It was dawn. The meadow was still asleep – even Martha Meadow Lark just turned over in her bed and continued snoring. The daisies yawned, stretched and kept on dreaming their dreams about warm sunshine and gentle breeze.
Suddenly, loud chirping broke the silence.
“Cheep, cheep, cheep! Today’s the day! Today’s our big day!” the sparrows cried circling over the meadow.
The birds woke up everyone. “Why on earth are these chatty creatures making such a racket?” the field mice wondered, rubbing sleep from their eyes.
“Today’s the championship! The Great Meadow Championship!” the sparrows chirped with excitement.
It soon became clear that the Great Meadow was getting ready for a competition of great proportions indeed. It was going to be a high-jump competition and anyone could enter. The sparrows have been organizing the event for days, and – according to the Great Meadow Daily News – they were also favored to win. After all, what other animal spends its entire life hopping?
The excitement spread like wildfire. How would the competition go? What would happen? Who would take first prize?
The sparrows were busy getting things fine tuned. They asked the spiders to spin a fence around the track. The first prize, a glittering goblet, was donated by the Magpies from their extensive collection. Mr. Cricket had agreed to perform the Meadow Anthem at the awards ceremony.
“Listen up, everyone! Get ready! Start training and show your top performance at 6 p.m. sharp, when the competition begins!” the sparrows announced.
Finally, time has arrived. Crowds began to gather in the stands. Katie and Ildi held onto their tickets as they entered through the gate.
“It’s really annoying how these sparrows have already begun celebrating their victory,” Katie shook her head.
The crowd sat down. The opening ceremony was about to begin. At 6 p.m. sharp, Victor Sparrow, the Master of Ceremonies appeared at the gate.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he chirped. “Let me to introduce our sparrow contestants. First, this is Vince, the Invincible, closely followed by Mary the Marvelous and Ingrid the Incredible…”
As it turned out, none of the other animals had even bothered to try the challenge: only the sparrows had entered the competition, under the watchful eyes of their trainer, Sebastian. They have been hopping all their lives, after all…
The championship began. The competitors took turns at jumping over the bar – a fine piece of straw held by Sir and Lady Woodpecker. The kind couple raised the bar higher after each round. The crowd cheered, and soon it became evident that Vince the Invincible was going to be the definite winner. No other sparrow could jump higher than he.
But then, out of the blue, a tall, athletic stranger stepped onto the field. His bright green track suit and brand new sneakers were glowing in the afternoon sunshine.
“I hope I’m not too late,” he said. “I’m Gregory Grasshopper, and I’ve just learned about the competition. I’d like to enter.”
The crowd grew silent.
“If you’re not afraid to lose to our champion, Vince, the Invincible here…” the sparrows chuckled among themselves. “Go right ahead.”
After they had written Gregory’s name on the list with the other contestants, he and Vince got ready to jump. Vince went first. He got into position, took off like rocket, and stomping on the ground as hard as he could, leapt up into the air and cleared the bar with ease. The crowd cheered. Vince took a bow and went back to his seat with his head held high, like a champion.
Then, it was Gregory’s turn. He stretched his legs a bit, got into position, and shot up into the air with such speed, that even the poppy flowers got dizzy from watching him.
“Whoaaaaaaa!”
He had jumped seven times higher than Vince.
“Hooray! We have a winner! Hooray for Gregory, hooray!” the crowd thundered.
The sparrows were so embarrassed that they even skipped the awards ceremony – they flew away in shame.
“See,” said Doctor Owl. “That’s what happens when you count your chickens before they hatch. You become too proud, and set yourself up for a big disappointment.”
The crowd could not agree more.