There's an Elephant in the road !

<Stories about Susan, who moves Big things>

One day there was BIG ELEPHANT right in the middle of the road in front of Susan's house. The elephant was really in the way. It was a big problem. Nobody knew how to move an elephant, and the elephant did NOT seem to want to move. The school bus driver didn't know what to do. The taxi cab driver didn't know what to do. The children on their bicycles didn't know what to do, but they had lots of fun wondering what someone else was going to do. Mommies and Daddies in their cars didn't know what to do. The people working with the garbage truck didn't know how what to do.

So the elephant just stood there in the middle of the road. The school bus could not go. The driver just looked at the elephant. The taxi cab couldn't go. The driver just sat on the side of the road. Nobody could go anywhere. It was a big problem. Nobody could go ANYWHERE. Everybody was stuck. Well, the elephant wasn't stuck, but the elephant was in everybodies' way.

Susan said, "Maybe I can move the elephant." Some people said she was too LITTLE. Some other people said the elephant was too BIG. Susan said, "I'll just think about it a little, maybe even alot. That's a BIG elephant."

First she walked all the way around the elephant, being very careful not to get too close. Then she said, "MOVE elephant!" The elephant just looked at her. It didn't move. Then she thought how loud she sounded, so she said, "Please move, elephant." The elephant smiled, but it did not move.

Now she really wanted to get that elephant to move. She walked right up to the elephant. She pushed. She Pushed. She PUSHED ! But that didn't work. The elephant just tickled her with its long trunk and cleaned her head off with its little tail. But most of all it didn't move even a little bit. It didn't move at all. In fact, when she was all tired from pushing the elephalooked like it take a nap. Right in the middle of the road !

All the tail tickles and all the trunk tickles gave Susan an idea. She walked up the elephant and reached behind its knee and tickled with all her fingers. The elephant snorted. It almost laughed. It pushed her away gently with its trunk. But it did not move.

Susan tried blowing in the elephant's face to tickle it. This was tricky because the elephant's face was big, too. But the elephant blew right back. Again, it did NOT move.

Susan walked away from the elephant and sat down. She thought and thought. She looked a that elephant, and she looked at that elephant again. She tried to imagine something that could move the elephant.

Susan sat back down and thought and thought. Then she had an idea. She thought about her shovel. She thought about her bucket. She thought about digging a big hole in the ground right next to the big elephant. She thought, "We'll make a big hole next to the elephant; then the elephant will fall right into the hole. Bump!" Then she thought about how the elephant would feel when it went "Bump!" She thought it would probably hurt, because the elephant was pretty BIG. The elephant had been very nice, even if it wouldn't move.

Susan thought some more. She thought maybe she should go get a snack and come back and think some more. Then she thought maybe she should go get a snack for the elephant - A BIG SNACK. Then she thought, "What if the elephant went to get it's own snack ?" She asked everybody what elephants like to eat for a snack. Everyone agreed, "Elephants like peanuts!"

Susan went and got some peanuts. She put a bunch of peanuts very far away from the elephant. Then she put some peanuts a little closer to the elephant, and some more even closer. Pretty soon there was a line of peanuts all the way from the elephant to the big, far away pile of peanuts.

The elephant still didn't want to move, but when it saw a peanut right there at its feet, it reached out with its long truck and picked it up and ATE IT. The elephant hadn't moved yet. But now it could see another peanut just a little bit farther away. It reached, and it reached, but it couldn't reach that yummy peanut without moving. Finally, the elephant took a little step forward and grabbed the peanut and ATE IT. It stopped. It didn't move any more. Then it saw the next peanut, even farther away. It stepped a little further and ate that one, too. One by one, it ate all the peanuts. And with each peanut, it moved a little further from the road.

Finally, it wasn't in the road at all. Then the school bus could come, and the taxi cab could go. All the children could ride their bikes. The mommies and daddies could even drive their cars. Everyone was very happy ! Even the elephant, who had a very nice peanut treat.

Susan thought, "I can't make the elephant move by myself, but if the elephant helps, it's easy!"

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