H. A. REY Curious George
takes a Job Houghton Mifflin Company Boston
Copyright 1947 and renewed 1975 by Margret E. Rey
Copyright assigned to Houghton Mifflin Company in 1993 All rights reserved. For information about permission
to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue
South, New York, New York 10003. ISBN: 0-395-15086-8 (rnf.)
ISBN: 0-395-18649-8 (pbk.) Printed in China WKT Fifty-Eighth Printing
This is George.
He lived in the Zoo. He was a good little monkey and always very curious. He wanted to find out what was going on outside the Zoo. One day, when the keeper was not paying attention, George got hold of the key for the cage. When the keeper discovered what had happened, it was too lateGeorge was gone! WHERE WAS GEORGE?
They looked for him everywhere. George was hiding in the hay of his friend, the elephant. George was hiding in the hay of his friend, the elephant.
Finally the keepers gave up looking for him. George found a nice cozy spot to sleep under the elephant's right ear, and the next morning, before the Zoo opened, he got away safely. Once in the street George felt a little scared. What should he do in the big city? Maybe he could find his friend, the man with the yellow hat, who had brought him over from Africa a long time ago. Only George did not know where he lived. There was a bus stopping at the corner.
George had never ridden on one. Quickly he climbed a lamp post, jumped on top of the bus and off they went. Now they were right in the center of the town. There was so much to see that George did not know where to look first. If only he could go on riding like this forever! But after a while George got tired and a little dizzy. When the bus slowed down to turn into a side street, George jumped off.
There was a restaurant right in front of him. Mmmmsomething smelled good! Suddenly George felt very hungry. The kitchen door stood open and George walked in. On the table was a big pot. Of course George was curious. When the cook came back he had a big surprise. When the cook came back he had a big surprise.
Spaghetti was all over the place and in the middle of it was a little monkey! George had been eating yards and yards and had wound himself all up in it. The cook was a kind man and did not scold much. But George had to clean up the kitchen and then do all the dishes. My, what a lot of them there were! The cook was watching George. "You are lucky to have four hands," he said. "I have a friend who could use a handy little fellow like you to wash windows. "I have a friend who could use a handy little fellow like you to wash windows.
If you would like to, I will take you over to him." So they went down into the subway and took an uptown train to the cook's friend, who was an elevator man in a skyscraper. "Sure, I can use you!" the elevator man said to George. "I will give you what you need for the job. You can start right away. But rememberyou are here for washing windows. Never mind what people inside the house are doing.
Don't be curious or you'll get into trouble." George promised to be good, but little monkeys sometimes forget... George was ready to start. My, how many windows there were! But George got ahead quickly, since he worked with all four hands. He jumped from window to window just as he had once jumped from tree to tree in the African jungle. For a while George stuck to his work and did not pay any attention to the people inside.
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