The child counted blades of grass on the lawn,
came to hundred
which was as far as he could count
when he was distracted by a worm,
it was yellow/brown and almost transparent.
Once he had seen Peter,
his friend, swallow one
and wanting to be brave too
he quickly swallowed the worm,
it tasted of damp soil
and then since there was no one around to tell
he began counting blades of grass again.
Came to hundred,
when it struck him that if the worm got hungry
it might eat his stomach.
Fearful he ran to his mother
and told her what he had done.
She smiled, gave him a glass of water,
with a drop of vinegar in it, to drink.
‘Now there, soon the worm will come out at the other end,’ she said.
He looked for days, never saw that worm.