It was a very cold morning and the sky looked like a big gray sheet. On the window panes there were many little ice drawings that sparkled like tiny stars.

Ale, Viola, Eletta, and Lori were in the living room of Ale's house, sitting on the soft carpet near the warm radiator. They were trying to build a castle with cardboard boxes. Grace, Ale's mom, had given them scissors with rounded tips, colorful tape, and lots of markers.

"I'm making the tallest tower!" said Ale, jumping to his feet with his eyes shining.

"No, that way everything will fall!" said Viola with a firm voice, her blue eyes staring at the wobbly box.

Eletta, calm as always, was gluing pieces of golden paper on the castle walls. Lori instead was running around the table making airplane noises.

Sophie, Ale's black kitten, had curled up right inside one of the empty boxes. Dora, the brave tabby cat, was watching everything from the shelf. Poldo, nice and big, was sleeping on the couch, while Milo was purring and rubbing against Viola's legs.

"Children, the castle is coming out beautiful!" said Grace with a smile, hugging Ale from behind.

Suddenly, from outside, came a sound that everyone knew well.

"CHUFF CHUFF!"

Ale ran to the window so fast that he almost tripped on the carpet.

"It's Toby! Toby the Magic Train has arrived!"

The four children rushed outside, followed by Ale's four cats who didn't want to miss the adventure. The little train was there, in the garden, with its smoke making curls in the cold air.

Toby the Magic Train whistled happily and said:

"Hello children with hearts of gold, today I'll take you to discover a treasure to behold! A wooden bridge, water that gleams, and snow that looks like cream and vanilla dreams!"

"Where are we going?" asked Lori, already ready to climb aboard.

"It's a surprise!" answered Viola, pulling Eletta by the hand.

Everyone climbed onto the magic train, including the four cats who settled on the red wooden benches. Sophie sat in Ale's lap, Dora sat straight like a guard, Poldo took up two seats because he was very wide, and Milo perched on the edge of the window to look outside.

"CHUFF CHUFF!"

The little train departed, crossing fields, hills, and woods. But something was different: the trees were all white! The snow covered every branch like whipped cream on a giant cake.

"Look!" exclaimed Eletta, who usually spoke little, pointing out the window. "It looks like sugar!"

The little train slowed down and stopped in front of something wonderful: a large wooden bridge that crossed a river. The water below was clear and you could see orange fish swimming fast.

The children got off, and the cats followed them cautiously.

The bridge creaked a little under their steps. Ale, who loved to jump, made a little hop and the bridge went "CRAAAK."

"Stop!" shouted Viola, grabbing him by his jacket.

Everyone stopped. Ale's heart was beating fast.

"Maybe... maybe the bridge will break?" whispered Lori, who for once wasn't running.

Dora, the brave cat, went in front of everyone and sniffed the wooden planks. Then she meowed, as if to say they could pass, but slowly.

"Let's go slowly," said Eletta, and everyone listened to her.

They walked slowly, watching the little fish below them, when they heard a strange sound.

"Oink oink... sniff sniff..."

On the other side of the bridge, half hidden behind a bush covered with snow, there was a piglet. He was completely pink, with pointed ears and a little nose that moved up and down. A piglet is an animal that lives on farms, has four short legs, and a curly tail like a spring.

But this piglet seemed sad. He was sitting in the mud, even though it was cold, and was looking toward a large castle in the distance.

"Hello!" said Ale, approaching without fear. "What's your name?"

The piglet raised his eyes. "My name is Rosey. And I'm very... discouraged."

"Discour... what?" asked Viola, tilting her head.

"Discouraged," repeated Rosey. "It means I'm sad and don't feel like trying anymore. I feel down like when you can't do something and want to give up."

"Oh, I understand!" said Lori. "But why are you discouraged?"

Rosey sighed. When he breathed, a little cloud of steam came out of his nose.

"Tonight there's a big party at the castle. All the animals of the kingdom are invited. But I..." He looked at his muddy feet. "I'm different. I like to roll in the mud. It makes me feel happy! But the other animals say I'm strange. They're afraid of getting dirty near me."

Rosey was always very hungry, and while he talked, his tummy rumbled loudly. He pulled acorns and berries out of his pocket and munched on them between words.

Sophie, the black kitten, approached Rosey and rubbed her little face against his leg, as if to comfort him.

