They filed through the forest bearing gifts. The fox brought a smooth stone to wish on, the gnomes cakes and bread. Rabbit brought the crispest apple he could find, and the hedgehog brought a poem to recite. It was the birthday of the Forest Queen. A birthday not marking another year of her life, for her years were as numerous as there are stars in the sky. No this moonlit night marked the eve of her new baby's birth. By dusk the next day, a new spirit would be born and lain in a nest of soft moss.
