Lina’s Little World (english) by LichtRahmen/ SR – Part 01

Lina lives on a farm with lots of animals.

There’s Finn, a mischievous black-and-white rabbit; Tiger, a clever cat; Berni, a St. Bernard; a mischievous black lamb; a pony; chickens; and a few other animals.

Lina’s little World is a cheerful fantasy story / stories for children.

Characters in the story:

Lina (6 years old)

Timo (the neighbor’s son)

Mario (Timo’s friend)

Ted (cuddly bear)

Margaret (Grandma)

Finn (black-and-white rabbit)

Tiger (gray-brown tabby cat)

Berni (St. Bernard dog)

Blacky (black lamb)

Lemmi (white lamb)

Liese (brown pony)

many other animals, such as chickens…

The first rays of bright sunlight cautiously crept through the narrow window into the small room, illuminating the outlines of the various objects inside. There wasn’t much furniture—just a bed near the window, a nightstand next to the bed, a small table with a table lamp, and a narrow wardrobe. The furniture was a warm wood tone, and on the white walls hung pictures in wooden frames featuring animals.

In the bed lay a little girl with blonde hair; she had wrapped a few curls around her slender finger and was playing with them as she slept. A few rays of sunlight found their way into her golden curls, caressing her cheeks and tickling her nose.

She wrinkled her nose in her sleep, scratched herself with her fingers, and slowly opened her blue eyes. She stretched her arms, yawned briefly, and suddenly woke up.

She quickly glanced at Ted, who was lying next to her—her little white cuddly bear with blue pants.

Ted was still lying contentedly by her side, surely dreaming something lovely. He looked as if he were smiling; it must be a beautiful dream he was having. What could Ted be dreaming about right now, she wondered as she looked at him.

All excited, she sat down on the flowered blanket and said to Ted, “Today we’re going to collect the eggs to dye them for Easter. Grandma has already gotten the dye. I can hear her; she’s probably already in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, Ted. I’m sorry, Ted, but you can’t sleep any longer—we have a lot to do today.” She quickly grabbed Ted, who didn’t look too happy about it, and jumped out of bed. She wanted to hurry over to her grandma’s and see what she was doing there. Lina opened her door, ran down the hall—she’d only quickly slipped on her slippers in a hurry; there was no time to change. So she ran to her grandma’s with her pajamas and Ted. The clatter of dishes could be heard coming from the kitchen.

Lina opened the kitchen door and rushed in with Ted. Lina’s grandma looked at her in surprise: “Not so fast, Lina. You’re up very early today, sweetheart.” “Good morning,” her grandma said to her, smiling as she looked at her with her warm gray eyes. Lina’s grandma was standing at the kitchen table, shaping small pieces of bread dough. She brushed a strand of gray hair out of her face, getting a little flour on her face in the process. Grandma Margaret opened her arms invitingly as she turned toward Lina. Lina ran to her grandma and hugged her.

“I want to help you, Grandma,” Lina said to her. “I know that, sweetheart; you always help me so nicely. You can get dressed quickly and then help me with this,” said Grandma, hugging Lina and being careful not to touch her pajamas with her flour-covered hands.

“I’ll be right back, Grandma,” said Lina, quickly turning around and running back down the hall with Ted. Lina opened the door to her room, quickly set Ted down on her bed—he could rest a bit while she changed—and ran back to her grandma. She quickly grabbed Ted again and set him down on the kitchen windowsill in a corner; he was only allowed to watch. All that flour wasn’t for him. Otherwise, she would have had to put him in the bathtub because of all the flour. His light-colored fur can’t handle the flour. And he hates taking baths. Unlike Lina—she loves taking baths. She can hardly wait for them. In the summer, playing with water is her favorite game. But Ted doesn’t like water; he always looks a little grumpy when she wants to bathe him. So she said briefly to Ted, “Stay right here on the windowsill, Ted. You can watch us do everything from here.”

Lina’s Grandma Margaret always loved to bake, and she was the best at making dough. That’s what Timo, the boy next door, said too—he loved trying Grandma’s treats. Lina got along very well with Timo, and they played together a lot. Timo was 7 years old; he was just one year older than Lina. Timo is starting school this year after the summer. Lina still had some time left, but she was just as excited about school as Timo. Timo’s best friend already goes to school there, and he talks a lot about his experiences there—and what he’s learned. When Mario, Timo’s friend, has time, they all get together to play. Mario has a sister the same age as Lina, but Lina prefers to play with Timo. She likes adventurous Timo; he always has some crazy ideas in his head. Sometimes Lina has to keep an eye on him so he doesn’t get into too much trouble.

