This story is about a shy old man, Mr Hoppy, who lives in a small flat alone with his flowers. Everyday, he goes to his balcony and listen to the woman, Mrs Silver, living below him with her turtle and pet, Alfie. The old man wanted to marry the old woman but he was to shy to even start a conversation with her. One day, he musters up enough courage and asks her how her turtle was doing. She replies saying that she is very worried because it is not growing. Mr Hoppy suddenly thinks of a way to give Mrs. Silver her wish and (he hopes!) win her affection. Mr Hoppy tells Mrs Silver that he - in fact - does know of a way to make a tortoise grow bigger. He writes the following words on a slip of paper, and lowers it down to Mrs. Silver:
ESIO TROT, ESIO TROT,
TEG REGGIB REGGIB!
EMOC NO, ESIO TROT,
WORG PU, FFUP PU, TOOHS PU!
GNIRPS PU, WOLB PU, LLEWS PU!
EGROG! ELZZUG! FFUTS! PLUG!
TUP NO TAF, ESIO TROT, TUP NO TAF!
TEG NO, TEG NO, ELBBOG DOOF!
Mr. Hoppy explains that these magic words when whispered in Alfie's ear three times a day, will cause Alfie to grow bigger and bigger. In reality, the magic words are merely ordinary words written backwarsd.When Mrs Silver demands to know what the words mean, Mr Hoppy explains that tortoises are backwards animals, so they only listen to words spoken backwards. Mrs. Silver is doubtful, but agrees to try.
Over the next 2 days he visited each pet-shop and choose many tortoises of all shapes and sizes and he brings all the tortoises back to his apartment.
Next, Mr Hoppy builds a special tool to help him snatch Alfie.
The following day, when Mrs. Silver leaves for work, Mr. Hoppy selects a tortoise from his living room that weighs exactly 15 ounces. He carefully picks Alfie up from the lower balcony, and exchanges him with the new tortoise. When Mrs. Silver returns home, she faithfully whispers the magic words in Alfie's ear, but does not notice that an exchange has been made.
For the 8 following weeks, Mr Hoppy leans over his balcony with his special tool to exchange "Alfie" with another slightly larger tortoise. With a weight of 27 ounces, the last tortoise is too big to get into Mr Hoppy's house, and Mrs Silver finally notices the difference. She is so happy that she invites Mr Hoppy to her apartment to hold "Alfie".
Mrs Silver now wants Alfie to be a little smaller because she doesn't want to make a bigger opening for his house. Mr Hoppy gives her some new magic words, and Mrs Silver agrees to try them for a day. After several attempts, Mr Hoppy exchanges "Alfie" with a tortoise that goes perfectly through the house's door.
Mrs Silver is so delighted with Alfie's response that she invites Mr Hoppy over for a cup of tea. He finally plucks up the courage to ask Mrs Silver to marry him, and she accepts him.
Mr Hoppy takes all his superfluous tortoises and gives them away free of charge. A little girl, Roberta Squibb, adopts the original Alfie, and he lives happily in his garden. After Alfie reaches 30, his size finally doubles.
