“Linda the little donkey” is a story I wrote for an 11 year old girl, who wants to stop to bite nails. After the story she put on nail polish on one hand, and within 2 days she actually did not bite nails anymore. After a week her mother arrived home later than she had expected. This made her stressed, and she bit a little bit of one nail. I made a second story about Linda, who had accidentally tapped a tree again; In this story her mother told her: “You can fall off the horse, and there is no problem as long as you get up again.” After this incident, no more nail biting occurred.

Linda was a little donkey, who lived with her mother in a nice, green lush pasture with beautiful fruit trees. She enjoyed life very much, and she often played with the other animals: The Squirrel family, the Butterfly sisters Lili and Sissi, and the little Porcupine Bert.  
Linda enjoyed life very much, and almost every morning her mother would say to her:

“Darling, you’re getting so big!” 
Linda loved when Mom was saying that: She was actually growing very fast, and she was so much stronger than she had been last year!&nbsp
She could now already galop round the whole pasture without stopping once, and she could already rear as a real big donkey!

Mom always looked with pride when Linda was playing and showing how big she already was.

 
There was one little thing hat Linda did not like about herself though. She had a bad habit! Always when she was grazing near a tree, she tapped on the tree with her little hoof. Just three times, just very light, but it seemed that she could not stop it. And now that she was getting a big girl, she wanted to stop that childish habit! 
One day she was sitting in a corner, being sad, and Mom asked what the problem was. Linda first said nothing, and after a couple of minutes she suddenly blurted out: “I am just a stupid donkey!” 
Mom looked shocked and worried. “Why are you a stupid donkey, honey?” 
“Because I cannot even get my hoofs to stop tapping on the trees, Mom. I tried so often, but then I forget again that I want to stop, and my hoofs do it again and again. It is so stupid, and my hoofs look horrible! I want nice, round, shiny hoofs just like you, Mom!” 
Mom looked as if she was thinking very hard. 
“You know what, Linda?”, she finally said. “We will go and see Auntie Squirrel in the Big Forest, she will know a solution! She’s a wise old Squirrel, and she has always known the answers to my problems!” 
The next morning Mom and Linda set off for the trip to Auntie Squirrel in the Big Forest. It was a far trip, and Linda remembered how her little legs had hurt the last time they went for a visit. This time however, her legs did not hurt at all! She was running up and down the path, and Mom told her to walk slowly, because it was a far trip. But Linda was not worried, and she made the trip easily without complaining. 
When they arrived at the big tree where Auntie Squirrel lived, she was already waiting outside with a big pot of tea.

“Oh, isn’t it nice to see you both! Linda, you have grown! Wow, you are getting such a big girl!” 
Linda looked proud, and Mom nodded happily. 
“We have come for advice, Auntie”, Mom said after a while. 
“Linda has a problem. She has developed a habit which she does not like. When she grazes and walks around the paddock, somehow her hoofs have to tap three times on all the trees. Just three times, and just lightly, but still. And her hoofs don’t look nice! They have rough edges, and they are not nice and shiny.” 
Linda nodded. “It is true, Auntie” 

Auntie Squirrel was quiet for a while, thinking very deeply.  
“You know what?”, she said finally. “I have an idea. Do you have pink ribbon?” 
Mother nodded. “We have still some pink ribbon from the last ballet show”, she said. 
“Good!” Auntie said. 
“How many trees are there in the paddock?” 
“”Ten!” Linda said. 
“What I want you to do, is tie a ribbon around 5 trees. And you tell your hoofs to only tap on the trees without a ribbon. What do you think about that?” 
Linda looked surprised. She had never thought about that! 
“And then, the next day you tie a ribbon on tree number 6, and then on tree number 7 and so on.” Linda looked excited. She could already see the ribbon on the trees, it would look so nice! 
“You know, you have little helpers in your tummy. They will help you to do what you want to do – so they will tell your hoofs to stop tapping on the trees!”

After a while Linda and her mother went home, and when they arrived home, mother went to look for the ribbons. The next morning they tied ribbons around five trees, and 3 days later Linda came storming around the corner. “Mom, my hoofs did not tap on any tree today!!” she yelled. Mom laughed, her little daughter was really getting big!