That morning the sky was a clear, bright blue, and in Skye's garden not even a single little leaf was moving. Ziggy, Lily, Dash and Skye were sitting on the grass, playing with smooth little pebbles. They lined them up, counted them, and traded them as if they were tiny treasures.

"This one is my favorite," said Ziggy, holding up a round gray pebble. "It's as smooth as a candy!"

"I have one that sparkles," said Lily, tough and sure, squeezing it tight in her little hand.

Skye didn't say much. She was a quiet little girl, and that day she gazed at the pebbles with her sweet eyes, wondering how many stories they might be hiding. Dash, meanwhile, was hopping here and there, because staying still was just something he couldn't do.

All of a sudden they heard a sound they knew very well.

"CHOO-CHOOO! CHOO-CHOOO!"

From behind the hedge came Toby the Magic Train, shiny and merry, with smoke that made lots of round little clouds.

"Good morning, dear children, come hop on, let's go,
today a real mirror I'm happy to show!
Up high on the water the colors appear,
a sky full of love, painted bright and clear!"

The children laughed and clapped their hands. A real mirror? What did Toby mean? They all climbed onto the train, which set off puffing happily through the meadows.

The trip was short. When Toby stopped, in front of them was the Mirror Pond. The water was so calm, so very calm, that it reflected the sky like a painted mirror. And the sky, at that very moment, was changing: the sun was slowly sinking toward the trees and washing everything in orange, pink, and purple.

"Look!" whispered Skye. "The sky is inside the water!"

It was truly so. It seemed there were two skies: one above their heads and one beneath their feet.

The children began skipping the flat pebbles across the water. Plink, plink, plink! The stones leaped and left lots of little circles.

"I made three skips!" shouted Dash, laughing.

"I made four!" said Ziggy, even though maybe it was two.

While everyone was laughing and playing, Skye stopped. She had heard something. A small, faint sound, hidden in the tall grass by the shore. She leaned down to listen better.

"Whimper... whimper..."

It was a whimper. A trembling little whimper.

"Wait," said Skye. "Do you hear it too?"

"I only hear the water," said Dash, tossing another stone.

But Skye couldn't keep playing. She followed the sound to a bush, and there, curled up and frightened, she found a puppy. It was tiny, with soft fur and shiny eyes. It was trembling.

"Hello, little one," said Skye in a sweet voice. "Why are you trembling?"

The puppy whimpered again, and Skye understood at once: it was lost. It had lost its mommy.

"Everyone, come here!" she called. "A puppy is lost!"

The others left the pebbles and ran to her. Lily knelt beside the puppy, Ziggy stroked its head, and Dash, for once, stood perfectly still.

"Don't be afraid," said Skye. "We'll help you find your mommy."

Just then, from a nearby flower, a bee lifted into the air. It was small and golden, and it hovered in front of them, buzzing happily.

"Do you need help?" said the bee. "I know this place like the back of my wings! I'm an explorer bee, and I'm intrepid!"

The children looked at each other, puzzled.

"Intrepid?" asked Ziggy. "What does intrepid mean?"

The bee made a little bow in the air. "It means brave! It means I'm not afraid to explore new places. I look for new flowers every day, and I never give up!"

"What a beautiful word," said Skye, smiling. "Intrepid."

The bee flew over the puppy and sniffed with her tiny proboscis. "I can smell it! I can smell the scent of its den. This puppy's mommy lives beyond the pond, where the yellow flowers grow. But..." The bee stopped, worried. "There's a problem. The path that leads there has disappeared! A rockslide covered it all up. The puppy doesn't know how to get home anymore."

Skye looked at the puppy, then looked at her friends.

"Then let's build a new path," she said, gently but firmly. "So the puppy can go back to its mommy."

"How do we do it?" asked Lily.

"With leaves and pebbles!" said Ziggy, who had just had an idea. "We lay leaves on the ground to make the road, so the puppy knows where to walk!"

It was a wonderful idea. The children started right away. They gathered wide, colorful leaves and laid them one after another on the grass, drawing a path toward the yellow flowers. The bee flew ahead and pointed the way.

But just as the path was beginning to take shape, something happened.

Whoosh! A puff of wind swept across the pond.

