Roy, the Baby Penguin

4.5

Once upon a time there was a very little penguin whose name was Roy. He was still inside his egg. He was not born yet, but he wanted very much to come out and play with the other penguins.

He pushed against the side of his egg with his feet and beak again and again, and at last the shell broke and he was born.

His mother looked at him. Roy was all brown. "That’s strange,” she thought, “penguins should be black and white.”

She tried to scrape the brown off with her beak, but nothing happened. Roy was still brown.

“I know what I’ll do,” she said. She went to the cupboard, took a jar of honey, and poured it on Roy. Then she called the white bear, whose name was Grumpy, to come and lick it off. Grumpy was very happy and began to lick Roy. When he licked off all the honey, Roy was still brown.

Then Grumpy said, “Roy has to climb a snow hill. When he gets to the top, he must lie down and slide down the hill. The snow will wash him clean.”

So Roy climbed a hill and slid down. But he was still brown.

“Let’s go and see the owl,” said Mrs. Penguin. “He is very clever.”

The owl, whose name was Joe, said, “Well, you are a silly mother penguin. Don’t you know that penguins are always born brown and only become black and white when they grow up?”

“Of course!” said Roy's mother. “What a silly bird I am to forget that.”

And really, when Roy grew up, he became black and white like all the other penguins.