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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+<title>
+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Rootabaga Stories, by Carl Sandburg.
+</title>
+
+<style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[  XML blockout */
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+    h3                {text-align:center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.4em}
+    div.ce p          {text-align: center; margin: auto 0;}
+    .figcenter        {margin: 2em auto 2em auto; text-align: center;}
+    .caption          {font-size:.8em}
+    .blockquot        {margin-left:5%; margin-right:5%;}
+    .pagenum          {display: inline; font-size: x-small; text-align: right; position: absolute; right: 2%; padding: 1px 3px; font-style: normal; font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration: none; color: silver; background-color: inherit; border:1px solid #eee;}
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+    hr.silver         {width: 100%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver;}
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+</head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rootabaga Stories, by Carl Sandburg
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Rootabaga Stories
+
+Author: Carl Sandburg
+
+Illustrator: Maud Petersham
+             Miska Petersham
+
+Release Date: October 29, 2008 [EBook #27085]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROOTABAGA STORIES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Betsie Bush, ronnie sahlberg and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was made using scans of public domain material from
+the Children's Books Online - Rosetta Project)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<a name='linki_1' id='linki_1'></a>
+<img src='images/c001.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+The balloons floated and filled the sky
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:3em; margin-top:1em;'>ROOTABAGA</p>
+<p style=' font-size:3em; margin-top:0em;'>STORIES</p>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+<p style=' font-size:1em; margin-top:4em;'>BY</p>
+<p style=' font-size:1.5em; margin-top:0em;'>CARL SANDBURG</p>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+<p style=' font-size:0.8em; margin-top:1em;'>Author of &#8220;Slabs of the Sunburnt West,&#8221; &#8220;Smoke</p>
+<p style=' font-size:0.8em; margin-top:0em;'>and Steel,&#8221; &#8220;Chicago Poems,&#8221; &#8220;Cornhuskers&#8221;</p>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+<p style=' font-size:1.0em; margin-top:2em;'>ILLUSTRATIONS AND DECORATIONS</p>
+<p style=' font-size:1.0em; margin-top:0em;'>BY</p>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em; margin-top:0em;'>MAUD AND MISKA PETERSHAM</p>
+</div>
+
+<p style='line-height: 2'>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/g049.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:1.2em; margin-top:2em;'>NEW YORK</p>
+<p style=' font-size:1.5em; margin-top:0em;'>HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+<p>COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY</p>
+<p>HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC.</p>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+<p>PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY</p>
+<p>THE QUINN &amp; BODEN COMPANY</p>
+<p>RAHWAY, N J</p>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+<p>TO</p>
+<p>SPINK AND SKABOOTCH</p>
+<div style='margin-top:1em'></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:larger; margin-bottom:1em;'>CONTENTS</p>
+</div>
+
+<p style='line-height: 1'>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p>1.</p>
+</div>
+<p>   Three Stories About the Finding of the Zigzag Railroad,
+       the Pigs with Bibs On, the Circus Clown Ovens,
+       the Village of Liver-and-Onions, the
+       Village of Cream Puffs.
+</p>
+
+<p>How They Broke Away to Go to the Rootabaga Country&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#HOW_THEY_BROKE_AWAY_TO_GO_TO_THE_ROOTABAGA_COUNTRY'>3</a></p>
+<p>How They Bring Back the Village of Cream Puffs When the Wind Blows It Away&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#HOW_THEY_BRING_BACK_THE_VILLAGE_OF_CREAM_PUFFS_WHEN_THE_WIND_BLOWS_IT_AWAY'>19</a></p>
+<p>How the Five Rusty Rats Helped Find a New Village&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#HOW_THE_FIVE_RUSTY_RATS_HELPED_FIND_A_NEW_VILLAGE'>29</a></p>
+
+
+<p style='line-height: 1'>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p>2.</p>
+</div>
+<p>   Five Stories About the Potato Face Blind Man
+
+</p>
+
+<p>The Potato Face Blind Man Who Lost the Diamond Rabbit on His Gold Accordion&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#THE_POTATO_FACE_BLIND_MAN_WHO_LOST_THE_DIAMOND_RABBIT_ON_HIS_GOLD_ACCORDION'>41</a></p>
+<p>How the Potato Face Blind Man Enjoyed Himself on a Fine Spring Morning&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#HOW_THE_POTATO_FACE_BLIND_MAN_ENJOYED_HIMSELF_ON_A_FINE_SPRING_MORNING'>45</a></p>
+<p>Poker Face the Baboon and Hot Dog the Tiger&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#POKER_FACE_THE_BABOON_AND_HOT_DOG_THE_TIGER'>53</a></p>
+<p>The Toboggan-to-the-Moon Dream of the Potato Face Blind Man&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#THE_TOBOGGANTOTHEMOON_DREAM_OF_THE_POTATO_FACE_BLIND_MAN'>59</a></p>
+<p>How Gimme the Ax Found Out About the Zigzag Railroad and Who Made It Zigzag&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#HOW_GIMME_THE_AX_FOUND_OUT_ABOUT_THE_ZIGZAG_RAILROAD_AND_WHO_MADE_IT_ZIGZAG'>65</a></p>
+
+
+<p style='line-height: 1'>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p>3.</p>
+</div>
+<p>   Three Stories About the Gold Buckskin Whincher
+
+</p>
+
+<p>The Story of Blixie Bimber and the Power of the Gold Buckskin Whincher&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#THE_STORY_OF_BLIXIE_BIMBER_AND_THE_POWER_OF_THE_GOLD_BUCKSKIN_WHINCHER'>73</a></p>
+<p>The Story of Jason Squiff and Why He Had a Popcorn Hat, Popcorn Mittens and Popcorn Shoes&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#THE_STORY_OF_JASON_SQUIFF_AND_WHY_HE_HAD_A_POPCORN_HAT_POPCORN_MITTENS_AND_POPCORN_SHOES'>79</a></p>
+<p>The Story of Rags Habakuk, the Two Blue Rats, and the Circus Man Who Came with Spot Cash Money&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#THE_STORY_OF_RAGS_HABAKUK_THE_TWO_BLUE_RATS_AND_THE_CIRCUS_MAN_WHO_CAME_WITH_SPOT_CASH_MONEY'>89</a></p>
+
+
+<p style='line-height: 1'>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p>4.</p>
+</div>
+<p>   Four Stories About the Deep Doom of Dark Doorways
+
+</p>
+
+<p>The Wedding Procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle and Who Was in It&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#THE_WEDDING_PROCESSION_OF_THE_RAG_DOLL_AND_THE_BROOM_HANDLE_AND_WHO_WAS_IN_IT'>99</a></p>
+<p>How the Hat Ashes Shovel Helped Snoo Foo&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#HOW_THE_HAT_ASHES_SHOVEL_HELPED_SNOO_FOO'>105</a></p>
+<p>Three Boys With Jugs of Molasses and Secret Ambitions&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#THREE_BOYS_WITH_JUGS_OF_MOLASSES_AND_SECRET_AMBITIONS'>109</a></p>
+<p>How Bimbo the Snip's Thumb Stuck to His Nose When the Wind Changed&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#HOW_BIMBO_THE_SNIPS_THUMB_STUCK_TO_HIS_NOSE_WHEN_THE_WIND_CHANGED'>123</a></p>
+
+
+<p style='line-height: 1'>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p>5.</p>
+</div>
+<p>   Three Stories About Three Ways the Wind Went Winding
+</p>
+
+<p>The Two Skyscrapers Who Decided to Have a Child&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#THE_TWO_SKYSCRAPERS_WHO_DECIDED_TO_HAVE_A_CHILD'>133</a></p>
+<p>The Dollar Watch and the Five Jack Rabbits&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#THE_DOLLAR_WATCH_AND_THE_FIVE_JACK_RABBITS'>141</a></p>
+<p>The Wooden Indian and the Shaghorn Buffalo&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#THE_WOODEN_INDIAN_AND_THE_SHAGHORN_BUFFALO'>151</a></p>
+
+
+<p style='line-height: 1'>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p>6.</p>
+</div>
+<p>   Four Stories About Dear, Dear Eyes
+</p>
+
+<p>The White Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#THE_WHITE_HORSE_GIRL_AND_THE_BLUE_WIND_BOY'>159</a></p>
+<p>What Six Girls with Balloons Told the Gray Man on Horseback&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#WHAT_SIX_GIRLS_WITH_BALLOONS_TOLD_THE_GRAY_MAN_ON_HORSEBACK'>167</a></p>
+<p>How Henry Hagglyhoagly Played the Guitar with His Mittens On&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#HOW_HENRY_HAGGLYHOAGLY_PLAYED_THE_GUITAR_WITH_HIS_MITTENS_ON'>175</a></p>
+<p>Never Kick a Slipper at the Moon&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#NEVER_KICK_A_SLIPPER_AT_THE_MOON'>185</a></p>
+
+
+<p style='line-height: 1'>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p>7.</p>
+</div>
+<p>   One Story--"Only the Fire-Born Understand Blue"
+</p>
+
+<p>Sand Flat Shadows&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#SAND_FLAT_SHADOWS'>191</a></p>
+
+
+<p style='line-height: 1'>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class='ce'>
+<p>8.</p>
+</div>
+<p>   Two Stories About Corn Fairies, Blue Foxes, Flongboos
+       and Happenings That Happened in the United States
+       and Canada
+</p>
+
+<p>How to Tell Corn Fairies If You See 'Em&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#HOW_TO_TELL_CORN_FAIRIES_IF_YOU_SEE_EM'>205</a></p>
+<p>How the Animals Lost Their Tails and Got Them Back Traveling From Philadelphia to Medicine Hat&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href='#HOW_THE_ANIMALS_LOST_THEIR_TAILS_AND_GOT_THEM_BACK_TRAVELING_FROM_PHILADELPHIA_TO_MEDICINE_HAT'>213</a></p>
+
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<div class='ce'>
+<p style=' font-size:larger; margin-bottom:1em;'>FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS</p>
+</div>
+
+<p style='line-height: 1'>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<table border='0' width='400' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Illustrations' style='margin:1em auto'>
+<col style='width:80%;' />
+<col style='width:20%;' />
+<tr>
+  <td></td>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>PAGE</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'>The balloons floated and filled the sky</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_1'>Frontispiece</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'>He opened the ragbag and took out all the spot cash money</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_2'>7</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'>Then the uncles asked her the first question first</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_3'>21</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'>They held on to the long curved tails of the rusty rats</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_4'>33</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'>&#8220;I am sure many people will stop and remember the Potato Face Blind Man&#8221;</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_5'>47</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'>His hat was popcorn, his mittens popcorn and his shoes popcorn</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_6'>83</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'>They stepped into the molasses with their bare feet</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_7'>113</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'>The monkey took the place of the traffic policeman</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_8'>129</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'>So they stood looking</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_9'>153</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'>It seemed to him as though the sky came down close to his nose</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_10'>177</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'>Away off where the sun was coming up, there were people and animals</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_11'>195</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td valign='top' align='left'>There on a high stool in a high tower, on a high hill sits the Head Spotter of the Weather Makers</td>
+  <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#linki_12'>215</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<p>
+1. Three Stories About the Finding
+   of the Zigzag Railroad, the Pigs
+   with Bibs On, the Circus Clown
+   Ovens, the Village of Liver-and-Onions,
+   the Village of Cream
+   Puffs.
+</p>
+
+<table border='0' width='500' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto'>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'><i>People</i>:</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Gimme the Ax</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Please Gimme</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Ax Me No Questions</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>The Ticket Agent</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Wing Tip the Spick</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>The Four Uncles</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>The Rat in a Blizzard</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>The Five Rusty Rats</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'><i>More People</i>:</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Balloon Pickers</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Baked Clowns</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Polka Dot Pigs</span></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_3' name='page_3'></a>3</span>
+<img src='images/g012.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='HOW_THEY_BROKE_AWAY_TO_GO_TO_THE_ROOTABAGA_COUNTRY' id='HOW_THEY_BROKE_AWAY_TO_GO_TO_THE_ROOTABAGA_COUNTRY'></a>
+<h2>How They Broke Away to Go to the<br />Rootabaga Country</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Gimme the Ax lived in a house where everything
+is the same as it always was.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The chimney sits on top of the house and
+lets the smoke out,&#8221; said Gimme the Ax. &#8220;The
+doorknobs open the doors. The windows are
+always either open or shut. We are always
+either upstairs or downstairs in this house.
+Everything is the same as it always was.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So he decided to let his children name themselves.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_4' name='page_4'></a>4</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;The first words they speak as soon as they
+learn to make words shall be their names,&#8221; he
+said. &#8220;They shall name themselves.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>When the first boy came to the house of
+Gimme the Ax, he was named Please Gimme.
+When the first girl came she was named Ax
+Me No Questions.
+</p>
+<p>And both of the children had the shadows
+of valleys by night in their eyes and the lights
+of early morning, when the sun is coming up,
+on their foreheads.
+</p>
+<p>And the hair on top of their heads was a
+dark wild grass. And they loved to turn the
+doorknobs, open the doors, and run out to have
+the wind comb their hair and touch their
+eyes and put its six soft fingers on their foreheads.
+</p>
+<p>And then because no more boys came and no
+more girls came, Gimme the Ax said to himself,
+&#8220;My first boy is my last and my last girl
+is my first and they picked their names themselves.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_5' name='page_5'></a>5</span></p>
+<p>Please Gimme grew up and his ears got
+longer. Ax Me No Questions grew up and her
+ears got longer. And they kept on living in the
+house where everything is the same as it always
+was. They learned to say just as their
+father said, &#8220;The chimney sits on top of the
+house and lets the smoke out, the doorknobs
+open the doors, the windows are always either
+open or shut, we are always either upstairs or
+downstairs&mdash;everything is the same as it always
+was.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>After a while they began asking each other
+in the cool of the evening after they had eggs
+for breakfast in the morning, &#8220;Who&#8217;s who?
+How much? And what&#8217;s the answer?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is too much to be too long anywhere,&#8221;
+said the tough old man, Gimme the Ax.
+</p>
+<p>And Please Gimme and Ax Me No Questions,
+the tough son and the tough daughter
+of Gimme the Ax, answered their father, &#8220;It
+<i>is</i> too much to be too long anywhere.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So they sold everything they had, pigs, pastures,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_6' name='page_6'></a>6</span>
+pepper pickers, pitchforks, everything
+except their ragbags and a few extras.
+</p>
+<p>When their neighbors saw them selling everything
+they had, the different neighbors said,
+&#8220;They are going to Kansas, to Kokomo, to Canada,
+to Kankakee, to Kalamazoo, to Kamchatka,
+to the Chattahoochee.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>One little sniffer with his eyes half shut and
+a mitten on his nose, laughed in his hat five
+ways and said, &#8220;They are going to the moon
+and when they get there they will find everything
+is the same as it always was.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>All the spot cash money he got for selling
+everything, pigs, pastures, pepper pickers,
+pitchforks, Gimme the Ax put in a ragbag and
+slung on his back like a rag picker going home.
+</p>
+<p>Then he took Please Gimme, his oldest and
+youngest and only son, and Ax Me No Questions,
+his oldest and youngest and only daughter,
+and went to the railroad station.
+</p>
+<p>The ticket agent was sitting at the window
+selling railroad tickets the same as always.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_7' name='page_7'></a>7</span>
+<a name='linki_2' id='linki_2'></a>
+<img src='images/g001.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+He opened the ragbag and took out all the spot cash money
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_9' name='page_9'></a>9</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Do you wish a ticket to go away and come
+back or do you wish a ticket to go away and
+<i>never</i> come back?&#8221; the ticket agent asked wiping
+sleep out of his eyes.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We wish a ticket to ride where the railroad
+tracks run off into the sky and never come
+back&mdash;send us far as the railroad rails go and
+then forty ways farther yet,&#8221; was the reply of
+Gimme the Ax.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;So far? So early? So soon?&#8221; asked the
+ticket agent wiping more sleep out his eyes.
+&#8220;Then I will give you a new ticket. It blew in.
+It is a long slick yellow leather slab ticket with
+a blue spanch across it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Gimme the Ax thanked the ticket agent once,
+thanked the ticket agent twice, and then instead
+of thanking the ticket agent three times
+he opened the ragbag and took out all the spot
+cash money he got for selling everything, pigs,
+pastures, pepper pickers, pitchforks, and paid
+the spot cash money to the ticket agent.
+</p>
+<p>Before he put it in his pocket he looked once,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_10' name='page_10'></a>10</span>
+twice, three times at the long yellow leather
+slab ticket with a blue spanch across it.
+</p>
+<p>Then with Please Gimme and Ax Me No
+Questions he got on the railroad train, showed
+the conductor his ticket and they started to ride
+to where the railroad tracks run off into the
+blue sky and then forty ways farther yet.
+</p>
+<p>The train ran on and on. It came to the
+place where the railroad tracks run off into
+the blue sky. And it ran on and on chick chick-a-chick
+chick-a-chick chick-a-chick.
+</p>
+<p>Sometimes the engineer hooted and tooted
+the whistle. Sometimes the fireman rang the
+bell. Sometimes the open-and-shut of the
+steam hog&#8217;s nose choked and spit pfisty-pfoost,
+pfisty-pfoost, pfisty-pfoost. But no matter
+what happened to the whistle and the bell and
+the steam hog, the train ran on and on to where
+the railroad tracks run off into the blue sky.
+And then it ran on and on more and more.
+</p>
+<p>Sometimes Gimme the Ax looked in his
+pocket, put his fingers in and took out the long
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_11' name='page_11'></a>11</span>
+slick yellow leather slab ticket with a blue
+spanch across it.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Not even the Kings of Egypt with all their
+climbing camels, and all their speedy, spotted,
+lucky lizards, ever had a ride like this,&#8221; he said
+to his children.
+</p>
+<p>Then something happened. They met another
+train running on the same track. One
+train was going one way. The other was going
+the other way. They met. They passed
+each other.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What was it&mdash;what happened?&#8221; the children
+asked their father.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;One train went over, the other train went
+under,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;This is the Over and
+Under country. Nobody gets out of the way
+of anybody else. They either go over or
+under.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Next they came to the country of the balloon
+pickers. Hanging down from the sky
+strung on strings so fine the eye could not see
+them at first, was the balloon crop of that summer.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_12' name='page_12'></a>12</span>
+The sky was thick with balloons. Red,
+blue, yellow balloons, white, purple and orange
+balloons&mdash;peach, watermelon and potato balloons&mdash;rye
+loaf and wheat loaf balloons&mdash;link
+sausage and pork chop balloons&mdash;they floated
+and filled the sky.
+</p>
+<p>The balloon pickers were walking on high
+stilts picking balloons. Each picker had his
+own stilts, long or short. For picking balloons
+near the ground he had short stilts. If he
+wanted to pick far and high he walked on a
+far and high pair of stilts.
+</p>
+<p>Baby pickers on baby stilts were picking
+baby balloons. When they fell off the stilts
+the handful of balloons they were holding kept
+them in the air till they got their feet into the
+stilts again.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Who is that away up there in the sky climbing
+like a bird in the morning?&#8221; Ax Me No
+Questions asked her father.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He was singing too happy,&#8221; replied the
+father. &#8220;The songs came out of his neck and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_13' name='page_13'></a>13</span>
+made him so light the balloons pulled him off
+his stilts.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Will he ever come down again back to his
+own people?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, his heart will get heavy when his songs
+are all gone. Then he will drop down to his
+stilts again.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The train was running on and on. The engineer
+hooted and tooted the whistle when he
+felt like it. The fireman rang the bell when
+he felt that way. And sometimes the open-and-shut
+of the steam hog had to go pfisty-pfoost,
+pfisty-pfoost.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Next is the country where the circus clowns
+come from,&#8221; said Gimme the Ax to his son
+and daughter. &#8220;Keep your eyes open.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>They did keep their eyes open. They saw
+cities with ovens, long and short ovens, fat
+stubby ovens, lean lank ovens, all for baking
+either long or short clowns, or fat and stubby
+or lean and lank clowns.
+</p>
+<p>After each clown was baked in the oven it
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_14' name='page_14'></a>14</span>
+was taken out into the sunshine and put up to
+stand like a big white doll with a red mouth
+leaning against the fence.
+</p>
+<p>Two men came along to each baked clown
+standing still like a doll. One man threw a
+bucket of white fire over it. The second man
+pumped a wind pump with a living red wind
+through the red mouth.
+</p>
+<p>The clown rubbed his eyes, opened his
+mouth, twisted his neck, wiggled his ears,
+wriggled his toes, jumped away from the fence
+and began turning handsprings, cartwheels,
+somersaults and flipflops in the sawdust ring
+near the fence.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The next we come to is the Rootabaga
+Country where the big city is the Village of
+Liver-and-Onions,&#8221; said Gimme the Ax, looking
+again in his pocket to be sure he had the
+long slick yellow leather slab ticket with a
+blue spanch across it.
+</p>
+<p>The train ran on and on till it stopped running
+straight and began running in zigzags
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_15' name='page_15'></a>15</span>
+like one letter Z put next to another Z and the
+next and the next.
+</p>
+<p>The tracks and the rails and the ties and
+the spikes under the train all stopped being
+straight and changed to zigzags like one letter
+Z and another letter Z put next after the other.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It seems like we go half way and then back
+up,&#8221; said Ax Me No Questions.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Look out of the window and see if the pigs
+have bibs on,&#8221; said Gimme the Ax. &#8220;If the
+pigs are wearing bibs then this is the Rootabaga
+country.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And they looked out of the zigzagging windows
+of the zigzagging cars and the first pigs
+they saw had bibs on. And the next pigs and
+the next pigs they saw all had bibs on.
+</p>
+<p>The checker pigs had checker bibs on, the
+striped pigs had striped bibs on. And the polka
+dot pigs had polka dot bibs on.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Who fixes it for the pigs to have bibs on?&#8221;
+Please Gimme asked his father.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The fathers and mothers fix it,&#8221; answered
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_16' name='page_16'></a>16</span>
+Gimme the Ax. &#8220;The checker pigs have
+checker fathers and mothers. The striped
+pigs have striped fathers and mothers. And
+the polka dot pigs have polka dot fathers and
+mothers.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And the train went zigzagging on and on
+running on the tracks and the rails and the
+spikes and the ties which were all zigzag like
+the letter Z and the letter Z.
+</p>
+<p>And after a while the train zigzagged on into
+the Village of Liver-and-Onions, known as the
+biggest city in the big, big Rootabaga country.
+</p>
+<p>And so if you are going to the Rootabaga
+country you will know when you get there because
+the railroad tracks change from straight
+to zigzag, the pigs have bibs on and it is the
+fathers and mothers who fix it.
+</p>
+<p>And if you start to go to that country remember
+first you must sell everything you have,
+pigs, pastures, pepper pickers, pitchforks, put
+the spot cash money in a ragbag and go to the
+railroad station and ask the ticket agent for a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_17' name='page_17'></a>17</span>
+long slick yellow leather slab ticket with a blue
+spanch across it.
+</p>
+<p>And you mustn&#8217;t be surprised if the ticket
+agent wipes sleep from his eyes and asks, &#8220;So
+far? So early? So soon?&#8221;
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/g013.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_19' name='page_19'></a>19</span>
+<img src='images/g014.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='HOW_THEY_BRING_BACK_THE_VILLAGE_OF_CREAM_PUFFS_WHEN_THE_WIND_BLOWS_IT_AWAY' id='HOW_THEY_BRING_BACK_THE_VILLAGE_OF_CREAM_PUFFS_WHEN_THE_WIND_BLOWS_IT_AWAY'></a>
+<h2>How They Bring Back the Village of<br />Cream Puffs When the Wind Blows<br />It Away</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>A girl named Wing Tip the Spick came to
+the Village of Liver-and-Onions to visit her
+uncle and her uncle&#8217;s uncle on her mother&#8217;s
+side and her uncle and her uncle&#8217;s uncle on her
+father&#8217;s side.
+</p>
+<p>It was the first time the four uncles had a
+chance to see their little relation, their niece.
+Each one of the four uncles was proud of the
+blue eyes of Wing Tip the Spick.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_20' name='page_20'></a>20</span></p>
+<p>The two uncles on her mother&#8217;s side took a
+long deep look into her blue eyes and said, &#8220;Her
+eyes are so blue, such a clear light blue, they are
+the same as cornflowers with blue raindrops
+shining and dancing on silver leaves after a
+sun shower in any of the summer months.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And the two uncles on her father&#8217;s side, after
+taking a long deep look into the eyes of Wing
+Tip the Spick, said, &#8220;Her eyes are so blue, such
+a clear light shining blue, they are the same as
+cornflowers with blue raindrops shining and
+dancing on the silver leaves after a sun shower
+in any of the summer months.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And though Wing Tip the Spick didn&#8217;t listen
+and didn&#8217;t hear what the uncles said about her
+blue eyes, she did say to herself when they were
+not listening, &#8220;I know these are sweet uncles
+and I am going to have a sweet time visiting
+my relations.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The four uncles said to her, &#8220;Will you let
+us ask you two questions, first the first question
+and second the second question?&#8221;
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_21' name='page_21'></a>21</span>
+<a name='linki_3' id='linki_3'></a>
+<img src='images/g002.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+Then the uncles asked her the first question first
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_23' name='page_23'></a>23</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;I will let you ask me fifty questions this
+morning, fifty questions to-morrow morning,
+and fifty questions any morning. I like to listen
+to questions. They slip in one ear and slip
+out of the other.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then the uncles asked her the first question
+first, &#8220;Where do you come from?&#8221; and the second
+question second, &#8220;Why do you have two
+freckles on your chin?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Answering your first question first,&#8221; said
+Wing Tip the Spick, &#8220;I come from the Village
+of Cream Puffs, a little light village on the
+upland corn prairie. From a long ways off it
+looks like a little hat you could wear on the end
+of your thumb to keep the rain off your thumb.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tell us more,&#8221; said one uncle. &#8220;Tell us
+much,&#8221; said another uncle. &#8220;Tell it without
+stopping,&#8221; added another uncle. &#8220;Interruptions
+nix nix,&#8221; murmured the last of the
+uncles.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is a light little village on the upland corn
+prairie many miles past the sunset in the west,&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_24' name='page_24'></a>24</span>
+went on Wing Tip the Spick. &#8220;It is light the
+same as a cream puff is light. It sits all by itself
+on the big long prairie where the prairie
+goes up in a slope. There on the slope the winds
+play around the village. They sing it wind
+songs, summer wind songs in summer, winter
+wind songs in winter.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And sometimes like an accident, the wind
+gets rough. And when the wind gets rough it
+picks up the little Village of Cream Puffs and
+blows it away off in the sky&mdash;all by itself.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;O-o-h-h,&#8221; said one uncle. &#8220;Um-m-m-m,&#8221;
+said the other three uncles.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now the people in the village all understand
+the winds with their wind songs in summer
+and winter. And they understand the
+rough wind who comes sometimes and picks up
+the village and blows it away off high in the
+sky all by itself.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;If you go to the public square in the middle
+of the village you will see a big roundhouse.
+If you take the top off the roundhouse you will
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_25' name='page_25'></a>25</span>
+see a big spool with a long string winding up
+around the spool.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now whenever the rough wind comes and
+picks up the village and blows it away off high
+in the sky all by itself then the string winds
+loose of the spool, because the village is fastened
+to the string. So the rough wind blows
+and blows and the string on the spool winds
+looser and looser the farther the village goes
+blowing away off into the sky all by itself.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then at last when the rough wind, so forgetful,
+so careless, has had all the fun it wants,
+then the people of the village all come together
+and begin to wind up the spool and bring back
+the village where it was before.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;O-o-h-h,&#8221; said one uncle. &#8220;Um-m-m-m,&#8221;
+said the other three uncles.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And sometimes when you come to the village
+to see your little relation, your niece who
+has four such sweet uncles, maybe she will lead
+you through the middle of the city to the public
+square and show you the roundhouse. They
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_26' name='page_26'></a>26</span>
+call it the Roundhouse of the Big Spool. And
+they are proud because it was thought up and is
+there to show when visitors come.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And now will you answer the second question
+second&mdash;why do you have two freckles
+on your chin?&#8221; interrupted the uncle who had
+said before, &#8220;Interruptions nix nix.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The freckles are put on,&#8221; answered Wing
+Tip the Spick. &#8220;When a girl goes away from
+the Village of Cream Puffs her mother puts on
+two freckles, on the chin. Each freckle must
+be the same as a little burnt cream puff kept in
+the oven too long. After the two freckles looking
+like two little burnt cream puffs are put on
+her chin, they remind the girl every morning
+when she combs her hair and looks in the looking
+glass. They remind her where she came
+from and she mustn&#8217;t stay away too long.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;O-h-h-h,&#8221; said one uncle. &#8220;Um-m-m-m,&#8221;
+said the other three uncles. And they talked
+among each other afterward, the four uncles
+by themselves, saying:
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_27' name='page_27'></a>27</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;She has a gift. It is her eyes. They are so
+blue, such a clear light blue, the same as cornflowers
+with blue raindrops shining and dancing
+on silver leaves after a sun shower in any
+of the summer months.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>At the same time Wing Tip the Spick was
+saying to herself, &#8220;I know for sure now these
+are sweet uncles and I am going to have a sweet
+time visiting my relations.&#8221;
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/g016.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_29' name='page_29'></a>29</span>
+<img src='images/g017.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='HOW_THE_FIVE_RUSTY_RATS_HELPED_FIND_A_NEW_VILLAGE' id='HOW_THE_FIVE_RUSTY_RATS_HELPED_FIND_A_NEW_VILLAGE'></a>
+<h2>How the Five Rusty Rats Helped Find a<br />New Village</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>One day while Wing Tip the Spick was visiting
+her four uncles in the Village of Liver-and-Onions,
+a blizzard came up. Snow filled the
+sky and the wind blew and made a noise like
+heavy wagon axles grinding and crying.
+</p>
+<p>And on this day a gray rat came to the house
+of the four uncles, a rat with gray skin and
+gray hair, gray as the gray gravy on a beefsteak.
+The rat had a basket. In the basket was a catfish.
+And the rat said, &#8220;Please let me have a
+little fire and a little salt as I wish to make a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_30' name='page_30'></a>30</span>
+little bowl of hot catfish soup to keep me warm
+through the blizzard.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And the four uncles all said together, &#8220;This
+is no time for rats to be around&mdash;and we would
+like to ask you where you got the catfish in the
+basket.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, oh, oh, please&mdash;in the name of the five
+rusty rats, the five lucky rats of the Village of
+Cream Puffs, please don&#8217;t,&#8221; was the exclamation
+of Wing Tip the Spick.
+</p>
+<p>The uncles stopped. They looked long and
+deep into the eyes of Wing Tip the Spick and
+thought, as they had thought before, how her
+eyes were clear light blue the same as cornflowers
+with blue raindrops shining on the silver
+leaves in a summer sun shower.
+</p>
+<p>And the four uncles opened the door and let
+the gray rat come in with the basket and the
+catfish. They showed the gray rat the way to
+the kitchen and the fire and the salt. And they
+watched the rat and kept him company while
+he fixed himself a catfish soup to keep him
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_31' name='page_31'></a>31</span>
+warm traveling through the blizzard with the
+sky full of snow.
+</p>
+<p>After they opened the front door and let the
+rat out and said good-by, they turned to Wing
+Tip the Spick and asked her to tell them about
+the five rusty lucky rats of the Village of Cream
+Puffs where she lived with her father and her
+mother and her folks.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;When I was a little girl growing up, before
+I learned all I learned since I got older, my
+grandfather gave me a birthday present because
+I was nine years old. I remember how he said
+to me, &#8216;You will never be nine years old again
+after this birthday, so I give you this box for
+a birthday present.&#8217;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;In the box was a pair of red slippers with a
+gold clock on each slipper. One of the clocks
+ran fast. The other clock ran slow. And he
+told me if I wished to be early anywhere I
+should go by the clock that ran fast. And if I
+wished to be late anywhere I should go by the
+clock that ran slow.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_32' name='page_32'></a>32</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;And that same birthday he took me down
+through the middle of the Village of Cream
+Puffs to the public square near the Roundhouse
+of the Big Spool. There he pointed his finger
+at the statue of the five rusty rats, the five
+lucky rats. And as near as I can remember
+his words, he said:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;Many years ago, long before the snow
+birds began to wear funny little slip-on hats and
+funny little slip-on shoes, and away back long
+before the snow birds learned how to slip off
+their slip-on hats and how to slip off their slip-on
+shoes, long ago in the faraway Village of
+Liver-and-Onions, the people who ate cream
+puffs came together and met in the streets and
+picked up their baggage and put their belongings
+on their shoulders and marched out of the
+Village of Liver-and-Onions saying, &#8220;We shall
+find a new place for a village and the name
+of it shall be the Village of Cream Puffs.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_33' name='page_33'></a>33</span>
+<a name='linki_4' id='linki_4'></a>
+<img src='images/g003.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+They held on to the long curved tails of the rusty rats
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_35' name='page_35'></a>35</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;They marched out on the prairie with
+their baggage and belongings in sacks on their
+shoulders. And a blizzard came up. Snow
+filled the sky. The wind blew and blew and
+made a noise like heavy wagon axles grinding
+and crying.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;The snow came on. The wind twisted all
+day and all night and all the next day. The
+wind changed black and twisted and spit icicles
+in their faces. They got lost in the blizzard.
+They expected to die and be buried in the snow
+for the wolves to come and eat them.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;Then the five lucky rats came, the five
+rusty rats, rust on their skin and hair, rust on
+their feet and noses, rust all over, and especially,
+most especially of all, rust on their long curved
+tails. They dug their noses down into the snow
+and their long curved tails stuck up far above
+the snow where the people who were lost in
+the blizzard could take hold of the tails like
+handles.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;And so, while the wind and the snow blew
+and the blizzard beat its icicles in their faces,
+they held on to the long curved tails of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_36' name='page_36'></a>36</span>
+rusty rats till they came to the place where
+the Village of Cream Puffs now stands. It was
+the rusty rats who saved their lives and showed
+them where to put their new village. That is
+why this statue now stands in the public square,
+this statue of the shapes of the five rusty rats,
+the five lucky rats with their noses down in
+the snow and their long curved tails lifted high
+out of the snow.&#8217;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is the story as my grandfather told
+it to me. And he said it happened long ago,
+long before the snow birds began to wear slip-on
+hats and slip-on shoes, long before they
+learned how to slip off the slip-on hats and to
+slip off the slip-on shoes.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;O-h-h-h,&#8221; said one of the uncles. &#8220;Um-m-m-m,&#8221;
+said the other three uncles.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And sometime,&#8221; added Wing Tip the Spick,
+&#8220;when you go away from the Village of Liver-and-Onions
+and cross the Shampoo River and
+ride many miles across the upland prairie till
+you come to the Village of Cream Puffs, you
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_37' name='page_37'></a>37</span>
+will find a girl there who loves four uncles very
+much.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And if you ask her politely, she will show
+you the red slippers with gold clocks on them,
+one clock to be early by, the other to be late by.
+And if you are still more polite she will take
+you through the middle of the town to the public
+square and show you the statue of the five
+rusty lucky rats with their long curved tails
+sticking up in the air like handles. And the
+tails are curved so long and so nice you will
+feel like going up and taking hold of them to
+see what will happen to you.&#8221;
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/g018.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+</div>
+
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<p>
+2. Five Stories About the
+   Potato Face Blind Man
+</p>
+
+
+<table border='0' width='500' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto'>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'><i>People</i>:</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>The Potato Face Blind Man</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Any Ice Today</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Pick Ups</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Lizzie Lazarus</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Poker Face the Baboon</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Hot Dog the Tiger</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Whitson Whimble</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Man Shoveling Money</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Watermelon Moon</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>White Gold Boys</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Blue Silver Girls</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Big White Moon Spiders</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Zizzies</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Gimme the Ax Again</span></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_41' name='page_41'></a>41</span>
+<img src='images/g019.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_POTATO_FACE_BLIND_MAN_WHO_LOST_THE_DIAMOND_RABBIT_ON_HIS_GOLD_ACCORDION' id='THE_POTATO_FACE_BLIND_MAN_WHO_LOST_THE_DIAMOND_RABBIT_ON_HIS_GOLD_ACCORDION'></a>
+<h2>The Potato Face Blind Man Who Lost<br />the Diamond Rabbit on His Gold<br />Accordion</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>There was a Potato Face Blind Man used to
+play an accordion on the Main Street corner
+nearest the postoffice in the Village of Liver-and-Onions.
