George, Martha: "The Experiment"

Martha--hungry for knowledge--sets up a flea-study project. ("Martha was in her laboratory," says Marshall, and it's one of the silliest deadpan openers I can think of.)

Martha posts a helpful diagram, a black dot labeled "Flea." For inspiration, she posts the portrait of "Madame Canary, Inventor of Bird Seed," and we can imagine that this woman knew Marie Curie.....

Beside Martha's microscope, you'll see library books: "Famous Fleas," and, of course, "All About Fleas." (FAMOUS FLEAS!)

Naturally, the experiment goes awry, and George quietly hopes this will be the end of bugs in the house. (Bugs tend to crawl all over careless hippos...) But Martha--undeterred--has an announcement: "I'll be studying honeybees next...."

A coda, a twist, a celebration of intellect--all in approximately three or four pages....

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