Nature

She is a kindergarten teacher, always gentle and dedicated to her students. At school, the children love her; and at home, she devotes her love to potted plants, flowers, and her lovely little garden. She enjoys growing roses, succulents, tomatoes, and especially her lush green cucumber vines. For her, caring for plants is a joy, a way to relax after her work at school.

But then, one day she discovered that when her cucumber vines started to bloom and bear fruit, a squirrel frequently visited the nearby power lines. It nimbly jumped back and forth and shamelessly "stole" the flowers and young cucumbers she had planted. Seeing her carefully tended plants being destroyed, she was very upset. Her neighbors advised her to buy a trap to catch the mischievous squirrel.

A few days later, the trap finally caught a large squirrel. That morning, she quickly put it in a cage and hurried to school. During recess, she told the children about the little squirrel. She asked them, "What do you think I should do with the squirrel? Should I give it to the neighbor who likes to keep pet birds, or should I release it back into the forest?" Immediately, dozens of little hands went up, and they all said in unison, "Release the squirrel back into the forest, let it go back to its home!"

Hearing the children's words, I felt relieved and grew to love their innocence even more. However, when I got home and told them about my decision, my two children pleaded, "Mom, let's keep the squirrel! Let's take care of it so it doesn't have to fear hunger or the sun and rain anymore!" That whole night, I tossed and turned, thinking. In the end, I still decided to return the squirrel to nature, where it belonged.

On Sunday morning, her son drove her and the squirrel to the forest in Phuoc Dong commune. She gently opened the cage door for the squirrel to jump out. It hesitated for a moment, then darted quickly into the lush green foliage, gradually disappearing into the deep forest. Watching the squirrel go, she smiled happily, feeling she had just done the right thing.

NGUYEN THANH TAM

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/van-hoa/202411/thien-nhien-b970f70/