Little Starfawn was nibbling strawberries in a sunny meadow. She was so busy munching sweet berries that she didn't notice Mama had wandered deeper into the trees.
When Starfawn looked up, everything was still. Mama was gone.
Her heart thumped. She wanted to cry out and run. But she remembered what Mama always said: “If you ever get lost, stop and think.”
So she stood very still and listened. The leaves whispered overhead. Far away, a woodpecker tapped. The wind carried the smell of pine.
“Where were we going?” thought Starfawn. They were heading to the stream. And the stream always gurgled.
She listened harder. From the left came the softest trickle.
Slowly, carefully, Starfawn walked, stepping around bushes. Her heart still raced, but she didn't hurry. Step by step. Listen. Look.
The trickle grew louder. Between the trees, she saw water gleam.
By the stream lay a big flat stone—the very one where she and Mama always rested.
“Mama knows this stone,” thought Starfawn. “If she's looking for me, she'll come here.”
She curled up on the warm stone and waited. She didn't run around or call out. She just lay there watching the water.
The sun moved three more steps across the sky.
Then Mama stepped out from behind the trees. She saw Starfawn on the stone and quietly came over.
“I followed a butterfly and didn't see you stop,” said Mama. “I went back to the meadow, but you weren't there. I thought, my clever girl will find the stream.”
Mama touched Starfawn's ear with her nose.
“Were you scared?”
“A little,” said Starfawn. “But I stopped and listened to the woods. They showed me the way.”
Together they drank from the stream. Evening sunlight danced through the leaves, making golden ripples on the water.
Mama and Starfawn walked home side by side, and Starfawn never fell behind.
That night, she lay in the warm grass under the stars, listening to the woods breathe. Now she knew its language a little better.