The Silent Microphone

By the little river stood a small wooden cottage.

On its door hung a sign—

"Ding-Ding's Toolbox."

Whoosh—!

Chirpy the little bird came flapping over.

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

"The Forest Concert is today, and my microphone won't make a sound!"

Chirpy set the microphone down.

She said "Hello? Hello?" into it,

but the microphone only went "Sshh—sshh—sshh." No matter how she sang, it wouldn't get loud.

"Everyone is waiting for me to sing..."

"Ding-Ding, my heart is going thump-thump-thump so fast, and I'm shaking all over."

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

When you feel scared inside, your heart goes boom-boom-boom really fast."

Ding-Ding crouched down and turned the microphone over, and over again.

Then she jumped up and shouted:

@Ding-Ding "Broken? Awesome!"

"A-awesome?" Chirpy was so surprised, her shaky wings went still.

"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 little screwdriver, a little wire.

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

"All tightened up! Try it!"

Chirpy sang into the microphone—

"La—"

Sshh, sshh, sshh.

"Ahh—still no sound!"

"That's okay, one more time!"

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

This time she put in a brand-new wire.

"Try it!"

Sshh, sshh, sshh... still no sound.

Chirpy let out a big sigh.

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

Ding-Ding sat down too, and looked at the microphone.

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

"Chirpy, look!"

Ding-Ding pointed at a great big trumpet flower lying on the grass.

"Its mouth is big and round—doesn't it look just like a big trumpet?"

"A microphone needs power to get loud—but a trumpet flower doesn't need any power at all. Sing into it, and your voice gets bigger all by itself!"

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

Ding-Ding picked up the big trumpet flower,

and tied its pointy end to a little bamboo stick, nice and steady.

"Chirpy, try singing into the big end!"

Chirpy took a deep breath, and sang into the trumpet flower—

"La—la—la—"

Wow! Her voice came out of the flower's mouth,

big and bright and beautiful!

All the animals in the audience could hear her!

Little Bunny clapped, Little Deer swayed, and Frog went ribbit-ribbit to the beat.

Chirpy stood in front of her flower trumpet,

singing so, so happily—and her heart wasn't going thump-thump-thump anymore.

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

"The flower trumpet sounds even better than a microphone!"

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?