“Good night, Molly.”
“Mom?”
“Yes, dear?”
“Will you tell me a story?”
“OK, little one. What kind of story do you want to hear?”
“I want a story about Bumpy!”
“Your little elephant? Ok – let’s see…”
Once upon a time there was an elephant named Bumpy. He wasn’t very tall, and he wasn’t very short, and he wasn’t very big, and he wasn’t very small. In fact, the only thing about Bumpy that was unusual at all was that his whole hide was covered in little bumps.
Bumpy didn’t think much about his bumps, because they had always been there. He had bumps on his trunk, and bumps on his forehead, and bumps on his back, and bumps on his legs, and bumps on his ears – he even had bumps on his rump.
“That’s funny!”
“Shhhh…..”
One day, when Bumpy was old enough, he got to go to school. All of Bumpy’s friends were there. There was Rollie the Rhinoceros, and Gilbert the Giraffe, and Suzie the Pig – and there were also animals Bumpy didn’t know.
One of the animals – a Water Buffalo named Bill walked over and stared at Bumpy for a long time. ‘Why are you all covered in bumps?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know’, said Bumpy. ‘I just am.’
‘Well I don’t like it’, said Bill. ‘It looks funny.’ Some of Bill’s friends laughed when Bill said that.
Well, Bumpy didn’t know quite what to say at first. He looked over at Gilbert, and Suzie, and Rollie, and they didn’t know what to say, either.
Then Bumpy looked at Bill and said, ‘I like my bumps. And I like Gilbert’s spots. And I like Suzie’s curly pink tail. And I like your long, furry coat, too. It looks very warm.’
Now it was Bill’s turn to not know what to say. Finally he just turned to his friends and said, ‘Let’s go play over there.’ And then he walked away.
Bumpy was happy. So were his friends. Then they all went to school and learned about how important it is to respect others, even if they look different.
I guess it helps to have a nice, thick skin like Bumpy if anyone says anything bad to you.
The End
A Geocache Notification Form has been filed with the Marathon County Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Department.