Reading time: 7 minAutumn was well on its way. Leaves rustled on the paths everywhere, and every time the wind swept through the garden, leaves in the most colorful hues swirled through the air.
Leo the cat lay comfortably on his warm windowsill and watched with amusement as a shriveled apple fell from the gnarled apple tree and landed on the old, weathered wooden bench. “Meow, it’s pretty windy out there,” he thought and curled up again. Secretly, he was glad he didn’t have to set foot outside.
But this weekend, the cat’s house was unusually lively. There were visitors. Leo’s family had invited relatives over, and the children had been romping through the rooms all day, laughing loudly.
The smell of apple pie and hot cocoa wafted from the kitchen. When the delicious smell reached Leo’s nose, the cat didn’t hesitate. He jumped down onto the creaky wooden floor, padded leisurely into the kitchen, and sat down exactly where he could see everything clearly.
His family had covered the large table with colorful paper, scissors, and glue. “Today we’re making lanterns!” Leo heard his father say.
The cat tilted his head. “Lanterns? Meow, what are those?” Curious, he raised his nose and sniffed a stack of colorful transparent paper.
The children were already busy at work. With concentrated faces, they cut out circles and stars, glued them together, and held their colorful works of art enthusiastically up to the light. Little by little, the most beautiful figures emerged: a fox, a star, and even a little hedgehog.
Leo watched every movement intently. His paw twitched every now and then, as if he were about to start crafting himself.
And sure enough, a small scrap of cardboard fluttered off the table. In an instant, Leo jumped after it, chased it across the kitchen, and landed in the middle of a puddle of spilled watercolor paint.
Leo shook himself indignantly while the children laughed. “Oh Leo, you want a lantern too!” cried his father, wiping the floor dry.
The cat was offended and withdrew for the time being. But Leo already had an idea. Shortly after it got dark, the family went out into the street.
Wrapped up warmly, the children proudly held their lanterns aloft. The children’s singing echoed through the night, and the many little lights danced in the wind.
Now Leo had free rein: he returned to the kitchen, curious and somewhat excited. “Hopefully everything is still on the table!” he thought. And indeed, he was in luck. In their hurry to start the lantern parade on time, his family had left all their craft supplies lying around.
Relieved, Leo glanced over the large table with all the craft materials. When he jumped onto the kitchen bench, he discovered a small box lying carelessly in the corner. “Meow, I’ll take that,” he decided.
He pressed pieces of paper onto it with his paws, pawed around in the glue, and scattered colorful scraps all over the room. Soon his whiskers were terribly sticky, and a red piece of paper simply refused to come off his thick fur.
But Leo didn’t give up, as usual. In the end, there was indeed a finished lantern—a little crooked, quite sticky, and full of cat hair. But it was his own work, and he could be proud of it.
“But wait!” thought the cat. “The most important thing is still missing: the light!” Leo sat down in front of his lantern and stared at it. He could push it, he could sniff it—but it remained dark.
“How did humans get the light in there?” Leo wondered intently. But then it occurred to him. He searched the trash can thoroughly once more. But there were no candles in it.
He jumped onto the table—but there were none to be found there either. So he had no choice but to rely on his keen sense of smell. Ambitiously, he sniffed his way through the entire room.
And sure enough, his nose led him to a small cardboard box on a shelf of the serving trolley. “Meow! It smells like candle wax!” Excitedly, the cat tore open the box with his claw. With some skill, he fished out a tea light and hurriedly stuck it to the bottom of his lantern.
By now, the kitchen looked pretty chaotic, but Leo didn’t care. He grabbed his lantern and ran into the garden. It had gotten really dark outside.
“Hmm, despite the candle, my lantern still isn’t lighting up,” Leo grumbled disappointedly. Then he remembered the front yard. His family had set up bales of straw there and placed a large pumpkin on top of them.
A grinning face was carved into the pumpkin, and a real candle flickered inside it. The cat had never understood what the pumpkin was for, but the candle inside it could now be useful to him.
He cautiously crept up to the eerily grinning pumpkin. “It looks a little scary!” thought Leo, hoping that he would get through the moment quickly.
He gathered all his courage, jumped nimbly onto the straw bale, held the tea light in the pumpkin, and was amazed when he suddenly saw a cozy glowing lantern in front of him.
“It works!” said the cat proudly and jumped into the cool grass. But suddenly – a flutter! A bat shot just above his head. Leo jumped back in fright, his fur standing on end like a brush.
For a moment, he thought the light from his lantern would go out. But the lantern continued to burn. And the bat was long gone. Leo shook himself, quickly cleaned his paws as if nothing had happened, and jumped back onto the tree stump. He remained sitting there, his little light shimmering in the darkness.
From a distance, he heard voices—a lantern song and then another. Leo listened excitedly, as if he were right there in the middle of it all. As the voices came closer and closer, he recognized his family.
He quickly blew out the light and sprinted through the patio door back into the warm living room. He had celebrated his own lantern festival, and that made him happy. In one leap, he jumped onto the windowsill, snuggled into his pillow, and purred contentedly.
As his family walked through the garden, they first saw the grinning pumpkin on the bale of straw and then a small, crooked lantern that seemed to sway cautiously back and forth in the wind.
