by H. A. Rey
So the three of them got into the cab and drove off. "Maybe you could play a fanfare while you ride your bike in the show," the director said. "I have a bugle for you right here, and later on you'll get a green coat and a cap just like Bob's."
On the show grounds everybody was busy getting things ready for the show. "I must do some work now," said the director. "Meanwhile you may have a look around and get acquainted with all the animals—but you must not feed them, especially the ostrich because he will eat anything and might get very sick afterwards."
George was curious: would the ostrich really eat anything? He wouldn't eat a bugle—or would he? George went a little closer to the cage—and before he knew it
the ostrich had snatched the bugle and tried to swallow it. But a bugle is hard to swallow, even for an ostrich; it got stuck in his throat. Funny sounds came out of the bugle as the ostrich was struggling with it, all blue in the face.
George was frightened.
Fortunately the men had heard the noise. They came rushing to the cage and got the bugle out of the ostrich's throat just in time.
The director was very angry with George. "We cannot use little monkeys who don't do as they are told," he said. "Of course you cannot take part in the show now. We will have to send you home."
George had to sit on a bench all by himself and nobody even looked at him. He was terribly sorry for what he had done but now it was too late. He had spoiled everything.
Meanwhile the ostrich, always hungry, had got hold of a string dangling near his cage. This happened to be the string which held the door to the cage of the baby bear. As the ostrich nibbled at it the door opened—and the baby bear got out.
He ran away as fast as he could and made straight for a high tree near the camp.
Nobody had seen it but George—and George was not supposed to leave his bench. But this was an emergency, so he jumped up, grabbed the bugle and blew as loud as he could. Then he rushed to his bicycle.
The men had heard the alarm and thought at first that George had been naughty again. But when they saw the empty cage and the ostrich nibbling at the string, they knew what had happened.
George raced toward the tree, far ahead of the men.
By now the bear had climbed quite high—and this was dangerous because little bears can climb up a tree easily but coming down is much harder; they may fall and get hurt. The men were worried. They did not know how to get him down safely. But George had his plan:
with the bag over his shoulder he went up the tree as fast as only a monkey can, and when he reached the baby bear
he put him in his bag and carefully let him down so that the men could safely catch him.
Everybody cheered when George had come down from the tree. "You are a brave little monkey," said the director, "you saved the baby bear's life. Now you'll get your coat back and of course you may ride your bike and play the bugle in the show."
Finally the show was on. The whole town had come to see it, and how surprised they were to discover George on his bike right in the middle of it! The newsboy was there, too, and also the man with the yellow hat
who had been looking for George everywhere and was happy to have found him at last. The newsboy was glad to have his bag again, and the people from the other side of the street whose papers George had made into boats were not angry with him any more.
George!
When the time had come for George to say goodbye, the director let him keep the coat and the cap and the bugle. And then George and his friend got into the car and went...
HOME!
good night!
Curious George
gets a medal
This is George.
He lived with his friend, the man with the yellow hat. He was a good little monkey—and always very curious.
George was alone this morning, looking at a picture book, when the doorbell rang.
It was the mailman.
"Here is a letter for you," he said. "Put it on your friend's desk. He'll read it to you when he comes home."
George was curious. It was not often that somebody
wrote him. Too bad he could not read the letter—but maybe he could write one himself! In the top drawer of the desk there was paper
and ink and a fountain pen. George sat down on the floor and began to write—but the pen was dry.
It needed ink; George would have to fill it. He got a funnel from the kitchen and started pouring ink...
But instead of going into the pen the ink spilled all over and made a big blue puddle on the floor. It was an awful mess.
Quickly George got the blotter from the desk, but that was no help, the puddle grew bigger all the time. George had to think of something else. Why, soap and water, that's what you clean up with! From the kitchen shelf he got a big box of soap powder and poured all the powder over the ink.
Then he pulled the garden hose through the window, opened the tap and sprayed water on the powder.
Bubbles began to form, and then some lather,
and more lather
and more lather
AND MORE LATHER.
In no time the whole room was full of lather, so full, indeed, that George had to escape in a hurry...
When he was safely out of the house he first turned off the tap. But what next? How could he get rid of all the lather before his friend came home?
George sat down in the grass and thought for a long time. Finally he had an idea: he would get the big shovel and shovel the lather out of the window!
