The Friendly Number One
by Daniel Errico
Number One lived in the land of numbers.
He was the friendliest of all the numbers.
Whenever he walked down the street, he would smile and wave.
Everybody loved Number One… except for King Ten.
King Ten was jealous, and he didn’t like that Number One was more popular than he was.
He decided to hold a competition between all the numbers.
The loser would have to leave the land of numbers forever.
The rules were simple.
The King hid decimal points throughout the kingdom.
Each number had a bag to collect as many decimal points as they could find.
Whoever brought the most back by sundown would win.
Whoever brought the least would have to leave.
King Ten wanted to make sure that Number One would lose, so he gave him a bag with a hole in it.
He also gave all the other numbers a map to where the decimal points were hidden.
At sunrise the contest began.
Number One went all around the kingdom looking for the decimal points.
He was friendly to everyone that he met along the way.
Still, he could not find a decimal point anywhere.
He came upon the farm of Old Number One Hundred and said, “Hello.”
“Hello,” said Old Number One Hundred, “You’ve got a hole in your bag, let me mend it.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” said Number One, “Thank You.”
Old Number One Hundred sewed a patch onto the bag, and Number One was on his way.
By sunset, Number One hadn’t found a single decimal point.
He went back to the kingdom to face the King.
“It is time for a final count!” said King Ten.
Number Five had not come back.
He had used his map and collected so many decimals that his bag became too heavy to carry back in time.
Number Four and Number Three had fought over the same decimal point.
They argued over who should have it for so long that neither of them won.
Number Two had gone searching for the only other decimal point left on his map, which was on Old Number One Hundred’s farm.
Since Number Two was not friendly and did not say hello, Old Number One Hundred didn’t let him search his land.
Number One started to say that he had not found any decimals, when the King noticed his bag.
“You have brought back a decimal point,” said King Ten. “That makes you the winner.”
Old Number One Hundred had used a decimal point to fix the hole in Number One’s bag!
Even though King Ten cheated, Number One’s friendly and fair play had won the competition.
The King decided that no one should have to leave the land of numbers.
He realized that friendliness should be rewarded and not punished, and he threw a great party in Number One’s honor.
From that day on, the Friendly Number One was known as the greatest number of all.
