Once upon a time, on a sunny windowsill above a little wooden dressing table, there lived a hair clip named Snappy.
Snappy was small. Snappy was bright, shiny pink. And inside Snappy there lived a tiny, springy spring that made him bouncy and busy and quite unable to sit still.
His very favorite thing in the whole world was to open and close, open and close. "Snip-snap! Snip-snap! Snip-snap!"
One morning Snappy caught sight of himself in the big mirror. He opened his little mouth wide, and there, gleaming in the glass, he saw two rows of shiny plastic teeth.
Snappy gasped. "Why," he whispered, "I am not a hair clip at all. I am a crocodile! The most dangerous, most fearsome crocodile in the whole entire room!"
And from that moment on, Snappy had only one idea in his springy little head: to find someone brave enough to test his mighty jaws.
The Great Hunt Around the Room
Snappy leaped from the dressing table with a bold little bounce and set off on the hunt. Whatever crossed his path, he would give it a good, crocodile-y bite.
First he spotted the curtain, swaying gently in the breeze like the tail of some enormous beast. "Aha! My first catch!" cried Snappy, and – snip-snap! – he bit down hard.
But he did not gobble the curtain up. Oh no. He simply hung there, dangling from the fabric, swinging back and forth like a funny little pink decoration. The curtain did not even notice.
Next, Snappy crept up on Kitty, the cat, who was curled in a warm patch of sunshine, fast asleep. Kitty’s tail flicked lazily to and fro. "A wild and dangerous tail!" whispered Snappy. "Perfect for a crocodile like me!" And – snip-snap! – he pounced.
But Kitty only gave a sleepy mrrrow, twitched one ear, and rolled the other way. Snappy bounced right off and landed on the floor with a soft boing, like a tiny green frog.
Then Snappy smelled something warm. There, on the table, sat a steaming bowl of soup. "Even crocodiles must eat!" he declared, and – snip-snap! – he snapped at the soup with all his might.
But you cannot bite soup. The warm broth slipped right between his teeth, and poor Snappy came away dripping, soggy, and terribly confused.
A crocodile who could not catch a curtain. A crocodile who could not catch a cat. A crocodile who could not even catch his supper. Snappy’s springy heart drooped a little.
The Trouble With the Naughty Curl
Now, at the very same table sat a girl named Ellie.
Ellie was drawing a very important picture – a picture for her grandma, with a big yellow sun and a house and three fat flowers. She was drawing it with all her heart.
But every few seconds, one naughty curl of hair – a long, wild, tangled strand – came tumbling down over her eyes.
Ellie pushed it back. It fell again. She blew it up with a pfff. It fell again. It covered her eyes so she could not see the paper, and slowly, slowly, Ellie’s chin began to wobble and her eyes filled with tears. "I can’t see my picture," she said sadly. "That silly hair keeps getting in the way."
From down on the floor, Snappy watched the naughty curl swing and flop and tumble.
And all at once, something clicked inside his little spring.
This, thought Snappy. THIS is my real battle! Not curtains. Not cats. Not soup. My true and mighty enemy is the Naughty Wild Curl!
The Biggest Snip-Snap in History
Just then, Ellie’s mama came over. She saw the tears, she saw the tumbling curl – and she saw a shiny pink clip lying on the floor.
She scooped Snappy up. She gently pressed his little levers, so his mouth opened wide and brave, and then she set him right upon that naughty strand of hair.
SNIP-SNAP!
It was the biggest, boldest, most important snip-snap in all of history.
Snappy held on. Softly, but oh so firmly, he gripped the wild curl and did not let go. The naughty strand was caught at last, tucked neatly out of the way.
"I can see!" cried Ellie, clapping her hands. "I can see my picture again!" And she finished her drawing for grandma – the sun, the house, and all three fat flowers, brighter and happier than before.
A Hero Is Crowned
That day, Snappy learned the most wonderful secret of all.
His snapping and his springing and his snip-snap-snapping were never meant for frightening. They were meant for helping.
He did not want to be a fearsome crocodile anymore. He had become something far greater:
the Official Guardian of Ellie’s Hair.
And from then on, whenever someone gave his little levers a squeeze, Snappy never growled and never bit. Instead, happily, proudly, he would simply go –
Snip-snap!
The end.
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