Father Hedge’s Missing Spectacles
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In a cozy little burrow under the big oak tree lived the Hedge family.
There was Mother Hedge, who baked the best berry pies.
There were the three little ones, Holly, Henry, and Heidi.
And there was Father Hedge, who always wore his round, shiny spectacles so he could see the tiny words in his favourite books.
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One sunny morning Father Hedge woke up, stretched his prickles, and reached for his spectacles.
They were gone!
“Oh dear, oh dear!” he cried. “I cannot find my spectacles! How will I read the morning newspaper? How will I see which mushrooms are the tasty ones?”
Mother Hedge smiled kindly.
“Don’t worry, Father. We will all help look.
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Holly looked under the bed.
“No spectacles here, only my toy acorn!”
Henry checked the kitchen table.
“No spectacles here, only crumbs from last night’s pie!”
Heidi crawled under the soft moss rug.
“No spectacles here, only a sleepy beetle!”
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Father Hedge walked carefully around the burrow. Without his spectacles, everything looked blurry and funny.
He put on Mother’s apron by mistake.
“Is this my coat?” he asked.
Everyone giggled. He tried to pour tea into a flowerpot.
“Is this my cup?” he wondered.
More giggles!
He nearly sat on Henry’s toy train.
“Is this my chair?”
The little ones laughed so hard their prickles shook. Then Mother Hedge had an idea.
“Father, where did you put your spectacles last night while you were reading?”
Father Hedge thought hard.
He scratched his head.
Suddenly he felt something round and hard resting right on top of his prickles!
“My spectacles!” he shouted with joy.
“They were on my head the whole time!”
Everyone cheered.
Father Hedge put on his spectacles, and everything became clear and bright again.
He could see his family's smiling faces, the sunshine through the burrow door, and the big plate of warm berry muffins Mother had baked.
“Thank you, my clever family,” said Father Hedge.
“Next time I will put my spectacles in a safe place… or at least look on my own head first!”
And from that day on, whenever anything went missing in the Hedge burrow, they always remembered to check the silliest places first.
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