Once upon a time, there was a curious and adventurous child named Lily. Lily loved to go on walks in the forest. It was during these walks that Lily would dream about her favorite thing: animals! On this day, Lily was busy watching ants move in a long line in a grassy clearing. She was so focused on the ants that she didn't notice the voices coming from the trees!
"Oh, look!" Lily said. "They're carrying big pieces of food! It's a long journey, but they don't give up!" Lily followed the sounds of the voices through the trees. She was a friendly girl, and she was always curious to meet new friends!
Lily stopped in her tracks, surprised to see three little piglets! They were so funny! One piglet had a little patch of mud on her snout, one had a small, fluffy tail, and one had ears that were always twitching.
The piglets all squealed at once and rushed over to Lily! "Hello! Do you live in a house?" they asked, before Lily could even introduce herself.
Lily was a little confused. "Of course, I live in a house! It's in Washington, and it's really cozy!"
The smallest piglet giggled. "We left our mother's house because we grew up! Our mother told us to build houses of our own, because the forest is dangerous. There is a wolf who likes to eat piglets!"
Lily's eyes widened. She was only four years old, but she understood that wolves could be scary! She knew that she had to help the piglets build safe homes.
"I can help you build your houses!" Lily said.
The piglets were excited! They each decided to build a house in their own way. The first piglet wanted to build her house quickly with straw. She tied up big blocks of straw and even forgot to add a door or a window! She wanted to go play!
"Come on, Lily, let's play!" she called. But Lily smiled and said, "We'll help all three of you a little at a time, so we can all play together later!" Lily loved to play with her special superpower, which was talking to animals in the forest.
The next piglet decided to gather wood from the forest and build a cabin with a roof, doors, and windows. But she saw her sister playing and didn't bother to put in many nails! She wanted to play too!
Lily then went to help the third piglet. She wanted to build a house just like her mother's: made of bricks, with cement, glass windows, and a strong roof. This took a long time! Lily and the piglet worked hard, but they laughed while they were building.
When the third piglet and Lily finished their house, the piglet invited Lily inside for a snack! "We can cook something on the wood stove we built!" she said. Lily was excited! She loved making new friends and being with her friends.
That night, the wolf appeared! The piglets and Lily were scared! The wolf went straight to the straw house and with one big huff and puff, knocked the whole house down! The piglet who lived there ran away through the dark forest, with the wolf chasing behind her.
"Oh, no!" Lily whispered. "We have to help her! We can go to my secret hiding place, the Enchanted Forest, if we need to!"
The wolf, who was hungry and didn't want to waste time, went to the wooden cabin next. It took two big huffs and puffs to knock down the cabin, and the second piglet ran away to find her sister.
The wolf, already annoyed, went to blow down the third house. He could smell delicious food coming from the chimney! He blew and blew and blew, but the house didn't fall down! It was strong! So he decided to go down the chimney! It seemed like a good idea! But as he started to slide down, he smelled something burning! His tail was on fire!
This time, it was the wolf who was scared! He ran away quickly! The two hiding piglets laughed when they saw the wolf running away and finally came back. Their sister welcomed them, and together with Lily, they had a delicious soup! It felt good to be inside a warm and safe house!
And so, Lily and the three little piglets enjoyed that night, realizing that sometimes, good things take time!
