One morning, as Ksusha was getting ready for school, she noticed something unusual by the door. Right under the door was a small note, carefully rolled up and tied with a ribbon. Ksusha was surprised, as no one had told her that they’d left a note, and of course, she immediately wanted to know what was inside.

Gently untying the ribbon, she unrolled the note and began to read. On the small piece of paper, written in neat handwriting, was a riddle: “Where the trees embrace the sky, and the sun hides behind the leaves, you’ll find what was once lost.” Ksusha was thrilled—it sounded like a real adventure!

Without wasting a moment, Ksusha ran to her friends and told them about the note. Her friends were immediately intrigued and agreed to help Ksusha solve the riddle. They started thinking about what “trees embrace the sky” might mean. Soon, they guessed that it referred to the large oak tree in Ksusha’s garden, the tallest tree on the street.

Ksusha and her friends gathered around the big oak tree and began searching the ground around it. But apart from leaves and branches, they found nothing. “Maybe we didn’t understand the riddle correctly?” one of the friends suggested. But Ksusha didn’t give up. She crouched by the roots of the oak and noticed that the soil was slightly loose in one spot, as if someone had recently disturbed it.

She called her friends over and suggested they dig there. They brought small shovels and began carefully clearing away the soil. Soon, their efforts paid off: just a few centimeters down, they hit something hard.

Gently removing the soil, they uncovered a small box with an old lid. Ksusha held her breath; this was her first discovery. “Could this be the treasure?” she whispered. Carefully lifting the lid, they found old toys inside: little soldiers, toy cars, and even a tiny ship.

— It’s a treasure! — Ksusha exclaimed with a big smile. Her friends cheered, too, and began examining the toys. Each item seemed special and mysterious, as if it belonged to someone from the past.

They decided to take the box home and ask their parents who might have left such toys in the garden. When Ksusha showed her find to her grandfather, he laughed and told her that he had hidden these toys for Ksusha’s mom many years ago. He and her mom used to play treasure hunts often, and he had buried this “treasure” for his sister. But Ksusha’s mom never found it, and the box had remained hidden under the oak tree.

The friends listened to her grandfather’s story with fascination and could hardly believe that their discovery had such a long history. Ksusha felt like a real treasure hunter and was happy that she and her friends were able to solve the riddle. Her grandfather suggested she keep the toys as a reminder of childhood games, and Ksusha gladly agreed.

Now, Ksusha and her friends had their own treasure story, and they often remembered the day they found a treasure under the big oak. Every time they passed by the oak, they smiled, knowing that they had once discovered their own little treasure there.