Halfpenny’s Fair Trick

Halfpenny is a round little hedgehog with soft brown spines, a pale pink nose, and a cream-coloured apron. She lives in a burrow halfway up Hollow Hill, and she bakes the best cookies on the whole hill.

One day, two young rabbits came to her door. They were brother and sister, and they were arguing.

“There’s only one cookie left,” said the brother.

“And he wants it ALL,” said the sister.

“Because you’ll take the bigger half!” said the brother. “You ALWAYS take the bigger half!”

Halfpenny’s spines bristled a little. Arguing made her prickly. But she took a breath and smiled.

“I know a trick,” she said. “It’s the fairest trick there is. Would you like to learn it?”

The rabbits nodded.

“One of you,” said Halfpenny, “gets to break the cookie in half.” She gave the cookie to the brother. “And the other one” - she nodded to the sister - “gets to pick which half she wants.”

The brother looked at the cookie. Then he looked at his sister. Then he looked at the cookie again, very carefully.

“Wait,” he said slowly. “If I break it, and she gets to pick… she’ll pick the bigger half.”

“That’s right,” said Halfpenny.

“So I’d better make the halves the SAME,” he said. “As same as I can!”

He held the cookie up. He found the very middle. He broke it very, very carefully, crack, into two halves that looked almost exactly alike.

His sister looked at both halves for a long time. Then she picked one.

The brother picked up the other. He looked at it, and at hers. “They’re the same,” he said, surprised.

“They are,” said his sister, surprised too.

They both took a bite. And neither of them felt cheated, not even a crumb.

Halfpenny’s spines relaxed, soft and flat. A warm, settled feeling filled her up, the feeling of watching an argument turn into sharing.

“That’s my trick,” she said. “One cuts, the other picks. The cutter tries to make it fair, because the picker chooses first. Nobody needs to argue.”

The rabbits went home, munching. And the very next week, Halfpenny heard them splitting a sandwich the same way. “You cut, I’ll pick!”

That is Halfpenny’s middle. When two people share one thing, half and half can be fair. And if one cuts and the other picks, both halves come out just right.