+</p>
+<p>Any Ice Today came along and said, &#8220;It
+looks like it used to be an 18 carat gold accordion
+with rich pawnshop diamonds in it; it
+looks like it used to be a grand accordion once
+and not so grand now.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes, oh, yes, it was gold all over on the
+outside,&#8221; said the Potato Face Blind Man, &#8220;and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_42' name='page_42'></a>42</span>
+there was a diamond rabbit next to the handles
+on each side, two diamond rabbits.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;How do you mean diamond rabbits?&#8221;
+Any Ice Today asked.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ears, legs, head, feet, ribs, tail, all fixed
+out in diamonds to make a nice rabbit with his
+diamond chin on his diamond toenails. When
+I play good pieces so people cry hearing my
+accordion music, then I put my fingers over and
+feel of the rabbit&#8217;s diamond chin on his diamond
+toenails, &#8216;Attaboy, li&#8217;l bunny, attaboy,
+li&#8217;l bunny.&#8217;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes I hear you talking but it is like dream
+talking. I wonder why your accordion looks
+like somebody stole it and took it to a pawnshop
+and took it out and somebody stole it again and
+took it to a pawnshop and took it out and somebody
+stole it again. And they kept on stealing
+it and taking it out of the pawnshop and stealing
+it again till the gold wore off so it looks
+like a used-to-be-yesterday.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes, o-h, y-e-s, you are right. It is not
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_43' name='page_43'></a>43</span>
+like the accordion it used to be. It knows more
+knowledge than it used to know just the same
+as this Potato Face Blind Man knows more
+knowledge than he used to know.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tell me about it,&#8221; said Any Ice Today.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is simple. If a blind man plays an accordion
+on the street to make people cry it makes
+them sad and when they are sad the gold goes
+away off the accordion. And if a blind man
+goes to sleep because his music is full of sleepy
+songs like the long wind in a sleepy valley, then
+while the blind man is sleeping the diamonds
+in the diamond rabbit all go away. I play a
+sleepy song and go to sleep and I wake up and
+the diamond ear of the diamond rabbit is gone.
+I play another sleepy song and go to sleep
+and wake up and the diamond tail of the
+diamond rabbit is gone. After a while all
+the diamond rabbits are gone, even the diamond
+chin sitting on the diamond toenails of the
+rabbits next to the handles of the accordion,
+even those are gone.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_44' name='page_44'></a>44</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Is there anything I can do?&#8221; asked Any Ice
+Today.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I do it myself,&#8221; said the Potato Face Blind
+Man. &#8220;If I am too sorry I just play the sleepy
+song of the long wind going up the sleepy valleys.
+And that carries me away where I have
+time and money to dream about the new wonderful
+accordions and postoffices where everybody
+that gets a letter and everybody that don&#8217;t
+get a letter stops and remembers the Potato
+Face Blind Man.&#8221;
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/g020.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_45' name='page_45'></a>45</span>
+<img src='images/g021.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='HOW_THE_POTATO_FACE_BLIND_MAN_ENJOYED_HIMSELF_ON_A_FINE_SPRING_MORNING' id='HOW_THE_POTATO_FACE_BLIND_MAN_ENJOYED_HIMSELF_ON_A_FINE_SPRING_MORNING'></a>
+<h2>How the Potato Face Blind Man Enjoyed<br />Himself on a Fine Spring Morning</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>On a Friday morning when the flummywisters
+were yodeling yisters high in the elm trees,
+the Potato Face Blind Man came down to his
+work sitting at the corner nearest the postoffice
+in the Village of Liver-and-Onions and playing
+his gold-that-used-to-be accordion for the
+pleasure of the ears of the people going into
+the postoffice to see if they got any letters for
+themselves or their families.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is a good day, a lucky day,&#8221; said the Potato
+Face Blind Man, &#8220;because for a beginning
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_46' name='page_46'></a>46</span>
+I have heard high in the elm trees the
+flummywisters yodeling their yisters in the long
+branches of the lingering leaves. So&mdash;so&mdash;I
+am going to listen to myself playing on my
+accordion the same yisters, the same yodels,
+drawing them like long glad breathings out of
+my glad accordion, long breathings of the
+branches of the lingering leaves.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And he sat down in his chair. On the sleeve
+of his coat he tied a sign, &#8220;I Am Blind <i>Too</i>.&#8221;
+On the top button of his coat he hung a little
+thimble. On the bottom button of his coat he
+hung a tin copper cup. On the middle button
+he hung a wooden mug. By the side of him on
+the left side on the sidewalk he put a galvanized
+iron washtub, and on the right side an aluminum
+dishpan.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is a good day, a lucky day, and I am sure
+many people will stop and remember the Potato
+Face Blind Man,&#8221; he sang to himself like a
+little song as he began running his fingers up
+and down the keys of the accordion like the
+yisters of the lingering leaves in the elm trees.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_47' name='page_47'></a>47</span>
+<a name='linki_5' id='linki_5'></a>
+<img src='images/g004.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+&#8220;I am sure many people will stop and remember the<br />
+Potato Face Blind Man&#8221;
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_49' name='page_49'></a>49</span></div>
+<p>Then came Pick Ups. Always it happened
+Pick Ups asked questions and wished to know.
+And so this is how the questions and answers
+ran when the Potato Face filled the ears of
+Pick Ups with explanations.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What is the piece you are playing on the
+keys of your accordion so fast sometimes, so
+slow sometimes, so sad some of the moments,
+so glad some of the moments?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is the song the mama flummywisters sing
+when they button loose the winter underwear
+of the baby flummywisters and sing:
+</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0em;'>&#8220;Fly, you little flummies,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0em;'>Sing, you little wisters.&#8221;</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>&#8220;And why do you have a little thimble on
+the top button of your coat?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is for the dimes to be put in. Some
+people see it and say, &#8216;Oh, I must put in a whole
+thimbleful of dimes.&#8217;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And the tin copper cup?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_50' name='page_50'></a>50</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;That is for the base ball players to stand
+off ten feet and throw in nickels and pennies.
+The one who throws the most into the cup will
+be the most lucky.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And the wooden mug?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;There is a hole in the bottom of it. The
+hole is as big as the bottom. The nickel goes
+in and comes out again. It is for the very poor
+people who wish to give me a nickel and yet get
+the nickel back.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The aluminum dishpan and the galvanized
+iron washtub&mdash;what are they doing by the side
+of you on both sides on the sidewalk?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sometime maybe it will happen everybody
+who goes into the postoffice and comes out will
+stop and pour out all their money, because they
+might get afraid their money is no good any
+more. If such a happening ever happens then
+it will be nice for the people to have some place
+to pour their money. Such is the explanation
+why you see the aluminum dishpan and galvanized
+iron tub.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_51' name='page_51'></a>51</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Explain your sign&mdash;why is it, &#8216;I Am Blind
+<i>Too</i>.&#8217;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I am sorry to explain to you, Pick Ups,
+why this is so which. Some of the people who
+pass by here going into the postoffice and coming
+out, they have eyes&mdash;but they see nothing
+with their eyes. They look where they are going
+and they get where they wish to get, but
+they forget why they came and they do not
+know how to come away. They are my blind
+brothers. It is for them I have the sign that
+reads, &#8216;I Am Blind <i>Too</i>.&#8217;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I have my ears full of explanations and I
+thank you,&#8221; said Pick Ups.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good-by,&#8221; said the Potato Face Blind Man
+as he began drawing long breathings like lingering
+leaves out of the accordion&mdash;along with
+the song the mama flummywisters sing when
+they button loose the winter underwear of the
+baby flummywisters.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_53' name='page_53'></a>53</span>
+<img src='images/g022.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='POKER_FACE_THE_BABOON_AND_HOT_DOG_THE_TIGER' id='POKER_FACE_THE_BABOON_AND_HOT_DOG_THE_TIGER'></a>
+<h2>Poker Face the Baboon and Hot Dog<br />the Tiger</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>When the moon has a green rim with red
+meat inside and black seeds on the red meat,
+then in the Rootabaga Country they call it a
+Watermelon Moon and look for anything to
+happen.
+</p>
+<p>It was a night when a Watermelon Moon was
+shining. Lizzie Lazarus came to the upstairs
+room of the Potato Face Blind Man. Poker
+Face the Baboon and Hot Dog the Tiger were
+with her. She was leading them with a pink
+string.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_54' name='page_54'></a>54</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;You see they are wearing pajamas,&#8221; she
+said. &#8220;They sleep with you to-night and to-morrow
+they go to work with you like mascots.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;How like mascots?&#8221; asked the Potato Face
+Blind Man.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;They are luck bringers. They keep your
+good luck if it is good. They change your bad
+luck if it is bad.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I hear you and my ears get your explanations.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So the next morning when the Potato Face
+Blind Man sat down to play his accordion on
+the corner nearest the postoffice in the Village
+of Liver-and-Onions, next to him on the right
+hand side sitting on the sidewalk was Poker
+Face the Baboon and on the left hand side
+sitting next to him was Hot Dog the Tiger.
+</p>
+<p>They looked like dummies&mdash;they were so
+quiet. They looked as if they were made of
+wood and paper and then painted. In the
+eyes of Poker Face was something faraway.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_55' name='page_55'></a>55</span>
+In the eyes of Hot Dog was something hungry.
+Whitson Whimble, the patent clothes wringer
+manufacturer, came by in his big limousine
+automobile car without horses to pull it. He
+was sitting back on the leather upholstered seat
+cushions.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Stop here,&#8221; he commanded the chauffeur
+driving the car.
+</p>
+<p>Then Whitson Whimble sat looking. First
+he looked into the eyes of Poker Face the
+Baboon and saw something faraway. Then he
+looked into the eyes of Hot Dog the Tiger and
+saw something hungry. Then he read the sign
+painted by the Potato Face Blind Man saying,
+&#8220;You look at &#8217;em and see &#8217;em; I look at &#8217;em and
+I don&#8217;t. You watch what their eyes say; I can
+only feel their hair.&#8221; Then Whitson Whimble
+commanded the chauffeur driving the car, &#8220;Go
+on.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Fifteen minutes later a man in overalls came
+down Main Street with a wheelbarrow. He
+stopped in front of the Potato Face Blind Man,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_56' name='page_56'></a>56</span>
+Poker Face the Baboon, and Hot Dog the
+Tiger.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where is the aluminum dishpan?&#8221; he asked.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;On my left side on the sidewalk,&#8221; answered
+the Potato Face Blind Man.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Where is the galvanized iron washtub?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;On my right side on the sidewalk.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then the man in overalls took a shovel and
+began shoveling silver dollars out of the wheelbarrow
+into the aluminum dishpan and the galvanized
+iron washtub. He shoveled out of the
+wheelbarrow till the dishpan was full, till the
+washtub was full. Then he put the shovel into
+the wheelbarrow and went up Main Street.
+</p>
+<p>Six o&#8217;clock that night Pick Ups came along.
+The Potato Face Blind Man said to him, &#8220;I
+have to carry home a heavy load of money to-night,
+an aluminum dishpan full of silver dollars
+and a galvanized iron washtub full of silver
+dollars. So I ask you, will you take care of
+Poker Face the Baboon and Hot Dog the
+Tiger?&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_57' name='page_57'></a>57</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; said Pick Ups, &#8220;I will.&#8221; And he did.
+He tied a pink string to their legs and took
+them home and put them in the woodshed.
+</p>
+<p>Poker Face the Baboon went to sleep on the
+soft coal at the north end of the woodshed
+and when he was asleep his face had something
+faraway in it and he was so quiet he looked like
+a dummy with brown hair of the jungle painted
+on his black skin and a black nose painted on
+his brown face. Hot Dog the Tiger went to
+sleep on the hard coal at the south end of the
+woodshed and when he was asleep his eyelashes
+had something hungry in them and he looked
+like a painted dummy with black stripes
+painted over his yellow belly and a black spot
+painted away at the end of his long yellow tail.
+</p>
+<p>In the morning the woodshed was empty.
+Pick Ups told the Potato Face Blind Man,
+&#8220;They left a note in their own handwriting on
+perfumed pink paper. It said, &#8216;<i>Mascots never
+stay long</i>.&#8217;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And that is why for many years the Potato
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_58' name='page_58'></a>58</span>
+Face Blind Man had silver dollars to spend&mdash;and
+that is why many people in the Rootabaga
+Country keep their eyes open for a Watermelon
+Moon in the sky with a green rim and red meat
+inside and black seeds making spots on the red
+meat.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/g023.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_59' name='page_59'></a>59</span>
+<img src='images/g024.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_TOBOGGANTOTHEMOON_DREAM_OF_THE_POTATO_FACE_BLIND_MAN' id='THE_TOBOGGANTOTHEMOON_DREAM_OF_THE_POTATO_FACE_BLIND_MAN'></a>
+<h2>The Toboggan-to-the-Moon Dream of the<br />Potato Face Blind Man</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>One morning in October the Potato Face
+Blind Man sat on the corner nearest the postoffice.
+</p>
+<p>Any Ice Today came along and said, &#8220;This
+is the sad time of the year.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Sad?&#8221; asked the Potato Face Blind Man,
+changing his accordion from his right knee to
+his left knee, and singing softly to the tune he
+was fumbling on the accordion keys, &#8220;Be
+Happy in the Morning When the Birds Bring
+the Beans.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; said Any Ice Today, &#8220;is it not sad
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_60' name='page_60'></a>60</span>
+every year when the leaves change from green
+to yellow, when the leaves dry on the branches
+and fall into the air, and the wind blows them
+and they make a song saying, &#8216;Hush baby, hush
+baby,&#8217; and the wind fills the sky with them and
+they are like a sky full of birds who forget they
+know any songs.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is sad and not sad,&#8221; was the blind man&#8217;s
+word.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Listen,&#8221; said the Potato Face. &#8220;For me this
+is the time of the year when the dream of the
+white moon toboggan comes back. Five weeks
+before the first snow flurry this dream always
+comes back to me. It says, &#8216;The black leaves
+are falling now and they fill the sky but five
+weeks go by and then for every black leaf there
+will be a thousand snow crystals shining
+white.&#8217;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What was your dream of the white moon
+toboggan?&#8221; asked Any Ice Today.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It came to me first when I was a boy, when
+I had my eyes, before my luck changed. I saw
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_61' name='page_61'></a>61</span>
+the big white spiders of the moon working,
+rushing around climbing up, climbing down,
+snizzling and sniffering. I looked a long while
+before I saw what the big white spiders on the
+moon were doing. I saw after a while they
+were weaving a long toboggan, a white toboggan,
+white and soft as snow. And after a long
+while of snizzling and sniffering, climbing up
+and climbing down, at last the toboggan was
+done, a snow white toboggan running from the
+moon down to the Rootabaga Country.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And sliding, sliding down from the moon
+on this toboggan were the White Gold Boys
+and the Blue Silver Girls. They tumbled down
+at my feet because, you see, the toboggan ended
+right at my feet. I could lean over and pick up
+the White Gold Boys and the Blue Silver Girls
+as they slid out of the toboggan at my feet. I
+could pick up a whole handful of them and
+hold them in my hand and talk with them.
+Yet, you understand, whenever I tried to shut
+my hand and keep any of them they would
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_62' name='page_62'></a>62</span>
+snizzle and sniffer and jump out of the cracks
+between my fingers. Once there was a little gold
+and silver dust on my left hand thumb, dust
+they snizzled out while slipping away from me.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Once I heard a White Gold Boy and a Blue
+Silver Girl whispering. They were standing
+on the tip of my right hand little finger, whispering.
+One said, &#8216;I got pumpkins&mdash;what did
+you get?&#8217; The other said, &#8216;I got hazel nuts.&#8217;
+I listened more and I found out there are millions
+of pumpkins and millions of hazel nuts so
+small you and I can not see them. These children
+from the moon, however, they can see
+them and whenever they slide down on the moon
+toboggan they take back their pockets full of
+things so little we have never seen them.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;They are wonderful children,&#8221; said Any
+Ice Today. &#8220;And will you tell me how they get
+back to the moon after they slide down the toboggan?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, that is easy,&#8221; said Potato Face. &#8220;It is
+just as easy for them to slide <i>up</i> to the moon
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_63' name='page_63'></a>63</span>
+as to slide down. Sliding up and sliding down
+is the same for them. The big white spiders
+fixed it that way when they snizzled and sniffered
+and made the toboggan.&#8221;
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_65' name='page_65'></a>65</span>
+<img src='images/g025.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='HOW_GIMME_THE_AX_FOUND_OUT_ABOUT_THE_ZIGZAG_RAILROAD_AND_WHO_MADE_IT_ZIGZAG' id='HOW_GIMME_THE_AX_FOUND_OUT_ABOUT_THE_ZIGZAG_RAILROAD_AND_WHO_MADE_IT_ZIGZAG'></a>
+<h2>How Gimme the Ax Found Out About<br />the Zigzag Railroad and Who Made<br />It Zigzag</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>One day Gimme the Ax said to himself, &#8220;Today
+I go to the postoffice and around, looking
+around. Maybe I will hear about something
+happening last night when I was sleeping.
+Maybe a policeman began laughing and fell
+in a cistern and came out with a wheelbarrow
+full of goldfish wearing new jewelry. How do
+I know? Maybe the man in the moon going
+down a cellar stairs to get a pitcher of butter-milk
+for the woman in the moon to drink and
+stop crying, maybe he fell down the stairs and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_66' name='page_66'></a>66</span>
+broke the pitcher and laughed and picked up
+the broken pieces and said to himself, &#8216;One,
+two, three, four, accidents happen in the best
+regulated families.&#8217; How do I know?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So with his mind full of simple and refreshing
+thoughts, Gimme the Ax went out into the
+backyard garden and looked at the different
+necktie poppies growing early in the summer.
+Then he picked one of the necktie poppies to
+wear for a necktie scarf going downtown to
+the postoffice and around looking around.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is a good speculation to look nice around
+looking around in a necktie scarf,&#8221; said Gimme
+the Ax. &#8220;It is a necktie with a picture like
+whiteface pony spots on a green frog swimming
+in the moonshine.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So he went downtown. For the first time
+he saw the Potato Face Blind Man playing
+an accordion on the corner next nearest the
+postoffice. He asked the Potato Face to tell
+him why the railroad tracks run zigzag in the
+Rootabaga Country.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_67' name='page_67'></a>67</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Long ago,&#8221; said the Potato Face Blind
+Man, &#8220;long before the necktie poppies began
+growing in the backyard, long before there was
+a necktie scarf like yours with whiteface pony
+spots on a green frog swimming in the moonshine,
+back in the old days when they laid the
+rails for the railroad they laid the rails
+straight.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then the zizzies came. The zizzy is a bug.
+He runs zigzag on zigzag legs, eats zigzag with
+zigzag teeth, and spits zigzag with a zigzag
+tongue.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Millions of zizzies came hizzing with little
+hizzers on their heads and under their legs.
+They jumped on the rails with their zigzag
+legs, and spit and twisted with their zigzag
+teeth and tongues till they twisted the whole
+railroad and all the rails and tracks into a zigzag
+railroad with zigzag rails for the trains,
+the passenger trains and the freight trains, all
+to run zigzag on.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then the zizzies crept away into the fields
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_68' name='page_68'></a>68</span>
+where they sleep and cover themselves with
+zigzag blankets on special zigzag beds.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Next day came shovelmen with their
+shovels, smooth engineers with smooth blue
+prints, and water boys with water pails and
+water dippers for the shovelmen to drink after
+shoveling the railroad straight. And I nearly
+forgot to say the steam and hoist operating engineers
+came and began their steam hoist and
+operating to make the railroad straight.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;They worked hard. They made the railroad
+straight again. They looked at the job and
+said to themselves and to each other, &#8216;This is
+it&mdash;we done it.&#8217;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Next morning the zizzies opened their zigzag
+eyes and looked over to the railroad and the
+rails. When they saw the railroad all straight
+again, and the rails and the ties and the spikes
+all straight again, the zizzies didn&#8217;t even eat
+breakfast that morning.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;They jumped out of their zigzag beds,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_69' name='page_69'></a>69</span>
+jumped onto the rails with their zigzag legs and
+spit and twisted till they spit and twisted all
+the rails and the ties and the spikes back into
+a zigzag like the letter Z and the letter Z
+at the end of the alphabet.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;After that the zizzies went to breakfast.
+And they said to themselves and to each other,
+the same as the shovelmen, the smooth engineers
+and the steam hoist and operating engineers,
+&#8216;This is it&mdash;we done it.&#8217;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;So that is the how of the which&mdash;it was
+the zizzies,&#8221; said Gimme the Ax.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, it was the zizzies,&#8221; said the Potato
+Face Blind Man. &#8220;That is the story told
+to me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Who told it to you?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;<i>Two little zizzies.</i> They came to me one
+cold winter night and slept in my accordion
+where the music keeps it warm in winter. In
+the morning I said, &#8216;Good morning, zizzies, did
+you have a good sleep last night and pleasant
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_70' name='page_70'></a>70</span>
+dreams?&#8217; And after they had breakfast they
+told me the story. Both told it zigzag but it was
+the same kind of zigzag each had together.&#8221;
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/g026.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_71' name='page_71'></a>71</span></div>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<p>
+3. Three Stories About the
+   Gold Buckskin Whincher
+</p>
+
+<table border='0' width='500' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto'>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'><i>People</i>:</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Blixie Bimber</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Peter Potato Blossom Wishes</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Jimmie the Flea</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Silas Baxby</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Fritz Axenbax</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>James Sixbixdix</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Jason Squiff, the Cistern Cleaner</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Rags Habakuk, the Rag Man</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Two Daughters of the Rag Man</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Two Blue Rats</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Circus Man With Spot Cash</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Moving Picture Actor</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Taxicab Driver</span></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_73' name='page_73'></a>73</span>
+<img src='images/g027.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_STORY_OF_BLIXIE_BIMBER_AND_THE_POWER_OF_THE_GOLD_BUCKSKIN_WHINCHER' id='THE_STORY_OF_BLIXIE_BIMBER_AND_THE_POWER_OF_THE_GOLD_BUCKSKIN_WHINCHER'></a>
+<h2>The Story of Blixie Bimber and the Power<br />of the Gold Buckskin Whincher</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Blixie Bimber grew up looking for luck. If
+she found a horseshoe she took it home and
+put it on the wall of her room with a ribbon tied
+to it. She would look at the moon through her
+fingers, under her arms, over her right shoulder
+but never&mdash;never over her <i>left</i> shoulder. She
+listened and picked up everything anybody said
+about the ground hog and whether the ground
+hog saw his shadow when he came out the second
+of February.
+</p>
+<p>If she dreamed of onions she knew the next
+day she would find a silver spoon. If she
+dreamed of fishes she knew the next day she
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_74' name='page_74'></a>74</span>
+would meet a strange man who would call her
+by her first name. She grew up looking for
+luck.
+</p>
+<p>She was sixteen years old and quite a girl,
+with her skirts down to her shoe tops, when
+something happened. She was going to the
+postoffice to see if there was a letter for
+her from Peter Potato Blossom Wishes, her
+best chum, or a letter from Jimmy the Flea,
+her best friend she kept steady company with.
+</p>
+<p>Jimmy the Flea was a climber. He climbed
+skyscrapers and flagpoles and smokestacks and
+was a famous steeplejack. Blixie Bimber liked
+him because he was a steeplejack, a little, but
+more because he was a whistler.
+</p>
+<p>Every time Blixie said to Jimmy, &#8220;I got the
+blues&mdash;whistle the blues out of me,&#8221; Jimmy
+would just naturally whistle till the blues just
+naturally went away from Blixie.
+</p>
+<p>On the way to the postoffice, Blixie found
+a gold buckskin <i>whincher</i>. There it lay in the
+middle of the sidewalk. How and why it came
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_75' name='page_75'></a>75</span>
+to be there she never knew and nobody ever told
+her. &#8220;It&#8217;s luck,&#8221; she said to herself as she
+picked it up quick.
+</p>
+<p>And so&mdash;she took it home and fixed it on
+a little chain and wore it around her neck.
+</p>
+<p>She did not know and nobody ever told her
+a gold buckskin whincher is different from just
+a plain common whincher. It has a <i>power</i>.
+And if a thing has a power over you then you
+just naturally can&#8217;t help yourself.
+</p>
+<p>So&mdash;around her neck fixed on a little chain
+Blixie Bimber wore the gold buckskin whincher
+and never knew it had a power and all the time
+the power was working.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The first man you meet with an X in his
+name you must fall head over heels in love with
+him,&#8221; said the silent power in the gold buckskin
+whincher.
+</p>
+<p>And that was why Blixie Bimber stopped
+at the postoffice and went back again asking
+the clerk at the postoffice window if he was
+sure there wasn&#8217;t a letter for her. The name
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_76' name='page_76'></a>76</span>
+of the clerk was Silas Baxby. For six weeks
+he kept steady company with Blixie Bimber.
+They went to dances, hayrack rides, picnics and
+high jinks together.
+</p>
+<p>All the time the power in the gold buckskin
+whincher was working. It was hanging by a
+little chain around her neck and always working.
+It was saying, &#8220;The next man you meet
+with two X&#8217;s in his name you must leave all
+and fall head over heels in love with him.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>She met the high school principal. His
+name was Fritz Axenbax. Blixie dropped her
+eyes before him and threw smiles at him. And
+for six weeks he kept steady company with
+Blixie Bimber. They went to dances, hayrack
+rides, picnics and high jinks together.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why do you go with him for steady company?&#8221;
+her relatives asked.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a power he&#8217;s got,&#8221; Blixie answered, &#8220;I
+just can&#8217;t help it&mdash;it&#8217;s a power.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;One of his feet is bigger than the other&mdash;how
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_77' name='page_77'></a>77</span>
+can you keep steady company with him?&#8221;
+they asked again.
+</p>
+<p>All she would answer was, &#8220;It&#8217;s a power.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>All the time, of course, the gold buckskin
+whincher on the little chain around her neck
+was working. It was saying, &#8220;If she meets a
+man with three X&#8217;s in his name she must fall
+head over heels in love with him.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>At a band concert in the public square one
+night she met James Sixbixdix. There was
+no helping it. She dropped her eyes and threw
+her smiles at him. And for six weeks they
+kept steady company going to band concerts,
+dances, hayrack rides, picnics and high jinks
+together.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why do you keep steady company with
+him? He&#8217;s a musical soup eater,&#8221; her relatives
+said to her. And she answered, &#8220;It&#8217;s a
+power&mdash;I can&#8217;t help myself.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Leaning down with her head in a rain water
+cistern one day, listening to the echoes against
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_78' name='page_78'></a>78</span>
+the strange wooden walls of the cistern, the gold
+buckskin whincher on the little chain around
+her neck slipped off and fell down into the rain
+water.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;My luck is gone,&#8221; said Blixie. Then she
+went into the house and made two telephone
+calls. One was to James Sixbixdix telling him
+she couldn&#8217;t keep the date with him that night.
+The other was to Jimmy the Flea, the climber,
+the steeplejack.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Come on over&mdash;I got the blues and I want
+you to whistle &#8217;em away,&#8221; was what she telephoned
+Jimmy the Flea.
+</p>
+<p>And so&mdash;if you ever come across a gold buckskin
+whincher, be careful. It&#8217;s got a power.
+It&#8217;ll make you fall head over heels in love with
+the next man you meet with an X in his name.
+Or it will do other strange things because different
+whinchers have different powers.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_79' name='page_79'></a>79</span>
+<img src='images/g028.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_STORY_OF_JASON_SQUIFF_AND_WHY_HE_HAD_A_POPCORN_HAT_POPCORN_MITTENS_AND_POPCORN_SHOES' id='THE_STORY_OF_JASON_SQUIFF_AND_WHY_HE_HAD_A_POPCORN_HAT_POPCORN_MITTENS_AND_POPCORN_SHOES'></a>
+<h2>The Story of Jason Squiff and Why He<br />Had a Popcorn Hat, Popcorn Mittens<br />and Popcorn Shoes</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Jason Squiff was a cistern cleaner. He had
+greenish yellowish hair. If you looked down
+into a cistern when he was lifting buckets of
+slush and mud you could tell where he was,
+you could pick him out down in the dark cistern,
+by the lights of his greenish yellowish hair.
+</p>
+<p>Sometimes the buckets of slush and mud
+tipped over and ran down on the top of his head.
+This covered his greenish yellowish hair. And
+then it was hard to tell where he was and it was
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_80' name='page_80'></a>80</span>
+not easy to pick him out down in the dark where
+he was cleaning the cistern.
+</p>
+<p>One day Jason Squiff came to the Bimber
+house and knocked on the door.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Did I understand,&#8221; he said, speaking to
+Mrs. Bimber, Blixie Bimber&#8217;s mother, &#8220;do I
+understand you sent for me to clean the cistern
+in your back yard?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You understand exactly such,&#8221; said Mrs.
+Bimber, &#8220;and you are welcome as the flowers
+that bloom in the spring, tra-la-la.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Then I will go to work and clean the cistern,
+tra-la-la,&#8221; he answered, speaking to Mrs.
+Bimber. &#8220;I&#8217;m the guy, tra-la-la,&#8221; he said further,
+running his excellent fingers through his
+greenish yellowish hair which was shining
+brightly.
+</p>
+<p>He began cleaning the cistern. Blixie Bimber
+came out in the back yard. She looked
+down in the cistern. It was all dark. It looked
+like nothing but all dark down there. By and
+by she saw something greenish yellowish. She
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_81' name='page_81'></a>81</span>
+watched it. Soon she saw it was Jason Squiff&#8217;s
+head and hair. And then she knew the cistern
+was being cleaned and Jason Squiff was on the
+job. So she sang tra-la-la and went back into
+the house and told her mother Jason Squiff was
+on the job.
+</p>
+<p>The last bucketful of slush and mud came
+at last for Jason Squiff. He squinted at the
+bottom. Something was shining. He reached
+his fingers down through the slush and mud
+and took out what was shining.
+</p>
+<p>It was the gold buckskin whincher Blixie
+Bimber lost from the gold chain around her
+neck the week before when she was looking
+down into the cistern to see what she could see.
+It was exactly the same gold buckskin whincher
+shining and glittering like a sign of happiness.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s luck,&#8221; said Jason Squiff, wiping his
+fingers on his greenish yellowish hair. Then
+he put the gold buckskin whincher in his vest
+pocket and spoke to himself again, &#8220;It&#8217;s luck.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>A little after six o&#8217;clock that night Jason
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_82' name='page_82'></a>82</span>
+Squiff stepped into his house and home and said
+hello to his wife and daughters. They all began
+to laugh. Their laughter was a ticklish
+laughter.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Something funny is happening,&#8221; he said.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And you are it,&#8221; they all laughed at him
+again with ticklish laughter.
+</p>
+<p>Then they showed him. His hat was popcorn,
+his mittens popcorn and his shoes popcorn.
+He didn&#8217;t know the gold buckskin whincher
+had a power and was working all the time. He
+didn&#8217;t know the whincher in his vest pocket
+was saying, &#8220;You have a letter Q in your name
+and because you have the pleasure and happiness
+of having a Q in your name you must have
+a popcorn hat, popcorn mittens and popcorn
+shoes.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The next morning he put on another hat,
+another pair of mittens and another pair of
+shoes. And the minute he put them on they
+changed to popcorn.
+</p>
+<p>So he tried on all his hats, mittens and shoes.
+Always they changed to popcorn the minute he
+had them on.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_83' name='page_83'></a>83</span>
+<a name='linki_6' id='linki_6'></a>
+<img src='images/g005.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+His hat was popcorn, his mittens popcorn and his<br />
+shoes popcorn
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_85' name='page_85'></a>85</span></div>
+<p>He went downtown to the stores. He bought
+a new hat, mittens and shoes. And the
+minute he had them on they changed to popcorn.
+</p>
+<p>So he decided he would go to work and clean
+cisterns with his popcorn hat, popcorn mittens
+and popcorn shoes on.
+</p>
+<p>The people of the Village of Cream Puffs
+enjoyed watching him walk up the street, going
+to clean cisterns. People five and six blocks
+away could see him coming and going with his
+popcorn hat, popcorn mittens and popcorn
+shoes.
+</p>
+<p>When he was down in a cistern the children
+enjoyed looking down into the cistern to see
+him work. When none of the slush and mud
+fell on his hat and mittens he was easy to find.
+The light of the shining popcorn lit up the
+whole inside of the cistern.
+</p>
+<p>Sometimes, of course, the white popcorn got
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_86' name='page_86'></a>86</span>
+full of black slush and black mud. And then
+when Jason Squiff came up and walked home
+he was not quite so dazzling to look at.
+</p>
+<p>It was a funny winter for Jason Squiff.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a crime, a dirty crime,&#8221; he said to himself.
+&#8220;Now I can never be alone with my
+thoughts. Everybody looks at me when I go
+up the street.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;If I meet a funeral even the pall bearers
+begin to laugh at my popcorn hat. If I meet
+people going to a wedding they throw all the
+rice at me as if I am a bride and a groom all
+together.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The horses try to eat my hat wherever I go.
+Three hats I have fed to horses this winter.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And if I accidentally drop one of my mittens
+the chickens eat it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then Jason Squiff began to change. He became
+proud.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I always wanted a white beautiful hat like
+this white popcorn hat,&#8221; he said to himself.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_87' name='page_87'></a>87</span>
+&#8220;And I always wanted white beautiful mittens
+and white beautiful shoes like these white popcorn
+mittens and shoes.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>When the boys yelled, &#8220;Snow man! yah-de-dah-de-dah,
+Snow man!&#8221; he just waved his
+hand to them with an upward gesture of his
+arm to show he was proud of how he looked.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;They all watch for me,&#8221; he said to himself,
+&#8220;I am distinquished&mdash;am I not?&#8221; he asked himself.
+</p>
+<p>And he put his right hand into his left hand
+and shook hands with himself and said, &#8220;You
+certainly look fixed up.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>One day he decided to throw away his vest.
+In the vest pocket was the gold buckskin
+whincher, with the power working, the power
+saying, &#8220;You have a letter Q in your name and
+because you have the pleasure and happiness
+of having a Q in your name you must have a
+popcorn hat, popcorn mittens and popcorn
+shoes.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_88' name='page_88'></a>88</span></p>
+<p>Yes, he threw away the vest. He forgot all
+about the gold buckskin whincher being in the
+vest.
+</p>
+<p>He just handed the vest to a rag man. And
+the rag man put the vest with the gold buckskin
+whincher in a bag on his back and walked away.
+</p>
+<p>After that Jason Squiff was like other people.
+His hats would never change to popcorn nor his
+mittens to popcorn nor his shoes to popcorn.
+</p>
+<p>And when anybody looked at him down in
+a cistern cleaning the cistern or when anybody
+saw him walking along the street they knew
+him by his greenish yellowish hair which was
+always full of bright lights.
+</p>
+<p>And so&mdash;if you have a Q in your name, be
+careful if you ever come across a gold buckskin
+whincher. Remember different whinchers
+have different powers.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_89' name='page_89'></a>89</span>
+<img src='images/g029.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_STORY_OF_RAGS_HABAKUK_THE_TWO_BLUE_RATS_AND_THE_CIRCUS_MAN_WHO_CAME_WITH_SPOT_CASH_MONEY' id='THE_STORY_OF_RAGS_HABAKUK_THE_TWO_BLUE_RATS_AND_THE_CIRCUS_MAN_WHO_CAME_WITH_SPOT_CASH_MONEY'></a>
+<h2>The Story of Rags Habakuk, the Two<br />Blue Rats, and the Circus Man Who<br />Came with Spot Cash Money</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Rags Habakuk was going home. His day&#8217;s
+work was done. The sun was down. Street
+lamps began shining. Burglars were starting
+on their night&#8217;s work. It was no time for an
+honest ragman to be knocking on people&#8217;s back
+doors, saying, &#8220;Any rags?&#8221; or else saying,
+&#8220;Any rags? any bottles? any bones?&#8221; or else
+saying &#8220;Any rags? any bottles? any bones? any
+old iron? any copper, brass, old shoes all run
+down and no good to anybody to-day? any old
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_90' name='page_90'></a>90</span>
+clothes, old coats, pants, vests? I take any old
+clothes you got.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Yes, Rags Habakuk was going home. In the
+gunnysack bag on his back, humped up on top
+of the rag humps in the bag, was an old vest. It
+was the same old vest Jason Squiff threw out
+of a door at Rags Habakuk. In the pocket of
+the vest was the gold buckskin whincher with
+a power in it.
+</p>
+<p>Well, Rags Habakuk got home just like always,
+sat down to supper and smacked his mouth
+and had a big supper of fish, just like always.
