There was once a little girl called Sally who was not very truthful.Her mommy and daddy told her how important it was to tell the truth,but Sally didn't listen.She never told lies about things that really mattered,so she thoughtthey were just making a fuss about nothing.
When I say that Sally didn't tell lies about things that really mattered,I mean that she wouldn't have dreamed of saying she was ill when she wasn't. And she would never have made something up about a friend or a stranger so that they appeared unkind or stupid.No Sally's lies were about silly things.In fact,when she was a baby, her parents thought she simply had a vivid imagination,and they liked her little stories.But now that she was older,it didn't seem so funny anymore.
Let me tell you the kind of thing that Sally would say.
"I've only got one sock on,"she would announce the breakfast, "because I gave the other one to an elf this morning."
"Don't be silly, Sally ,"her mother would say. "Go and find your other sock and put it on."
"I can't eat my breakfast," the little girl would go on, "because a rabbit came in the night and borrowed my teeth!"
"Don't be silly, Sally," her father would say. "Eat up like a good girl."
Then it would be time for Sally to go to nursery.
"I don't want to wear my red coat," she would wail. "It's not a red day today. It's blue day."
"Don't be silly, Sally!"
"There are creepy-crawly things in my boots! I can't put them on."
"Don't be silly, Sally!"
And so it went on. All day long,Sally made up storiesabout everything she did or saw.
If Sally saw some flowers growing by the path on her way to nursery, she would say, " I know the the fairy who planted those. Her name is Annabel."
Sally's mommy and daddy hoped that their daughter was just going through a phase that would soon pass.
"She's a very imaginative little girl," said Sally's teacher. "It would be a shame to bring her down to earth too much."
"Just a little bit would b nice,"said Sally's mommy. "I never know whether to believe her or not when she says something out of the ordinary."
Of course,time went on, everyone believed Sally less and less. They got so used to her stories and inventions that they hardly listened to what she said. So when Sally came running it from the garden one day with important news, her mommy didn't pay too much attention.
"There's a buzzing in the garage,"cried Sally.
"Don't be silly, Sally,"said her mother automatically.
Sally went outsideto play for a while. But after half an hour, she came running back inside.
"They're buzzing in and out,"she said. "Like this." And she did a little dance in the middle of the sitting room.
"Don't be silly, Sally,"said her mother. "No one is dancing in our garden."
"Not in the garden,"said Sally. "In the garage."
"Don't be silly, Sally. The only things in the garage are the car and the bookshelves that your father started before you were born and hasn't finished,"said mommy.
So Sally went out to look again. When she came back,she was holdin something tightly in her stripped mittens.
"Look," she said. "I caught one of the buzzy things."
"Don't be silly, Sally.There's nothing in your hands at all."
"Yes, there is," retorted Sally, and she opened her arms wide.
Sally's mommy carried on with her work, but a second or two later she quite distinctly heard a buzzing sound. It was a bee.
Then mommy shut the doors and windows and called daddy down from his workroom.
"There's a swarm of bees in our garage,"she said. Sally discovered them."
Daddy looked doubtful for a moment, but mommy and Sally spoke together.
"No,"they said, "it's true!"
Some men came to take away the bees before they stung anyone.
Mommy and Daddy listen a little more carefully to what Sally says these days. Perhaps thats why Sally doesn't make things up quite so often - except when she doesn't want to wear blue socks,of course. Then those naughty elves will come and steal them!
