Flea to Be You and Me

Summary
An Italian circus flea tells Kate, Pal and Amigo about his globetrotting journey.

Plot
Pal has a terrible itch and is afraid he might be given a bath. Kate and Amigo discover a flea in Pal’s fur. Amigo wants to squish it, but the flea begs for mercy and begins to tell the story of its life.

The flea’s name is Pepe. He and his brother Sale worked in a flea circus on the Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy. One day, a gust of wind blows him off the stage. He is rescued by a rat named Alessio who rescues him from being stepped on and takes him to a closed open air market where they have dinner.

The next morning, Pepe finds himself on a ship bound for Africa, because Alessio has decided he has had enough of humans with traps and poisons.

In Alexandria, Egypt, Pepe talks to some flies who offer him a ride on their camel. The camel takes him to Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.

Pepe decides to stay there with one of the flies. When he settles on a hippopotamus, the birds want to eat him as a parasite, but when he shows some of his circus tricks, they let him stay. Then the hippopotamus dives and Pepe is without a home again.

Pepe hears safari tourists speak Italian and hides in their luggage. Instead of Italy he ends up in Japan. There he makes friends with a cricket who makes beautiful music. When a Japanese girl captures the cricket in a jar, Pepe is caught as well. He tries to cheer up the cricket by singing. When that does not work, he jumps through an air hole and opens the jar cover.

Pepe lives a few months on the family's dog. Then he lands in a bottle of rice vinegar and ends up in the Read house as a gift from David Read’s Japanese pen pal (see “Dear Adil”). Pepe falls out of the bottle onto Pal.

Kate, Pal and Amigo suggest mailing Pepe to Italy in a letter. Pepe instead rides away on a squirrel. Mrs. Read notices that Pal isn’t scratching anymore, but decides to give him a bath anyway.

Some time later the Reads receive an ad in the mail announcing “Dottore Pulce's Amazing Flea Circus” with the reunited brothers Pepe and Sale.

Main

 * Kate Read
 * Pal
 * Amigo
 * Pepe

Minor

 * Jane Read
 * Arthur Read
 * David Read
 * Alessio
 * Tatsuya Matsumoto

Cameo

 * Unknown Male Adult Rabbit (Number 4)
 * Rae's mother

Trivia

 * This episode aired on Christmas Day.
 * Adult fleas can only digest blood and their digestive tract is in their abdomen, not their thorax.
 * "Dottore Pulce" is Italian for "Doctor Flea".

Cultural references

 * The title is similar to the album titled "".
 * While trapped in the jar, Pepe sings part of the famous aria "Largo al factotum" from Gioachino Rossini's opera "The Barber of Seville".

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