The Three Little Animal Builders

Three pig brothers—Pip, Percy, and Barnaby—set out into the sunny valley to build their own homes before the autumn storms arrived in the countryside.

Pip hurried to the wheat fields, piling loose yellow straw into a round hut in less than an hour so he could spend the afternoon napping by the pond.

Percy gathered dry pine sticks in the woods, tying them together with thin hemp twine to make a drafty cabin before lunchtime so he could go fishing.

Barnaby mixed river sand, red clay, and lime into sturdy mortar, carefully laying heavy clay bricks one by one with a steel trowel to ensure his walls were thick.

In October, a fierce northern gale tore through the valley, ripping Pip's straw roof into shreds and scattering his walls across the open fields.

The howling wind then crashed into Percy's stick cabin, snapping the brittle twine and collapsing the wooden frame in a cloud of flying pine needles.

Pip and Percy sprinted down the hill, pounding on Barnaby's solid oak door just as the freezing cold rains began to pour over the woods.

Barnaby let his shivering brothers inside, bolting the heavy iron latch as they sat safely together around the roaring brick fireplace, protected from the storm outside.