Tully and the Stone That Goes All the Way Round

The spring rain fell for three days and three nights, It drummed on the burrow and danced in the lights. Then morning came shining, all silver and clean, And Tully stepped out on the bank, bright and keen.

But oh, how the river had changed in the night! The stones had all tumbled and shifted from sight. 'My stones!' cried the otter. 'The washed-clean, wet ground! The stripy ones all moved, and where can they be found?'

He hunted the shallows with paws in the stream, And found a smooth pebble with a creamy-white gleam. 'This one is Pebbly Pip, from the day of the thaw! Oh, but no, there's no stripe. Not one that I saw.'

He let it slip back with a soft little plop, And carried on searching, not ready to stop. 'I'm looking,' said Tully, 'for one special stone, With a stripe running round it. I'll find it. I own

The very best eyes for a stripe, you will see!' But the river just giggled and tumbled along, wild and free.

A tall heron was standing, still as a post, With feathers of blue-grey, as soft as morning's ghost. 'Good morning,' said Dorothea, bending her neck low. 'You seem to be searching. May I help you go slow?'

'I'm after a stone,' Tully said, 'with a stripe That goes all the way round. It's the very best type!' Dorothea smiled. 'I have eyes sharp and keen. From up here I can see the whole river scene.'

She lifted one leg and she peered down the stream. 'There's a glint by the willow,' she said, 'like a dream!'

They hurried along to the willow so green, Where ripples were silver and sparkly and clean. But the glint was a shell, thin and pink as a rose, With no stripe at all, from its tip to its toes.

'Oh well,' laughed the otter, 'it's lovely, that's true! But it isn't a stone, so it won't do.' The heron said kindly, 'We'll look somewhere new. There's a beaver downstream who may know what to do.'

Down by the bend, where the water ran slow, A stout beaver, Nigel, stood patting his dam, row by row. He had twigs in his paws and a smile in his eyes. 'A stone with a stripe? Now that's a fine prize!'

He scratched at his ear where a little twig sat. 'The rain moved so much. I'll tell you that. I carried some stones to patch up my dam, But I'd have noticed a stripe, so I am

Quite sure that I haven't. Let's check all the same.' So they combed through the pile, a three-friend game.

They turned over stones that were grey, brown and tan, Some speckled, some smooth, and some shaped like a fan. But none had a stripe that went right round and round. Tully sat on a log with a sigh, with no sound.

'Perhaps,' said the beaver, 'we've looked in the wrong place. A frog by the lily pond knows every space Where the stream spilled its treasures, down low in the weeds. He watches the water and knows all its needs.'

Tully brightened. 'Then off to the frog we shall go!' And the three friends set off, in a happy slow row.

At the lily pond, round as a bowl of green tea, Sat Bramwell the frog, on a pad by the sea Of bobbing pink blossoms and dragonfly wings. 'A stripe round a stone? Oh, I know such things!'

He hopped to the edge, with a plip and a plop. 'I saw something white when the rain came to stop. It lay in the mud, where the little stream bends, By the old mossy log where the river sky blends.'

The otter's heart leapt like a trout in the sun. 'Please show me!' said Tully. 'Oh, let's go, everyone!'

They followed the frog to the mossy old log, Where the mud was all soft and the air smelled of bog. And there, in a hollow, half-hidden from sight, Sat a pebble that glowed in the afternoon light.

A stripe, white and smooth, ran right round it, you see, Like a ribbon that wrapped it as neat as could be. Tully scooped up the stone and he held it up high. 'I've found you,' he whispered, 'my star in the sky!'

The heron, the beaver, the frog all cheered loud, And the otter just beamed like the sun through a cloud.

That evening, the burrow glowed cozy and warm, With shelves full of stones safe from rain and from storm. Tully placed his new treasure up high in the light, 'This is Round-the-Ribbon, the best one tonight!'

His friends gathered round with a mug of hot tea, And each took a stone, as warm as could be. The heron, the beaver, the frog, and the otter Sat sipping and laughing, and the stream said, 'Thank you, quiet and softer.'

And Tully lay down with a smile and a yawn, Dreaming of stripes until the next dawn.