Once upon a time there was a rag doll with flippy-loppy arms and a flippy-floppy head. She wore a red spotted dress, but only because that was what Sarah dressed her in.
Sarah was the little girl to whom the rag doll belonged. She was much bigger than all the toys so the rag doll thought she must be terribly important. The rag doll always tried to do as Sarah wanted – sometimes she had to sit quite uncomfortably in the toy box because Sarah had thrown her down quickly, but she knew it was best not to make Sarah cross.
In the toy box, the rag doll had two special friends, she spent most of her time with the teddy bear, because he was Sarah’s favourite.
“He is warm and safe and cuddly and all my friends play with teddy bears. Everybody knows that teddy bears are the best” said Sarah.
The rag doll liked the teddy bear too. He was funny and kind, and sometimes when he was with the teddy bear she believed him to be truly perfect like Sarah said. But her other special friend was not as popular with Sarah, or with the other toys.
She was a bright purple unicorn with a glittery horn and yellow hooves. She was different to all the rest. Sarah could not understand why the unicorn was purple, so she was a little bit frightened of her.
“Rag Doll,” said Sarah one day, “you must not play with the unicorn, You must play with the teddy bear. Look, Rag Doll, every one likes to play with teddy bears. You must play with the teddy bear too.”
The Rag Doll did not understand why she was not allowed to play with the unicorn but she didn’t want to make Sarah upset. Still, one day, she couldn’t help but play with the unicorn, who was unusual and special. The rag doll thought the unicorn to be just as nice as the teddy bear, but she could not play with them both.
That night when Sarah put her toys away, she made certain that the rag doll sat next to the teddy bear. She put the unicorn far, far away on a shelf in the playroom.
As the rag doll went to sleep with the teddy bear by her side she felt very happy because she loved him very much. But a tear fell gently from her silver button eye as she realised how much she wanted to tell the teddy bear too, and make him see, but she was too scared to try to explain.
Elspeth Benylin ™