by Lily Small
“Good idea,” cried Bella. “We can greet all of our loyal subjects!”
Penny scampered across the meadow, with Bella hopping along behind her. The two princesses waved to a pair of bright orange butterflies that were flitting from flower to flower.
“Good day, beautiful butterflies,” Princess Penny shouted in her grandest voice.
“Oh, you sound very royal,” Bella whispered, giggling.
They waved to a Dream Deer grazing on the meadow, and a snail inching up a blade of grass.
“Greetings, loyal subjects of Honeydew Kingdom,” Penny called, while Princess Bella nodded regally to everyone they passed.
They waved to the bees buzzing back to their hive, to the robins building a nest, and to a spider busy spinning a web.
After parading around the whole meadow, Penny and Bella were tired. “These can be our thrones!” Penny panted, flopping down onto a big rock. Bella sat on a rock next to Penny’s.
Perched on their rock thrones, the two pretend princesses looked out over the meadow.
“Honeydew Meadow is the most beautiful kingdom in the world,” Penny murmured, and Bella bobbed her head in agreement.
As they rested, they listened to the soothing sounds of the meadow. Hidden by the long grass, crickets chirped like an orchestra of tiny violins, and birds in the cloudless sky tweeted along. It made Penny want to dance.
“Let’s have a royal ball!” exclaimed Penny, leaping off her throne.
She and Bella joined paws and danced around and around to the sweet meadow music. When they were too dizzy to dance anymore, they collapsed, laughing, in a heap on the grass.
“It’s been really fun playing princesses with you, Penny,” Bella said when she’d caught her breath. “But now I have to get back to the rabbit warren. I promised my three little brothers that I would tell them a story.”
As soon as she heard the word three, Penny remembered that it was the last number she had counted.
Oh no! Once again, she’d gotten distracted before she could finish counting. How was she going to be a good Pollen Puppy if she never learned to count to five?
Nuzzling noses with her new friend, and promising to play princesses again soon, Penny hurried off. Playing with Bella had been really fun—but now it was time to get serious about counting!
CHAPTER FOUR
Smooth Sailing
Penny wandered out of Honeydew Meadow and scratched her ear thoughtfully. Where could she find something really, really boring to count? Acorns and daisies had been much too interesting.
Penny gazed around, looking for inspiration …
A short distance away, she spied a Bark Badger carving designs on a tree trunk with his sharp claws. Bark Badgers decorated the trunks of the Misty Wood trees with beautiful patterns. They were known to be kind, clever creatures. Penny hoped he might be able to give her some sound advice.
“Hello,” she called, fluttering over to the Bark Badger. “I’m Penny. I was wondering if you could help me—I’m trying to learn how to count.”
The badger peered down his long black-and-white snout at Penny. “Why, of course,” he said, nodding wisely. “I’m Bobby. And I’m happy to help you—counting is a very important skill for every young fairy animal to learn.”
Swiping his claws over the tree’s bark, Bobby drew a swirly shape. “One,” he said in his deep, rumbly voice. “Two.” As he counted, he drew more whirly shapes on the trunk.
But Penny was struggling to pay attention to the numbers the badger was saying. Instead, her eyes were drawn to the patterns Bobby was making. They reminded her of snail shells. And this made her think of how much fun it would be to be a snail.
Imagine carrying your house around on your back! she thought. Maybe I’ll play at being a snail. I could make my very own shell out of tree bark, and … Oops!
She’d done it again!
“It’s no use,” Penny said aloud, shaking her head. “Thank you for trying to help me, Bobby, but your lovely swirly carvings are far too interesting for me to count. I need to find something really boring to practice on.”
“Hmm,” said Bobby, and scratched his head. A leaf floated down from the branches above, onto the ground in front of them. Bobby picked it up and handed it to Penny. “How about leaves?” he suggested. “They aren’t nearly as interesting as bark.”
It was a wonderful idea. “Thank you, Bobby!” Penny exclaimed. Then she dashed off to find more leaves to count.
