The Magical Merry-Go-Round

A long time ago, when your grandparents were children, there was a small merry-go-round in a little town. It had two ponies, a car, a baby elephant, a train, a little airplane, a dragon and a swan. It was right in the middle of the town square, and it took children for a ride from dawn till dusk every day. The children couldn’t get enough of it!

But this wasn’t any ordinary merry-go-round, you see. It was magical, and every evening, after the parents took their children home, the merry-go-round came to life.

The baby elephant called out first. “Oh, it was such a beautiful day!” it said. “So many happy children took me for a ride! How was your day, ponies?”

The ponies neighed merrily. “We're very happy! It was a splendid day, just like yesterday and the day before!”

“Well, I believe it’s time we groomed ourselves a bit!” the swan said, and she spread her wings, shook them a little and started cleaning herself.

“Right you are, friend,” the car said.

“Let me lend you a trunk,” the baby elephant said. It hopped off the merry-go-round, waddled to a nearby brook, sucked a load of water into its trunk and sprayed it all over the car until it was all clean and shiny, like a brand-new vehicle. The car liked to be called a vehicle, because it thought the word sounded fancier.

“Thank you very much, elephant,” it said. “But I ought to probably dip my wheels in the water as well. One can never be too clean!” the car said, and it rushed to the stream to clean its four wheels.

After that the baby elephant filled its trunk with another load of water and one by one washed the…