Elmer

1. There was once a herd of elephants.

PAST-[long ago] ELEPHANT CL:5-“ herd” 2. Elephants young, elephants old, elephants tall and short, fat and thin.

ELEPHANT YOUNG, OLD, TALL, SHORT, FAT, THIN. 3. All were different but all were happy ALL DIFFERENT. ALL HAPPY 4. And almost all were the same color.

ALL COLOR SAME 5. All except Elmer.

DIFFERENT ELMER-fs 6. Elmer was not elephant color.

INDEX-he ELEPHANT COLOR-not 7. He was patchwork. Elmer was yellow and orange and red INSTEAD CL:L “patchwork on body” YELLOW, ORANGE, RED 8. And pink and purple and blue and green and black and white.

PINK, PURPLE, BLUE, GREEN, BLACK, WHITE 9. It was Elmer who kept the other elephants happy.

ELMER-fs MAKE INDEX-them HAPPY 10.Their games and jokes were always his idea.

ALWAYS IMAGINE GAMES, JOKES 11.If an elephant was laughing, the cause was usually Elmer.

ALWAYS MAKE OTHER ELEPHANT LAUGH 12.But Elmer himself wasn’t happy.

HIMSELF NOT HAPPY 13.“Whoever heard of a patchwork elephant?” he thought.

THINK b.s “Elmer” SEE ELEPHANT CL:L “patchwork” WHO 14.“No wonder they laugh at me!”

REASON INDEX-they LAUGH ME 15.One morning, just as the others were waking up, Elmer slipped away. b.s “Story teller” MORNING CL:5-“herd” WAKE-UP ELMER-fs CL:S-“slip away” 16.As he walked through the jungle, Elmer met other animals.

TREE-[jungle] CL:S-“walk through” ELMER-fs SEE OTHER ANIMAL INDEXthey (left) 17. “Good morning, Elmer,” they said. b.s. “animals on left” GOOD MORNING 18. After a long walk Elmer found what he was looking for – AFTER CL:3-“walking” FIND SOMETHING INDEX-he WANT 19.A large bush covered with elephant-colored berries.

BIG-[large] BUSH WITH BERRY CL:F-“put berries on bush”, ELEPHANT COLOR SAME 20.Elmer caught hold of the bush and shook it b.s-“Elmer” GRAB SHAKE (shake bush) 21.Until the berries fell on the ground.

BERRY CL:F-“Berries falling” 22.Then Elmer lay down and rolled over on the berries, this way and that.

THEN ELMER-fs CL:H-“lay down and roll in left hand” 23.He picked up bunches of berries and rubbed himself BERRY PICK-up (take berries and paste on body) 24.All over until he was covered with berry juice.

-25.When he had finished, there wasn’t a sign of any yellow, FINISH, CAN’T SEE CL:L-“patchwork” YELLOW 26.Or orange, or red, or pink, or purple, or blue, or green, or black, or white.

ORANGE, RED, PINK, PURPLE, BLUE, GREEN, BLACK, WHITE 27.Elmer looked like any other elephant.

LOOK-LIKE OTHER ELEPHANT 28.On his way back through the jungle, Elmer passed the other animals.

JUNGLE CL:S-“walking back” ELMER-fs SEE OTHER ANIMAL 29.“Good morning, elephant,” they said. b.s. “other animals” GOOD MORNING ELEPHANT 30.When Elmer rejoined the herd, none of the other elephants noticed him.

CL:5-“herd” CL:S-“walking back” he-JOIN-them 31. As he stood there, Elmer felt that something was wrong. But what?

CL:V-[stand] INDEX-he THINK SOMETHING WRONG. 32. He looked around: same old jungle, same old blue sky, LOOK-around JUNGLE, LOOK-[up] BLUE SKY, RAIN CLOUD, ELEPHANT 33. Same old rain cloud, same old elephants.

NOTHING DIFFERENT 34.The other elephants were standing absolutely still, silent, and serious.

OTHER ELEPHANT CL:V-“stand” SILENT, SERIOUS. 35.Elmer had never seen them so serious before.

PAST ELMER-fs NEVER SEE INDEX-them SERIOUS 36.It made him want to laugh.

INDEX-he WANT LAUGH 37.Finally he could bear it no longer. He lifted his trunk and, FINALLY-[at last] CAN’T PRETEND. CL:C-“Elephant trunk” CL:B-open-“lift”

38.At the top of his voice, shouted-39.BOOO! (Cup hands around mouth and mouth word) 40. The other elephants jumped in surprise. b.s.-“herd of elephants” AFRAID 41.Elmer was helpless with laughter. Then the others began to laugh. b.s.-“Elmer” LAUGH LAUGH. b.s.-“herd of elephants” START-[begin] LAUGH 42.“Too bad Elmer isn’t here to share the fun,” they said, TOO-BAD ELMER-fs NOT HERE 43.Laughing harder and harder.

LAUGH LAUGHTER-[heavy] (transition slowly from laughing to heavy laughter) 44. And then the rain cloud burst.

SUDDENLY CLOUD RAIN-[heavily] 45.When the rain fell on Elmer, his patchwork started to show again. (rain falls on Elmer) (Start to show patchwork with CL:L while rain falls) 46.“Oh, Elmer,” gasped an old elephant as Elmer was washed back to normal.

OLD ELEPHANT INDEX-there b.s.-“old elephant” ELMER-fs b.s.-“Elmer” (continue showing rain washing paint off) 47.“You’ve played some good jokes, but this has been the b.s.-“Old elephant” PAST YOU MAKE GOOD JOKES, BUT THIS BEST 48.Biggest laugh of all. What would we do without you?”

WITHOUT YOU CL:5-“herd” WHAT-do 49.“We must celebrate this day every year,” said another. b.s.”another elephant” EVERY-YEAR WE NEED-[must] CELEBRATE THIS DAY 50.“The day of Elmer’s best joke.”

DAY ELMER-fs MAKE BEST JOKE 51.“All of us elephants will decorate ourselves in his honor,” said a third. b.s.”Third elephant” FUTURE ALL HONOR-him PAINT-ourself 52.“And Elmer will decorate himself elephant color.”

FUTURE-[will] ELMER-fs IT-[himself] ELEPHANT COLOR PAINT-himself 53.And one day each year the elephants color themselves yellow, EVERY YEAR ONE DAY ELEPHANT PAINT-themself YELLOW 54.Or orange, or red, or pink, or purple, or blue, or green, or black, or white, ORANGE, RED, PINK, PURPLE, BLUE, GREEN, BLACK, WHITE 55.And have a parade. If you happen to see an elephant

HAVE PARADE. SUPPOSE YOU SEE ELEPHANT 56.In the Elmer’s Day parade who is ordinary elephant color, CL:S “elephant walking” REGULAR COLOR 57.You will know it must be Elmer.

YOU KNOW IT-[himself] ELMER-fs