Transcript for Parent Storytellers
High up in the mountains, where the air was thin and the views were amazing, lived a young pterodactyl named Penny. She had beautiful purple wings and was always hungry because flying took so much energy.
One sunny morning, Penny was soaring through the sky when she spotted a little bunny named Benny sitting by a stream in the valley below.
“What a lovely day!” Benny called out cheerfully as he munched on some sweet clover.
Penny’s stomach rumbled loudly. She had been flying for hours and hadn’t found any food yet. She swooped down and landed near the bunny.
“Hello there,” Penny said, eyeing the delicious-looking clover. “That food looks really good. I’m so hungry I could eat… well, everything!”
Benny looked up at the large pterodactyl and felt a little nervous. “Oh! Hi there. I’m just having my breakfast. Would you like some clover? There’s plenty here by the stream.”
But Penny was so hungry and focused on food that she didn’t really listen to Benny’s kind offer. Instead, she opened her big beak and accidentally scooped up poor Benny along with a mouthful of clover!
“Gulp!” went Penny, and suddenly Benny was gone.
“Oh no!” Penny gasped, realizing what had happened. “What did I just do?”
Penny felt terrible. Her tummy started to hurt, not just from being too full, but from feeling so bad about what she had done. She had been so focused on her own hunger that she hadn’t thought about being kind to Benny.
“I need to fix this,” Penny said to herself. She tried to fly, but her tummy hurt too much. She felt dizzy and couldn’t stay in the air.
Down she tumbled, past the mountains, over the cliffs, and splash! Right into the Pacific Ocean.
Penny had never been in water before. Pterodactyls were meant for flying, not swimming! She flapped her wings frantically, but she just kept sinking deeper and deeper toward the ocean floor.
“Help!” Penny called out, but her voice just made bubbles in the water.
Just when Penny thought things couldn’t get any worse, she saw a huge shadow moving toward her. It was an enormous blue whale!
“Oh my,” said the whale in a deep, gentle voice. “You look like you’re in trouble, little pterodactyl. I’m Walter the whale. Let me help you.”
Walter carefully scooped Penny up in his mouth, being very gentle with his giant teeth. He started swimming toward the surface, but Penny was feeling so sick and heavy that she kept slipping back down.
“I’m too heavy,” Penny moaned. “And my tummy hurts so much. I did something terrible, and now I don’t know how to fix it.”
Just then, a familiar voice called out from above. “Did someone need help?”
It was Sparkle the Unicorn! She had been practicing her water magic near the shore and saw Walter struggling to help Penny.
“Sparkle!” Walter called up. “This pterodactyl is in trouble, but I can’t get her to the surface.”
Sparkle dove down into the water (unicorns are surprisingly good swimmers). “Don’t worry, Penny. I can help. But first, you need to tell me what’s wrong.”
Penny felt tears in her eyes. “I was so hungry, and there was this nice bunny named Benny who offered to share his food. But I was being selfish, and I accidentally… I accidentally swallowed him whole! Now my tummy hurts, and I feel awful about being so greedy.”
Sparkle nodded wisely. “I think I know just what you need.” She touched her horn to the water, and suddenly there was a swirl of magical ice cream floating around them. “This special ice cream will help you feel better and give you the energy to do the right thing.”
Penny ate the magical ice cream, and immediately she felt much better. The ice cream gave her energy, but more importantly, it reminded her what it felt like to be truly satisfied and happy – not from being greedy, but from being kind.
“Now,” Sparkle said, “I think you know what you need to do.”
Penny nodded. She took a deep breath and used all her energy to rocket up through the water like a rocket ship. Up she went, bursting through the surface of the ocean and flying high into the sky.
As she flew, she felt something tickling in her throat. She opened her beak wide and… “ACHOO!” She sneezed so hard that out popped Benny the bunny, completely unharmed but a little damp!
“Benny!” Penny cried as she gently caught her friend. “I’m so sorry! I was being selfish and greedy. You were trying to be kind and share with me, but I wasn’t listening.”
Benny looked up at Penny and smiled. “That’s okay, Penny. Everyone makes mistakes when they’re really hungry. The important thing is that you want to make it right.”
Penny flew them both back to the grassy area by the stream where they had first met. There was still plenty of sweet clover growing there.
“Benny,” Penny said, “would you like to share this food with me? But this time, I’ll listen when you talk, and we can eat together like friends.”
“I’d love that,” Benny said with a big smile.
So Penny and Benny sat by the stream, sharing the sweet clover and talking about their different lives – Benny on the ground eating plants, and Penny in the sky looking for fish and berries.
“You know,” Benny said, “there are berry bushes up on the mountainside that might be perfect for a pterodactyl like you. I could show you where they are.”
“And I could fly you around to see the valley from above,” Penny offered. “I bet you’ve never seen your home from the sky!”
From that day on, Penny and Benny became the best of friends. Penny learned that when you’re hungry – whether for food or friendship – the best thing to do is slow down, listen to others, and remember that sharing always makes everything better.
And whenever Penny felt that greedy feeling coming on, she would remember Sparkle’s magical ice cream and how much better it felt to be kind than to be selfish.