The Story of The Littlest Circus
Trumpeters riding Shetland ponies came to the middle of town to announce a day of celebration and rejoicing. After their trumpet calls they declared, “The Littlest Circus is coming to town! All the children should meet in the town square on Saturday afternoon to see The Littlest Circus.” The children were gleeful. They ran home and told their mothers and fathers. But, this was only Monday. Saturday was a long way off still.
On Tuesday the children woke up and asked their mothers and fathers, “Is today the day The Littlest Circus is coming?” The mothers and fathers said, “No, today is Tuesday. The Littlest Circus is not coming until Saturday.” So the children went out to play.
Town criers came to town that afternoon. They wore beards and mustaches, hats and glasses but they were as short as the children. These midgets and drawfs cried through all the streets of the town, “On Saturday afternoon The Littlest Circus will be coming to town. Please bring all the children to the town square on Saturday afternoon for The Littlest Circus.” All the children ran home even more excited than before.
The next morning, they all woke up and ran to their mothers and fathers, “Is today the day for The Littlest Circus? Is it?” The mothers and fathers said, “No, The Littlest Circus is coming on Saturday afternoon. Today is Wednesday.” So the children ran out to play.
On Wednesday afternoon, little pixies riding on the backs of giraffes came to town and said in their tiny pixie voices, “On Saturday, The Littlest Circus will be in the town square. All the children should come on Saturday afternoon to see The Littlest Circus.” All the children ran home shouting, “Mother, Father, we can’t wait for The Littlest Circus. You should have seen the beautiful pixies riding on giraffes.” The mothers and fathers just laughed and put the children to sleep.
Thursday morning, when the children awoke, they ran to their mothers and fathers saying, “Mother, Father, Is today the day? Is today the day?” The mothers and fathers said, “No, today is Thursday. The Littlest Circus is coming on Saturday.” So the children ran outside to play.
It was a sunny afternoon and all the children were having fun playing. They looked up in the sky. The smallest elves they had ever seen were riding on the backs of four crows. The elves were dressed as clowns with red collars, pink polka dot hats, green checkered coats and orange and purple pants. The toes of their shoes curled up so high that they almost touched their noses. What a sight. The elves called down to the children from the crows, “Don’t miss The Littlest Circus in the town square on Saturday afternoon. Everyone be there.” The children ran home as fast as they could shouting, “Mother, Father, you should have seen the elves who were riding crows. They flew into town and told us there is going to be a fabulous circus in the town square on Saturday.” The mothers and fathers were beginning to wonder if all this was true or if the children were making up stories. They didn’t mind because they could see how excited the children were and they put the children to bed.
That night, all the children in town had the same dream. They dreamed that The Littlest Circus came to town. The trumpeters on Shetland ponies were there. The town criers who were as short as children were there. The pixies riding giraffes and the elves riding crows were there. When they awoke, they ran to their parents. They pulled on their fathers’ coats. They pulled on their mothers’ aprons and said, “Mother, Father, is today the day? Is today the day? Is today the day The Littlest Circus comes to town?” Their mothers and fathers said, “No, not today. The Littlest Circus is coming on Saturday. Today is Friday. The Littlest Circus will be here tomorrow.” All the children ran outside to play.
They could barely contain their excitement. They were so gleeful about The Littlest Circus coming to town. They were turning somersaults and cart wheels and jumping through hula hoops. That Friday afternoon the strangest thing happened. High in the sky, as high as a rainbow, as high as the sun, a message was printed in gigantic letters of rainbow colors. The small children could not read the message but they knew some of the letters because they had learned their A,B,C’s. When their older brothers and sisters came home form school, the little ones said, “Look up in the sky. Do you see the beautiful rainbow colors? Do you see the letters?” The older children who had just learned how to read told their little brothers and sisters what the message said. It said, “The Littlest Circus is coming to town!” All the children ran inside and said, “Mother, Father, look up in the sky. Do you see the rainbow colors? Do you see the letters?” None of the parents saw anything at all. They just chuckled to themselves and said, “My, these children certainly have vivid imaginations, don’t they? They must be too excited by this circus coming to town tomorrow.” They put their children to bed.
Again that night, all the children had the same dream. They dreamed that the sky was filled with rainbow colors. They dreamed that from the sky flew elves on the backs of crows. They dreamed that giraffes came to town with pixies on their backs. The town criers cried, “The Circus is here. The Circus is here.” And, of course, the whole parade was led by Shetland ponies carrying the trumpeters.
In the morning the children ran to their mothers and fathers and asked, “Is today the day? Is today the day? Please, Mother and Father, is today the day The Littlest Circus comes to town?” The mothers and fathers said, “Yes, sons and daughters, today is the day. We want you to put on your best clothes. Wash your hands and faces. We want you to look nice because everyone in town will be there.” After the children were ready, everyone packed lunches and set out for the town square.
