That morning the sky was grey like a woolly blanket. Lily, Ziggy, Skye, and Dash were sitting under the porch, because outside tiny little raindrops were falling. So they wouldn't get bored, they had pulled out a box of colorful buttons and were racing to see who could find two buttons that matched.

"Found them!" said Lily, holding up two red buttons with sparkling eyes. That was just like Lily: when she decided something, she never gave up.

Then something happened. The air began to move, first with a soft puff, then with a cheeky little breeze that ruffled everyone's hair and rolled the buttons across the floor. The leaves in the garden began to dance around and around.

"What a playful wind!" laughed Skye, holding her hair with her hands.

And right then, from far away, came a sound they knew very well. "CHOO-CHOOO! CHOO-CHOOO!"

It was Toby the Magic Train, all shiny, stopping right in front of the porch and puffing little clouds of sweet-smelling smoke. Now, everyone knows Toby speaks only in rhyme. He whistled happily and said:

"Hello, little friends, what a joy you are here!
Today I will take you somewhere full of cheer!
There's a big striped tent that can spin and can fly,
but something has stopped... and nobody knows why!"

The four friends looked at each other, curious. A tent that spins and flies? What had stopped? Without thinking twice, they climbed aboard, and Toby zoomed off through the clouds.

When the train stopped, right in front of them stood the Flying Wonders Circus: a big tent with raspberry and gold stripes, with lots of lanterns that swayed every time the playful wind slipped in through the cracks. But something was wrong. Outside the tent there was a big merry-go-round of little wooden horses, stopped, still, silent. And all around, the circus animals had sad faces: a lion curled up, two little monkeys with no wish to play, a camel that sighed.

"The merry-go-round has stopped," said Ziggy, looking at the little horses frozen halfway through a jump. "And no one knows how to start it again."

Lily clenched her fists. "Then let's find out why! We can't leave everyone so sad."

It was Lily who took the first step. She perked up her ears and heard a soft sound coming from behind the tent: tick, tock, tick, tock.

"Do you hear that? Let's follow that ticking!" she said.

The four friends slipped backstage, and there they found a secret world: gears as big as wagon wheels, trunks full of feathers, little bottles of perfume on a shelf, ropes and trapezes hanging up high. The ticking grew louder. Tick, tock, tick, tock.

At the far end, hanging on a pole, was an old wooden clock. And all of a sudden, out of its little door popped a little bird covered in blue feathers.

"Cuckoo! Cuckoo! It's almost three,
or maybe it's two... or six... who can see!"

The little bird spoke in rhyme, just like Toby, but he seemed confused. He looked this way and that and couldn't stay still for a moment.

"Hello!" said Lily. "I'm Lily. Who are you?"

"I'm Cuckoo, the little bird of the clock,
I sing out the time, tick-tock, tick-tock.
But now, excuse me, I must... wait a bit...
what was my job? I've forgotten it!"

Cuckoo scratched his head with his wing and looked away. He seemed uneasy, like someone hiding something.

Just at that moment the playful wind slipped in through the cracks with a mischievous puff, and from under Cuckoo's wing a little piece of paper flew away. "Oh no!" squeaked the little bird. "Catch it! Catch it!"

A funny chase began. The paper fluttered here and there, and Dash, who was the fastest of them all, ran after it. He jumped over a trunk, slipped on a feather, and did a somersault that landed him head-first inside a top hat. "Bleh!" said Dash coming out of the hat, and everyone laughed. In the end Ziggy had an idea: he spread his arms wide just as the wind carried the paper toward him, and snap, he caught it in the air.

"Got it!" said Ziggy, very happy.

Lily looked at the paper. There was a list written on it. "It's a list of things to do," she read slowly. "Feed the lion... dust the lanterns... and... wind up the merry-go-round every morning."

Everyone turned to look at Cuckoo. The little bird turned as red as a tomato and hid behind a wing.

"Cuckoo," said Lily, gently but firmly, "were you the one who was supposed to wind up the merry-go-round?"

Cuckoo didn't answer. He trembled a little.

"Come on," said Lily, "you can tell us."

