Once upon a time, there was a wealthy little boy

called Isaias, who would spend his summers

playing with his best friend.

One day, while they were playing football in the fields

close to his house, he kicked the ball so hard that it

accidentally flew in the other direction. It started to

fly very far, as though carried by the wind.

His friend was very annoyed, and still more surprised

by this unknown strength, and shouted:

“Oh no, Isaias, we’ll never see it again! Why didn’t you control your

strength?.... Now we can’t play anymore!”

“But I don’t know what happened!” begged the child, “It flew away on its

own!”

“Liar, you’re a liar!”

“It’s ok, I’ll go and get it. Wait for me here, I’ll bring it back.”

While he ran to look for the ball, he wondered what had happened,

because he knew that for once, he hadn’t lied.

And so, he went running up the hills looking for the ball and

suddenly found himself in a forest, surrounded by enormous

trees and with no way out. Everything was silent, and there

seemed to be something strange hiding in there. He was being

watched, but he didn’t know it; even though he felt that

something was wrong.

Soon, the strong rays of the sun began to tire

him out, forcing him to rest beneath the shade

of a tree. His bright, blue eyes began to feel

tired, and he didn’t notice that some little

squirrels and a mysterious wolf were

watching him closely as he rested.

The squirrels, a mother and her son, settled him by the

tree and murmured:

“Hummm, he’s falling fast asleep!”

The little boy was soon in a deep slumber and didn’t

know what was happening.

“Ah, finally we can get out of here mummy! Any longer

and you wouldn’t have had time to do your cleaning!”

“Shhh, silence!” said the wolf, “Do not make any noise,

he is deeply asleep…. Now we wait.”

While Isaias slept under their watch, something strange had happened to

him. He had grown into a young man, who got up shaking and nervous,

looking around himself. What had happened? Had he really slept for so

long? He felt confused and sad to see that the beautiful forest had died out

around him. There were countless dried-up, old trees and the sun was no

longer shining in the sky.

“What is happening? Is there anyone who can help me?”

he shouted desperately, noticing how much his own voice had changed!

There was nobody to hear him, even though the

squirrels still watched him, they were hiding with

the mysterious wolf. The young man who had

left his past behind, felt sad to find himself alone

in a place that was so horrible.

He walked far to try and escape, but he always found himself in

the same place. When he became really desperate, he realised

that there was something shining close to his feet. He decided

to pick it up and the shining stopped, to show him a little, white

stone.

“How does this little stone live here, in the middle of this awful

place? There’s no life here at all!”

The little stone heard him, and woke up straight

away to angrily tell him:

“Did you say awful? This place is yours! I don’t

live here!”

At seeing the little stone speak, the young man was only able to

show surprise. It kept on speaking to him:

“How could you understand? Just pick me up and give me a

scratch… pick me up!”

Young Isaias, in the midst of his confusion, gave a smile and

picked the stone up in his hands as it had asked, and stroked it.

“Hehe hehehehe…. Now, scratch my middle and

then I will explain what you’re doing here.”

The funny little stone began to giggle, and the

young man became amused at its laughter, hoping

that it would help him leave that place.