The Steep Hill

Once upon a time, there was a small village with a steep hill on its edge. The hill was so steep that it appeared to be upside down. Trees grew on its slopes upside down, and clouds hung at the foot of the hill like white sheep pastures.

One day, a new girl named Lucy moved to the village. She had green hair and a nose that could whistle "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" backwards. When Lucy saw the steep hill, she immediately decided that she had to reach its top – or actually its bottom, since the hill was upside down.

"You can't get there," the other children said. "Mr. Gravity lives there, who keeps everything in place with tape and chewing gum."

But Lucy didn't care. She took out her flying rubber boots and started scampering up the hill – or down, no one was quite sure.

Halfway up, Lucy met an old, wise owl standing on its head.

"Hoo-hoo and ha-ha," said the owl. "Where are you heading?"

"To the top of the hill, or the bottom," Lucy replied, out of breath.

The owl twirled around and said, "You know, this hill is actually a giant's nose. If you tickle it, you'll get there faster."

Lucy thanked the owl for the advice and began tickling the hill. Suddenly there was a huge sneeze, and Lucy flew into the air like a cork from a champagne bottle.

When Lucy landed, she found herself at the hill's... well, at some end of it. There was a small café where Mr. Gravity served upside-down cake and inside-out tea.

"Congratulations!" said Mr. Gravity. "You're my first visitor since last Tuesday, which was next week."

Lucy drank a cup of inside-out tea, which tasted like dessert first and then the main course. Then she jumped back to the village in her flying rubber boots, which had now turned into swimming sandals.

When Lucy returned, the other children were amazed.

"How did you do it?" they asked.

Lucy smiled and replied, "Easily! You just have to remember that up is down, tomorrow is yesterday, and if you want to go forward, you should walk backward – except on Tuesdays, when you should hop sideways."

From that day on, no one wondered about the steep hill anymore. Instead, everyone wondered why the sky was suddenly green and the grass blue. But that's another story.