Catherine was a farm girl who was cheerful, kind, and just a tiny bit silly. She always believed that things would sort themselves out if she just waited long enough. Unfortunately, things usually did not.
One bright morning, Catherine was taking a big basket of cheeses to the market. She whistled a happy tune and thought proudly, “Oh, these cheeses will sell so fast today, I’ll be home in time for lunch!”
But as she skipped along, plop! One round cheese bounced out of the basket and rolled merrily down the hill.
“Come back!” Catherine called. Then she sighed. “Hmm. I don’t feel like chasing you. I’ll just send another one to fetch you.”
So she rolled a second cheese down the hill after the first.
She waited. She waited some more. She tapped her foot. She even sang a song to pass the time. But neither cheese came back.
“Well, perhaps they’re lonely,” Catherine decided. “I’ll send another one to keep them company.”
So she rolled a third cheese. Then a fourth. Then a fifth. Soon the cheeses were racing downhill like round little racehorses, while Catherine clapped her hands and shouted, “Good luck! Don’t forget to come back together!”
Of course, none of them did.
At last her basket was nearly empty, and Catherine grew a little annoyed. “I don’t want to waste my whole day waiting for cheeses who don’t listen. Fine! If you think I’m going to chase after you, you’re wrong. I’ll just go on without you!” she huffed.
And off she marched to the market, basket completely empty.
When she got there, her husband was waiting. He looked into the basket, saw nothing but a crumb, and shouted, “Catherine! Where are the cheeses?”
“Don’t worry,” Catherine said brightly. “They’ll be along in just a few minutes. You’ll see!”
And would you believe it? She was right.
A little while later, a commotion rose at the far end of the market. People turned to look. Rolling down the street came cheese after cheese after cheese, bouncing along as if they owned the place. And right behind them was a woman Catherine had never seen before. She had spread out a blanket on the cobblestones, set up a sign that read “Cheese for Sale!”, and was carefully stacking Catherine’s runaway cheeses into a tall, proud tower.
“Step right up!” the woman cried. “Fresh cheeses, delivered straight to my stall by gravity itself!”
The crowd cheered. Everyone laughed. And the cheeses sold faster than hot cakes.
Catherine’s husband sighed and put his head in his hands. Catherine, however, just beamed.
“Well,” she said, “I told you they’d be along, didn’t I?”
And from that day on, Catherine never chased after cheeses again, because someone else always seemed happy to sell them for her.