The Tiny Theater

In a quiet corner of a big, busy house, behind a dusty bookshelf, four miniature actors only about three centimeters tall live inside a tiny theater built from an old matchbox. Pip is the youngest, with bright orange hair and blue overalls bearing a yellow star, while Milly plans carefully in her round glasses and thimble hat, Tock carries the props in his mustard vest, and Gran watches over them all in her lavender shawl. Every day the troupe rehearses for opening night, when the bugs, beetles and mice of the walls will come to watch.

One evening, as Tock repairs the matchbox roof, the whole stage tumbles into a heap of paper and cardboard, and opening night is only a day away. Gran gently reminds the friends that a theater is made not of cardboard but of the story and the people who tell it. Together they gather everyday objects from the room and work through the night, each contributing what they do best. This gentle tale by Yavuz DEMİRKIRAN, which can be read on Online Masal, offers young readers simple lessons about patience, planning and starting again.