This is the story of the saggy baggy elephant. You can read along with me in your book.

A happy little elephant was dancing through the

jungle. He thought he was dancing beautifully, one-

two-three-kick. But whenever he went one-two-

three, his big feet pounded so that they shook the

whole jungle. And whenever he went kick, he kicked

over a tree or a bush.

The little elephant danced along leaving wreckage

behind him, until one day, he met a parrot

''Why are you shaking the jungle all to pieces?

What kind of animal are you, anyway?" cried the

parrot, who had never before seen an elephant.

The little elephant said, "I don't know what kind of

animal I am. I live all alone in the jungle. I dance and I

kick — and I call myself Sooki. It's a good-sounding

name, and it fits me, don't you think?"

"Maybe, but if it does it's the only thing that does

fit you. Your ears are too big for you, and your nose is

way too big for you. And your skin is much, MUCH

too big for you. It's baggy and saggy. You should call

yourself Saggy-Baggy!"

Sooki sighed, His pants did look pretty wrinkled.

"I'd be glad to improve myself, but I don't know

how to go about it. What shall I do?"

"I can't tell you, I never saw anything like you in

all my life!"

The little elephant tried to smooth out his skin. He

rubbed it with his trunk. That did no good.

He pulled up his pants legs — but they fell right

back into dozens of wrinkles.

It was very disappointing, and the parrot's saucy

laugh didn't help a bit.

Just then a tiger came walking along. He was a

beautiful, sleek tiger. His skin fit him like a glove.

Sooki rushed up to him and said:

"Tiger, please tell me why your skin fits so well!

The parrot says mine is all baggy and saggy, and I do

want to make it fit me like yours fits you!"

Now the tiger didn't care a fig about Sooki's

troubles, but he did feel flattered and important, and

he did feel just a little mite hungry.

"My skin always did fit. Maybe it's because I take

a lot of exercise. But... if you don't care for exercise,

I shall be delighted to nibble off a few of those extra

pounds for you!"

"Oh no, thank you! No, thank you! I love exercise!

Just watch me!"

And Sooki ran until he was well beyond reach.

After Sooki was safe, he tried exercising. He did

somersaults and rolled on his back. He walked on his

hind legs and he walked on his front legs. But there

was no change.

Sooki wandered down to the river to get a big drink

of water. Again he met the parrot, and the parrot

laughed harder than ever.

The little elephant sighed. "I tried exercising. Now

I don't know what to do."

"Soak in the water the way the crocodile does,

Maybe your skin will shrink."

So Sooki tramped straight into the water.

First he floated on his back and squirted water

with his trunk. Then he sank like a submarine and

blew bubbles.

But before he had soaked nearly long enough to

shrink his skin, a great big crocodile came swimming

up, snapping his fierce jaws and looking greedily at

Sooki's tender ears.