Damru the Donkey said, “Mummy, I have a headache. I won’t go to school today.” 

His mother was upset when she heard this and said, “Damru, if you aren’t well, I will take you to a doctor. But you were absent for two days last week. If this continues, you won’t be promoted this year.”

Damru did not reply. The real issue was that he did not like his math classes. 

When most of his classmates knew how to count, he could not do it well. He knew he had a problem with numbers. 

During the math classes, he kept his eyes down, looking at the desk or peeped out of the window. 

His teacher, Mr Jumbo the Elephant told him to be attentive, but he just couldn’t concentrate. 

His mother’s affectionate tone made him feel like going to school. He knew that she won’t say anything if he told her that he wasn’t well. 

When his father died two years back, his mother took all the responsibilities on her shoulders. 

She now weaves woollen clothes and sells them in the market. Damru knew that his mother worked hard to raise him. He got ready for school.

Damru sat with his best friends, Cheeku the Rabbit and Meeku the Mouse. The second period was maths class. 

When the geography teacher left, Damru felt he was getting a headache. He knew he would not be able to answer questions on numbers. 

He did well in subjects like social studies, environment and language. But when it came to mathematics, he used to lose all joy in learning. 

Mr Jumbo is a kind and friendly teacher. He entered the class and asked them to open their books.

He said, “You know that addition means putting things together. In the previous class, you already did a bit of it. Let’s revise that. I will write down some simple number questions on the blackboard, and each of you will answer them.” 

Damru tried not to look at Mr Jumbo. He looked out of the window and saw Jumpy the Monkey walking on long pieces of wood called stilts. He was moving fast through the bushy meadows.

Suddenly he heard, “Damru, are you listening to me?” 

Damru turned his eyes to Mr Jumbo. He asked again, “Were you looking at Jumpy walking on the stilts?” 

Damru nodded his head. Mr Jumbo knew that Damru did not enjoy his class. 

He paused for a moment and said, “Let me arrange something for you. Come to me after school.”

Damru met Mr Jumbo in the teachers’ room after school. 

He said, “Let’s go to the meadow behind the school. I have a surprise for you.” A visitor was already waiting for them. 

It was none other than Jumpy who Damru saw walking on the stilts in the morning. Damru noticed his stilts on the wall.

Mr Jumbo continued, “Jumpy has brought a pair of stilts for you. He will teach you how to use them and walk. Jumpy, can you please help Damru learn the walking technique?”

Jumpy answered, “Certainly. This is not very difficult, but it requires practice.” 

Jumpy and Mr Jumbo helped Damru stand on the two pieces of wood. Damru was amazed! 

He could now see high above the ground. 

Jumpy instructed him how to hold the stilts to maintain balance and then to start walking slowly. It was really fun. 

Damru never imagined that he could do it. He moved like a turtle.

Mr Jumbo asked him, “How many steps you can take without stopping?” 

Damru kept on walking and replied, “Six, teacher.”

Mr Jumbo asked again, “Now take four steps to your right and then four to your left. Count the total number of steps.” 

Damru completed that and answered, “I have taken a total of eight steps.” 

Mr Jumbo praised him, “Very good. Now take four steps forward, then four steps backwards, and then tell me the distance you have covered.” 

Damru thought for a while before he answered, “I think… I have travelled zero distance because four steps forward and backwards mean four minus four. That means zero.” 

Mr Jumbo was satisfied with his progress. Damru was finally learning maths and having fun.

Every day after school, Damru joined the stilt fun and maths exercise with Mr Jumbo. 

Jumpy sat on the boundary wall and monitored their interaction. After the problems about addition and subtraction, Mr Jumbo quizzed Damru with multiplication and division sums.

“Damru, if you take six steps each towards the north and then east and do this again towards north and east, how many total steps will you take?” 

Without moving, Damru thought he had to cover four sides: north to east and again north to east. 

For each side, he will take six steps. So the total number of steps must be six multiplied by four, which is 24. 

Hearing his answer, the teacher clapped and said, “That’s right. You’re a brilliant learner. I’m sure you’ll secure good marks in maths in the coming exam.”

Damru’s mother noticed a change as now he practised sums daily and also completed his maths homework. 

Damru told his mother about his new method of learning with stilts.  He started helping her by calculating the daily expenses. 

He also helped her track the cost of wool that she buys from the market and even generated bills for all the customers. 

Damru even got good marks in his exams. His mother was very happy, but the happiest person was Mr Jumbo. 

He was glad that his way of teaching maths to Damru had worked very well.