She collected an oval-shaped leaf from a tall beech tree, a glossy, heart-shaped leaf from a sweet-smelling lilac tree, and a great, big leaf with rough edges from a chestnut tree. Soon she had more leaves than she could carry, so she laid them all out on the bank of Moonshine Pond.
It’s amazing how many different shapes and colors and sizes of leaves there are, thought Penny. But she refused to get distracted by how the leaves looked.
Penny began to count. “One … two … three…”
But when she got to the fourth leaf, a gust of wind lifted it up into the air. The leaf spun for a moment, twirling on the breeze like a dancer. Then it landed lightly on the shimmering water of Moonshine Pond.
Penny watched as the leaf started to drift across the pond’s rippling surface. It was just like a little boat. She thought the leaf looked a bit sad, all alone on the water. It needed some company.
Penny waded into the cool, clear water and floated another leaf on the water’s surface. She gave the leaf a gentle push with her nose, and it sailed off on the breeze.
Suddenly, Penny had a brilliant idea. The leaf boats could have a race! She splashed out of the water and gathered up more of her leaves. She set them on the water and watched as they sailed away. At first, an elm leaf was in the lead—but then the big chestnut leaf quickly gained on it!
One of the leaf boats crashed into a lily pad and sank under the surface, and another leaf got nibbled by a fish, but the rest of Penny’s boats sailed proudly across the water.
Penny jumped up and down with excitement, wagging her tail wildly. “Faster! Faster!” she cried, cheering the leaf boats on.
“I’m going as fast as I can,” a little voice squeaked.
“Wow! Talking leaf boats!” Penny exclaimed. Even in her wildest daydreams she wouldn’t have imagined talking leaf boats.
“First you shout at me to go faster, then you call me a talking leaf boat!” the little voice said crossly.
Penny turned around to see a tiny brown Moss Mouse down by the water.
Moss Mice did a very important job. They shaped velvety moss into soft cushions so that the fairy animals of Misty Wood would have cozy beds to sleep on.
This Moss Mouse was busy gathering moss from the rocks along the water’s edge.
“Oh, dear,” Penny said with a laugh, “I wasn’t shouting at you—I was cheering my leaf boats on.”
“What leaf boats?” the mouse asked. Curious, she scurried over to where Penny stood.
“They’re having a race!” Penny explained, pointing at the boats. They were sailing swiftly toward the other side of the pond.
“I wonder which one will win?” murmured the mouse.
“There’s only one way to find out,” Penny said. “Want to come with me?”
The mouse nodded eagerly. “I’m Marnie,” she said.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Penny.” Crouching down, she added, “Hop on my back and I’ll give you a ride!”
Marnie squeaked excitedly and climbed onto Penny’s back. She clung to her fur with tiny paws.
As Penny scampered around the edge of the pond, Marnie told her everything that was happening.
“Ooh! The oak leaf is pulling ahead,” Marnie squeaked. “But the elm leaf’s close behind.”
Running as fast as she could, Penny let out little yips and yaps of encouragement to urge the leaf boats on.
A sudden gust of wind made all the leaves pick up speed as they skimmed across the pond.
“Now the lilac leaf is in the lead
,” announced Marnie. “But I wonder, who will make it across first?”
Penny finally got to the other side of the pond and skidded to a stop. Marnie hopped off her back and the two new friends watched the end of the race together.
“We have a winner!” panted Penny, splashing into the water to retrieve the lilac leaf.
Padding out of the water, she shook herself all over, spraying drops of water everywhere.
Marnie laughed. “Well, when I came out to do my job today, I certainly wasn’t counting on seeing a boat race—or getting soaking wet,” she said, brushing shiny drops of water off her fur.
“Oh no!” Penny groaned as soon as she heard the word counting. She’d done it again. She was meant to be counting the leaves, not racing them against one another.
Penny looked up in dismay. The afternoon sun was beginning to dip low in the sky, which glowed with pink and purple streaks. The trees around the pond were casting long shadows across the water’s surface.
Penny’s heart sank. She’d promised Miss Pammy that she’d learn how to count today—but there was hardly any time left to do it!
CHAPTER FIVE
Sweet Dreams
“What’s wrong?” Marnie asked Penny.