+Then he went out to a shanty in the back yard
+and opened up the gunnysack rag bag and fixed
+things out classified just like every day when
+he came home he opened the gunnysack bag
+and fixed things out classified.
+</p>
+<p>The last thing of all he fixed out classified
+was the vest with the gold buckskin whincher
+in the pocket. &#8220;Put it on&mdash;it&#8217;s a glad rag,&#8221;
+he said, looking at the vest. &#8220;It&#8217;s a lucky vest.&#8221;
+So he put his right arm in the right armhole and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_91' name='page_91'></a>91</span>
+his left arm in the left armhole. And there he
+was with his arms in the armholes of the old
+vest all fixed out classified new.
+</p>
+<p>Next morning Rags Habakuk kissed his
+wife g&#8217;by and his eighteen year old girl g&#8217;by
+and his nineteen year old girl g&#8217;by. He kissed
+them just like he always kissed them&mdash;in a
+hurry&mdash;and as he kissed each one he said, &#8220;I
+will be back soon if not sooner and when I come
+back I will return.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Yes, up the street went Rags Habakuk. And
+soon as he left home something happened.
+Standing on his right shoulder was a blue rat
+and standing on his left shoulder was a blue
+rat. The only way he knew they were there
+was by looking at them.
+</p>
+<p>There they were, close to his ears. He could
+feel the far edge of their whiskers against his
+ears.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;This never happened to me before all the
+time I been picking rags,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Two blue
+rats stand by my ears and never say anything
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_92' name='page_92'></a>92</span>
+even if they know I am listening to anything
+they tell me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So Rags Habakuk walked on two blocks,
+three blocks, four blocks, squinting with his
+right eye slanting at the blue rat on his right
+shoulder and squinting with his left eye slanting
+at the blue rat on his left shoulder.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;If I stood on somebody&#8217;s shoulder with my
+whiskers right up in somebody&#8217;s ear I would
+say something for somebody to listen to,&#8221; he
+muttered.
+</p>
+<p>Of course, he did not understand it was the
+gold buckskin whincher and the power working.
+Down in the pocket of the vest he had
+on, the gold buckskin whincher power was
+saying, &#8220;Because you have two K&#8217;s in your
+name you must have two blue rats on your
+shoulders, one blue rat for your right ear, one
+blue rat for your left ear.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>It was good business. Never before did
+Rags Habakuk get so much old rags.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_93' name='page_93'></a>93</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Come again&mdash;you and your lucky blue
+rats,&#8221; people said to him. They dug into their
+cellars and garrets and brought him bottles and
+bones and copper and brass and old shoes and
+old clothes, coats, pants, vests.
+</p>
+<p>Every morning when he went up the street
+with the two blue rats on his shoulders, blinking
+their eyes straight ahead and chewing their
+whiskers so they sometimes tickled the ears of
+old Rags Habakuk, sometimes women came
+running out on the front porch to look at him
+and say, &#8220;Well, if he isn&#8217;t a queer old mysterious
+ragman and if those ain&#8217;t queer old mysterious
+blue rats!&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>All the time the gold buckskin whincher and
+the power was working. It was saying, &#8220;So
+long as old Rags Habakuk keeps the two blue
+rats he shall have good luck&mdash;but if he ever
+sells one of the blue rats then one of his daughters
+shall marry a taxicab driver&mdash;and if he
+ever sells the other blue rat then his other
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_94' name='page_94'></a>94</span>
+daughter shall marry a moving-picture hero
+actor.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then terrible things happened. A circus
+man came. &#8220;I give you one thousand dollars
+spot cash money for one of the blue rats,&#8221; he
+expostulated with his mouth. &#8220;And I give you
+two thousand dollars spot cash money for the
+two of the blue rats both of them together.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Show me how much spot cash money two
+thousand dollars is all counted out in one pile
+for one man to carry away home in his gunnysack
+rag bag,&#8221; was the answer of Rags Habakuk.
+</p>
+<p>The circus man went to the bank and came
+back with spot cash greenbacks money.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;This spot cash greenbacks money is made
+from the finest silk rags printed by the national
+government for the national republic to make
+business rich and prosperous,&#8221; said the circus
+man, expostulating with his mouth.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;T-h-e f-i-n-e-s-t s-i-l-k r-a-g-s,&#8221; he expostulated
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_95' name='page_95'></a>95</span>
+again holding two fingers under the
+nose of Rags Habakuk.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I take it,&#8221; said Rags Habakuk, &#8220;I take it.
+It is a whole gunnysack bag full of spot cash
+greenbacks money. I tell my wife it is printed
+by the national government for the national republic
+to make business rich and prosperous.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then he kissed the blue rats, one on the
+right ear, the other on the left ear, and handed
+them over to the circus man.
+</p>
+<p>And that was why the next month his eighteen
+year old daughter married a taxicab driver
+who was so polite all the time to his customers
+that he never had time to be polite to his wife.
+</p>
+<p>And that was why his nineteen year old
+daughter married a moving-picture hero actor
+who worked so hard being nice and kind in the
+moving pictures that he never had enough left
+over for his wife when he got home after the
+day&#8217;s work.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_96' name='page_96'></a>96</span></p>
+<p>And the lucky vest with the gold buckskin
+whincher was stolen from Rags Habakuk by
+the taxicab driver.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/g030.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_97' name='page_97'></a>97</span></div>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<p>
+4. Four Stories About the Deep
+   Doom of Dark Doorways
+</p>
+
+<table border='0' width='500' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto'>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'><i>People</i>:</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>The Rag Doll</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>The Broom Handle</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Spoon Lickers</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Chocolate Chins</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Dirty Bibs</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Tin Pan Bangers</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Clean Ears</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Easy Ticklers</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Musical Soup Eaters</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Chubby Chubs</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Sleepy Heads</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Snoo Foo</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Blink, Swink and Jink</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Blunk, Swunk and Junk</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Missus Sniggers</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Eeta Peeca Pie</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Meeny Miney</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Miney Mo</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Potato Bug Millionaire</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Bimbo the Snip</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Bevo the Hike</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Ward Alderman</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Barn Boss</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Weather Man</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Traffic Policeman</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Monkey</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Widow Woman</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>An Umbrella Handle Maker</span></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_99' name='page_99'></a>99</span>
+<img src='images/g031.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_WEDDING_PROCESSION_OF_THE_RAG_DOLL_AND_THE_BROOM_HANDLE_AND_WHO_WAS_IN_IT' id='THE_WEDDING_PROCESSION_OF_THE_RAG_DOLL_AND_THE_BROOM_HANDLE_AND_WHO_WAS_IN_IT'></a>
+<h2>The Wedding Procession of the Rag Doll<br />and the Broom Handle and Who Was in It</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>The Rag Doll had many friends. The
+Whisk Broom, the Furnace Shovel, the Coffee
+Pot, they all liked the Rag Doll very much.
+</p>
+<p>But when the Rag Doll married, it was the
+Broom Handle she picked because the Broom
+Handle fixed her eyes.
+</p>
+<p>A proud child, proud but careless, banged the
+head of the Rag Doll against a door one day
+and knocked off both the glass eyes sewed on
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_100' name='page_100'></a>100</span>
+long ago. It was then the Broom Handle found
+two black California prunes, and fastened the
+two California prunes just where the eyes belonged.
+So then the Rag Doll had two fine
+black eyes brand new. She was even nicknamed
+Black Eyes by some people.
+</p>
+<p>There was a wedding when the Rag Doll
+married the Broom Handle. It was a grand
+wedding with one of the grandest processions
+ever seen at a rag doll wedding. And we are
+sure no broom handle ever had a grander wedding
+procession when he got married.
+</p>
+<p>Who marched in the procession? Well, first
+came the Spoon Lickers. Every one of them
+had a tea spoon, or a soup spoon, though most
+of them had a big table spoon. On the spoons,
+what did they have? Oh, some had butter
+scotch, some had gravy, some had marshmallow
+fudge. Every one had something slickery sweet
+or fat to eat on the spoon. And as they marched
+in the wedding procession of the Rag Doll and
+the Broom Handle, they licked their spoons and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_101' name='page_101'></a>101</span>
+looked around and licked their spoons again.
+</p>
+<p>Next came the Tin Pan Bangers. Some had
+dishpans, some had frying pans, some had potato
+peeling pans. All the pans were tin with
+tight tin bottoms. And the Tin Pan Bangers
+banged with knives and forks and iron and
+wooden bangers on the bottoms of the tin pans.
+And as they marched in the wedding procession
+of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle they
+banged their pans and looked around and
+banged again.
+</p>
+<p>Then came the Chocolate Chins. They were
+all eating chocolates. And the chocolate was
+slippery and slickered all over their chins.
+Some of them spattered the ends of their noses
+with black chocolate. Some of them spread
+the brown chocolate nearly up to their ears.
+And then as they marched in the wedding procession
+of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle
+they stuck their chins in the air and looked
+around and stuck their chins in the air again.
+</p>
+<p>Then came the Dirty Bibs. They wore plain
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_102' name='page_102'></a>102</span>
+white bibs, checker bibs, stripe bibs, blue bibs
+and bibs with butterflies. But all the bibs were
+dirty. The plain white bibs were dirty, the
+checker bibs were dirty, the stripe bibs, the blue
+bibs and the bibs with butterflies on them, they
+were all dirty. And so in the wedding procession
+of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle,
+the Dirty Bibs marched with their dirty fingers
+on the bibs and they looked around and laughed
+and looked around and laughed again.
+</p>
+<p>Next came the Clean Ears. They were
+proud. How they got into the procession nobody
+knows. Their ears were all clean. They
+were clean not only on the outside but they
+were clean on the inside. There was not a
+speck of dirt or dust or muss or mess on the
+inside nor the outside of their ears. And so
+in the wedding procession of the Rag Doll
+and the Broom Handle, they wiggled their ears
+and looked around and wiggled their ears again.
+</p>
+<p>The Easy Ticklers were next in the procession.
+Their faces were shining. Their cheeks
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_103' name='page_103'></a>103</span>
+were like bars of new soap. Their ribs were
+strong and the meat and the fat was thick on
+their ribs. It was plain to see they were saying,
+&#8220;Don&#8217;t tickle me because I tickle so easy.&#8221;
+And as they marched in the wedding procession
+of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle, they
+tickled themselves and laughed and looked
+around and tickled themselves again.
+</p>
+<p>The music was furnished mostly by the
+Musical Soup Eaters. They marched with big
+bowls of soup in front of them and big spoons
+for eating the soup. They whistled and
+chuzzled and snozzled the soup and the noise
+they made could be heard far up at the head
+of the procession where the Spoon Lickers were
+marching. So they dipped their soup and
+looked around and dipped their soup again.
+</p>
+<p>The Chubby Chubs were next. They were
+roly poly, round faced smackers and snoozers.
+They were not fat babies&mdash;oh no, oh no&mdash;not
+fat but just chubby and easy to squeeze. They
+marched on their chubby legs and chubby feet
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_104' name='page_104'></a>104</span>
+and chubbed their chubbs and looked around
+and chubbed their chubbs again.
+</p>
+<p>The last of all in the wedding procession of
+the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle were the
+Sleepyheads. They were smiling and glad to
+be marching but their heads were slimpsing
+down and their smiles were half fading away
+and their eyes were half shut or a little more
+than half shut. They staggered just a little
+as though their feet were not sure where they
+were going. They were the Sleepyheads, the
+last of all, in the wedding procession of the
+Rag Doll and the Broom Handle and the
+Sleepyheads they never looked around at all.
+</p>
+<p>It <i>was</i> a grand procession, don&#8217;t you think
+so?
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/g032.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_105' name='page_105'></a>105</span>
+<img src='images/g033.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='HOW_THE_HAT_ASHES_SHOVEL_HELPED_SNOO_FOO' id='HOW_THE_HAT_ASHES_SHOVEL_HELPED_SNOO_FOO'></a>
+<h2>How the Hat Ashes Shovel Helped Snoo<br />Foo</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>If you want to remember the names of all
+six of the Sniggers children, remember that
+the three biggest were named Blink, Swink and
+Jink but the three littlest ones were named
+Blunk, Swunk and Junk. One day last January
+the three biggest had a fuss with the three littlest.
+The fuss was about a new hat for Snoo
+Foo, the snow man, about what kind of a hat
+he should wear and how he should wear it.
+Blink, Swink and Jink said, &#8220;He wants a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_106' name='page_106'></a>106</span>
+crooked hat put on straight.&#8221; Blunk, Swunk
+and Junk said, &#8220;He wants a straight hat put
+on crooked.&#8221; They fussed and fussed. Blink
+fussed with Blunk, Swink fussed with Swunk,
+and Jink fussed with Junk. The first ones to
+make up after the fuss were Jink and Junk.
+They decided the best way to settle the fuss.
+&#8220;Let&#8217;s put a crooked hat on crooked,&#8221; said Jink.
+&#8220;No, let&#8217;s put a straight hat on straight,&#8221; said
+Junk. Then they stood looking and looking
+into each other&#8217;s shiny laughing eyes and then
+both of them exploded to each other at the same
+time, &#8220;Let&#8217;s put on two hats, a crooked hat
+crooked and a straight hat straight.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Well, they looked around for hats. But
+there were not any hats anywhere, that is, no
+hats big enough for a snow man with a big head
+like Snoo Foo. So they went in the house and
+asked their mother for <i>the hat ashes shovel</i>.
+Of course, in most any other house, the mother
+would be all worried if six children came
+tramping and clomping in, banging the door
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_107' name='page_107'></a>107</span>
+and all six ejaculating to their mother at once,
+&#8220;Where is the hat ashes shovel?&#8221; But Missus
+Sniggers wasn&#8217;t worried at all. She rubbed her
+chin with her finger and said softly, &#8220;Oh lah
+de dah, oh lah de dah, where is that hat ashes
+shovel, last week I had it when I was making
+a hat for Mister Sniggers; I remember I had
+that hat ashes shovel right up here over the
+clock, oh lah de dah, oh lah de dah. Go out and
+ring the front door bell,&#8221; she said to Jink Sniggers.
+Jink ran away to the front door. And
+Missus Sniggers and the five children waited.
+Bling-bling the bell began ringing and&mdash;listen&mdash;the
+door of the clock opened and the hat ashes
+shovel fell out. &#8220;Oh lah de dah, get out of
+here in a hurry,&#8221; said Missus Sniggers.
+</p>
+<p>Well, the children ran out and dug a big pail
+of hat ashes with the hat ashes shovel. And
+they made two hats for Snoo Foo. One was a
+crooked hat. The other was a straight hat.
+And they put the crooked hat on crooked and
+the straight hat on straight. And there stood
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_108' name='page_108'></a>108</span>
+Snoo Foo in the front yard and everybody who
+came by on the street, he would take off his
+hat to them, the crooked hat with his arm
+crooked and the straight hat with his arm
+straight. That was the end of the fuss between
+the Sniggers children and it was Jink, the littlest
+one of the biggest, and Junk, the littlest one
+of the littlest, who settled the fuss by looking
+clean into each other&#8217;s eyes and laughing. If
+you ever get into a fuss try this way of settling
+it.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_109' name='page_109'></a>109</span>
+<img src='images/g034.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THREE_BOYS_WITH_JUGS_OF_MOLASSES_AND_SECRET_AMBITIONS' id='THREE_BOYS_WITH_JUGS_OF_MOLASSES_AND_SECRET_AMBITIONS'></a>
+<h2>Three Boys With Jugs of Molasses and<br />Secret Ambitions</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>In the Village of Liver-and-Onions, if <i>one</i>
+boy goes to the grocery for a jug of molasses
+it is just like always. And if <i>two</i> boys go to
+the grocery for a jug of molasses together it
+is just like always. But if <i>three</i> boys go to the
+grocery for a jug of molasses each and all together
+then it is not like always at all, at all.
+</p>
+<p>Eeta Peeca Pie grew up with wishes and
+wishes working inside him. And for every
+wish inside him he had a freckle outside on his
+face. Whenever he smiled the smile ran way
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_110' name='page_110'></a>110</span>
+back into the far side of his face and got lost
+in the wishing freckles.
+</p>
+<p>Meeny Miney grew up with suspicions and
+suspicions working inside him. And after a
+while some of the suspicions got fastened on
+his eyes and some of the suspicions got fastened
+on his mouth. So when he looked at
+other people straight in the face they used
+to say, &#8220;Meeny Miney looks so sad-like I wonder
+if he&#8217;ll get by.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Miney Mo was different. He wasn&#8217;t sad-like
+and suspicious like Meeny Miney. Nor
+was he full of wishes inside and freckles outside
+like Eeta Peeca Pie. He was all mixed up
+inside with wishes and suspicions. So he had
+a few freckles and a few suspicions on his face.
+When he looked other people straight in the
+face they used to say, &#8220;I don&#8217;t know whether
+to laugh or cry.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So here we have &#8217;em, three boys growing up
+with wishes, suspicions and mixed-up wishes
+and suspicions. They all looked different from
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_111' name='page_111'></a>111</span>
+each other. Each one, however, had a secret
+ambition. And all three had the same secret
+ambition.
+</p>
+<p>An ambition is a little creeper that creeps
+and creeps in your heart night and day, singing
+a little song, &#8220;Come and find me, come and
+find me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The secret ambition in the heart of Eeta
+Peeca Pie, Meeney Miney, and Miney Mo was
+an ambition to go railroading, to ride on railroad
+cars night and day, year after year. The
+whistles and the wheels of railroad trains were
+music to them.
+</p>
+<p>Whenever the secret ambition crept in their
+hearts and made them too sad, so sad it was
+hard to live and stand for it, they would all
+three put their hands on each other&#8217;s shoulder
+and sing the song of Joe. The chorus was like
+this:
+</p>
+<table summary='poetry' style='margin:0 auto'><tr><td>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0em;'>Joe, Joe, broke his toe,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0em;'>On the way to Mexico.</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0em;'>Came back, broke his back,</p>
+<p  style='margin: 0 0 0 0em;'>Sliding on the railroad track.</p>
+</td></tr></table>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_112' name='page_112'></a>112</span></div>
+<p>One fine summer morning all three mothers
+of all three boys gave each one a jug and said,
+&#8220;Go to the grocery and get a jug of molasses.&#8221;
+All three got to the grocery at the same time.
+And all three went out of the door of the grocery
+together, each with a jug of molasses together
+and each with his secret ambition creeping
+around in his heart, all three together.
+</p>
+<p>Two blocks from the grocery they stopped
+under a slippery elm tree. Eeta Peeca Pie was
+stretching his neck looking straight up into the
+slippery elm tree. He said it was always good
+for his freckles and it helped his wishes to stand
+under a slippery elm and look up.
+</p>
+<p>While he was looking up his left hand let go
+the jug handle of the jug of molasses. And the
+jug went ka-flump, ka-flumpety-flump down on
+the stone sidewalk, cracked to pieces and let
+the molasses go running out over the sidewalk.
+</p>
+<p>If you have never seen it, let me tell you molasses
+running out of a broken jug, over a stone
+sidewalk under a slippery elm tree, looks peculiar
+and mysterious.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_113' name='page_113'></a>113</span>
+<a name='linki_7' id='linki_7'></a>
+<img src='images/g006.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+They stepped into the molasses with their bare feet
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_115' name='page_115'></a>115</span></div>
+<p>Eeta Peeca Pie stepped into the molasses with
+his bare feet. &#8220;It&#8217;s a lotta fun,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It
+tickles all over.&#8221; So Meeney Miney and Miney
+Mo both stepped into the molasses with their
+bare feet.
+</p>
+<p>Then what happened just happened. One
+got littler. Another got littler. All three got
+littler.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You look to me only big as a potato bug,&#8221;
+said Eeta Peeca Pie to Meeney Miney and
+Miney Mo. &#8220;It&#8217;s the same like you look to us,&#8221;
+said Meeney Miney and Miney Mo to Eeta
+Peeca Pie. And then because their secret ambition
+began to hurt them they all stood with
+hands on each other&#8217;s shoulders and sang the
+Mexico Joe song.
+</p>
+<p>Off the sidewalk they strolled, across a field
+of grass. They passed many houses of spiders
+and ants. In front of one house they saw Mrs.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_116' name='page_116'></a>116</span>
+Spider over a tub washing clothes for Mr.
+Spider.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why do you wear that frying pan on your
+head?&#8221; they asked her.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;In this country all ladies wear the frying
+pan on their head when they want a hat.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;But what if you want a hat when you are
+frying with the frying pan?&#8221; asked Eeta Peeca
+Pie.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That never happens to any respectable lady
+in this country.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you never have no new style hats?&#8221;
+asked Meeney Miney.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;No, but we always have new style frying
+pans every spring and fall.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Hidden in the roots of a pink grass clump,
+they came to a city of twisted-nose spiders. On
+the main street was a store with a show window
+full of pink parasols. They walked in and said
+to the clerk, &#8220;We want to buy parasols.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t sell parasols here,&#8221; said the spider
+clerk.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_117' name='page_117'></a>117</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, lend us a parasol apiece,&#8221; said all
+three.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Gladly, most gladly,&#8221; said the clerk.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;How do you do it?&#8221; asked Eeta.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t have to,&#8221; answered the spider clerk.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;How did it begin?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It never was otherwise.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you never get tired?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Every parasol is a joy.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What do you do when the parasols are
+gone?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;They always come back. These are the
+famous twisted-nose parasols made from the
+famous pink grass. You will lose them all,
+all three. Then they will all walk back to me
+here in this store on main street. I can not sell
+you something I know you will surely lose.
+Neither can I ask you to pay, for something
+you will forget, somewhere sometime, and
+when you forget it, it will walk back here to
+me again. Look&mdash;look!&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>As he said &#8220;Look,&#8221; the door opened and five
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_118' name='page_118'></a>118</span>
+pink parasols came waltzing in and waltzed up
+into the show window.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;They always come back. Everybody forgets.
+Take your parasols and go. You will
+forget them and they will come back to me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He looks like he had wishes inside him,&#8221;
+said Eeta Peeca Pie.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He looks like he had suspicions,&#8221; said
+Meeney Miney.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;He looks like he was all mixed up wishes
+and suspicions,&#8221; said Miney Mo.
+</p>
+<p>And once more because they all felt lonesome
+and their secret ambitions were creeping
+and eating, they put their hands on their shoulders
+and sang the Mexico Joe song.
+</p>
+<p>Then came happiness. They entered the
+Potato Bug Country. And they had luck first
+of all the first hour they were in the Potato
+Bug Country. They met a Potato Bug millionaire.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;How are you a millionaire?&#8221; they asked
+him.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_119' name='page_119'></a>119</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Because I got a million,&#8221; he answered.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;A million what?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;A million <i>fleems</i>.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Who wants fleems?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You want fleems if you&#8217;re going to live
+here.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why so?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Because fleems is our money. In the Potato
+Bug Country, if you got no fleems you can&#8217;t
+buy nothing nor anything. But if you got a
+million fleems you&#8217;re a Potato Bug millionaire.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then he surprised them.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I like you because you got wishes and
+freckles,&#8221; he said to Eeta Peeca Pie, filling
+the pockets of Eeta with fleems.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And I like you because you got suspicions
+and you&#8217;re sad-like,&#8221; he said to Meeney Miney
+filling Meeney Miney&#8217;s pockets full of fleems.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And I like you because you got some wishes
+and some suspicions and you look mixed up,&#8221; he
+said to Miney Mo, sticking handfuls and handfuls
+of fleems into the pockets of Miney Mo.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_120' name='page_120'></a>120</span></p>
+<p>Wishes do come true. And suspicions do
+come true. Here they had been wishing all
+their lives, and had suspicions of what was going
+to happen, and now it all came true.
+</p>
+<p>With their pockets filled with fleems they
+rode on all the railroad trains of the Potato
+Bug Country. They went to the railroad stations
+and bought tickets for the fast trains and
+the slow trains and even the trains that back
+up and run backward instead of where they
+start to go.
+</p>
+<p>On the dining cars of the railroads of the
+Potato Bug Country they ate wonder ham from
+the famous Potato Bug Pigs, eggs from the Potato
+Bug Hens, et cetera.
+</p>
+<p>It seemed to them they stayed a long while
+in the Potato Bug Country, years and years.
+Yes, the time came when all their fleems were
+gone. Then whenever they wanted a railroad
+ride or something to eat or a place to sleep, they
+put their hands on each other&#8217;s shoulders and
+sang the Mexico Joe song. In the Potato Bug
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_121' name='page_121'></a>121</span>
+Country they all said the Mexico Joe song was
+wonderful.
+</p>
+<p>One morning while they were waiting to
+take an express train on the Early Ohio &amp;
+Southwestern they sat near the roots of a big
+potato plant under the big green leaves. And
+far above them they saw a dim black cloud and
+they heard a shaking and a rustling and a spattering.
+They did not know it was a man of
+the Village of Liver-and-Onions. They did
+not know it was Mr. Sniggers putting paris
+green on the potato plants.
+</p>
+<p>A big drop of paris green spattered down and
+fell onto the heads and shoulders of all three,
+Eeta Peeca Pie, Meeny Miney and Miney Mo.
+</p>
+<p>Then what happened just happened. They
+got bigger and bigger&mdash;one, two, three. And
+when they jumped up and ran out of the potato
+rows, Mr. Sniggers thought they were boys
+playing tricks.
+</p>
+<p>When they got home to their mothers and
+told all about the jug of molasses breaking on
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_122' name='page_122'></a>122</span>
+the stone sidewalk under the slippery elm tree,
+their mothers said it was careless. The boys
+said it was lucky because it helped them get
+their secret ambitions.
+</p>
+<p>And a secret ambition is a little creeper that
+creeps and creeps in your heart night and day,
+singing a little song, &#8220;Come and find me, come
+and find me.&#8221;
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/g035.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_123' name='page_123'></a>123</span>
+<img src='images/g036.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='HOW_BIMBO_THE_SNIPS_THUMB_STUCK_TO_HIS_NOSE_WHEN_THE_WIND_CHANGED' id='HOW_BIMBO_THE_SNIPS_THUMB_STUCK_TO_HIS_NOSE_WHEN_THE_WIND_CHANGED'></a>
+<h2>How Bimbo the Snip&#8217;s Thumb Stuck to<br />His Nose When the Wind Changed</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Once there was a boy in the Village of Liver-and-Onions
+whose name was Bimbo the Snip.
+He forgot nearly everything his father and
+mother told him to do and told him not to do.
+</p>
+<p>One day his father, Bevo the Hike, came
+home and found Bimbo the Snip sitting on the
+front steps with his thumb fastened to his nose
+and the fingers wiggling.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t take my thumb away,&#8221; said Bimbo
+the Snip, &#8220;because when I put my thumb to my
+nose and wiggled my fingers at the iceman the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_124' name='page_124'></a>124</span>
+wind changed. And just like mother always
+said, if the wind changed the thumb would stay
+fastened to my nose and not come off.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Bevo the Hike took hold of the thumb and
+pulled. He tied a clothes line rope around it
+and pulled. He pushed with his foot and heel
+against it. And all the time the thumb stuck
+fast and the fingers wiggled from the end of
+the nose of Bimbo the Snip.
+</p>
+<p>Bevo the Hike sent for the ward alderman.
+The ward alderman sent for the barn boss of
+the street cleaning department. The barn boss
+of the street cleaning department sent for the
+head vaccinator of the vaccination bureau of the
+health department. The head vaccinator of the
+vaccination bureau of the health department
+sent for the big main fixer of the weather bureau
+where they understand the tricks of the
+wind and the wind changing.
+</p>
+<p>And the big main fixer of the weather bureau
+said, &#8220;If you hit the thumb six times with
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_125' name='page_125'></a>125</span>
+the end of a traffic policeman&#8217;s club, the thumb
+will come loose.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So Bevo the Hike went to a traffic policeman
+standing on a street corner with a whistle
+telling the wagons and cars which way to
+go.
+</p>
+<p>He told the traffic policeman, &#8220;The wind
+changed and Bimbo the Snip&#8217;s thumb is fastened
+to his nose and will not come loose till
+it is hit six times with the end of a traffic policeman&#8217;s
+club.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t help you unless you find a monkey
+to take my place standing on the corner telling
+the wagons and cars which way to go,&#8221;
+answered the traffic policeman.
+</p>
+<p>So Bevo the Hike went to the zoo and said
+to a monkey, &#8220;The wind changed and Bimbo
+the Snip&#8217;s thumb is fastened to his nose and will
+not come loose till it is hit with the end of a
+traffic policeman&#8217;s club six times and the traffic
+policeman cannot leave his place on the street
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_126' name='page_126'></a>126</span>
+corner telling the traffic which way to go unless
+a monkey comes and takes his place.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The monkey answered, &#8220;Get me a ladder
+with a whistle so I can climb up and whistle
+and tell the traffic which way to go.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So Bevo the Hike hunted and hunted over
+the city and looked and looked and asked and
+asked till his feet and his eyes and his head and
+his heart were tired from top to bottom.
+</p>
+<p>Then he met an old widow woman whose
+husband had been killed in a sewer explosion
+when he was digging sewer ditches. And the
+old woman was carrying a bundle of picked-up
+kindling wood in a bag on her back because she
+did not have money enough to buy coal.
+</p>
+<p>Bevo the Hike told her, &#8220;You have troubles.
+So have I. You are carrying a load on your
+back people can see. I am carrying a load and
+nobody sees it.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Tell me your troubles,&#8221; said the old widow
+woman. He told her. And she said, &#8220;In the
+next block is an old umbrella handle maker.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_127' name='page_127'></a>127</span>
+He has a ladder with a whistle. He climbs on
+the ladder when he makes long long umbrella
+handles. And he has the whistle on the ladder
+to be whistling.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Bevo the Hike went to the next block, found
+the house of the umbrella handle maker and
+said to him, &#8220;The wind changed and Bimbo
+the Snip&#8217;s thumb is fastened to his nose and
+will not come loose till it is hit with the end
+of a traffic policeman&#8217;s club six times and the
+traffic policeman cannot leave the corner where
+he is telling the traffic which way to go unless
+a monkey takes his place and the monkey cannot
+take his place unless he has a ladder with
+a whistle to stand on and whistle the wagons
+and cars which way to go.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then the umbrella handle maker said, &#8220;To-night
+I have a special job because I must work
+on a long, long umbrella handle and I will need
+the ladder to climb up and the whistle to be
+whistling. But if you promise to have the ladder
+back by to-night you can take it.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_128' name='page_128'></a>128</span></p>
+<p>Bevo the Hike promised. Then he took the
+ladder with a whistle to the monkey, the monkey
+took the place of the traffic policeman while
+the traffic policeman went to the home of Bevo
+the Hike where Bimbo the Snip was sitting on
+the front steps with his thumb fastened to his
+nose wiggling his fingers at everybody passing
+by on the street.
+</p>
+<p>The traffic policeman hit Bimbo the Snip&#8217;s
+thumb five times with the club. And the
+thumb stuck fast. But the sixth time it was
+hit with the end of the traffic policeman&#8217;s thumb
+club, it came loose.
+</p>
+<p>Then Bevo thanked the policeman, thanked
+the monkey, and took the ladder with the
+whistle back to the umbrella handle maker&#8217;s
+house and thanked him.
+</p>
+<p>When Bevo the Hike got home that night
+Bimbo the Snip was in bed and all tickled. He
+said to his father, &#8220;I will be careful how I stick
+my thumb to my nose and wiggle my fingers
+the next time the wind changes.&#8221;
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_129' name='page_129'></a>129</span>
+<a name='linki_8' id='linki_8'></a>
+<img src='images/g007.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+The monkey took the place of the traffic policeman
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_130' name='page_130'></a>130</span></div>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<p>
+5. Three Stories About Three
+   Ways the Wind Went Winding
+</p>
+
+<table border='0' width='500' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto'>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'><i>People</i>:</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Two Skyscrapers</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>The Northwest Wind</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>The Golden Spike Limited Train</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Tin Brass Goat</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Tin Brass Goose</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Newsies</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Young Leather</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Red Slippers</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Man to be Hanged</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Five Jackrabbits</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>The Wooden Indian</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>The Shaghorn Buffalo</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>The Night Policeman</span></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_133' name='page_133'></a>133</span>
+<img src='images/g037.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_TWO_SKYSCRAPERS_WHO_DECIDED_TO_HAVE_A_CHILD' id='THE_TWO_SKYSCRAPERS_WHO_DECIDED_TO_HAVE_A_CHILD'></a>
+<h2>The Two Skyscrapers Who Decided to<br />Have a Child</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Two skyscrapers stood across the street from
+each other in the Village of Liver-and-Onions.
+In the daylight when the streets poured full
+of people buying and selling, these two skyscrapers
+talked with each other the same as
+mountains talk.
+</p>
+<p>In the night time when all the people buying
+and selling were gone home and there were only
+policemen and taxicab drivers on the streets, in
+the night when a mist crept up the streets and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_134' name='page_134'></a>134</span>
+threw a purple and gray wrapper over everything,
+in the night when the stars and the sky
+shook out sheets of purple and gray mist down
+over the town, then the two skyscrapers leaned
+toward each other and whispered.
+</p>
+<p>Whether they whispered secrets to each other
+or whether they whispered simple things that
+you and I know and everybody knows, that is
+their secret. One thing is sure: they often were
+seen leaning toward each other and whispering
+in the night the same as mountains lean and
+whisper in the night.
+</p>
+<p>High on the roof of one of the skyscrapers
+was a tin brass goat looking out across prairies,
+and silver blue lakes shining like blue porcelain
+breakfast plates, and out across silver snakes
+of winding rivers in the morning sun. And
+high on the roof of the other skyscraper was a
+tin brass goose looking out across prairies, and
+silver blue lakes shining like blue porcelain
+breakfast plates, and out across silver snakes
+of winding rivers in the morning sun.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_135' name='page_135'></a>135</span></p>
+<p>Now the Northwest Wind was a friend of
+the two skyscrapers. Coming so far, coming
+five hundred miles in a few hours, coming so
+fast always while the skyscrapers were standing
+still, standing always on the same old street
+corners always, the Northwest Wind was a
+bringer of news.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Well, I see the city is here yet,&#8221; the Northwest
+Wind would whistle to the skyscrapers.
+</p>
+<p>And they would answer, &#8220;Yes, and are the
+mountains standing yet way out yonder where
+you come from, Wind?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, the mountains are there yonder, and
+farther yonder is the sea, and the railroads are
+still going, still running across the prairie to
+the mountains, to the sea,&#8221; the Northwest Wind
+would answer.
+</p>
+<p>And now there was a pledge made by the
+Northwest Wind to the two skyscrapers. Often
+the Northwest Wind shook the tin brass goat
+and shook the tin brass goose on top of the skyscrapers.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_136' name='page_136'></a>136</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you going to blow loose the tin brass
+goat on my roof?&#8221; one asked.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Are you going to blow loose the tin brass
+goose on my roof?&#8221; the other asked.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, no,&#8221; the Northwest Wind laughed, first
+to one and then to the other, &#8220;if I ever blow
+loose your tin brass goat and if I ever blow
+loose your tin brass goose, it will be when I am
+sorry for you because you are up against hard
+luck and there is somebody&#8217;s funeral.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So time passed on and the two skyscrapers
+stood with their feet among the policemen and
+the taxicabs, the people buying and selling,&mdash;the
+customers with parcels, packages and
+bundles&mdash;while away high on their roofs stood
+the goat and the goose looking out on silver blue
+lakes like blue porcelain breakfast plates and
+silver snakes of rivers winding in the morning
+sun.
+</p>
+<p>So time passed on and the Northwest Wind
+kept coming, telling the news and making
+promises.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_137' name='page_137'></a>137</span></p>
+<p>So time passed on. And the two skyscrapers
+decided to have a child.
+</p>
+<p>And they decided when their child came
+it should be a <i>free</i> child.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It must be a free child,&#8221; they said to each
+other. &#8220;It must not be a child standing still
+all its life on a street corner. Yes, if we have
+a child she must be free to run across the prairie,
+to the mountains, to the sea. Yes, it must be
+a free child.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So time passed on. Their child came. It
+was a railroad train, the Golden Spike Limited,
+the fastest long distance train in the Rootabaga
+Country. It ran across the prairie, to the
+mountains, to the sea.
+</p>
+<p>They were glad, the two skyscrapers were,
+glad to have a free child running away from
+the big city, far away to the mountains, far
+away to the sea, running as far as the farthest
+mountains and sea coasts touched by the Northwest
+Wind.
+</p>
+<p>They were glad their child was useful, the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_138' name='page_138'></a>138</span>
+two skyscrapers were, glad their child was carrying
+a thousand people a thousand miles a
+day, so when people spoke of the Golden Spike
+Limited, they spoke of it as a strong, lovely
+child.
