George and Martha: "The Fibber"

George the hippo gets a taste for lies, maybe because he is insecure, maybe because he has some deep unexplored unhappiness. (We'll never know; James Marshall is now dead.)

"I was an Olympic champion in the high jump," George says, or something like this, and right away Martha knows shenanigans will follow.

Unchecked, George goes on. He has sailed the high seas on an inner tube. He was once a world-renowned snake charmer.

Martha pulls out her stuffed snake; enough is enough; George, terrified, reveals that he was actually lying. "For shame," says Martha.

What I really love is that George can laugh at himself. "You can see I really *am* a skilled jumper," he says, because he has thrown himself at a high, high chandelier, as a way of avoiding the snake.

This is a perfect ending, and Marshall, aware that ideas of falsity and exaggeration are on our mind, has Martha say the only thing she can say: "That's TRUE."

And that's what makes me happy today. I think I'll never get tired of "The Fibber."

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