Gully Calls the Market

Every morning in little Gullwick, a round, friendly gull named Gully rings a bright bell and calls out, “Market’s open! Come and swap!” Gully wears a stripey apron and knows every islander by name, and the thing Gully loves best in the whole world is a fair swap.

Here is what a fair swap is, and Gully will tell you happily: it’s a trade where both islanders end up glad. Not one happy and one grumpy. Both smiling.

One morning Milo the mouse had lots of wood but no stone, and he needed stone for his cottage wall. And Bramble the badger had lots of stone but no wood, and she needed wood for her roof. Two islanders, both stuck!

“Ooh, ooh!” said Gully, ringing the bell. “Milo, you’ve got wood you’re not using. Bramble, you’ve got stone. Milo needs stone. Bramble needs wood. Do you see it? Do you see it?”

Milo and Bramble looked at each other. “We could… swap?” said Milo.

“A fair swap!” cheered Gully. “One wood for one stone. Go on!”

So Milo gave Bramble a piece of wood, and Bramble gave Milo a piece of stone, and — oh, the smiles! Now Milo could build his wall. Now Bramble could build her roof. Both of them better off. Neither one lost anything, because the wood and the stone had been there all along — they were just in the wrong paws.

“That,” said Gully warmly, tucking the bell away, “is the whole secret of my market. A fair swap makes both islanders smile. Before you trade, just check: am I getting a thing I need? Is my friend getting a thing they need? If you’re both nodding, it’s a good swap. Off you go!”

Milo hugged his new stone. Bramble hugged her new wood. And Gully rang the bell again, because there is always another islander who has too much of one thing and not enough of another, and always a fair swap waiting to make two of them smile.

A fair swap makes BOTH islanders smile — so before you trade, check that you’re both getting the thing you need. That’s Gully.