Kerin J Freeman, click
here to update your pages on AuthorsDen.
Ellie's Fur Coat (updated version) by Kerin J Freeman
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Rated "G" by the Author.
Ellie the Elephant wished she had a fur coat like the lion. She wants to be looked up to and admired. Her friend, Arnie the Aardvark, helps her to achieve this. After an arduous journey to collect the items she needs for her fur coat, she decides, after all, that she is fine just as she is.
ELLIE’S FUR COAT
Ellie came from humble beginnings in Africa. She had always been a little battler. Right from the day she was born. She was born into a caring elephant herd by a mother who loved her dearly. She had been a happy and contented baby.
There had been about 15 elephants in the herd with plenty of aunties and uncles to look after her when mum was tired. From the first moment she took a breath she had been fawned over and spoilt.
The herd roamed for long distances at a time, across the wide expanse of the veld, wandering in their ponderous way in pursuit of food and water. Ellie would walk under her mother’s stomach so that she was always in the shade out of the blistering sun, plodding along amid the dust, the thundering noise of their feet and loud trumpeting. They cooled themselves down in the rivers. They protected her from the lions who were always on the lookout for a tasty treat, because she was so young and little and vulnerable.
But, it all came to an end, as sometimes good things often do. The herd had stopped to drink and cool themselves in a nearby river; others were busy munching on leaves they’d stripped from the branches of a nearby tree and all felt at peace with their surroundings. In the midst of all this they were deciding which track to follow to the next watering hole.
Suddenly, the calmness was shattered by sniping sounds. ‘CRACK’, ‘CRACK’, ‘CRACK’. The older elephants knew exactly what that noise meant and stampeded. The ground trembled from the noise of fifteen bellowing, thundering elephants. They ran in all directions so that the red dust rose and swirled in the air; they couldn’t see in front of them. They were all very scared and afraid. Poachers were nearby which meant sudden death. It was the worst thing that could happen to an elephant. They were prized for their ivory tusks. In all this commotion, poor Ellie had been forgotten. She was left on her own, having no idea what was taking place around her, and that her life, as she knew it, was all over in that split second someone decided to shoot their rifle into the herd.
She closed her eyes tight. Her little heart thudded against her chest so hard it felt as though it would break free from her body at any moment. No one had prepared her for this so she had no idea what was taking place, but she did know it was something bad. The ground shook from the rumbling feet of the elephants; their trumpeting splitting the air. The ground sounded as though it was ripping open, spitting forth its venom.
Ellie became very frightened and put her little ears over her head to try and stop the noise from penetrating her brain.
Suddenly, as quick as it began, there was a silence; quietness, an eerie, humming stillness. Ellie opened one eye and saw the huge red dust clouds beginning to settle back onto the hard ground. She whimpered softly to herself and called out to her mother and father with a plaintive cry. There was no reply and no echoes of reasurrances. Ellie looked around her. She was totally alone in the vast wilderness. Nothing stirred. She heard neither the chatter of the monkeys or the cough from a lion that usually accompanied her world.
A huge tear formed in the corner of her eye and slid down her trunk. She didn’t know what to do so she lay down on the dry ground, closed her eyes and fell into a troubled sleep.
It was much cooler when she awoke in the evening. She woke to see the horizon’s brilliant shades of reds, deep blues and golds. Peace and quietness enclosed her. She stood up and surveyed her surroundings. She didn’t know which way to go. She knew she was hungry and so made for the nearest tree, but being so little she could not reach the nearest branch to her. She looked up at them in despair.
‘What do I do now?’ She muttered to herself. She knew from the repeated tales her aunties had told her she was prey to lions. Her sensitive ears suddenly pricked up, she had heard an uncertain, unknown noise. She started to tremble and her knees began to knock.
She peered into in the inky darkness but could not see a thing. The noises came nearer and nearer. Something was swishing, and snuvelling in the undergrowth. She stood very still, her heart hammered frantically against her chest. The bush in front of her parted and there was the most strangest, most oddest creature she had ever seen.
Its short neck was connected to a massive, dull brownish-gray, almost hairless body with a strongly arched back. The legs were short; the hind legs were longer than the front ones. Its head was elongated and ended with a long, narrow snout and its long, tubular ears were held upright. The short, muscular tail was sort of cone-shaped and tapered to a point and it had thick, powerful front claws to dig with.
