The Smart Letter E

by Daniel Errico

Illustrated by Michiko Cayce

The Letter E lived in the Land of Words

He was the smartest letter of them all.

He could solve any problem he came across.

When he woke up, he always read five books.

Once when he got bored, he built a rocket ship.

Before bed he usually created a new medicine.  One night he even created a medicine that tasted good, but kids still spit it out before they could taste it.

He loved space and spent most evenings looking at the sky through his telescope.

One day he called a meeting of all the letters to make an announcement.

“I have counted all the stars in the sky,” he said.

The crowd was very impressed.

“After a year of hard work, I have discovered that there are 430 stars in the sky,” said the Letter E.

Everyone cheered. 

The next day, when the Mayor was putting up a plaque stating that the Letter E discovered there are 430 stars in the sky, somebody spoke up.

“There aren’t 430 stars in the sky,” said the Letter K as she looked up at the plaque.

The crowd gasped.  Nobody had ever argued with the smart Letter E.

“Yes, there are,” said Letter E, “I’ve counted every single one!”

“No, there aren’t,” Letter K said back.

“This is preposterous!” countered Letter E.   “Have you counted all the stars in the sky?”

“No” she said.

“There you have it. I can’t possibly be wrong if you haven’t counted every single star in the sky like I have,” he said.

And he was very happy with himself.

And the crowd was very happy to again know that the Letter E was always right, and that there are 430 stars in the sky.

“I haven’t counted every star in the sky,” said the Letter K, “but I have counted my star.”

“Your star?” he asked.

“Yes, my favorite star. I’ve looked at my star every day. Last night, for the first time, it flickered out, as all stars do one day,” she said as she cried.

The Letter E felt silly. One of the stars he had counted was no longer shining, and it was very dear to his friend, the Letter K.

That night he let her look through his telescope.

She knew that there were 429 more stars to look at, and she was less sad.

In the Land of Words, everyone is wrong sometimes.