+</p>
+<p>Then time passed on. There came a day
+when the newsies yelled as though they were
+crazy. &#8220;Yah yah, blah blah, yoh yoh,&#8221; was
+what it sounded like to the two skyscrapers who
+never bothered much about what the newsies
+were yelling.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yah yah, blah blah, yoh yoh,&#8221; was the cry
+of the newsies that came up again to the tops
+of the skyscrapers.
+</p>
+<p>At last the yelling of the newsies came so
+strong the skyscrapers listened and heard the
+newsies yammering, &#8220;All about the great train
+wreck! All about the Golden Spike disaster!
+Many lives lost! Many lives lost!&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And the Northwest Wind came howling a
+slow sad song. And late that afternoon a crowd
+of policemen, taxicab drivers, newsies and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_139' name='page_139'></a>139</span>
+customers with bundles, all stood around talking
+and wondering about two things next to each
+other on the street car track in the middle of the
+street. One was a tin brass goat. The other
+was a tin brass goose. And they lay next to each
+other.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_141' name='page_141'></a>141</span>
+<img src='images/g038.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_DOLLAR_WATCH_AND_THE_FIVE_JACK_RABBITS' id='THE_DOLLAR_WATCH_AND_THE_FIVE_JACK_RABBITS'></a>
+<h2>The Dollar Watch and the Five Jack<br />Rabbits</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Long ago, long before the waylacks lost the
+wonderful stripes of oat straw gold and the
+spots of timothy hay green in their marvelous
+curving tail feathers, long before the doo-doo-jangers
+whistled among the honeysuckle blossoms
+and the bitter-basters cried their last and
+dying wrangling cries, long before the sad happenings
+that came later, it was then, some years
+earlier than the year Fifty Fifty, that Young
+Leather and Red Slippers crossed the Rootabaga
+Country.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_142' name='page_142'></a>142</span></p>
+<p>To begin with, they were walking across the
+Rootabaga Country. And they were walking
+because it made their feet glad to feel the dirt
+of the earth under their shoes and they were
+close to the smells of the earth. They learned
+the ways of birds and bugs, why birds have
+wings, why bugs have legs, why the gladdywhingers
+have spotted eggs in a basket nest in a
+booblow tree, and why the chizzywhizzies
+scrape off little fiddle songs all summer long
+while the summer nights last.
+</p>
+<p>Early one morning they were walking across
+the corn belt of the Rootabaga Country singing,
+&#8220;Deep Down Among the Dagger Dancers.&#8221;
+They had just had a breakfast of coffee and hot
+hankypank cakes covered with cow&#8217;s butter.
+Young Leather said to Red Slippers, &#8220;What
+is the best secret we have come across this summer?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That is easy to answer,&#8221; Red Slippers said
+with a long flish of her long black eyelashes.
+&#8220;The best secret we have come across is a rope
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_143' name='page_143'></a>143</span>
+of gold hanging from every star in the sky and
+when we want to go up we go up.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Walking on they came to a town where they
+met a man with a sorry face. &#8220;Why?&#8221; they
+asked him. And he answered, &#8220;My brother is
+in jail.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What for?&#8221; they asked him again. And he
+answered again, &#8220;My brother put on a straw
+hat in the middle of the winter and went out
+on the streets laughing; my brother had his
+hair cut pompompadour and went out on the
+streets bareheaded in the summertime laughing;
+and these things were against the law. Worst
+of all he sneezed at the wrong time and he
+sneezed before the wrong persons; he sneezed
+when it was not wise to sneeze. So he will be
+hanged to-morrow morning. The gallows
+made of lumber and the rope made of hemp&mdash;they
+are waiting for him to-morrow morning.
+They will tie around his neck the hangman&#8217;s
+necktie and hoist him high.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The man with a sorry face looked more sorry
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_144' name='page_144'></a>144</span>
+than ever. It made Young Leather feel reckless
+and it made Red Slippers feel reckless.
+They whispered to each other. Then Young
+Leather said, &#8220;Take this dollar watch. Give
+it to your brother. Tell him when they are
+leading him to the gallows he must take
+this dollar watch in his hand, wind it up and
+push on the stem winder. The rest will be
+easy.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So the next morning when they were leading
+the man to be hanged to the gallows made of
+lumber and the rope made of hemp, where they
+were going to hoist him high because he sneezed
+in the wrong place before the wrong people, he
+used his fingers winding up the watch and pushing
+on the stem winder. There was a snapping
+and a slatching like a gas engine slipping into
+a big pair of dragon fly wings. The dollar
+watch changed into a dragon fly ship. The
+man who was going to be hanged jumped into
+the dragon fly ship and flew whonging away
+before anybody could stop him.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_145' name='page_145'></a>145</span></p>
+<p>Young Leather and Red Slippers were walking
+out of the town laughing and singing again,
+&#8220;Deep Down Among the Dagger Dancers.&#8221;
+The man with a sorry face, not so sorry now any
+more, came running after them. Behind the
+man and running after him were five long-legged
+spider jack-rabbits.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;These are for you,&#8221; was his exclamation.
+And they all sat down on the stump of a booblow
+tree. He opened his sorry face and told
+the secrets of the five long-legged spider jack-rabbits
+to Young Leather and Red Slippers.
+They waved good-by and went on up the road
+leading the five new jack-rabbits.
+</p>
+<p>In the next town they came to was a skyscraper
+higher than all the other skyscrapers.
+A rich man dying wanted to be remembered and
+left in his last will and testament a command
+they should build a building so high it would
+scrape the thunder clouds and stand higher than
+all other skyscrapers with his name carved in
+stone letters on the top of it, and an electric sign
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_146' name='page_146'></a>146</span>
+at night with his name on it, and a clock on the
+tower with his name on it.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am hungry to be remembered and have
+my name spoken by many people after I am
+dead,&#8221; the rich man told his friends. &#8220;I command
+you, therefore, to throw the building
+high in the air because the higher it goes the
+longer I will be remembered and the longer
+the years men will mention my name after
+I am dead.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>So there it was. Young Leather and Red
+Slippers laughed when they first saw the skyscraper,
+when they were far off along a country
+road singing their old song, &#8220;Deep Down
+Among the Dagger Dancers.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We got a show and we give a performance
+and we want the whole town to see it,&#8221; was
+what Young Leather and Red Slippers said to
+the mayor of the town when they called on him
+at the city hall. &#8220;We want a license and a permit
+to give this free show in the public square.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;What do you do?&#8221; asked the mayor.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_147' name='page_147'></a>147</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;We jump five jack-rabbits, five long-legged
+spider jack-rabbits over the highest skyscraper
+you got in your city,&#8221; they answered him.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;If it&#8217;s free and you don&#8217;t sell anything nor
+take any money away from us while it is daylight
+and you are giving your performance,
+then here is your license permit,&#8221; said the mayor
+speaking in the manner of a politician who has
+studied politics.
+</p>
+<p>Thousands of people came to see the show on
+the public square. They wished to know how
+it would look to see five long-legged, spider
+jack-rabbits jump over the highest skyscraper
+in the city.
+</p>
+<p>Four of the jack-rabbits had stripes. The
+fifth had stripes&mdash;and spots. Before they
+started the show Young Leather and Red Slippers
+held the jack-rabbits one by one in their
+arms and petted them, rubbed the feet and
+rubbed the long ears and ran their fingers along
+the long legs of the jumpers.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Zingo,&#8221; they yelled to the first jack-rabbit.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_148' name='page_148'></a>148</span>
+He got all ready. &#8220;And now zingo!&#8221; they
+yelled again. And the jack-rabbit took a run,
+lifted off his feet and went on and on and up
+and up till he went over the roof of the skyscraper
+and then went down and down till
+he lit on his feet and came running on his long
+legs back to the public square where he started
+from, back where Young Leather and Red
+Slippers petted him and rubbed his long ears
+and said, &#8220;That&#8217;s the boy.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Then three jack-rabbits made the jump over
+the skyscraper. &#8220;Zingo,&#8221; they heard and got
+ready. &#8220;And now zingo,&#8221; they heard and all
+three together in a row, their long ears touching
+each other, they lifted off their feet and
+went on and on and up and up till they cleared
+the roof of the skyscraper. Then they came
+down and down till they lit on their feet and
+came running to the hands of Young Leather
+and Red Slippers to have their long legs and
+their long ears rubbed and petted.
+</p>
+<p>Then came the turn of the fifth jack-rabbit,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_149' name='page_149'></a>149</span>
+the beautiful one with stripes and spots. &#8220;Ah,
+we&#8217;re sorry to see you go, Ah-h, we&#8217;re sorry,&#8221;
+they said, rubbing his long ears and feeling of
+his long legs.
+</p>
+<p>Then Young Leather and Red Slippers
+kissed him on the nose, kissed the last and fifth
+of the five long-legged spider jack-rabbits.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Good-by, old bunny, good-by, you&#8217;re the
+dandiest bunny there ever was,&#8221; they whispered
+in his long ears. And he, because he knew what
+they were saying and why they were saying
+it, he wiggled his long ears and looked long
+and steady at them from his deep eyes.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Zango,&#8221; they yelled. He got ready.
+&#8220;And now zango!&#8221; they yelled again. And
+the fifth jack-rabbit with his stripes and spots
+lifted off his feet and went on and on and on
+and up and up and when he came to the roof
+of the skyscraper he kept on going on and on
+and up and up till after a while he was gone
+all the way out of sight.
+</p>
+<p>They waited and watched, they watched
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_150' name='page_150'></a>150</span>
+and waited. He never came back. He never
+was heard of again. He was gone. With the
+stripes on his back and the spots on his hair,
+he was gone. And Young Leather and Red
+Slippers said they were glad they had kissed him
+on the nose before he went away on a long trip
+far off, so far off he never came back.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/g039.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_151' name='page_151'></a>151</span>
+<img src='images/g040.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_WOODEN_INDIAN_AND_THE_SHAGHORN_BUFFALO' id='THE_WOODEN_INDIAN_AND_THE_SHAGHORN_BUFFALO'></a>
+<h2>The Wooden Indian and the Shaghorn<br />Buffalo</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>One night a milk white moon was shining
+down on Main Street. The sidewalks and the
+stones, the walls and the windows all stood out
+milk white. And there was a thin blue mist
+drifted and shifted like a woman&#8217;s veil up and
+down Main Street, up to the moon and back
+again. Yes, all Main Street was a mist blue
+and a milk white, mixed up and soft all over
+and all through.
+</p>
+<p>It was past midnight. The Wooden Indian
+in front of the cigar store stepped down off
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_152' name='page_152'></a>152</span>
+his stand. The Shaghorn Buffalo in front of
+the haberdasher shop lifted his head and shook
+his whiskers, raised his hoofs out of his hoof-tracks.
+</p>
+<p>Then&mdash;this is what happened. They moved
+straight toward each other. In the middle of
+Main Street they met. The Wooden Indian
+jumped straddle of the Shaghorn Buffalo.
+And the Shaghorn Buffalo put his head down
+and ran like a prairie wind straight west on
+Main Street.
+</p>
+<p>At the high hill over the big bend of the
+Clear Green River they stopped. They stood
+looking. Drifting and shifting like a woman&#8217;s
+blue veil, the blue mist filled the valley and the
+milk white moon filled the valley. And the
+mist and the moon touched with a lingering,
+wistful kiss the clear green water of the Clear
+Green River.
+</p>
+<p>So they stood looking, the Wooden Indian
+with his copper face and wooden feathers, and
+the Shaghorn Buffalo with his big head and
+heavy shoulders slumping down close to the
+ground.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_153' name='page_153'></a>153</span>
+<a name='linki_9' id='linki_9'></a>
+<img src='images/g008.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+So they stood looking
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_155' name='page_155'></a>155</span></div>
+<p>And after they had looked a long while, and
+each of them got an eyeful of the high hill,
+the big bend and the moon mist on the river
+all blue and white and soft, after they had
+looked a long while, they turned around and
+the Shaghorn Buffalo put his head down and
+ran like a prairie wind down Main Street till
+he was exactly in front of the cigar store and
+the haberdasher shop. Then whisk! both of
+them were right back like they were before,
+standing still, taking whatever comes.
+</p>
+<p>This is the story as it came from the night
+policeman of the Village of Cream Puffs. He
+told the people the next day, &#8220;I was sitting on
+the steps of the cigar store last night watching
+for burglars. And when I saw the Wooden
+Indian step down and the Shaghorn Buffalo
+step out, and the two of them go down Main
+Street like the wind, I says to myself, marvelish,
+&#8217;tis marvelish, &#8217;tis marvelish.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_156' name='page_156'></a>156</span></p>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<p>
+6. Four Stories About
+   Dear, Dear Eyes
+</p>
+
+<table border='0' width='500' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto'>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'><i>People</i>:</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>The White Horse Girl</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>The Blue Wind Boy</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>The Gray Man on Horseback</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Six Girls With Balloons</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Henry Hagglyhoagly</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Susan Slackentwist</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Two Wool Yarn Mittens</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Peter Potato Blossom Wishes</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Her Father</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Many Shoes</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Slippers</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Slipper Moon</span></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_159' name='page_159'></a>159</span>
+<img src='images/g041.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='THE_WHITE_HORSE_GIRL_AND_THE_BLUE_WIND_BOY' id='THE_WHITE_HORSE_GIRL_AND_THE_BLUE_WIND_BOY'></a>
+<h2>The White Horse Girl and the Blue Wind<br />Boy</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>When the dishes are washed at night time
+and the cool of the evening has come in summer
+or the lamps and fires are lit for the night
+in winter, then the fathers and mothers in the
+Rootabaga Country sometimes tell the young
+people the story of the White Horse Girl and
+the Blue Wind Boy.
+</p>
+<p>The White Horse Girl grew up far in the
+west of the Rootabaga Country. All the years
+she grew up as a girl she liked to ride horses.
+Best of all things for her was to be straddle
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_160' name='page_160'></a>160</span>
+of a white horse loping with a loose bridle
+among the hills and along the rivers of the west
+Rootabaga Country.
+</p>
+<p>She rode one horse white as snow, another
+horse white as new washed sheep wool, and another
+white as silver. And she could not tell
+because she did not know which of these three
+white horses she liked best.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Snow is beautiful enough for me any time,&#8221;
+she said, &#8220;new washed sheep wool, or silver
+out of a ribbon of the new moon, any or either
+is white enough for me. I like the white
+manes, the white flanks, the white noses, the
+white feet of all my ponies. I like the forelocks
+hanging down between the white ears of
+all three&mdash;my ponies.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And living neighbor to the White Horse
+Girl in the same prairie country, with the same
+black crows flying over their places, was the
+Blue Wind Boy. All the years he grew up as
+a boy he liked to walk with his feet in the dirt
+and the grass listening to the winds. Best of
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_161' name='page_161'></a>161</span>
+all things for him was to put on strong shoes
+and go hiking among the hills and along the
+rivers of the west Rootabaga Country, listening
+to the winds.
+</p>
+<p>There was a blue wind of day time, starting
+sometimes six o&#8217;clock on a summer morning or
+eight o&#8217;clock on a winter morning. And there
+was a night wind with blue of summer stars
+in summer and blue of winter stars in winter.
+And there was yet another, a blue wind of the
+times between night and day, a blue dawn and
+evening wind. All three of these winds he
+liked so well he could not say which he liked
+best.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The early morning wind is strong as the
+prairie and whatever I tell it I know it believes
+and remembers,&#8221; he said, &#8220;and the night wind
+with the big dark curves of the night sky in it,
+the night wind gets inside of me and understands
+all my secrets. And the blue wind of the
+times between, in the dusk when it is neither
+night nor day, this is the wind that asks me
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_162' name='page_162'></a>162</span>
+questions and tells me to wait and it will bring
+me whatever I want.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Of course, it happened as it had to happen,
+the White Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy
+met. She, straddling one of her white horses,
+and he, wearing his strong hiking shoes in the
+dirt and the grass, it had to happen they should
+meet among the hills and along the rivers of
+the west Rootabaga Country where they lived
+neighbors.
+</p>
+<p>And of course, she told him all about the
+snow white horse and the horse white as new
+washed sheep wool and the horse white as a
+silver ribbon of the new moon. And he told
+her all about the blue winds he liked listening
+to, the early morning wind, the night sky wind,
+and the wind of the dusk between, the wind
+that asked him questions and told him to wait.
+</p>
+<p>One day the two of them were gone. On
+the same day of the week the White Horse Girl
+and the Blue Wind Boy went away. And their
+fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_163' name='page_163'></a>163</span>
+and uncles and aunts wondered about them and
+talked about them, because they didn&#8217;t tell anybody
+beforehand they were going. Nobody at
+all knew beforehand or afterward why they
+were going away, the real honest why of it.
+</p>
+<p>They left a short letter. It read:
+</p>
+<div class='blockquot'>
+<p><i>To All Our Sweethearts, Old Folks and Young
+Folks:</i>
+</p>
+<p><i>We have started to go where the white horses
+come from and where the blue winds begin. Keep
+a corner in your hearts for us while we are gone.</i>
+</p>
+</div>
+<div class='ra'>
+<p style='text-align: right; '><i>The White Horse Girl.</i></p>
+<p style='text-align: right; '><i>The Blue Wind Boy.</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>That was all they had to guess by in the west
+Rootabaga Country, to guess and guess where
+two darlings had gone.
+</p>
+<p>Many years passed. One day there came riding
+across the Rootabaga Country a Gray Man
+on Horseback. He looked like he had come a
+long ways. So they asked him the question
+they always asked of any rider who looked like
+he had come a long ways, &#8220;Did you ever see the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_164' name='page_164'></a>164</span>
+White Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he answered, &#8220;I saw them.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It was a long, long ways from here I saw
+them,&#8221; he went on, &#8220;it would take years and
+years to ride to where they are. They were
+sitting together and talking to each other, sometimes
+singing, in a place where the land runs
+high and tough rocks reach up. And they were
+looking out across water, blue water as far as
+the eye could see. And away far off the blue
+waters met the blue sky.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;Look!&#8217; said the Boy, &#8216;that&#8217;s where the
+blue winds begin.&#8217;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And far out on the blue waters, just a little
+this side of where the blue winds begin, there
+were white manes, white flanks, white noses,
+white galloping feet.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;Look!&#8217; said the Girl, &#8216;that&#8217;s where the
+white horses come from.&#8217;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And then nearer to the land came thousands
+in an hour, millions in a day, white horses, some
+white as snow, some like new washed sheep
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_165' name='page_165'></a>165</span>
+wool, some white as silver ribbons of the new
+moon.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I asked them, &#8216;Whose place is this?&#8217; They
+answered, &#8216;It belongs to us; this is what we
+started for; this is where the white horses come
+from; this is where the blue winds begin.&#8217;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And that was all the Gray Man on Horseback
+would tell the people of the west Rootabaga
+Country. That was all he knew, he said,
+and if there was any more he would tell it.
+</p>
+<p>And the fathers and mothers and sisters and
+brothers and uncles and aunts of the White
+Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy wondered
+and talked often about whether the Gray Man
+on Horseback made up the story out of his head
+or whether it happened just like he told it.
+</p>
+<p>Anyhow this is the story they tell sometimes
+to the young people of the west Rootabaga
+Country when the dishes are washed at night
+and the cool of the evening has come in summer
+or the lamps and fires are lit for the night in
+winter.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_167' name='page_167'></a>167</span>
+<img src='images/g042.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='WHAT_SIX_GIRLS_WITH_BALLOONS_TOLD_THE_GRAY_MAN_ON_HORSEBACK' id='WHAT_SIX_GIRLS_WITH_BALLOONS_TOLD_THE_GRAY_MAN_ON_HORSEBACK'></a>
+<h2>What Six Girls with Balloons Told the<br />Gray Man on Horseback</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Once there came riding across the Rootabaga
+Country a Gray Man on Horseback. He
+looked as if he had come a long ways. He
+looked like a brother to the same Gray Man on
+Horseback who said he had seen the White
+Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy.
+</p>
+<p>He stopped in the Village of Cream Puffs.
+His gray face was sad and his eyes were gray
+deep and sad. He spoke short and seemed
+strong. Sometimes his eyes looked as if they
+were going to flash, but instead of fire they
+filled with shadows.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_168' name='page_168'></a>168</span></p>
+<p>Yet&mdash;he did laugh once. It did happen once
+he lifted his head and face to the sky and let
+loose a long ripple of laughs.
+</p>
+<p>On Main Street near the Roundhouse of the
+Big Spool, where they wind up the string that
+pulls the light little town back when the wind
+blows it away, there he was riding slow on his
+gray horse when he met six girls with six fine
+braids of yellow hair and six balloons apiece.
+That is, each and every one of the six girls had
+six fine long braids of yellow hair and each
+braid of hair had a balloon tied on the end. A
+little blue wind was blowing and the many
+balloons tied to the braids of the six girls swung
+up and down and slow and fast whenever the
+blue wind went up and down and slow and fast.
+</p>
+<p>For the first time since he had been in the
+Village, the eyes of the Gray Man filled with
+lights and his face began to look hopeful. He
+stopped his horse when he came even with the
+six girls and the balloons floating from the
+braids of yellow hair.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_169' name='page_169'></a>169</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Where you going?&#8221; he asked.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Who&mdash;hoo-hoo? Who&mdash;who&mdash;who?&#8221; the
+six girls cheeped out.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;All six of you and your balloons, where you
+going?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, hoo-hoo-hoo, back where we came
+from,&#8221; and they all turned their heads back and
+forth and sideways, which of course turned all
+the balloons back and forth and sideways because
+the balloons were fastened to the fine
+braids of hair which were fastened to their
+heads.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And where do you go when you get back
+where you came from?&#8221; he asked just to be
+asking.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Oh, hoo-hoo-hoo, then we start out and go
+straight ahead and see what we can see,&#8221; they
+all answered just to be answering and they
+dipped their heads and swung them up which
+of course dipped all the balloons and swung
+them up.
+</p>
+<p>So they talked, he asking just to be asking
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_170' name='page_170'></a>170</span>
+and the six balloon girls answering just to be
+answering.
+</p>
+<p>At last his sad mouth broke into a smile and
+his eyes were lit like a morning sun coming
+up over harvest fields. And he said to them,
+&#8220;Tell me why are balloons&mdash;that is what I want
+you to tell me&mdash;why are balloons?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The first little girl put her thumb under
+her chin, looked up at her six balloons floating
+in the little blue wind over her head, and said:
+&#8220;Balloons are wishes. The wind made them.
+The west wind makes the red balloons. The
+south wind makes the blue. The yellow and
+green balloons come from the east wind and the
+north wind.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The second little girl put her first finger next
+to her nose, looked up at her six balloons dipping
+up and down like hill flowers in a small
+wind, and said:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;A balloon used to be a flower. It got tired.
+Then it changed itself to a balloon. I listened
+one time to a yellow balloon. It was talking
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_171' name='page_171'></a>171</span>
+to itself like people talk. It said, &#8216;I used to be
+a yellow pumpkin flower stuck down close to the
+ground, now I am a yellow balloon high up in
+the air where nobody can walk on me and I can
+see everything.&#8217;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The third little girl held both of her ears like
+she was afraid they would wiggle while she
+slid with a skip, turned quick, and looking up at
+her balloons, spoke these words:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;A balloon is foam. It comes the same as
+soap bubbles come. A long time ago it used
+to be sliding along on water, river water, ocean
+water, waterfall water, falling and falling
+over a rocky waterfall, any water you want.
+The wind saw the bubble and picked it up and
+carried it away, telling it, &#8216;Now you&#8217;re a balloon&mdash;come
+along and see the world.&#8217;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The fourth little girl jumped straight into
+the air so all six of her balloons made a jump
+like they were going to get loose and go to the
+sky&mdash;and when the little girl came down from
+her jump and was standing on her two feet
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_172' name='page_172'></a>172</span>
+with her head turned looking up at the six balloons,
+she spoke the shortest answer of all, saying:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Balloons are to make us look up. They help
+our necks.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The fifth little girl stood first on one foot,
+then another, bent her head down to her knees
+and looked at her toes, then swinging straight
+up and looking at the flying spotted yellow and
+red and green balloons, she said:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Balloons come from orchards. Look for
+trees where half is oranges and half is orange
+balloons. Look for apple trees where half is
+red pippins and half is red pippin balloons.
+Look for watermelons too. A long green balloon
+with white and yellow belly stripes is a
+ghost. It came from a watermelon said good-by.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The sixth girl, the last one, kicked the heel
+of her left foot with the toe of her right foot,
+put her thumbs under her ears and wiggled all
+her fingers, then stopped all her kicking and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_173' name='page_173'></a>173</span>
+wiggling, and stood looking up at her balloons
+all quiet because the wind had gone down&mdash;and
+she murmured like she was thinking to herself:
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Balloons come from fire chasers. Every
+balloon has a fire chaser chasing it. All the
+fire chasers are made terrible quick and when
+they come they burn quick, so the balloon is
+made light so it can run away terrible quick.
+Balloons slip away from fire. If they don&#8217;t
+they can&#8217;t be balloons. Running away from
+fire keeps them light.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>All the time he listened to the six girls the
+face of the Gray Man kept getting more hopeful.
+His eyes lit up. Twice he smiled. And
+after he said good-by and rode up the street,
+he lifted his head and face to the sky and let
+loose a long ripple of laughs.
+</p>
+<p>He kept looking back when he left the Village
+and the last thing he saw was the six girls
+each with six balloons fastened to the six braids
+of yellow hair hanging down their backs.
+</p>
+<p>The sixth little girl kicked the heel of her
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_174' name='page_174'></a>174</span>
+left foot with the toe of her right foot and
+said, &#8220;He is a nice man. I think he must be
+our uncle. If he comes again we shall all ask
+him to tell us where he thinks balloons come
+from.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And the other five girls all answered, &#8220;Yes,&#8221;
+or &#8220;Yes, yes,&#8221; or &#8220;Yes, yes, yes,&#8221; real fast like
+a balloon with a fire chaser after it.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_175' name='page_175'></a>175</span>
+<img src='images/g043.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='HOW_HENRY_HAGGLYHOAGLY_PLAYED_THE_GUITAR_WITH_HIS_MITTENS_ON' id='HOW_HENRY_HAGGLYHOAGLY_PLAYED_THE_GUITAR_WITH_HIS_MITTENS_ON'></a>
+<h2>How Henry Hagglyhoagly Played the<br />Guitar with His Mittens On</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Sometimes in January the sky comes down
+close if we walk on a country road, and turn
+our faces up to look at the sky.
+</p>
+<p>Sometimes on that kind of a January night
+the stars look like numbers, look like the arithmetic
+writing of a girl going to school and just
+beginning arithmetic.
+</p>
+<p>It was this kind of a night Henry Hagglyhoagly
+was walking down a country road on
+his way to the home of Susan Slackentwist, the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_176' name='page_176'></a>176</span>
+daughter of the rutabaga king near the Village
+of Liver-and-Onions. When Henry
+Hagglyhoagly turned his face up to look at the
+sky it seemed to him as though the sky came
+down close to his nose, and there was a writing
+in stars as though some girl had been doing
+arithmetic examples, writing number 4 and
+number 7 and 4 and 7 over and over again
+across the sky.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why is it so bitter cold weather?&#8221; Henry
+Hagglyhoagly asked himself, &#8220;if I say many
+bitter bitters it is not so bitter as the cold wind
+and the cold weather.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You are good, mittens, keeping my fingers
+warm,&#8221; he said every once in a while to the wool
+yarn mittens on his hands.
+</p>
+<p>The wind came tearing along and put its
+chilly, icy, clammy clamps on the nose of Henry
+Hagglyhoagly, fastening the clamps like a nipping,
+gripping clothes pin on his nose. He put
+his wool yarn mittens up on his nose and rubbed
+till the wind took off the chilly, icy, clammy
+clamps. His nose was warm again; he said,
+&#8220;Thank you, mittens, for keeping my nose
+warm.&#8221;
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_177' name='page_177'></a>177</span>
+<a name='linki_10' id='linki_10'></a>
+<img src='images/g009.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+It seemed to him as though the sky came down close<br />
+to his nose
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_179' name='page_179'></a>179</span></div>
+<p>He spoke to his wool yarn mittens as though
+they were two kittens or pups, or two little cub
+bears, or two little Idaho ponies. &#8220;You&#8217;re my
+chums keeping me company,&#8221; he said to the
+mittens.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do you know what we got here under our
+left elbow?&#8221; he said to the mittens, &#8220;I shall
+mention to you what is here under my left
+elbow.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It ain&#8217;t a mandolin, it ain&#8217;t a mouth organ
+nor an accordion nor a concertina nor a fiddle.
+It is a guitar, a Spanish Spinnish Splishy guitar
+made special.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Yes, mittens, they said a strong young man
+like me ought to have a piano because a piano
+is handy to play for everybody in the house and
+a piano is handy to put a hat and overcoat on or
+books or flowers.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I snizzled at &#8217;em, mittens. I told &#8217;em I
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_180' name='page_180'></a>180</span>
+seen a Spanish Spinnish Splishy guitar made
+special in a hardware store window for eight
+dollars and a half.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And so, mittens&mdash;are you listening, mittens?&mdash;after
+cornhusking was all husked and
+the oats thrashing all thrashed and the rutabaga
+digging all dug, I took eight dollars and a half
+in my inside vest pocket and I went to the hardware
+store.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I put my thumbs in my vest pocket and I
+wiggled my fingers like a man when he is proud
+of what he is going to have if he gets it. And
+I said to the head clerk in the hardware store,
+&#8216;Sir, the article I desire to purchase this evening
+as one of your high class customers, the article
+I desire to have after I buy it for myself, is the
+article there in the window, sir, the Spanish
+Spinnish Splishy guitar.&#8217;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And, mittens, if you are listening, I am taking
+this Spanish Spinnish Splishy guitar to go
+to the home of Susan Slackentwist, the daughter
+of the rutabaga king near the Village of
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_181' name='page_181'></a>181</span>
+Liver-and-Onions, to sing a serenade song.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>The cold wind of the bitter cold weather
+blew and blew, trying to blow the guitar out
+from under the left elbow of Henry Hagglyhoagly.
+And the worse the wind blew the
+tighter he held his elbow holding the guitar
+where he wanted it.
+</p>
+<p>He walked on and on with his long legs
+stepping long steps till at last he stopped, held
+his nose in the air, and sniffed.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Do I sniff something or do I not?&#8221; he asked,
+lifting his wool yarn mittens to his nose and
+rubbing his nose till it was warm. Again he
+sniffed.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Ah hah, yeah, yeah, this is the big rutabaga
+field near the home of the rutabaga king and
+the home of his daughter, Susan Slackentwist.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>At last he came to the house, stood under the
+window and slung the guitar around in front of
+him to play the music to go with the song.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And now,&#8221; he asked his mittens, &#8220;shall I
+take you off or keep you on? If I take you off
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_182' name='page_182'></a>182</span>
+the cold wind of the bitter cold weather will
+freeze my hands so stiff and bitter cold my
+fingers will be too stiff to play the guitar. <i>I
+will play with mittens on.</i>&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Which he did. He stood under the window
+of Susan Slackentwist and played the guitar
+with his mittens on, the warm wool yarn mittens
+he called his chums. It was the first time
+any strong young man going to see his sweetheart
+ever played the guitar with his mittens
+on when it was a bitter night with a cold wind
+and cold weather.
+</p>
+<p>Susan Slackentwist opened her window and
+threw him a snow-bird feather to keep for a
+keepsake to remember her by. And for years
+afterward many a sweetheart in the Rootabaga
+Country told her lover, &#8220;If you wish to marry
+me let me hear you under my window on a
+winter night playing the guitar with wool yarn
+mittens on.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And when Henry Hagglyhoagly walked
+home on his long legs stepping long steps, he
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_183' name='page_183'></a>183</span>
+said to his mittens, &#8220;This Spanish Spinnish
+Splishy guitar made special will bring us luck.&#8221;
+And when he turned his face up, the sky came
+down close and he could see stars fixed like
+numbers and the arithmetic writing of a girl
+going to school learning to write number 4 and
+number 7 and 4 and 7 over and over.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/g044.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+</div>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_185' name='page_185'></a>185</span>
+<img src='images/g045.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='NEVER_KICK_A_SLIPPER_AT_THE_MOON' id='NEVER_KICK_A_SLIPPER_AT_THE_MOON'></a>
+<h2>Never Kick a Slipper at the Moon</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>When a girl is growing up in the Rootabaga
+Country she learns some things to do, some
+things <i>not</i> to do.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Never kick a slipper at the moon if it is
+the time for the Dancing Slipper Moon when
+the slim early moon looks like the toe and the
+heel of a dancer&#8217;s foot,&#8221; was the advice Mr.
+Wishes, the father of Peter Potato Blossom
+Wishes, gave to his daughter.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221; she asked him.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Because your slipper will go straight up, on
+and on to the moon, and fasten itself on the
+moon as if the moon is a foot ready for dancing,&#8221;
+said Mr. Wishes.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_186' name='page_186'></a>186</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;A long time ago there was one night when
+a secret word was passed around to all the shoes
+standing in the bedrooms and closets.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The whisper of the secret was: &#8216;To-night
+all the shoes and the slippers and the boots of
+the world are going walking without any feet
+in them. To-night when those who put us on
+their feet in the daytime, are sleeping in their
+beds, we all get up and walk and go walking
+where we walk in the daytime.&#8217;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And in the middle of the night, when the
+people in the beds were sleeping, the shoes and
+the slippers and the boots everywhere walked
+out of the bedrooms and the closets. Along the
+sidewalks on the streets, up and down stairways,
+along hallways, the shoes and slippers and the
+boots tramped and marched and stumbled.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Some walked pussyfoot, sliding easy and
+soft just like people in the daytime. Some
+walked clumping and clumping, coming down
+heavy on the heels and slow on the toes, just
+like people in the daytime.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_187' name='page_187'></a>187</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Some turned their toes in and walked
+pigeon-toe, some spread their toes out and held
+their heels in, just like people in the daytime.
+Some ran glad and fast, some lagged slow and
+sorry.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Now there was a little girl in the Village
+of Cream Puffs who came home from a dance
+that night. And she was tired from dancing
+round dances and square dances, one steps and
+two steps, toe dances and toe and heel dances,
+dances close up and dances far apart, she was
+so tired she took off only one slipper, tumbled
+onto her bed and went to sleep with one slipper
+on.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;She woke up in the morning when it was
+yet dark. And she went to the window and
+looked up in the sky and saw a Dancing Slipper
+Moon dancing far and high in the deep blue sea
+of the moon sky.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;Oh&mdash;what a moon&mdash;what a dancing slipper
+of a moon!&#8217; she cried with a little song to
+herself.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_188' name='page_188'></a>188</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;She opened the window, saying again, &#8216;Oh!
+what a moon!&#8217;&mdash;and kicked her foot with the
+slipper on it straight toward the moon.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The slipper flew off and flew up and went
+on and on and up and up in the moonshine.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It never came back, that slipper. It was
+never seen again. When they asked the girl
+about it she said, &#8216;It slipped off my foot and
+went up and up and the last I saw of it the slipper
+was going on straight to the moon.&#8217;&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And these are the explanations why fathers
+and mothers in the Rootabaga Country say to
+their girls growing up, &#8220;Never kick a slipper
+at the moon if it is the time of the Dancing
+Slipper Moon when the ends of the moon look
+like the toe and the heel of a dancer&#8217;s foot.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_189' name='page_189'></a>189</span></p>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<p>
+7. One Story--"Only the
+   Fire-Born Understand Blue"
+</p>
+
+<table border='0' width='500' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto'>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'><i>People</i>:</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Fire the Goat</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Flim the Goose</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Shadows</span></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_191' name='page_191'></a>191</span>
+<img src='images/g046.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='SAND_FLAT_SHADOWS' id='SAND_FLAT_SHADOWS'></a>
+<h2>Sand Flat Shadows</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Fire the Goat and Flim the Goose slept out.
+Stub pines stood over them. And away up next
+over the stub pines were stars.
+</p>
+<p>It was a white sand flat they slept on. The
+floor of the sand flat ran straight to the Big
+Lake of the Booming Rollers.
+</p>
+<p>And just over the sand flat and just over the
+booming rollers was a high room where the
+mist people were making pictures. Gray pictures,
+blue and sometimes a little gold, and often
+silver, were the pictures.
+</p>
+<p>And next just over the high room where the
+mist people were making pictures, next just
+over were the stars.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_192' name='page_192'></a>192</span></p>
+<p>Over everything and always last and highest
+of all, were the stars.
