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Are you my mother?

Submitted by catmin on 13 February, 2015 - 07:16

P.D. Eastman tells of a young bird falling out of its nest in his children's book Are you my mother? This parody shows how a cat would have told the same story.

A mother bird sat on her egg. The egg jumped.

"Oh oh!" said the mother bird. "My baby will be here! He will want to eat. I must get something for my baby bird to eat!" she said. " I will be back!" So away she went.

The egg jumped. It jumped, and jumped, and jumped! Out came the baby bird.

"Where is my mother?" he said. He looked for her. He looked up. He did not see her. He looked down. He did not see her.

"I will go and look for her," he said. So away he went. Down, out of the tree he went. Down, down, down! It was a long way down.

The baby bird could not fly. He could not fly, but he could walk. "Now I will go and find my mother," he said.

He did not know what his mother looked like. He went right by her. He did not see her.

He came to a kitten. "Are you my mother?" he said to the kitten.

The kitten just looked and looked. It did not say a thing.


Then the kitten started chirping.

"Why are you chirping? Are you my mother?" the baby bird asked.

The kitten then pounced and caught the bird in its paws. It then bit the bird by the neck and went home to its mother.

The kitten murrped all the way home. "Mommy, Mommy, I caught a bird!" she said.

"You are a good kitty, Inky," said the kitten's mother. "Would you like to share your bird with us?"

Inky just growled as she ate the little bird. Nothing was left but a single feather.

The mother bird came back and was upset. She flew low over the kittens, making a lot of noise, but she was careful not to fly so low that the mother cat could catch her.

THE END

Are you my mother? / written and illustrated by P.D. Eastman. [New York] : Beginner Books, c1960. Available @ your library.