Pippy and the Sneezy Puppy

Pippy the New Forest gnome was having a peaceful morning outside his little cottage when he heard an unusual sound.
            Achoo! Then again… Achoo!
            Pippy looked around.
            “That’s a furry sneeze.”
            He followed the sound and discovered a fluffy golden puppy sitting next to a pile of daisies. Every time the puppy sniffed a flower…
Achoo!
            …he sneezed so hard he bounced backwards onto his bottom.
            Pippy couldn’t help laughing.
            “Oh, dear! You really don’t get along with daisies, do you?”
            The puppy wagged its tail anyway. He sniffed another flower.
            Achoo!
            This time the sneeze sent a butterfly fluttering into the air.
            Pippy chuckled.
            “I think we’d better move you somewhere safer.”
            He encouraged the puppy towards a shady patch beneath an old oak tree, where soft grass grew instead of flowers. The puppy looked around happily. He sniffed the grass. No sneeze. He sniffed a stick. Still no sneeze.
            Then he found the biggest stick he had ever seen.
            Or at least…
            He thought he had.
            He grabbed one end and pulled with all his might. The stick didn’t move.
            Pippy walked over.
            “That’s not a stick.” The puppy looked up. It was the root of the enormous oak tree.

The puppy gave one last determined tug. The root didn’t budge.
            Instead…
            The puppy rolled backward, all four paws waving in the air.
            Pippy burst into laughter. The puppy barked happily, as if he’d meant to do it all along.
            Just then, a squirrel dropped a tiny twig from above. The puppy spotted it. Now that was a proper stick. He proudly picked it up and trotted around the tree with his tail wagging so fast that his whole body wiggled from side to side.
            “Much better,” Pippy smiled.
            The puppy barked happily and dropped the little stick at Pippy’s feet.
            “I think you’re asking me to throw it.”
            Pippy tossed the stick gently across the grass. The puppy raced after it… missed it completely, ran straight past, then came trotting back carrying a pinecone instead.
            Pippy laughed so much that he had to sit down on a tree stump.
            “I suppose,” he said, wiping a tear from his eye, “that’s close enough.”
            The puppy happily dropped the pinecone at Pippy’s feet and wagged his tail again.
            From that day on, whenever anyone in the New Forest heard a cheerful bark followed by a loud…
            Achoo!
            …they smiled.
            Because they knew the funny little puppy was probably having another wonderfully silly adventure.