Lotte loved Spring. After a bitter winter, the sweet honeysuckle breeze was warm and inviting. The previous Summer was dry and harsh as it dried up the lake where Lotte and her family gathered water. the melting snow had revived the body of water, and with a hop in her step Lotte delightfully offered to fetch the pail of water one day. Lotte skipped through the majestic forest on her way, the tin pail she held glinting in the sun. The birds were singing songs of joy, the trees and plants were budding, life was blossoming all around. Lotte closed her eyes to revel in that peaceful moment, amidst the calm of nature, when suddenly she lost her footing and began to tumble.
It felt as if the ground beneath her shifted, or disappeared altogether. As Lotte fell she began to slide down, like someone gliding down a mountain side to the valley below. When she reached the bottom the tin pail clanked against the edge of a well. Now, Lotte had grown up in the majestic forest. She knew every route, especially the one to the lake, and yet somehow she had stumbled into new territory. The trees looked no different than the rest, though they towered above as if they had been reaching toward the sky for hundreds of years. The birds were quiet here. The breeze seemed to have ceased. The only thing that seemed odd was the stone well in the middle of the great clearing Lotte had found herself in.
Lotte rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Had her and her family known of this well no one would have been traveling to the lake which rested at the forest's edge. Lotte picked up her pail and cautiously approached the mysterious well. Peering inside Lotte gasped so loud, a flock of birds on the outside of the clearing noisily flew away, startled by the sound. She regained her composure and took a closer look inside. There was water, indeed, but it was a brook surrounded by lush grass and flowers of all colors and varieties. She could see the tops of trees and brightly colored plumage of the birds resting in their nests atop them.
Lotte being very intrigued by the sight, found it to be even more beautiful than her beloved majestic forest. She had never imagined such a place existed. She enjoyed tales of far away lands, of fairies and magic, but never fathomed to find herself amongst such wonders. "How do you get down to such a place?" she pondered. Looking around she almost expected a magical latter to appear, or a rope to help her at her task. Instead, she turned back to the well to see a flight of stone steps had appeared. The stone creating the well began to stick out in an alternating pattern that would allow for someone as small and Lotte to place her feet on them and travel down to the mystical land.
Grabbing her pail, she climbed over the well's edge and stepped on the first stone, then the next, and the next, until at last she had reached the last step. The steps did not reach the bottom, so she reached an nearby tree branch and climbed down until her feet landed softly on the grass. The beauty surrounding her was even greater now that she was immersed in it. The brook flowed peacefully over the rocks, and reflected brilliant light. The flowers grew wildly here and there, and filled the air with their sweet fragrance. Lotte thought for a moment of picking a handful for her mother.
Looking up she was surprised to see that there was no sky (she was underground, of course), but glistening diamonds glowing brightly and reflecting their light off on another, shining over the new world. Lotte let out a laugh of amusement as she took in the sights around her. With so much to explore, Lotte decided to take a sip of cool water from the brook and follow alongside it as it twisted and turned throughout the trees and flowers.
The breeze made a lovely whistling sound through the branches of the trees, which Lotte noticed grew rather unusual fruits. She reached up to grab a pale yellow fruit that grew in the shape of a star. It smelled sweet, but tasted sweeter as she bit into it. The taste similar to her mother's creamy banana pudding overwhelmed her. For a moment she began to miss home, but turned her attention to a bush that looked like it was growing buttons. They were a deep red color and tasted like watermelon on a warm Summer's eve. She took another sip from the brook and continued her walk, tasting the fruit while the diamonds glistened overhead.
She was so content with her surroundings that she almost didn't notice the opening of the well as she passed beneath it. "I must have gone in a circle," she muttered to herself. So she set off in a direction opposite the brook, only to come full-circle back to the opening of the well. "Oh, dear," she exclaimed, "this must just be an underground oasis, not a new land." She felt a tinge of disappointment and decided it was time to resume her journey to the lake. As she peered up at the opening she realized the stones had disappeared. The trees surrounding it were now further away. There was no way to reach it, let alone climb out. She was alone in this place with no route to escape.
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