Once upon a time there was a strong and kind girl called Ashley. She was very poor and lived in Little Town.  Ashley's hair was very long and she had rosy cheeks and sad eyes.  

Ashley was sad because she was so poor and her parents were dead. She was so poor that she wore black rags and there was no food.  

She slept on the grass in the park under a blanket tent. 

One day, Ashley was in the park and there was a girl.  The girl dropped her bag and it fell on the grass.

Inside the bag were lots of fruits: apples, oranges, a pineapple and pears.  They rolled away in the grass and the girl was upset.

But then, Ashley helped to get the fruit back inside the bag. The girl was happy.

The girl said, "Thank you! My name is Milly. What's your name?"

Ashley said, "No problem. My name is Ashley."

Milly said, "Can we be friends?"

"Yes!" replied Ashley.

Milly and Ashley became best friends. Milly gave Ashley food and Ashley helped Milly whenever she could.

One day, Ashley was in front of her blanket tent when Milly arrived.

Ashley was drawing on a small scrap of paper. She was drawing Little Town. The picture showed lots of people, houses, shops and little buildings. 

Milly thought Ashley's picture was excellent and said, "I love this picture and I want to buy it!"

"Wow! Ok!" replied Ashley, feeling proud.

Milly said, "You could sell other pictures if I give you a paint set for this one. What do you think?"

Ashley says, "Good!"

Milly gave Ashley a paint set with pens, pencils, paper, paints and paintbrushes. Ashley drew more Little Town pictures, and some people looked at Ashley's drawings and said they wanted to buy them.

Ashley drew more pictures and got lots of money.

Ashley bought a table and an easel to help draw more paintings. Lots of people came to buy the pictures and they watched her painting.

News of Ashley's paintings spread to far away villages, towns and cities. And there were lots of people from far away to buy even more paintings.