‘What a funny, strange looking animal.” She thought to herself. She waited for it to speak, and it did not disappoint her.
“Hello” said a bright voice “where are you going. What are you doing out here all by yourself?”
Ellie told the strange creature that there had been some loud, terrifying noises and her family had run away and left her on her own. She had no idea where her mother or father or her aunties and uncles were.
“I’m sorry to hear that. I bet it was poachers with guns. They are always trying to kill us animals. No one is safe when they are around. It’s Harold, the Safari Ranger’s, job to keep the animals safe. Anyway, my name’s Arnie. What’s yours?”
“Ellie.” She replied quietly, looking down at the ground. He trunk hung limply in front of her.
“Well, Ellie, I don’t think you should be out on your own. I heard lions prowling around before. Why don’t I stay with you and keep you company for the night?” said Arnie.
She thought him a little presumptuous but friendly and decided that she did not want to be on her own, and told him that would be fine.
“Who are you and what are you?” she asked, looking at the strange creature with puzzlement.
“I’m an Aardvark.” Arnie replied. “I come out at night and sleep during the day and I love termites. Mmmmm…. They are nice and juicy and tickly and sometimes crunchy, you should try some.”
“I don’t think I would like them” she said. “I want leaves but I can’t reach them, and grass; oh, and a watering hole. Do you know where I can find them?”
“Come on, Ellie, we will find them together” and Arnie turned around and set off into the blackness. Ellie quickly tagged along behind the little strange creature whose nose was firmly pressed to the ground. What a funny little thing he was. She was quite taken with him. At least he seemed to be friendly.
She wondered sadly to herself about her family. They had left her to fend for herself. Surely they would be worried about her – come looking for her? Tears rolled quietly down her trunk as she trudged along behind Arnie. Would she ever see them again?
They came upon a watering hole and Ellie waded as deep as should could into the middle of the hole and sat down and threw water over herself for a while. She soon grew tired of that and wanted to know where the food was. Her stomach was rumbling and she was absolutely starving. Arnie took her over to a bush where she happily munched away. She wondered if Arnie was now going to leave her, she hoped not.
When she had her fill, Arnie took her over to the bottom of a huge tree.
“Go on, Ellie, you can go to sleep now, its safe here. I’ll stay close by and keep watch.” He was mumbling something to himself while he pottered and snuvelled around the dusty ground, looking for termites. Ellie lay awake for a long while. She was very tired but her mind was all over the place. She eventually fell into a troubled sleep.
Over the next few months Ellie and Arnie became inseparable. They did everything together and were firm friends. Arnie never had a friend before and he liked Ellie, even though he realised she had been unbelievably spoilt by her family. Poor Ellie, fancy losing your whole family, he thought. He decided he would be Ellie’s family from now on.
Arnie took Ellie to meet Harold the Safari Ranger. Harold was a nice man who lived in a Ranger’s enclosure. He was very happy to make her acquaintance. He was sad she had lost her family and made her welcome. He told her he would send the Rangers out to find the poachers. Maybe they would also spot her herd. He even gave her some of his teacakes his family had sent him from England, which she scoffed down as quickly as he could feed them to her. In fact, Arnie thought, she was a glutton! A ravenous, greedy pig. And, if he wasn’t careful, she would eat them all and there would be none left. He would try and push her out of the way when Harold brought out the cakes, but Ellie’s long trunk snaked and curled around him and took the teacake right from Harold’s hand. Arnie was lucky to get even one. Ellie was in seventh heaven and loved Harold to pieces. She felt all gooey inside when he came out of his Ranger’s hut to say ‘hello’. Even she agreed she was a bit of a hog.
Because Arnie loved his friend Ellie, and because she stayed up all day, he decided early on he would join her. Even though Aardvarks were meant to sleep during the day, he did not want to miss out on all the fun. The other animals thought him strange, but he didn’t mind, he liked being different.
--------------------------------
Month’s later, early one morning, Arnie trotted along the dusty main trail, feeling very happy with himself because life was good. As he meandered down the road he came across his best friend Ellie, sitting in a clearing looking decidely sad.
‘What’s wrong Ellie?” he asked. He didn’t like seeing his best friend looking so unhappy. He sat down beside her.
A few minutes went by before Ellie answered him. She looked up at Arnie and said sadly “The rains are coming very soon. I see the Lion with his fur coat and heavy mane. The Cheetah and the Tiger have fur coats too, to keep them warm and dry, even the monkeys. Why don’t I have a fur coat to keep me warm and dry?”