The puppy flopped down on the ground and covered her eyes with her paws. “I promised my teacher that I’d learn how to count to five today, but I keep getting distracted. I was supposed to be counting the leaves, but I turned them into boats and now they’re gone,” she whimpered. “And if I can’t count, I’ll never be a good Pollen Puppy.” Tears glistened in Penny’s dark eyes.
“Don’t get upset,” Marnie said, hopping onto Penny’s head and patting it comfortingly. “I know just the thing for you to count…”
Penny took her paws off her eyes and watched hopefully as Marnie scuttled to and fro, her pink tail dragging behind her.
First, the little mouse scurried over to a huge weeping willow tree by the banks of Moonshine Pond. She scooped up piles of moss from around its thick trunk with her nimble paws. Then she darted over to the damp rocks by the water’s edge and gathered up more dark green moss.
Returning to Penny, Marnie patted the moss she’d gathered into five little cushions.
“Ta-da!” she cried, sounding pleased with herself. “Now you can count these!”
Penny ran her paw over the soft, velvety moss cushions. “Thank you so much,” she said gratefully. “But I’m just not sure I have what it takes.”
“Don’t be silly,” Marnie told Penny firmly, dabbing the puppy’s tears with a bit of moss. “I know you can be a brilliant Pollen Puppy. Just think of how clever you were to come up with the idea for the leaf boat race. Now you just need to focus all of that cleverness on counting.”
Penny suddenly felt a lot more cheerful. Her new friend was so helpful. “Thanks, Marnie.”
The Moss Mouse looked up at the orange sky. The moon was just starting to peek out from behind a tree. “I’d better go. I promised my mom I’d be back home before dark. Good luck, Penny. You can do it!”
She kissed Penny on her glossy black nose, then fluttered her sparkly pink wings and rose into the air. As Marnie headed home, Penny thought she looked like a shooting star, twinkling in the twilight.
Penny glanced down at the moss cushions and remembered what Marnie had told her. She needed to use every bit of cleverness she had to count.
Penny stroked the first moss cushion. “One,” she said with determination.
“Two,” she said, moving the second cushion alongside the first.
The moss felt so soft and springy. Penny wondered what it would be like to bounce up and down on it … up and down and ’round and ’round … No! She wasn’t going to get distracted—she was going to focus.
“Three,” she counted, pushing the third cushion next to the others, and then … “Four.”
Penny yawned. Counting was so exhausting! Lined up next to one another, the moss cushions looked like one big, comfy pillow. The sort of pillow that was just the size for a tired Pollen Puppy …
It wouldn’t hurt to have a little rest, would it? After all, it was very hard to concentrate if you were feeling sleepy.
Penny climbed onto the moss cushion and curled up, tucking her tail beneath her. She let out a little growl of contentment. The moss was smooth and soft, and even more comfortable than she had imagined. It felt like the cushion was giving her a warm, cozy cuddle!
Penny nestled deeper into the moss. She’d had such a busy day. Maybe she’d just close her eyes for a moment …
Before she knew it, Penny was sound asleep!
*
As she slept, Penny had an amazing dream. She was having a royal tea party in the Heart of Misty Wood, and all her new friends were there.
“Hello, Princess Penny,” called Sammy the Stardust Squirrel, scattering sparkling stardust around the clearing as he scampered over to her. “I brought you some acorns.”
Bella the Bud Bunny hopped over to Penny and nuzzled her nose. “I made this for you, Princess Penny,” she said, placing a daisy crown on Penny’s head.
Bobby the Bark Badger was busy carving beautiful swirling patterns on the trunks of the oak trees surrounding the clearing. “It wouldn’t be a party without decorations,” he said, chuckling.
“We can all sit on these!” Marnie the Moss Mouse cried, shaping soft moss cushions for Penny’s guests to sit on.
In her dream, everyone sat down around a tree stump table and nibbled juicy berries, ripe plums, and sweet nuts drizzled with honey.
As Princess Penny and her friends sipped rosehip tea from acorn caps, a leaf floated down from one of the trees.