+</p>
+<p>Fire the Goat took off his horns. Flim the
+Goose took off his wings. &#8220;This is where we
+sleep,&#8221; they said to each other, &#8220;here in the
+stub pines on the sand flats next to the booming
+rollers and high over everything and always
+last and highest of all, the stars.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Fire the Goat laid his horns under his head.
+Flim the Goose laid his wings under his head.
+&#8220;This is the best place for what you want to
+keep,&#8221; they said to each other. Then they
+crossed their fingers for luck and lay down and
+went to sleep and slept. And while they slept
+the mist people went on making pictures.
+Gray pictures, blue and sometimes a little gold
+but more often silver, such were the pictures
+the mist people went on making while Fire the
+Goat and Flim the Goose went on sleeping.
+And over everything and always last and highest
+of all, were the stars.
+</p>
+<p>They woke up. Fire the Goat took his horns
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_193' name='page_193'></a>193</span>
+out and put them on. &#8220;It&#8217;s morning now,&#8221; he
+said.
+</p>
+<p>Flim the Goose took his wings out and put
+them on. &#8220;It&#8217;s another day now,&#8221; he said.
+</p>
+<p>Then they sat looking. Away off where the
+sun was coming up, inching and pushing up far
+across the rim curve of the Big Lake of the
+Booming Rollers, along the whole line of the
+east sky, there were people and animals, all
+black or all so gray they were near black.
+</p>
+<p>There was a big horse with his mouth open,
+ears laid back, front legs thrown in two curves
+like harvest sickles.
+</p>
+<p>There was a camel with two humps, moving
+slow and grand like he had all the time of all
+the years of all the world to go in.
+</p>
+<p>There was an elephant without any head,
+with six short legs. There were many cows.
+There was a man with a club over his shoulder
+and a woman with a bundle on the back of her
+neck.
+</p>
+<p>And they marched on. They were going
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_194' name='page_194'></a>194</span>
+nowhere, it seemed. And they were going slow.
+They had plenty of time. There was nothing
+else to do. It was fixed for them to do it, long
+ago it was fixed. And so they were marching.
+</p>
+<p>Sometimes the big horse&#8217;s head sagged and
+dropped off and came back again. Sometimes
+the humps of the camel sagged and dropped
+off and came back again. And sometimes the
+club on the man&#8217;s shoulder got bigger and heavier
+and the man staggered under it and then
+his legs got bigger and stronger and he steadied
+himself and went on. And again sometimes
+the bundle on the back of the neck of the
+woman got bigger and heavier and the bundle
+sagged and the woman staggered and her legs
+got bigger and stronger and she steadied herself
+and went on.
+</p>
+<p>This was the show, the hippodrome, the
+spectacular circus that passed on the east sky
+before the eyes of Fire the Goat and Flim the
+Goose.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Which is this, who are they and why do
+they come?&#8221; Flim the Goose asked Fire the
+Goat.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_195' name='page_195'></a>195</span>
+<a name='linki_11' id='linki_11'></a>
+<img src='images/g010.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+Away off where the sun was coming up, there were<br />
+people and animals
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_197' name='page_197'></a>197</span></div>
+<p>&#8220;Do you ask me because you wish me to tell
+you?&#8221; asked Fire the Goat.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Indeed it is a question to which I want an
+honest answer.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Has never the father or mother nor the
+uncle or aunt nor the kith and kin of Flim the
+Goose told him the what and the which of
+this?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Never has the such of this which been put
+here this way to me by anybody.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Flim the Goose held up his fingers and said,
+&#8220;I don&#8217;t talk to you with my fingers crossed.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And so Fire the Goat began to explain to
+Flim the Goose all about the show, the hippodrome,
+the mastodonic cyclopean spectacle
+which was passing on the east sky in front of
+the sun coming up.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;People say they are shadows,&#8221; began Fire
+the Goat. &#8220;That is a name, a word, a little
+cough and a couple of syllables.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_198' name='page_198'></a>198</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;For some people shadows are comic and
+only to laugh at. For some other people shadows
+are like a mouth and its breath. The
+breath comes out and it is nothing. It is like
+air and nobody can make it into a package and
+carry it away. It will not melt like gold nor
+can you shovel it like cinders. So to these
+people it means nothing.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And then there are other people,&#8221; Fire the
+Goat went on. &#8220;There are other people who
+understand shadows. The fire-born understand.
+The fire-born know where shadows
+come from and why they are.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Long ago, when the Makers of the World
+were done making the round earth, the time
+came when they were ready to make the animals
+to put on the earth. They were not sure
+how to make the animals. They did not know
+what shape animals they wanted.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And so they practised. They did not make
+real animals at first. They made only shapes
+of animals. And these shapes were shadows,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_199' name='page_199'></a>199</span>
+shadows like these you and I, Fire the Goat
+and Flim the Goose, are looking at this morning
+across the booming rollers on the east sky
+where the sun is coming up.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The shadow horse over there on the east
+sky with his mouth open, his ears laid back,
+and his front legs thrown in a curve like harvest
+sickles, that shadow horse was one they made
+long ago when they were practising to make a
+real horse. That shadow horse was a mistake
+and they threw him away. Never will you
+see two shadow horses alike. All shadow horses
+on the sky are different. Each one is a mistake,
+a shadow horse thrown away because he was
+not good enough to be a real horse.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That elephant with no head on his neck,
+stumbling so grand on six legs&mdash;and that grand
+camel with two humps, one bigger than the
+other&mdash;and those cows with horns in front and
+behind&mdash;they are all mistakes, they were all
+thrown away because they were not made good
+enough to be real elephants, real cows, real
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_200' name='page_200'></a>200</span>
+camels. They were made just for practice,
+away back early in the world before any real
+animals came on their legs to eat and live and
+be here like the rest of us.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;That man&mdash;see him now staggering along
+with the club over his shoulder&mdash;see how his
+long arms come to his knees and sometimes his
+hands drag below his feet. See how heavy the
+club on his shoulders loads him down and
+drags him on. He is one of the oldest shadow
+men. He was a mistake and they threw him
+away. He was made just for practice.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And that woman. See her now at the end
+of that procession across the booming rollers
+on the east sky. See her the last of all, the end
+of the procession. On the back of her neck a
+bundle. Sometimes the bundle gets bigger.
+The woman staggers. Her legs get bigger and
+stronger. She picks herself up and goes along
+shaking her head. She is the same as the others.
+She is a shadow and she was made as a mistake.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_201' name='page_201'></a>201</span>
+Early, early in the beginnings of the world
+she was made, for practice.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Listen, Flim the Goose. What I am telling
+you is a secret of the fire-born. I do not
+know whether you understand. We have slept
+together a night on the sand flats next to the
+booming rollers, under the stub pines with the
+stars high over&mdash;and so I tell what the fathers
+of the fire-born tell their sons.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And that day Fire the Goat and Flim the
+Goose moved along the sand flat shore of the
+Big Lake of the Booming Rollers. It was a
+blue day, with a fire-blue of the sun mixing
+itself in the air and the water. Off to the
+north the booming rollers were blue sea-green.
+To the east they were sometimes streak purple,
+sometimes changing bluebell stripes. And to
+the south they were silver blue, sheet blue.
+</p>
+<p>Where the shadow hippodrome marched on
+the east sky that morning was a long line of
+blue-bird spots.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_202' name='page_202'></a>202</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;Only the fire-born understand blue,&#8221; said
+Fire the Goat to Flim the Goose. And that
+night as the night before they slept on a sand
+flat. And again Fire the Goat took off his
+horns and laid them under his head while he
+slept and Flim the Goose took off his wings
+and laid them under his head while he slept.
+</p>
+<p>And twice in the night, Fire the Goat whispered
+in his sleep, whispered to the stars, &#8220;Only
+the fire-born understand blue.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_203' name='page_203'></a>203</span></p>
+<hr class='silver' />
+
+<p>
+8. Two Stories About Corn Fairies,
+   Blue Foxes, Flongboos and Happenings
+   That Happened in the
+   United States and Canada
+</p>
+
+<table border='0' width='500' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto'>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'><i>People</i>:</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Spink</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Skabootch</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Man</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Corn Fairies</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Blue Foxes</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Flongboos</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>A Philadelphia Policeman</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Passenger Conductor</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>Chicago Newspapers</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td align='right'><span style='font-size:small'>&nbsp;</span></td>
+  <td align='left'><span style='font-size:small'>The Head Spotter of the Weather Makers at Medicine Hat</span></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_205' name='page_205'></a>205</span>
+<img src='images/g047.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='HOW_TO_TELL_CORN_FAIRIES_IF_YOU_SEE_EM' id='HOW_TO_TELL_CORN_FAIRIES_IF_YOU_SEE_EM'></a>
+<h2>How to Tell Corn Fairies If You See &#8217;Em</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>If you have ever watched the little corn
+begin to march across the black lands and then
+slowly change to big corn and go marching on
+from the little corn moon of summer to the big
+corn harvest moon of autumn, then you must
+have guessed who it is that helps the corn come
+along. It is the corn fairies. Leave out the
+corn fairies and there wouldn&#8217;t be any corn.
+</p>
+<p>All children know this. All boys and girls
+know that corn is no good unless there are
+corn fairies.
+</p>
+<p>Have you ever stood in Illinois or Iowa and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_206' name='page_206'></a>206</span>
+watched the late summer wind or the early fall
+wind running across a big cornfield? It looks
+as if a big, long blanket were being spread out
+for dancers to come and dance on. If you look
+close and if you listen close you can see the corn
+fairies come dancing and singing&mdash;sometimes.
+If it is a wild day and a hot sun is pouring down
+while a cool north wind blows&mdash;and this happens
+sometimes&mdash;then you will be sure to see
+thousands of corn fairies marching and countermarching
+in mocking grand marches over
+the big, long blanket of green and silver. Then
+too they sing, only you must listen with your
+littlest and newest ears if you wish to hear their
+singing. They sing soft songs that go pla-sizzy
+pla-sizzy-sizzy, and each song is softer than an
+eye wink, softer than a Nebraska baby&#8217;s thumb.
+</p>
+<p>And Spink, who is a little girl living in the
+same house with the man writing this story, and
+Skabootch, who is another little girl in the same
+house&mdash;both Spink and Skabootch are asking
+the question, &#8220;How can we tell corn fairies if
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_207' name='page_207'></a>207</span>
+we see &#8217;em? If we meet a corn fairy how will
+we know it?&#8221; And this is the explanation the
+man gave to Spink who is older than Skabootch,
+and to Skabootch who is younger than Spink:&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>All corn fairies wear overalls. They work
+hard, the corn fairies, and they are proud. The
+reason they are proud is because they work so
+hard. And the reason they work so hard is because
+they have overalls.
+</p>
+<p>But understand this. The overalls are corn
+gold cloth, woven from leaves of ripe corn
+mixed with ripe October corn silk. In the first
+week of the harvest moon coming up red and
+changing to yellow and silver the corn fairies
+sit by thousands between the corn rows weaving
+and stitching the clothes they have to wear
+next winter, next spring, next summer.
+</p>
+<p>They sit cross-legged when they sew. And it
+is a law among them each one must point the
+big toe at the moon while sewing the harvest
+moon clothes. When the moon comes up red
+as blood early in the evening they point their
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_208' name='page_208'></a>208</span>
+big toes slanting toward the east. Then towards
+midnight when the moon is yellow and
+half way up the sky their big toes are only half
+slanted as they sit cross-legged sewing. And
+after midnight when the moon sails its silver
+disk high overhead and toward the west, then
+the corn fairies sit sewing with their big toes
+pointed nearly straight up.
+</p>
+<p>If it is a cool night and looks like frost, then
+the laughter of the corn fairies is something
+worth seeing. All the time they sit sewing their
+next year clothes they are laughing. It is not
+a law they have to laugh. They laugh because
+they are half-tickled and glad because it is a
+good corn year.
+</p>
+<p>And whenever the corn fairies laugh then
+the laugh comes out of the mouth like a thin
+gold frost. If you should be lucky enough to
+see a thousand corn fairies sitting between the
+corn rows and all of them laughing, you would
+laugh with wonder yourself to see the gold frost
+coming from their mouths while they laughed.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_209' name='page_209'></a>209</span></p>
+<p>Travelers who have traveled far, and seen
+many things, say that if you know the corn
+fairies with a real knowledge you can always
+tell by the stitches in their clothes what state
+they are from.
+</p>
+<p>In Illinois the corn fairies stitch fifteen
+stitches of ripe corn silk across the woven corn
+leaf cloth. In Iowa they stitch sixteen stitches,
+in Nebraska seventeen, and the farther west
+you go the more corn silk stitches the corn
+fairies have in the corn cloth clothes they wear.
+</p>
+<p>In Minnesota one year there were fairies
+with a blue sash of corn-flowers across the
+breast. In the Dakotas the same year all the
+fairies wore pumpkin-flower neckties, yellow
+four-in-hands and yellow ascots. And in one
+strange year it happened in both the states of
+Ohio and Texas the corn fairies wore little
+wristlets of white morning glories.
+</p>
+<p>The traveler who heard about this asked
+many questions and found out the reason why
+that year the corn fairies wore little wristlets
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_210' name='page_210'></a>210</span>
+of white morning glories. He said, &#8220;Whenever
+fairies are sad they wear white. And this
+year, which was long ago, was the year men
+were tearing down all the old zigzag rail fences.
+Now those old zigzag rail fences were beautiful
+for the fairies because a hundred fairies
+could sit on one rail and thousands and thousands
+of them could sit on the zigzags and sing
+pla-sizzy pla-sizzy, softer than an eye-wink,
+softer than a baby&#8217;s thumb, all on a moonlight
+summer night. And they found out that year
+was going to be the last year of the zigzag rail
+fences. It made them sorry and sad, and when
+they are sorry and sad they wear white. So they
+picked the wonderful white morning glories
+running along the zigzag rail fences and made
+them into little wristlets and wore those wristlets
+the next year to show they were sorry and
+sad.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Of course, all this helps you to know how
+the corn fairies look in the evening, the night
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_211' name='page_211'></a>211</span>
+time and the moonlight. Now we shall see
+how they look in the day time.
+</p>
+<p>In the day time the corn fairies have their
+overalls of corn gold cloth on. And they walk
+among the corn rows and climb the corn stalks
+and fix things in the leaves and stalks and ears
+of the corn. They help it to grow.
+</p>
+<p>Each one carries on the left shoulder a mouse
+brush to brush away the field mice. And over
+the right shoulder each one has a cricket broom
+to sweep away the crickets. The brush is a
+whisk brush to brush away mice that get foolish.
+And the broom is to sweep away crickets that
+get foolish.
+</p>
+<p>Around the middle of each corn fairy is a yellow-belly
+belt. And stuck in this belt is a purple
+moon shaft hammer. Whenever the wind
+blows strong and nearly blows the corn down,
+then the fairies run out and take their purple
+moon shaft hammers out of their yellow-belly
+belts and nail down nails to keep the corn from
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_212' name='page_212'></a>212</span>
+blowing down. When a rain storm is blowing
+up terrible and driving all kinds of terribles
+across the cornfield, then you can be sure of one
+thing. Running like the wind among the corn
+rows are the fairies, jerking their purple moon
+shaft hammers out of their belts and nailing
+nails down to keep the corn standing up so it
+will grow and be ripe and beautiful when the
+harvest moon comes again in the fall.
+</p>
+<p>Spink and Skabootch ask where the corn
+fairies get the nails. The answer to Spink and
+Skabootch is, &#8220;Next week you will learn all
+about where the corn fairies get the nails to
+nail down the corn if you will keep your faces
+washed and your ears washed till next week.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And the next time you stand watching a big
+cornfield in late summer or early fall, when
+the wind is running across the green and silver,
+listen with your littlest and newest ears. Maybe
+you will hear the corn fairies going pla-sizzy
+pla-sizzy-sizzy, softer than an eye wink, softer
+than a Nebraska baby&#8217;s thumb.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_213' name='page_213'></a>213</span>
+<img src='images/g048.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
+<a name='HOW_THE_ANIMALS_LOST_THEIR_TAILS_AND_GOT_THEM_BACK_TRAVELING_FROM_PHILADELPHIA_TO_MEDICINE_HAT' id='HOW_THE_ANIMALS_LOST_THEIR_TAILS_AND_GOT_THEM_BACK_TRAVELING_FROM_PHILADELPHIA_TO_MEDICINE_HAT'></a>
+<h2>How the Animals Lost Their Tails and<br />Got Them Back Traveling From<br />Philadelphia to Medicine Hat</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Far up in North America, near the Saskatchewan
+river, in the Winnipeg wheat country,
+not so far from the town of Moose Jaw named
+for the jaw of a moose shot by a hunter there,
+up where the blizzards and the chinooks begin,
+where nobody works unless they have to and
+they nearly all have to, there stands the place
+known as Medicine Hat.
+</p>
+<p>And there on a high stool in a high tower
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_214' name='page_214'></a>214</span>
+on a high hill sits the Head Spotter of the
+Weather Makers.
+</p>
+<p>When the animals lost their tails it was because
+the Head Spotter of the Weather Makers
+at Medicine Hat was careless.
+</p>
+<p>The tails of the animals were stiff and dry
+because for a long while there was dusty dry
+weather. Then at last came rain. And the
+water from the sky poured on the tails of the
+animals and softened them.
+</p>
+<p>Then the chilly chills came whistling with
+icy mittens and they froze all the tails stiff. A
+big wind blew up and blew and blew till all
+the tails of the animals blew off.
+</p>
+<p>It was easy for the fat stub hogs with their
+fat stub tails. But it was not so easy for the
+blue fox who uses his tail to help him when he
+runs, when he eats, when he walks or talks,
+when he makes pictures or writes letters in the
+snow or when he puts a snack of bacon
+meat with stripes of fat and lean to hide till
+he wants it under a big rock by a river.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_215' name='page_215'></a>215</span>
+<a name='linki_12' id='linki_12'></a>
+<img src='images/g011.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+<p class='caption' style='text-align:center;'>
+There on a high stool in a high tower, on a high hill<br />
+sits the Head Spotter of the Weather Makers
+<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pagenum'><a id='page_217' name='page_217'></a>217</span></div>
+<p>It was easy enough for the rabbit who has
+long ears and no tail at all except a white thumb
+of cotton. But it was hard for the yellow flongboo
+who at night lights up his house in a hollow
+tree with his fire yellow torch of a tail. It is
+hard for the yellow flongboo to lose his tail
+because it lights up his way when he sneaks
+at night on the prairie, sneaking up on the
+flangwayers, the hippers and hangjasts, so good
+to eat.
+</p>
+<p>The animals picked a committee of representatives
+to represent them in a parleyhoo to
+see what steps could be taken by talking to do
+something. There were sixty-six representatives
+on the committee and they decided to call
+it the Committee of Sixty Six. It was a distinguished
+committee and when they all sat together
+holding their mouths under their noses
+(just like a distinguished committee) and
+blinking their eyes up over their noses and
+cleaning their ears and scratching themselves
+under the chin looking thoughtful (just like a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_218' name='page_218'></a>218</span>
+distinguished committee) then anybody would
+say just to look at them, &#8220;This must be quite
+a distinguished committee.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>Of course, they would all have looked more
+distinguished if they had had their tails on.
+If the big wavy streak of a blue tail blows off
+behind a blue fox, he doesn&#8217;t look near so distinguished.
+Or, if the long yellow torch of a
+tail blows off behind a yellow flongboo, he
+doesn&#8217;t look so distinguished as he did before the
+wind blew.
+</p>
+<p>So the Committee of Sixty Six had a meeting
+and a parleyhoo to decide what steps could be
+taken by talking to do something. For chairman
+they picked an old flongboo who was an
+umpire and used to umpire many mix-ups.
+Among the flongboos he was called &#8220;the umpire
+of umpires,&#8221; &#8220;the king of umpires,&#8221; &#8220;the
+prince of umpires,&#8221; &#8220;the peer of umpires.&#8221;
+When there was a fight and a snag and a
+wrangle between two families living next door
+neighbors to each other and this old flongboo
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_219' name='page_219'></a>219</span>
+was called in to umpire and to say which family
+was right and which family was wrong, which
+family started it and which family ought to
+stop it, he used to say, &#8220;The best umpire is the
+one who knows just how far to go and how far
+not to go.&#8221; He was from Massachusetts, born
+near Chappaquiddick, this old flongboo, and he
+lived there in a horse chestnut tree six feet thick
+half way between South Hadley and Northampton.
+And at night, before he lost his tail,
+he lighted up the big hollow cave inside the
+horse chestnut tree with his yellow torch of a
+tail.
+</p>
+<p>After he was nominated with speeches and
+elected with votes to be the chairman, he stood
+up on the platform and took a gavel and banged
+with the gavel and made the Committee of
+Sixty Six come to order.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It is no picnic to lose your tail and we are
+here for business,&#8221; he said, banging his gavel
+again.
+</p>
+<p>A blue fox from Waco, Texas, with his ears
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_220' name='page_220'></a>220</span>
+full of dry bluebonnet leaves from a hole
+where he lived near the Brazos river, stood up
+and said, &#8220;Mr. Chairman, do I have the floor?&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;You have whatever you get away with&mdash;I
+get your number,&#8221; said the chairman.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I make a motion,&#8221; said the blue fox from
+Waco, &#8220;and I move you, Sir, that this committee
+get on a train at Philadelphia and ride
+on the train till it stops and then take another
+train and take more trains and keep on riding
+till we get to Medicine Hat, near the Saskatchewan
+river, in the Winnipeg wheat country
+where the Head Spotter of the Weather Makers
+sits on a high stool in a high tower on a high
+hill spotting the weather. There we will ask
+him if he will respectfully let us beseech him
+to bring back weather that will bring back our
+tails. It was the weather took away our tails;
+it is the weather can bring back our tails.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;All in favor of the motion,&#8221; said the chairman,
+&#8220;will clean their right ears with their
+right paws.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_221' name='page_221'></a>221</span></p>
+<p>And all the blue foxes and all the yellow
+flongboos began cleaning their right ears with
+their right paws.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;All who are against the motion will clean
+their left ears with their left paws,&#8221; said the
+chairman.
+</p>
+<p>And all the blue foxes and all the yellow
+flongboos began cleaning their left ears with
+their left paws.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The motion is carried both ways&mdash;it is a
+razmataz,&#8221; said the chairman. &#8220;Once again,
+all in favor of the motion will stand up on the
+toes of their hind legs and stick their noses
+straight up in the air.&#8221; And all the blue foxes
+and all the yellow flongboos stood up on the toes
+of their hind legs and stuck their noses straight
+up in the air.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;And now,&#8221; said the chairman, &#8220;all who
+are against the motion will stand on the top and
+the apex of their heads, stick their hind legs
+straight up in the air, and make a noise like a
+woof woof.&#8221;
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_222' name='page_222'></a>222</span></p>
+<p>And then not one of the blue foxes and not
+one of the yellow flongboos stood on the top and
+the apex of his head nor stuck his hind legs up
+in the air nor made a noise like a woof woof.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;The motion is carried and this is no picnic,&#8221;
+said the chairman.
+</p>
+<p>So the committee went to Philadelphia to get
+on a train to ride on.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Would you be so kind as to tell us the way
+to the union depot,&#8221; the chairman asked a policeman.
+It was the first time a flongboo ever
+spoke to a policeman on the streets of Philadelphia.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;It pays to be polite,&#8221; said the policeman.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;May I ask you again if you would kindly
+direct us to the union depot? We wish to ride
+on a train,&#8221; said the flongboo.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Polite persons and angry persons are different
+kinds,&#8221; said the policeman.
+</p>
+<p>The flongboo&#8217;s eyes changed their lights and
+a slow torch of fire sprang out behind where
+his tail used to be. And speaking to the policeman,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_223' name='page_223'></a>223</span>
+he said, &#8220;Sir, I must inform you, publicly
+and respectfully, that we are The Committee
+of Sixty Six. We are honorable and distinguished
+representatives from places your honest
+and ignorant geography never told you about.
+This committee is going to ride on the cars to
+Medicine Hat near the Saskatchewan river in
+the Winnipeg wheat country where the blizzards
+and chinooks begin. We have a special
+message and a secret errand for the Head Spotter
+of the Weather Makers.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I am a polite friend of all respectable people&mdash;that
+is why I wear this star to arrest people
+who are not respectable,&#8221; said the policeman,
+touching with his pointing finger the silver and
+nickel star fastened with a safety pin on his
+blue uniform coat.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;This is the first time ever in the history of
+the United States that a committee of sixty-six
+blue foxes and flongboos has ever visited a
+city in the United States,&#8221; insinuated the flongboo.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_224' name='page_224'></a>224</span></p>
+<p>&#8220;I beg to be mistaken,&#8221; finished the policeman.
+&#8220;The union depot is under that clock.&#8221;
+And he pointed to a clock near by.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I thank you for myself, I thank you for the
+Committee of Sixty Six, I thank you for the
+sake of all the animals in the United States who
+have lost their tails,&#8221; finished the chairman.
+</p>
+<p>Over to the Philadelphia union depot they
+went, all sixty-six, half blue foxes, half flongboos.
+As they pattered pitty-pat, pitty-pat,
+each with feet and toenails, ears and hair,
+everything but tails, into the Philadelphia union
+depot, they had nothing to say. And yet though
+they had nothing to say the passengers in the
+union depot waiting for trains thought they
+had something to say and were saying it. So
+the passengers in the union depot waiting for
+trains listened. But with all their listening the
+passengers never heard the blue foxes and yellow
+flongboos say anything.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;They are saying it to each other in some
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_225' name='page_225'></a>225</span>
+strange language from where they belong,&#8221;
+said one passenger waiting for a train.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;They have secrets to keep among each
+other, and never tell us,&#8221; said another passenger.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;We will find out all about it reading the
+newspapers upside down to-morrow morning,&#8221;
+said a third passenger.
+</p>
+<p>Then the blue foxes and the yellow flongboos
+pattered pitty-pat, pitty-pat, each with
+feet and toenails, ears and hair, everything except
+tails, pattered scritch scratch over the
+stone floors out into the train shed. They
+climbed into a special smoking car hooked on
+ahead of the engine.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;This car hooked on ahead of the engine was
+put on special for us so we will always be ahead
+and we will get there before the train does,&#8221;
+said the chairman to the committee.
+</p>
+<p>The train ran out of the train shed. It kept
+on the tracks and never left the rails. It came
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_226' name='page_226'></a>226</span>
+to the Horseshoe Curve near Altoona where
+the tracks bend like a big horseshoe. Instead
+of going around the long winding bend of the
+horseshoe tracks up and around the mountains,
+the train acted different. The train jumped
+off the tracks down into the valley and cut across
+in a straight line on a cut-off, jumped on the
+tracks again and went on toward Ohio.
+</p>
+<p>The conductor said, &#8220;If you are going to
+jump the train off the tracks, tell us about it
+beforehand.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;When we lost our tails nobody told us about
+it beforehand,&#8221; said the old flongboo umpire.
+</p>
+<p>Two baby blue foxes, the youngest on the
+committee, sat on the front platform. Mile
+after mile of chimneys went by. Four hundred
+smokestacks stood in a row and tubs on tubs of
+sooty black soot marched out.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;This is the place where the black cats come
+to be washed,&#8221; said the first baby blue fox.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;I believe your affidavit,&#8221; said the second
+blue fox.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_227' name='page_227'></a>227</span></p>
+<p>Crossing Ohio and Indiana at night the flongboos
+took off the roof of the car. The conductor
+told them, &#8220;I must have an explanation.&#8221;
+&#8220;It was between us and the stars,&#8221; they
+told him.
+</p>
+<p>The train ran into Chicago. That afternoon
+there were pictures upside down in the newspapers
+showing the blue foxes and the yellow
+flongboos climbing telephone poles standing on
+their heads eating pink ice cream with iron
+axes.
+</p>
+<p>Each blue fox and yellow flongboo got a
+newspaper for himself and each one looked long
+and careful upside down to see how he looked
+in the picture in the newspaper climbing a telephone
+pole standing on his head eating pink ice
+cream with an iron ax.
+</p>
+<p>Crossing Minnesota the sky began to fill with
+the snow ghosts of Minnesota snow weather.
+Again the foxes and flongboos lifted the roof
+off the car, telling the conductor they would
+rather wreck the train than miss the big show
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_228' name='page_228'></a>228</span>
+of the snow ghosts of the first Minnesota snow
+weather of the winter.
+</p>
+<p>Some went to sleep but the two baby blue
+foxes stayed up all night watching the snow
+ghosts and telling snow ghost stories to each
+other.
+</p>
+<p>Early in the night the first baby blue fox said
+to the second, &#8220;Who are the snow ghosts the
+ghosts of?&#8221; The second baby blue fox answered,
+&#8220;Everybody who makes a snowball, a
+snow man, a snow fox or a snow fish or a snow
+pattycake, everybody has a snow ghost.&#8221;
+</p>
+<p>And that was only the beginning of their
+talk. It would take a big book to tell all that
+the two baby foxes told each other that night
+about the Minnesota snow ghosts, because they
+sat up all night telling old stories their fathers
+and mothers and grandfathers and grandmothers
+told them, and making up new stories never
+heard before about where the snow ghosts go
+on Christmas morning and how the snow ghosts
+watch the New Year in.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_229' name='page_229'></a>229</span></p>
+<p>Somewhere between Winnipeg and Moose
+Jaw, somewhere it was they stopped the train
+and all ran out in the snow where the white
+moon was shining down a valley of birch trees.
+It was the Snowbird Valley where all the snowbirds
+of Canada come early in the winter and
+make their snow shoes.
+</p>
+<p>At last they came to Medicine Hat, near the
+Saskatchewan River, where the blizzards and
+the chinooks begin, where nobody works unless
+they have to and they nearly all have to.
+There they ran in the snow till they came to
+the place where the Head Spotter of the
+Weather Makers sits on a high stool in a high
+tower on a high hill watching the weather.
+</p>
+<p>&#8220;Let loose another big wind to blow back our
+tails to us, let loose a big freeze to freeze our
+tails onto us again, and so let us get back our
+lost tails,&#8221; they said to the Head Spotter of the
+Weather Makers.
+</p>
+<p>Which was just what he did, giving them
+exactly what they wanted, so they all went back
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='page_230' name='page_230'></a>230</span>
+home satisfied, the blue foxes each with a big
+wavy brush of a tail to help him when he runs,
+when he eats, when he walks or talks, when
+he makes pictures or writes letters in the snow
+or when he puts a snack of bacon meat with
+stripes of fat and lean to hide till he wants it
+under a big rock by the river&mdash;and the yellow
+flongboos each with a long yellow torch of a
+tail to light up his home in a hollow tree or to
+light up his way when he sneaks at night on
+the prairie, sneaking up on the flangwayer, the
+hipper or the hangjast.
+</p>
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/g015.jpg' alt='' title='' /><br />
+</div>
+
+<!-- generated by ppgen.rb version: 2.07 -->
+<!-- timestamp: Fri Jun 27 15:42:32 +1000 2008 -->
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rootabaga Stories, by Carl Sandburg
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+</body>
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@@ -0,0 +1,4013 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rootabaga Stories, by Carl Sandburg
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Rootabaga Stories
+
+Author: Carl Sandburg
+
+Illustrator: Maud Petersham
+             Miska Petersham
+
+Release Date: October 29, 2008 [EBook #27085]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROOTABAGA STORIES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Betsie Bush, ronnie sahlberg and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was made using scans of public domain material from
+the Children's Books Online - Rosetta Project)
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The balloons floated and filled the sky]
+
+                              ROOTABAGA
+                               STORIES
+
+                                 BY
+                            CARL SANDBURG
+
+
+           Author of "Slabs of the Sunburnt West," "Smoke
+             and Steel," "Chicago Poems," "Cornhuskers"
+
+
+                    ILLUSTRATIONS AND DECORATIONS
+                                 BY
+                      MAUD AND MISKA PETERSHAM
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+                              NEW YORK
+                     HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY
+
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+                         COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY
+                  HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC.
+
+
+                     PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY
+                      THE QUINN & BODEN COMPANY
+                             RAHWAY, N J
+
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+                                 TO
+                         SPINK AND SKABOOTCH
+
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+                              CONTENTS
+
+                                   1.
+
+   Three Stories About the Finding of the Zigzag Railroad,
+       the Pigs with Bibs On, the Circus Clown Ovens,
+       the Village of Liver-and-Onions, the
+       Village of Cream Puffs.
+
+   How They Broke Away to Go to the Rootabaga Country               3
+
+   How They Bring Back the Village of Cream Puffs When the
+   Wind Blows It Away                                              19
+
+   How the Five Rusty Rats Helped Find a New Village               29
+
+
+                                   2.
+
+   Five Stories About the Potato Face Blind Man
+
+   The Potato Face Blind Man Who Lost the Diamond Rabbit on
+   His Gold Accordion                                              41
+
+   How the Potato Face Blind Man Enjoyed Himself on a Fine
+   Spring Morning                                                  45
+
+   Poker Face the Baboon and Hot Dog the Tiger                     53
+
+   The Toboggan-to-the-Moon Dream of the Potato Face Blind
+   Man                                                             59
+
+   How Gimme the Ax Found Out About
+   the Zigzag Railroad and
+   Who Made It Zigzag                                              65
+
+
+                                   3.
+
+   Three Stories About the Gold Buckskin Whincher
+
+   The Story of Blixie Bimber and the Power
+   of the Gold
+   Buckskin Whincher                                               73
+
+   The Story of Jason Squiff and Why He Had a Popcorn Hat,
+   Popcorn Mittens and Popcorn Shoes                               79
+
+   The Story of Rags Habakuk, the Two Blue Rats, and the Circus
+   Man Who Came with Spot Cash Money                               89
+
+
+                                   4.
+
+   Four Stories About the Deep Doom of Dark Doorways
+
+   The Wedding Procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle
+   and Who Was in It                                               99
+
+   How the Hat Ashes Shovel Helped Snoo Foo                       105
+
+   Three Boys With Jugs of Molasses and Secret Ambitions          109
+
+   How Bimbo the Snip's Thumb Stuck to His Nose When the
+   Wind Changed                                                   123
+
+
+                                   5.
+
+   Three Stories About Three Ways the Wind Went Winding
+
+   The Two Skyscrapers Who Decided to Have a Child                133
+
+   The Dollar Watch and the Five Jack Rabbits                     141
+
+   The Wooden Indian and the Shaghorn Buffalo                     151
+
+
+                                   6.
+
+   Four Stories About Dear, Dear Eyes
+
+   The White Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy                     159
+
+   What Six Girls with Balloons Told the Gray Man on
+   Horseback                                                      167
+
+   How Henry Hagglyhoagly Played the Guitar with His Mittens
+   On                                                             175
+
+
+                                   7.
+
+   One Story--"Only the Fire-Born Understand Blue"
+
+   Never Kick a Slipper at the Moon                               185
+
+   Sand Flat Shadows                                              191
+
+
+                                   8.
+
+   Two Stories About Corn Fairies, Blue Foxes, Flongboos
+       and Happenings That Happened in the United States
+       and Canada
+
+   How to Tell Corn Fairies If You See 'Em                        205
+
+   How the Animals Lost Their Tails and Got Them Back
+   Traveling From Philadelphia to Medicine Hat                    213
+
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+                       FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+                                                                   PAGE
+
+The balloons floated and filled the sky                    Frontispiece
+
+He opened the ragbag and took out all the spot cash money             7
+
+Then the uncles asked her the first question first                   21
+
+They held on to the long curved tails of the rusty rats              33
+
+"I am sure many people will stop and remember the
+Potato Face Blind Man"                                               47
+
+His hat was popcorn, his mittens popcorn and his
+shoes popcorn                                                        83
+
+They stepped into the molasses with their bare feet                 113
+
+The monkey took the place of the traffic policeman                  129
+
+So they stood looking                                               153
+
+It seemed to him as though the sky came down close
+to his nose                                                         177
+
+Away off where the sun was coming up, there were
+people and animals                                                  195
+
+There on a high stool in a high tower, on a high hill
+sits the Head Spotter of the Weather Makers                         215
+
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+1. Three Stories About the Finding
+   of the Zigzag Railroad, the Pigs
+   with Bibs On, the Circus Clown
+   Ovens, the Village of Liver-and-Onions,
+   the Village of Cream
+   Puffs.