Arnie was puzzled. Surely Ellie’s hard, tough leathery skin kept her warm and dry. Nothing could ever penetrate that thick hide.
“You were made that way by the great God of Animals for a purpose.” Arnie told her. “Nothing will penetrate your skin. The God took special care when he made you. Your skin protects you from the harsh sun.”
“But I feel different to everybody else. I even look different with my grey, wrinkly, hard skin. With all these wrinkles I could be a hundred years old!!” Ellie wailed and protested.
“Different is good” replied Arnie “It would be very boring if we all looked alike. Look at me. I don’t have a fur coat and do you hear me complaining? No! I’m happy with the way I am.” Arnie looked down at his powerful chisel-shaped claws and his short legs, and flicked out his lengthy tongue and licked the top of his long snout. His eye sight wasn’t that good, come to that. But, at least he was a happy Aardvark. He had Ellie as a friend. Though sometimes, she only thought of herself.
Ellie sighed deeply. “I’ve always wanted and longed for a fur coat for as long as I can remember. It would make me feel and look so important. Look at the Lion, everyone looks up to him.” Ellie said shaking her head.
“You ARE important, Ellie. All the animals come to you for advice, they look up to you.” “You have a long trunk which you can tear down huge tree limbs, you can even use it to pick things up, and you can walk for days. You even have ears shaped like Africa. No-one else has that, and you are the largest living mammal.” replied Arnie. “You also got flappy ears to keep you cool”.
“But” she persisted “they look up to the Lion more – he’s the King of the Jungle.” moaned Ellie looking down at the ground.
“Only because he is ferocious and has a very load roar.” Arnie said in reply.
“He looks fierce because he has a fur coat.” Ellie could not be persuaded otherwise.
Arnie looked out over the veld. It was a very hot day, but Ellie was right, soon the rains would come. Ellie, he thought, was just being silly. Why think looking like someone else could make you better than you already were? He was happy as he was, just wandering around looking for termite hills. Lovely, juicy little, crunchy termites that tickled as they slid down his throat. His tongue came out and licked his lips at the very thought.
“I know,” he said suddenly “why don’t we go and visit Oliver the wise Owl. He knows everything. He’ll know how you can get your fur coat. Let’s go now.” He was eager to see his best friend smiling again. He got to his feet and waited for Ellie to decide.
Ellie smiled, she knew Arnie was right. Oliver would know exactly what to do. They had never been to see Oliver before, but they knew his home was in the great baobab tree.
The two friends hurriedly made their way down the dusty trail that would lead them to Oliver’s house. Ellie was very impatient.
“Come on, Arnie, do keep up.”
It was mid-day when the two friends arrived at the base of the huge, widespread tree. Ellie shielded her eyes with her trunk against the hot sun.
“Can you see him?” she asked Arnie.
Arnie looked upwards. He couldn’t see Oliver and the door to his house was shut tight against unwanted guests.
Ellie suddenly lifted her trunk and trumpeted “Oliver where are you? It’s Ellie and Arnie.”
They heard the wooden door to his home creak and groan at being opened. They saw, before anything else, round glasses wobbling on the end of a sharp beak. Wide open eyes gazed through them, blinking hard against the harsh white hot sun. Oliver’s round, well-feathered body followed.
“Who’s disturbing my sleep?” he said grumpily. “What do you mean by waking me up, you young wippersnappers?” “What do you want?” He peered impatiently down at them from his branch on high. “Well, I’m waiting.” He said, tapping his leg on the branch.
“Ellie has a question she wants to ask you.” said Arnie, his voice seeming loud to his ears.
“You don’t have to shout, Arnie. I have very good ears.” replied Oliver.
Ellie quickly explained to Oliver that she wanted his wise advice.
Oliver thought for a while, and as he did, his glasses kept slipping off the end of his beak. “Darn glasses.” he muttered to himself. Oliver’s thinking stretched into minutes. The two friends began to shuffle about on the earth. They were getting rather impatient.
“Are you ready, Ellie?” Oliver’s voice said knowingly.
“You take the tooth of an alligator, the feather of an eagle, a whisker from the snout of a worthog and a bat’s wing. When you have collected these items, grind them together, mix them with water from the Ulolo Spring and swallow the mixture. You will find, after drinking this, fur will start to grow very quickly. But remember, you must collect these items by the light of a full moon. Good luck! Now, go. Shoo! Scat! All this thinking has given me a headache, and you rudely interrupted my nap.” With that, Oliver retreated back into his home and shut the door with a bang!
