A long time ago there was an animal called Pika. It had a round body and short, stumpy limbs. It seemed to waddle more than walk, and was known to carry around small bunches of flowers to take back to its burrow to eat during the winter. When diving into its home, it often made a high-pitched alarm call, earning it the nickname the 'whistling hare'. Pika lived in North America.

It was the favourite animal of a girl named Merry. Merry loved the animal Pika. Merry lived in the woods where there were many Pikas. She used to go to the woods every day and pick some grasses, weeds, and tall wildflowers that grew in their rocky, high-mountain habitat for the Pika. She used to take the Pika and walk around with it.

After a few years, as the Pika grew it got dangerous. And soon, Merry found out that Pika is a wild animal and very dangerous. She was very sad about this. From that day she used to never come out of the house.

One day some explorers came to the woods. Merry saw them as they walked by the Pikas. She quickly came out and told the explorers that the Pika were very dangerous. But the explorers didn't pay attention to a word that Merry said. They said
"Oh sweet girl. You are too little to know if these animals are dangerous or not."
Merry said, "No explorers, I know that they are dangerous and they are wild animals."

The explorers ignored her. Off they went. Merry didn't know what to do . She went back home. The explorers soon got lost and were deep in the woods. They started yelling " Please help us! We are lost in the woods! We are the explorers.If you find us and help us we will give you a reward. Whatever you want!"

They kept yelling the whole night. Soon they were asleep. As the sun rose and the explorers woke up they still kept shouting for help. Soon Merry heard their voice and said "I think I have heard this voice somewhere before." She tried to remember. And after a few minutes she remembered that these were the voices of the explorers .

She came out of the house and tried to find them by the sounds of their voices. After a half an hour she found the explorers. The explorers couldn't believe that Merry, the girl who was little, helped them to find the path. Merry took the explorers to her house and gave them some berries and water.

The explorers asked Merry what she wanted as a reward for finding them. Merry said "I actually wouldn't like anything. But I just want to say, please listen to the pikas. They are very dangerous." The explorers thought and asked Merry if they could talk on the side.. Merry agreed.

One of the explorers said "I think Merry is right because this girl is very smart. Like she helped us with the path." The others agreed and returned to the table. They said "Merry we will listen to you about the pika but you need to take something as a reward from us . Merry didn't know what to ask for a reward . The explorers said, '' Would you like to have some money from us?'' Merry was so happy to hear this and shouted out " YES I would like to have some money " .

So the explorers gave her some money and said " Thank you Merry " Welcome " said Merry . So from that day Merry used to have a cosy bed to sleep , some nice food to eat .

After a few years Merry saw some hunters . The hunters were talking about something . Merry couldn't hear what the hunters were saying .Merry started to think about what they had talked about …. She came out of the house and started to look for the hunters . She searched and searched but she couldn't find the hunters . As she was coming back to her house she saw a bag .

When she got home she told her mother what happened . Her mother was shocked and said " Merry I am very shocked to hear this but I want to say that no hunters have ever come to this woods before because this is the first time I heard that there are hunters in this woods ". Merry got very scared but she was also curious about this bag . That night she kept thinking what could be in this bag . Maybe a treasure or something like poison for the animals to eat or weapons . She didn't know yet . She soon fell asleep . As the sun rose , her mother went out of the house to get some fruits . Now her mother also saw the bag .

Merry's father came home from selling some wood in the town . He looked at the faces of Merry's mother and Merry and said " What happened , why are you both so scared " . There was silence in the house . After a few minutes Merry spoke " Father , yesterday some hunters came into the woods and left a bag ." Her mom said " We both saw the bag and we don't know what is inside it " . Merry's dad was shocked " Hunters in this world , no hunters have ever come to this woods except these ones " . Merry's father and mother kept thinking about if they should open the bag or not . The next morning Merry's father decided to open the bag .

It said " To the Wilson's in the woods . We are the persons from the town that asked you for 5 big strong woods . And you gave us those without letting us pay you the money you asked for . This bag has 3 things in it: 1 for you , 1 for your wife and 1 for your daughter . Please keep this as your money you asked for and we paid less . Yours sincerely The Smiths . Merry said " Dad may I please open the box and see what is inside it " "Sure Merry " . Merry started to open the box first she saw some pens and stationery with some books then she saw a box and inside it was a jewellery set and then there was a nice silver strong axe .

One day Merry's father cutted down some big and strong woods . So he decided to sell them in the town again . So off he went , he first went to the house of the Smiths but nobody was inside so he went to the Barrys , Americks , Browns , Jonhsons , Joes , Millers and he went back to the Smiths but still nobody was there . Merry and her mother were waiting for Merry's father .

Before Merry's father came, the Smiths arrived at their house . Merry's mother didn't know who they were so she kept asking questions to them . Like " Who are you , what is your name , where do you come from " . The Smiths said " Well hello there , I am Mr. John Smith , this is my wife Lily Smith and this is my daughter Marina Smith . We are the ones that gave you the diary , the axe and the jewelry set . Remember . We are here to thank you for giving us the woods we asked for , because those woods that you gave us actually helped us with lots of things like profit , people coming to our store and it doesn't even break .

So we decided to give you some money from the profit we got ". Merry's father said " Mr Smith I was looking for you in the town to sell some more wood to you but you weren't there" "Sorry " said Mr Smith . I came here to give you some profit from the woods you sold us " . Merry's father was shocked and said ' Of course " . Then Mrs Smith said " Mrs Wilson there is a house on sale , right next to us , would you like to move in there ". Mrs Wilson said " We would like to move in but what about the money " " Don't worry Mrs Wilson , we pay for it . And now our daughters could also play together and your daughter could come to the same school as mine

and don't worry about any money for school and your house. We will pay for you".The Wilsons were so happy to hear this . So from now on Marina and Merry were best friends and went to the same school . Both their families used to meet a lot .Then one day when Merry got a pet hamster. Merry was so happy with it and showed it Marina loved it and they both named it " CAF" and CAf stood for C - cute A - adorable - fluffy . Merry and Marina played with Caf after school and fed him . They just loved him . Merry and Marina were more like sisters than friends . And thats how Merry's life began to get more nice .