Micia’s adventures in the vegetable garden, the hayloft and the farmhouse attic.

• 18 October 2026 #3 The Leaf Beneath the Paper The next morning, Micia found the pencil in the blue-and-white cup, exactly where she had left it. She took it with two sheets of paper: she wanted to draw outside. Lillo and Pucci walked with her to the old oak beside the covered well. Beyond the low wall, they could see rows of vines and the silvery crowns of olive trees. Betta, the sheep with the little lilac bow, was waiting beside a broad, flat rock. “The leaves here look like little hands,” she said, showing them one that had fallen onto the grass. Micia spread her paper on the rock, placed the leaf on top and began tracing its outline. A gust moved it. She started again, but the leaf turned once more. Pucci held a corner of the paper steady with a paw. “The paper’s staying now. It’s the leaf that wants a walk.” Lillo suggested a little stone, but it covered the very part Micia wanted to draw. Betta studied the two sheets. “What if we put the leaf underneath, as though it were under a blanket?” Micia tried. She placed the leaf beneath the paper and gently rubbed with the pencil held almost sideways, without pressing too hard. One line appeared. Then another. The veins made a tiny tree inside the shape of the leaf. “Now I can even see the bits I couldn’t copy before!” Lillo picked up another fallen leaf for his turn. Pucci kept holding the paper, and Betta checked that there were no creases underneath. When they finished, they headed home without picking anything from the branches. The well stayed behind them, peaceful beneath the oak. At the farmhouse, Micia put the pencil straight back into its cup and showed Grandma their drawings. “Tomorrow we could try an olive leaf.” Pucci looked at the paper. “That one will need a much narrower blanket.” Read the tale →

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