Pip and the Loud Spoon

Pip was a very small badger with a very loud spoon. Whenever she tapped it on anything, it went CLANG-A-LANG, so loud that the whole burrow heard.

Pip lived in a cozy burrow with tunnels going off in five different directions. In the middle was a round kitchen, and in the kitchen sat a big pot of blackberry porridge. Pip wanted to eat all of it, by herself, in the warm corner by the stove.

"Mine," she said. "My spoon, my corner, my porridge."

But the tunnels were filling with sounds. Pat-pat-pat came Cousin Moss from the left tunnel. Scritch-scritch came the twins from the one with the roots. Soon seven hungry badgers stood in the kitchen, sniffing, and not one of them had a spoon.

"Could we share?" asked Moss.

Pip held her spoon tight. "I only have one," she said.

She tried the first thing. She ate very fast. But the pot was deep, and seven hungry faces watched her, and the porridge did not get any smaller.

She tried the second thing. She hid the spoon behind her back. But it bumped the stove. CLANG-A-LANG! Everybody turned around.

Pip's cheeks went warm. She looked at the spoon. She looked at the pot. She looked at the seven faces, and then she noticed something. Her tummy was full of porridge, but the corner was very quiet. Nobody was talking. Nobody was laughing. Eating all alone, she had not liked it one bit.

"Hmm," said Pip.

She dipped her spoon and held it out to Moss. Moss ate. Pip dipped it again and held it out to a twin. The twin ate. Round and round the pot they went, one spoonful each.

"Slow," said a twin.

"Slow," Pip agreed. She tapped the spoon on the edge of the pot. CLANG-A-LANG! "But listen. Now it plays a song for everyone."

So they ate in turns. Dip, tap, CLANG-A-LANG, chew. Dip, tap, CLANG-A-LANG, chew. The twins giggled so hard that one of them got porridge on her nose.

When Pip's turn came round again, the spoon was warm from all the mouths and the pot was nearly empty. She scraped up the very last purple spoonful. Then the kitchen went quiet, except for one soft, happy clang.