The Letters That Wouldn't Fit

Night fell, and snow began to fall in the forest.

It was the very first snow of the year.

Soft white snowflakes drifted gently down.

Dudu the owl put on his little cap—

Nighttime was when Dudu went to work.

Dudu opened the mailbox and looked—

Wow!

So many, many letters!

The mailbox was stuffed full,

and letters kept squeezing out through the cracks.

"Why are there so many letters today?"

Dudu tucked the letters into his bag, one by one.

Squeeze and squish, squeeze and squish—

The bag puffed up so round, the zipper wouldn't close.

The letters still wouldn't fit, and they tumbled all over the ground.

"So many letters... can I deliver them all before morning?"

Dudu's heart went thump, thump, thump.

It was beating so fast, so fast.

"Faster, faster — there's no time!"

"Goodnight letters, away we go!"

Dudu hurried up into the sky.

He flew too fast, wibbly and wobbly.

Whoosh—whoosh—

One by one, letters slipped quietly into the snow below,

and Dudu didn't even notice.

Halfway there, Dudu looked back.

"Huh? My letters... where did they go?"

Scattered across the snow lay letter after letter.

The more Dudu hurried, the more he dropped.

And his wings were too tired to fly.

Dudu stopped and stood in the snow.

He closed his eyes and took a deep, deep breath.

"Whooo—"

"My heart is going thump, thump, thump."

"I want to deliver all the letters, all at once."

"Oh... so that's it. I've been in such a hurry."

"The more I hurry, the more letters I drop."

Dudu picked up the letters, one by one,

and gently brushed off the snow.

Slowly. Steadily.

"I don't have to deliver them all at once."

"One letter at a time. That's just fine."

Just then, a big soft cloud came floating by.

It was Mr. Cloud!

@Mr. Cloud "Dudu, that's a whole lot of letters."

@Mr. Cloud "Here — put half of them on me, and I'll deliver them with you."

Dudu laid half of the letters

gently on Mr. Cloud's soft, soft back.

"Thank you, Mr. Cloud!"

One flying, one floating,

slowly, slowly, they went to deliver the letters together.

First stop, Little Bunny's house.

"Ding-dong! Your snowy-day letter is here."

Little Bunny opened the letter—

it was a snowman, drawn by a good friend!

Little Bunny smiled a great big smile.

One letter for Little Squirrel.

One letter for Little Hedgehog.

One letter for a little bear who couldn't sleep.

Tree hole after tree hole,

each one got a letter on this snowy night.

They delivered, and delivered—

until the mail bag was empty.

Mr. Cloud was empty too.

Far away, the sky grew just a little bit light.

"Phew. Just in time. All delivered."

Dudu sat down and looked out at the white, white forest.

"I'm so glad I didn't stay in a hurry."

"A deep, deep breath, one letter at a time,"

"and even this many letters — all delivered."

Softly, softly, the snow stopped falling.

Dudu flew back to the post office and took off his little cap.

The forest lay under a blanket of soft white snow,

quiet and still.

Goodnight, Little Bunny.

Goodnight, Mr. Cloud.

Goodnight to you, listening to this story.