Imagine a needle, so shiny and slim, who thought she was the grandest thing in the whole sewing basket. "I am a darning needle," she would say to herself, "not just any old pin. I am fine, very fine indeed!" She lived with other sewing things, like threads and scissors, but she felt she was the most important.

One day, the cook needed to mend her slipper. It had a little hole. "Ah," thought the needle, "a job for someone as important as me!" The cook picked her up. The needle felt very proud as she was pushed into the tough slipper leather. But oh dear! SNAP! The needle broke.

"Oh bother!" said the cook. The needle felt quite shocked. "Me? Broken?"

The cook didn't throw her away just yet. She put a little blob of sealing wax on the broken end. "Perhaps you can be a hairpin," she said. The needle tried her best to hold up a curl of the cook's hair, but she was too smooth and kept slipping out.

So, plop! The cook dropped her into the kitchen sink. Swish, swoosh, with the dishwater, the needle was washed down the drain and out into the street gutter. "Well!" huffed the needle, even though she was a bit wet and mucky. "This is quite an adventure!"

In the gutter, she met all sorts of things: a crumpled piece of paper, a little wood shaving, and a dusty button. "I am a darning needle," she announced, trying to look as grand as possible in the mud. "I come from a lady's sewing box."

The sun shone, and the needle gleamed. "Oh my!" she thought. "I am shining so brightly, I must be a diamond! Yes, that's it. I am a lost diamond." A little piece of broken bottle lay nearby, also sparkling in the sun. "I am a diamond too!" it twinkled. The needle wasn't so sure about that, but she was too polite to argue with another "diamond."

Some children playing in the street spotted the shiny needle. "Look!" one cried. "A tiny silver spear!" They picked her up and stuck her into half an eggshell. "Now it's a little boat with a mast!" they cheered. They floated the eggshell boat in a puddle. The needle felt quite important again, sailing on her eggshell ship.

But then, rumble, rumble... a big cart came along. CRUNCH! The cartwheel went right over the puddle and the little eggshell boat. Everything was squashed.

And there lay the darning needle, back in the mud of the gutter. She lay there for a long, long time. But did she feel sad? Not really. "Well," she thought, as the sunbeams danced on her, "I may be small, and I may be in the gutter, but I still shine. I am like a tiny sunbeam myself!" And so, the proud little darning needle lay there, still thinking she was something quite special.

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