The Famous Number Five

by Daniel Errico

Number Five lived in the Land of Numbers.

He was a very famous actor.

All over the world, everyone had seen Number Five act. 

Everywhere he went, people shouted, “There goes Number Five, the most famous actor in the world!”

He had played a wanderer in the desert.

He had played a warrior in a great battle.

He had even played a monster so scary that some of the other numbers fainted.

One day King Ten asked him to perform a brand new play for the royal court. 

“A brand new play!” he thought.  “I’ll come up with something wonderful.  After all, I’m the Famous Number Five.”

On the day of his play, all the numbers had come came to see him perform.

When the curtains rose, he came out dressed as a doctor and began acting.

“I’ve seen you act as a doctor before,” said Number One, “This is not a new play.”

Number Five went backstage and changed his costume.

He came out dressed as an astronaut, and began acting again.

“I’ve see you act as an astronaut before,” said Number Nine, “This is not a new play.”

Number Five went backstage and changed costumes.

He came out dressed as a prince, and began acting again.

“I’ve seen you act as a prince twice before!” said Number Three. “This is definitely not a new play.”

Number Five went backstage and began to get sad.

Everybody had watched him act so many times that they had seen all his plays.

He walked onto the stage without any costume at all and began acting like himself, because he had no characters left to play.

No one said a word.

When he was done, the audience cheered the louder than they ever had before.

King Ten cheered the loudest.

“Of all the times we’ve seen you, we liked you best of all tonight!” they said. 

The Famous Number Five made them happy by being himself, and he had never been more proud.