The Alphabet's Story

Once upon a time…This story, my dear children, happened right here, in our school, to two first grade little girls. It is impossible not to know where the first grade is: on the second floor, right above the administration. You must know Emma and Ella, the twins sitting at the third desk, in the middle row. But who doesnlt know them? They play all day long: they jump the rope, they draw hopscotch on the sidewalk with the chalk they secretly s’ipped into their pockets at school – thatls why therels no chalk at the chalkboard…they c’imb trees, pull the dogsl ears…you must have noticed such restless little girls, and, to be honest, quite cute.

Although twins, they were quite different. Emma had greenish-blue eyes and twenty freckles, while Ella had bluish-green eyes and nineteen freckles. Therefore, to be frank, they were extremely different. That day that we are talking about, Emma and Ella were supposed to read one word – a simple word…and quite a tasty one. So, together with their teacher, they began reading:

- A…P…P…L…E…S

- A…P…

- Well?

- A…P…E…S   

-  Ha! Ha!

- Emma. Emma. Emma. You are not paying attention. Ella, please repeat after me:

- A…P…P…L…E…S Aaaaa….   A…P…P…L…E…S

- We donlt know and we donlt want to know how to read!

- How come?

- I like playing with my dolls!

-OK, but you still need to learn your ABC. 

-And I love playing ball!

-Sure you do, but the alphabet is as important.

-OK…but what do we need those letters for anyway? They are so boring, and moody as well.

-So the teacher had no other choice than to let them play…the whole day…. until dusk. And while they were rope jumping, they two little girls were singing a song they had made up, which sounded like this:

One…Two… Three…Cool! 
-You'll not find us at school. 
One… Two…Three…Four 
-We don't like school any more. 
We keep playing on and on 
-And there's nothing we want to learn, 
The whole day, cold or hot, 
-From early morning till late at night. 

Ohhh, I'm so tired. It's getting dark already.

-And I'm getting sleepy.

Emma and Ella are sleeping now, tired of so much play. But they don't know that, without letters, the world would be in great danger. The letters are everywhere. Without them, we wouldn't be able to get around. There would be no mail, because there would be no addresses. We would mix up the jars of jelly, because there would be no labels. Moreover, we wouldn't know who we are, because our names  are spelled with letters.

There would be no money, because there are many letters on the money. We could almost say that money is made out of letters. But the saddest thing of all is that there would be no books. Neither would movies, computers, road signs…nothing, nothing! The world, dear children, is made entirely out of letters. And one place where they meet is the alphabet book.  Well, you understand, the letters heard everything that had happened and they got upset. Consequently, their decided to teach the little girls a lesson and they sneaked into their dreams. Because, I forgot to mention it, being twins, Emma and Ella always dreamed the same dream.

That's how Emma and Ella woke up on the lake side where a very crabby old man was fishing. His name was Chatterbox. But, instead of fish, he was catching letters. High above in the sky, letters were flying. And down on the earth, instead of people and animals, all sorts of letters were wandering around: bigger or smaller, cursive or block, printed or handwritten. You couldn't get pass them unless you called them by name. But Emma and Ella didn't know them all; in case they wanted to return home, they had no other choice: they had to cross the lake. And Mr. Chatterbox told the girls that, if they knew what letters he was catching, they would take them to the other side of the lake. 
So here go Emma and Ella: 

- It's a C.

- Yes, from cat, corn, or cup.

- No, I don't like it. I'll keep fishing.

- OK, go ahead! Pull, pull!!

- Whoops! But this is an A from apple, airplane, or aviator. Pull! Keep pulling! Again!

- Oh… this is an R, from red, rabbit, or robin.

- Come on! One more time!

But Emma and Ella didn't know Mr. Chatterbox's last letter, so they could not cross the lake. Well, you can't say that C, A and R make up a word, can you?  Then, above them, there was a huge bird: 
- A pigeon…
- I am Pigeon Lilli 
But I'm also something else… 
- Guess and you can go!

Quickly enough, the girls realized that Pigeon was also the letter P, from pigeon or parrot. Together they read all the letters that Mr. Chatterbox caught , and all of the sudden a huge CARP jumped out of the waves and invited the two girls on his back, so he could take them to the other side of the lake. They said good bye to Mr. Chatterbox, which proved to be the letter C incognito, and to the Pigeon Lilli, who was in fact the letter P in disguise, and then left.

On the other side of the lake, the girls saw a house, and on the door, it was written in capital letters, which the girls had already known:

EMMA AND ELLA'S AWAKENING! The password was the alphabet.

What do you mean...the girls were thinking…to say it by heart? We won't be able to do it, said the girls sadly. But hardly did they start crying that from the windows, from every corner of the house, or from the top of he roof down came their very own friends, the letters. And they all started singing the ABC:

 A, B, C, D, 
E, F, G 
H, I, J, K, 
L, M, N, O, P, 
Q, R, S, 
T, U, V, 
W, X, 
Y and Z. 

Now I know my ABC;

Next time will you sing with me?

And just like that, while singing the ABC together with the letters, Emma and Ella were able to open the door and emerged from the dream into the real world, down in their own bed, exactly when their alarm cock stuck seven, as it does every morning. It was time for school!

- You can guess the surprise on the teacher's face that day, when Emma and Ella knew all the letters of the alphabet, and read the word APPLES perfectly:

- A…P…P…L…E…S. APPLES.

- Way to go, girls! Wonderful! I see you finally made friends with all the letters.

- Yes, we did!

- Well, was it hard?

- No, no!

- Of course it wasn't! With a little effort and a little help, you made it!

- Yes, we did!

Of course you did! The world, my dear children, is made out of letters. 
Emma and Ella already knew that the world was made out of letters… letters that were neither moody, nor boring any more. The letters were their friends.