The Swing with a Snapped Rope

By the little river stood a small wooden cottage.

On its door hung a sign—

"Ding-Ding's Toolbox."

Today the wind blew soft and gentle, and the little pinwheel by the door went whirr, whirr, whirr.

Pitter-patter, pitter-patter—

Zippy the little monkey came running, hugging a wooden board.

"Ding-Ding! Ding-Ding!"

"My swing had two ropes,"

"and one of them went SNAP, and broke right off."

Zippy held the board on his lap and hung his head.

"This morning, the very first thing I thought was,"

"Today I'm going to swing so high, so high."

"But now... I can't swing at all."

Zippy's tail drooped down, and his ears drooped down too.

Ding-Ding knelt down and patted him gently.

"You were so excited, so excited, weren't you?"

"Mm-hmm..." Zippy said in a tiny voice:

"I don't feel like running. I don't feel like jumping either."

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

When something you wanted so, so much can't happen,

your heart feels empty and your body feels floppy,

like when a cloud covers the sun, and the warm turns cool."

Ding-Ding took the board and turned it over, and over again.

Then she jumped up and shouted:

"A snapped rope? Awesome!"

"A-awesome?" Zippy'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 swing a change!"

Together, they walked to the big tree.

One good long rope still hung down from the branch.

The snapped rope had become two short pieces.

Ding-Ding picked up the two pieces,

looped them and pulled them—

and tied one great big knot.

"Let Ding-Ding try it first."

She grabbed it with both paws and gave it a good hard tug.

Huh—

The rope with the knot had gotten shorter.

She hung the board up,

one side high, one side low.

Crooked and tilted, tilted and crooked.

Ding-Ding reached out and pressed down gently—

Whoosh—the board slid right off.

"Oh dear, nobody can sit on that."

Zippy let out a big sigh.

"Ohh... my swing is never coming back."

Ding-Ding sat down too, and looked at the good long rope on the tree.

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

Zippy reached out and grabbed the good long rope.

Around and around he went, one turn, then another.

"Hee-hee! I'm spinning in circles!"

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

"Two ropes swing back and forth."

"One rope—spins around and around!"

"We kept trying to make the swing go back and forth."

"But a swing with just one rope

can become a spinning swing!"

Ding-Ding opened her toolbox.

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

A drill.

"Zippy, stand back and watch from over there."

"A drill is a fixer's tool.

It's not for little ones to hold."

Ding-Ding put on her safety goggles.

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

Right in the middle of the board,

round and round it went, and drilled a nice round hole.

Ding-Ding took the long, long rope

and threaded it through—the hole.

"Zippy, hold on tight!"

Pull and loop, loop and pull,

she tied a great big fat knot under the board.

Then she took the other end of the rope,

and tied it high up, nice and tight, to the big tree.

All done!

"Little swing, off you go!"

Ding-Ding reached out and gave it a gentle spin—

Around and around, around and around,

nice and steady—it didn't fall!

Then it was Zippy's turn.

He climbed onto the board and held the rope tight with both hands.

"Wow—"

Around and around, around and around,

the leaves went floating by,

and the sky spun in a circle too.

"My swing can spin now!"

Ding-Ding smiled and said:

"Spin it slowly, spin it gently—and hold that rope tight!"

Zippy spun around and around, happy as could be.

"Thank you, Ding-Ding!"

"This morning I was so disappointed,"

"and now my swing can do something brand-new!"

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

"See? A snapped rope? Awesome!"

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

Today, she fixed something again.

No, wait—now there's a brand-new spinning swing:

when the wind comes blowing by,

it turns all by itself, slowly, around and around.

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