"OH,MY PYJAMAS!"
"Oh, my pyjamas!" exclaimed Soufflé the elephant.
"Where could they be?"
He had put them by the edge of the river when
he had gone in to take his morning bath and now they
were not there.They were a magenta (reddish-purple)
coloured pyjamas with white flowers on them.
They were his favourite dress. Oh,how he loved them
and how he wished he would never have to take them off!
Troubled and bewildered, Soufflé looked behind every
bush, behind every tree, turned over every rock and
even flipped over Flibberty Gibbet the hippo(who was
sun bathing for a tan)to see if he was sitting on them.
But he could not find his pyjamas anywhere.
On his way back he came across some otter - lamas who were
marching to the river, chanting holy verses. Soufflé looked
suspiciously at them. They were all wearing magenta coloured
robes.
"But there aren't any white flowers on them," he thought,
"otherwise I might have thought that they had cut up my
pyjamas to make their uniforms out of them."
The puzzled lamas looked at the unhappy elephant and then
continued on their way,still chanting.
Poor Soufflé!Poor,little Soufflé,who was normally gay as
the sunshine and light as cup-cake was now feeling miserable
and heavy hearted.
"Oh,my pyjamas," he kept muttering, "I have to find them."
So he started out in search of them. Anything that resembled
the colour of his pyjamas caught his eye and he ran to have
a closer look at it - be it the scarlet curtain on the elegant
windows of the house that belonged to Chopsuey the chimpanzee
or the lovely vermillion scarf that Ms.Bela the spotted deer
wore. Anything that was magenta - or scarlet or vermillion
or purple or carmine or rose or violet or mauve. He scampered
anxiously from one place to another,huffing and puffing. The
citizen of the jungle looked at them,baffled and wondering
what he was up to.
Tito brothers were perched on tree and were very amused by
his antics. They were a noisy family of parrots and were
cackling and giggling unstoppably.
"Well,Soufflé my dear," said one of them, "wouldn't your
pyjamas be big, something very big? After all,they are your
pyjamas,no?"
At this all the brothers began to cackling and giggling ever
more loudly. Ta-Ta-Ta-Te-Te-Te.....
Quite crossed, Soufflé walked away from there. Soon he came
across a large and grassy clearing. The grass was thick
creamy and lovely and looked very delicious. It would have
been a dream pasture for any deer or wild buffalo but for
the fact that no animal was allowed to graze there.
For this was the private golf course of His Majesty,Lord
Swagger the lion,the king of the jungle, the keeper of eternal
peace and justice. Lord Swagger was out there in the field
that day, wearing a shiny new outfit.Swinging his golf club
idly, and surrounded by his courtiers, he was looking very
proud and royal. He was with Jiffy Giraffe, Yahoo Bear and
Goodluck the rhinoceros(how the rhino came to be called
Goodluck,well that's for another day). They were all out there
enjoying the warm sunshine of an early afternoon and the cool
breeze that was blowing.
"Good morning,Sire," said Soufflé in a very sad voice, "Good
morning,everybody."
"Well,it's a very late morning,my dear," said Goodluck, "and
you don't look too happy.Is anything wrong?"
"I have lost my pyjamas," Soufflé explained, "you know the ones
that were magenta coloured and had white flowers on them.I had
gone to take a bath in the river. When I come out they were
simply not there. Now who could have taken them?"
Suddenly something caught his eye. It was purple-red and had
some white patterns on it.
It was Lord Swagger's shirt!
Soufflé became highly excited and forgetting that he was
speaking to the master of the jungle,he said loudly,
"Hey Mister, I want to have a closer look at your shirt!"
Everyone was stunned into silence. Lord Swagger was about
to lose his famous temper when Yahoo bear said severely,
"Have you completely forgot how one addresses the royalty?
One say 'Sire' not Mister."
"Er...um...yes...," Soufflé had suddenly realized his
mistake and now looking very timid and bewildered.