Later, Lina and Timo meet up again and think of new things they can do. She and Timo have lots of ideas together. And sometimes they think they don’t have enough time to do everything.

But for now, Lina was busy making something delicious with Grandma. She helped Grandma shape and braid the dough; they made rolls and even bunnies out of dough. Everything was placed on baking sheets and put into the hot oven. Grandma made sure they didn’t get too dark. When the finished bunnies came out of the oven, they smelled wonderfully fresh. Lina’s stomach started growling as if on cue. While the bread was baking, Grandma had quickly made scrambled eggs with Lina; Lina was always allowed to stir carefully and slowly in the pan. A pot of coffee for Grandma and a cup of tea for Lina were already waiting on the kitchen table. Lina had already set the kitchen table; the white Easter tablecloth wouldn’t go on the table until tomorrow, Easter Sunday—today, for the preparations, it was set a bit more simply.

The freshly baked rolls were for today’s meal, and the Easter bunny buns were for tomorrow. The Easter bunny buns were fluffy and soft. Grandma Margaret placed a few fresh rolls in a basket, draped a kitchen towel over them, and handed the basket to Lina.

“You can quickly take the basket over to Timo’s; I’ll wait for you here,” she said to Lina.

Lina nodded at Grandma, grabbed the basket of rolls, and ran over to the neighbors’ house. Timo opened the door for her with a big smile; he was already waiting for his friend, knowing she always came over in the morning. Lina’s Grandma made such delicious baked goods, and his family was always happy to share some of their fresh milk with them. They had several dairy cows and cute calves that Lina loved to pet. There were also sheep and lambs, including a black lamb that always came over to Lina. It often ran off, and they always found it in Grandma Margaret’s fresh herb garden. There must have been some very tasty herbs there that Blacky—that’s the lamb’s name—loved to eat. But Finn, Lina’s black-and-white rabbit, also loved to visit Grandma’s herb garden time and again. When the weather was nice, Lina let the rabbit run around in a fenced-in pen in the garden, and somehow Finn always managed to disappear from there, and she always found him in Grandma Margaret’s herb garden. She discussed with Grandma whether they should let Finn out into the pen again today. It’s so pleasantly warm again today, the sun is shining once more, and there isn’t a single cloud in the sky—just a bright blue sky as far as the eye can see.

Lina had breakfast with Grandma first, then she helped Grandma clear the table.

When Timo, the boy next door, came over, she grabbed a basket and went with him to see the chickens. They wanted to collect freshly laid eggs. Timo had already brought some eggs from their own chickens, and together they wanted to dye them. They both had fun doing that. Lina wondered if Timo would draw little monsters on the eggs again. He was always up for something special and cool… and that’s what Lina liked about Timo, because he kept surprising her with things like that. Once, while playing hide-and-seek, he had hidden in a rabbit hutch and no one could find him. His best friend searched everywhere, as did Lina. When he came out—only because Lina and Mario didn’t want to play anymore—Timo was holding his stomach with laughter, and Lina and Mario were holding their noses. Timo, of course, smelled like a rabbit hutch… and he had to take a bath afterward, and his mom didn’t think it was funny. Still, nothing could stop him from pulling pranks like that; he was always coming up with new crazy ideas.

Lina looked at Timo and said to him, “Timo, remember that some chickens don’t like to give up their eggs. The older brown hens are very watchful, and they have sharp beaks.”

Timo grinned mischievously at her and replied, “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”

They both walked over to the small outbuilding where the many chickens were kept, and many were already waiting to go outside. Around the chicken coop was a fenced-in pen where they could run around freely and scratch in the dirt. Lina first put fresh water in a bowl inside the pen, and in another container they scattered corn kernels—the chickens loved corn kernels best. Then they both went to the chicken coop and opened the door. Some chickens were still on the perch; some that looked a bit bigger and had brown feathers were sitting on their nests. A few chickens were walking around on the ground. When Lina opened the door, the chickens began fluttering excitedly, and some of those moving on the ground quickly scurried past her legs and ran outside as fast as they could, into the open. Once there, they joyfully began pecking at the corn kernels.

The older hens, however, were still sitting on their nests, eyeing Lina and Timo suspiciously.

The older hens knew why Lina and Timo were there; they weren’t going to make it easy for them. As if to confirm this, they began to make low, sounds to show their displeasure; their brown feathers bristled, signaling their anger. They would defend their nests against the two egg thieves.

Lina saw the older hens’ displeasure; this isn’t going to be easy, she thought.

