Hello, you guys! I hope that you spent at least part of the weekend reading Robbi’s fun post about the circus. I did, and I learned about the history of the circus and different types of circus acts. There were pictures and GIFs and links to circus-related activities and circus-related kids’ books and even some movies about the circus. Which is to say, if you haven’t read it yet, jump over and have a look. And then come back and read my story, of course.

For today, for you, from me, for no other reason than that it’s Monday and I’m thinking about the circus, here is the happy tale of Lullabelle the Walrus. I hope I don’t spoil the surprise too much to let you know it ends well. (I do so dislike stories where Walruses end up miserable at the end.)

Lullabelle the Walrus

Lullabelle was a walrus. She wanted to be part of the circus.

She wanted to be an acrobat, but the acrobats declared that she was to big and clumsy.

She wanted to be a circus clown, but the circus clowns said that she was not funny enough.

She wanted to be the ringleader, but the ringleader was an angry man named Archibald who did not want to share the limelight.

The only way that Lullabelle could be part of the circus was to clean up the candy wrappers and ticket stubs that littered the grandstand when the people left each night.

But she did it, and she did it as cheerfully as she could, because being part of the circus was her dream.

Slowly but surely, others started to notice how hard Lullabelle was working.

The acrobats let her be the one to throw them things to catch in mid-air while they made their spectacular leaps.

And the clowns changed their act so that it included a walrus who gets stuck in an elevator and needs to be rescued by clowns.

But the ringleader still would have nothing to do with Lullabelle. When she came around, he would sneer with his awful sneering lips and say things like, “Fie!” and “Nay!” and “Impossible!”

But Lullabelle didn’t’ let this bother her. She and the acrobats and clowns had milkshakes every night after work and laughed and hugged each other until it was time for bed.

One day, the ringleader had a cold and couldn’t get out of bed. No one knew what to do. The circus couldn’t go on without a ringleader, could it?

As the evening show approached, the acrobats and clowns and lion tamer and elephant rider were so worried they couldn’t eat their supper.

“I guess we’re going to have to cancel the circus,” said Percival, the smallest clown, who was, incidentally, also the one everyone listened to.”

“I guess so,” said Marie, who was Percival’s mom.

“Not so fast!” said a voice. Everyone turned their heads and watched in amazement as Lullabelle walked in wearing the ringleader’s costume. It didn’t fit very well, but she wore the ringleader’s hat with such confidence that everyone was convinced that the show could go on.

“THE SHOW CAN GO ON!” they all said.

“No it can’t!” said the ringleader, who had staggered out of bed. “Not without me! Not without ME!”

But then he blew his nose, and it sounded like a fog horn.

“There, there,” said Marie, patting him on the head. “Go back to bed and you’ll feel much better in the morning.”

And the ringleader, whose cold was really, really bad, did just that.

Lullabelle was magnificent. That night’s performance was the best performance they had ever given.

The ringleader’s cold never really got better, so he moved to Florida, where it was more humid in hopes of clearing out his sinuses.

Lullabelle became the most famous ringleader in the land.

But the circus never did find someone else willing to clean up all the candy and ticket stubs.

That’s MY story about the circus. What about yours? Use the comments field below to tell your story about the circus or share a memory about the circus or lodge complaints about the circus or make up fabulous lies about the circus (which is really just the same as a story about the circus).