Little Thunder stomped into the shed. His curly orange hair stuck out in every direction.

"I'm cross," he said. "No, I'm angry. No, I'm FURIOUS!"

Suzy looked up from her water bowl. "Which one is it? Those words don't mean quite the same thing."

"Don't they?" asked Little Thunder.

Spike pulled an old wooden ladder against the wall. "Let's find out. The bottom rung is for the weakest word. The top rung is for the strongest."

Suzy wrote three words on cards with a stick of chalk: cross, angry, furious.

"Cross is a little bit upset," she said. "Like when your hay is a bit damp." She put cross on the bottom rung.

"Angry is bigger," said Spike. "Like when someone eats all your hay." Angry went in the middle.

"And furious is the biggest of all," said Little Thunder. "Like when someone eats your hay AND knocks over your water!" He put furious right at the top.

"Now, why are you upset?" asked Suzy.

Little Thunder looked at his hooves. "Canberra the cow took my favourite spot under the gum tree."

Spike tilted his head. "So is that cross, angry or furious?"

Little Thunder thought about it. Then he climbed down the ladder, one rung at a time. "I suppose it's just cross. Maybe even only a bit annoyed."

"Let's make a happy ladder too," said Suzy. She wrote: pleased, happy, delighted, overjoyed.

Just then, Canberra poked her head through the door. "Little Thunder, I've saved the shady spot for you. I'm going down to the dam."

Little Thunder's face lit up. "I'm not cross any more. I'm... delighted!"

"Only delighted?" asked Spike, grinning.

Little Thunder raced out of the shed. "Overjoyed!" he shouted. "Right at the top of the ladder!"