It was a very cold morning and small snowflakes were falling from the sky. Lori was looking out of the window with wide eyes. "Look mum, snow!" he said happily.

The four friends had gathered in Ale's garden. They were wearing colourful coats, scarves and gloves. They were building a snowman all together.

"I'll make the head!" said Violet, rolling a snowball.

"And I'll put the buttons on!" added Ellie, picking up some pebbles.

Ale was running around the snowman jumping and laughing, while his four cats followed him leaving small footprints in the fresh snow. Sophie was meowing near his legs, Dora was watching carefully, while Chubby, fat and plump, was trying to walk in the snow sinking at every step. Milo instead was jumping nimbly from one spot to another.

"Lori, can you pass me that carrot for the nose?" asked Ale.

But Lori didn't answer. He was standing still near the swing, with his arms crossed and a pout.

"What's wrong Lori?" asked Violet coming closer.

"I don't want to play with you anymore!" said Lori with an angry voice.

"Why?" asked Ellie softly, tilting her head.

"Because earlier Ale told me my snowman was ugly!"

Ale came running over. "That's not true! I said it was funny, not ugly!"

"It's the same thing!" shouted Lori.

Just at that moment, from the road came a familiar sound: "CHUFF CHUFF!"

Everyone turned around. It was Toby the Magic Train! His carriages were decorated with sparkling snowflakes.

"Hello children, what a lovely day! Climb aboard for a new enchanted adventure today!" said Toby in rhyme.

Even though they were a bit angry, curiosity won. They all climbed onto the little train, together with the four cats. Christine, Lori's mum, waved from the window: "Have fun and be careful!"

"Where do you want to take us?" asked Violet as the train set off.

"To a place where it bubbles and boils, where you learn that kindness is the most beautiful potion of all!" replied Toby.

The train crossed through the snow, then entered a bright tunnel full of golden stars. When they came out the other side, there was no more snow. It was night, and above them shone an enormous round moon that lit everything with a silvery light, the kind called silvery light because it is clear and bright like silver.

In front of them was a strange little house, with a mushroom-shaped roof and round windows from which coloured smoke came out: pink, green, light blue.

"Wow!" they all said together.

They got off the train and approached the door. They knocked softly. The door opened by itself with a creak.

Inside was a room full of shelves with bottles of all shapes and colours. There were cauldrons bubbling by themselves, open books turning their own pages, and in the air there was a sweet smell of strawberries and chocolate.

"It's a potion laboratory!" said Ale with wide eyes.

"How lovely!" added Ellie.

From a dark corner of the room came a sound: "Hoo hoo!"

Everyone got a little scared. The four cats pricked up their ears. Sophie hid behind Ale's legs.

"Who's there?" asked Violet bravely.

From the shadow came out a large bird with enormous round eyes. It had soft brown and grey feathers, and a small beak.

"I am Gus the Owl, the wise tawny owl," said the bird with a deep voice. A tawny owl is a type of owl that lives in trees and goes "hoo hoo" at night.

"Hoo hoo! Welcome to my laboratory," continued Gus. "I was preparing special potions, but I have a very serious problem."

"What problem?" asked Lori.

"Outside, in the moonlit woods, there are two groups of animals who don't get along. The squirrels and the hedgehogs are always fighting! The squirrels say the hedgehogs are too slow. The hedgehogs say the squirrels are too fast and messy. Nobody wants to make peace!"

"What can we do?" asked Ellie.

Gus the Owl flapped his wings. "I need your help to prepare the Kindness Potion! But it's very difficult, and something special is needed."

"What do you need?" they all asked curiously.

"Someone needs to make a kind gesture, a truly kind gesture, to put in the potion. But I don't know where to find one."

The children looked at each other confused. Chubby, the fat cat, rubbed against Lori's leg purring.

Suddenly some animals came running through the door. There were three red squirrels with bushy tails and two hedgehogs with pointy spines.

"You pushed us!" shouted a squirrel at a hedgehog.

"No, you stepped on me!" replied the angry hedgehog.

"You're too slow, you block the path!" said another squirrel.

"And you're too rude!" replied the other hedgehog.

They started pushing each other and fighting in the room. The bottles on the shelves were shaking. A cauldron almost tipped over.

"Stop!" cried Gus the Owl. "This situation is deleterious!"

"Dele... what?" asked Violet confused.

"Deleterious," explained Gus, "means that it hurts, that it's harmful. When something is deleterious, it means it's not good and creates problems."

"Oh!" said the children.

The animals kept fighting. Dora, the striped and fearless cat, hissed at them to make them stop, but it didn't work.

Lori watched the scene and felt sad. It reminded him of when he and Ale had fought earlier. He felt bad seeing others angry too.

Then Lori thought of something. He slowly approached Ale.

"Sorry," said Lori quietly. "I'm sorry I got angry before. You didn't mean to say my snowman was ugly."

