The girl crouched down and began to stroke its wet fur. The otter didn’t run away — on the contrary, it pressed against her knee, touched her hands, and twitched its whiskers as if sniffing her.

Everyone around smiled; the scene was so touching that many stopped to watch.

But suddenly, the otter stopped playing. It began circling nervously, swam back to the girl, touched her belly, then dove into the water again, swam along the edge, and resurfaced beside her. Its movements grew restless — it whimpered softly and tapped its paws on the rock.