The Leaky Little Boat

By the little river stood a small wooden cottage.

On its door hung a sign—

"Ding-Ding's Toolbox."

Thump, thump, thump!

Bobo the bear cub came running, hugging a little wooden boat.

"Ding-Ding! Ding-Ding! Oh no!"

"My little boat is leaking!"

Bobo set the boat down.

At the bottom of the boat, there was a great big hole.

"Grandpa made this boat for me..."

"Today I sailed out to the middle of the river, and the water came glug-glug-glugging in."

Bobo's eyes were red. "My heart feels all heavy. I'm so sad..."

"Ah," said Ding-Ding. "That feeling is called disappointed.

When you were so, so excited about something, and then it doesn't work out, your heart feels heavy inside."

Ding-Ding crouched down and looked at the big hole.

Then she jumped up and shouted:

@Ding-Ding "Broken? Awesome!"

"A-awesome?" Bobo was so surprised, his tears stopped.

"That's right!" said Ding-Ding.

"Broken things are just waiting for a brand-new start."

"Come on, let's try fixing it!"

Ding-Ding opened her toolbox.

A hammer, a wooden board, little nails.

Tink-tink-tonk, tink-tink-tonk.

"Patched! Let's put it in the water!"

The little boat went into the river.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

Glug, glug, glug.

The boat tipped over again.

"Ahh—it's still leaking!"

"That's okay, one more time!"

Tink-tink-tonk, tink-tink-tonk.

This time she patched it with two boards.

"Let's put it in the water!"

Glug, glug, glug... the water came in again.

Bobo let out a big sigh.

"Ohh... it can't be fixed."

Ding-Ding sat down too, and looked at the little boat.

She looked, and looked—and suddenly, she tilted her head—

"Bobo, look!"

"The boat has a hole in the bottom, so the water comes in..."

"But what if we turn the boat upside down?"

"Upside down, it's not a leaky boat anymore—"

Tink-tink-tonk, tink-tink-tonk.

Ding-Ding flipped the boat over,

set it gently on the shallow water by the bank,

and tied it to a big rock with a rope, nice and steady.

Then she sanded the hole all smooth, until it became a little round window.

"Done! This is not a boat—"

"It's a fish-watching boat!"

Bobo lay on top and pressed his eye to the little round window.

Wow! Down in the water there were little fish, little shrimp, and shiny sparkly stones!

"I see a fish! It's saying hello to me!"

Little Bunny came, and Little Duck came too.

"I want to look! I want to look!"

Everyone lined up and took turns lying on the little round window to watch the fish.

Bobo puffed out his chest: "Welcome aboard the S.S. Bobo!"

"Thank you, Ding-Ding!" said Bobo.

"The new boat is even more fun than before!"

Ding-Ding twirled the wrench in her paw and said with a great big smile:

"See? Broken? Awesome!"

Ding-Ding picked up her toolbox and walked back to her little cottage.

Today, she fixed something again.

No, wait—she turned something into something even better.

Tomorrow, what broken treasure will come knocking on her door?