On the kitchen table lay a plain notebook. Empty pages waited inside.
The young boy tapped the cover—tap, tap, tap—then ran to the door.
He pulled his mother aside. 'Tell me a silly joke!' She told him about a chicken who wore socks to market.
The boy giggled until his knees shook. He wrote the joke down with a stubby pencil.
He visited his grandmother. She leaned forward and made a sound like a sneezing elephant—achoo-choo-choo!
He drew a picture of it in the margin of his notebook.
Next he visited his father. The man told a joke about a donkey who traded his shoes for a balloon. The boy laughed louder than before.
Then he asked his neighbor. Each time he laughed a little louder and wrote a little faster.
With his joke book held tight, the boy ran through the village to the gathering place.
He stood before the crowd and opened his book. Everyone waited.
He read the first joke—but his voice cracked. The crowd went very quiet. He thought: Don't be nervous.
A bird landed on the fence and tilted its head. Then the boy sneezed—choo!—and everyone stared.
He took a deep breath and tried again, reading the next joke with his whole voice.
The whole village burst into laughter. Children rolled on the ground. Grandparents clapped their hands.
Even the serious shopkeeper wiped his eyes. The boy held up his joke book like a trophy.
Someone offered him a mango. Someone else started telling a brand-new joke right there on the spot.