“Everyone find a leaf,” cried Princess Penny. “We’re going to have a boat race!”
In a flash, all the fairy animals were flying through the air to Moonshine Pond. When they landed by the pond, the leaves they were holding grew bigger and bigger and bigger—until they were just the right size for Penny and her friends to sail on!
“First one to the other side is the winner!” exclaimed Penny, hopping onto a glossy oak leaf.
Penny’s silky ears blew back in the breeze as her boat sailed smoothly across the pond. Fluttering her wings as fast as she could, Penny yipped in excitement as her boat took the lead!
But just before she reached the other side of the pond, Penny’s leaf boat suddenly started to shake. And as the boat started to shake, Penny started to wobble. And as she started to wobble, she could feel herself nearly slide off the leaf—and into the water! But just before Penny plunged into the water, she woke up with a start.
Something—or someone—was shaking her! But it was too dark to see who it was. The sun had set long ago and the sky was now an inky black.
Penny’s golden fur stood on end. She was afraid of the dark—especially when she was out in it all by herself! Her lovely dream had become a nightmare.
Then she noticed a pale, ghostly light hovering above her. Penny felt even more scared. “Wh-who are you?” she stammered.
CHAPTER SIX
Five New Friends
“Don’t be frightened,” said a kind voice. “It’s only me—Maisie.”
The light moved closer and Penny realized that it was a net filled with glowing moonbeams. As it came even nearer, she saw that it was held in the pink claws of a Moonbeam Mole. The mole squinted down her long snout at Penny.
“I was collecting moonbeams and heard you yelping in your sleep,” explained Maisie, sounding concerned. “I thought you were having a bad dream, so I woke you up.”
“It was actually a wonderful dream, in the beginning,” Penny said, her tail drooping. “But I shouldn’t have been dreaming at all!” She buried her face in her paws and moaned, “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!”
Marnie chuckled softly. “You just said oh dear five times! Can things really be that bad?”
“Yes! And that’s just it—everyone can count to five except for me,” Penny said, looking up. “I promise
d my teacher I would learn how today, but instead I had a tea party with my new friend Sammy, played princesses with my new friend Bella, watched my new friend Bobby draw bark patterns, and had a leaf race with my new friend Marnie. It made me so tired that I fell fast asleep.”
Then she wailed, “And I still don’t know how to count to five!”
“Hmm,” Maisie said, drumming her long claws on Penny’s moss cushion. “It sounds like you had a lot of fun today.”
Penny sniffed. “Yes,” she admitted, “I did have lots of fun.” Her tail gave a little twitch of happiness as she thought about her adventures.
“And it sounds like you made a lot of new friends today,” Maisie pointed out.
Penny nodded, and her tail started to wag more quickly. “Oh yes,” she said, “Sammy, Bella, Bobby, and Marnie were all so nice. I was really lucky to make four new friends in just one day.” Her ears perked up as she realized what she’d done.
“Oh! I just counted something!”
“Yes, you did,” Maisie said with a smile. “And would you like to be my friend, too?”
“Of course!” Penny said.
“Well then,” Maisie said, tilting her head, “how many friends do you have now?”
Penny’s furry brow furrowed as she concentrated hard. “If I have four friends, and I add one more, I have…” She looked up at Maisie and smiled more brightly than the mole’s net full of moonbeams. “I have five friends!”
“Very good,” Maisie exclaimed, clapping in delight. “So you did learn to count today!”
Penny couldn’t wait to show Perry and Miss Pammy and all her friends at school that she’d learned how to count. She would be a good Pollen Puppy after all! Looking up at the luminous moon, Penny let out a little yelp of happiness. But then her yelp turned into a howl.
“Oh no,” she groaned. “I may know how to count now, but I don’t know how to find my way home in the dark.”
“I’ll take you,” Maisie offered. “We can use my net of moonbeams to light the way.”
“Are you sure?” Penny said. The Moonbeam Moles worked at night, when the other fairy animals were fast asleep. It was their job to gather up moonbeams in their nets and drop them in Moonshine Pond so that the water sparkled and shimmered. Penny didn’t want to get Maisie into trouble.
