The Elves’ Speed Contest

Building toys for all the children in the world requires a lot of work. In Santa’s Village, this task is performed exclusively by the Craftician elves. They are very skilled and it is said that they sometimes use magic to build mountains of toys in record time.

Three months before Christmas, a dozen Craftician elves were busy making toys in Santa’s Workshop. They had just completed their training and it was their first time making toys on their own. As hard-working as they were, they didn’t yet have the experience needed to be able to make toys faster. Still, they bragged about their abilities to each other.

“See that beautiful bicycle?” a blond elf proudly asked. “It took me only 20 minutes to build it!”

“20 minutes!” replied a brown-haired elf. “20 minutes is so long! I made this puzzle in only 10 minutes!”

“Ah! You’re as slow as a snail!” teased a red-haired elf. “With my magic skills, I would have made it in one minute!”

Some other elves gathered around them to join the conversation.

“Yesterday, I made 10 basketballs in one minute!” said a curly-haired elf.

“I can assemble a very beautiful doll in 30 seconds!” added an elf with a buzz-cut hairstyle.

Still proudly holding the bicycle he just built, the blond elf said “There’s only one way to prove who’s the fastest. Let’s have a contest!”

“A contest?” asked the curly-haired elf. “What kind of contest?”

“Let’s make a complicated toy, like a smart robot. We will need to build a lot of parts so that it can move and walk. The robot needs to be able to talk, too!”

“Yes! Yes! A robot!” exclaimed the brown-haired elf. “I bet I’ll be the fastest one to build it!”

“Each of us will have 15 minutes to build the best robot they can,” said the blond elf.

“Once the 15 minutes are up, you must stop working. The elf who has built the smartest robot wins.”

“And what does the winner get?” asked the red-haired elf.

“All the other elves will write a song in his honor, a song about his skills and talent,” replied the blond elf boldly, obviously confident that he would win.

“Good idea!” said the elves in unison.

“I don’t think Santa would approve of this idea,” said a bald elf with a shy voice.

“Let’s just keep it a secret, OK?” insisted the blond elf, turning his back on the bald elf.

“So here’s the deal. Those who want to participate in the contest must show up one hour before our shift tomorrow morning.”

Do you think organizing this contest without telling Santa was a good idea? Come back later to find out what happened next!