Even your old Uncle Shelby once had a teacher.
His name was Robert Cosbey.
This book is dedicated to him.

And now, children, your Uncle Shelby is going to tell
you a story about a very strange lion—in fact, the strangest
lion I have ever met. Now, where shall I start this lion tail?
I mean this lion tale. I suppose that I should begin at the
moment that I first met this lion. Let's see . . . that was
in Chicago on Friday the 17th of December. I remember
very clearly because the snow had just started to turn
to slush and the traffic was very bad on Dorchester Avenue
and this lion was looking around for a barbershop and
I was just coming home from—

No, I suppose I should start this story long before that.
I suppose I should tell you about he lion when he was
very young. All right.