Hammy dug a little hole and buried the striped sock in the soft dirt.
The next morning, a tiny tree stood where the sock had been. Its branches held dozens of colorful mittens. Hammy gasped and tiptoed closer.
He tried to reach a red mitten. He slid. He hooked a twig. He jumped. Nothing worked. His ears drooped.
A ladybug crawled over his nose. Tick-tickle. Hammy sighed and let his paws drop. Then he saw it—a yellow mitten near the top, waving at him.
Hammy climbed the tree trunk. Claw, scratch, climb. His paws found a grip at last—and grabbed the yellow mitten! The mitten giggled and slipped off, landing squarely on his head with a soft poof.
Around him, every mitten on the tree began to tremble. Then they all started to fall—one by one, fluttering like leaves.
Hammy sat beneath the tree wearing the yellow mitten as a hat. The other mittens surrounded him in a soft, colorful pile.
He tugged the yarn brim over his ears and felt the sun warm his face through the gaps. What a wonderful tree!