bedtime · Ages 6-8

The Cloud Sheep That Would Not Stay in a Line

A child tries to count drifting cloud sheep, then laughs as they change shape and lets counting become dreaming.

The whole story

1. At bedtime, Mina climbed onto the window seat. She opened her notebook and sharpened her green crayon.

2. Above the rooftops stood a flock of cloud sheep. Mina decided to count them until sleep came.

3. One, two, three, four. Mina counted carefully, but the sheep made a crooked row.

4. Mina started again. The sheep squeezed together, so five became one enormous woolly lump.

5. She counted six, but one sheep grew a tall ship's sail. “That is not very sheepish,” Mina said.

6. Then seven became a dragon with a crown. Mina laughed so hard that she lost her place.

7. Mina closed the notebook. The sheep could be counted, or they could become anything.

8. Mina stopped counting and began dreaming. The sheep wandered through her dreams, where every shape was just right.

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