It was a cool spring morning and the sky above Lori's garden was full of white, fluffy clouds. Lori, Ale, Viola, and Eletta were playing at being cooks with their buckets and shovels in the sandbox. Lori was stirring the sand with a wooden spoon, pretending to make a special soup.

"Here's my magic soup!" said Lori laughing, while Ale added leaves and small pebbles to his bucket.

"Mine has flowers too!" said Viola, putting in yellow petals she had collected.

Eletta was quieter and was decorating the edge of her bucket with thin twigs.

Christina, Lori's mom, watched the children from the window smiling, while Fred was in the garden tending to the plants.

"Lori, don't eat the sand!" said Fred, seeing his child bring the spoon close to his mouth just to be silly.

Right at that moment, a peculiar sound was heard: "CHUFF CHUFF!"

The four children looked up suddenly. Coming down the little road next to the garden was Toby the Magic Train, with his colorful carriages gleaming in the sun.

"Toby!" they all shouted together, leaving their buckets and running toward the little gate.

The train stopped right in front of them with a cheerful whistle. From his cabin came a little puff of smoke shaped like a star.

"Good morning, dear children today,
I'll take you somewhere far away!
Where the desert is warm and gold,
And someone needs your help, I'm told!" said Toby the Magic Train with his joyful little voice.

"The desert?" asked Lori with wide eyes.

"Climb aboard without delay,
There's an adventure starting today!" replied Toby.

Fred helped the children climb onto the colorful carriages. "Be careful now, and listen to what the train tells you!" said daddy Fred before waving goodbye.

The four friends sat on the soft seats and CHUFF! The train took off fast as the wind. The neighborhood houses disappeared, the trees became blurry, and after a few minutes something incredible appeared before them.

An enormous desert with golden sand dunes that looked like soft mountains. But it wasn't a normal desert: above the dunes there was a strange, colorful mist! When the sun's rays touched it, it turned pink, then blue, then yellow, then orange.

"Look Lori, the mist has all the colors!" said Ale pointing.

"It's a rainbow mist!" added Viola clapping her hands.

The train stopped right at the foot of a large dune. The children got off and immediately felt the warmth of the sand under their little feet. But then they also felt something else: a light breeze carrying the sweetest scents of flowers.

"Mmm, what a lovely smell!" said Eletta sniffing the air.

Right in front of them, in the middle of the desert, there was a long line of camels! There were at least twenty, all in single file, walking slowly. The camels were funny, with their humps and long eyelashes. Some were chewing with a bored expression, others looked at the children with curiosity.

"Hello camels!" shouted Lori running toward them.

But as he got closer, he saw something strange: next to the last camel there was... a pond! Yes, an actual pond of water in the middle of the desert! And in the pond swam a very elegant duck with shiny orange feathers.

"Quack quack! Quack quack!" went the duck seeing the children.

"A duck in the desert?" asked Viola puzzled.

The duck came out of the water and shook her feathers. She had a little straw hat on her head and tiny sunglasses.

"Good morning children! I'm Clementine, the swimming duck of the caravan! Quack quack!" she said in a ringing voice. "Oh, you've finally arrived! I have a very serious problem, a truly immense problem!"

The children looked at each other confused. Lori made a funny face.

"What does immense mean?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Immense means very big, very important!" explained Clementine the duck flapping her wings. "You see, I travel with this caravan and I make magic potions to help the camels when they're tired. But this morning I discovered that all the ingredients for my potion are gone! I don't have even a single little leaf left, not even a single berry!"

"And now what do we do?" asked Ale worried.

Clementine lowered her head sadly. "The camels are very tired. Without the potion, they won't be able to reach the oasis where they need to drink. The oasis is still far away!"

Lori looked at the camels. It was true, they really did look tired. One was puffing, another had closed his eyes while walking.

"We'll help you!" said Lori decisively.

"Really? Quack quack! How wonderful!" The duck hopped happily. "But there's a problem. The ingredients grow in the Garden of the Fragrant Dunes, on the other side of the desert. And that garden is guarded by... by..."

"By whom?" asked Eletta in a small voice.

"By the Guardian Snakes! Quack quack! They protect the magic plants and don't want anyone to take them!"

Viola made a brave face. "We're not scared of them!"

"Well," said Clementine thoughtfully, "there is a way. The Guardian Snakes only let other snakes pass. So... you would need to disguise yourselves!"

"Disguise ourselves as snakes?" asked Ale with wide eyes.

"Exactly! Quack quack! If you look like snakes, they'll let you into the garden!"

The four children looked at each other. Disguise themselves as snakes? How do you do that?

Clementine rummaged in a pouch tied around her neck and pulled out pieces of green cloth, colored ropes, and some large leaves.

"Here, with these we can create the disguise! Quack quack!"

