The Pencil and the Ruler

Once upon a time there was a pencil which couldn’t draw straight lines. It could draw curves and circles, cats and little girls, oranges and lemons, but it couldn’t draw squares and ships, tables and chairs. It wanted to draw straight lines more than anything else. It tried and tried, but still it couldn’t.

“I’ll ask the cat how to draw straight lines,” he thought. But the cat didn’t know. She could only show him how to drink milk and mew.

Then he asked a dog. But the dog didn’t know. He could only show him how to bark.

Then he saw the most beautiful thing on the table. It was a ruler.

“Oh, please, will you draw some straight lines with me?” the pencil said. And the ruler answered, “Of course I shall.”

They drew houses and ships, tables and chairs, books and teapots, little girls and cats, and they lived happily ever after.