Clumsy Rolled Down a Hill

Clumsy the panda loved bamboo.

He loved the crunchy sound, and he loved the sweet smell.
And most of all, he loved finding the very tallest stalks.

One sunny morning, Clumsy spotted a patch of bamboo growing on top of a small grassy hill.

“Oh!” he said. “That looks perfect.”

He climbed the hill slowly.
Step… step… step…

At the top, he reached for the leaves. But Clumsy leaned just a little too far.

Uh oh.

His paws slipped, and his tummy tipped.

And before he knew it, he was rolling…

roll… roll…

roll… roll… roll…

Down the hill he went, over soft grass and past a patch of daisies.
He startled a ladybug and rolled right under a fluttering butterfly.

Clumsy tumbled all the way to the bottom with a soft plop.

For a moment, he lay there, blinking at the sky.

Then he giggled.

“Maybe rolling isn’t so bad.”

“That was… fun!”

He climbed back up the hill again.

And this time…

He didn’t just fall; he rolled on purpose.

Roll… roll… roll…

The birds chirped.
The bamboo rustled.
And Clumsy the panda rolled all the way down the hill again, laughing the whole way.

He had decided that the best way to go down a hill…

…is to roll.