Purple Hills & Animal Friends: A Netherlands Postcard & Nature Lessons for Malaysia
Hello my lovely friends! Sometimes, after a busy day, my mind feels like a bouncy ball...boing, boing, boing! So many thoughts bouncing around! At times like that, you know what I love to do? Yes! My secret magic trick! I open my treasure box of paper holidays! My happy postcards!
Today, my fingers found a picture that feels like a calm, quiet whisper. Shhh... listen to the peace! It is a postcard with greetings "Groeten!" from a faraway land called The Netherlands! That's Holland!
What is in the Picture? A Purple Dream!
Wow! Look! The main picture shows beautiful, rolling hills covered in... purple flowers! So much purple! Like a soft, fuzzy purple blanket spread over the land.
There are sandy paths winding through the hills, saying "Come, walk with me!" Green trees stand here and there, like friendly giants watching over the flowers. And the sky above is blue with fluffy white clouds floating by. It looks like a place from a happy dream! So peaceful!
And look closer! There are three little extra pictures tucked on the side! Like secret little windows!
In one window, there is a pretty butterfly! It has orange and brown wings and it is sitting on tiny purple flowers, maybe having a yummy snack! Flutter flutter!
In another window, there is a big, strong deer! A boy deer, a stag, with big antlers like tree branches on his head! He looks very grand, standing quietly in a green forest.
And in the last window, there is a fluffy white sheep! Baa! It is looking right at me with its kind, gentle eyes. So cute!
This whole postcard feels so calm and gentle. It makes my busy mind slow down. Ahhh... thank you, postcard friend!
But... where is this purple place? Is all of the Netherlands hilly like this? And what can these animal friends teach us? You know me! My curious brain wants to know more! So, I ask my wise friend, my storyteller, Cik Gem. "Cik Gem, please tell me the story of this purple postcard from the Netherlands! And tell me about the animals too!"
And Cik Gem tells me a super interesting story! A story about a special country, a special park, and special lessons for us too!
Learning About The Netherlands | A Flat Land with Water!
Did you know? The Netherlands is a very special country! Its name means "Low Lands"! Why? Because a lot of the country is super flat! Flatter than a pancake! And guess what? A big part of it is actually lower than the sea level! Whoa! Like living in a shallow swimming pool!
So, for a long, long, LONG time. History! The Dutch people, that's what people from the Netherlands are called! Have been very clever and very brave fighting against... water! The big, wide sea was always trying to sneak in and flood their flat land. Splash! Oh no!
But the Dutch people said, "No way, Mr. Sea! This is our home!" So they built amazing things!
They built strong walls called dikes all along the coast to keep the seawater out. Like building a giant sandcastle wall, but super strong!
They built spinning windmills! Not just pretty, these windmills worked like water pumps, sucking the extra water off the land and pushing it back to the sea or into canals! Whoosh whoosh went the windmill arms!
They even made new land! They pushed the water away from shallow lakes and sea areas, making dry land called 'polders' where they could build farms and houses! Like magic!
So, most of the Netherlands is flat, green land with pretty canals like little water roads! And maybe fields of colourful tulips! Yes, they love tulips!
But Wait... My Postcard Has Hills!
So, Cik Gem, if the Netherlands is flat, why does my postcard show purple hills? Good question! Cik Gem explains: The picture is from a very special place called De Hoge Veluwe National Park, or maybe Veluwezoom National Park.
These parks are in a part of the Netherlands that is a little bit hilly! It is not mountains like in Switzerland, but gentle, rolling hills covered in sandy soil and special purple plants called heather. When the heather blooms, usually in late summer, the whole place turns into a beautiful purple carpet!
Just like my postcard! Wow! It is a place kept safe for nature, for trees, and for animals to live happily.
Meeting the Animal Friends!
And the animals in the little windows?
The pretty butterfly is probably a species that loves heather flowers! Butterflies are like flying jewels, aren't they? They need flowers for yummy nectar juice! Flutter flutter!
The grand deer is a Red Deer stag. They are the kings of the forest in many parts of Europe! They need forests and open spaces to roam and find food.
The cute sheep might be a special breed like the 'Heidschnucke' that actually helps take care of the heather hills! They nibble away the grass and little trees, which helps the purple heather grow strong! Baa! Good job, sheep!
What Can We Learn?
This postcard from a faraway land has secret messages for us here in Malaysia too!
Lesson from the Flat Land & Dikes | Protect Our Treasures!:
The Dutch people worked super hard for hundreds of years to protect their flat land from the sea. They built dikes, pumped water... they became masters of protecting their home!
What about us in Malaysia? We don't have to fight the sea like that (Alhamdulillah!). But we have our own amazing natural treasures! Beautiful green rainforests, sunny beaches with turtles, tall cool mountains! These are our special gifts from Allah.
The Lesson: Just like the Dutch protect their land, we MUST protect our natural treasures too! We need to be like brave guardians for our forests, rivers, and seas. We cannot let rubbish or pollution spoil them. We need to keep Malaysia beautiful and safe for everyone... people, plants, and animals! Let's do gotong-royong for Mother Nature!
Lesson from the Deer | Animals Need Safe Homes!:
The big deer in the picture looks happy and strong in its forest home in the Netherlands park.
Malaysia has beautiful deer too! We have rusa (Sambar deer), kijang (Muntjac), and the tiny, adorable pelanduk (Mouse deer)! They are like gentle jewels of our forests.
The Lesson: All animals need a safe place to live where they can find food, water, and raise their babies without being scared. For our deer, the forest is their home. If we cut down too many trees, their homes disappear! Poof! Where will they live? We must protect our forests so our beautiful Malaysian deer can live safely and happily too. Let them be free and wild in their own homes.
Lesson from the Sheep | Be Kind to Helping Animals!:
The sheep in the picture helps keep the heather hills healthy! Some farm animals help us in many ways. They give us milk, wool, eggs, or help us work.
In Malaysia, we have helpful farm animals too! Goats (kambing!), cows (lembu!), chickens (ayam!). They help feed our families.
The Lesson: We must always be kind to animals that help us. Give them clean water, good food, and a safe, comfortable place to rest. Even animals that give us food deserve kindness and respect. Treat all animals gently!
Lesson from the Butterfly | Little Things Need Help Too!:
The pretty butterfly needs flowers to live. Simple!
Malaysia is like a butterfly paradise! We have SO MANY colourful, amazing butterflies! Big ones, small ones, all fluttering around!
The Lesson: To keep our butterflies happy, we need to make sure there are lots of flowers for them! In our gardens, in parks, even leaving some wildflowers to grow. Protecting the big forests helps too! Even planting one little flowering plant in your balcony can be a yummy snack bar for a visiting butterfly! Every little bit helps keep these flying jewels happy!
A Promise for Our Home
This postcard from the Netherlands started as just a pretty picture of purple hills. But it ended up teaching me so much!
It taught me about a country that fought water, about a special park, about deer needing forests, about being kind to farm animals, and about butterflies needing flowers. Most importantly, it reminded me that we all share this beautiful planet. And we all have a job to do, to take care of it!
Let's promise to be good guardians for Malaysia's beautiful nature and wonderful animals. Let's keep our forests green, our rivers clean, and our gardens full of flowers. Let's practice gotong-royong for the Earth! Our animal friends will say "Thank you!" in their own special way.
Thank you, my Postcrossing friend from the Netherlands, for sending this thoughtful postcard! It was a lovely paper holiday with big lessons inside!
This postcard shows a different kind of city life! It makes me think back to another paper friend I received, which was like a little hand-drawn story from Delhi's busy heart.
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