Speaker 1: Dot and the Missing Leaf Lunch Dot saved the biggest
Speaker 1: leaf for lunch. It was green, flat, and wide enough
Speaker 1: to shade her whole head. She left it beside a
Speaker 1: red flower and went to invite her friend Pip. When
Speaker 1: Dot returned, one corner was missing. Did you eat my leaf?
Speaker 1: she asked Pip. Pip was a beetle. He preferred old bark.
Speaker 1: Too floppy, he said. Dot went to fetch a drop
Speaker 1: of water. When she came back, another corner was gone.
Speaker 1: She looked above the leaf. No bird. She looked below it.
Speaker 1: No snail. She looked behind the flower and found Pip
Speaker 1: eating bark exactly as promised. Dot drew a line in
Speaker 1: the dirt around her lunch. If anyone crosses this line,
Speaker 1: we will see footprints. They waited beneath a mushroom. A
Speaker 1: breeze lifted the leaf. It slid across the dirt, crossed
Speaker 1: Dot's line, and caught on a thorn. The thorn tore
Speaker 1: off a piece. The wind is eating it, Pip said.
Speaker 1: Wind does not eat. It is still taking bites. Dot
Speaker 1: moved the leaf behind a stone. A second gust spun
Speaker 1: it around the stone and into a puddle. She and
Speaker 1: Pip pulled together. The leaf came free, but now it
Speaker 1: was wet and muddy. Dot stared at her ruined lunch.
Speaker 1: Pip tasted one edge. Still floppy. They carried it into
Speaker 1: the sunshine. Dot used two twigs to hold it down.
Speaker 1: While it dried, she found smaller leaves beneath the plant.
Speaker 1: None was as impressive, but all stayed where she put them.
Speaker 1: Pip suggested building a tiny wall around lunch. Dot tried
Speaker 1: six pebbles. The next breeze hopped the leaf over all
Speaker 1: six and dropped it on Pip's head. The wall needs work,
Speaker 1: he said from underneath. Dot ate one. Pip found fresh
Speaker 1: bark on a fallen branch. Then they heard tiny chewing sounds.
Speaker 1: Three younger caterpillars had found the big muddy leaf. They
Speaker 1: sat along its edge taking neat bites. Dot almost shouted
Speaker 1: that it was hers. Then she looked at the torn corners,
Speaker 1: the puddle stain, and the twigs holding it flat. You
Speaker 1: may finish it, she said, but watch out for the wind.
Speaker 1: It has terrible table manners. The little caterpillars moved closer
Speaker 1: to the stone. Weeks later, Dot became very still. She
Speaker 1: formed a chrysalis beneath a branch. When she finally emerged,
Speaker 1: her wings were orange with green spots. Pip inspected them.
Speaker 1: Not floppy, he said. You were waiting to say that,
Speaker 1: Dot replied. Dot opened her wings. A breeze lifted her
Speaker 1: over the red flower. For once, the wind carried something
Speaker 1: without taking a bite. The end, as always. Visit us
Speaker 1: at redthetale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.