“Wow !” he said. “This is great ! But where is the power that it will give me? Will it make me stronger even than nine?”
“Much more than that,” said the fairy. “This is a ball with great magic in it. It is known as Zero. You can play with it all right, but any time you need power, all you have to do is to snap your fingers, like this. And then you will become Ten, bigger than all your brothers and sisters.”
“Really,” gasped the Little One and snapped his fingers.
At once the ball jumped to the right side of One and he became Ten.
“Oh now I am the greatest one,” he shouted in joy.
“This is not all,” said the fairy. “If you keep on snapping your fingers, the ball will go on multiplying, like this.”
As Ari went on snapping her fingers, the ball became two balls, then four, then eight, then sixteen, then thirty two, every time doubling itself.
“You can give some to all your brothers and sisters,” said Ari. “But the original Zero belongs to you alone. So you will be greater than anyone!”
The Little One couldn’t believe his luck. But he was a good one, and so he wanted to share everything with his family and other friends.
“Can I take it home?” he asked shyly.
“Of course, you can,” said the fairy. “I cannot use for myself! I had been looking for a nice little one who could use it for some good. It now belongs to you.”
Ari-the-Metic clapped her hands together, twice. All the extra balls disappeared in a jiffy! Only Zero was left, and the Little One carefully put it in his pocket.
“I will play with all the Numbers I can find, and everyone can have some more power!” he said. “They can become tens and hundreds and thousands if they wish! But all of the Numbers will have to learn to play together and work hard! They have to listen to me!” cried he.
The Little One turned to the little blue fairy and clasped her hand. “What a stroke of luck that you came today,” he said. “Will you come and visit our house soon?”
“Certainly I will,” said the fairy. “But you must run now and hide, because I can hear the rumblings in the jungle, and the patch of sunlight is also gone.”
“So long!” said the fairy and flew off into some hidden corner of the forest.
“See you soon!” cried the Little One, who was actually not little any more, and ran quickly indoors to hide from the giants in case they came near.
Now comes the funny part...
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