In a child's room, on a shelf full of treasures, stood an old wooden box. It was no ordinary box. Inside lived seven magical wooden pieces that together formed a puzzle called a Tangram. Each piece had a different shape and a different color.
There were two big brothers, a red and a blue triangle, Rudy and Blue. There was also their smaller, yellow brother Middy, also a triangle. The two smallest sisters, a little green and a little purple triangle, were Greenie and Violet. Living with them was an orange Square named Oran, who liked for everything to be in order. And finally, the slightly shy and strangely twisted brown Parallelogram, Bruno.
One day, a great argument broke out in the box.
“I am the most important!” declared Rudy, the red triangle. “I am the biggest and the strongest! Without me, you can’t even build a proper roof!”
“That’s not true!” retorted Oran, the orange Square. “I am the foundation of everything! I have four straight sides and stand firmly on the ground. You’re just pointy!”
“And what about us? We are small and clever!” chirped Greenie and Violet. “We can be the ears of a kitty or the wings of a butterfly!”
They argued so loudly that the whole box trembled. It teetered on the edge of the shelf until... CRASH! It tipped over, and all seven pieces clattered out onto the carpet. Each one landed in a different spot.
Suddenly, it was quiet. They lay far from each other, lonely and scattered across the room. Their home, the safe little box, remained high up on the shelf.
“Well, brilliant,” grumbled Bruno, who had landed near the leg of the desk. “Now we’ve made a real mess of things.”
Violet was quietly sobbing under a big teddy bear. Oran lay flat on his face, angry at the whole world. Rudy tried to stand up, but it was hard for him to keep his balance on the soft carpet.
“We have to get back home,” said Blue, the blue triangle, thoughtfully. “But we can’t do it alone.”
The first obstacle was not long in coming. A large puddle glistened between the carpet and the bookshelf. Little Jacob had spilled his raspberry juice there that morning. For the little wooden pieces, it was a veritable sticky river.
“I’ll jump over it!” Rudy shouted bravely and took a run-up. He leaped, but landed right in the middle of the sweet river. He was thoroughly stuck. “Help! I’m stuck!”
The others stared helplessly. What now?
“Wait, we’ll think of something,” said Blue. He looked at Oran. “Oran, you’re sturdy. If you were to lie on the edge…” “And we could lean against you!” added yellow Middy.
They bickered for a little while longer, but finally understood there was no other way. Oran carefully lay down on one bank of the sticky river. Blue and Middy slid up to him and, with their long sides, formed a bridge all the way to Rudy. He carefully unstuck himself and walked across his friends’ backs to the other side. Then, all together, they helped the others across as well.
“Thank you,” Rudy said quietly, once they were all safe. “I guess I’m not as strong as I thought.”
“But we did it together,” Greenie smiled.
Their journey continued. Another challenge stood before them – the Abyss between the desk and the bed. The gap was too wide to jump. Below them was the dark and frightening floor.
“We’ll never get across,” Middy trembled with fear.
“We need to build something tall to get onto the bed, and from there it’s just a short way to the shelf,” Oran suggested.
They tried stacking themselves up. Oran was at the bottom, Rudy stood on him, then Blue... but the tower was crooked and kept falling over. It seemed hopeless.
They all sat down sadly, except for Bruno, the clumsy Parallelogram, who was pacing back and forth. He always felt a bit superfluous. He was neither a triangle nor a square. He was just… different. As he was pacing, he accidentally slipped and slotted himself perfectly between Rudy and Blue, who were lying side by side. And in that moment, they all saw it.
“Look!” Violet exclaimed. “Bruno has connected them!”
Bruno’s strange, slanted shape had perfectly joined the two longest sides of the large triangles. They formed a long and sturdy plank. It wasn’t just any plank; it was exactly the right length to reach from the surface of the desk to the edge of the bed. Bruno, who had always felt clumsy, was suddenly the most important piece.
“I… I’m useful!” he whispered in surprise.
“You’re our hero!” said Greenie, carefully crossing the new bridge. The others followed her. At last, they were on the bed.
The final obstacle loomed before them. The Book Mountain. Jacob had built a tower of fairy-tale books there. It was high and steep. How could they get to the top, from where they could jump to the shelf and their little box?
“What if we pretended to be… a cat?” Blue suddenly suggested. “Cats are excellent climbers.”
The others looked at him as if he had gone mad. But then they understood. They quickly began to assemble themselves. Rudy and Blue formed the body. Oran became the head. The little triangles, Greenie and Violet, were perfect ears. And Middy? He joined in as a long, elegant tail. All that was missing was Bruno, who cleverly attached himself to form the legs.
Suddenly, they were no longer individual pieces. A single, sturdy, wooden cat stood there. Together, step by step, they began to climb up the spines of the books. Each piece supported the others. When one slipped, the rest held it steady. They weren’t arguing anymore. They were a team.
Finally, they reached the top. Their home, the wooden box, was within reach. It lay open, waiting for them. One by one, they joyfully tumbled into it.
Once again, all seven pieces were together. They lay side by side, touching closely, feeling the warmth of each other’s wood.
“I’m sorry,” Rudy said quietly. “I know now that I’m not the most important.” “Neither am I,” added Oran. “Me neither,” whispered Bruno, “but now I know that every one of us is needed.”
At that moment, Jacob returned to the room. He looked at the scattered toys and then noticed the empty Tangram box. He frowned. But when he looked inside it, he smiled. All seven pieces were safely at home, nestled tightly together. They looked as if they were smiling at each other.
From that day on, the Tangram pieces never argued again. They had understood their great secret. They weren’t important on their own, but for what they could create together. Whether it was a bridge, a cat, a little boat, or a dancer. Their greatest strength was in their friendship.
And maybe you have a puzzle like this at home, too. Try to see what you can build together.