But where WAS the lather? While George had been outside thinking, it had all turned into water. Now the room looked like a lake and the furniture like islands in it.
The shovel was no use—a pump was what George needed
to get the water out, and he knew just where to find one: he had seen a portable pump at the farm down the road.
The farmer was away working in the fields. Nobody noticed George when he got the pump out of the shed.
It was heavy. He would need help to pull it all the way back to the house.
Maybe he could tie the goat to the pump and make her pull it? But just as George was about to slip the loop over the goat's head—
he was hurled through the air and landed near a pen full of pigs.
The biggest pig was standing near the gate. What if George opened the gate just enough to let him out? A big pig could easily pull a small pump.
Carefully George lifted the latch—and before he
knew it, ALL the pigs had burst out of the pen, grunting and squealing and trying to get away as fast as they could. George was delighted. He had never seen anything like it. For the moment all his troubles were forgotten...
But now the pigs were all gone and not a single one was left to help him with the pump.
Luckily, there were cows grazing nearby. Cows were gentle and strong. It would mean nothing to a cow to pull the pump for him.
This time George was right, the cow did not mind being tied to the pump. She even let him climb on her back—and off they went! George was glad: now he would soon be home, pump out the room, and everything would be all right.
Meanwhile the farmer and his son had heard the squealing of the pigs. They rushed home from the fields and now had their hands full catching all the pigs. Not until the
last pig was safely back in the pen did they have time to look around. And what did they see? A little monkey riding on their cow, making off with their pump!
The chase was on. George and the cow were ahead at first. But the pump was slowing them down. The farmers were getting closer and closer.
Now they had almost
caught up with them—but
WHERE WAS GEORGE?
Here he was—hiding in a shirt! The farmers had run past him. But on their way home they had to come back over the same road. George did not feel safe in his hiding place ... Just then a truck came rattling down the road.
George jumped aboard (monkeys are good at jumping) and was gon
e before the farmers had a chance to see him.
The truck drove to a part of town that George had never seen before. At last it stopped in front of a large building. It was the Museum. George did not know what a Museum was. He was curious. While the guard was busy reading his paper, George slipped inside.
He walked up die steps and into a room full of all sorts of animals. At first George was scared, but then he noticed that they did not move. They were not alive, they were stuffed animals, put into the Museum so that everybody could get a good look at them.
In the next room George saw something so enormous it took his breath away. It was a dinosaur. George was not scared this time; he knew it was not real. He looked at the dinosaur and then at the baby dinosaur—and then he saw the palm tree full of nuts. George liked nuts. Suddenly he felt very hungry (he had missed lunch that day). He would climb up and ... Just then he heard footsteps. He had to hide again—but where?
A family came in to take a look at the dinosaur. They paid no attention to the little monkey who was standing there. The monkey did not move. He stood so still they thought he was just another stuffed animal...
George was glad when they were gone! Now he could pick the nuts. He climbed up the dinosaur's neck and started to pull, but the nuts would not come off (George did not know they were not real either). He pulled harder and harder, the tree began to sway...
CRASH! Down came the tree on the dinosaur's head, down came the dinosaur, and down came George!
Guards came rushing in from all sides, and underneath the fallen dinosaur they found a little monkey! They pulled him out of there and brought him to Professor Wiseman who
was the director of the Museum. Professor Wiseman was terribly angry. "Lock that naughty monkey up right away," he said, "and take him back to the Zoo. He must have run away from there."
George was carried off in a cage. He felt so ashamed he almost wished he were dead ... Suddenly the door opened. "George!" somebody shouted. It was his friend, the man with the yellow hat! "It seems you got yourself into a lot of trouble today," he said. "But maybe this letter here will get you out of it. It's from Professor Wiseman; he needs your help for an experiment. I found it on my desk at home—but I couldn't find YOU anywhere, so I came over here to talk to the Professor."
And this is what the letter said:
MUSEUM OF SCIENCE
Dear George,
A small space ship has been built by our experimental station. It is too small for a man but could carry a little monkey. Would you be willing to go up in it?
I have never met you but I hear that you are a bright little monkey who can do all sorts of things, and that is just what we need.
We want you to do something nobody has ever done before: bail out of a space ship in flight.
When we flash you a signal you will have to open the door and bail out with the help of emergency rockets.
We hope that you are willing and that your friend will permit you to go.