But Cuckoo shook his head and flew off to hide at the top of a rope. "It's not my fault, it's not my fault! I... I don't know anything!" he chirped, but his little voice was full of shame.

Meanwhile, outside the tent, you could hear the chatter of people beginning to arrive. Soon it would be time for the big show, and the merry-go-round was still stopped. Time was passing. Tick, tock, tick, tock.

Lily did not give up. She climbed onto a trunk, then onto another, climbing bravely until she reached Cuckoo. "You know," she told him kindly, "everyone forgets things sometimes. I once forgot my stuffed toy at the park, and I cried and cried. But there's no need to hide."

Skye, who had the tenderest heart of all, came closer and said in a sweet voice: "No one will be angry with you, Cuckoo. I promise. We are your friends."

Cuckoo looked at those kind faces. His little eyes filled with tears. Then he took a deep breath, came slowly down from the rope, and with a tiny voice said:

"It was my fault, I'll admit it's true,
this morning I forgot the winding to do.
I was distracted, watching a butterfly play,
and the merry-go-round just stopped that way."

There was a moment of silence. Then Lily smiled big and put a hand on his head. "Well done, Cuckoo! Now we can fix everything. The hard part was saying it, and you did it!"

Cuckoo suddenly seemed lighter, as if a rock had fallen off his shoulders. "Thank you," he said. "But there's a problem. The merry-go-round is wound up with a big crank, and only the Elephant Keeper can turn the crank. And he... is sleeping."

Cuckoo led them to a corner backstage, and there, lying on a pile of straw, was a huge elephant, snoring. "Ffffff... pffff... ffffff..." He made a sound like far-away thunder.

Dash ran up to him and shouted: "Wake up!" But the elephant didn't move. Ziggy clapped his hands loudly. Nothing. Skye sang him a sweet little song, but the elephant only snored louder.

"He sleeps like a rock," said Ziggy. "We need a special idea."

Lily looked at the shelf with the little perfume bottles, and she had a brave idea. "What if we made him smell something? A smell so strong it wakes him up!"

They began to mix. They took a bit of hay from the straw, which smelled like a meadow. They added the scent of a red apple found in the camel's basket. And then Ziggy found a little jar with a powder inside that made your nose tingle.

"What's this?" asked Lily.

"That's pepper," answered Cuckoo. "The circus cook uses it for soup. But be careful, it makes you..."

Before he could finish the sentence, Ziggy put a pinch of it into the mixture. The smell became strange: it smelled like a meadow, like apple, and like a tickle in the nose. Lily took the bowl with both hands, went up to the elephant, and held it under his trunk.

The elephant sniffed once. Then twice. His nose crinkled up all over. And then...

"AAAA-CHOO!"

He sneezed so hard that the feathers flew out of the trunks, the lanterns swayed, and the top hat jumped into the air. The elephant opened his eyes wide, surprised. "Who woke me up?" he said, still a little sleepy.

"It was us!" said Lily, laughing. "The merry-go-round has stopped and we need you!"

The elephant stretched, understood the situation, and with his strong trunk grabbed the big crank. He turned it once, twice, three times. There was a click, then a hum, and then... the merry-go-round began to move! The little wooden horses went up and down again, all the lights came on at once, and happy music filled the circus.

Outside, the children who were waiting clapped their hands with joy. The sad animals began to smile again. And Cuckoo, from high up on his clock, sang in a bright voice:

"Cuckoo! Cuckoo! It's party time here,
the merry-go-round spins and joy is near!"

No one was angry with him. In fact, everyone said thank you, because without his courage to admit his mistake, the merry-go-round would never have started again.

When it was time to go home, Toby the Magic Train was waiting for them outside, under the stars. He puffed happily and said:

"Whoever makes a mistake and then owns it is true,
can set it all right, that's the brave thing to do.
Cuckoo found his courage, he spoke up his choice,
and now the ride spins once more... let's rejoice!"

The four friends climbed aboard, waving goodbye to the circus with their hands. While the train flew home through the clouds, Lily thought that had been a wonderful adventure. They hadn't found a treasure, but something even more precious: they had learned that saying "I made a mistake" is the bravest thing in the whole world.

And you know what? Whoever admits they were wrong is already on the right path.