The Hedgehog Who Waited for Rain

Tansy the hedgehog had made a bed out of leaves. There was a blanket of little leaves at the bottom and a roof of big leaves at the top. She had left a space at the front so she could look out. It was just wide enough for the point of her nose.

All day the air had smelled like rain. Tansy was waiting to hear what rain would sound like from her new bed. At last a drop fell on the roof. Tap. Then another dropped from the tree above it. Tock. The third drop came down right through a gap and landed on the back of her neck.

Tansy fetched another leaf. It was too small. She went back for a bigger one, but on the way she found a beetle walking in a circle around the stem of a mushroom. The beetle stopped when Tansy stopped. She could see a drop of water on its shell.

“Are you going home?” asked Tansy. The beetle walked round the stem again. There was one dry side where the mushroom leaned over. Tansy put down her leaf and sat on its edge. The beetle went on walking until it had found the dry side. Then it folded itself into a space where the stem met the ground.

Tansy could have taken the leaf home. Instead, she rested the far edge against the mushroom so it made a roof between the stem and a stone. She pushed the stone with her nose until it held the leaf in place. The dry patch had room for two now. Tansy folded her feet under her and listened.

The raindrops came faster. They landed on the moss with a sound as small as turning a page. They landed in the path with a sound like two fingers tapping on a table. And they landed on the big leaf above Tansy’s head with a sound like somebody knocking at a door.

There was a pause. Tansy lifted her nose. One last drop rolled down the mushroom and fell into a puddle. The beetle came out of its little corner. It crossed the dry space very slowly and stepped into the wet grass, where another beetle was already walking along the edge of the path. For a while their shells were the only things moving.

Tansy waited long enough to hear the first drip from the tallest branch. She waited through the second one. By the third, she was ready to go home. She left the leaf where it was in case the beetles came back. A little farther down the path she found a leaf that had turned over in the rain. It was dry on one side and twice as big as the hole in her roof.

Back at the bed, Tansy slid the stem into the roof and tucked the dry side underneath. She got in to try it. The spot where the drop had landed on her neck was right over a soft leaf. She had been so busy with the roof that she hadn’t noticed how comfortable the leaves underneath had become.

Beyond the path a small stream was beginning to run. It had only been a line in the dirt that morning. Now she could hear it passing the mushroom, then running away from her bed between the trees. It made a different sound when it came to a stone. Tansy listened for each stone and wondered how many there were.

She counted four that she could hear. After that the stream turned and she could only hear the quiet bits near her bed. She put her nose on a little leaf and listened to the roof. There was no sound at all from the new patch. Before she could think of anything else to count, Tansy was asleep.