T h E ELEP h ANT AND T h E h O r SE

by Alissa Clark

once there Was an elephant. The elephant loved peanuts. She was eleven years old, and she lived in the zoo. Her name was Lucy, and her favorite thing in the world was a little, red bag that she wore on her trunk. The bag was a birthday present from the zookeeper. She kept her peanuts in the bag.

On January 1, something very bad happened. A horse named James, who lived on a farm a mile away, escaped! James was a horse who was good, but a little bad, too. He saw Lucy at the zoo. She was wearing her red bag filled with peanuts. James saw the peanuts and thought, I want those peanuts. Just as he thought that, Lucy dropped one of her peanuts over the fence. James took the peanut and started to run away.

“My peanut!” Lucy cried. “Stop, thief!” She burst out of her pen and ran after him. James was a fast runner, but Lucy was faster, and she caught up to him. She lifted up her trunk and smacked James in the side. He was hurt, so he dropped the peanut. Lucy grabbed the peanut and ran back to the zoo.