Hedgerow Village woke up to a fine sunny day. The birds were getting their nests ready, making sure they were nice and cosy for their babies, high up on the tree-tops.

Cyril the Squirrel and his friend, Reggie the Rat, were in the farm yard making a tunnel in the big haystack. They were so busy, they didn't hear Millie the Mole and Vicky the Vole coming over to see them.

"What are you doing?" Millie asked them, "Can we help?"

Reggie came out of the tunnel and stood up with a big, happy grin all over his face.

"We are making a den," he told them proudly. "We saw all the birds making their nests, so we decided to make something too."

"We always play on top of this haystack," Cyril added, "so we thought it would be fun to make our den inside it. What do you think?"

"I think it's a great idea!" Vicky replied.

"So do I, you are clever!" Millie bent down and peered through the tunnel. "Can I go in?" she asked.

"Yes, of course you can," Reggie said proudly, "but keep your head down, you'll have to crawl in."

Vicky was about to follow her when she saw Timmy and Tommy Mouse, coming over the field. She waved to them, and called out. "Come and see what Cyril and Reggie have done."

Timmy and Tommy ran the rest of the way. "What have you done?" Tommy panted, bending down to take a peek inside the tunnel.

Cyril the Squirrel explained again, and the brothers were very impressed.

"Gosh, I like that idea," Timmy said, wanting to go inside and have a look. "Stop blocking the entrance, Tommy. Get going so we can all take a look."

Tommy didn't need telling twice, and in he crawled. "Wow!" His face was a picture of delight. "This is going to be so good!" He stood up and moved out of the way as the others all followed him in.

Cyril and Reggie just stood there and beamed with pride. Their den would be the best one that any little creature had ever built in the whole wide world!
It didn't take much longer to finish the den; everyone did their share, then stood back and admired their work. It was perfect!

It had plenty of room now, enough even to make some comfy straw seats. Reggie stood up and looked at his friends.

"I would like to give it a name," he said, seriously. "And after a lots of thought, I think it should be called, 'Our Den' what do you think?"

Everyone laughed and clapped their hands. "Perfect!" they all said, and Cyril the Squirrel also agreed, adding, "I think that would be tickety boo!"

Vicky the Vole had been sitting quietly, twisting and braiding some of the straw into a bracelet for her arm, and then when it was long enough, she knotted the ends and slipped it over her wrist.

"Look what I've made," she said, holding her arm out to show her friends.

Millie thought it was lovely and tried to make one too, but the straw was sticking out all over the place, and after a few minutes it all fell to bits!

"Oh tickletums!" She jumped up and brushed the broken pieces of straw off her dress. "Would you help me, Vicky? It won't stay together."

Vicky didn't mind at all. She pulled out some more fresh straw and made another one, this time for her friend. When it was finished she slipped the bracelet onto Millie's wrist. "There you are!"

"You should paint them a bright colour," Tommy said. "We will have lots of paints tomorrow at the egg painting."

"Oh, yes! We can do that, I am sure Miss Freda the Frog will let us." Vicky smiled happily.

"I nearly forgot it was tomorrow," Tommy said. "Last year I painted mine black with yellow spots on it." He pulled a face. "It was yucky!"

Timmy grinned and said, "I remember that! You dropped it on the way home and it smashed to bits."

Tommy laughed, "Well you dropped yours too, I dropped mine on purpose, it was really, really yucky! I'm going to paint a monster's face on mine this time."

"You mustn't tell us!" scolded, Vicky. "We have got to surprise each other. You will never guess what I am going to paint." She smiled secretively.

"Or what I'm going to paint on mine." Millie laughed.

Tomorrow was the first day of spring, and everyone in the Village would be at the school for the egg painting. All the grown-ups were preparing lots of fun things to do, and lots of nice things to eat, but the children all thought the best part was painting all the eggs.

~*~*~*~*~

Miss Freda the Frog was outside Hedgerow Village School putting all the tables and chairs out, ready for the children's egg painting the next day. When she had finished, she went inside the school and counted out enough paper plates to put the little pots and paint brushes on. Tomorrow, she would fill them to the brim with lots of brightly-coloured paints.

While Miss Freda the Frog was doing that, Harriet the Hen had been busy getting all the hard boiled eggs ready for painting. She counted each one as she put them into the large bowl, even though she had already counted them ten times! At last she was satisfied, grinning and clucking proudly at her brown and white speckled eggs. She also had some special plain white eggs with no speckles on at all! They were her prize eggs.

Early next morning, just as the moon was going to bed and the sun was waking up, Harriet the Hen came out of her little house with her large basket of eggs. She knew she couldn't be late today, because Mummy Mouse would be waiting for her at the school gate. But when she arrived at the school, Harriet could see, Mummy Mouse was already helping Miss Freda the Frog put all the paper plates and paint pots out. Harriet went over to them and put her basket of eggs on the table.

"I see you have both been busy." Harriet clucked as she began to put an egg on each plate. "I have brought some extra eggs, just in case of any accidents."

"Oh, that was kind of you. I am sure there will be!" They all laughed happily.

"OK, watch out! Here they all come!" Mummy Mouse stood back as the youngsters came racing over to find their eggs and paint pots.

There was a scramble to get to their seats and start painting the eggs. Millie the Mole chose a brown speckled egg, because she wanted to paint her home in the earth, and brown was just the right colour. Her friend, Vicky the Vole, wanted the brown one too, but she wanted it to paint a flower coming out of the earth. She already knew what flower she wanted to paint, a nice, pretty white daisy.

Reggie the Rat chose a white egg, plain white with no speckles on it. He wanted to paint a ghost, so white was just the right colour for him. He would paint black dots for its eyes and a black mouth and a grey nose. It was going to be a really frightening ghost.

Cyril the Squirrel also chose a white egg, but his had speckles on it. He wanted to paint a picture on his egg of the penguins they met in the snow last year. He would make the speckles look like the penguins, so a white speckled egg was perfect!

Timmy and Tommy had decided they both wanted to paint a monster, but Timmy Mouse wanted to paint a white speckled egg, so the speckles would look like big scabs falling off his face. His was going to be the scariest monster anyone had ever seen! Tommy Mouse had a brown egg. His monster was going to come out of the ground, the speckles would be worms coming out of his face. His was going to be the scariest monster in the whole wide world!

By the time they had finished painting their eggs, their mums and dads didn't know what had the most paint on--the eggs or themselves! They all had paint on their faces, all over their paint aprons, and some even had paint in their hair! What a funny sight they all looked.

"Well done, everyone," said, Miss Freda the Frog, "The eggs all look lovely! Perhaps not Timmy and Tommy Mouse's eggs, or Reggie the Rats. They are all the scariest eggs I have ever seen!"

The boys laughed out loudly, so pleased that Miss Freda had said that.

"But Millie and Vicky's eggs are beautiful, and Cyril's egg is lovely too." Miss Freda added. "Such a lovely flower, Vicky, and your home looks so nice, Millie, I would love to come and see it. And Cyril, you have painted our friends, the penguins, really well."

Millie and Vicky blushed a pretty pink; they were so proud of their eggs, and Cyril the Squirrel was really pleased that they could see his pictures were the penguins.

Then Mummy Mouse came over and said, "I expect everyone is a little hungry now. If you go over to Miss Harriet the Hen's table, she has some nice chocolate treats for you all."

No sooner said than done! The all left their eggs to dry on the table and rushed over to pick a nice treat. They had all had such a lovely time, and now that it was over, they took their eggs back to their new den in the haystack.