The Little Umbrella with a Hole

By the little river stood a small wooden cottage.

On its door hung a sign—

"Ding-Ding's Toolbox."

Today, drip-drop, drip-drop—the rain was falling so, so hard.

Boing-boing-boing—!

Lily the little frog came hopping.

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

"My little umbrella has a great big hole in it!"

Lily hugged her umbrella tight, tight, tight.

"Grandma gave me this little umbrella."

"Now it has a hole, and the rain drips right in..."

"But I don't want a new one. I only want this one."

Ding-Ding knelt down and gently patted the little umbrella.

"You love it so, so much, don't you?"

"That feeling," said Ding-Ding, "is called cherish.

When you love something so, so much,

you never want to say goodbye—you just want to hold it forever and ever."

Ding-Ding took the little umbrella, opened it up, and turned it over, and over again.

Then she jumped up and shouted:

"Broken? Awesome!"

"A-awesome?" Lily's mouth fell wide open.

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

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

"Come on, let's give this little umbrella a change!"

Ding-Ding found a great big green leaf.

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

She stuck the leaf over the hole.

"Done!"

But—whoosh—!

One puff of wind, and the leaf flew away.

"That's okay, one more time!"

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

Ding-Ding sewed a little cloth over the hole.

She held the umbrella out in the rain to try it—

The cloth got soggy, soggy, soggy,

and the rain still went drip, drip, drip, right through.

Lily let out a big sigh.

"Ohh... the hole is too big. It can never be patched."

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

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

Drip-drop, drip-drop.

Lily leaned on the windowsill, watching the raindrops dance on the glass.

"Wow, so pretty."

"Lily, look!" Ding-Ding jumped up, her eyes shining.

"The rain can't come in—but you can still see it!"

"We kept trying to patch the hole—

but a hole can also become a little window!"

Ding-Ding opened her toolbox.

She dug and dug, looked and looked—found it!

A shiny clear little circle,

smooth and bright, just like the cottage's little window.

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

Sew and sew, stitch and stitch—

nice and tight. All done!

"Little umbrella, off you go!"

Ding-Ding opened the umbrella and stepped out into the rain.

Drip-drop, drip-drop, the raindrops landed on the little window,

hopping and sliding, hopping and sliding—

and not one single drop leaked through!

Then it was Lily's turn.

She tipped her head back and looked up through the little window—

"Wow!"

The raindrops danced on the little window,

one, two, three, all sparkly and bright.

"I can watch the rain from inside my umbrella!"

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

Ding-Ding tightened the little umbrella's screws,

so every rib was nice and strong, nice and steady.

"All done! Now even a big, big rain can't scare it!"

Lily hopped and hopped under her little umbrella.

"Thank you, Ding-Ding!"

"Grandma's umbrella is still here,

and now it has a little window too!"

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 made a tiny little window:

a little window where raindrops come to dance on rainy days.

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