Eero finds a loophole

Eero backs up, in an attempt to get a better angle of view on the top of the pole, wondering how the eggs are positioned on top.

He runs to the shed to fetch some things to help him, quickly deciding on a butterfly net to catch the eggs, as well as a lion mask to cushion the eggs once he’s caught them.

As he begins to head back towards the eggs, though, he is distracted by a length of guttering, and wonders whether he can use to build a chute that will allow the eggs to roll all the way down from the top of the pole.

Eero climbs up onto the table next to the pole to lean his chute – which is just a little but too short for his plan to work – against the pole, and then remembers that he is meant to keep at least one foot on the ground at all times.

Eero comes up with a clever loophole to get around the rule about having one foot on the ground: using a child’s excavator toy, he digs up some soil and spreads it out across the table, insisting that his feet will therefore still be on the ground, even as he stands on the table. However, his loophole is all for naught, as Eero realises that his chute strategy will not work after all.

Eero resigns himself to trying to catch eggs in the butterfly net from the ground. Arming himself with the net and the lion mask, Eero kicks the pole, knocking half of the eggs off, and they all break upon impact with the ground.

With a little more caution, Eero whacks the pole a second time with his net. This time, only a single egg falls, and he manages to catch in his net, but it still breaks upon impact.

Eero then abandons his net and mask strategy, instead opting to attempt to catch the eggs in his hands. Ultimately, he manages to catch two intact eggs in this way.

For retrieving two intact eggs – which, according to Pamela’s scale, makes his attempt “a resounding success” – Eero earns third place.

(Written by Jenny R and proofread by Karl Craven)

(Illustrations collected by Jenny R and adjusted by Karl Craven)