Ale smiled. "Sorry too! Your snowman was really cute, truly!"

They hugged.

At that moment something magical happened. From the ceiling came down a golden light that flew towards the biggest cauldron in the centre of the room. The light entered the potion which began to glow.

"Incredible!" exclaimed Gus the Owl flapping his wings. "Your kind gesture has created the Kindness Potion!"

"Really?" asked Lori surprised.

"Yes! Look!"

The potion in the cauldron glowed with a warm golden light. Gus took a small bottle and filled it with the magical liquid.

"Now I must give a drop to these quarrellers!" he said.

"But how does it work?" asked Ellie.

"You'll see!" replied Gus with a "Hoo hoo!"

He poured a drop of potion near the squirrels and hedgehogs who were fighting. The sweet scent of the potion spread through the air.

The animals stopped fighting. A squirrel looked at a hedgehog and said: "Sorry I said you were slow."

The hedgehog replied: "Sorry too for calling you rude."

Another squirrel said: "Actually your spines are very beautiful!"

And a hedgehog replied: "And your tail is really fluffy!"

They all started talking kindly, smiling at each other, then laughing together.

"It works!" shouted Violet clapping her hands.

"Kindness is contagious," explained Gus the Owl. "When someone does a kind gesture, others want to do the same. It's like when someone yawns and others yawn too!"

"But there was another ingredient in the potion," continued Gus, "someone must overcome a fear."

"What fear?" asked Ale.

Gus pointed to a door at the back of the laboratory. "Back there is a magic pool. The potion will only be complete if one of you is ready to swim without help."

The children looked at each other. Lori swallowed. "I... I'm a bit afraid of swimming without armbands," he admitted quietly.

"It's okay to be afraid," said Gus gently. "But sometimes we have to try new things."

They opened the door. There was a small pool with water that sparkled under the moonlight coming through a round window. The water was warm and smelled of flowers.

Milo, the agile cat, jumped onto the edge of the pool and sat watching.

"I'll stay close to you," said Ale to Lori.

"And me too!" added Violet and Ellie.

Lori took off his shoes. His heart was beating fast. He sat on the edge of the pool and put his little feet in the water. It was warm and pleasant.

"It's not deep," said Gus. "It only comes up to your tummy."

Lori took a deep breath. He thought about how kind Ale had been earlier to apologise. He thought about how good he had felt after making peace.

"I can do it," he whispered.

Slowly he entered the water. First up to his knees, then up to his tummy. The water was really warm and made him feel light.

"Try moving your arms like this," said Violet making the gesture.

Lori moved his arms like a little bird's wings. He moved his legs too. And... he started floating! He was swimming! Without armbands!

"You're doing it!" shouted Ellie.

Sophie, Dora, Chubby and Milo all meowed together, as if cheering.

Lori swam from one side to the other of the small pool. He was laughing happily. "I did it!"

The pool water began to glow even more. Small golden stars jumped out and flew towards the laboratory.

When they went back inside, the cauldron with the Kindness Potion was full to the brim and glowing like a little sun.

"Perfect!" said Gus. "You've completed the potion! Thanks to Lori's kind gesture of apologising, and thanks to his courage in overcoming his fear, the potion is ready!"

"And now?" asked Violet.

"Now I'll use it to help all the animals in the woods be kind to each other!" explained Gus. "Hoo hoo! Thank you little friends!"

The squirrels and hedgehogs came up to the children. "Thank you for helping us," they said. "Now we're friends!"

From outside they heard: "CHUFF CHUFF!"

It was time to go home. They left the laboratory. The full moon lit everything. Toby the Magic Train was waiting for them.

"Climb aboard, dear winning children! You've learned that kindness creates smiles and makes everyone happy!" said Toby.

They climbed onto the train with the four cats. Gus the Owl waved with his wings: "Hoo hoo! Come back and visit me!"

The train set off quickly through the tunnel of stars. When they came out, they were back in the snowy garden. The sun was rising and the snow was sparkling.

"That was wonderful!" said Lori hugging his friends.

"Yes! And you were so brave swimming!" said Ale.

Ellie yawned. "I'm tired," she said, and Andrew, her dad, picked her up where she fell asleep right away.

Grace, Ale's mum, came out of the house. "How was the adventure?" she asked smiling.

"We learned that being kind is important!" said Ale.

"And that kindness is contagious!" added Violet.

Fred, Lori's dad, came running. "Lori! I heard you swam without armbands!"

"Yes dad! I wasn't afraid!" said Lori proudly.

All the parents hugged their children.

That morning they had learned something important: when you do a kind gesture, like saying sorry or helping someone, others want to do the same. Kindness is contagious, just like a yawn! And when we are kind, everyone is happier and we become friends.

Toby the Magic Train whistled one last time before disappearing in a little cloud of snow, ready for the next adventure.