Dumbo
Version by Tamara Kula
Dumbo was a cute baby elephant. But he was very sad. He had no family and no friends. And he had enormous ears!
Dumbo worked in the circus. Everyone always laughed at him and made fun of him because he had such big ears. Poor Dumbo! Every night he had to be the baby elephant clown in the show. Everyone who came to watch the circus laughed at him too.
One day after the circus was finished for the night, all of the elephants went to a party. Dumbo started to go with them, but the other elephants laughed and shouted, “You can’t come, Dumbo!” They were very mean.
So Dumbo went back into the circus tent and cried. Suddenly a little mouse came running up to Dumbo. “Don’t cry!” squeaked the mouse. “Those other elephants are stupid. Don’t listen to them. I think your ears are wonderful!”
Dumbo was so surprised that he stopped crying.
“Yes, wonderful!” repeated the mouse. “You have fantastic, terrific, awesome ears! My name is Timothy.”
Timothy gave Dumbo a peanut.
After that, Timothy and Dumbo were best friends. Every day after the circus, Dumbo played with Timothy. He forgot about the mean elephants.
“I have an idea!” said Timothy one day. “You have wonderful, gigantic ears, and I think you could learn to fly!”
Dumbo was afraid to fly, so Timothy gave him a magic feather. “When you have this feather, you can fly!” Timothy said. So Dumbo tried … and it was true! He could fly!
“Tomorrow you will fly in the circus, and everyone will love you!” said Timothy.
The next day in the circus, everyone was laughing at Dumbo the clown. Dumbo climbed to the top of the ladder. He had his magic feather, and Timothy was riding on Dumbo’s back. He was ready to fly! But suddenly, he dropped his magic feather. Oh no! Now he could not fly.
“Dumbo, listen to me!” said Timothy. “You don’t need that magic feather. You can fly without it.”
But Dumbo didn’t believe it. He was afraid.
“Dumbo, you can fly!” yelled Timothy. “The feather is just a normal feather. It’s not magic. You can fly without it!”
Dumbo jumped off the ladder. And he flew!! He was overjoyed. Everyone was amazed. Dumbo was the star of the show!
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