Poppa Pike and the Bridge Everyone Built

Poppa Pike is the oldest, cheeriest fish in little Gullwick, and he has one big dream: a bridge across the wide stream, so islanders on both sides can visit each other any time they like.

But the bridge is big. Far too big for any one islander to build alone. Poppa Pike tried, once, all by himself, and after a whole day he had laid exactly one plank and was very tired. “Oh dear,” he puffed. “This will take me a hundred years on my own.”

So he had a better idea. He rang Gully’s bell and called everyone together. “Friends!” said Poppa Pike. “The bridge is too big for one. But what if we each lay just one plank? Only one! Little Milo, one plank. Bramble, one plank. Gilly, one plank. Everybody — one plank each!”

And that’s exactly what they did. Milo laid a plank, and Poppa Pike cheered, “Hooray for Milo!” Bramble laid a plank, and Poppa Pike cheered, “Hooray for Bramble!” One by one, every islander added just one plank — a small, easy thing for each of them — and Poppa Pike cheered for every single one, loud and glad.

And the bridge grew. Plank by plank, cheer by cheer, it stretched across the stream — until, with the very last plank, it reached the other side! The whole island whooped and danced across it, back and forth, visiting friends they’d had to shout to before.

“You see?” said Poppa Pike, beaming, tears of joy in his round eyes. “None of us could build it alone. But everyone lays one plank — and together, we built the bridge no islander could build by themselves!” He cheered one more time, just for the fun of it. “Hooray for ALL of us!”

That’s Poppa Pike’s happy secret: the biggest things get built when everyone adds their one small part. Together, a whole island can make what no single islander ever could.

Everyone lays one plank, and together we build the bridge no islander could build alone! That’s Poppa Pike.