AMY TAN: Just like our ancestor, Sagwa of China.
And that's the end.
ELMO: Wow.
That is one of the best stories Elmo
has ever heard, Amy.
Elmo liked that story a whole lot.
AMY TAN: Thanks, Elmo.
ELMO: No, thank you.
ZOE: Hi, Elmo.
ELMO: Oh, hi, Zoe.
Zoe, this is Elmo's friend Amy.
AMY TAN: Hi.
ELMO: Meet Zoe.
Listen, Amy just read Elmo the best stories
Elmo has ever heard.
ZOE: Oh!
Could you read it to me, Amy?
ELMO: Oh!
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Read it again, Amy.
AMY TAN: Well, I'm not sure I have time, guys.
I'm supposed to--
ELMO AND ZOE: Oh, pleeeeease?
AMY TAN: Oh, all right.
ELMO AND ZOE: Yay!
AMY TAN: The title of it is "The Chinese Siamese Cat."
ELMO: Yeah.
ZOE: Oh!
ELMO: By Amy Tan.
Yeah.
Amy wrote this story.
Yeah, Amy is the author.
ZOE: Don't joke me!
ELMO: Oh, no, no!
Elmo's not joking, Zoe.
Yeah.
And Amy doesn't just write stories for
little monsters, Zoe.
ZOE: No?
ELMO: No.
Amy wrote a great big book that Elmo's mommy read.
And a movie--
oh, sorry.
AMY TAN: "The Chinese
Siamese Cat." ZOE: Yeah.
AMY TAN: When her five kittens were eight weeks old and ready
for new homes, Ming Miao called her brood
together one last time.
Before you go out into the world, she said, you must know
the true story of your ancestors.
The truth is, you are not Siamese cats but Chinese cats.
As a matter of fact, one of our family's ancestors from a
thousand cat lives ago was the famous feline, Sagwa of China.
She's the reason your faces, ears, paws, and tails were
turned darker and darker.
She's the reason I taught you to say politely in Chinese,
"Miao, miao, miao" instead of "me-oww, oww," the cranky way
Siamese cats do when they cry for their food.
And so Ming Miao told her kittens the story of their
great ancestor, Sagwa of China.
ELMO AND ZOE: Ohh!
ZOE: Wow.
CARLO: Amy?
She's here.
Come on.
AMY TAN: Oh, sorry guys.
Be right back.
ELMO: No, no, no!
ZOE: But you have to--
AMY TAN: I'll only be a minute.
ZOE: I want to hear the story.
ELMO: Oh.
ZOE: Oh.
I don't want to wait a minute.
I want to know what happens next.
ELMO: Ooh!
Wait, wait, Zoe!
ZOE: What?
ELMO: Yeah, yeah!
Elmo can tell Zoe what happens next.
Yeah, yeah!
Because Elmo knows the story.
ZOE: You do?
ELMO: Yeah, yeah.
Elmo remembers it.
Look, look, look.
Sagwa was a cute little kitty cat with white fur, who lived
a long, long time ago in China.
ZOE: Oh, she looks like a happy little kitty cat.
ELMO: Yeah, she does.
Except little Sagwa lived with a mean-looking man called the
Foolish Magistrate.
ZOE: Uh-oh.
ELMO: The Foolish Magistrate's job was to make up all the
rules for how people had to act in China.
ZOE: He looks really mean.
ELMO: Yeah.
And he made up really mean rules.
Like one day, while little Sagwa was peeking down from a
great big bookcase--
ZOE: Yeah?
ELMO: The Foolish Magistrate made up this rule.
Ahem.
People must not sing until the sun goes down.
ZOE: That was a really mean rule.
ELMO: Yeah.
That's what little Sagwa thought.
Yeah.
And after the Foolish Magistrate went away to get a
big bowl of noodles for his lunch, little Sagwa jumped
down from the bookcase.
And pwahhh!
Landed in a pot of ink!
ZOE: Ooh, icky!
ELMO: Yeah, icky-poo.
Because little Sagwa got black ink all over little Sagwa's
furry white face and ears and tail and paws.
And then by accident, little Sagwa rubbed his inky face all
over the new rule.
ZOE: Uh-oh.
ELMO: Yeah, uh-oh is right.
Because the ink on little Sagwa's face rubbed out the
word
"not." ZOE: Oh!
ELMO: So now the rule said--
Ahem.
People must sing until the sun goes down.
ZOE: Oh!
ELMO: Yeah.
ZOE: People must sing until the sun goes down.
ELMO: Yeah.
ELMO AND ZOE: [SINGING]
All around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel.
The monkey thought 'twas all in fun.
Pop! goes the weasel.
[GIGGLING]
ZOE: That's funny.
ELMO: Yeah!
ZOE: The Foolish Magis--
Magistrate isn't gonna like that.
ELMO: No, no, no!
But you know who did like it?
ZOE: No, who?
ELMO: Everyone else!
Yeah, and all the people came running to the Foolish
Magistrate and said, thank you, Foolish Magistrate.
You made a rule that makes us really happy.
ZOE: Yay!
ELMO: Yay!
And when the Foolish Magistrate heard that, the
Foolish Magistrate felt really happy.
ZOE: Yay!
ELMO: Yay!
And so--
and so the Foolish Magistrate made two new rules.
ZOE: What?
ELMO: First, that he would never make another mean rule.
ZOE: Yay!
ELMO: Yay!
Yeah.
And second, that from now on, Chinese cats would stop being
furry white all over.
ZOE: Oh.
ELMO: Yeah.
ZOE: Huh.
ELMO: From now on, Chinese cats would have black ears,
and black face, and tails, and paws.
ZOE: Everything!
ELMO: Yeah.
Just like smart and awesome little Sagwa.
ZOE: Sagwa.
ELMO: Of China.
ZOE: Oh, good.
Yay!
ELMO: Isn't that really neat?
ZOE: Yeah.
Sagwa.
ELMO: Whoa, look!
It's little Sagwa!
ZOE: Look at the kitty!
AMY TAN: Well, not exactly Sagwa, but it is a Chinese
Siamese cat like Sagwa.
Carlo just brought her back from the animal shelter.
ZOE: She's so pretty.
ELMO: Yeah.
AMY TAN: Oh, she's just-- look, she likes to read.
ZOE: She likes the pictures.
AMY TAN: Yeah.
ZOE: Hi, kitty, kitty, kitty.
AMY TAN: Oops, I forgot, guys.
ELMO: What?
ZOE: What?
AMY TAN: I can finish the story now.
ELMO: Oh, it's OK, Amy.
Elmo already finished it.
AMY TAN: You did?
ELMO: Yeah!
ZOE: Yeah.
And Elmo was right.
It was one of the best stories I ever heard.
Especially when they all sang "Pop Goes The Weasel."
ELMO: [GIGGLES].
AMY TAN: "Pop Goes the Weasel"?
ZOE: People must sing until the sun goes down.
ELMO: Yeah.
ELMO AND ZOE:[SINGING]
Pop goes the weasel.
[LAUGHING]