In the garden a gentle rain was falling, the kind so light it goes tic tic tic on the hood of a raincoat. Lily, Ziggy, Skye and Dash had invented a new game: it was called "the drop hunters." You had to run between the blades of grass with your hand open and try to catch a raindrop right in the middle of your palm, without letting it escape.

"I caught a big one, this big!" said Ziggy, laughing, as the drop slipped away between his fingers.

"Mine is bigger!" shouted Dash, jumping from puddle to puddle.

Skye walked calmly, with her hand cupped. "Mine is the most see-through of all," she whispered, because Skye always spoke with a sweet voice.

Lily, instead, was looking at the sky. There was something strange in the air. The rain went tic tic tic, but from far away came another sound. A sound she knew very well.

CHUFFF CHUFFF!

"The train!" cried Lily, her blue eyes wide open. "It's Toby!"

There he was, coming out from the bottom of the garden, with his little chimney puffing colorful smoke into the wet air. Toby the Magic Train stopped right in front of the children and said:

"CHUFFF CHUFFF! Come climb with me up to the mountain high,
where the golden moss is shining underneath the sky!
A little warm shelter is waiting up the way,
but a very shy friend has nothing left to say!"

The children looked at each other. Someone sad? Who could it be?

"Let's go!" said Lily, who was brave and never afraid of adventures.

They all climbed onto the train, their hoods still dripping. Toby went CHUFFF one more time, and off they went along the magic tracks that only appeared for him. They climbed and climbed, through the tall trees, and the rain grew smaller and smaller.

After a while Toby stopped in a clearing in the woods. A narrow path led up the mountain.

"That way," said Skye, pointing with her finger.

They set off walking. The leaves were shiny with rain, and the air smelled of wet earth. They walked for a little while, then heard the sound of water. It was a stream, cheerful and fast, running down between the stones.

"There's the bridge!" said Dash, running ahead.

But when they reached the bank, they stopped all at once. The wooden bridge was there, yes, but it was broken. Two planks had fallen down into the water and were floating slowly, slowly, away down the valley. Only the edges and a few scattered boards remained.

"Oh no," said Ziggy. "What do we do now?"

"The shelter is over there," whispered Skye, pointing to the mountain beyond the stream. You could see it perfectly: a little green roof, covered in moss, that flashed golden every time a sunbeam peeked through the clouds.

Lily looked around. And in that moment she saw something funny, curled up under a bush: a brown ball with lots of little spikes, perfectly still.

"There's a hedgehog!" said Lily.

The children walked over on tiptoes. The ball of spikes trembled a tiny bit. Then, very carefully, it opened up. A round little nose appeared, two little eyes black as buttons, and a little paw. Tied to the little paw was a tiny bell, made of birch bark.

The hedgehog lifted his free paw to his nose, as if to say "shhh," and then said, in the smallest voice in the world:

"Good... morning..."

"Good morning!" answered Dash, loud as always.

The hedgehog curled back into a ball, frightened. The children laughed quietly.

"Sorry," said Lily, gently. "Dash talks a little loud. What's your name?"

The hedgehog opened up again, slowly. He smelled of wet pinecones and honey candies. He whispered:

"My name... is Bruno."

"Hi Bruno!" said Skye, who also spoke softly. "We are Lily, Ziggy, Skye and Dash. Can you tell us what happened to the bridge?"

Bruno trembled all over. His little paw with the bell barely moved.

"I... don't know anything," he whispered. "I wasn't there."

And in that very moment, came the sound.

TING TING.

The little birch bell had rung. But Bruno hadn't touched it. No one had moved it. It had rung all by itself.

The children looked at each other, puzzled.

"How strange," said Ziggy. "It rang all on its own."

Bruno curled back into a ball, so tight that only his spikes could be seen.

Lily knelt down on the wet grass, very close to the little ball of spikes. She waited a bit, saying nothing. Then she whispered, as soft as Bruno:

"Bruno, do you know something? Your bell is magic, isn't it? I read about bells like this in a book. They ring all by themselves when someone tells a lie."

A trembling came from the little ball of spikes. Then, little by little, Bruno opened up again. His little eyes were shiny.

"Yes..." he whispered. "It's true."

"Then," said Lily, with her sweet but firm voice, "that means you do know something. Don't you?"

Bruno lowered his little nose. A tiny tear slid down.

"But if I say it..." he murmured, "the forest animals won't love me anymore. They won't talk to me anymore."

