This is George. He lived with his friend,
the man with the yellow hat. He was a good little monkey, but he was always
curious.
This morning George was looking at some of
his friend’s books. They were full of little black marks and dots and lines,
and George was curious: what could one do with them?
The man with the yellow hat came just in
time.
“You don’t tear a book apart to find out
what’s in it,” he said. “You READ it, George. Books are full of stories. Stories
are made of words, and words are made of letters. If you want to read a story
you first have to know the letters of the alphabet. Let me show you.”
The man took a big pad and began to draw.
George was curious.
“This is an A,” the man said. “The A is the
first letter of the alphabet.”
Now we add four feet and a long tail---and
the A becomes an ALLIGATOR with his mouth wide open. The word ALLIGATOR starts
with an A. This is a big A. There is also a small a. All letters come in big
and in small.
This is a small a. It looks like a piece an
apple. George knew alligators and apples. You could eat apples. Alligators
could eat you if you didn’t watch out.
This is a big B. The big B looks like a
BIRD if we put feet on it and a tail and a BILL. The word BIRD begins with a B.
BIRDS come in all colors. This BIRD is BLUE. George loved to watch BIRDS.
This is a small b. It could be a bee. This bee
is busy buzzing around a blossom. The bee’s body has black and yellow stripes.
George kept away from bees. They might sting, and that would be bad.
This is a big C. We will make it into a
CRAB---a big CRAB, with a shell, and feet, and two CLAWS.
This is a small C. The small c is like the
big C, only smaller, so it becomes a small crab. It’s cute. Crabs live in the
ocean. They can swim or run sidewise and backwards. Crabs can be funny, but
they can also pinch you.
“You now have three letters, George,” the
man said, “A and B and C. With these three letters you can make a WORD, the
first word you can read yourself. The word is CAB. You know what a cab is. I
once took you for a ride in a cab, remember? And now let’s draw the next
letter.”
The big D could be a DINOSAUR. There are no
live DONPSAUR TODAY, they have DIED out. Those you see in museums are DUMMIES. George
had seen DINOSAURS in a museum once.
The small d looks like a dromedary. A
dromedary is a camel with one hump. Riding on a dromedary can make you dizzy
because it goes up and down---up and down---up and down.
The big E is an ELEPHANT. He is eating his
EVENING meal: EGGPLANTS. George loved ELEPHANTS.
The small e could be the ear of a man, or
the ear of a monkey. People’s ears and monkeys’ ears look very much alike.
The big F is a FIREMAN FIGHTING a FIRE.
Never FOOL the FIRE DEPARTMENT, or you go to jail, and that’s no FUN.
The small f is a flower. George’s friend
was fond of flowers. George preferred food.
The big G is a GOOSE. GOOSE starts with a
G, like GEORGE.
The small g is a goldfish. He is in a glass
bowl and looks gay.
“Now you know seven letters, George,” said
the man, “A, B, C, E, F, G. With these letters we can already make quite a few
words. I have written some of them down: you read them while I get you your
lunch.”
“It seems the only word you can read is
BAD,” said the man when he came back. “I think we had enough for one morning I’ll
feed you now and then you take your nap. After your nap we’ll go on with our
letters.”
The big H is a HOUSE. It stands on a HILL
behind a HEDGE. George’s HOME used to be the jungle. Now he lives in a HOUSE.
The small h is a horse. He is happy because
he has heaps of hay. George had his own horse---a hobby horse.
