Tusi, the little hedgehog, woke up cheerfully on the sunny meadow. He loved collecting things: snail shells, tiny feathers, shiny pebbles. Today he set off, shimmying and sniffing, humming as he went: "Squish-squash, slip-slop, I'm the hedgehog on top!"

At the edge of the meadow, he found a picnic basket. Someone had forgotten to pack away a jar of apricot jam. Tusi poked the jar, which then tipped over with a "splash!" The sweet scent of jam filled the air, and Tusi, oops, accidentally rolled right into it. "Oh my!" he shouted. "I'm sticky!"

As he stood up, a yellow leaf stuck to his back. Then a blade of grass. Then – cling! – a tiny spoon. The spoon went "Squish!" and wouldn't fall off. Tusi sidestepped, danced, spun around, but the more he moved, the more things stuck to him: a polka-dot sock, a paper airplane, and even a gummy bear! "Oh dear, I've become a sticky hedgehog!"

With a "Hoppity-hop!", a rabbit named Hoppity popped up. He had a carrot fan in his hand. "Don't fear, I'll fan it off you!" he said.

Hoppity fanned, the wind rustled, the leaf began to wobble. "Almost!" Tusi rejoiced. But the carrot also stuck to his spines. "I've become even more carroty!" he laughed, and Hoppity burst out laughing too: "Hehe, you look tasty, but I'd rather not taste you!"

From the direction of the lake, Duck Cheery arrived, quacking. "Quack! Water solves everything!" she declared wisely. "Come on, slide into the puddle!"

Tusi took a run-up, and with a "whoosh!", slid into the shallow water. The water squelched, the foam rippled, and Tusi splashed as much as he could. The leaf slid off, but the spoon clung on even more jinglingly. What's more, mud stuck to him too. "Now I'm a sticky-muddy hedgehog," he sighed, but smiled all the while as the duck drummed with her feet in the water: "Splash! Splash! Splash!"

Mole Bubu popped out of the ground just then. There was a tiny streak of mud on his nose, and he held a red balloon in his paw. "If I blow it up and blow on you, the stuff will fall off!" he promised. Bubu blew a big breath: "Whoosh!" With a "thump", the balloon stuck to Tusi's spines. The next moment, with a "POP!", it burst, and pieces of red rubber clung everywhere. Everyone fell silent for a second, then such laughter broke out that the leaves on the trees rustled in agreement: "He-he-he!"

"I think we need a new plan," hiccuped Hoppity from laughing.

"Let's sing the Falling-Off Song!" suggested Cheery. "Everything falls off that isn't Tusi!"

All three started up: "Sticky, sticky, oh-oh, puff! Jump off, spoon, slip and sluff!" Tusi carefully shook himself. The polka-dot sock went "plim" and plonked down. The paper airplane went "fitt" and whooshed away. The spoon jingled a bit more, then stubbornly stayed.

"I've got it!" cried Bubu. "Suds!" He quickly found a tub, and Cheery brought fragrant soap. Hoppity pumped the water with his foot, Bubu stirred: "Swish-swish-swish!" Soon the tub was full of lots and lots of white bubbles.

"Are you ready, Tusi?" asked Cheery.

"The hedgehog is ready!" replied Tusi, and with a "splash!", plonked into the tub. The bubbles immediately climbed onto his spines: foam mustache, foam hat, foam pie on his back. Tusi giggled: "Look! I'm Doctor Whisker!" Hoppity laughed: "And I'm Professor Foam!" Bubu coughed seriously, but smiled all the while: "Please, the patient is ticklish." Cheery just quacked with laughter: "Quack-quack-quack!"

The soapy water finally reached the stubborn spots too. "Shhh..." said the sticky stuff, and gave up. The spoon went "pling" and fell onto the grass. The gummy bear slid down, the balloon pieces escaped, even the mud slunk away. Some of the bubbles flew up into the air, and with a "pop-pop", burst one by one like tiny laughing dots.

Tusi climbed out of the tub. He was clean and smelled of lemons. His spines stood in neat rows like a proud comb. "Wow, I'm not sticky anymore... only to my friends!" he giggled, and hugged Hoppity, Cheery, and Bubu. Then he found a red polka-dot sticker in the grass. "I'll keep this as a souvenir!" he said. "This isn't sticky dirt, it's decoration!"

"What shall we play now?" asked Hoppity.

"Bubble championship!" shouted Cheery, and brought another batch of soap. A few minutes later, the whole meadow was full of bubbles. Big ones, small ones, rabbit-ear-shaped ones, hedgehog-spine-shaped ones. Everyone ran, blew, laughed, and sometimes, with a "pop!", popped one.

The sun warmly caressed the meadow. Tusi stamped happily: "Squish-squash, slip-slop, now everything is fun, non-stop!" And when a tiny bubble rested on his nose, he just winked and, "Pop!", the whole company laughed again.