Farm Story Detective

The old brass bell that hung by the dairy door had vanished.

"Who would take a bell?" asked Little Thunder, staring at the empty hook.

Suzy pulled out a little notebook. "Let's be detectives. We read the clues and we only believe what the clues tell us."

Spike sniffed the ground under the hook. "Clue one: there's a trail of straw leading away from the door."

They followed the straw past the water trough. Next to it, they found a single black-and-white feather.

"Clue two," said Suzy, writing carefully. "A magpie feather. Magpies love shiny things."

"So a magpie took it!" said Little Thunder.

"Maybe," said Suzy. "But a magpie couldn't carry a heavy brass bell. What does the evidence really tell us?"

Little Thunder thought. "That a magpie was here. Not that it took the bell."

They kept going. The straw trail led all the way to the calf pen, where Paris the cow was lying in the shade. Paris looked a little guilty.

Spike noticed something. "Clue three: a piece of string hanging from Paris's horn."

"Paris," said Suzy gently, "do you know where the bell is?"

Paris sighed and moved her hoof. Underneath was the bell, wrapped in straw.

"It rang every time the wind blew," Paris explained. "It woke the new calves. I only wanted them to sleep."

Little Thunder laughed. "Case solved! And we can fix the problem too."

That afternoon, they hung the bell on the other side of the dairy, far from the calf pen. The calves slept soundly, and the bell rang happily in the breeze.