The Lynx and the Hare

In a frost-covered enchanted forest, a calm and cautious lynx named Lyr keeps a quiet watch on the world, wrapped in his moss-green knitted scarf. One cold morning he finds a small hare named Hazel sitting right in his path, her long dark-tipped ears standing tall and a tiny red satchel slung across her body. She is bold where he is careful, and she invites him to look at a set of strange snow tracks that curl in a circle and then simply stop. Lyr calls it a mystery and urges caution; Hazel grins and suggests they follow it instead.

So the two set off, Hazel hopping ahead and Lyr padding behind with long, quiet strides. The trail leads them past icy ponds and snowy bushes, disappears under a gust of wind, and reappears curling around a big pine tree, as if the tracks were playing with them. At a frozen stream they finally glimpse what has been leaving the marks: a shy, dancing wind spirit of pale-blue light, no bigger than a fox, that leaves sparkling frost behind it. Their pursuit turns into a game, and Lyr finds himself having fun and forgetting to be cautious, until a sudden gust in a wide icy clearing separates them and tests what each of them can offer the other. This illustrated children's tale by Aysel Banu YAVUZAL follows two very different creatures learning to combine caution with courage, to approach something unknown with kindness instead of fear, and to stay beside a friend when the wind picks up. Young readers who enjoy animal stories and gentle mysteries will find a warm, wintry world to explore in this tale, which can be read on Masal İzle.