Everything was just fine until the day Millie forgot to close the pasture gate. Before she knew it, the farm animals had wandered up to the house and peeked inside. Once they caught a glimpse of what it was like to live in a house, with a television, a bathtub, and all the modern conveniences, there was no more living in the barn for them.
Bossy, the cow, was the first to complain. She came right up to the door and talked to the farmer, asking if she could move into the house. After checking with his wife, the farmer agreed, and Bossy made herself at home.
But then the chickens moved in and started complaining about the selection of breakfast cereal at the table, and the sheep came and took over residence of the hired man’s room. The house was soon full of animals and the people weren’t getting any sleep, what with all the baaa-ing and moo-ing at all hours of the day and night. The only person to sleep well was the hired man, and that was because he could count sheep every night to go to sleep.
One day the family got tired of the pigs arguing over the bathtub, and they came up with a plan. With all the animals in the house, the big old barn stood empty. Why shouldn’t they take it over? With their things under their arms, the family set out to the barn. It was big, it was quiet, and it was theirs. They blissfully settled in and took a long nap.
It wasn’t long before the animals noticed the people were gone and started to get lonely. Oddly enough, soon the people started to miss the animals. A truce was drawn – the house would belong exclusively to the people, the animals would resume ownership of the barn, and everything would go back the way it was. And everyone was happy.
A charming story of compromise and tolerance, I laughed out loud at this hysterical book.
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