ALL-TIME FAVORITE CLASSICS: Disney

DUMBO

It was that special time of year. All around the world, in forests, fields and barnyards, the stork was delivering babies of various shapes and sizes to their new animal mothers.

Mrs. Jumbo, the elephant, searched the sky anxiously. Would she be one of the lucky ones to get a new baby? But all the storks passed by, and still there was no bundle for Mrs. Jumbo.

"Now I'll have to wait until next year." Mrs. Jumbo sighed as she shuffled aboard the circus train the following morning. It was time for the circus to move to another town.

The train was steaming across the countryside when the stork finally caught up with Mrs. Jumbo.

"Here is a baby with eyes of blue, straight from heaven, right to you. Sign here, please," the stork said.

Mrs. Jumbo started to untie the package. "Do hurry, dear," urged an elephant in a neighboring stall. "I'm on pins and needles."

Finally, Mrs. Jumbo got the knot open. There, sitting straight and still, was a baby elephant, his eyes still closed.

"Oooooh!" the other elephants chorused. "Isn't he a darling?"

One of the elephants stretched out her trunk to tickle the baby under his chin. "Kootchy, kootchy, kootchy," she said.

The baby wrinkled his trunk. Then he sneezed a sneeze so powerful that his two enormous ears flapped out to the sides.

The other elephants rocked back on their heels in shock.

"Isn't there some mistake?" asked one.

"Just look at those ears!" said another.

They all agreed on one thing. The ears were extremely funny. In fact, one said, the baby looked so ridiculous that he should be called Dumbo. "Dumbo! That's good," they all agreed.

Mrs. Jumbo turned away from them, and hugged her baby tight.

At the next town, the animals marched in a parade to announce the arrival of the circus. Little Dumbo walked proudly behind his mother, carrying a doll on his back.

Then it was time for the show. "Step right up and get your tickets!" the circus barker cried.

A group of boys in the ticket line noticed Dumbo eating his supper next to his mother. One mean boy started teasing Dumbo, and pulling at his ears. "Ain't that the funniest thing you ever saw?" the boy jeered.

Mrs. Jumbo did her best to protect her baby. But when the boy started to hurt Dumbo by pulling on his ears, she lost her patience. She spanked the boy with her trunk, just hard enough to scare him.

"Hey! Cut that out! You're hurting me!" the boy shouted. "Help! Murder!"

His cries brought the Ringmaster. who wrongly thought Mrs. Jumbo had attacked the boy. "Tie her down!" he shouted.

The Ringmaster snapped a whip in Mrs. Jumbo's face, and she reared in fright, fighting against her ropes.

Convinced she had gone mad, the Ringmaster had her locked up.

The other elephants blamed Dumbo for the whole situation. "Him with those ears that only a mother could love," one said. So instead of helping him find his mother, they gave him the cold shoulder.

Luckily, Timothy Q. Mouse noticed the lonely little elephant, and decided to befriend him. To cheer Dumbo up, the mouse said, "You know, lots of people with big ears are famous. All we gotta do is build an act!"

That night, Timothy climbed onto the Ringmaster's pillow, and whispered his idea into the sleeping man's ear. Dumbo, the baby elephant, would bounce from a springboard to the top of a giant pyramid built of elephants!

At the next performance, the Ringmaster announced his new act with great fanfare, promising "a pyramid of ponderous, pulsating, pulchritudinous pachyderms!"

The adult elephants entered the ring first, and climbed one by one onto a large ball.

Then it was time for Dumbo's entrance. Timothy had tied back his ears so he wouldn't trip on them. But as he ran into the ring, the knot came undone. Dumbo tripped and went flying off the end of the springboard straight into the ball on which all the elephants were balancing. The elephants went crashing to the ground.

Within seconds, the crowd had scattered, and the circus tent lay in ruins.

The Ringmaster was not too pleased with the little elephant, but he had to find some use for Dumbo, so...

Dumbo became a clown. He had to wear baby clothes, and jump out of a fake burning building into a tub of sticky cream. When the crowd laughed, it made Dumbo feel like crying.

But again, Timothy found a way to cheer up Dumbo. He took him to see his mother.

Mrs. Jumbo reached her trunk through the bars of her cage, and cradled her baby.

Dumbo could not stay long with his mother. He had to go back to the circus. On the way, he was crying so hard that he got the hiccups.

"Nothing a little water won't cure," Timothy said, and he led Dumbo to a large wooden tub in the corner of the tent. "Here. Take a trunkful!" he said.

Soon Dumbo fell asleep and dreamed of pink elephants, as well as green ones and white ones. And Dumbo had the weird sensation that he was flying!

The next morning, a group of crows found Dumbo and Timothy sleeping high in a tree.

"They aren't dead, are they?" one of the crows asked.

"No. Dead people don't snore," his mate said.

After further debate, the crows decided to wake the sleeping pair.

As soon as Dumbo realized he was in a tree, he toppled off the branch, and into the pond below.

As Timothy shook himself dry, he started wondering exactly how they had got up into the tree. They couldn't have climbed, or jumped...

"Maybe you flew up," one of the crows jeered.

"That's it!" Timothy cried. "Dumbo! You flew!"

Now all they had to do was test the theory. Dumbo was reluctant, until the crows came up with a magic feather for him to hold.

"Now you can fly!" Timothy said.

Dumbo stood nervously, holding the magic feather firmly with his trunk. He closed his eyes.

The crows gave Dumbo a shove, shouting "Heave ho -- off you go!" Dumbo flapped his ears.

At first, Timothy could not see through the great clouds of dust that had been raised by Dumbo's ears. But then he spotted Dumbo's shadow on the ground below. "Hot diggity! You're flying!" he shouted.

Dumbo opened his eyes. It was true! He was flying!

"Now I've seen everything," one of the crows chortled. "Those city folks are sure in for a surprise!"

That night, Dumbo had to jump again out of the burning building. "Come on, jump," the clown fireman shouted as he held one side of the net far below.

This time, Dumbo was not afraid. He had his magic feather. "Are they in for a surprise!" Timothy said.

But as Dumbo began to fly, the wind pulled the feather from his grasp. He froze in terror. "Come on, fly!" Timothy urged. "The magic feather was just a gag! You can fly. Honest you can!"

Finally, Dumbo flapped his ears. Down below, the clowns gaped in amazement. The little elephant could fly!

Dumbo became an overnight sensation. Everywhere the circus went, people came to see Dumbo the Flying Elephant.

He performed nose dives and spins and loops -- and Mrs. Jumbo watched proudly from her place of honor.

"You're making history!" Timothy said.

Indeed, Dumbo was the star of the circus. But he was just happy to be with his mama again.