Lori took a piece of green cloth. "I don't know how to do it!"

"We have to work together!" said Viola.

So the four friends, helped by Clementine, began building their disguise. They tied the green cloths around their bodies, made knots with the ropes to look like snake scales, and with the large leaves they created long tails that dragged on the ground.

Ale found some yellow pebbles and stuck them on the cloth. "These are the snake's eyes!"

Eletta, even though she was tired, helped hold the cloths still while Viola made the knots.

After lots of work, the four children really did look like four funny little snakes!

"Perfect! Quack quack! Now you have to slither!" said Clementine.

"Slither?" asked Lori.

"Yes, like snakes do! SSSSS!" went the duck imitating the sound.

The children got down on the ground and started slithering across the warm sand. It was hard! And also fun! They laughed as they dragged themselves toward the dunes.

They passed through the rainbow mist that wrapped them in a pink and blue cloud. The breeze continued to carry sweet scents of flowers.

After a bit of walking... or rather, slithering... they arrived at the Garden of the Fragrant Dunes. It was a circular space hidden among the dunes, full of colorful plants with strange flowers: some were blue with pink dots, others were orange with silver leaves.

But in front of the entrance there were three large snakes! They weren't mean, but they looked very serious. They had golden skin with purple patterns, and they watched everything carefully.

"Who goes there?" said the first snake in a deep voice.

Lori trembled a little, but then remembered the disguise. "We're sssnakesss too! SSSSS!"

The three snakes came closer to look better. They sniffed the children.

"Mmm, they look like small snakes," said the second snake.

"But they have a strange smell," added the third.

Viola started moving just like she had seen snakes do, slithering in zigzags. Ale imitated her, and so did Eletta and Lori.

"SSSSS, we want to enter the garden! SSSSS!" said Viola.

The snakes looked at each other. Then the first one said: "Alright, you may enter. But take only what you need!"

They had done it! The children entered the garden slithering. Once inside, Clementine the duck, who had followed them flying, whispered: "Quack quack! Well done! Now we need the blue flowers, the silver leaves, and the red berries!"

The four friends divided up the work. Lori collected the blue flowers, Ale took the silver leaves, Viola found the red berries, and Eletta put them all in a little bag that Clementine had.

But just as they were about to leave, the wind blew away a piece of Lori's green cloth!

"Oh no!" he cried.

The guardian snakes turned around suddenly.

"You're not real snakes!" said the first snake.

Lori's heart beat fast. What should they do? Run away?

But then Lori had an idea. He took off all the disguise and said in a sincere voice: "It's true, we're not snakes. We're children. But the camels in the caravan are very tired and they need the magic potion. Our friend Clementine has to help them. We needed these ingredients to do something good!"

The three snakes looked at him in silence. Then the second snake said: "You told the truth. That is important."

"And you want to help someone in need," added the third snake. "That is also important."

The first snake nodded. "You may take the ingredients. Those who help friends deserve respect."

The children smiled happily and thanked the snakes. They ran out of the garden together with Clementine.

They returned to the caravan slithering and laughing. Clementine took the ingredients and put them in a small pot. She stirred, blew, said some magic words: "Quack quack, flowers and leaves, mixed just right, give strength and vigor, to continue their plight!"

The potion turned a brilliant purple color. Clementine poured it into small bowls and gave it to all the camels.

The camels drank and immediately seemed stronger! One raised his head and bellowed with joy, another started walking with more energy.

"It works! Quack quack! Thank you children! Without you, and without your friendship that made you work together, we never would have made it!" said Clementine hugging everyone.

Lori hugged Ale, Viola, and Eletta tight. "You're my best friends!"

At that moment Toby the Magic Train arrived with his CHUFF CHUFF.

"My dear children, what a great quest,
You found the ingredient that's the best!
Friendship is a precious treasure,
More than diamonds beyond all measure!
Now climb aboard, let's head back home,
Before the evening starts to roam!" said Toby.

The children said goodbye to Clementine and the camels, then climbed onto the train. As they returned home, they watched the desert disappear, the rainbow mist shimmering, and thought about how wonderful it had been to work all together.

When they arrived at Lori's garden, Fred and Christina were there waiting for them.

"How did it go?" asked Christina.

"We helped a duck and some camels!" said Lori all excited.

"And we disguised ourselves as snakes!" added Ale.

"And we all worked together!" said Viola.

Eletta smiled tiredly and leaned against Christina.

That evening, while Lori was in bed, he thought that having friends was truly the most beautiful thing in the world. Together they could do anything, even disguise themselves as snakes in the middle of the desert!

**The moral of the story:** When you have true friends, you can face any difficulty. Friendship is a precious treasure, perhaps the most important one you can have in life. Friends help you, work with you, and together you can do wonderful things that would be impossible alone. Whoever finds a friend, truly finds a treasure!