorn bush. The crown is slightly too big for his head, but when he places it on his quills it fits just right, and Harry decides he must be the king of the forest. The only question is what a king actually does, so he sets out along the winding paths to find out.

His answer comes one friend at a time. Harry meets Bella, a blue songbird whose nest has fallen with eggs still inside; Sammy, a squirrel who has buried his winter acorn and cannot find it; and Rosie, a white rabbit who has lost her way home. With each of them, Harry discovers that being king means weaving twigs and moss, searching under leaves and behind rocks, and gently leading a frightened friend back to her burrow. Word of the little hedgehog spreads through the forest, not because he sits on a throne, but because he helps. This gentle tale by Ebru Mina TOMURCUK is written for young children and for anyone reading aloud to them, and can be read on Onlinemasal Com.Tr.