The Day Oliver Stopped Being Perfect

Mrs. Rabbit took the page in her soft paws and studied it for a long, quiet moment. Then her nose gave a pleased little twitch.

“Oh, Oliver,” she said, “what a splendid, adventurous river! Look at these brave little boats. Why, they could never have sailed at all if you’d kept the page perfectly blank.”

Oliver’s ears grew warm, but his whiskers lifted. All at once, the smudge did not seem like a mistake, but a beginning. That afternoon he started another page, and another after that. Some were blotted, some were crooked, and some were rather fine indeed. He showed them to his friends, and they showed him theirs, and the riverbank filled with stories that might never have been told.

And so, on the day Oliver stopped being perfect, he began to be brave instead.

The End