It was the playful wind, mischievous and naughty. It came rushing in and... whooo! It blew all the leaves away. The leaves flew up into the air, spun like butterflies, and scattered everywhere. The path was gone.

"Oh no!" said Dash. "The wind ruined everything!"

The children started over. They laid the leaves down again, one by one, patiently. But as soon as they finished... whoosh! The wind came back and carried them off again.

The puppy whimpered sadly. The sun was sinking lower and lower, and the sky was already all pink.

"Will we be able to finish before it gets dark?" whispered Skye, with a little lump in her throat.

They tried again, and again. But the playful wind seemed to enjoy undoing their work. The children were starting to feel tired and a little discouraged.

That was when, out of the water, a wrinkled, slow head popped up. It was a turtle, very, very old, with a shell covered in patterns and gentle, calm eyes.

"Good evening, little ones," it said in a deep, peaceful voice. "My name is Grandpa Shell. I've lived in this pond for ever so many years. I've been watching you for a while, and I can see you're having quite a bit of trouble with that wind."

"Grandpa Shell," said Skye, "we want to build a path for the puppy, but the wind carries away all the leaves. We don't know what to do anymore."

The turtle smiled, slowly. "I've lived a long time, and I've seen plenty of mischievous winds. Would you like to know a little trick?"

The children nodded yes, all together.

"Leaves on their own are too light," said Grandpa Shell. "The wind loves them precisely because they fly. But if you place a little pebble on top of each leaf... then they become heavy. And the wind won't be able to carry them away anymore."

The children looked at each other with wide-open eyes. Of course! The pebbles! Their pockets were full of them, the very ones they'd been playing with!

"What a wonderful idea!" said Skye. "Thank you, Grandpa Shell!"

"Grandpas have lived a long time," said the turtle with a wink. "And they know lots of things. You just have to stop and listen to them."

So the children got back to work, but this time in a different way. Ziggy laid down the leaves. Lily, tough as ever, set a nice heavy pebble on top. Dash ran back and forth gathering more. And Skye arranged each leaf with care, talking softly to the puppy that followed her step by step.

The wind arrived. Whoosh! It blew hard... but the leaves did not move. The pebbles held them still, firmly fixed to the ground.

"It worked!" shouted Dash, jumping into the air. "The wind lost!"

Piece by piece, leaf by leaf, stone by stone, the path grew. It crossed the grass, curved around a tree trunk, and slipped gently down toward the yellow flowers. The intrepid bee flew ahead, happy, showing the right way. And Grandpa Shell followed them slowly, slowly, smiling.

At last the path reached all the way to the end. And there, among the yellow flowers, was a big mommy dog with a worried look, searching everywhere.

"The mommy!" said the bee. "It's the puppy's mommy!"

The puppy perked up its ears. It sniffed the air. And then, with all the strength in its little paws, it ran along the trail of leaves and pebbles. It ran and yipped with joy.

The mommy saw it coming and rushed to meet it. They met in the middle of the path, and the puppy dove into its mommy's paws, who covered it with little licks and cuddles.

At that moment the sky was all pink and purple, and the water of the pond reflected those colors like a painted mirror. Skye felt her eyes grow a little watery, but it was a beautiful kind of crying, the kind that makes you smile.

"We did it," she whispered. "They're together again."

Lily put a hand on her shoulder. Ziggy and Dash were smiling. The bee buzzed with happiness, and Grandpa Shell nodded slowly, content.

"You did something wonderful," the turtle said to Skye. "You stopped to listen while the others were playing. That's how you help someone in need: first you have to notice them."

When it was time to head back, there it was again, that happy sound.

"CHOO-CHOOO! CHOO-CHOOO!"

Toby the Magic Train had come to pick them up.

"What wonderful children, what hearts of pure gold,
the puppy is safe now, hooray and behold!
With pebble and leaf, and a grandpa so wise,
the wind cannot win, no more will it rise!
Now homeward you go, for the evening is near,
with joy in your hearts, so happy and dear!"

The children said goodbye to the intrepid bee and Grandpa Shell, and climbed aboard the train. As Toby puffed toward home, Skye looked at the pink sky and thought of the puppy, safe again in its mommy's paws.

And she was happy. Because sometimes stopping to help someone is worth more than all the games in the world.