Gratefully Yours
Professor Wiseman
Director of the Science Museum.
"So YOU are George!" Professor Wiseman said. "If I had only known ... Of course everything will be forgiven, if you are willing to go."
They got the smallest size space suit for George and all the other things he needed for the flight. Then they helped him put them on and showed him how to use them. When everything was ready, a truck drove up with a special television
Check List
• 1 Space suit, complete with shoes & gloves
• 1 Space helpmet
• 1 Oxygen tank
• 2 Emergency rockets
• 1 Parachute
screen mounted on it to watch the flight. They all got on and were off to the launching site.
They checked all the controls of the space ship, especially the lever that opened the door.
George tried it too.
The great moment had come. George waved goodbye and went aboard. The door was closed. Professor Wiseman began to count: "Five—four—three—two—one—GO!" He pressed the button and the ship rose into the air, slowly first,
and then faster and faster and higher and higher, until they could no longer see it in the sky. But on the screen
they saw George clearly all the time.
Now the moment had come for George to bail out. Professor Wiseman flashed the signal. They watched the screen: George did not move. Why didn't he pull the lever? In a few seconds it would be too late. The ship would be lost in outer space with George in it!
They waited anxiously ... At last George began to move.
Slowly, as if in a daze, he was groping for the lever.
Would he reach it in time? There—he had grabbed it! The door opened—hurrah—George was on his way!
Out of the blue an open parachute came floating down to earth. The truck raced over to the spot where George would land.
What a welcome for George!
Professor Wiseman hung a big golden medal around his neck. "Because," he said, "you are the first living being to come back to earth from a space flight." And on the medal it said: To GEORGE, THE FIRST SPACE MONKEY.
Then a newspaperman took his picture and everybody shouted and cheered, even the farmer and his son, and the kind woman from next door (who had worked for hours to get the water out of the room).
"I'm proud of you, George," said the man with the yellow hat. "I guess the whole world is proud of you today."
It was the happiest day in George's life.
The End
Curious George
Flies a Kite
This is George.
He lives in the house of the man with the yellow hat.
George is a little monkey, and all monkeys are curious.
But no monkey is as curious as George.
That is why his name is Curious George.
"I have to go out now," said the man with the yellow hat.
"Be a good little monkey till I come back.
Have fun and play with your new ball, but do not be too curious."
And the man went out.
It was a lot of fun for George to play with his big new ball.
The ball went up, and George went up, and the ball went down, and George went down.
George could do a lot of tricks with his ball too.
This was one of the tricks.
He could get up on the ball like this.
Or do it this way, with his head down.
This was another trick George could do.
He could hold the ball on his head, like this.
Look—no hands.
What a good trick!
But—but where did the ball go?
George ran after it.
The ball had gone into another room.
There was a big window in the room.
George liked to look out of that window.
He could see a lot from there.
He let the ball go and looked out.
George could see Bill on his bike and the lake with a boat on it.
George could see a big house in a little garden and a little house in a big garden.
The big house was the house where Bill lived.
But who lived in the little house?
George was curious.
Who could live in a house that was so little?
George had to find out, so he went to the big garden.
The garden had a high wall, but not too high for a monkey.
George got up on the wall.
All he had to do now was jump down— so George jumped down into the big garden.
Now he could take a good look at the little house.
And what did he see?
A big white bunny and a lot of little bunnies.
George looked and looked and looked.
Bunnies were something new to him.
How funny they were!
The big bunny was Mother Bunny.
She was as big as George.
But
the little bunnies were so little that George could hold one of them in his hand, and that is what he wanted to do.
How could he get a bunny out of the house?
A house must have a door to get in and to get out.
But where was the door to the bunny house?
Oh—there it was!
George put his hand in and took out a baby bunny.
What fun it was to hold a baby bunny!
And the bunny did not mind.
It sat in his hand, one ear up and one ear down and looked at George, and George looked back at it.
Now he and the bunny could play in the garden.
They could play a game.
They could play Get the Bunny.
George would let the bunny hop away, and then he would run after it and get it back.
George put the bunny down.
Then he looked away.
One—two—run!
The bunny was off like a shot.
George did not look.
Now he had to wait a little.
One—two—three—four—he waited.
Then George looked up.
Where was the bunny?
He could not see it.
Where was it?
Where had it gone?
George looked for it here, and he looked for it there.
He could not find it.
