The Complete Adventures of Curious George (4 page)

He hurried through the building
and out on to the roof. And then
he was lucky to be a monkey:
out he walked on to the telephone wires.
Quickly and quietly over the guard's head,
George walked away.
He was free!

Down in the street
outside the prison wall,
stood a balloon man.
A little girl bought a balloon
for her brother.
George watched.
He was curious again.
He felt he MUST have
a bright red balloon.
He reached over and
tried to help himself, but—

instead of one balloon,
the whole bunch broke loose.
In an instant
the wind whisked them all away
and, with them, went George,
holding tight with both hands.

Up, up he sailed, higher and higher.
The houses looked like toy houses
and the people like dolls.
George was frightened.
He held on very tight.

At first the wind blew in great gusts.
Then it quieted.
Finally it stopped blowing altogether.
George was very tired.
Down, down he went—bump,
on to the top of a traffic light.
Everyone was surprised.
The traffic got all mixed up.
George didn't know what to do,
and then he heard someone call,
"GEORGE!"
He looked down and saw his friend,
the man with the big yellow hat!

George was very happy.
The man was happy too.
George slid down the post
and the man with the big yellow hat
put him under his arm.
Then he paid the balloon man
for all the balloons.
And then George and the man
climbed into the car
and at last, away they went

to the ZOO!

What a nice place
for George to live!

Curious George
takes a Job

This is George. He lived in the Zoo.
He was a good little monkey and always very curious.
He wanted to find out what was going on outside the Zoo.

One day, when the keeper was not paying attention, George got hold of the key for the cage.

When the keeper discovered what had happened, it was too late—George was gone!