Arnie wasn’t too pleased about hearing this news. He knew Ellie would want him to go with her and the very thought of collecting an alligator’s tooth sent shivers down his spine. And, what about the eagle’s wing? Surely Ellie didn’t think that he, Arnie, who was absolutely terrified of heights, would climb up rocks to get it. No, he was her friend, her best friend. Of course she would ask him to stay at the bottom while she clambered up the rock face.
“When is the next full moon, Arnie?” Ellie asked.
“Tomorrow, I think.” replied Arnie in a small voice, feeling very unhappy at the prospect of clambering up a mountain, running after a warthog and visiting a bat-infested cave. Oh, and don’t forget the alligator’s tooth – a shiver went down Arnie’s spine and his toes went cold.
“Good. Tomorrow it is. Tomorrow night you and I will take a sack and collect the items I need for my fur coat. We will meet here at 11.00 o’clock.” Ellie was very excited. The very thought of having a fur coat made her trunk quiver.
Next day, Arnie spent a very restless day waiting for the night to arrive. When it was nearly 11.00 o’clock, he trundled down the trail to where Ellie was waiting excitedly. She was holding an old, dirty brown sack.
“First of all, we will collect the water, then I think we should go down to the Rumpa River’s edge to see if we can spot Arthur the Alligator. He may be asleep, and in that case, I can creep up on him and pull out one of his little teeth. He won’t even notice it’s gone, he has so many.” Ellie had it all worked out in her mind. She laughed happily now she was doing something to make her fur happen.
Arnie thought that Arthur would notice and react rather violently. Alligators are not renowned for their good temper, and all those sparkly, shiny, very sharp teeth. Arnie trembled with fear. At least he could hide in the long grasses in safety at the side of the river.
The two friends made their way in the moon-lit darkness down to the Rumpa River and sat quietly amongst the tall grasses, peering into the inky darkness over the water. They were looking for something that resembled a floating log.
“Look, there.” whispered Arnie pointing with his claws out over the river “Can you see?”
The greeny-brown log slithered along very slowly and they could see two glassy, beady eyes gleaming back at them in the moonlight. Arthur silently glided through the water over to where the two friends were sitting. He looked very prehistoric and threatening.
Arnie was quaking with fear and Ellie could feel dread in her voice as she explained to him why they were there. She hoped he wasn’t in a bad mood. She could hear Arnie making little whimpering noises. Coward, she thought. She was feeling a little scared herself but would not admit it to anyone.
“Why would I give you one of my teeth, Ellie? I need them to crunch and bite my food.” His mouth grinned evilly wide and his white teeth glistened.
She told him she couldn’t have a fur coat without his help. That Oliver had told her to collect a tooth from an alligator. She thought Arthur, being the kind alligator he was, wouldn’t mind loosing one little tooth.
Arthur shut his eyes and lay very still for a moment. The friends held their breath while they waited for his answer. Arnie hoped he wasn’t angry. He had seen Arthur get angry before and he was ready to run if needs be. Arthur opened his eyes again and looked at them both with a stern look, and told her Ellie he would be glad to help. He opened his mouth as wide as he could, and, with long and very sharp claws plucked out a tiny tooth. He held it up for a moment, watching it gleam in the moonlight, then handed it to her.
“I hope your fur coat keeps you nice and warm.” he said. He turned and slithered like a snake quietly back into the warm depths of the river.
Ellie carefully put the tooth in the old sack and then turned to Arnie, pointing into the distance.
“That’s where Ermatrude the Eagle lives. Her nest is way up high on that ledge.”
Arnie felt like he wanted to cry. He hated heights.
“I’ll wait here for you. I’ll be the look-out.” he replied, hopefully.
“Look-out for what?” asked Ellie impatiently “Who’s going to hurt us at this time of night. I am an Elephant and I can go anywhere I please and you are my friend. Come on Arnie, we haven’t got all night.”
Arnie gulped noisily and started to follow Ellie. He wasn’t happy. The things he did for his friend. They eventually arrived at the bottom of a very high rock.
