Alfie's Alphabet Book - Part 2

But then the mouse ran onto the next page and both the mouse and the cat bumped into an enormous nose beside the letter N for nose.
"Where is the boy named Alfie?", asked the nose.
"I'm Alfie", said Alfie getting down from the elephant and going over to the nose, "But how did you know about me?".
"Oh, because the nose knows", said the nose, "The nose knows all".
"Then you must know how to get out of the book", said the bee.
"Yes", said the Nose, "The zebra will take you out but you must beware of the witch oh, and ofcourse the octopus".
"The octopus?", asked Alfie.
But just then a long octopus tentacle reached out and grabbed hold of Alfie pulling him onto the next page, O for Octopus.
"Help!", Alfie called out to the elephant and the bee.
"What do we do now?", asked the Elephant
"After O for octopus", said the nose, "There is P for pepperpot. You must go elephant and bring the pepperpot here".
So the elephant went past the octopus onto the page that had a pepperpot on it beside the letter P for pepperpot and, wrapping his trunk around the pepperpot, he carried the pepperpot back to the nose.
"What now?", asked the elephant.
"Quick!", said the nose, "Pour the pepper from the pepper pot over me".
So the elephant did as the nose said and tipped up the pepperpot, pouring it over him.
The moment the pepper landed upon the nose, however, it made the nose start to sneeze and the nose was so gigantic that its sneeze blew the octopus away.
It might have blown Alfie away too but fortunately, the Elephant wrapped his trunk around Alfie just in time to save him.
But then, thanking the Nose, Alfie, the Elephant, the cat and the bee all travelled on beyond the letters O and P to the letter Q.
And, standing by the letter Q was a woman dressed as a queen with a crown upon her head.
"Oh good", she said, smiling, "Some royal subjects come to pay their respects to me".
Alfie had never seen a queen before but he knew that you were supposed to bow to them and call them ' your majesty'  and so he bowed to the queen and, following his example, the cat, the bee and the elephant did too.
"Good", said the queen, pleased at being bowed to, "But now won't you please get me my skipping rope from the next page".
"Your Skipping rope, your majesty?", asked Alfie
"Yes. Its beside a big R for rope", said the queen.
"Yes your majesty", said Alfie, bowing again and then Alfie went onto the next page to get the queens skipping rope but, unfortunately, the rope had a big snake beside it.
"That must be S for snake", said the elephant.
"Yes", said the bee, "But how do we get the skipping rope from it to give to the queen?".
"Well perhaps I could try growling at it", said the cat, "To scare it away".
"Or I could try buzzing at it", said the bee.
"Well maybe we should try talking to it first", said Alfie and then he walked over to the snake beside the skipping rope and asked, "Excuse me mr Snake?"
"Yess?", asked the snake with a hiss.
"Could we please have that skipping rope", asked Alfie, pointing to the skipping rope, "to give to the queen?"
"Skipping rope?", asked the snake, "What is that?".
"The thing you're lying next to", said Alfie.
"But thats not a skipping rope", said the snake, "Its a snake like me".
"Oh no", said Alfie, "Its not. Its a skipping rope. I'll show you".
And picking up the skipping rope, Alfie started to skip with it.
"Oh yes", said the snake, "I see".
Then the snake slithered away back onto its page and Alfie took the skipping rope back to the queen.
"There your majesty", said Alfie, bowing and handing the skipping rope to the queen, "Your skipping rope".
"Oh thank you", said the queen, happily taking the skipping rope and starting to skip with it.
But then Alfie, the Elephant, the cat and the bee went over onto the next page and, unfortunately, they saw that the snake was crying.
"Why are you crying, Mr Snake?", asked Alfie.
"Because", said the snake, ""When I thought that the skipping rope was a snake, I had a friend but now I don't have any friends".
"Perhaps he could play with my trunk", said the Elephant, making his long trunk wriggle like a snake, "Its very snake like".
Just then , however, Alfie saw, on the next page, a picture of a long, stripy tie beside T for tie and, going over to the tie and untying its knot, he brought it back over.
"Why don't you play with this snake?", he said, putting the tie down infront of the snake.
"Oh yes", said the snake, smiling again and cuddling the tie in its coils, "Its a very nice snake".
But then, happy to see the snake smiling again, Alfie, the Elephant, the cat and the bee all went onto the next page.
And on that page was a brightly coloured umbrella beside U for umbrella.
But, unfortunately, the umbrella was being pulled on by a very strong gust of wind.
"Oh, help! Help!", cried the umbrella, "Someone help me this wind is trying to blow me away".
The elephant reached out with his long trunk and took hold of the umbrellas handle.
"Oh, thank you", said the umbrella, "I was very frightened. I was sure that the wind was going to blow me off to who knows where".
"But why are you so afraid", asked Alfie.
"Well because I might blow off into some terrible place, like the middle of a lake and be eaten by a big fish or into a fire or a witches cooking pot", said the umbrella.
"You might", said Alfie, "But you might have a wonderful adventure".
Just then, however, the kite that Alfie had met earlier flew over head, waving its long, ribbon covered tail behind it.
"Hello there", it said, "Just flying by".
Then, looping the loop, it swooped gracefully down, just like a bird, landing beside Alfie.
"How have you been", asked the kite, "Have you found a way out of the book yet?".
"Yes", said Alfie, "But now I have another problem".
"Oh?", asked the kite.
"Yes", said Alfie, "It's Mr Umbrella. He's very afraid of flying".
"Afraid of flying?", asked the kite, looking at the umbrella, "But flying is a wonderful thing. Its soaring and swooping and loop-the-looping; its gliding and riding upon the wind".
"Well perhaps you could take the umbrella flying with you and teach it to fly", said Alfie, "Then it wouldn't be so afraid".
"Oh I'd be happy to", said the kite.
"But what if I get blown away to some scary place", said the Umbrella.
"Don't worry", said Alfie, "The kite can tie its tail to your handle and then you won't blow away".
"Oh well", said the umbrella as the kite wrapped its long tail around the umbrellas handle, "Just as long as you promise not to let go".
"I promise", said the kite.
And then, saying that, the kite took off again into the air, taking the umbrella with it.
But then, happy to see the kite and the umbrella flying above; Alfie, the cat, the elephant and the bee went on to the next page.