The Tale of the Flower Headband

Illustration by Eliana  Age:  6
Ms. Missy Blount's Kindergarten class

           Summer the butterfly admired her handiwork.  All morning she had worked on a headband made out of small purple flowers she had found in the tall grass.  It was the most beautiful headband she had ever had.  She couldn’t wait to show it to her friends.

            Her twin sister flew up just as she finished.  “Wow,” Madison exclaimed.  “That is really pretty, Summer.  Do you think you can show me how to make one?”

            “Sure,” said Summer.  “Maybe we can go find some more purple flowers later.  Want to come with me to show it to everyone else?”

            Madison nodded and the twins set out for the clearing to find the rest of their friends.  They found Emerson the dragonfly and Xavier the frog playing chase.  When the twins flew up, they landed on some tall grass and watched for a few minutes.

            Then Madison yelled, “Hey guys!”

Illustration by Mason  Age:  5
Ms. Anna Eaton's Kindergarten class

            “Oh, hello,” said Emerson.  “We didn’t even see you fly up.”

            “We wanted to show you Summer’s new headband she made herself,” stated Madison as she pointed to the headband.

            The boys looked up and Xavier said in a lackluster way, “It’s nice.”

            Emerson said with a tiny bit more enthusiasm, “It’s very pretty.”

            Then the boys went right back to chasing each other ignoring the twins almost completely.  Summer frowned and looked at Madison.

            “Oh, just ignore them,” said Madison.  “They’re just boys.  Unless it shoots out fireworks or explodes, they are not impressed with anything.  Let’s go find Audra.  She’ll really like it.”

            The twins set out for Polliwog Pond in search of their friend, Audra the duck.   When they arrived at the pond, they saw her tail feathers sticking out of the water.  Audra was hunting for waterbugs for a morning snack.  Madison flew over to her and landed on her tail.  Then she tickled her tail feathers.  Audra’s head shot up out of the water, spraying Madison as she flew to a nearby cattail.

Illustration by Aaron  Age:  6
Ms. Missy Blount's Kindergarten class

            “Hey,” exclaimed Audra as she came to the surface.  “What’s the big idea?’

            Then she spotted the twins on the cattails and said, “Oh, hello, Summer and Madison.”

            “Good morning, Audra,” said Summer.  Then Madison said, “Look at the headband Summer made all by herself.”

            Now Audra was a little miffed about being tickled on the tail feathers.  She also was sort of jealous of Summer and Madison because they were already naturally pretty.  Beside them, she often felt rather clumsy and awkward even though they were her friends.  Audra had never had a headband at all.  Even though she thought Summer’s headband was absolutely gorgeous, she let jealousy win out and said in a very bored voice, “Oh, it’s okay.”

            Summer was crushed and flew away with tears in her eyes.  Madison looked at Audra in disbelief and said, “Why did you do that?  Summer worked hard all morning on that headband and was so excited to show everyone.  I can understand why the boys weren’t exactly thrilled about it, but she was sure you would like it.  I thought Summer was one of your best friends.”

Illustration by Byron  Age:  5
Ms. Anna Eaton's Kindergarten class

            With that Madison flew away to find and console Summer.  Audra swam around in the pond feeling really bad about what she had done, but too proud to admit it.

            Madison found Summer in the tall grass.  Summer was trying to dry her eyes even though it was obvious she had been crying.  She looked up at Madison and said, “Why was Audra so mean to me back there?”

            “Summer, I think she was just jealous,” replied Madison.  “That headband is absolutely gorgeous, and I still want you to show me how to make one.”

            Summer smiled at Madison and they set out to try and find more purple flowers in the tall grass.  Suddenly they heard Audra waddling through the grass calling their names.

            “Hey, Summer, Madison,” called Audra.  “Where are you?”

            At first, Summer didn’t want to answer her, but then she thought better of it and answered, “Here we are.”

Illustration by Broay  Age:  5
Ms. Anna Eaton's Kindergarten class

            Audra came to where they were and saw the pile of purple flowers they were gathering.  For a moment she wanted to say something else nasty, but stopped herself.  Instead she looked at Summer and said, “I’m sorry I was snippy back there.  I actually think your headband is gorgeous.  I was just jealous because I don’t have any headbands.”

            “Oh, we can fix that!” exclaimed Summer and began to furiously work on another headband.  “Madison, you and Audra go find some more purple flowers and I will make Audra the prettiest headband she has ever seen.”

            For the rest of the afternoon the girls worked to make Audra a headband.  Summer showed Madison how to do it so she could help.  Audra found some little white flowers to go with the purple flowers, and Summer braided them together until Audra had her very first headband.  Then they made Madison one, too.  All was forgiven, and all three girls thought their headbands were the most beautiful headbands ever.