More, Less · Hay Bales

Two piles of hay sat by the feed bay. One looked taller. One looked wider. Looks are not counts.

Spike put on the Thinking Cap habit. Which has more bales?

Suzy did not guess. She rolled one pile into a line: one, two, three, four. Then the other: one, two, three.

Four is more than three, she said. The tall pile had three. The wide pile had four.

Spike nodded. More and less are farm words. Hungry cattle care about more. Fair keepers care about honest more.

Woolworth the sheep watched as if wool could count. Jumper blinked. Cardigan pretended not to care and then cared.

We do not give four bales to one side and call it kindness if the other side needs the share, Spike said. We measure. Then we share.

Suzy moved one bale so each side of the bay had a fair start. Now both sides had… she lined again… three and three, with one spare for later.

Spare is also a number, Spike smiled. Zero is a number too, for empty mangers we do not want.

Line them up when your eyes argue, Suzy told you. Eyes can fib. Lines tell truth.

Line up. Then say more or less.