Dido

A smart queen named Dido sailed on a big, blue sea. She and her friends were looking for a new home, a safe place to live. They found a beautiful land, but a king there said they could only have a tiny spot. This is the story of Dido and the Oxhide. Dido looked at the sunny hills and knew it was the perfect place to build a city for her friends.

'You can have as much land as one oxhide can cover,' the king told Dido. An oxhide was like a small rug. It was not big enough for a city! Dido did not get sad. She had a very clever idea. She took the oxhide and started to cut it. Snip, snip, snip. She cut it into a very, very thin strip. It was like one long piece of spaghetti. The string got longer and longer and longer. Her friends watched and wondered what she was doing.

Then, Dido took the long, long string to a big green hill by the sea. She and her friends worked together. They laid the string on the ground in a giant circle. The circle made a huge space for their new home! It was much bigger than the king thought. The king was so surprised! He said, 'Wow, you are so clever!' So Dido and her friends built a wonderful city called Carthage. It had tall, white buildings and many happy people. Dido showed that even a little thing can become something big with a clever idea.