When they got to the town square, everyone sat in a big circle and waited. And waited. Nothing happened. Soon the children were all crying and the adults were all upset. Where was The Littlest Circus? They all sighed together, “Ooooh, I wish The Littlest Circus would come.” The mothers and fathers were beginning to wonder if the children had made up the whole thing about the trumpeters, the town criers, the pixies and elves, and the letters in the sky. The adults were very tired from working all week. They started to go to sleep. Soon all the grown-ups were asleep but the children stayed awake waiting for The Littlest Circus.
Then all of a sudden, “Toot-toodle-oot-toodle-ooh, toot-toodle-oot-toodle-ooh, toot-toodle-oot-toodle-ooh, toot-toodle-oot-toodle-doo!” Here comes the trumpeters riding on their Shetland ponies. Far off in the distance the children hear the town criers crying, “Here comes The Littlest Circus! Here comes The Littlest Circus!”
The next thing they know, in march the giraffes with pixies on their backs. The pixies are crying, “We told you so! We told you so! Here comes the circus. We told you so!” Down from the sky fly not four, not five, not ten, not twenty, but one hundred crows with elves on their backs. It darkens the sky like a black cloud. The crows fly into the town square, into the middle of the circle of gleeful children and their sleeping mothers and fathers. The elves jump off the backs of the crows. The crows turn into white doves. The white doves fly back into the sky. The elves run around to all the children saying, “We told you so! We told you so! The Littlest Circus is here!” They are all dressed like clowns with red collars, pink polka dot hats, green checkered coats and orange and purple pants. The toes of their shoes curl up to their noses. The children notice one other thing. The elves have pointed ears.
The children are starting to enjoy themselves very much. They turn cart wheels and somersaults and jump through hula hoops. They join right in with the circus but the adults just sleep.
A tiny train filled with tiny lions, tiny tigers, tiny leopards, tiny wild wolves and tiny gorillas enters the town square. The gorillas are the size of teddy bears. The lions are about the size of kitty cats. The wild wolves are just about the size of puppy dogs. The train chugs all around the town square so that all the children can see the tiny animals.
Now the elves are riding on unicycles. Tricycles have three wheels. Bicycles have two wheels. But, a unicycle is very strange because it has only one wheel. It takes lots of talent and practice to ride a unicycle. Here come one hundred elves on one hundred unicycles. Not a single one of them falls down.
The elves are acting silly like clowns. First one elf bops another one on the head. Then another elf punches one in the stomach. Then three elves pick another one up and throw him into the sky. One of the white doves flies underneath him. The elf lands right on its back and it immediately turns back into a black crow. All the other elves start rolling around on the ground laughing.
Here come five elves dressed as firemen. They start squirting everyone with bottles of water. They squirt all the elves that are rolling around on the ground laughing.
Here comes an elf dressed like an old washer woman. He stuffs a pillow in his shirt to look fat and wears a wig to look like an old woman. He carries an old rotten fish and an old wash bucket. He bangs the fish on the bucket and sings, “Ho-da-ding-dang-ho-de-dodle-dee!” This makes all the children laugh and roll around on the ground with the elves.
A tiny brass band marches in. The trumpets are so tiny they look like thimbles. The tubas are so tiny that they look like demitasse cups for the kind of coffee that Grandmothers and Grandfathers drink after dinner. The drums are so tiny that they look like buttons. Everyone is playing a wonderful circus tune, “Ya-ta-taadee-ya-ta-ta-ta-dah-dee! Boom-taadee-ya-da, boom-taadee-ya-da! Ya-da-ta-da-ya-da-ta-da-rum-ta-ra-da!”
A troop of tiny elephants is marching behind the brass band. The children are not sure how these elephants got to be so tiny. In fact, they are not sure if they are elephants at all. They are so small that they look like ants. Imagine, an elephant as tiny as an ant. They all come marching in one by one. Each one uses its trunk to hold on to the tail of the one in front of it. One, two, three, until there are hundreds of elephants.
The mothers and fathers are snoring by this time but the children are gleeful and can’t believe such a wonderful tiny circus. As the sun begins to set, the white doves land. Turning back into black crows as the elves jump on their backs, they fly away, taking the elves with them. The brass band marches out with all the hundreds of elephant ants behind them. The tiny train with the tiny animals pulls out of town. The pixies ride away on their giraffes. The town criers leave quietly.
The last to leave are the trumpeters on their Shetland ponies. As they leave, they blast a loud trumpet call that wakes up all the mothers and fathers. The parents wake up quite grumpy because they feel cheated out of seeing The Littlest Circus, “I guess our children were just making up stories.” The children look at each other and giggle because they know that there really was a little circus. They saw the whole thing while the parents were asleep. The parents take the children home and put them to bed.
In the morning all the parents will wake up and run into their sons and daughters. They will wake them up and say, “Sons, Daughters, is today the day? Is today the day The Littlest Circus comes to town.” All the children will laugh and giggle and say, “No, Mom. No, Dad. Today is Sunday. The Littlest Circus came to town yesterday!”
The Littlest Circus by C. Walker ©03