+
+          _People_: Gimme the Ax
+                    Please Gimme
+                    Ax Me No Questions
+                    The Ticket Agent
+                    Wing Tip the Spick
+                    The Four Uncles
+                    The Rat in a Blizzard
+                    The Five Rusty Rats
+
+          _More People_:
+                    Balloon Pickers
+                    Baked Clowns
+                    Polka Dot Pigs
+
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+                   How They Broke Away to Go to the
+                          Rootabaga Country
+
+
+Gimme the Ax lived in a house where everything is the same as it
+always was.
+
+"The chimney sits on top of the house and lets the smoke out," said
+Gimme the Ax. "The doorknobs open the doors. The windows are always
+either open or shut. We are always either upstairs or downstairs in
+this house. Everything is the same as it always was."
+
+So he decided to let his children name themselves.
+
+"The first words they speak as soon as they learn to make words shall
+be their names," he said. "They shall name themselves."
+
+When the first boy came to the house of Gimme the Ax, he was named
+Please Gimme. When the first girl came she was named Ax Me No
+Questions.
+
+And both of the children had the shadows of valleys by night in their
+eyes and the lights of early morning, when the sun is coming up, on
+their foreheads.
+
+And the hair on top of their heads was a dark wild grass. And they
+loved to turn the doorknobs, open the doors, and run out to have the
+wind comb their hair and touch their eyes and put its six soft fingers
+on their foreheads.
+
+And then because no more boys came and no more girls came, Gimme the
+Ax said to himself, "My first boy is my last and my last girl is my
+first and they picked their names themselves."
+
+Please Gimme grew up and his ears got longer. Ax Me No Questions grew
+up and her ears got longer. And they kept on living in the house where
+everything is the same as it always was. They learned to say just as
+their father said, "The chimney sits on top of the house and lets the
+smoke out, the doorknobs open the doors, the windows are always either
+open or shut, we are always either upstairs or downstairs--everything
+is the same as it always was."
+
+After a while they began asking each other in the cool of the evening
+after they had eggs for breakfast in the morning, "Who's who? How
+much? And what's the answer?"
+
+"It is too much to be too long anywhere," said the tough old man,
+Gimme the Ax.
+
+And Please Gimme and Ax Me No Questions, the tough son and the tough
+daughter of Gimme the Ax, answered their father, "It _is_ too much to
+be too long anywhere."
+
+So they sold everything they had, pigs, pastures, pepper pickers,
+pitchforks, everything except their ragbags and a few extras.
+
+When their neighbors saw them selling everything they had, the
+different neighbors said, "They are going to Kansas, to Kokomo, to
+Canada, to Kankakee, to Kalamazoo, to Kamchatka, to the Chattahoochee."
+
+One little sniffer with his eyes half shut and a mitten on his nose,
+laughed in his hat five ways and said, "They are going to the moon and
+when they get there they will find everything is the same as it always
+was."
+
+All the spot cash money he got for selling everything, pigs, pastures,
+pepper pickers, pitchforks, Gimme the Ax put in a ragbag and slung on
+his back like a rag picker going home.
+
+Then he took Please Gimme, his oldest and youngest and only son, and
+Ax Me No Questions, his oldest and youngest and only daughter, and
+went to the railroad station.
+
+The ticket agent was sitting at the window selling railroad tickets
+the same as always.
+
+[Illustration: He opened the ragbag and took out all the spot cash money]
+
+"Do you wish a ticket to go away and come back or do you wish a ticket
+to go away and _never_ come back?" the ticket agent asked wiping sleep
+out of his eyes.
+
+"We wish a ticket to ride where the railroad tracks run off into the
+sky and never come back--send us far as the railroad rails go and then
+forty ways farther yet," was the reply of Gimme the Ax.
+
+"So far? So early? So soon?" asked the ticket agent wiping more sleep
+out his eyes. "Then I will give you a new ticket. It blew in. It is a
+long slick yellow leather slab ticket with a blue spanch across it."
+
+Gimme the Ax thanked the ticket agent once, thanked the ticket agent
+twice, and then instead of thanking the ticket agent three times he
+opened the ragbag and took out all the spot cash money he got for
+selling everything, pigs, pastures, pepper pickers, pitchforks, and
+paid the spot cash money to the ticket agent.
+
+Before he put it in his pocket he looked once, twice, three times at
+the long yellow leather slab ticket with a blue spanch across it.
+
+Then with Please Gimme and Ax Me No Questions he got on the railroad
+train, showed the conductor his ticket and they started to ride to
+where the railroad tracks run off into the blue sky and then forty
+ways farther yet.
+
+The train ran on and on. It came to the place where the railroad
+tracks run off into the blue sky. And it ran on and on chick
+chick-a-chick chick-a-chick chick-a-chick.
+
+Sometimes the engineer hooted and tooted the whistle. Sometimes the
+fireman rang the bell. Sometimes the open-and-shut of the steam hog's
+nose choked and spit pfisty-pfoost, pfisty-pfoost, pfisty-pfoost. But
+no matter what happened to the whistle and the bell and the steam hog,
+the train ran on and on to where the railroad tracks run off into the
+blue sky. And then it ran on and on more and more.
+
+Sometimes Gimme the Ax looked in his pocket, put his fingers in and
+took out the long slick yellow leather slab ticket with a blue spanch
+across it.
+
+"Not even the Kings of Egypt with all their climbing camels, and all
+their speedy, spotted, lucky lizards, ever had a ride like this," he
+said to his children.
+
+Then something happened. They met another train running on the same
+track. One train was going one way. The other was going the other way.
+They met. They passed each other.
+
+"What was it--what happened?" the children asked their father.
+
+"One train went over, the other train went under," he answered. "This
+is the Over and Under country. Nobody gets out of the way of anybody
+else. They either go over or under."
+
+Next they came to the country of the balloon pickers. Hanging down
+from the sky strung on strings so fine the eye could not see them at
+first, was the balloon crop of that summer. The sky was thick with
+balloons. Red, blue, yellow balloons, white, purple and orange
+balloons--peach, watermelon and potato balloons--rye loaf and wheat
+loaf balloons--link sausage and pork chop balloons--they floated and
+filled the sky.
+
+The balloon pickers were walking on high stilts picking balloons. Each
+picker had his own stilts, long or short. For picking balloons near
+the ground he had short stilts. If he wanted to pick far and high he
+walked on a far and high pair of stilts.
+
+Baby pickers on baby stilts were picking baby balloons. When they fell
+off the stilts the handful of balloons they were holding kept them in
+the air till they got their feet into the stilts again.
+
+"Who is that away up there in the sky climbing like a bird in the
+morning?" Ax Me No Questions asked her father.
+
+"He was singing too happy," replied the father. "The songs came out of
+his neck and made him so light the balloons pulled him off his
+stilts."
+
+"Will he ever come down again back to his own people?"
+
+"Yes, his heart will get heavy when his songs are all gone. Then he
+will drop down to his stilts again."
+
+The train was running on and on. The engineer hooted and tooted the
+whistle when he felt like it. The fireman rang the bell when he felt
+that way. And sometimes the open-and-shut of the steam hog had to go
+pfisty-pfoost, pfisty-pfoost.
+
+"Next is the country where the circus clowns come from," said Gimme
+the Ax to his son and daughter. "Keep your eyes open."
+
+They did keep their eyes open. They saw cities with ovens, long and
+short ovens, fat stubby ovens, lean lank ovens, all for baking either
+long or short clowns, or fat and stubby or lean and lank clowns.
+
+After each clown was baked in the oven it was taken out into the
+sunshine and put up to stand like a big white doll with a red mouth
+leaning against the fence.
+
+Two men came along to each baked clown standing still like a doll. One
+man threw a bucket of white fire over it. The second man pumped a wind
+pump with a living red wind through the red mouth.
+
+The clown rubbed his eyes, opened his mouth, twisted his neck, wiggled
+his ears, wriggled his toes, jumped away from the fence and began
+turning handsprings, cartwheels, somersaults and flipflops in the
+sawdust ring near the fence.
+
+"The next we come to is the Rootabaga Country where the big city is
+the Village of Liver-and-Onions," said Gimme the Ax, looking again in
+his pocket to be sure he had the long slick yellow leather slab ticket
+with a blue spanch across it.
+
+The train ran on and on till it stopped running straight and began
+running in zigzags like one letter Z put next to another Z and the
+next and the next.
+
+The tracks and the rails and the ties and the spikes under the train
+all stopped being straight and changed to zigzags like one letter Z
+and another letter Z put next after the other.
+
+"It seems like we go half way and then back up," said Ax Me No
+Questions.
+
+"Look out of the window and see if the pigs have bibs on," said Gimme
+the Ax. "If the pigs are wearing bibs then this is the Rootabaga
+country."
+
+And they looked out of the zigzagging windows of the zigzagging cars
+and the first pigs they saw had bibs on. And the next pigs and the
+next pigs they saw all had bibs on.
+
+The checker pigs had checker bibs on, the striped pigs had striped
+bibs on. And the polka dot pigs had polka dot bibs on.
+
+"Who fixes it for the pigs to have bibs on?" Please Gimme asked his
+father.
+
+"The fathers and mothers fix it," answered Gimme the Ax. "The checker
+pigs have checker fathers and mothers. The striped pigs have striped
+fathers and mothers. And the polka dot pigs have polka dot fathers and
+mothers."
+
+And the train went zigzagging on and on running on the tracks and the
+rails and the spikes and the ties which were all zigzag like the
+letter Z and the letter Z.
+
+And after a while the train zigzagged on into the Village of
+Liver-and-Onions, known as the biggest city in the big, big Rootabaga
+country.
+
+And so if you are going to the Rootabaga country you will know when
+you get there because the railroad tracks change from straight to
+zigzag, the pigs have bibs on and it is the fathers and mothers who
+fix it.
+
+And if you start to go to that country remember first you must sell
+everything you have, pigs, pastures, pepper pickers, pitchforks, put
+the spot cash money in a ragbag and go to the railroad station and ask
+the ticket agent for a long slick yellow leather slab ticket with a
+blue spanch across it.
+
+And you mustn't be surprised if the ticket agent wipes sleep from his
+eyes and asks, "So far? So early? So soon?"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+                  How They Bring Back the Village of
+                   Cream Puffs When the Wind Blows
+                               It Away
+
+
+A girl named Wing Tip the Spick came to the Village of Liver-and-Onions
+to visit her uncle and her uncle's uncle on her mother's side and her
+uncle and her uncle's uncle on her father's side.
+
+It was the first time the four uncles had a chance to see their little
+relation, their niece. Each one of the four uncles was proud of the
+blue eyes of Wing Tip the Spick.
+
+The two uncles on her mother's side took a long deep look into her
+blue eyes and said, "Her eyes are so blue, such a clear light blue,
+they are the same as cornflowers with blue raindrops shining and
+dancing on silver leaves after a sun shower in any of the summer
+months."
+
+And the two uncles on her father's side, after taking a long deep look
+into the eyes of Wing Tip the Spick, said, "Her eyes are so blue, such
+a clear light shining blue, they are the same as cornflowers with blue
+raindrops shining and dancing on the silver leaves after a sun shower
+in any of the summer months."
+
+And though Wing Tip the Spick didn't listen and didn't hear what the
+uncles said about her blue eyes, she did say to herself when they were
+not listening, "I know these are sweet uncles and I am going to have a
+sweet time visiting my relations."
+
+The four uncles said to her, "Will you let us ask you two questions,
+first the first question and second the second question?"
+
+[Illustration: Then the uncles asked her the first question first]
+
+"I will let you ask me fifty questions this morning, fifty questions
+to-morrow morning, and fifty questions any morning. I like to listen
+to questions. They slip in one ear and slip out of the other."
+
+Then the uncles asked her the first question first, "Where do you come
+from?" and the second question second, "Why do you have two freckles
+on your chin?"
+
+"Answering your first question first," said Wing Tip the Spick, "I
+come from the Village of Cream Puffs, a little light village on the
+upland corn prairie. From a long ways off it looks like a little hat
+you could wear on the end of your thumb to keep the rain off your
+thumb."
+
+"Tell us more," said one uncle. "Tell us much," said another uncle.
+"Tell it without stopping," added another uncle. "Interruptions nix
+nix," murmured the last of the uncles.
+
+"It is a light little village on the upland corn prairie many miles
+past the sunset in the west," went on Wing Tip the Spick. "It is light
+the same as a cream puff is light. It sits all by itself on the big
+long prairie where the prairie goes up in a slope. There on the slope
+the winds play around the village. They sing it wind songs, summer
+wind songs in summer, winter wind songs in winter."
+
+"And sometimes like an accident, the wind gets rough. And when the
+wind gets rough it picks up the little Village of Cream Puffs and
+blows it away off in the sky--all by itself."
+
+"O-o-h-h," said one uncle. "Um-m-m-m," said the other three uncles.
+
+"Now the people in the village all understand the winds with their
+wind songs in summer and winter. And they understand the rough wind
+who comes sometimes and picks up the village and blows it away off
+high in the sky all by itself.
+
+"If you go to the public square in the middle of the village you will
+see a big roundhouse. If you take the top off the roundhouse you will
+see a big spool with a long string winding up around the spool.
+
+"Now whenever the rough wind comes and picks up the village and blows
+it away off high in the sky all by itself then the string winds loose
+of the spool, because the village is fastened to the string. So the
+rough wind blows and blows and the string on the spool winds looser
+and looser the farther the village goes blowing away off into the sky
+all by itself.
+
+"Then at last when the rough wind, so forgetful, so careless, has had
+all the fun it wants, then the people of the village all come together
+and begin to wind up the spool and bring back the village where it was
+before."
+
+"O-o-h-h," said one uncle. "Um-m-m-m," said the other three uncles.
+
+"And sometimes when you come to the village to see your little
+relation, your niece who has four such sweet uncles, maybe she will
+lead you through the middle of the city to the public square and show
+you the roundhouse. They call it the Roundhouse of the Big Spool. And
+they are proud because it was thought up and is there to show when
+visitors come."
+
+"And now will you answer the second question second--why do you have
+two freckles on your chin?" interrupted the uncle who had said before,
+"Interruptions nix nix."
+
+"The freckles are put on," answered Wing Tip the Spick. "When a girl
+goes away from the Village of Cream Puffs her mother puts on two
+freckles, on the chin. Each freckle must be the same as a little burnt
+cream puff kept in the oven too long. After the two freckles looking
+like two little burnt cream puffs are put on her chin, they remind the
+girl every morning when she combs her hair and looks in the looking
+glass. They remind her where she came from and she mustn't stay away
+too long."
+
+"O-h-h-h," said one uncle. "Um-m-m-m," said the other three uncles.
+And they talked among each other afterward, the four uncles by
+themselves, saying:
+
+"She has a gift. It is her eyes. They are so blue, such a clear light
+blue, the same as cornflowers with blue raindrops shining and dancing
+on silver leaves after a sun shower in any of the summer months."
+
+At the same time Wing Tip the Spick was saying to herself, "I know for
+sure now these are sweet uncles and I am going to have a sweet time
+visiting my relations."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+                How the Five Rusty Rats Helped Find a
+                             New Village
+
+
+One day while Wing Tip the Spick was visiting her four uncles in the
+Village of Liver-and-Onions, a blizzard came up. Snow filled the sky
+and the wind blew and made a noise like heavy wagon axles grinding and
+crying.
+
+And on this day a gray rat came to the house of the four uncles, a rat
+with gray skin and gray hair, gray as the gray gravy on a beefsteak.
+The rat had a basket. In the basket was a catfish. And the rat said,
+"Please let me have a little fire and a little salt as I wish to make
+a little bowl of hot catfish soup to keep me warm through the
+blizzard."
+
+And the four uncles all said together, "This is no time for rats to be
+around--and we would like to ask you where you got the catfish in the
+basket."
+
+"Oh, oh, oh, please--in the name of the five rusty rats, the five
+lucky rats of the Village of Cream Puffs, please don't," was the
+exclamation of Wing Tip the Spick.
+
+The uncles stopped. They looked long and deep into the eyes of Wing
+Tip the Spick and thought, as they had thought before, how her eyes
+were clear light blue the same as cornflowers with blue raindrops
+shining on the silver leaves in a summer sun shower.
+
+And the four uncles opened the door and let the gray rat come in with
+the basket and the catfish. They showed the gray rat the way to the
+kitchen and the fire and the salt. And they watched the rat and kept
+him company while he fixed himself a catfish soup to keep him warm
+traveling through the blizzard with the sky full of snow.
+
+After they opened the front door and let the rat out and said good-by,
+they turned to Wing Tip the Spick and asked her to tell them about the
+five rusty lucky rats of the Village of Cream Puffs where she lived
+with her father and her mother and her folks.
+
+"When I was a little girl growing up, before I learned all I learned
+since I got older, my grandfather gave me a birthday present because I
+was nine years old. I remember how he said to me, 'You will never be
+nine years old again after this birthday, so I give you this box for a
+birthday present.'
+
+"In the box was a pair of red slippers with a gold clock on each
+slipper. One of the clocks ran fast. The other clock ran slow. And he
+told me if I wished to be early anywhere I should go by the clock that
+ran fast. And if I wished to be late anywhere I should go by the clock
+that ran slow.
+
+"And that same birthday he took me down through the middle of the
+Village of Cream Puffs to the public square near the Roundhouse of the
+Big Spool. There he pointed his finger at the statue of the five rusty
+rats, the five lucky rats. And as near as I can remember his words, he
+said:
+
+"'Many years ago, long before the snow birds began to wear funny
+little slip-on hats and funny little slip-on shoes, and away back long
+before the snow birds learned how to slip off their slip-on hats and
+how to slip off their slip-on shoes, long ago in the faraway Village
+of Liver-and-Onions, the people who ate cream puffs came together and
+met in the streets and picked up their baggage and put their
+belongings on their shoulders and marched out of the Village of
+Liver-and-Onions saying, "We shall find a new place for a village and
+the name of it shall be the Village of Cream Puffs.
+
+[Illustration: They held on to the long curved tails of the rusty rats]
+
+"'They marched out on the prairie with their baggage and belongings in
+sacks on their shoulders. And a blizzard came up. Snow filled the sky.
+The wind blew and blew and made a noise like heavy wagon axles
+grinding and crying.
+
+"'The snow came on. The wind twisted all day and all night and all the
+next day. The wind changed black and twisted and spit icicles in their
+faces. They got lost in the blizzard. They expected to die and be
+buried in the snow for the wolves to come and eat them.
+
+"'Then the five lucky rats came, the five rusty rats, rust on their
+skin and hair, rust on their feet and noses, rust all over, and
+especially, most especially of all, rust on their long curved tails.
+They dug their noses down into the snow and their long curved tails
+stuck up far above the snow where the people who were lost in the
+blizzard could take hold of the tails like handles.
+
+"'And so, while the wind and the snow blew and the blizzard beat its
+icicles in their faces, they held on to the long curved tails of the
+rusty rats till they came to the place where the Village of Cream
+Puffs now stands. It was the rusty rats who saved their lives and
+showed them where to put their new village. That is why this statue
+now stands in the public square, this statue of the shapes of the five
+rusty rats, the five lucky rats with their noses down in the snow and
+their long curved tails lifted high out of the snow.'
+
+"That is the story as my grandfather told it to me. And he said it
+happened long ago, long before the snow birds began to wear slip-on
+hats and slip-on shoes, long before they learned how to slip off the
+slip-on hats and to slip off the slip-on shoes."
+
+"O-h-h-h," said one of the uncles. "Um-m-m-m," said the other three
+uncles.
+
+"And sometime," added Wing Tip the Spick, "when you go away from the
+Village of Liver-and-Onions and cross the Shampoo River and ride many
+miles across the upland prairie till you come to the Village of Cream
+Puffs, you will find a girl there who loves four uncles very much.
+
+"And if you ask her politely, she will show you the red slippers with
+gold clocks on them, one clock to be early by, the other to be late
+by. And if you are still more polite she will take you through the
+middle of the town to the public square and show you the statue of the
+five rusty lucky rats with their long curved tails sticking up in the
+air like handles. And the tails are curved so long and so nice you
+will feel like going up and taking hold of them to see what will
+happen to you."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+2. Five Stories About the
+   Potato Face Blind Man
+
+          _People_: The Potato Face Blind Man
+                    Any Ice Today
+                    Pick Ups
+                    Lizzie Lazarus
+                    Poker Face the Baboon
+                    Hot Dog the Tiger
+                    Whitson Whimble
+                    A Man Shoveling Money
+                    A Watermelon Moon
+                    White Gold Boys
+                    Blue Silver Girls
+                    Big White Moon Spiders
+                    Zizzies
+                    Gimme the Ax Again
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+                  The Potato Face Blind Man Who Lost
+                    the Diamond Rabbit on His Gold
+                              Accordion
+
+
+There was a Potato Face Blind Man used to play an accordion on the Main
+Street corner nearest the postoffice in the Village of Liver-and-Onions.
+
+Any Ice Today came along and said, "It looks like it used to be an 18
+carat gold accordion with rich pawnshop diamonds in it; it looks like
+it used to be a grand accordion once and not so grand now."
+
+"Oh, yes, oh, yes, it was gold all over on the outside," said the
+Potato Face Blind Man, "and there was a diamond rabbit next to the
+handles on each side, two diamond rabbits."
+
+"How do you mean diamond rabbits?" Any Ice Today asked.
+
+"Ears, legs, head, feet, ribs, tail, all fixed out in diamonds to make
+a nice rabbit with his diamond chin on his diamond toenails. When I
+play good pieces so people cry hearing my accordion music, then I put
+my fingers over and feel of the rabbit's diamond chin on his diamond
+toenails, 'Attaboy, li'l bunny, attaboy, li'l bunny.'"
+
+"Yes I hear you talking but it is like dream talking. I wonder why
+your accordion looks like somebody stole it and took it to a pawnshop
+and took it out and somebody stole it again and took it to a pawnshop
+and took it out and somebody stole it again. And they kept on stealing
+it and taking it out of the pawnshop and stealing it again till the
+gold wore off so it looks like a used-to-be-yesterday."
+
+"Oh, yes, o-h, y-e-s, you are right. It is not like the accordion it
+used to be. It knows more knowledge than it used to know just the same
+as this Potato Face Blind Man knows more knowledge than he used to
+know."
+
+"Tell me about it," said Any Ice Today.
+
+"It is simple. If a blind man plays an accordion on the street to make
+people cry it makes them sad and when they are sad the gold goes away
+off the accordion. And if a blind man goes to sleep because his music
+is full of sleepy songs like the long wind in a sleepy valley, then
+while the blind man is sleeping the diamonds in the diamond rabbit all
+go away. I play a sleepy song and go to sleep and I wake up and the
+diamond ear of the diamond rabbit is gone. I play another sleepy song
+and go to sleep and wake up and the diamond tail of the diamond rabbit
+is gone. After a while all the diamond rabbits are gone, even the
+diamond chin sitting on the diamond toenails of the rabbits next to
+the handles of the accordion, even those are gone."
+
+"Is there anything I can do?" asked Any Ice Today.
+
+"I do it myself," said the Potato Face Blind Man. "If I am too sorry I
+just play the sleepy song of the long wind going up the sleepy
+valleys. And that carries me away where I have time and money to dream
+about the new wonderful accordions and postoffices where everybody
+that gets a letter and everybody that don't get a letter stops and
+remembers the Potato Face Blind Man."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+                How the Potato Face Blind Man Enjoyed
+                   Himself on a Fine Spring Morning
+
+
+On a Friday morning when the flummywisters were yodeling yisters high
+in the elm trees, the Potato Face Blind Man came down to his work
+sitting at the corner nearest the postoffice in the Village of
+Liver-and-Onions and playing his gold-that-used-to-be accordion for
+the pleasure of the ears of the people going into the postoffice to
+see if they got any letters for themselves or their families.
+
+"It is a good day, a lucky day," said the Potato Face Blind Man,
+"because for a beginning I have heard high in the elm trees the
+flummywisters yodeling their yisters in the long branches of the
+lingering leaves. So--so--I am going to listen to myself playing on my
+accordion the same yisters, the same yodels, drawing them like long
+glad breathings out of my glad accordion, long breathings of the
+branches of the lingering leaves."
+
+And he sat down in his chair. On the sleeve of his coat he tied a
+sign, "I Am Blind _Too_." On the top button of his coat he hung a
+little thimble. On the bottom button of his coat he hung a tin copper
+cup. On the middle button he hung a wooden mug. By the side of him on
+the left side on the sidewalk he put a galvanized iron washtub, and on
+the right side an aluminum dishpan.
+
+"It is a good day, a lucky day, and I am sure many people will stop
+and remember the Potato Face Blind Man," he sang to himself like a
+little song as he began running his fingers up and down the keys of
+the accordion like the yisters of the lingering leaves in the elm
+trees.
+
+[Illustration: "I am sure many people will stop and remember the
+Potato Face Blind Man"]
+
+Then came Pick Ups. Always it happened Pick Ups asked questions and
+wished to know. And so this is how the questions and answers ran when
+the Potato Face filled the ears of Pick Ups with explanations.
+
+"What is the piece you are playing on the keys of your accordion so
+fast sometimes, so slow sometimes, so sad some of the moments, so glad
+some of the moments?"
+
+"It is the song the mama flummywisters sing when they button loose the
+winter underwear of the baby flummywisters and sing:
+
+                     "Fly, you little flummies,
+                     Sing, you little wisters."
+
+"And why do you have a little thimble on the top button of your coat?"
+
+"That is for the dimes to be put in. Some people see it and say, 'Oh,
+I must put in a whole thimbleful of dimes.'"
+
+"And the tin copper cup?"
+
+"That is for the base ball players to stand off ten feet and throw in
+nickels and pennies. The one who throws the most into the cup will be
+the most lucky."
+
+"And the wooden mug?"
+
+"There is a hole in the bottom of it. The hole is as big as the
+bottom. The nickel goes in and comes out again. It is for the very
+poor people who wish to give me a nickel and yet get the nickel back."
+
+"The aluminum dishpan and the galvanized iron washtub--what are they
+doing by the side of you on both sides on the sidewalk?"
+
+"Sometime maybe it will happen everybody who goes into the postoffice
+and comes out will stop and pour out all their money, because they
+might get afraid their money is no good any more. If such a happening
+ever happens then it will be nice for the people to have some place to
+pour their money. Such is the explanation why you see the aluminum
+dishpan and galvanized iron tub."
+
+"Explain your sign--why is it, 'I Am Blind _Too_.'"
+
+"Oh, I am sorry to explain to you, Pick Ups, why this is so which.
+Some of the people who pass by here going into the postoffice and
+coming out, they have eyes--but they see nothing with their eyes. They
+look where they are going and they get where they wish to get, but
+they forget why they came and they do not know how to come away. They
+are my blind brothers. It is for them I have the sign that reads, 'I
+Am Blind _Too_.'"
+
+"I have my ears full of explanations and I thank you," said Pick Ups.
+
+"Good-by," said the Potato Face Blind Man as he began drawing long
+breathings like lingering leaves out of the accordion--along with the
+song the mama flummywisters sing when they button loose the winter
+underwear of the baby flummywisters.
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+                  Poker Face the Baboon and Hot Dog
+                              the Tiger
+
+
+When the moon has a green rim with red meat inside and black seeds on
+the red meat, then in the Rootabaga Country they call it a Watermelon
+Moon and look for anything to happen.
+
+It was a night when a Watermelon Moon was shining. Lizzie Lazarus came
+to the upstairs room of the Potato Face Blind Man. Poker Face the
+Baboon and Hot Dog the Tiger were with her. She was leading them with
+a pink string.
+
+"You see they are wearing pajamas," she said. "They sleep with you
+to-night and to-morrow they go to work with you like mascots."
+
+"How like mascots?" asked the Potato Face Blind Man.
+
+"They are luck bringers. They keep your good luck if it is good. They
+change your bad luck if it is bad."
+
+"I hear you and my ears get your explanations."
+
+So the next morning when the Potato Face Blind Man sat down to play
+his accordion on the corner nearest the postoffice in the Village of
+Liver-and-Onions, next to him on the right hand side sitting on the
+sidewalk was Poker Face the Baboon and on the left hand side sitting
+next to him was Hot Dog the Tiger.
+
+They looked like dummies--they were so quiet. They looked as if they
+were made of wood and paper and then painted. In the eyes of Poker
+Face was something faraway. In the eyes of Hot Dog was something
+hungry. Whitson Whimble, the patent clothes wringer manufacturer, came
+by in his big limousine automobile car without horses to pull it. He
+was sitting back on the leather upholstered seat cushions.
+
+"Stop here," he commanded the chauffeur driving the car.
+
+Then Whitson Whimble sat looking. First he looked into the eyes of
+Poker Face the Baboon and saw something faraway. Then he looked into
+the eyes of Hot Dog the Tiger and saw something hungry. Then he read
+the sign painted by the Potato Face Blind Man saying, "You look at 'em
+and see 'em; I look at 'em and I don't. You watch what their eyes say;
+I can only feel their hair." Then Whitson Whimble commanded the
+chauffeur driving the car, "Go on."
+
+Fifteen minutes later a man in overalls came down Main Street with a
+wheelbarrow. He stopped in front of the Potato Face Blind Man, Poker
+Face the Baboon, and Hot Dog the Tiger.
+
+"Where is the aluminum dishpan?" he asked.
+
+"On my left side on the sidewalk," answered the Potato Face Blind Man.
+
+"Where is the galvanized iron washtub?"
+
+"On my right side on the sidewalk."
+
+Then the man in overalls took a shovel and began shoveling silver
+dollars out of the wheelbarrow into the aluminum dishpan and the
+galvanized iron washtub. He shoveled out of the wheelbarrow till the
+dishpan was full, till the washtub was full. Then he put the shovel
+into the wheelbarrow and went up Main Street.
+
+Six o'clock that night Pick Ups came along. The Potato Face Blind Man
+said to him, "I have to carry home a heavy load of money to-night, an
+aluminum dishpan full of silver dollars and a galvanized iron washtub
+full of silver dollars. So I ask you, will you take care of Poker Face
+the Baboon and Hot Dog the Tiger?"
+
+"Yes," said Pick Ups, "I will." And he did. He tied a pink string to
+their legs and took them home and put them in the woodshed.
+
+Poker Face the Baboon went to sleep on the soft coal at the north end
+of the woodshed and when he was asleep his face had something faraway
+in it and he was so quiet he looked like a dummy with brown hair of
+the jungle painted on his black skin and a black nose painted on his
+brown face. Hot Dog the Tiger went to sleep on the hard coal at the
+south end of the woodshed and when he was asleep his eyelashes had
+something hungry in them and he looked like a painted dummy with black
+stripes painted over his yellow belly and a black spot painted away at
+the end of his long yellow tail.
+
+In the morning the woodshed was empty. Pick Ups told the Potato Face
+Blind Man, "They left a note in their own handwriting on perfumed pink
+paper. It said, '_Mascots never stay long_.'"
+
+And that is why for many years the Potato Face Blind Man had silver
+dollars to spend--and that is why many people in the Rootabaga Country
+keep their eyes open for a Watermelon Moon in the sky with a green rim
+and red meat inside and black seeds making spots on the red meat.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+                The Toboggan-to-the-Moon Dream of the
+                        Potato Face Blind Man
+
+
+One morning in October the Potato Face Blind Man sat on the corner
+nearest the postoffice.
+
+Any Ice Today came along and said, "This is the sad time of the year."
+
+"Sad?" asked the Potato Face Blind Man, changing his accordion from
+his right knee to his left knee, and singing softly to the tune he was
+fumbling on the accordion keys, "Be Happy in the Morning When the
+Birds Bring the Beans."
+
+"Yes," said Any Ice Today, "is it not sad every year when the leaves
+change from green to yellow, when the leaves dry on the branches and
+fall into the air, and the wind blows them and they make a song
+saying, 'Hush baby, hush baby,' and the wind fills the sky with them
+and they are like a sky full of birds who forget they know any songs."
+
+"It is sad and not sad," was the blind man's word.
+
+"Listen," said the Potato Face. "For me this is the time of the year
+when the dream of the white moon toboggan comes back. Five weeks
+before the first snow flurry this dream always comes back to me. It
+says, 'The black leaves are falling now and they fill the sky but five
+weeks go by and then for every black leaf there will be a thousand
+snow crystals shining white.'"
+
+"What was your dream of the white moon toboggan?" asked Any Ice Today.
+
+"It came to me first when I was a boy, when I had my eyes, before my
+luck changed. I saw the big white spiders of the moon working, rushing
+around climbing up, climbing down, snizzling and sniffering. I looked
+a long while before I saw what the big white spiders on the moon were
+doing. I saw after a while they were weaving a long toboggan, a white
+toboggan, white and soft as snow. And after a long while of snizzling
+and sniffering, climbing up and climbing down, at last the toboggan
+was done, a snow white toboggan running from the moon down to the
+Rootabaga Country.
+
+"And sliding, sliding down from the moon on this toboggan were the
+White Gold Boys and the Blue Silver Girls. They tumbled down at my
+feet because, you see, the toboggan ended right at my feet. I could
+lean over and pick up the White Gold Boys and the Blue Silver Girls as
+they slid out of the toboggan at my feet. I could pick up a whole
+handful of them and hold them in my hand and talk with them. Yet, you
+understand, whenever I tried to shut my hand and keep any of them they
+would snizzle and sniffer and jump out of the cracks between my
+fingers. Once there was a little gold and silver dust on my left hand
+thumb, dust they snizzled out while slipping away from me.
+
+"Once I heard a White Gold Boy and a Blue Silver Girl whispering. They
+were standing on the tip of my right hand little finger, whispering.
+One said, 'I got pumpkins--what did you get?' The other said, 'I got
+hazel nuts.' I listened more and I found out there are millions of
+pumpkins and millions of hazel nuts so small you and I can not see
+them. These children from the moon, however, they can see them and
+whenever they slide down on the moon toboggan they take back their
+pockets full of things so little we have never seen them."
+
+"They are wonderful children," said Any Ice Today. "And will you tell
+me how they get back to the moon after they slide down the toboggan?"
+
+"Oh, that is easy," said Potato Face. "It is just as easy for them to
+slide _up_ to the moon as to slide down. Sliding up and sliding down
+is the same for them. The big white spiders fixed it that way when
+they snizzled and sniffered and made the toboggan."
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+                   How Gimme the Ax Found Out About
+                   the Zigzag Railroad and Who Made
+                              It Zigzag
+
+
+One day Gimme the Ax said to himself, "Today I go to the postoffice
+and around, looking around. Maybe I will hear about something
+happening last night when I was sleeping. Maybe a policeman began
+laughing and fell in a cistern and came out with a wheelbarrow full of
+goldfish wearing new jewelry. How do I know? Maybe the man in the moon
+going down a cellar stairs to get a pitcher of butter-milk for the
+woman in the moon to drink and stop crying, maybe he fell down the
+stairs and broke the pitcher and laughed and picked up the broken
+pieces and said to himself, 'One, two, three, four, accidents happen
+in the best regulated families.' How do I know?"
+
+So with his mind full of simple and refreshing thoughts, Gimme the Ax
+went out into the backyard garden and looked at the different necktie
+poppies growing early in the summer. Then he picked one of the necktie
+poppies to wear for a necktie scarf going downtown to the postoffice
+and around looking around.
+
+"It is a good speculation to look nice around looking around in a
+necktie scarf," said Gimme the Ax. "It is a necktie with a picture
+like whiteface pony spots on a green frog swimming in the moonshine."
+
+So he went downtown. For the first time he saw the Potato Face Blind
+Man playing an accordion on the corner next nearest the postoffice. He
+asked the Potato Face to tell him why the railroad tracks run zigzag
+in the Rootabaga Country.
+
+"Long ago," said the Potato Face Blind Man, "long before the necktie
+poppies began growing in the backyard, long before there was a necktie
+scarf like yours with whiteface pony spots on a green frog swimming in
+the moonshine, back in the old days when they laid the rails for the
+railroad they laid the rails straight."
+
+"Then the zizzies came. The zizzy is a bug. He runs zigzag on zigzag
+legs, eats zigzag with zigzag teeth, and spits zigzag with a zigzag
+tongue.
+
+"Millions of zizzies came hizzing with little hizzers on their heads
+and under their legs. They jumped on the rails with their zigzag legs,
+and spit and twisted with their zigzag teeth and tongues till they
+twisted the whole railroad and all the rails and tracks into a zigzag
+railroad with zigzag rails for the trains, the passenger trains and
+the freight trains, all to run zigzag on.
+
+"Then the zizzies crept away into the fields where they sleep and
+cover themselves with zigzag blankets on special zigzag beds.
