original stories · Ages 6-8

The Mountain Goat Who Was Afraid of Heights

A young mountain goat avoids high paths until he learns to climb by looking for the next sure step instead of the whole drop.

The whole story

1. At sunrise, Nilo the young mountain goat stood beside the high trail. His hoof hovered over the first stone. Then he stepped back.

2. The other goats were climbing to the sunny ridge. Nilo stayed below, where the grass was soft and the ground felt close.

3. Nilo tried a lower path instead. It curved around a rocky hollow, but soon it ended at a wall of stones.

4. Nilo sat beside the wall. An old goat named Toma found him there. “The high trail is not a race,” Toma said.

5. Toma tapped one flat stone. “Find the next sure step,” he said. “Do not ask your hooves to solve the whole mountain.”

6. Nilo placed one hoof on the flat stone. He looked only at the next one. The mountain seemed smaller already.

7. Step by step, Nilo climbed. He noticed a yellow flower, a patch of silver moss, and a stone shaped like a sleeping potato.

8. At the resting shelf, Nilo paused. The final steps rose ahead, and the ridge waited above them.

9. Nilo reached the ridge before sunset. He did not stare at the whole drop. He looked at the sure stone beneath his hoof.

10. From then on, Nilo still respected the heights. But when the path climbed, he searched for the next sure step—and took it.

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