Barnaby, the slow Sloth

Barnaby was the slowest baby sloth in the whole rainforest.

Not just ordinary slow, spectacularly slow.

One morning, his mother asked him to yawn before breakfast.

By lunchtime, he was halfway through it.

“Oh dear,” sighed Mama Sloth kindly. “You really must try to speed up a little.”

Barnaby nodded very slowly.

Three hours later, he finished nodding.

Now, Barnaby lived high in a warm tree with his family, where the leaves were soft, the breeze was gentle, and absolutely nobody was in a hurry. Even so, Barnaby was unusually relaxed.

The parrots laughed.

The monkeys pointed.

Even the snails whispered, “A bit sluggish, isn’t he?”

One evening, the rainforest animals gathered for the Annual Great Jungle Race.

The monkeys bounced excitedly.
The jaguars stretched dramatically.
The toucans polished their beaks for no reason at all.

Barnaby had accidentally entered the race six months earlier while reaching for a banana.

“READY!” shouted the toucan referee.

“STEADY!”

“GO!”

Every animal exploded forward.

The monkeys flew through the trees.
The jaguars vanished into the jungle.
The snakes zipped through the grass like living spaghetti.

Barnaby blinked once.

Very carefully, he lifted one arm, then he stopped for a tiny nap.

By sunset, the race was over. Everyone had returned sweaty, muddy, and exhausted.

Except Barnaby.

He was still at the starting line.

“Poor fellow,” chuckled a monkey.

But just then…

CRACK.

A huge branch snapped above the crowd.

Animals screamed and scattered as coconuts, vines, and leaves came crashing down.

Everyone except Barnaby.

Because Barnaby had moved so slowly, he happened to be exactly underneath the safest part of the tree.

The frightened baby animals hurried beneath his enormous fluffy tummy for shelter.

“Well,” said Mama Sloth proudly, “sometimes slow is smart.”

Barnaby smiled, very slowly.

The storm passed. The moon rose high above the rainforest, silver and soft.

One by one, the animals curled up to sleep nearby, safe beneath Barnaby’s tree.

The monkeys apologised for laughing.

The parrots called him “Captain Calm.”

Even the snails looked impressed.

Barnaby felt warm and happy.

He stretched one arm around his sleepy little friends.

Then he began the longest bedtime yawn in rainforest history.

It started Tuesday evening…

…and finished sometime Thursday.

And beneath the whispering leaves, with the jungle humming softly around them, every animal drifted peacefully off to sleep.

Especially Barnaby.

Who, halfway through falling asleep, accidentally started snoring before his eyes were fully closed.