+
+"Next day came shovelmen with their shovels, smooth engineers with
+smooth blue prints, and water boys with water pails and water dippers
+for the shovelmen to drink after shoveling the railroad straight. And
+I nearly forgot to say the steam and hoist operating engineers came
+and began their steam hoist and operating to make the railroad
+straight.
+
+"They worked hard. They made the railroad straight again. They looked
+at the job and said to themselves and to each other, 'This is it--we
+done it.'
+
+"Next morning the zizzies opened their zigzag eyes and looked over to
+the railroad and the rails. When they saw the railroad all straight
+again, and the rails and the ties and the spikes all straight again,
+the zizzies didn't even eat breakfast that morning.
+
+"They jumped out of their zigzag beds, jumped onto the rails with
+their zigzag legs and spit and twisted till they spit and twisted all
+the rails and the ties and the spikes back into a zigzag like the
+letter Z and the letter Z at the end of the alphabet.
+
+"After that the zizzies went to breakfast. And they said to themselves
+and to each other, the same as the shovelmen, the smooth engineers and
+the steam hoist and operating engineers, 'This is it--we done it.'"
+
+"So that is the how of the which--it was the zizzies," said Gimme the
+Ax.
+
+"Yes, it was the zizzies," said the Potato Face Blind Man. "That is
+the story told to me."
+
+"Who told it to you?"
+
+"_Two little zizzies._ They came to me one cold winter night and slept
+in my accordion where the music keeps it warm in winter. In the
+morning I said, 'Good morning, zizzies, did you have a good sleep last
+night and pleasant dreams?' And after they had breakfast they told me
+the story. Both told it zigzag but it was the same kind of zigzag each
+had together."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+3. Three Stories About the
+   Gold Buckskin Whincher
+
+          _People_: Blixie Bimber
+                    Peter Potato Blossom Wishes
+                    Jimmie the Flea
+                    Silas Baxby
+                    Fritz Axenbax
+                    James Sixbixdix
+                    Jason Squiff, the Cistern Cleaner
+                    Rags Habakuk, the Rag Man
+                    Two Daughters of the Rag Man
+                    Two Blue Rats
+                    A Circus Man With Spot Cash
+                    A Moving Picture Actor
+                    A Taxicab Driver
+
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+               The Story of Blixie Bimber and the Power
+                    of the Gold Buckskin Whincher
+
+
+Blixie Bimber grew up looking for luck. If she found a horseshoe she
+took it home and put it on the wall of her room with a ribbon tied to
+it. She would look at the moon through her fingers, under her arms,
+over her right shoulder but never--never over her _left_ shoulder. She
+listened and picked up everything anybody said about the ground hog
+and whether the ground hog saw his shadow when he came out the second
+of February.
+
+If she dreamed of onions she knew the next day she would find a silver
+spoon. If she dreamed of fishes she knew the next day she would meet a
+strange man who would call her by her first name. She grew up looking
+for luck.
+
+She was sixteen years old and quite a girl, with her skirts down to
+her shoe tops, when something happened. She was going to the
+postoffice to see if there was a letter for her from Peter Potato
+Blossom Wishes, her best chum, or a letter from Jimmy the Flea, her
+best friend she kept steady company with.
+
+Jimmy the Flea was a climber. He climbed skyscrapers and flagpoles and
+smokestacks and was a famous steeplejack. Blixie Bimber liked him
+because he was a steeplejack, a little, but more because he was a
+whistler.
+
+Every time Blixie said to Jimmy, "I got the blues--whistle the blues
+out of me," Jimmy would just naturally whistle till the blues just
+naturally went away from Blixie.
+
+On the way to the postoffice, Blixie found a gold buckskin _whincher_.
+There it lay in the middle of the sidewalk. How and why it came to be
+there she never knew and nobody ever told her. "It's luck," she said
+to herself as she picked it up quick.
+
+And so--she took it home and fixed it on a little chain and wore it
+around her neck.
+
+She did not know and nobody ever told her a gold buckskin whincher is
+different from just a plain common whincher. It has a _power_. And if
+a thing has a power over you then you just naturally can't help
+yourself.
+
+So--around her neck fixed on a little chain Blixie Bimber wore the
+gold buckskin whincher and never knew it had a power and all the time
+the power was working.
+
+"The first man you meet with an X in his name you must fall head over
+heels in love with him," said the silent power in the gold buckskin
+whincher.
+
+And that was why Blixie Bimber stopped at the postoffice and went back
+again asking the clerk at the postoffice window if he was sure there
+wasn't a letter for her. The name of the clerk was Silas Baxby. For
+six weeks he kept steady company with Blixie Bimber. They went to
+dances, hayrack rides, picnics and high jinks together.
+
+All the time the power in the gold buckskin whincher was working. It
+was hanging by a little chain around her neck and always working. It
+was saying, "The next man you meet with two X's in his name you must
+leave all and fall head over heels in love with him."
+
+She met the high school principal. His name was Fritz Axenbax. Blixie
+dropped her eyes before him and threw smiles at him. And for six weeks
+he kept steady company with Blixie Bimber. They went to dances,
+hayrack rides, picnics and high jinks together.
+
+"Why do you go with him for steady company?" her relatives asked.
+
+"It's a power he's got," Blixie answered, "I just can't help it--it's
+a power."
+
+"One of his feet is bigger than the other--how can you keep steady
+company with him?" they asked again.
+
+All she would answer was, "It's a power."
+
+All the time, of course, the gold buckskin whincher on the little
+chain around her neck was working. It was saying, "If she meets a man
+with three X's in his name she must fall head over heels in love with
+him."
+
+At a band concert in the public square one night she met James
+Sixbixdix. There was no helping it. She dropped her eyes and threw her
+smiles at him. And for six weeks they kept steady company going to
+band concerts, dances, hayrack rides, picnics and high jinks together.
+
+"Why do you keep steady company with him? He's a musical soup eater,"
+her relatives said to her. And she answered, "It's a power--I can't
+help myself."
+
+Leaning down with her head in a rain water cistern one day, listening
+to the echoes against the strange wooden walls of the cistern, the
+gold buckskin whincher on the little chain around her neck slipped off
+and fell down into the rain water.
+
+"My luck is gone," said Blixie. Then she went into the house and made
+two telephone calls. One was to James Sixbixdix telling him she
+couldn't keep the date with him that night. The other was to Jimmy the
+Flea, the climber, the steeplejack.
+
+"Come on over--I got the blues and I want you to whistle 'em away,"
+was what she telephoned Jimmy the Flea.
+
+And so--if you ever come across a gold buckskin whincher, be careful.
+It's got a power. It'll make you fall head over heels in love with the
+next man you meet with an X in his name. Or it will do other strange
+things because different whinchers have different powers.
+
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+                 The Story of Jason Squiff and Why He
+                  Had a Popcorn Hat, Popcorn Mittens
+                          and Popcorn Shoes
+
+
+Jason Squiff was a cistern cleaner. He had greenish yellowish hair. If
+you looked down into a cistern when he was lifting buckets of slush
+and mud you could tell where he was, you could pick him out down in
+the dark cistern, by the lights of his greenish yellowish hair.
+
+Sometimes the buckets of slush and mud tipped over and ran down on the
+top of his head. This covered his greenish yellowish hair. And then it
+was hard to tell where he was and it was not easy to pick him out down
+in the dark where he was cleaning the cistern.
+
+One day Jason Squiff came to the Bimber house and knocked on the door.
+
+"Did I understand," he said, speaking to Mrs. Bimber, Blixie Bimber's
+mother, "do I understand you sent for me to clean the cistern in your
+back yard?"
+
+"You understand exactly such," said Mrs. Bimber, "and you are welcome
+as the flowers that bloom in the spring, tra-la-la."
+
+"Then I will go to work and clean the cistern, tra-la-la," he
+answered, speaking to Mrs. Bimber. "I'm the guy, tra-la-la," he said
+further, running his excellent fingers through his greenish yellowish
+hair which was shining brightly.
+
+He began cleaning the cistern. Blixie Bimber came out in the back
+yard. She looked down in the cistern. It was all dark. It looked like
+nothing but all dark down there. By and by she saw something greenish
+yellowish. She watched it. Soon she saw it was Jason Squiff's head and
+hair. And then she knew the cistern was being cleaned and Jason Squiff
+was on the job. So she sang tra-la-la and went back into the house and
+told her mother Jason Squiff was on the job.
+
+The last bucketful of slush and mud came at last for Jason Squiff. He
+squinted at the bottom. Something was shining. He reached his fingers
+down through the slush and mud and took out what was shining.
+
+It was the gold buckskin whincher Blixie Bimber lost from the gold
+chain around her neck the week before when she was looking down into
+the cistern to see what she could see. It was exactly the same gold
+buckskin whincher shining and glittering like a sign of happiness.
+
+"It's luck," said Jason Squiff, wiping his fingers on his greenish
+yellowish hair. Then he put the gold buckskin whincher in his vest
+pocket and spoke to himself again, "It's luck."
+
+A little after six o'clock that night Jason Squiff stepped into his
+house and home and said hello to his wife and daughters. They all
+began to laugh. Their laughter was a ticklish laughter.
+
+"Something funny is happening," he said.
+
+"And you are it," they all laughed at him again with ticklish
+laughter.
+
+Then they showed him. His hat was popcorn, his mittens popcorn and his
+shoes popcorn. He didn't know the gold buckskin whincher had a power
+and was working all the time. He didn't know the whincher in his vest
+pocket was saying, "You have a letter Q in your name and because you
+have the pleasure and happiness of having a Q in your name you must
+have a popcorn hat, popcorn mittens and popcorn shoes."
+
+The next morning he put on another hat, another pair of mittens and
+another pair of shoes. And the minute he put them on they changed to
+popcorn.
+
+So he tried on all his hats, mittens and shoes. Always they changed to
+popcorn the minute he had them on.
+
+[Illustration: His hat was popcorn, his mittens popcorn and his
+shoes popcorn]
+
+He went downtown to the stores. He bought a new hat, mittens and
+shoes. And the minute he had them on they changed to popcorn.
+
+So he decided he would go to work and clean cisterns with his popcorn
+hat, popcorn mittens and popcorn shoes on.
+
+The people of the Village of Cream Puffs enjoyed watching him walk up
+the street, going to clean cisterns. People five and six blocks away
+could see him coming and going with his popcorn hat, popcorn mittens
+and popcorn shoes.
+
+When he was down in a cistern the children enjoyed looking down into
+the cistern to see him work. When none of the slush and mud fell on
+his hat and mittens he was easy to find. The light of the shining
+popcorn lit up the whole inside of the cistern.
+
+Sometimes, of course, the white popcorn got full of black slush and
+black mud. And then when Jason Squiff came up and walked home he was
+not quite so dazzling to look at.
+
+It was a funny winter for Jason Squiff.
+
+"It's a crime, a dirty crime," he said to himself. "Now I can never be
+alone with my thoughts. Everybody looks at me when I go up the
+street."
+
+"If I meet a funeral even the pall bearers begin to laugh at my
+popcorn hat. If I meet people going to a wedding they throw all the
+rice at me as if I am a bride and a groom all together.
+
+"The horses try to eat my hat wherever I go. Three hats I have fed to
+horses this winter.
+
+"And if I accidentally drop one of my mittens the chickens eat it."
+
+Then Jason Squiff began to change. He became proud.
+
+"I always wanted a white beautiful hat like this white popcorn hat,"
+he said to himself. "And I always wanted white beautiful mittens and
+white beautiful shoes like these white popcorn mittens and shoes."
+
+When the boys yelled, "Snow man! yah-de-dah-de-dah, Snow man!" he just
+waved his hand to them with an upward gesture of his arm to show he
+was proud of how he looked.
+
+"They all watch for me," he said to himself, "I am distinquished--am I
+not?" he asked himself.
+
+And he put his right hand into his left hand and shook hands with
+himself and said, "You certainly look fixed up."
+
+One day he decided to throw away his vest. In the vest pocket was the
+gold buckskin whincher, with the power working, the power saying, "You
+have a letter Q in your name and because you have the pleasure and
+happiness of having a Q in your name you must have a popcorn hat,
+popcorn mittens and popcorn shoes."
+
+Yes, he threw away the vest. He forgot all about the gold buckskin
+whincher being in the vest.
+
+He just handed the vest to a rag man. And the rag man put the vest
+with the gold buckskin whincher in a bag on his back and walked away.
+
+After that Jason Squiff was like other people. His hats would never
+change to popcorn nor his mittens to popcorn nor his shoes to popcorn.
+
+And when anybody looked at him down in a cistern cleaning the cistern
+or when anybody saw him walking along the street they knew him by his
+greenish yellowish hair which was always full of bright lights.
+
+And so--if you have a Q in your name, be careful if you ever come
+across a gold buckskin whincher. Remember different whinchers have
+different powers.
+
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+                  The Story of Rags Habakuk, the Two
+                  Blue Rats, and the Circus Man Who
+                      Came with Spot Cash Money
+
+
+Rags Habakuk was going home. His day's work was done. The sun was
+down. Street lamps began shining. Burglars were starting on their
+night's work. It was no time for an honest ragman to be knocking on
+people's back doors, saying, "Any rags?" or else saying, "Any rags?
+any bottles? any bones?" or else saying "Any rags? any bottles? any
+bones? any old iron? any copper, brass, old shoes all run down and no
+good to anybody to-day? any old clothes, old coats, pants, vests? I
+take any old clothes you got."
+
+Yes, Rags Habakuk was going home. In the gunnysack bag on his back,
+humped up on top of the rag humps in the bag, was an old vest. It was
+the same old vest Jason Squiff threw out of a door at Rags Habakuk. In
+the pocket of the vest was the gold buckskin whincher with a power in
+it.
+
+Well, Rags Habakuk got home just like always, sat down to supper and
+smacked his mouth and had a big supper of fish, just like always. Then
+he went out to a shanty in the back yard and opened up the gunnysack
+rag bag and fixed things out classified just like every day when he
+came home he opened the gunnysack bag and fixed things out classified.
+
+The last thing of all he fixed out classified was the vest with the
+gold buckskin whincher in the pocket. "Put it on--it's a glad rag," he
+said, looking at the vest. "It's a lucky vest." So he put his right
+arm in the right armhole and his left arm in the left armhole. And
+there he was with his arms in the armholes of the old vest all fixed
+out classified new.
+
+Next morning Rags Habakuk kissed his wife g'by and his eighteen year
+old girl g'by and his nineteen year old girl g'by. He kissed them just
+like he always kissed them--in a hurry--and as he kissed each one he
+said, "I will be back soon if not sooner and when I come back I will
+return."
+
+Yes, up the street went Rags Habakuk. And soon as he left home
+something happened. Standing on his right shoulder was a blue rat and
+standing on his left shoulder was a blue rat. The only way he knew
+they were there was by looking at them.
+
+There they were, close to his ears. He could feel the far edge of
+their whiskers against his ears.
+
+"This never happened to me before all the time I been picking rags,"
+he said. "Two blue rats stand by my ears and never say anything even
+if they know I am listening to anything they tell me."
+
+So Rags Habakuk walked on two blocks, three blocks, four blocks,
+squinting with his right eye slanting at the blue rat on his right
+shoulder and squinting with his left eye slanting at the blue rat on
+his left shoulder.
+
+"If I stood on somebody's shoulder with my whiskers right up in
+somebody's ear I would say something for somebody to listen to," he
+muttered.
+
+Of course, he did not understand it was the gold buckskin whincher and
+the power working. Down in the pocket of the vest he had on, the gold
+buckskin whincher power was saying, "Because you have two K's in your
+name you must have two blue rats on your shoulders, one blue rat for
+your right ear, one blue rat for your left ear."
+
+It was good business. Never before did Rags Habakuk get so much old
+rags.
+
+"Come again--you and your lucky blue rats," people said to him. They
+dug into their cellars and garrets and brought him bottles and bones
+and copper and brass and old shoes and old clothes, coats, pants,
+vests.
+
+Every morning when he went up the street with the two blue rats on his
+shoulders, blinking their eyes straight ahead and chewing their
+whiskers so they sometimes tickled the ears of old Rags Habakuk,
+sometimes women came running out on the front porch to look at him and
+say, "Well, if he isn't a queer old mysterious ragman and if those
+ain't queer old mysterious blue rats!"
+
+All the time the gold buckskin whincher and the power was working. It
+was saying, "So long as old Rags Habakuk keeps the two blue rats he
+shall have good luck--but if he ever sells one of the blue rats then
+one of his daughters shall marry a taxicab driver--and if he ever
+sells the other blue rat then his other daughter shall marry a
+moving-picture hero actor."
+
+Then terrible things happened. A circus man came. "I give you one
+thousand dollars spot cash money for one of the blue rats," he
+expostulated with his mouth. "And I give you two thousand dollars spot
+cash money for the two of the blue rats both of them together."
+
+"Show me how much spot cash money two thousand dollars is all counted
+out in one pile for one man to carry away home in his gunnysack rag
+bag," was the answer of Rags Habakuk.
+
+The circus man went to the bank and came back with spot cash
+greenbacks money.
+
+"This spot cash greenbacks money is made from the finest silk rags
+printed by the national government for the national republic to make
+business rich and prosperous," said the circus man, expostulating with
+his mouth.
+
+"T-h-e f-i-n-e-s-t s-i-l-k r-a-g-s," he expostulated again holding two
+fingers under the nose of Rags Habakuk.
+
+"I take it," said Rags Habakuk, "I take it. It is a whole gunnysack
+bag full of spot cash greenbacks money. I tell my wife it is printed
+by the national government for the national republic to make business
+rich and prosperous."
+
+Then he kissed the blue rats, one on the right ear, the other on the
+left ear, and handed them over to the circus man.
+
+And that was why the next month his eighteen year old daughter married
+a taxicab driver who was so polite all the time to his customers that
+he never had time to be polite to his wife.
+
+And that was why his nineteen year old daughter married a moving-picture
+hero actor who worked so hard being nice and kind in the moving pictures
+that he never had enough left over for his wife when he got home after
+the day's work.
+
+And the lucky vest with the gold buckskin whincher was stolen from
+Rags Habakuk by the taxicab driver.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+4. Four Stories About the Deep
+   Doom of Dark Doorways
+
+          _People_: The Rag Doll
+                    The Broom Handle
+                    Spoon Lickers
+                    Chocolate Chins
+                    Dirty Bibs
+                    Tin Pan Bangers
+                    Clean Ears
+                    Easy Ticklers
+                    Musical Soup Eaters
+                    Chubby Chubs
+                    Sleepy Heads
+
+                    Snoo Foo
+                    Blink, Swink and Jink
+                    Blunk, Swunk and Junk
+                    Missus Sniggers
+
+                    Eeta Peeca Pie
+                    Meeny Miney
+                    Miney Mo
+                    A Potato Bug Millionaire
+
+                    Bimbo the Snip
+                    Bevo the Hike
+                    A Ward Alderman
+                    A Barn Boss
+                    A Weather Man
+                    A Traffic Policeman
+                    A Monkey
+                    A Widow Woman
+                    An Umbrella Handle Maker
+
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+                The Wedding Procession of the Rag Doll
+                and the Broom Handle and Who Was in It
+
+
+The Rag Doll had many friends. The Whisk Broom, the Furnace Shovel,
+the Coffee Pot, they all liked the Rag Doll very much.
+
+But when the Rag Doll married, it was the Broom Handle she picked
+because the Broom Handle fixed her eyes.
+
+A proud child, proud but careless, banged the head of the Rag Doll
+against a door one day and knocked off both the glass eyes sewed on
+long ago. It was then the Broom Handle found two black California
+prunes, and fastened the two California prunes just where the eyes
+belonged. So then the Rag Doll had two fine black eyes brand new. She
+was even nicknamed Black Eyes by some people.
+
+There was a wedding when the Rag Doll married the Broom Handle. It was
+a grand wedding with one of the grandest processions ever seen at a
+rag doll wedding. And we are sure no broom handle ever had a grander
+wedding procession when he got married.
+
+Who marched in the procession? Well, first came the Spoon Lickers.
+Every one of them had a tea spoon, or a soup spoon, though most of
+them had a big table spoon. On the spoons, what did they have? Oh,
+some had butter scotch, some had gravy, some had marshmallow fudge.
+Every one had something slickery sweet or fat to eat on the spoon. And
+as they marched in the wedding procession of the Rag Doll and the
+Broom Handle, they licked their spoons and looked around and licked
+their spoons again.
+
+Next came the Tin Pan Bangers. Some had dishpans, some had frying
+pans, some had potato peeling pans. All the pans were tin with tight
+tin bottoms. And the Tin Pan Bangers banged with knives and forks and
+iron and wooden bangers on the bottoms of the tin pans. And as they
+marched in the wedding procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle
+they banged their pans and looked around and banged again.
+
+Then came the Chocolate Chins. They were all eating chocolates. And
+the chocolate was slippery and slickered all over their chins. Some of
+them spattered the ends of their noses with black chocolate. Some of
+them spread the brown chocolate nearly up to their ears. And then as
+they marched in the wedding procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom
+Handle they stuck their chins in the air and looked around and stuck
+their chins in the air again.
+
+Then came the Dirty Bibs. They wore plain white bibs, checker bibs,
+stripe bibs, blue bibs and bibs with butterflies. But all the bibs
+were dirty. The plain white bibs were dirty, the checker bibs were
+dirty, the stripe bibs, the blue bibs and the bibs with butterflies on
+them, they were all dirty. And so in the wedding procession of the Rag
+Doll and the Broom Handle, the Dirty Bibs marched with their dirty
+fingers on the bibs and they looked around and laughed and looked
+around and laughed again.
+
+Next came the Clean Ears. They were proud. How they got into the
+procession nobody knows. Their ears were all clean. They were clean
+not only on the outside but they were clean on the inside. There was
+not a speck of dirt or dust or muss or mess on the inside nor the
+outside of their ears. And so in the wedding procession of the Rag
+Doll and the Broom Handle, they wiggled their ears and looked around
+and wiggled their ears again.
+
+The Easy Ticklers were next in the procession. Their faces were
+shining. Their cheeks were like bars of new soap. Their ribs were
+strong and the meat and the fat was thick on their ribs. It was plain
+to see they were saying, "Don't tickle me because I tickle so easy."
+And as they marched in the wedding procession of the Rag Doll and the
+Broom Handle, they tickled themselves and laughed and looked around
+and tickled themselves again.
+
+The music was furnished mostly by the Musical Soup Eaters. They
+marched with big bowls of soup in front of them and big spoons for
+eating the soup. They whistled and chuzzled and snozzled the soup and
+the noise they made could be heard far up at the head of the
+procession where the Spoon Lickers were marching. So they dipped their
+soup and looked around and dipped their soup again.
+
+The Chubby Chubs were next. They were roly poly, round faced smackers
+and snoozers. They were not fat babies--oh no, oh no--not fat but just
+chubby and easy to squeeze. They marched on their chubby legs and
+chubby feet and chubbed their chubbs and looked around and chubbed
+their chubbs again.
+
+The last of all in the wedding procession of the Rag Doll and the
+Broom Handle were the Sleepyheads. They were smiling and glad to be
+marching but their heads were slimpsing down and their smiles were
+half fading away and their eyes were half shut or a little more than
+half shut. They staggered just a little as though their feet were not
+sure where they were going. They were the Sleepyheads, the last of
+all, in the wedding procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle
+and the Sleepyheads they never looked around at all.
+
+It _was_ a grand procession, don't you think so?
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+                 How the Hat Ashes Shovel Helped Snoo
+                                 Foo
+
+
+If you want to remember the names of all six of the Sniggers children,
+remember that the three biggest were named Blink, Swink and Jink but
+the three littlest ones were named Blunk, Swunk and Junk. One day last
+January the three biggest had a fuss with the three littlest. The fuss
+was about a new hat for Snoo Foo, the snow man, about what kind of a
+hat he should wear and how he should wear it. Blink, Swink and Jink
+said, "He wants a crooked hat put on straight." Blunk, Swunk and Junk
+said, "He wants a straight hat put on crooked." They fussed and
+fussed. Blink fussed with Blunk, Swink fussed with Swunk, and Jink
+fussed with Junk. The first ones to make up after the fuss were Jink
+and Junk. They decided the best way to settle the fuss. "Let's put a
+crooked hat on crooked," said Jink. "No, let's put a straight hat on
+straight," said Junk. Then they stood looking and looking into each
+other's shiny laughing eyes and then both of them exploded to each
+other at the same time, "Let's put on two hats, a crooked hat crooked
+and a straight hat straight."
+
+Well, they looked around for hats. But there were not any hats
+anywhere, that is, no hats big enough for a snow man with a big head
+like Snoo Foo. So they went in the house and asked their mother for
+_the hat ashes shovel_. Of course, in most any other house, the mother
+would be all worried if six children came tramping and clomping in,
+banging the door and all six ejaculating to their mother at once,
+"Where is the hat ashes shovel?" But Missus Sniggers wasn't worried at
+all. She rubbed her chin with her finger and said softly, "Oh lah de
+dah, oh lah de dah, where is that hat ashes shovel, last week I had it
+when I was making a hat for Mister Sniggers; I remember I had that hat
+ashes shovel right up here over the clock, oh lah de dah, oh lah de
+dah. Go out and ring the front door bell," she said to Jink Sniggers.
+Jink ran away to the front door. And Missus Sniggers and the five
+children waited. Bling-bling the bell began ringing and--listen--the
+door of the clock opened and the hat ashes shovel fell out. "Oh lah de
+dah, get out of here in a hurry," said Missus Sniggers.
+
+Well, the children ran out and dug a big pail of hat ashes with the
+hat ashes shovel. And they made two hats for Snoo Foo. One was a
+crooked hat. The other was a straight hat. And they put the crooked
+hat on crooked and the straight hat on straight. And there stood Snoo
+Foo in the front yard and everybody who came by on the street, he
+would take off his hat to them, the crooked hat with his arm crooked
+and the straight hat with his arm straight. That was the end of the
+fuss between the Sniggers children and it was Jink, the littlest one
+of the biggest, and Junk, the littlest one of the littlest, who
+settled the fuss by looking clean into each other's eyes and laughing.
+If you ever get into a fuss try this way of settling it.
+
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+                 Three Boys With Jugs of Molasses and
+                           Secret Ambitions
+
+
+In the Village of Liver-and-Onions, if _one_ boy goes to the grocery
+for a jug of molasses it is just like always. And if _two_ boys go to
+the grocery for a jug of molasses together it is just like always. But
+if _three_ boys go to the grocery for a jug of molasses each and all
+together then it is not like always at all, at all.
+
+Eeta Peeca Pie grew up with wishes and wishes working inside him. And
+for every wish inside him he had a freckle outside on his face.
+Whenever he smiled the smile ran way back into the far side of his
+face and got lost in the wishing freckles.
+
+Meeny Miney grew up with suspicions and suspicions working inside him.
+And after a while some of the suspicions got fastened on his eyes and
+some of the suspicions got fastened on his mouth. So when he looked at
+other people straight in the face they used to say, "Meeny Miney looks
+so sad-like I wonder if he'll get by."
+
+Miney Mo was different. He wasn't sad-like and suspicious like Meeny
+Miney. Nor was he full of wishes inside and freckles outside like Eeta
+Peeca Pie. He was all mixed up inside with wishes and suspicions. So
+he had a few freckles and a few suspicions on his face. When he looked
+other people straight in the face they used to say, "I don't know
+whether to laugh or cry."
+
+So here we have 'em, three boys growing up with wishes, suspicions and
+mixed-up wishes and suspicions. They all looked different from each
+other. Each one, however, had a secret ambition. And all three had the
+same secret ambition.
+
+An ambition is a little creeper that creeps and creeps in your heart
+night and day, singing a little song, "Come and find me, come and find
+me."
+
+The secret ambition in the heart of Eeta Peeca Pie, Meeney Miney, and
+Miney Mo was an ambition to go railroading, to ride on railroad cars
+night and day, year after year. The whistles and the wheels of
+railroad trains were music to them.
+
+Whenever the secret ambition crept in their hearts and made them too
+sad, so sad it was hard to live and stand for it, they would all three
+put their hands on each other's shoulder and sing the song of Joe. The
+chorus was like this:
+
+                   Joe, Joe, broke his toe,
+                   On the way to Mexico.
+                   Came back, broke his back,
+                   Sliding on the railroad track.
+
+One fine summer morning all three mothers of all three boys gave each
+one a jug and said, "Go to the grocery and get a jug of molasses." All
+three got to the grocery at the same time. And all three went out of
+the door of the grocery together, each with a jug of molasses together
+and each with his secret ambition creeping around in his heart, all
+three together.
+
+Two blocks from the grocery they stopped under a slippery elm tree.
+Eeta Peeca Pie was stretching his neck looking straight up into the
+slippery elm tree. He said it was always good for his freckles and it
+helped his wishes to stand under a slippery elm and look up.
+
+While he was looking up his left hand let go the jug handle of the jug
+of molasses. And the jug went ka-flump, ka-flumpety-flump down on the
+stone sidewalk, cracked to pieces and let the molasses go running out
+over the sidewalk.
+
+If you have never seen it, let me tell you molasses running out of a
+broken jug, over a stone sidewalk under a slippery elm tree, looks
+peculiar and mysterious.
+
+[Illustration: They stepped into the molasses with their bare feet]
+
+Eeta Peeca Pie stepped into the molasses with his bare feet. "It's a
+lotta fun," he said. "It tickles all over." So Meeney Miney and Miney
+Mo both stepped into the molasses with their bare feet.
+
+Then what happened just happened. One got littler. Another got
+littler. All three got littler.
+
+"You look to me only big as a potato bug," said Eeta Peeca Pie to
+Meeney Miney and Miney Mo. "It's the same like you look to us," said
+Meeney Miney and Miney Mo to Eeta Peeca Pie. And then because their
+secret ambition began to hurt them they all stood with hands on each
+other's shoulders and sang the Mexico Joe song.
+
+Off the sidewalk they strolled, across a field of grass. They passed
+many houses of spiders and ants. In front of one house they saw Mrs.
+Spider over a tub washing clothes for Mr. Spider.
+
+"Why do you wear that frying pan on your head?" they asked her.
+
+"In this country all ladies wear the frying pan on their head when
+they want a hat."
+
+"But what if you want a hat when you are frying with the frying pan?"
+asked Eeta Peeca Pie.
+
+"That never happens to any respectable lady in this country."
+
+"Don't you never have no new style hats?" asked Meeney Miney.
+
+"No, but we always have new style frying pans every spring and fall."
+
+Hidden in the roots of a pink grass clump, they came to a city of
+twisted-nose spiders. On the main street was a store with a show
+window full of pink parasols. They walked in and said to the clerk,
+"We want to buy parasols."
+
+"We don't sell parasols here," said the spider clerk.
+
+"Well, lend us a parasol apiece," said all three.
+
+"Gladly, most gladly," said the clerk.
+
+"How do you do it?" asked Eeta.
+
+"I don't have to," answered the spider clerk.
+
+"How did it begin?"
+
+"It never was otherwise."
+
+"Don't you never get tired?"
+
+"Every parasol is a joy."
+
+"What do you do when the parasols are gone?"
+
+"They always come back. These are the famous twisted-nose parasols made
+from the famous pink grass. You will lose them all, all three. Then
+they will all walk back to me here in this store on main street. I can
+not sell you something I know you will surely lose. Neither can I ask
+you to pay, for something you will forget, somewhere sometime, and when
+you forget it, it will walk back here to me again. Look--look!"
+
+As he said "Look," the door opened and five pink parasols came
+waltzing in and waltzed up into the show window.
+
+"They always come back. Everybody forgets. Take your parasols and go.
+You will forget them and they will come back to me."
+
+"He looks like he had wishes inside him," said Eeta Peeca Pie.
+
+"He looks like he had suspicions," said Meeney Miney.
+
+"He looks like he was all mixed up wishes and suspicions," said Miney
+Mo.
+
+And once more because they all felt lonesome and their secret
+ambitions were creeping and eating, they put their hands on their
+shoulders and sang the Mexico Joe song.
+
+Then came happiness. They entered the Potato Bug Country. And they had
+luck first of all the first hour they were in the Potato Bug Country.
+They met a Potato Bug millionaire.
+
+"How are you a millionaire?" they asked him.
+
+"Because I got a million," he answered.
+
+"A million what?"
+
+"A million _fleems_."
+
+"Who wants fleems?"
+
+"You want fleems if you're going to live here."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"Because fleems is our money. In the Potato Bug Country, if you got no
+fleems you can't buy nothing nor anything. But if you got a million
+fleems you're a Potato Bug millionaire."
+
+Then he surprised them.
+
+"I like you because you got wishes and freckles," he said to Eeta
+Peeca Pie, filling the pockets of Eeta with fleems.
+
+"And I like you because you got suspicions and you're sad-like," he
+said to Meeney Miney filling Meeney Miney's pockets full of fleems.
+
+"And I like you because you got some wishes and some suspicions and
+you look mixed up," he said to Miney Mo, sticking handfuls and
+handfuls of fleems into the pockets of Miney Mo.
+
+Wishes do come true. And suspicions do come true. Here they had been
+wishing all their lives, and had suspicions of what was going to
+happen, and now it all came true.
+
+With their pockets filled with fleems they rode on all the railroad
+trains of the Potato Bug Country. They went to the railroad stations
+and bought tickets for the fast trains and the slow trains and even
+the trains that back up and run backward instead of where they start
+to go.
+
+On the dining cars of the railroads of the Potato Bug Country they ate
+wonder ham from the famous Potato Bug Pigs, eggs from the Potato Bug
+Hens, et cetera.
+
+It seemed to them they stayed a long while in the Potato Bug Country,
+years and years. Yes, the time came when all their fleems were gone.
+Then whenever they wanted a railroad ride or something to eat or a
+place to sleep, they put their hands on each other's shoulders and
+sang the Mexico Joe song. In the Potato Bug Country they all said the
+Mexico Joe song was wonderful.
+
+One morning while they were waiting to take an express train on the
+Early Ohio & Southwestern they sat near the roots of a big potato
+plant under the big green leaves. And far above them they saw a dim
+black cloud and they heard a shaking and a rustling and a spattering.
+They did not know it was a man of the Village of Liver-and-Onions.
+They did not know it was Mr. Sniggers putting paris green on the
+potato plants.
+
+A big drop of paris green spattered down and fell onto the heads and
+shoulders of all three, Eeta Peeca Pie, Meeny Miney and Miney Mo.
+
+Then what happened just happened. They got bigger and bigger--one,
+two, three. And when they jumped up and ran out of the potato rows,
+Mr. Sniggers thought they were boys playing tricks.
+
+When they got home to their mothers and told all about the jug of
+molasses breaking on the stone sidewalk under the slippery elm tree,
+their mothers said it was careless. The boys said it was lucky because
+it helped them get their secret ambitions.
+
+And a secret ambition is a little creeper that creeps and creeps in
+your heart night and day, singing a little song, "Come and find me,
+come and find me."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+                 How Bimbo the Snip's Thumb Stuck to
+                    His Nose When the Wind Changed
+
+
+Once there was a boy in the Village of Liver-and-Onions whose name was
+Bimbo the Snip. He forgot nearly everything his father and mother told
+him to do and told him not to do.
+
+One day his father, Bevo the Hike, came home and found Bimbo the Snip
+sitting on the front steps with his thumb fastened to his nose and the
+fingers wiggling.
+
+"I can't take my thumb away," said Bimbo the Snip, "because when I put
+my thumb to my nose and wiggled my fingers at the iceman the wind
+changed. And just like mother always said, if the wind changed the
+thumb would stay fastened to my nose and not come off."
+
+Bevo the Hike took hold of the thumb and pulled. He tied a clothes
+line rope around it and pulled. He pushed with his foot and heel
+against it. And all the time the thumb stuck fast and the fingers
+wiggled from the end of the nose of Bimbo the Snip.
+
+Bevo the Hike sent for the ward alderman. The ward alderman sent for
+the barn boss of the street cleaning department. The barn boss of the
+street cleaning department sent for the head vaccinator of the
+vaccination bureau of the health department. The head vaccinator of
+the vaccination bureau of the health department sent for the big main
+fixer of the weather bureau where they understand the tricks of the
+wind and the wind changing.
+
+And the big main fixer of the weather bureau said, "If you hit the
+thumb six times with the end of a traffic policeman's club, the thumb
+will come loose."
+
+So Bevo the Hike went to a traffic policeman standing on a street
+corner with a whistle telling the wagons and cars which way to go.
+
+He told the traffic policeman, "The wind changed and Bimbo the Snip's
+thumb is fastened to his nose and will not come loose till it is hit
+six times with the end of a traffic policeman's club."
