In earlier parts of the story, the Little Sumo, the princess, and Mummy and Daddy were picked up by a nasty giant, and taken to his castle. The giant wanted to eat them and so set them on his dinner table. The princess asked why he didn’t use a plate, and the giant left to fetch a big rock to use as a plate. Daddy found a crack between the window and sill that they could escape through. But before they had time, they heard the giant coming back.
“Oh, dear!” said Mummy. “We don’t have time to escape. We’ll have to try again.”
They all ran back to the middle of the table, and pretended not to have moved. The giant set down a huge, smooth rock on the table in front of them.
“Well, now I have my plate,” he boomed. “Let’s eat breakfast!”
*
Part 3:
The giant looked at the four people hungrily, and licked his lips.
“Are you going to eat with chopsticks or a fork?” asked the Little Sumo.
The giant looked confused. “What?”
“I like to use a fork,” said Daddy. “It’s very hard to eat some things with chopsticks – tofu, for example.”
“Umm…” said the giant, scratching his chin.
“Oh, no,” said Mummy. “I always use chopsticks.”
“Yes, so do I,” said the princess. “I imagine that such an important giant must use chopsticks to eat too. He certainly is too important to eat with just his hands!”
“Chopsticks!” boomed the giant. “I was just about to go and get my chopsticks.”
The giant turned around and walked out of the room, looking embarrassed.
“Quick!” said Daddy. “Let’s go and climb through the gap between the window and the sill.”
So they all ran to the crack, and they were able to squeeze through to the other side. While they were there, they heard some strange noises. The giant seemed to be pulling something big out of the ground.
But unfortunately, on the other side of the window, there was no way to get to the ground. The window was too high!
“It hasn’t worked!” said Daddy. “We can’t get down. We’ll have to go back inside the castle and think of something else.”
Just then they heard the sounds of the giant pulling something heavy into the castle, so they all squeezed back through the crack and returned to the table, and pretended that they hadn’t moved.
The giant came into the room carrying two large and heavy trees. He placed them against the giant table while he rested and caught his breath.
“There!” said the giant. “I have brought two chopsticks to eat my breakfast with.
“Well,” said the princess. “Now you have a plate. And you have chopsticks. If only you had a napkin, you would be ready to eat breakfast.”
The giant looked sad. “A napkin?” he said.
“Oh, yes,” said Mummy. “It is very important always to eat breakfast with a napkin.”
“One time when I was a baby, I didn’t put on my napkin,” said the Little Sumo.
“That’s right,” said Daddy. “And then you spilled food all over your clothes.”
“But I’m not a baby any more,” said the Little Sumo. “I always use a napkin to eat breakfast!”
“Right!” boomed the giant. “You all wait here while I go and find my napkin.”
Then the giant turned around and left the room. They heard him leaving the castle.
“Quick!” said the princess. “We can climb down the giant’s chopsticks.”
“That’s right,” said Mummy. “They’re not really chopsticks. They are actually trees.”
So they all climbed down the trees, and ran out of the room. They found the entrance to the castle, which the giant had left open.
“I wonder what he is going to use as a napkin?” asked the Little Sumo.
“He must be looking for something huge,” said Daddy. “Maybe he will use a carpet or rug.”
“I think he might use a curtain,” said Mummy.
“Never mind,” said the princess. “Let’s all go home.”
So the princess, and Mummy and Daddy, and the Little Sumo cheerfully walked back home. And they lived happily ever after.
“Is anybody hungry?” asked the Little Sumo. “My belly is rumbling!”
Vocabulary:
to fetch something – to go away and bring something back
for one’s belly to rumble – for one’s stomach to make a noise when it is getting smaller when one is hungry
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