Pippa’s Hay-Bale Whisper — Under a woolly gray cloud, Pippa patted the empty spot beside her on the hay wagon. She wanted one small pumpkin to thump like a drum for the harvest song. Read the full story →
Under a woolly gray cloud, Pippa patted the empty spot beside her on the hay wagon. She wanted one small pumpkin to thump like a drum for the harvest song. The wagon smelled like dry grass and apples, and the horses’ hooves went clop-clop down the lane. When a hollow tap came from the back bale, Pippa climbed over scratchy hay, past Luma the lamb and Hodge the cow. Prickles poked her knees, but she waited and listened. Tap… tap… hush.
“Something’s in there,” Pippa whispered. She pulled one straw, then another, very slowly. Out rolled a tiny pumpkin no bigger than her snout, with a folded note tied to its stem: FOR THE PATIENT DRUMMER. Pippa hugged it close and tapped boom-boom, soft as a secret. The whole wagon sang home through the leaves, and if you peek at the pumpkin in Pippa’s arms, can you hear that woolly gray cloud answer clop-clop?
