A story about curiosity
Wondy and the Door in the Hedge
Wondy finds a door nobody has seen before and goes straight through it. A story about curiosity, and looking before you leap.
3 minutes to read aloud · 🤩 Excited
Wondy found the door on a Tuesday.
It was in the hedge at the bottom of the lane, and it had certainly not been there before, and it was open about the width of a paw.
"Ooh," said Wondy. "What's that?"
Wondy did not stop to look. Wondy did not call anybody. Wondy went straight through, at speed, the way Wondy always does, and fell four feet down a bank into a stream, and lost a shoe, and had to be got out by Hushy with a stick.
Sitting on the bank with one shoe, dripping, Wondy was not even slightly sorry.
"There's a stream," Wondy said, eyes shining. "Behind the hedge. Nobody knew."
"You could have broken your leg," said Hushy.
"But there's a stream."
Hushy, who is patient and has the biggest ears in Candyfloss Land, sat down on the wet bank next to Wondy and did not tell Wondy off, which was wise, because telling Wondy off has never once worked.
"Do it again," said Hushy.
"What?"
"The door. Do it again, but do the three bits. Look, listen, ask."
So they went back up to the hedge and Wondy did it properly.
Look. Wondy looked through the gap. A bank. A drop. A stream at the bottom, and a flat place to the left where you could get down without falling.
Listen. Water. Two birds. Something rustling that turned out to be a very cross duck.
Ask. "Do you know what's back there?" Wondy asked Hushy.
"A stream," said Hushy. "And a duck that bites."
Wondy went down the flat bit, slowly, keeping an eye on the duck, and got to the bottom without losing anything at all.
And the stream was still just as good. That is the part Wondy had feared: that being careful would spoil it.
It did not spoil it. It just meant Wondy had two shoes and could come back tomorrow.
Wondy is curious about everything, which is why Wondy finds the wonder that everybody else walks straight past.
Look. Listen. Ask. Then go and find out.
