Milly's Big Dream

Every morning, Milly the Milkmaid would wake with the sunrise, fetch the milk from the dairy, and set off along the winding lane to the village market, balancing a big pail carefully on her head.

It was a long walk, and Milly had plenty of time to think.

On this particular morning, the pail was full to the brim, and Milly's mind was full of lovely thoughts.

"This milk will fetch a fine price today," she said to herself as she walked along. "And with that money, I'll buy a dozen eggs from old Farmer Brown." She smiled as she imagined the eggs, brown and smooth, sitting in a basket.

"And those eggs will hatch into twelve lovely chicks." She could picture them perfectly — fluffy yellow chicks peeping and tumbling over each other in the sunshine.

"And when the chicks are grown, I'll sell them at the market and buy myself a beautiful new dress. Pink, I think, with white flowers on it." She could almost feel the fabric between her fingers.

"And I'll buy a lovely wide-brimmed hat to go with it. And when I wear them to the next village fair, everyone will say, 'Oh, doesn't Milly look wonderful!' And I'll hold my head up high and toss it just like this—"

And Milly tossed her head just to show herself exactly how she would do it.

The pail wobbled.

The milk tilted.

And then — splash! — every drop of milk poured out over the lane, and the empty pail clattered down into the dust.

Milly stood very still in the middle of the lane, looking at the puddle of milk soaking into the ground.

There were no eggs anymore. No fluffy chicks. No pink dress with white flowers. No hat.

She picked up the empty pail, tucked it under her arm, and walked slowly home.

Her mother was in the garden when she arrived. She took one look at Milly's face and the empty pail, and she came over and gave her daughter a gentle hug.

"What happened?" she asked.

Milly told her the whole story — the eggs, the chicks, the dress, the hat, and the toss of her head.

Her mother nodded softly. "It's a lovely thing to dream and plan for the future," she said. "But we must take care of what we have right now, while we're on the way to getting there."

Milly thought about that for a long time.

The next morning, she walked to market again with a fresh pail of milk — and she kept her head very, very still until it was safely on the counter.

But she smiled the whole way there, planning quietly and carefully in her heart.