The watchman, however, is heavy that the bed tips over and pins him against the wall, thus stalling him. At that moment, a watchman comes in and climbs on a wooden bed to catch George. George wanted to get out so he climbed up to the window to try the bars. They tell George that since he fooled the fire department, they will have to shut him up in a prison where he cannot do anymore harm. A thin firefighter caught one arm and the fat one caught the other. But when they rush to the house, all they find is no fire but a monkey (which is George). Thinking there is a real fire, the firefighters get into their trucks quickly. Then they look at a signal screen (revealing a map) and the location highlights where the telephone call had come from. The firefighters (who hear the call and the alarm) are unaware that it is George. The next day, after seeing the man make a telephone call to the zoo before leaving, George decides to try the telephone himself, until he inadvertently calls the fire station and sets off a false fire alarm. When they arrive in America, George says goodbye to the sailors, and is then taken to the man's house, where he has a meal, smokes a pipe, and then goes to bed. They throw him a lifesaver and pull him aboard. The crew notices that George is missing, and spot him in the Atlantic Ocean. On deck, George sees some birds, tries to fly, and falls overboard. He then gives George the run of the ship and tells him not to get into trouble. The man takes George in a rowboat to his cruise ship where he tells George that he is taking him to a zoo in a big city and that he will like it there. He puts the hat on but it is so large that he cannot see and this gives The Man In The Yellow Hat the chance to capture him and put him in a bag. George, ever curious, comes down from the tree. He puts his hat on the ground and hides behind a tree. A Man with a Yellow Hat observes him through his binoculars and decides to bring the monkey home with him. The story opens with George, a little orphaned monkey, in the jungle of Africa. However, Margret Rey's name did not appear on early copies of Curious George because the publisher felt that children's literature was too dominated by women. Curious George was published in America in August 1941, with an initial print run of 7,500 copies and a price of $2.00.

London-based publisher Grace Hogarth offered a four-book deal to the Reys upon reading their original version of Curious George, and asked the Reys to consider changing the monkey's name from Fifi to Curious George. and the Nine Monkeys, co-written by the Reys and printed in Paris. The character of George the monkey originated from the 1939 publication of Cecily G.

Querious george