That morning, outside the windows, there was a soft sun that made everything sparkle. Lily, Ziggy, Skye and Dash had climbed up to the attic, where the light came in through a little round window and lit up a mountain of boxes and old toys.

"Let's play guess the sound!" said Lily, her blue eyes shining. "One of us makes a secret sound, and the others guess what it is."

Dash hid behind an old chest and made a sound with his mouth: "Bloob, bloob, bloob."

"A frog!" shouted Ziggy.

"No! It's water dripping from the tap!" said Dash, and then, waving his arms, he tripped over an old drum and got one foot stuck inside it. "Bdoooom!" went the drum, and everyone burst out laughing.

Skye, sitting quietly on the rug, closed her eyes and listened. "Now it's my turn. Listen carefully." She rubbed two fingers on her sleeve. "Frrr, frrr."

"The wind?" tried Lily.

"The leaves?" said Ziggy.

But right at that moment, from far away, came another sound. A sound they knew very well.

"CHOO CHOO!"

The four children looked at each other with the biggest smiles. They ran to the little round window and saw him: peeking up between the rooftops was Toby the Magic Train, all colorful, puffing happily.

"CHOO CHOO!" he went again, stopping right in front of the attic. Then, in his cheerful voice, Toby the Magic Train said:

"Good morning, dear children, climb in, here we go,
a valley that sings is waiting below!
There the rain plays a song that is gentle and clear,
and whoever will listen finds the answer near."

"A valley that sings?" said Lily, already with one foot on the step. "Let's climb in, let's go!"

One after another they climbed onto the train. The doors closed with a gentle puff and Toby set off, gliding through the air among the clouds. Below them passed green hills, sparkling streams, and flocks of sheep as small as little puffs of cotton.

When the train stopped, the children stepped out into a wonderful place. It was a green hollow between the mountains, with grass so soft it felt like a cushion. It was called the Valley of Whispers, because there everything had a voice: the streams giggled, the blades of grass rustled, and when you spoke out loud your voice came back, bouncing among the rocks.

The sky, meanwhile, had filled with gray, puffy clouds. Then, little by little, it began to rain. But it was not just any rain.

"Do you hear that?" whispered Skye.

The drops fell on the leaves and went "tin tin tin." They fell on the stones and went "top top top." They fell into the puddles and went "plip plip plip." It was the rain that sings, and every drop played a different note.

"It's beautiful!" said Ziggy, spinning around with his nose in the air.

On the other side of the valley, beyond a stream that ran fast, there was a meadow full of red, juicy strawberries. You could see them from far away, shiny with rain.

"I want to go over there!" said Lily. "Let's go get the strawberries!"

They all ran toward the stream. But when they got there, they stopped all at once.

The wooden bridge that crossed the stream had fallen down. The planks floated in the water, broken, and the other bank looked very far away.

"Oh no," said Dash, scratching his head. "How do we get across now?"

The stream was too deep to walk through and too wide to jump over. The children went quiet. For a moment it seemed the adventure was over before it had even begun.

But Lily clenched her fists. "Let's not give up. There must be another way."

That was when they saw a little wooden sign, half hidden in the tall grass. Ziggy read it carefully: "It says there is a secret crossing, a place where the water is shallow and you can walk across. And it's near a hidden spring."

"A spring?" asked Skye. "And where is it?"

"There's a drawing down here," said Ziggy, squinting his eyes. "It says the spring can't be seen. You can only find it... by listening to it. You have to hear its little bubbling."

Lily smiled. "Just like in our game! Guess the sound!"

So they all stood still, frozen, with their ears wide open. But hearing the spring was not easy. The rain that sings went tin, top, plip everywhere, and among all those sounds the little bubbling of the water was impossible to find.

"I hear the drops on the leaves," said Ziggy.

"I hear the stream running," said Dash.

"I hear my tummy rumbling," said Skye, and everyone laughed softly.

It was right while they were laughing that the second thing happened.

Behind a big rock, right nearby, something moved. A shadow. A huge, dark shadow, stretching across the wet grass. Then they heard a big breath: "Whoof... whoof..."

Dash stopped laughing all of a sudden. "What is... what is that?"

The shadow grew bigger. And from behind the rock came a giant bear. He was as big as three dads stacked on top of each other, with brown fur and two enormous paws.

"A bear!" shouted Ziggy.

