An Otter Bedtime Story: The Ferry That Stayed Beside the Bank

This otter bedtime story follows Otis as a new bridge changes the job of his little river ferry. Read the complete original story below, followed by a small idea for telling it together.

The Ferry That Stayed Beside the Bank

Otis opened his ferry booth every morning by ringing a brass bell. Usually someone waited on the wooden landing. A duck with shopping. A mole visiting cousins. Once, a goose carrying a chair much larger than herself.

This morning nobody waited. Otis rang again, softly, in case the first ring had startled his customers away. Across the river, a new footbridge stretched between the banks. The duck walked over it with her shopping. The mole waved from the middle.

Otis sat on his ferry. He had scrubbed its benches and painted its name, Willow, in green letters. A clean boat with nowhere to go seemed a sad sort of thing. He loosened one rope, then tied it again.

Near lunchtime the goose arrived with another enormous chair. "The bridge is lovely," she said, "but our picnic table is on the far bank and the shade is on this one. Rather badly arranged."

Otis looked at his benches. He looked at the broad plank he used for a ticket counter. "How many are coming?"

"Seven. Possibly eight. My sister counts herself twice when there is cake."

They laid the counter between the benches. The goose placed her chair on the landing. Soon the duck brought a cloth, the mole brought sandwiches and the goose's sister brought herself exactly once, with a large cake.

Otis kept the ferry tied securely beside the bank. Nobody needed to cross. They stepped aboard and sat around the plank table, their reflections wobbling beneath the hull. Whenever someone reached for a sandwich, the boat shifted just enough to make everyone pause and smile.

"Could we travel somewhere?" the mole asked.

Otis glanced at the tidy ropes. "After lunch, if you like."

But lunch took a pleasantly long time. A cloud shaped like the goose's chair crossed the sky. The duck described something funny that had happened at the vegetable stall. Crumbs collected in the folds of the cloth.

By the time the plates were empty, nobody particularly wanted to leave. Otis put a cushion behind his back. Tomorrow, he thought, the sign could say FERRY AND FLOATING PICNIC TABLE. There was plenty of space beneath the painted name.

At sunset he rang the bell to close the booth. This time eight paws and two wings waved back from the landing.

Make this telling your own

Let your child name the ferry or choose what the passengers bring to the picnic. Keep the boat's change of use, since that is the heart of this story. An optional question after the ending is, "What would you put on the floating table?" You can also leave the question for another day and finish with the little bell.

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