Ziggy, Skye and Dash had come closer too, but they stayed quiet. They felt it was an important moment. Even Dash, who usually never sat still, stayed perfectly still.

Lily stretched out a finger and stroked one little spike, ever so softly.

"You know, Bruno, sometimes it happens to me too. When I break something by accident, I want to hide. I'm scared Mom will be upset. And then inside, right here," she said, touching her tummy, "I feel a weight. Like I swallowed a stone."

Bruno looked at her.

"Hidden things feel heavy," Lily went on. "But when you let them out, the weight goes away. It's like when you open a full backpack and everything falls on the floor. Pfff. All better."

Bruno breathed in deeply. Once. Twice. The little birch bell hung still.

Then, with his voice still soft but a tiny bit clearer, he said:

"It was me."

The children listened.

"Last night," Bruno went on, "I was playing near the bridge. There was a big pine nut, you know, one of those heavy ones, big ones. I was pushing it with my nose, I liked hearing it roll. And then I gave it a harder push, and the pine nut went down onto the bridge, plomp plomp, and... and the planks were old, rotten. They broke. They fell into the stream. I got scared. I ran away. And I spent the night here, under the bush. I didn't have the courage to tell anyone."

Bruno stopped. He waited for the TING TING of the bell.

But the bell did not ring.

It stayed very quiet, swaying only a little.

"You told the truth," Lily smiled. "The bell is happy."

And in that moment, from the bush behind Bruno, a little red nose peeked out. A fox. A real fox, with a long tail and kind eyes. And behind her, two squirrels with feathery tails, one gray and one reddish. They had all come out from their hiding spots.

"Bruno," said the fox, in a warm voice, "we already knew. We saw you this morning, all sad under the bush. We were only waiting for you to find the courage to speak."

"Really?" asked Bruno, his little eyes wide open.

"Really," said one squirrel. "And now we'll help you put the bridge back!"

The two squirrels ran off fast and came back right away dragging a long straight log, fallen from a tree a few days before. The fox used her strong paws to push it into the right place. Ziggy and Dash helped to hold it steady. Skye gathered little twigs to tie it down. Lily and Bruno laid the second plank together.

When they had finished, the bridge was whole again.

"You try it first," said the fox. "We made it strong."

Lily took Bruno gently in her hands, because he was still a bit trembly. Ziggy gave a little hop, Dash ran ahead, Skye walked calmly, calmly. The bridge held beautifully. Tin, tin, tin, went their steps on the new planks.

Once they reached the other side, they began climbing the path toward the shelter. And just at that moment the rain stopped completely. The clouds opened up. And in the sky appeared a giant rainbow, with all the colors, even the ones you usually can't see. It looked like a bridge of light thrown across the valley.

"Look!" said Skye, her eyes shining.

They climbed a little more and came to the Golden Moss Shelter. It was small, with a red door and a roof covered in moss that truly shimmered gold under the sun. From the chimney came a curl of white smoke that smelled of warm bread. A little forest grandma welcomed them with a smile and let them inside.

Inside there were soft blankets and little cups of warm milk. The children sat in a circle on the rug. Bruno sat right in the middle of them, finally no longer curled up. The fox and the squirrels had stayed outside playing with the leaves.

Through the little round window you could see the whole rainbow.

"Bruno," said Lily, sipping her milk, "do you see how beautiful it is, now that you've told the truth?"

Bruno nodded, and for the first time he truly smiled. His little birch bell hung calm, still, as if fast asleep.

"Thank you," he whispered. "I feel light."

When they had finished their milk, they said goodbye to the forest grandma and to Bruno, who stayed at the door waving his little paw. The forest animals walked the children to the bridge, and then down along the path, all the way to the clearing where Toby was waiting.

They climbed onto the train, tired and happy. Toby went CHUFFF CHUFFF, and then he said:

"CHUFFF CHUFFF! The truth is a tiny golden treasure,
you can't see it but it's worth beyond all measure!
Who tells the truth has a heart so light and free,
and walks on every bridge across the land and sea!"

The train set off along the magic tracks. Below them, the giant rainbow came along for the ride.

When they reached the garden, the rain had truly stopped. Everything was clean, shiny, sparkling.

The children hopped down, waved goodbye to Toby, and ran into the house to tell everything. But Bruno's secret, that one, they kept to themselves. Because some truths are like little treasures: you keep them with care, but they never, ever weigh you down.