Up there, he knew, was the eagle’s nest. Ellie had already started to ponderously climb the rock and had stopped to look back at Arnie. Arnie knew what that look meant. It was her ‘Come on we haven’t got all day!’ look. He made a move. Slowly and carefully the friends clambered over the jagged rocks, making sure that every foothold was secure.
Sometimes, Arnie could hear small stones being dislodged above him and feel them falling past his head, nearly hitting him. He was a very frightened Aardvark. Luckily the moon was out and it lit the way. Eventually, after what seemed to be hours, they arrived at the top of the cliff where Ermatrude’s nest lay.
Arnie was startled to see Ermatrude the Crowned Eagle hovering over two small chicks in her nest. She was huge with nasty, massive flesh-tearing talons.
“What do you two want? This is no place for an Elephant and an Aardvark?” asked Ermatrude, puzzled. She was very possessive of her chicks.
Ellie quickly explained to her about the fur coat and Ermatrude gladly plucked out one of her beautiful tail feathers and handed it to Ellie. Ellie was very grateful and put it in her bag. She waved her thanks to Ermatrude with her trunk and set off down the steep rockface. After a very long, treacherous trip, Arnie was exhausted and very happy to see the ground again. All he wanted to do was to curl up in a ball, as Aardvark’s love to do, and go to sleep.
Ellie nudged him, rather hard, he thought.
“Come on Arnie, no time for sleep. We still have two more items to collect.”
She set off without a backward glance, expecting Arnie to follow her. Sometimes, thought Arnie, Ellie was way too bossy. It’s a wonder she has any friends at all, he grumbled to himself, getting tiredly to his feet. He was fed up and wanted to go home.
The friends carried on walking in the fresh, cool night air for what seemed forever, and eventually came to the entrance of a cave. The two friends peered hard into the inky blackness.
“Ellie, I don’t like the dark. I can’t see in there. It’s all very, very spooky” Arnie said, his little body shaking.
“Don’t be such a softie! Bertie the bat lives here. You know Bertie. He and his friends won’t hurt you” she said, stomping off into the pitch black darkness.
“Where are you Bertie?” shouted Ellie, her voice echoed around the cave.
Their eyes were gradually getting used to the dark.
“Up here” squeaked a tiny voice “Up here to your right.”
They looked up and saw Bertie hanging from the ceiling of the cave.
Ellie quickly explained why they were there, and Bertie burst out laughing in his high-pitched, squeaky voice.
“Why do you want a fur coat, Ellie? Surely your skin protects you from all weathers?” he asked, very puzzled.
“I want to be important and I want all the animals to look up to me and listen to me.” she replied “Now, can I please have one of your wings?”
“No, you cannot, you silly Elephant. How do you think I would fly if I gave you one of my wings?” said Bertie, annoyed.
“But” he carried on “if you look down on the ground, to your left, you will see a wing from another bat who died long ago of old age. Will that do?”
Ellie bent down and very gently picked up the fragile wing and carefully placed it in her sack, along with the other items she had collected.
“Thank you, Bertie, we’ll go now and leave you to sleep in peace. See you later.” Ellie waved her trunk and turned and started to make her way towards the entrance of the cave. Arnie waved a quick goodbye and walked so closely behind Ellie he could feel the swish of her tail in his face.
“Ooh” said Arnie, holding his nose as they came out into the fresh air. “It stank in there! Let’s go home now.” He was very, very tired by now.
“One more thing left to collect, Arnie. We have to go and see Wilbur the warthog and see if he will part with one of his whiskers.”
Now, taking a whisker from a warthog, without his permission, is a very tricky thing to do. They are well-known for their extremely bad tempers and you would have to know how to run extremely fast. Arnie didn’t think he could run THAT fast. Not at this moment. Arnie wished Ellie would give up this nonsense. What did she really want a fur coat for anyway, he thought grumpily.
“Wilbur lives in those bushes over there” said Ellie, pointing into the distance. “Let’s go and say ‘hello’ to Wilbur and get the whisker; then we can go home. I’m exhausted.”
“So am I” grumbled Arnie, hanging his head.
They walked on and on, on sore legs and feet until they neared the bushes where Wilbur lived. Arnie and Ellie began to walk very quietly and carefully indeed. Warthogs did not like to be disturbed and were more than likely to jump out of the bushes and chase you with their long, very big, evil-looking tusks.