Skye took a step back. Dash hid behind Lily. For a moment everyone's heart was pounding hard, boom boom boom, like the drum in the attic.

But then something strange happened. At that very moment, far away among the mountains, thunder rumbled: "BROOOM!"

And the giant bear... trembled. He trembled all over, from his ears to his tail, and covered his eyes with his enormous paws.

"Help!" whimpered the bear, in a tiny voice that didn't sound at all like a giant bear's. "The thunder! I don't like the thunder!"

The children looked at each other, surprised. That enormous bear was more scared than they were.

Lily felt her legs shaking. She was a little scared too, it's true. But she saw the bear all curled up, big and frightened, and something inside her grew brave. With her heart pounding in her throat, she took a step forward. Then another. And she put her little hand on the bear's enormous paw, which was shaking like a leaf.

"Don't be afraid," said Lily in a gentle voice. "We're here. The thunder only makes noise, but it doesn't hurt anyone."

The bear opened one eye, then the other. He looked at the little hand on his big paw and, slowly, stopped shaking.

"Really?" he whispered.

"Really," said Lily, and she smiled at him.

The bear pulled himself up to sit. "My name is Bruno," he said, a little embarrassed. "Sorry if I scared you. But the thunder frightens me so much..." And as he spoke, a sweet, lovely smell came from his fur.

Skye sniffed the air. "You smell like honey!"

"Oh yes," said Bruno, and for the first time he smiled. "Honey is the thing I love most in the whole world."

Lily told him about the broken bridge, the strawberries, and the hidden spring they had to find by listening.

"The spring?" said Bruno, perking up his ears. "I know how to find it! I have a special big-nose-big-ears. I can hear water even from far away." He moved his big nose left and right, then closed his eyes and listened. "That way. Come with me."

But just as they set off, the sky grew darker. The thunder began to rumble one boom after another, "BROOM, BROOM," and lightning flashed among the clouds. Bruno froze, trembling again.

"I... I can't do it," he said. "I'm too scared."

This was the hardest moment. The rain fell thick, the lightning lit up the valley, and the spring was still far away. Dash slipped in a puddle of mud and landed sitting down with a "splash," and that funny thing made everyone laugh, even Bruno, just a little bit.

Lily took Bruno's paw again. "Let's do it like in my game," she said. "Don't listen to the thunder. Only listen to the water. Find the bubbling. I'll stay right here with you."

Bruno took a big breath. He squeezed Lily's little hand. And he listened. Among the thunder and the rain that sings, his big-nose-big-ears searched, and searched... until he found a new sound, small and cheerful: "glug glug glug glug."

"There it is!" said Bruno. "I hear it! This way!"

Step by step, all together, they followed that bubbling. Skye held Dash's hand, Ziggy watched carefully where to put his feet, and Lily never let go of Bruno's paw. The sound grew louder, glug GLUG GLUG, until it led them to a little cave among the rocks. And there, inside, gushed a spring of clear water that sang louder than everything else.

The water came out and filled a little stone channel. And as it flowed, it gently pushed the broken logs of the old bridge, one against the other, until it lined them up across the stream, as if by magic. A new bridge had formed, made of floating logs.

"We did it!" shouted Lily.

One at a time, holding hands, they crossed the log bridge and reached the strawberry meadow. Bruno went last, very carefully, and when he got to the other side he gave the biggest smile.

"You see?" Lily said to him. "You were scared, but you did it anyway. That is real courage."

To celebrate, Bruno ran to his favorite tree and came back with a golden, super-sweet honeycomb. "Honey for everyone!" he said happily. They sat down to eat strawberries and honey, laughing and licking their sticky fingers.

And little by little, the rain stopped. The clouds opened, the sun came back to warm the valley and in the sky appeared a great rainbow, with all the colors, stretching from one mountain to the other.

"CHOO CHOO!" Toby the Magic Train had come back to pick them up.

They said goodbye to Bruno with a big, giant hug, the kind only a bear knows how to give. Then they climbed onto the train. As the valley grew small below them, Toby the Magic Train said:

"Did you see all the courage you found deep inside?
Your fear ran away and went somewhere to hide!
A friend who was trembling now giggles with glee,
and a rainbow came out for the whole world to see!"

Lily rested her head against the window, the smell of honey still on her. She had been scared, it's true. But she had taken the first step anyway. And now she knew: courage is not having no fear, it's holding hands and walking on anyway.