Maria's Super-Sweet Share

In the middle of Candy Land, where the rivers flowed with yummy, gooey chocolate and lollypop trees grew tall, lived a kind girl named Maria. Maria loved helping everyone! But her most favourite thing in the whole wide world was her magical, ever-sparkling gobstopper. It shimmered with all the colours of the rainbow and tasted different every time she licked it.

One sunny afternoon, while skipping past the gumdrop hills, Maria saw someone new. It was Leo, a little licorice lion, and he looked ever so sad. A big tear rolled down his chewy cheek. 'G'day,' said Maria kindly. 'What's wrong, mate?' Leo sniffled, 'I'm new here, and I've lost my special rainbow sherbet swirl. I have nothing to taste the chocolate river with.'

Being the helpful girl she was, Maria sprang into action. 'Don't you worry!' she said. She picked a juicy gummy bear and even a swirly lollypop for him, but Leo just shook his head sadly. 'They're nice, but they're not special,' he mumbled. Maria felt a bit stuck. She held her own magical gobstopper tight in her hand. A funny feeling wiggled in her tummy. She loved her gobstopper more than anything and didn't want to give it away.

Maria looked at Leo's droopy licorice whiskers, and then down at her own sparkling treasure. Suddenly, her helpful heart felt bigger and warmer than the feeling of wanting to keep it. 'Hey!' she said, her voice bright like a sunbeam. 'You can have a turn with my gobstopper! We can share it!' She held it out, and Leo’s eyes lit up like fairy floss clouds. Together, they dipped the gobstopper into the chocolate river, and fizz! It tasted like bubbly raspberry fudge!

From that day on, Maria and Leo were the best of friends. They shared the magical gobstopper all the time, discovering new flavours like fizzy lemonade and caramel delight. Maria learned that sharing her most special thing didn't make it go away. It just made the fun bigger and the friendship sweeter. And in Candy Land, there was nothing more wonderful than that.