Porcupine proudly held up what looked like a piece of cloth. “Look at this,” she said, “I made it myself!”
Hare, Dog, and Magpie nodded appreciatively. “How’d you make it?” asked Magpie.
“Knitting!” said Porcupine. “Beaver lent me a book with instructions. In the book they use things called ‘needles’, but I just use a couple of quills. Since I have so many extra, you know.”
Dog peered at the cloth as Porcupine held it up. “Are those sticks supposed to be part of it?” she asked.
“Oh yes,” said Porcupine. “Magpie, you’ll remember about this. I was having trouble getting anywhere with my new hobby, and you told me about the old saying ‘sticks in the knitting.’ As soon as I started putting those sticks in my projects, it was easier to get them done.”
“Er, Porcupine…” Magpie began.
“What?”
“Um…oh never mind,” said Magpie, remembering that Porcupine couldn’t hear very well. “Sticks IN the knitting it is. So this one is finished?”
“Not this one,” said Porcupine. “There’s something different about this one. No matter how much work I do on it, it never seems to be quite complete.”
“What is it?” asked Hare.
“It’s a thing called a girdle,” said Porcupine. “You wear it, and then you look more like Otter.”
“Why would you want to look more like Otter?” asked Hare.
“I didn’t say you’d want to,” said Porcupine, “I just said you would. But it’s never done.”
“Hmmm…” said Dog, “If you made another one of those, could you finish it?”
“That’s just it,” said Porcupine, “I got the idea from another one of Beaver’s books. It had a picture of a girdle, and it looked easy to make, so I tried it. But I could never finish it. This is the fourth one I’ve worked on, and not one of them is complete. All my other projects get done just like you’d expect.”
“Oh,” said Magpie, “I know what your problem is, Porcupine. It’s because it’s a girdle. Those can never be finished.”
“Why not?” asked Porcupine.
“I’m not really sure,” said Magpie, “but when I was perched in the college the other day, I heard some people talking about it. I don’t think they really know either, because they just called it a theory.”
“A theory?” yawned Dog, who was getting bored with the subject.
“Right,” said Magpie, “something about incompleteness, and it had to do with girdles. My advice, Porcupine, is to knit hats and scarves instead.”
Porcupine grinned. “That’s a good idea, Magpie,” she said. “Would you like a hat and scarf for the winter?”
“Why not,” said Magpie. “As long as you finish them.”
