Blanket Kingdom Lost Sock

"Hold the flag up high, Pip!" said Isla.

Pip was a small grey mouse, and he was holding a flag made from a sock. Isla was the queen of the Blanket Kingdom. Her kingdom was a big bed with hills of blankets, and a soft wool valley, and a river made from a blue sheet.

Isla wanted one thing. She wanted to build a castle on the tallest hill, before bedtime.

She piled up pillows for walls. Plop, plop, plop. But the pillows slid down the hill, one after another.

"Stay!" said Isla. "Stay, stay, stay!"

The pillows did not stay.

So Isla tried a different way. She stacked her teddy bears at the bottom to hold the walls up. The bears wobbled. Then they tumbled over, all in a heap.

"Oh dear," said Pip. He had only come to look for a warm place to nap. He climbed onto a bear and yawned. "Hills are slippery."

Isla sat down. She looked at the hill. The hill was a knitted blanket, and it had a lump in it, just a little one, like a pea.

"Pip, what is that?"

Pip sniffed. "Not my business. I'm napping."

Isla dug under the wool. Out came a long stripy sock! She laughed. Then she had an idea.

She pushed the sock down into the lump, and the lump became a hole. She stood a pillow in the hole. It stayed! She did it again, and again, one hole for every pillow. Plop, tuck. Plop, tuck.

Soon the whole castle stood on the tallest hill, with walls all around.

"Stay, stay, stay," whispered Isla, and the pillows stayed.

She lifted Pip, who was already asleep, and set him in the highest tower. He curled up with his nose under his tail.

Isla pulled the top blanket over the whole castle. It was warm, and quiet, and the only sound was a tiny mouse snore.