In a grove, on a sun-drenched clearing, resin scented the air and birds were singing. In the crown of an old oak tree lived two little squirrels, Chip and Chap. They were brothers and best friends, but sometimes they would bicker like two mischievous beetles. Chip was quick and a bit impatient, while Chap was more thoughtful and liked to think things over.
One day, as they were chasing each other over the soft moss, Chip suddenly stopped. He lifted his little nose and took a deep breath. "Chap, do you smell that? It's the best smell in the world!"
Chap joined him, and together they followed the sweet trail in the air. It led them to a large tree stump in the middle of the clearing. And there, right on the stump, lay the most beautiful cake they had ever seen. It was round, with a shiny chocolate frosting and a pile of red strawberries on top. It seemed some hikers had forgotten it there.
"Wow! A cake!" Chip blurted out and was just about to dig in.
"Stop!" Chap stopped him. "We found it together. We have to divide it fairly."
Chip eyed the cake. "Alright. Then I'll take this bigger part with the strawberries, and you can have that smaller piece," he suggested, pointing with his paw to a truly tiny crumb.
"That's not fair!" Chap objected, frowning. "I want strawberries too! And why should your piece be bigger?"
"Because I spotted it first!" Chip retorted and grabbed the cake.
"But I smelled it!" Chap defended himself, pulling the cake toward him.
They began to tug at it. "Mine!" "No, mine!" The cake tilted dangerously, and tiny crumbs began to fall from the frosting. They argued so loudly that they woke up Heda the owl, who was dozing in the hollow of a nearby tree.
She hooted wisely and flew silently over to them. "Hoo-hoo, my boys, what is all this shouting about? Even the woodpecker has stopped his tapping, you're so loud."
The little squirrels fell silent and looked at the cake in shame. "Mrs. Heda, we found this cake," Chap began to explain. "But we don't know how to divide it fairly."
"I want the bigger piece!" Chip added.
Heda the owl looked them over with her big, wise eyes. "A fair division means that everyone gets an equally large share. You have one whole cake, and there are two of you. You need to divide it into two equal parts. Each such part is called a half."
"A half?" Chip repeated curiously. He had never heard that word before.
"Exactly," the owl nodded. "When you put two halves together, you have a whole again. I'll show you. Find a clean, straight twig."
Chap immediately ran to a birch tree and found a thin, straight twig. He cleaned the leaves off it and handed it to the owl.
"Excellent," Heda praised him. "Now, watch closely. To get two equal halves, you must cut the cake exactly through its middle." With the twig, she traced a line that ran from one edge of the cake to the other, right through its center. "There, Chip, now you try. Slowly and carefully."
Chip, who was usually impatient, now concentrated. He took the twig and slowly pushed it into the soft cake, exactly where the owl had shown him. Slice! The cake split into two perfectly equal pieces. Each had chocolate and the exact same number of strawberries.
"Look!" Chap exclaimed excitedly. "They're the same! We each have one half!"
"See? No more arguing," the owl smiled. "Now you can enjoy your treat."
Chip and Chap were just about to take their halves when their friend, Prickles the hedgehog, ran out from the bushes, followed by little Nibbles the mouse, who came scampering along.
"Hello!" called Prickles. "We smelled something wonderful! What have you got here?"
Chip and Chap looked at each other. They only had two halves, but now their friends were here. They would have felt bad eating such a delicious treat in front of them.
"We found a cake," said Chap, and looked at Heda the owl as if asking for advice.
Heda the owl nodded knowingly. "It seems we have a new problem. What do you think, little ones, how will they share the cake now?" she asked, as if to the wind. "You are no longer two, but four. How will you divide two pieces for four hungry mouths, so that it's fair again?"
Chip thought for a moment. "Maybe we could... divide each half in half again?" he suggested cautiously.
"An excellent idea, Chip!" Heda the owl praised him. "Exactly! When you divide each half into two equal parts again, you get four equal pieces. And one such piece is called a quarter."
"A quarter," whispered Nibbles the mouse, licking her whiskers. That sounded very tasty.
"Let's try it!" said Chap and took his twig. He carefully cut his half of the cake into two smaller, but still equal, triangles. Chip did the same with his half.
Suddenly, there were not two halves on the stump, but four smaller, perfectly identical pieces. Each had its own bit of chocolate and a piece of strawberry.
"One, two, three, four!" counted Prickles. "Four quarters! One for each of us!"
Chip handed one quarter to Prickles and another to Nibbles. He kept one for himself, and the last one was for Chap. They sat down around the stump and, laughing, began to eat.
"Yum, this little quarter is delicious!" praised Nibbles with her mouth full.
"And it tastes even better together," added Chip, looking at his friends. He wasn't arguing at all anymore. He had discovered that sharing a sweet treat with friends is much nicer than eating a big piece all by himself.
Heda the owl watched them with satisfaction. "So you see," she hooted in conclusion. "Today you have learned not only what a half and a quarter are, but also that the greatest joy is the one that is shared."
The little squirrels and their friends nodded in agreement with their little mouths full. And from that day on, whenever they found something, they knew how to divide it fairly. And what about you, children? Will you try to divide an apple or a pizza into halves or quarters with your parents' help next time? You'll see how much fun it is.