100% Cotton

It all started with a story.  The story of The Obvious Elephant.  Have you read it?  It's by Bruce Johnson.

One day an elephant arrives in a village.  The trouble is, no one (except young Eric; and we know he is called Eric because he has his name written inside his socks, just like every good English schoolboy) knows who or what it is; not even the elephant itself!

There it sits in the village square.....

mopping its forehead with a red spotted handkerchief (more of which later).

Well, the villagers wonder what it is for.  They inspect it closely.....

before deciding that maybe, because of its long hose, it's for putting out fires.....

or perhaps a special kind of vacuum cleaner for rubbish.

The bumbling professor takes a lot of careful measurements.....

before announcing that at first he thought it might be a submarine.....

 

but that after even more careful observations.....

it surely, certainly, absolutely positively had to be.....

But actually he still didn't really know.  It was young Eric (with the socks) who said that it was OBVIOUS.  "It's obviously an elephant," he tells us.

But the elephant is still not quite happy.  He wants a name.  After all, you wouldn't call your rabbit Rabbit.  Or your dog Dog.

I would hate to spoil the ending of such a wonderful tale.  But you remember what I said about the red spotted handkerchief?  And about how we know that Eric is called Eric?  Well, I wonder if you can work out what they decided to call the elephant.

And now it's time for me to take the register.  Let's see who we have today in Class 2i.  Ah yes.  Here's.....

100% Cotton.

And over here.

Oh dear; this also seems to be 100% Cotton.

And here.

Yes. 100% Cotton.  Here too.

And here.

And here.....

here.....

here (oops hole needing mending I see!).....

here.....

and even here.

A whole class of children - with the same name.  How terribly confusing.  Thank heavens the teacher is wearing something else today!