Page:Dumbo (1939).pdf/3

THREE—POLTENSON—S488 eager to begin. :

“Flap your ears slo-o-owly,” said Wise One.

Dumbo did.

No-o-ow medium!” directed Wise One.

Dumbo obeyed.

“NO-O-OW FAST!” shouted Wise One.

And Dumbo did as he was told.

This went on for quite some time. First, slow—then medium—then fast. Then all over again and again, until poor Dumbo’s ears felt as if they would drop off.

When Dumbo’s flying lesson was over that night, he was a very happy, but oh, such a tired midget elephant.

Each night thereafter, Dumbo went to Wise One for his lesson.

And then one time, as Dumbo was flapping his ears, he did it JUST SO! Wonder of wonders, he felthimself leaving the ground. He became so, so, excited, he forgot to keep flap- ping, and down he came, BANG! He didn't hurt himself any, because he had only gone up a foot or so.

Red was just as excited as Dumbo, but he didn’t dare say a word,

Wise One looked very pleased, but he re- minded Dumbo, “Self-contro-ol, young man, ear-contro-o-ol.”

“Please, sir, don’t be cross with me,” pleaded

Dumbo. “I promise it won't happen again. Seer” And he flapped his ears, raising him- self off the ground even higher than before. And he never forgot to keep flapping until he was down on the ground again,

“Very go-o-od,” approved Wise One. “We'll continue tomorro-o-ow night.”

And as time went on, Dumbo learned to fly a little higher. And he stayed up a little longer, too,

Then one night, Wise One said, “I’m go-o-oing to give you your first real test, Dumbo-o-o. I want you to fly to the top of that barn over there.” And he pointed to a big, red barn a short distance away.

Dumbo nodded his head. He was really too excited to speak.

Then, he started to flap his extra-big-bright- pink ears, first slowly, then fast. You see, he had been practicing a long time, and he knew how to control them just so.

Soon, his ears were flapping so fast that you could hardly see them. Slowly he left the ground. Higher, higher, higher he soared. And almost before you could say JACK ROB- INSON, he was sitting on top of the barn. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he looked down and saw how far he was from the ground. Goose-pimples came out all over him.

Wise One, who had flown up with Red, said “Very go-o-od, Dumbo-o-o. Now, get ready to fly down.”

As Dumbo looked down, he got a funny feel- ing inthe pit of his tummy. The more he looked, the more scared he became. “I can’t,” he whimpered, “I can’t.”

“No-o-ow, no-o-ow,” warned Wise One, “pull yourself together. Count up to ten, and fly off the barn.”

Dumbo took a deep breath. He counted, “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.” And he started down.

He was so frightened, that he forgot to spread his ears straight out as Wise One had taught him. Faster, faster, faster he dropped. He thought he would hit the ground so hard that all his bones would be broken.

DOWN!

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This is the end, he thought. “Why did I ever think an elephant could learn to fly?” he asked himself.

Just as the ground was coming up to meet him, Dumbo shut his eyes.

He landed!

No—not on the hard ground—but on a soft haystack.

Wise One and Red were right beside him. They laughed so hard, that Dumbo couldn't help but join them. (It was the first and only time Dumbo had ever seen Wise One laugh.)

“We knew this haystack was here,” Wise One laughed. ‘We expected you to do-o-o something foolish, All beginners do-o-o the first time they fly off a high place.”

“Indeed, they do,” chirped in Red.

“Now, Dumbo-o-o,” continued Wise One, “Try it again. But this time, don’t forget to spread your ears out straight, and keep them that way.”

So, Dumbo flew to the top of the barn again, and flew down. Why, it was just as easy as pie. He did it several more times to show Wise One that he really knew how.

“Easy when you kno-o-ow how, isn’t it?” said Wise One. “But yo-o-ou still have much to-o-o learn.”

Each night, Dumbo learned to fly higher and higher. He also learned how to loop-the- loop, spiral, glide, soar and dip just like a bird. Truly, he was a wonderful sight to behold.

Sometimes, on the way back to the circus, Red and Dumbo played hide-and-go-seek among the clouds. Dumbo was amazed at the lovely colors he saw high in the sky at night. Silver, and white, and blue, and gray, and some- times even gold. And the moon looked so much bigger than it did from the ground. The stars were much brighter, too.

When he flew about, so graceful, easy, and swift, he felt just like a feather.

The birds were surprised to see this strange creature among them. They followed him, hundreds upon hundreds. Soon they all got to know and to like him. They invited him to