Jungle Surprises (2 page)

 

 

Tugg shouted, “Look up there! You have solved the mystery at last, you brilliant detectives!”

He said, “Now we know who took Teeny's hat and Pinkie's feather and Flap's umbrella and Margie's inner tube.

“It was that sneaky fellow, the wind.”

Teeny and Tugg had just finished dinner when they heard hoofbeats outside their window.

Zig and Zag, the wacky zebra brothers, were running to the waterhole.

 

Teeny shouted, “Hey, which one of you is faster?”

The brothers stopped and looked at each other. “Who knows?” they said.

“Why don't we have a race to find out?” said Teeny.

 

“I hope Zag wins,” said Teeny. “What about you, Tuggboat?”

“They are both fast runners, Monkeyface,” said Tugg. “May the best zebra win.”

Rory Lion gave the starter roar, and the zebras were off!

 

First one, then the other took the lead.

Zig, Zag, Zig, Zag.

Back and forth, neck and neck.

Teeny got dizzy just watching them.

The whole jungle cheered wildly.

 

It was a very close race, but at the finish line, one zebra pulled ahead of the other.

Teeny cried, “Who won?”

“I am not sure who won,” said Tugg.

 

They ran over to where the zebra brothers stood, out of breath.

Tugg yelled, “Wait! Who won?”

“I did!” answered both brothers.

“But you two look exactly the same. Who is who?”

 

“That's easy,” said one brother. “I have black stripes on white.”

“And I have white stripes on black,” said the other.

“But you both have the
same
black and white stripes,” said Teeny.

“You also look exactly alike
from behind,
” said Tugg.

 

Just then Dr. Giraffe walked up.

“Only a zebra can tell one zebra from another,” he said. “But try this simple trick to tell Zig from Zag: Whenever you meet them, just tell a funny story.”

“A funny story?” asked Teeny.

 

Turning to Zig and Zag, Teeny began, “Once upon a time there were two wacky zebra brothers ...”

Right away the zebras started laughing out loud.

“There, you see?” said Dr. Giraffe. “Zag has something that Zig does not have.”

 

“But wait,” said Teeny. “We still don't know who won the race.”

“Who cares!” Zig and Zag shouted together.

And from that time on everyone knew how to tell Zig and Zag apart.