"Mud doesn't scare me," said Ale. "It's fun!"

"Really?" Rosey stopped chewing. His little eyes lit up.

"I like jumping in puddles too!" added Viola with determination.

But right at that moment, the wind picked up. A strong wind that made the bridge shake and lifted the snow from the trees. The wooden planks began to sway.

"The bridge!" shouted Lori. "It's moving!"

The fish in the river darted away frightened. Milo, the agile cat, jumped onto the bridge railing to keep his balance. Poldo instead sat down heavily, like an anchor.

"I'm scared!" said Eletta, and she ran to hug Dora, who purred to calm her.

Rosey was trembling. "You see? I bring bad luck! I'm too different, bad things happen when I'm around!"

Ale looked at his friends. He looked at his cats. He looked at the swaying bridge. Then he did something no one expected.

He laughed.

"Hahahaha! Look, Viola! We look like we're on a boat!"

Viola looked at him as if he were crazy. But then she saw Ale moving his arms like a sailor and understood.

"It's true! We're pirates on a ship!" said Viola, and she started laughing too.

"The pirate ship!" yelled Lori, pretending to have a sword.

Eletta smiled shyly, then said: "I'm the captain."

They were all laughing. And a magical thing happened: when they laughed, the fear went away. The wind seemed less strong. The bridge seemed less scary.

Rosey watched them with his mouth open.

"But you... you're laughing? Aren't you afraid?"

"We were afraid," explained Ale. "But we laughed at our fear, and it ran away!"

The wind calmed down. The bridge stopped shaking.

"Now we need to help you," said Viola to Rosey. "You have to go to the party."

"But I don't have an outfit," said Rosey sadly. "And even if I had one, I would get it dirty with mud right away."

Ale had an idea. His eyes sparkled like when he found an interesting bug.

"What if the mud was your outfit?"

"What?" Rosey didn't understand.

"Mud is beautiful!" said Ale. "It's brown like chocolate. We can decorate it!"

The children got to work. They gathered red and yellow leaves from the ground. They took fresh snowflakes and gently placed them on Rosey's mud. They found blue berries and small pinecones.

"Turn around!" ordered Viola.

Rosey turned slowly. Now his mud was decorated like a king's outfit. The leaves formed a cape, the berries looked like precious buttons, and the snow sparkled like diamonds.

"You're beautiful!" said Eletta, clapping her hands.

Milo made a big jump of approval. Sophie meowed happily. Even Poldo opened one eye to look and seemed satisfied.

Rosey looked at his reflection in the river water. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"Am I... is that me?"

"Yes!" they all said together.

"You don't have to hide who you are," said Ale. "The mud makes you special. No one else has an outfit like this!"

Rosey grunted with happiness. It was a grunt that almost sounded like a song.

Together they crossed the bridge, this time without fear. They arrived at the castle, where many animals were waiting for the party.

There were white rabbits, colorful birds, squirrels with fluffy tails. When they saw Rosey, first they went silent. Then a wise old owl said: "What a wonderful cloak! I've never seen anything like it!"

All the animals came closer to admire Rosey. They wanted to know how he did it. They wanted to try the mud too.

Rosey was so happy that he cried little tears of joy.

"Thank you, my friends," he said to the children. "You taught me that being different isn't bad. It's special."

"CHUFF CHUFF!"

It was Toby the Magic Train, ready to take everyone home.

The children said goodbye to Rosey with big hugs. The piglet gave each of them a special acorn, as a keepsake.

They climbed onto the little train with the four cats. Toby the Magic Train whistled and said:

"In mud or in snow, every friend is just so! Those who are different bring a gift along, in their hearts there's a beautiful song!"

The little train departed, and the children watched the castle become smaller and smaller.

When they arrived home, Grace hugged Ale tightly. The children told everything about the adventure.

"And we laughed at our fear!" said Lori proudly.

"And Rosey is now happy to be different!" added Eletta, before dozing off in the arms of Andrea who had come to pick her up.

That evening, as everyone went home, each one was thinking about the same thing: being different is beautiful. Because if we were all the same, the world would be as boring as a page without colors.

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**The moral of this story is:** Differences enrich us. Being different makes the world more beautiful and interesting. Each of us has something special that no one else has, and this is a precious treasure to celebrate, not to hide.

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