Spotty the Hyena is very sad. He has lost his laugh.
“Please help me find my laugh, Giraffe.”
“I can’t hear a laugh up here.”
“Please help me find my laugh, Hippo.”
“I can’t hear a laugh down here.”
“Please help me find my laugh, Warthog.”
“I can’t hear a laugh in here.”
“Please help me find my laugh, Monkey.”
“How did you lose it?”
“When I laugh, you can see my big teeth. That makes everyone frightened,” said Spotty.
“Then I got sad, and my laugh just disappeared.”
“I can’t find it anywhere!”
“But you were looking in the wrong place.”
Monkey jumped out of the tree and picked up a feather.
Then she began to tickle Spotty all over.
Slowly Spotty started smiling, and then he let out a big, loud laugh.
He laughed and laughed until he was rolling around on the ground.
All the other animals started laughing too.
“Where did you find his laugh?” they asked.
“His laugh was inside him all the time. I just made him happy and out it came.”
They all laughed and laughed so that their teeth showed too.
“I’ll never lose my laugh again,” said Spotty the happy Hyena.
Credits
Originally published by Book Dash under a Creative Commons Licensed BY 4.0. This book can be read for free on https://bookdash.org/books/the-lost-laugh and was created by: Wilna Combrinck (Designer), Michelle Preen (Writer), Karen Lilje (Illustrator), Helen Moffett (Editor)