“Wilbur, are you there?” called Ellie in a small, squeaky, frightened voice. She was beginning to wonder why she was there at all, when a loud, deep grunt split the air. The grasses began to shake and it wasn’t the wind that caused them to do that. They looked at each other in silence, their eyes big and round, when suddenly, before they could take a breath, a dark, solid shape came hurtling towards them, knocking Arnie over onto his back.
“What do you want?” demanded Wilbur in a deep voice, annoyed at being disturbed. He eyed them suspiciously.
Arnie scrambled to his feet with difficulty, while Ellie stammered out her story. Her legs began to shake a little with fear.
“You want ME to help YOU?” said Wilbur slyly. “If I give you one of my whiskers, what do I get in return?”
“I will give you one of my teacakes when Harold, the Safari Ranger visits me. He brings me lots of teacakes once a month.” she told him, not really willing to share them with the ugly pig.
Wilbur’s mouth started to water. Yes, he thought, that would do rather nicely. He could taste the cake already. He slowly licked his lips and dribbled a bit.
“Here you are.” he said plucking out one of his whiskers, wincing. He handed it over to Ellie.
“Don’t forget the teacake, because I won’t.” he warned Ellie menacingly, and turned and strutted off back into the long grasses with his tail held high.
The friends shouted their thanks together, and Ellie put the whisker in her bag for safe keeping. They looked at each other then turned and trotted off to where they came from. It had been a very long, long night.
After what seemed an eternity, they arrived home and Ellie began to grind all the items together with a small rock in a bowl. She added the spring water which they had collected earlier in the evening and then drank the awful, disgusting, smelly mixture. Her face began to screw up and looked pinched, as though she’d been eating a lemon. It was revolting. She sat down and waited. And waited and waited and waited After an hour had gone by there was still no fur coat. Ellie felt annoyed.
“Arnie, why haven’t I grown a fur coat?” she asked her friend.
“You just have to wait a bit longer, Ellie. Don’t be so impatient. Go to sleep and when you wake up you will have a fur coat.” Arnie yawned widely; his voice began to get smaller and smaller as he drifted off into a deep, deep sleep. Ellie, too, tired after her adventures, decided she would have a sleep. Peace reigned over the friends as they slept on and on and on.
Later, suddenly, Arnie was roughly shaken awake by Ellie.
“Arnie, Arnie, look, look, look! Look at my fur coat! Isn’t it beautiful? I have FUR!” Ellie was jumping up and down, proudly twirling around and around in her excitement. “Look at ME, Arnie.”
Arnie rubbed and opened his eyes and looked up at his friend in utter amazement. There was Ellie looking like something out of the dinosaur age. She looked like a mammoth. She had long, thick, heavy fur trailing down to the ground. Arnie said nothing, he was in shock, but he could see Ellie liked it, so he kept quiet and just smiled at her.
Ellie was so happy and showed off her fur to all the animals in the jungle who looked on in astonishment.
The lion just looked in amazement. The cheetah opened her mouth wide and laughed with delight. The monkeys jumped up and down, chattering non-stop pointing at her. The giraffe looked down her neck at her, shaking her head in disbelief. She could not understand how Ellie had grown fur. The rhino roared with laughter with his mouth open wide, showing huge, thick, yellow teeth.
During the heat of the day Ellie began to feel very uncomfortable and extremely hot. Her skin prickled and itched like mad and she kept scratching herself with her trunk. She went down to the waterhole and sat in the water and threw it all over herself to cool down and stop the itching.
“Oh Arnie, I feel so miserable” she wailed. “I’m hot and my skin itches and itches.” She looked very unhappy. “Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all. I think I would like it if the fur disappeared, Arnie” said Ellie, nearly in tears. “Do you think it will go?”
Arnie had absolutely no idea.
Ellie did not sleep very well that night and had nightmares about fires and her body burning up. Just before daybreak she fell into a troubled sleep.
Arnie was shaking her “Come on Ellie, wake up.”
“Go away” she said irritably “Go away and leave me alone.”
“No, wake up and look at yourself” Arnie shouted.
She did and to her big surprise, all her fur had disappeared – her wrinkly skin was back!
“I’m so glad” said the happy Elephant “I didn’t like the fur after all.”
“Next time” grumbled Arnie “when you get an idea in your head, please don’t include me in your harebrained schemes.” He wandered off by himself to find a juicy termite hill to forage in.
Ellie, of course, wasn’t listening. She was very happy, she was far too busy looking at herself and admiring her fur-free skin!
