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. He carefully picks Alfie up from the lower balcony, and exchanges him with the new tortoise. The following day, when Mrs Silver leaves for work, Mr Hoppy selects a tortoise from his living room that weighs exactly 15 ounces. By pulling the handle, the arms of the claw gently open and close. He fastens a handle to the end of a long metal tube, and a tiny claw at the bottom. Next, Mr Hoppy builds a special tool (using his mechanic's expertise from his days working at a bus garage) to help him snatch the tortoise from Mrs Silver's balcony. Mr Hoppy brings all the tortoises back to his apartment and installs them in a makeshift corral in his living room.

He visits every pet shop in the city, and buys many tortoises of various sizes, but none that weigh less than 13 ounces. Over the next few days, Mr Hoppy carries out the second part of his plan.

(The words are, reversed, Tortoise, tortoise, get bigger bigger! Come on, tortoise, grow up, puff up, shoot up! Spring up, blow up, swell up! Gorge! Guzzle! Stuff! Gulp! Put on fat, tortoise, put on fat! Get on, get on, gobble food!) Mrs Silver is doubtful, but agrees to try. 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. He writes the following words on a slip of paper, and lowers it down to Mrs Silver: Mr Hoppy tells Mrs Silver that he – in fact – does know of a way to make a tortoise grow bigger. Mr Hoppy suddenly thinks of a way to give Mrs Silver her wish and win her affection. She confesses that she wishes she knew of some way to make her little Alfie grow into a larger, more dignified tortoise. One morning, Mrs Silver mentions to Mr Hoppy that even though she has had Alfie for many years, her pet has only grown a tiny bit and has gained only 13 ounces in weight.

Mrs Silver has a small pet tortoise, Alfie, whom she loves very much. Mr Hoppy longs to express his feelings to Mrs Silver, but he can never bring his lips to form the words. Mr Hoppy frequently leans over his balcony and exchanges polite conversation with Mrs Silver, but he is too shy to disclose how he feels. For many years, he has been secretly in love with Mrs Silver, a woman who lives below him. Mr Hoppy is a very shy old man who lives alone in an apartment building. Esio Trot is a children's novel written by British author Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake, published in 1990.

Roald dahl books tortoise