🍂 Maple and the Dancing Leaves

Maple was born in the spring, so she had never seen autumn before. One morning, she stepped outside and stopped. "The trees have changed their clothes!" she cried.

"It's autumn," laughed the old cat next door. "The leaves change color before they fall. Red, orange, gold and brown."

Just then the wind blew, and the leaves began to fall. They twirled and spun and floated down like colorful butterflies.

Maple leaped at one. Missed. She pounced on another. Missed again. A leaf landed right on her head, and she wore it like a little hat.

Soon there was a big pile of leaves under the tree. Maple looked at it. Her tail twitched. Her bottom wiggled. Then she jumped right into the middle. Crunch, crunch, crunch!

Leaves flew everywhere. Some stuck to her fur. One tickled her nose and she sneezed. "Achoo!" Even the old cat laughed and joined in, jumping into the pile with a happy meow.

When they were tired, they lay in the leaves and watched the sky. "Where do the leaves go?" asked Maple. "Back into the earth," said the old cat. "They help new leaves grow in spring."

Maple thought that was wonderful. Everything had its season, and every season had its own kind of fun.