"Well, Soufflé?" inquired Lord Swagger, who was willing to
forgive the baffled elephant if he would apologize.
"Don't say 'Mister', say 'Sire', don't say 'Mister', say
'Sire'," Soufflé kept reminding himself. But by now he was
utterly confused and did not know what to say anymore.
He blurted,
"Mire...I mean,sister....I mean,I want to Shee your sirt."
Lord Swagger was furious with rage and was about to explode.
But by this time a very frightened and trembling Soufflé
had disappeared as quickly as he could.
Dejected, the poor elephant wandered back to the river.
"Oh, my pyjamas," he sighed.
He was broken-hearted. He could hardly believe it. He
kept wondering why Lord Swagger would want to make a shirt
out of his pyjamas. Why did the Lord of the jungle steal
from a poor little innocent creature?
"Well, there isn't anything I can do,"he sighed for he is
the Lord, the master, the king."
"The dictator, the tyrant!" he added angrily and then sighed
again. "If the king wants to make a shirt out of my pyjamas,
fine. Or if he wants to make a cushion cover,fine. Or a
shopping bag or a bath-robe, that's fine too."
Soufflé felt crushed.
Burger tortoise and Guru the crane were strolling nearby. On
seeing Soufflé looking all miserable and wretched they came and
asked him what the matter was.
"Guru, do you remember my pyjamas -magenta coloured and...."
"....and had white flowers on them," said Guru, adjusting
his sunglasses, "the one that your aunt twice removed gave
to you on your fourth birthday from the last? Sure,I remember."
"Or was that the fifth birthday?" said Burger.
"His majesty Lord Swagger has stolen them and has had a shirt
made out of them for himself," announced Soufflé.
There was a long silence.
Then Guru said earnestly.
"A shirt? Why a shirt? They would have been much better as a
table-cover with lace at the edges, you know for one of those
large royal dining table that seats thirty."
"Forty five," corrected Burger, "But I think they would have
made very nice hanker-chiefs, six dozen boxes of them."
"Or a bed sheet," Soufflé joined in , "they would had made a
terrific bed sheet."
"Along with mattress covers for the royal bed," added Burger.
"Or a beach umbrella." said Guru.
"With a matching beach-mat extra large," added Soufflé.
"Or...."
So they went on and on. The three friends were seated on the
edge of the river. It was now very late in the afternoon and
the sky was turning to orange. The glow of a fading sun was
softly warm and felt nice. Soufflé did not feel so bad now.
He was terribly busy figuring out all the wonderful things
that could have been made out of his pyjamas -all things that
Lord Swagger was not smart or artistic enough to think of.
Some strange noises were coming from the river. Someone was
shouting, laughing, clapping and screaming. At first they did
not pay much attention. Both the excited screaming and clapping
grew ever more loud. Burger looked up to see what the stir was
all about. He saw a bunch of a frisky monkey some distance
away, fluttering about a boat, trying to put a sail on it.
"Soufflé, look!" he exclaimed, "Look at the sail."
Soufflé looked.
The sail was a large magenta coloured cloth white flowers
on it.
"Those are my pyjamas!" screamed Soufflé.
He dashed excitedly towards the boat with large, splashing
steps. On seeing a large angry elephant running towards them,
the monkeys abandoned the boat and scampered away.
Soufflé leaped into the boat and pulled down his pyjamas from
the mast. He dancing and weeping with joy.
"Oh,my pyjamas, my magenta pyjamas," he cried, "my magenta
pyjamas with white flowers."
By the time the boat was smashed to pieces.
"Well Soufflé," said Guru adjusting his sun-glasses, "Looks
like you have found your pyjamas at last. And you thought
that His Majesty had stolen them!"
"Why should he do such a thing!" Soufflé was still weeping
and laughing.
They were now all walking back to the forest.
"He is the kindest, nicest king of any jungle anywhere. You
know, I never for a moment believed that...."
As Soufflé went on speaking, Burger and Guru were laughing
and nodding.