Before Lina could say a word, Timo was already at the first hen, reaching his hand under her feathers into the nest. The brown hen was faster, and before he could pull his hand away, she lunged forward with her sharp beak and pecked at the back of his hand, piercing his skin. Timo winced briefly, but he didn’t let go so easily; he grabbed the egg and pulled it out quickly. The large brown hen jumped up from her nest in annoyance, startling the other large hens still sitting on their eggs. Timo and Lina quickly gathered the eggs from the nests and carefully placed them in the basket Lina had brought along. With the full basket, they went back to Lina’s grandmother.

Ted preferred to wait safely at Grandma’s; he didn’t want to mess with the big hens. He was a little afraid of the huge brown hens. Ted preferred to sit leaning against the windowsill in the kitchen and look out at the beautiful garden from there. From the kitchen window, he could see everything clearly and was still safe. He saw a chicken flutter into the garden in fright. It jumped over the fence—yes, some chickens could do that, even though they couldn’t fly. Some chickens were especially smart and often perched on top of the fence. When no one was watching, Ted leaned curiously against the windowpane to get an even better view. He only talked to Lina sometimes and to a few of the animals, but not to all of them. Some were too dumb for him. Lina understood that Ted was special; he wasn’t like the other stuffed animals.

Lina and Timo had just walked into the house, and Ted was sitting on the windowsill again, just as Lina had left him there. “We weren’t able to collect as many eggs as usual, Grandma,” Lina said to Grandma Margaret. “That’s okay, Lina; the eggs Timo brought are enough,” Grandma Margaret replied. “I’ve already got everything ready so we can dye the eggs,” Grandma Margaret told the two of them. Grandma Margaret took the basket of eggs from them, set it down on the floor next to her, and sat down on a chair in front of the table. On the table was a large porcelain bowl for blowing out the eggs for decoration. Only the eggshells were used for this, and the eggs had to be blown out first. That way, the eggs could be painted for decoration.

Lina’s grandma took an egg, pricked it twice with a needle, blew the egg white and yolk into a large porcelain bowl, and gave the empty egg to Lina to paint. The blown-out eggs were for decoration; Timo and Lina were allowed to paint them. Lina’s grandma blew out more eggs and gave the empty shells to Timo and Lina to paint. Timo had managed to blow out a few himself. Lina had only blown out one egg and was pretty out of breath afterward.

They could still make a cake today with the blown-out eggs. The remaining eggs from the basket went into a large pot with plenty of boiling water and natural dyes from Grandma’s garden. Dried onion skins worked especially well for this. The eggs were boiled with the dried onion skins, which gave them a beautiful reddish-brown color. Finally, Grandma rubbed them with a little oil to make the color shine. Hard-boiled eggs like these would keep a little longer than raw eggs. Grandma had told them the story of why the eggs were dyed—it was to preserve them. Grandma Margaret placed the boiled, colored eggs side by side on a flat tray covered with a kitchen towel to cool.

Timo and Lina painted the blown eggs to use as decorations. Grandma had given them fine brushes and paint for the job. This time, Timo painted a black dragon on an egg that he wanted to take home; the dragon was surrounded by pink cherry blossoms. Timo grinned at Lina as he showed her his painted egg. And Lina was impressed by how beautifully Timo could paint the dragon.

He gave Grandma Margaret and Lina eggs painted with cherry blossoms. And they both thanked him for them. Lina had painted Ted on her egg, wearing his blue pants, and she painted the background green so it looked like grass. She was very curious to see how Ted would like the egg.

When Lina and Timo were done painting, they hung the decorative eggs on a beautiful branch that was standing in a vase. The branch was from Grandma Margaret’s garden; it had already bloomed and was covered in little yellow flowers.

Lina noticed that it was slowly getting darker. Timo said goodbye. His parents were probably already waiting for him. Lina’s grandma thanked him for his help and said to Timo, “See you tomorrow, Timo,” and Lina also said, “See you tomorrow.” The next day, his parents were planning to stop by for breakfast with Timo.

Grandma Margaret checked on the animals and gave them food and fresh water. Meanwhile, Lina got ready for bed, and put Ted also in her bed to sleep. Grandma peeked into her room and said, “Good night, sleep well.” “Good night, Grandma,” Lina replied.

Lina closed her eyes and was already looking forward to tomorrow. “Good night,” she said to Ted. Ted grumbled something like “good night.” With her little hand, she held Ted’s paw; she heard Ted light snoring and slowly drifted off to sleep.

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Lina’s Little World. Pictures are made with AI and edited by LichtRahmen/ SR.

*Note: Lina is not a real person; she is a fictional character, as are all the other characters with their respective names and the animals that appear in this story.