In the old town library, where the shelves smelled of dust and adventure, miracles happened every night. As soon as the last lamp went out and the librarian locked the heavy oak doors, small, diligent sprites ran out from their hiding places behind thick books. They were called the Letter Folk, and their task was to guard the order in the realm of words.
Their leader was Dot, a thoughtful sprite with round glasses on his nose. He always knew where a period should be and when a sentence needed to end. His best friends were Comma, a quick and lively sprite girl who loved connecting thoughts, and Exclamation, an eternally enthusiastic boy who experienced everything with tremendous zeal.
"Everything in order?" asked Dot, adjusting his glasses. "Encyclopedias are in their place, poems are rhyming nicely."
"Yes, yes!" exclaimed Exclamation and jumped for joy. "And in the atlas I polished all the capital cities!"
"Wait," whispered Comma and pointed her finger at the most beloved shelf with children's books. "Something's not right here."
They ran to the most-read book titled "Adventures of Squirrel Rusty." It was a book loved not only by children, but by them as well. Dot carefully opened it to the most beautiful page. It read: "And so between them was born the most beautiful..." and after that was only an empty, gaping space. The most important word was missing!
"Oh, no!" squeaked Exclamation. "Without that word the story makes no sense!"
Dot scratched his chin. "This is serious. We must find that word or put it back together. Do you remember what it was?"
All three pondered. They felt it on their tongues, knew what warm feeling it evoked, but couldn't remember the exact letters.
"We know it started with the letter F," said Dot. "Let's go to the poetry section, where words are playful and maybe they'll give us some clues."
They climbed down the ladder and ran to the corner where books full of poems slept. Comma gently touched one and the book opened with a quiet rustle.
"The little sun rose in the morning, smiled upon the meadow..." read Comma and smiled.
"It's all rhymes here," noted Exclamation. Suddenly he stopped. "Look! In the word friend is the beginning we're looking for! It has the letters F-R-I-E."
"Excellent!" praised Dot. "We have the first part: frie. But what comes next?"
"We need something solid that explains things," suggested Comma. "Let's go to the encyclopedias!"
The huge, heavy encyclopedias stood in a row like soldiers. Together they opened the one labeled "People and Society."
"It says here that people should be kind and lend a hand," read Dot.
"Kind, and, lend, hand," repeated Comma. "They all have the same sound at the end! N-D! That must be it!"
"Yes! That sounds right!" exclaimed Exclamation. "Frie-nd! We're getting close!"
But it still wasn't right. Something was still missing from the end in the book. It was a longer word.
"Friend is one person. But Rusty and the hedgehog were two. It was about their relationship," mused Dot. "Like partner-ship, for example."
"I know!" burst out Exclamation. "Let's go to the books about crafts! They write about craftsmanship and partnership... All those words end the same way!"
They quickly found a book about working together. And indeed, right on the first page it was written: "Good craftsmanship requires partnership."
"We have it!" all three shouted at once. The last part was S-H-I-P!
They quickly returned to the book about squirrel Rusty. Together they began assembling the new word directly in the empty space on the page. They carefully placed each letter in its place.
"F-R-I-E..." began Dot. "...N-D..." continued Comma. "...S-H-I-P!" finished Exclamation with a triumphant shout.
As soon as the last letter fell into place, something wonderful happened. The word FRIENDSHIP glowed with warm, golden light that spread across the entire page and gently caressed the illustrations of the squirrel and hedgehog.
The whole sentence now read: "And so between them was born the most beautiful friendship."
The sprites looked at their work, tired but happy.
Dot took off his glasses and said thoughtfully: "You see? To put together such a wonderful and strong word as friendship, we needed everything."
"What do you mean?" asked Comma.
"From poetry we took tenderness and feeling," Dot pointed to the first part. "From encyclopedias we understood the importance of being kind and lending a hand. And from craft books we learned that friendship must be carefully built and created, just like a house."
From that day on, they knew that every book in the library was important and that the most beautiful words are created by combining feeling, knowledge, and working together. And the book about squirrel Rusty was complete again, ready to bring joy to the children who would open it in the morning.