A Bridge too Farm is the first half of the fourty-third episode of Curious George.
Plot[]
George & The Man with the Yellow Hat are driving to The Country for their annual cookout. Once there, George runs out to go & greet the Renkins' animals. He watches as Tracey the Hen leads her 6 chicks out of the chicken coop & teaches them to walk tall. The chicks, however, are too busy getting muddy, which Tracey later notices & takes them to be cleaned. The Man then calls George over & asks him to go to Ada & Luke's General Store to purchase toothpicks, marshmallows, & playing cards.
Meanwhile, Tracey had found a body of water perfect for cleaning chicks, & as she begins washing Al, the youngest chick, the remaining 5 climb up onto a stick & run across it as if it were a bridge, leading them to fall off on a small island. When Tracey finishes washing Al, she notices the other 5 chicks on the island & demands that they return to her immediately. However, the chicks have no way of getting back to their mother, nor does Tracey have a way of collecting her chicks. Al notices the branch that the chicks had used to get onto the island in the 1st place, & attempts to climb it & rescue them, only to get stranded as well.
George returns from the store with the items that The Man had asked him to purchase, when he notices the chicks stranded on the island. So, George decides to act as if he were a cargo ferry & carry 2 of the chicks back to their mother. Unfortunately, the chicks enjoyed being rescued by George, & as a result, intentionally get themselves stranded again. In somewhat of a vicious cycle, George continues to rescue 2 chicks, only for them to get back on the island repeatedly. Realizing that he'll be stuck doing this for an indefinite period, George begins to think of alternatives, then realizes that he could us a stick as a bridge. However, he realizes that the sticks he finds are all too short to reach the island. George then sits down to eat marshmallows, before realizing that he could continually add marshmallows to the end of toothpicks in order to create a bridge long enough for the chicks to cross. Yet, he quickly gives it a 2nd thought, having realized that a long string of toothpicks and marshmallows alone won't support the weight of not even 1 of the chicks. Giving in some more thought, he remembers that most bridges are wide & have flat surfaces, allowing vehicles to cross over them, so he uses the cards as his flat surface.
When finished, he allows 1 of the chicks to test the bridge. However, as the chick begins to walk across, he falls down, clearly proving that the bridge's still too weak. The baffled monkey then looks across the pond at another bridge, which has supports in the shape of triangles, which leads to his discovery that building taller bridge supports adds strength to said bridge. Having finally completed the bridge, George suggests having the chicks cross the bridge 1 at a time, but all 6 cross simultaneously, proving that the bridge supports the combined weight of the chicks & their mother. Having succeeded in rescuing the chicks, George decides to bring home the marshmallows, toothpicks, & cards, but realizes that he had used them all to make the bridge, so he rushes back to Ada & Luke's General Store to buy more, then rushes back home, so the Man can officially begin his party. Later, Mr. Renkins then sees the the chicks repeatedley crossing the bridge George had made, thinking that they had built it. He then rushes off to tell Mrs. Renkins, calling the chicks "geniuses", ending the episode.
Characters[]
George
The Man with the Yellow Hat
Tracey & her chicks
Bill
Mr. Quint
Mrs. Quint
Mr. Renkins
Mrs. Renkins
Ada