+
+"I can't help you unless you find a monkey to take my place standing
+on the corner telling the wagons and cars which way to go," answered
+the traffic policeman.
+
+So Bevo the Hike went to the zoo and said to a monkey, "The wind
+changed and Bimbo the Snip's thumb is fastened to his nose and will
+not come loose till it is hit with the end of a traffic policeman's
+club six times and the traffic policeman cannot leave his place on the
+street corner telling the traffic which way to go unless a monkey
+comes and takes his place."
+
+The monkey answered, "Get me a ladder with a whistle so I can climb up
+and whistle and tell the traffic which way to go."
+
+So Bevo the Hike hunted and hunted over the city and looked and looked
+and asked and asked till his feet and his eyes and his head and his
+heart were tired from top to bottom.
+
+Then he met an old widow woman whose husband had been killed in a
+sewer explosion when he was digging sewer ditches. And the old woman
+was carrying a bundle of picked-up kindling wood in a bag on her back
+because she did not have money enough to buy coal.
+
+Bevo the Hike told her, "You have troubles. So have I. You are
+carrying a load on your back people can see. I am carrying a load and
+nobody sees it."
+
+"Tell me your troubles," said the old widow woman. He told her. And
+she said, "In the next block is an old umbrella handle maker. He has a
+ladder with a whistle. He climbs on the ladder when he makes long long
+umbrella handles. And he has the whistle on the ladder to be
+whistling."
+
+Bevo the Hike went to the next block, found the house of the umbrella
+handle maker and said to him, "The wind changed and Bimbo the Snip's
+thumb is fastened to his nose and will not come loose till it is hit
+with the end of a traffic policeman's club six times and the traffic
+policeman cannot leave the corner where he is telling the traffic
+which way to go unless a monkey takes his place and the monkey cannot
+take his place unless he has a ladder with a whistle to stand on and
+whistle the wagons and cars which way to go."
+
+Then the umbrella handle maker said, "To-night I have a special job
+because I must work on a long, long umbrella handle and I will need
+the ladder to climb up and the whistle to be whistling. But if you
+promise to have the ladder back by to-night you can take it."
+
+Bevo the Hike promised. Then he took the ladder with a whistle to the
+monkey, the monkey took the place of the traffic policeman while the
+traffic policeman went to the home of Bevo the Hike where Bimbo the
+Snip was sitting on the front steps with his thumb fastened to his
+nose wiggling his fingers at everybody passing by on the street.
+
+The traffic policeman hit Bimbo the Snip's thumb five times with the
+club. And the thumb stuck fast. But the sixth time it was hit with the
+end of the traffic policeman's thumb club, it came loose.
+
+Then Bevo thanked the policeman, thanked the monkey, and took the
+ladder with the whistle back to the umbrella handle maker's house and
+thanked him.
+
+When Bevo the Hike got home that night Bimbo the Snip was in bed and
+all tickled. He said to his father, "I will be careful how I stick my
+thumb to my nose and wiggle my fingers the next time the wind
+changes."
+
+[Illustration: The monkey took the place of the traffic policeman]
+
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+5. Three Stories About Three
+   Ways the Wind Went Winding
+
+          _People_: Two Skyscrapers
+                    The Northwest Wind
+                    The Golden Spike Limited Train
+                    A Tin Brass Goat
+                    A Tin Brass Goose
+                    Newsies
+
+                    Young Leather
+                    Red Slippers
+                    A Man to be Hanged
+                    Five Jackrabbits
+
+                    The Wooden Indian
+                    The Shaghorn Buffalo
+                    The Night Policeman
+
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+                  The Two Skyscrapers Who Decided to
+                             Have a Child
+
+
+Two skyscrapers stood across the street from each other in the Village
+of Liver-and-Onions. In the daylight when the streets poured full of
+people buying and selling, these two skyscrapers talked with each
+other the same as mountains talk.
+
+In the night time when all the people buying and selling were gone
+home and there were only policemen and taxicab drivers on the streets,
+in the night when a mist crept up the streets and threw a purple and
+gray wrapper over everything, in the night when the stars and the sky
+shook out sheets of purple and gray mist down over the town, then the
+two skyscrapers leaned toward each other and whispered.
+
+Whether they whispered secrets to each other or whether they whispered
+simple things that you and I know and everybody knows, that is their
+secret. One thing is sure: they often were seen leaning toward each
+other and whispering in the night the same as mountains lean and
+whisper in the night.
+
+High on the roof of one of the skyscrapers was a tin brass goat
+looking out across prairies, and silver blue lakes shining like blue
+porcelain breakfast plates, and out across silver snakes of winding
+rivers in the morning sun. And high on the roof of the other
+skyscraper was a tin brass goose looking out across prairies, and
+silver blue lakes shining like blue porcelain breakfast plates, and
+out across silver snakes of winding rivers in the morning sun.
+
+Now the Northwest Wind was a friend of the two skyscrapers. Coming so
+far, coming five hundred miles in a few hours, coming so fast always
+while the skyscrapers were standing still, standing always on the same
+old street corners always, the Northwest Wind was a bringer of news.
+
+"Well, I see the city is here yet," the Northwest Wind would whistle
+to the skyscrapers.
+
+And they would answer, "Yes, and are the mountains standing yet way
+out yonder where you come from, Wind?"
+
+"Yes, the mountains are there yonder, and farther yonder is the sea,
+and the railroads are still going, still running across the prairie to
+the mountains, to the sea," the Northwest Wind would answer.
+
+And now there was a pledge made by the Northwest Wind to the two
+skyscrapers. Often the Northwest Wind shook the tin brass goat and
+shook the tin brass goose on top of the skyscrapers.
+
+"Are you going to blow loose the tin brass goat on my roof?" one
+asked.
+
+"Are you going to blow loose the tin brass goose on my roof?" the
+other asked.
+
+"Oh, no," the Northwest Wind laughed, first to one and then to the
+other, "if I ever blow loose your tin brass goat and if I ever blow
+loose your tin brass goose, it will be when I am sorry for you because
+you are up against hard luck and there is somebody's funeral."
+
+So time passed on and the two skyscrapers stood with their feet among
+the policemen and the taxicabs, the people buying and selling,--the
+customers with parcels, packages and bundles--while away high on their
+roofs stood the goat and the goose looking out on silver blue lakes
+like blue porcelain breakfast plates and silver snakes of rivers
+winding in the morning sun.
+
+So time passed on and the Northwest Wind kept coming, telling the news
+and making promises.
+
+So time passed on. And the two skyscrapers decided to have a child.
+
+And they decided when their child came it should be a _free_ child.
+
+"It must be a free child," they said to each other. "It must not be a
+child standing still all its life on a street corner. Yes, if we have
+a child she must be free to run across the prairie, to the mountains,
+to the sea. Yes, it must be a free child."
+
+So time passed on. Their child came. It was a railroad train, the
+Golden Spike Limited, the fastest long distance train in the Rootabaga
+Country. It ran across the prairie, to the mountains, to the sea.
+
+They were glad, the two skyscrapers were, glad to have a free child
+running away from the big city, far away to the mountains, far away to
+the sea, running as far as the farthest mountains and sea coasts
+touched by the Northwest Wind.
+
+They were glad their child was useful, the two skyscrapers were, glad
+their child was carrying a thousand people a thousand miles a day, so
+when people spoke of the Golden Spike Limited, they spoke of it as a
+strong, lovely child.
+
+Then time passed on. There came a day when the newsies yelled as
+though they were crazy. "Yah yah, blah blah, yoh yoh," was what it
+sounded like to the two skyscrapers who never bothered much about what
+the newsies were yelling.
+
+"Yah yah, blah blah, yoh yoh," was the cry of the newsies that came up
+again to the tops of the skyscrapers.
+
+At last the yelling of the newsies came so strong the skyscrapers
+listened and heard the newsies yammering, "All about the great train
+wreck! All about the Golden Spike disaster! Many lives lost! Many
+lives lost!"
+
+And the Northwest Wind came howling a slow sad song. And late that
+afternoon a crowd of policemen, taxicab drivers, newsies and customers
+with bundles, all stood around talking and wondering about two things
+next to each other on the street car track in the middle of the
+street. One was a tin brass goat. The other was a tin brass goose. And
+they lay next to each other.
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+                  The Dollar Watch and the Five Jack
+                               Rabbits
+
+
+Long ago, long before the waylacks lost the wonderful stripes of oat
+straw gold and the spots of timothy hay green in their marvelous
+curving tail feathers, long before the doo-doo-jangers whistled among
+the honeysuckle blossoms and the bitter-basters cried their last and
+dying wrangling cries, long before the sad happenings that came later,
+it was then, some years earlier than the year Fifty Fifty, that Young
+Leather and Red Slippers crossed the Rootabaga Country.
+
+To begin with, they were walking across the Rootabaga Country. And
+they were walking because it made their feet glad to feel the dirt of
+the earth under their shoes and they were close to the smells of the
+earth. They learned the ways of birds and bugs, why birds have wings,
+why bugs have legs, why the gladdywhingers have spotted eggs in a
+basket nest in a booblow tree, and why the chizzywhizzies scrape off
+little fiddle songs all summer long while the summer nights last.
+
+Early one morning they were walking across the corn belt of the
+Rootabaga Country singing, "Deep Down Among the Dagger Dancers." They
+had just had a breakfast of coffee and hot hankypank cakes covered
+with cow's butter. Young Leather said to Red Slippers, "What is the
+best secret we have come across this summer?"
+
+"That is easy to answer," Red Slippers said with a long flish of her
+long black eyelashes. "The best secret we have come across is a rope
+of gold hanging from every star in the sky and when we want to go up
+we go up."
+
+Walking on they came to a town where they met a man with a sorry face.
+"Why?" they asked him. And he answered, "My brother is in jail."
+
+"What for?" they asked him again. And he answered again, "My brother
+put on a straw hat in the middle of the winter and went out on the
+streets laughing; my brother had his hair cut pompompadour and went
+out on the streets bareheaded in the summertime laughing; and these
+things were against the law. Worst of all he sneezed at the wrong time
+and he sneezed before the wrong persons; he sneezed when it was not
+wise to sneeze. So he will be hanged to-morrow morning. The gallows
+made of lumber and the rope made of hemp--they are waiting for him
+to-morrow morning. They will tie around his neck the hangman's necktie
+and hoist him high."
+
+The man with a sorry face looked more sorry than ever. It made Young
+Leather feel reckless and it made Red Slippers feel reckless. They
+whispered to each other. Then Young Leather said, "Take this dollar
+watch. Give it to your brother. Tell him when they are leading him to
+the gallows he must take this dollar watch in his hand, wind it up and
+push on the stem winder. The rest will be easy."
+
+So the next morning when they were leading the man to be hanged to the
+gallows made of lumber and the rope made of hemp, where they were
+going to hoist him high because he sneezed in the wrong place before
+the wrong people, he used his fingers winding up the watch and pushing
+on the stem winder. There was a snapping and a slatching like a gas
+engine slipping into a big pair of dragon fly wings. The dollar watch
+changed into a dragon fly ship. The man who was going to be hanged
+jumped into the dragon fly ship and flew whonging away before anybody
+could stop him.
+
+Young Leather and Red Slippers were walking out of the town laughing
+and singing again, "Deep Down Among the Dagger Dancers." The man with
+a sorry face, not so sorry now any more, came running after them.
+Behind the man and running after him were five long-legged spider
+jack-rabbits.
+
+"These are for you," was his exclamation. And they all sat down on the
+stump of a booblow tree. He opened his sorry face and told the secrets
+of the five long-legged spider jack-rabbits to Young Leather and Red
+Slippers. They waved good-by and went on up the road leading the five
+new jack-rabbits.
+
+In the next town they came to was a skyscraper higher than all the
+other skyscrapers. A rich man dying wanted to be remembered and left
+in his last will and testament a command they should build a building
+so high it would scrape the thunder clouds and stand higher than all
+other skyscrapers with his name carved in stone letters on the top of
+it, and an electric sign at night with his name on it, and a clock on
+the tower with his name on it.
+
+"I am hungry to be remembered and have my name spoken by many people
+after I am dead," the rich man told his friends. "I command you,
+therefore, to throw the building high in the air because the higher it
+goes the longer I will be remembered and the longer the years men will
+mention my name after I am dead."
+
+So there it was. Young Leather and Red Slippers laughed when they
+first saw the skyscraper, when they were far off along a country road
+singing their old song, "Deep Down Among the Dagger Dancers."
+
+"We got a show and we give a performance and we want the whole town to
+see it," was what Young Leather and Red Slippers said to the mayor of
+the town when they called on him at the city hall. "We want a license
+and a permit to give this free show in the public square."
+
+"What do you do?" asked the mayor.
+
+"We jump five jack-rabbits, five long-legged spider jack-rabbits over
+the highest skyscraper you got in your city," they answered him.
+
+"If it's free and you don't sell anything nor take any money away from
+us while it is daylight and you are giving your performance, then here
+is your license permit," said the mayor speaking in the manner of a
+politician who has studied politics.
+
+Thousands of people came to see the show on the public square. They
+wished to know how it would look to see five long-legged, spider
+jack-rabbits jump over the highest skyscraper in the city.
+
+Four of the jack-rabbits had stripes. The fifth had stripes--and
+spots. Before they started the show Young Leather and Red Slippers
+held the jack-rabbits one by one in their arms and petted them, rubbed
+the feet and rubbed the long ears and ran their fingers along the long
+legs of the jumpers.
+
+"Zingo," they yelled to the first jack-rabbit. He got all ready. "And
+now zingo!" they yelled again. And the jack-rabbit took a run, lifted
+off his feet and went on and on and up and up till he went over the
+roof of the skyscraper and then went down and down till he lit on his
+feet and came running on his long legs back to the public square where
+he started from, back where Young Leather and Red Slippers petted him
+and rubbed his long ears and said, "That's the boy."
+
+Then three jack-rabbits made the jump over the skyscraper. "Zingo,"
+they heard and got ready. "And now zingo," they heard and all three
+together in a row, their long ears touching each other, they lifted
+off their feet and went on and on and up and up till they cleared the
+roof of the skyscraper. Then they came down and down till they lit on
+their feet and came running to the hands of Young Leather and Red
+Slippers to have their long legs and their long ears rubbed and
+petted.
+
+Then came the turn of the fifth jack-rabbit, the beautiful one with
+stripes and spots. "Ah, we're sorry to see you go, Ah-h, we're sorry,"
+they said, rubbing his long ears and feeling of his long legs.
+
+Then Young Leather and Red Slippers kissed him on the nose, kissed the
+last and fifth of the five long-legged spider jack-rabbits.
+
+"Good-by, old bunny, good-by, you're the dandiest bunny there ever
+was," they whispered in his long ears. And he, because he knew what
+they were saying and why they were saying it, he wiggled his long ears
+and looked long and steady at them from his deep eyes.
+
+"Zango," they yelled. He got ready. "And now zango!" they yelled
+again. And the fifth jack-rabbit with his stripes and spots lifted off
+his feet and went on and on and on and up and up and when he came to
+the roof of the skyscraper he kept on going on and on and up and up
+till after a while he was gone all the way out of sight.
+
+They waited and watched, they watched and waited. He never came back.
+He never was heard of again. He was gone. With the stripes on his back
+and the spots on his hair, he was gone. And Young Leather and Red
+Slippers said they were glad they had kissed him on the nose before he
+went away on a long trip far off, so far off he never came back.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+                  The Wooden Indian and the Shaghorn
+                               Buffalo
+
+
+One night a milk white moon was shining down on Main Street. The
+sidewalks and the stones, the walls and the windows all stood out milk
+white. And there was a thin blue mist drifted and shifted like a
+woman's veil up and down Main Street, up to the moon and back again.
+Yes, all Main Street was a mist blue and a milk white, mixed up and
+soft all over and all through.
+
+It was past midnight. The Wooden Indian in front of the cigar store
+stepped down off his stand. The Shaghorn Buffalo in front of the
+haberdasher shop lifted his head and shook his whiskers, raised his
+hoofs out of his hoof-tracks.
+
+Then--this is what happened. They moved straight toward each other. In
+the middle of Main Street they met. The Wooden Indian jumped straddle
+of the Shaghorn Buffalo. And the Shaghorn Buffalo put his head down
+and ran like a prairie wind straight west on Main Street.
+
+At the high hill over the big bend of the Clear Green River they
+stopped. They stood looking. Drifting and shifting like a woman's blue
+veil, the blue mist filled the valley and the milk white moon filled
+the valley. And the mist and the moon touched with a lingering,
+wistful kiss the clear green water of the Clear Green River.
+
+So they stood looking, the Wooden Indian with his copper face and
+wooden feathers, and the Shaghorn Buffalo with his big head and heavy
+shoulders slumping down close to the ground.
+
+[Illustration: So they stood looking]
+
+And after they had looked a long while, and each of them got an eyeful
+of the high hill, the big bend and the moon mist on the river all blue
+and white and soft, after they had looked a long while, they turned
+around and the Shaghorn Buffalo put his head down and ran like a
+prairie wind down Main Street till he was exactly in front of the
+cigar store and the haberdasher shop. Then whisk! both of them were
+right back like they were before, standing still, taking whatever
+comes.
+
+This is the story as it came from the night policeman of the Village
+of Cream Puffs. He told the people the next day, "I was sitting on the
+steps of the cigar store last night watching for burglars. And when I
+saw the Wooden Indian step down and the Shaghorn Buffalo step out, and
+the two of them go down Main Street like the wind, I says to myself,
+marvelish, 'tis marvelish, 'tis marvelish."
+
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+6. Four Stories About
+   Dear, Dear Eyes
+
+          _People_: The White Horse Girl
+                    The Blue Wind Boy
+                    The Gray Man on Horseback
+                    Six Girls With Balloons
+
+                    Henry Hagglyhoagly
+                    Susan Slackentwist
+                    Two Wool Yarn Mittens
+
+                    Peter Potato Blossom Wishes
+                    Her Father
+                    Many Shoes
+                    Slippers
+                    A Slipper Moon
+
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+                The White Horse Girl and the Blue Wind
+                                 Boy
+
+
+When the dishes are washed at night time and the cool of the evening
+has come in summer or the lamps and fires are lit for the night in
+winter, then the fathers and mothers in the Rootabaga Country
+sometimes tell the young people the story of the White Horse Girl and
+the Blue Wind Boy.
+
+The White Horse Girl grew up far in the west of the Rootabaga Country.
+All the years she grew up as a girl she liked to ride horses. Best of
+all things for her was to be straddle of a white horse loping with a
+loose bridle among the hills and along the rivers of the west
+Rootabaga Country.
+
+She rode one horse white as snow, another horse white as new washed
+sheep wool, and another white as silver. And she could not tell
+because she did not know which of these three white horses she liked
+best.
+
+"Snow is beautiful enough for me any time," she said, "new washed
+sheep wool, or silver out of a ribbon of the new moon, any or either
+is white enough for me. I like the white manes, the white flanks, the
+white noses, the white feet of all my ponies. I like the forelocks
+hanging down between the white ears of all three--my ponies."
+
+And living neighbor to the White Horse Girl in the same prairie
+country, with the same black crows flying over their places, was the
+Blue Wind Boy. All the years he grew up as a boy he liked to walk with
+his feet in the dirt and the grass listening to the winds. Best of all
+things for him was to put on strong shoes and go hiking among the
+hills and along the rivers of the west Rootabaga Country, listening to
+the winds.
+
+There was a blue wind of day time, starting sometimes six o'clock on a
+summer morning or eight o'clock on a winter morning. And there was a
+night wind with blue of summer stars in summer and blue of winter
+stars in winter. And there was yet another, a blue wind of the times
+between night and day, a blue dawn and evening wind. All three of
+these winds he liked so well he could not say which he liked best.
+
+"The early morning wind is strong as the prairie and whatever I tell
+it I know it believes and remembers," he said, "and the night wind
+with the big dark curves of the night sky in it, the night wind gets
+inside of me and understands all my secrets. And the blue wind of the
+times between, in the dusk when it is neither night nor day, this is
+the wind that asks me questions and tells me to wait and it will bring
+me whatever I want."
+
+Of course, it happened as it had to happen, the White Horse Girl and
+the Blue Wind Boy met. She, straddling one of her white horses, and
+he, wearing his strong hiking shoes in the dirt and the grass, it had
+to happen they should meet among the hills and along the rivers of the
+west Rootabaga Country where they lived neighbors.
+
+And of course, she told him all about the snow white horse and the
+horse white as new washed sheep wool and the horse white as a silver
+ribbon of the new moon. And he told her all about the blue winds he
+liked listening to, the early morning wind, the night sky wind, and
+the wind of the dusk between, the wind that asked him questions and
+told him to wait.
+
+One day the two of them were gone. On the same day of the week the
+White Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy went away. And their fathers
+and mothers and sisters and brothers and uncles and aunts wondered
+about them and talked about them, because they didn't tell anybody
+beforehand they were going. Nobody at all knew beforehand or afterward
+why they were going away, the real honest why of it.
+
+They left a short letter. It read:
+
+  _To All Our Sweethearts, Old Folks and Young Folks:_
+
+  _We have started to go where the white horses come from and where
+  the blue winds begin. Keep a corner in your hearts for us while
+  we are gone._
+
+                                              _The White Horse Girl._
+                                                 _The Blue Wind Boy._
+
+That was all they had to guess by in the west Rootabaga Country, to
+guess and guess where two darlings had gone.
+
+Many years passed. One day there came riding across the Rootabaga
+Country a Gray Man on Horseback. He looked like he had come a long
+ways. So they asked him the question they always asked of any rider
+who looked like he had come a long ways, "Did you ever see the White
+Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy?"
+
+"Yes," he answered, "I saw them.
+
+"It was a long, long ways from here I saw them," he went on, "it would
+take years and years to ride to where they are. They were sitting
+together and talking to each other, sometimes singing, in a place
+where the land runs high and tough rocks reach up. And they were
+looking out across water, blue water as far as the eye could see. And
+away far off the blue waters met the blue sky.
+
+"'Look!' said the Boy, 'that's where the blue winds begin.'
+
+"And far out on the blue waters, just a little this side of where the
+blue winds begin, there were white manes, white flanks, white noses,
+white galloping feet.
+
+"'Look!' said the Girl, 'that's where the white horses come from.'
+
+"And then nearer to the land came thousands in an hour, millions in a
+day, white horses, some white as snow, some like new washed sheep
+wool, some white as silver ribbons of the new moon.
+
+"I asked them, 'Whose place is this?' They answered, 'It belongs to
+us; this is what we started for; this is where the white horses come
+from; this is where the blue winds begin.'"
+
+And that was all the Gray Man on Horseback would tell the people of
+the west Rootabaga Country. That was all he knew, he said, and if
+there was any more he would tell it.
+
+And the fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers and uncles and
+aunts of the White Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy wondered and
+talked often about whether the Gray Man on Horseback made up the story
+out of his head or whether it happened just like he told it.
+
+Anyhow this is the story they tell sometimes to the young people of
+the west Rootabaga Country when the dishes are washed at night and the
+cool of the evening has come in summer or the lamps and fires are lit
+for the night in winter.
+
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+                What Six Girls with Balloons Told the
+                        Gray Man on Horseback
+
+
+Once there came riding across the Rootabaga Country a Gray Man on
+Horseback. He looked as if he had come a long ways. He looked like a
+brother to the same Gray Man on Horseback who said he had seen the
+White Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy.
+
+He stopped in the Village of Cream Puffs. His gray face was sad and
+his eyes were gray deep and sad. He spoke short and seemed strong.
+Sometimes his eyes looked as if they were going to flash, but instead
+of fire they filled with shadows.
+
+Yet--he did laugh once. It did happen once he lifted his head and face
+to the sky and let loose a long ripple of laughs.
+
+On Main Street near the Roundhouse of the Big Spool, where they wind
+up the string that pulls the light little town back when the wind
+blows it away, there he was riding slow on his gray horse when he met
+six girls with six fine braids of yellow hair and six balloons apiece.
+That is, each and every one of the six girls had six fine long braids
+of yellow hair and each braid of hair had a balloon tied on the end. A
+little blue wind was blowing and the many balloons tied to the braids
+of the six girls swung up and down and slow and fast whenever the blue
+wind went up and down and slow and fast.
+
+For the first time since he had been in the Village, the eyes of the
+Gray Man filled with lights and his face began to look hopeful. He
+stopped his horse when he came even with the six girls and the
+balloons floating from the braids of yellow hair.
+
+"Where you going?" he asked.
+
+"Who--hoo-hoo? Who--who--who?" the six girls cheeped out.
+
+"All six of you and your balloons, where you going?"
+
+"Oh, hoo-hoo-hoo, back where we came from," and they all turned their
+heads back and forth and sideways, which of course turned all the
+balloons back and forth and sideways because the balloons were
+fastened to the fine braids of hair which were fastened to their
+heads.
+
+"And where do you go when you get back where you came from?" he asked
+just to be asking.
+
+"Oh, hoo-hoo-hoo, then we start out and go straight ahead and see what
+we can see," they all answered just to be answering and they dipped
+their heads and swung them up which of course dipped all the balloons
+and swung them up.
+
+So they talked, he asking just to be asking and the six balloon girls
+answering just to be answering.
+
+At last his sad mouth broke into a smile and his eyes were lit like a
+morning sun coming up over harvest fields. And he said to them, "Tell
+me why are balloons--that is what I want you to tell me--why are
+balloons?"
+
+The first little girl put her thumb under her chin, looked up at her
+six balloons floating in the little blue wind over her head, and said:
+"Balloons are wishes. The wind made them. The west wind makes the red
+balloons. The south wind makes the blue. The yellow and green balloons
+come from the east wind and the north wind."
+
+The second little girl put her first finger next to her nose, looked
+up at her six balloons dipping up and down like hill flowers in a
+small wind, and said:
+
+"A balloon used to be a flower. It got tired. Then it changed itself
+to a balloon. I listened one time to a yellow balloon. It was talking
+to itself like people talk. It said, 'I used to be a yellow pumpkin
+flower stuck down close to the ground, now I am a yellow balloon high
+up in the air where nobody can walk on me and I can see everything.'"
+
+The third little girl held both of her ears like she was afraid they
+would wiggle while she slid with a skip, turned quick, and looking up
+at her balloons, spoke these words:
+
+"A balloon is foam. It comes the same as soap bubbles come. A long
+time ago it used to be sliding along on water, river water, ocean
+water, waterfall water, falling and falling over a rocky waterfall,
+any water you want. The wind saw the bubble and picked it up and
+carried it away, telling it, 'Now you're a balloon--come along and see
+the world.'"
+
+The fourth little girl jumped straight into the air so all six of her
+balloons made a jump like they were going to get loose and go to the
+sky--and when the little girl came down from her jump and was standing
+on her two feet with her head turned looking up at the six balloons,
+she spoke the shortest answer of all, saying:
+
+"Balloons are to make us look up. They help our necks."
+
+The fifth little girl stood first on one foot, then another, bent her
+head down to her knees and looked at her toes, then swinging straight
+up and looking at the flying spotted yellow and red and green
+balloons, she said:
+
+"Balloons come from orchards. Look for trees where half is oranges and
+half is orange balloons. Look for apple trees where half is red
+pippins and half is red pippin balloons. Look for watermelons too. A
+long green balloon with white and yellow belly stripes is a ghost. It
+came from a watermelon said good-by."
+
+The sixth girl, the last one, kicked the heel of her left foot with
+the toe of her right foot, put her thumbs under her ears and wiggled
+all her fingers, then stopped all her kicking and wiggling, and stood
+looking up at her balloons all quiet because the wind had gone
+down--and she murmured like she was thinking to herself:
+
+"Balloons come from fire chasers. Every balloon has a fire chaser
+chasing it. All the fire chasers are made terrible quick and when they
+come they burn quick, so the balloon is made light so it can run away
+terrible quick. Balloons slip away from fire. If they don't they can't
+be balloons. Running away from fire keeps them light."
+
+All the time he listened to the six girls the face of the Gray Man
+kept getting more hopeful. His eyes lit up. Twice he smiled. And after
+he said good-by and rode up the street, he lifted his head and face to
+the sky and let loose a long ripple of laughs.
+
+He kept looking back when he left the Village and the last thing he
+saw was the six girls each with six balloons fastened to the six
+braids of yellow hair hanging down their backs.
+
+The sixth little girl kicked the heel of her left foot with the toe of
+her right foot and said, "He is a nice man. I think he must be our
+uncle. If he comes again we shall all ask him to tell us where he
+thinks balloons come from."
+
+And the other five girls all answered, "Yes," or "Yes, yes," or "Yes,
+yes, yes," real fast like a balloon with a fire chaser after it.
+
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+                  How Henry Hagglyhoagly Played the
+                      Guitar with His Mittens On
+
+
+Sometimes in January the sky comes down close if we walk on a country
+road, and turn our faces up to look at the sky.
+
+Sometimes on that kind of a January night the stars look like numbers,
+look like the arithmetic writing of a girl going to school and just
+beginning arithmetic.
+
+It was this kind of a night Henry Hagglyhoagly was walking down a
+country road on his way to the home of Susan Slackentwist, the
+daughter of the rutabaga king near the Village of Liver-and-Onions.
+When Henry Hagglyhoagly turned his face up to look at the sky it
+seemed to him as though the sky came down close to his nose, and there
+was a writing in stars as though some girl had been doing arithmetic
+examples, writing number 4 and number 7 and 4 and 7 over and over
+again across the sky.
+
+"Why is it so bitter cold weather?" Henry Hagglyhoagly asked himself,
+"if I say many bitter bitters it is not so bitter as the cold wind and
+the cold weather."
+
+"You are good, mittens, keeping my fingers warm," he said every once
+in a while to the wool yarn mittens on his hands.
+
+The wind came tearing along and put its chilly, icy, clammy clamps on
+the nose of Henry Hagglyhoagly, fastening the clamps like a nipping,
+gripping clothes pin on his nose. He put his wool yarn mittens up on
+his nose and rubbed till the wind took off the chilly, icy, clammy
+clamps. His nose was warm again; he said, "Thank you, mittens, for
+keeping my nose warm."
+
+[Illustration: It seemed to him as though the sky came down close
+to his nose]
+
+He spoke to his wool yarn mittens as though they were two kittens or
+pups, or two little cub bears, or two little Idaho ponies. "You're my
+chums keeping me company," he said to the mittens.
+
+"Do you know what we got here under our left elbow?" he said to the
+mittens, "I shall mention to you what is here under my left elbow.
+
+"It ain't a mandolin, it ain't a mouth organ nor an accordion nor a
+concertina nor a fiddle. It is a guitar, a Spanish Spinnish Splishy
+guitar made special.
+
+"Yes, mittens, they said a strong young man like me ought to have a
+piano because a piano is handy to play for everybody in the house and
+a piano is handy to put a hat and overcoat on or books or flowers.
+
+"I snizzled at 'em, mittens. I told 'em I seen a Spanish Spinnish
+Splishy guitar made special in a hardware store window for eight
+dollars and a half.
+
+"And so, mittens--are you listening, mittens?--after cornhusking was
+all husked and the oats thrashing all thrashed and the rutabaga
+digging all dug, I took eight dollars and a half in my inside vest
+pocket and I went to the hardware store.
+
+"I put my thumbs in my vest pocket and I wiggled my fingers like a man
+when he is proud of what he is going to have if he gets it. And I said
+to the head clerk in the hardware store, 'Sir, the article I desire to
+purchase this evening as one of your high class customers, the article
+I desire to have after I buy it for myself, is the article there in
+the window, sir, the Spanish Spinnish Splishy guitar.'
+
+"And, mittens, if you are listening, I am taking this Spanish Spinnish
+Splishy guitar to go to the home of Susan Slackentwist, the daughter
+of the rutabaga king near the Village of Liver-and-Onions, to sing a
+serenade song."
+
+The cold wind of the bitter cold weather blew and blew, trying to blow
+the guitar out from under the left elbow of Henry Hagglyhoagly. And
+the worse the wind blew the tighter he held his elbow holding the
+guitar where he wanted it.
+
+He walked on and on with his long legs stepping long steps till at
+last he stopped, held his nose in the air, and sniffed.
+
+"Do I sniff something or do I not?" he asked, lifting his wool yarn
+mittens to his nose and rubbing his nose till it was warm. Again he
+sniffed.
+
+"Ah hah, yeah, yeah, this is the big rutabaga field near the home of
+the rutabaga king and the home of his daughter, Susan Slackentwist."
+
+At last he came to the house, stood under the window and slung the
+guitar around in front of him to play the music to go with the song.
+
+"And now," he asked his mittens, "shall I take you off or keep you on?
+If I take you off the cold wind of the bitter cold weather will freeze
+my hands so stiff and bitter cold my fingers will be too stiff to play
+the guitar. _I will play with mittens on._"
+
+Which he did. He stood under the window of Susan Slackentwist and
+played the guitar with his mittens on, the warm wool yarn mittens he
+called his chums. It was the first time any strong young man going to
+see his sweetheart ever played the guitar with his mittens on when it
+was a bitter night with a cold wind and cold weather.
+
+Susan Slackentwist opened her window and threw him a snow-bird feather
+to keep for a keepsake to remember her by. And for years afterward
+many a sweetheart in the Rootabaga Country told her lover, "If you
+wish to marry me let me hear you under my window on a winter night
+playing the guitar with wool yarn mittens on."
+
+And when Henry Hagglyhoagly walked home on his long legs stepping long
+steps, he said to his mittens, "This Spanish Spinnish Splishy guitar
+made special will bring us luck." And when he turned his face up, the
+sky came down close and he could see stars fixed like numbers and the
+arithmetic writing of a girl going to school learning to write number
+4 and number 7 and 4 and 7 over and over.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+                   Never Kick a Slipper at the Moon
+
+
+When a girl is growing up in the Rootabaga Country she learns some
+things to do, some things _not_ to do.
+
+"Never kick a slipper at the moon if it is the time for the Dancing
+Slipper Moon when the slim early moon looks like the toe and the heel
+of a dancer's foot," was the advice Mr. Wishes, the father of Peter
+Potato Blossom Wishes, gave to his daughter.
+
+"Why?" she asked him.
+
+"Because your slipper will go straight up, on and on to the moon, and
+fasten itself on the moon as if the moon is a foot ready for dancing,"
+said Mr. Wishes.
+
+"A long time ago there was one night when a secret word was passed
+around to all the shoes standing in the bedrooms and closets.
+
+"The whisper of the secret was: 'To-night all the shoes and the
+slippers and the boots of the world are going walking without any feet
+in them. To-night when those who put us on their feet in the daytime,
+are sleeping in their beds, we all get up and walk and go walking
+where we walk in the daytime.'
+
+"And in the middle of the night, when the people in the beds were
+sleeping, the shoes and the slippers and the boots everywhere walked
+out of the bedrooms and the closets. Along the sidewalks on the
+streets, up and down stairways, along hallways, the shoes and slippers
+and the boots tramped and marched and stumbled.
+
+"Some walked pussyfoot, sliding easy and soft just like people in the
+daytime. Some walked clumping and clumping, coming down heavy on the
+heels and slow on the toes, just like people in the daytime.
+
+"Some turned their toes in and walked pigeon-toe, some spread their
+toes out and held their heels in, just like people in the daytime.
+Some ran glad and fast, some lagged slow and sorry.
+
+"Now there was a little girl in the Village of Cream Puffs who came
+home from a dance that night. And she was tired from dancing round
+dances and square dances, one steps and two steps, toe dances and toe
+and heel dances, dances close up and dances far apart, she was so
+tired she took off only one slipper, tumbled onto her bed and went to
+sleep with one slipper on.
+
+"She woke up in the morning when it was yet dark. And she went to the
+window and looked up in the sky and saw a Dancing Slipper Moon dancing
+far and high in the deep blue sea of the moon sky.
+
+"'Oh--what a moon--what a dancing slipper of a moon!' she cried with a
+little song to herself.
+
+"She opened the window, saying again, 'Oh! what a moon!'--and kicked
+her foot with the slipper on it straight toward the moon.
+
+"The slipper flew off and flew up and went on and on and up and up in
+the moonshine.
+
+"It never came back, that slipper. It was never seen again. When they
+asked the girl about it she said, 'It slipped off my foot and went up
+and up and the last I saw of it the slipper was going on straight to
+the moon.'"
+
+And these are the explanations why fathers and mothers in the
+Rootabaga Country say to their girls growing up, "Never kick a slipper
+at the moon if it is the time of the Dancing Slipper Moon when the
+ends of the moon look like the toe and the heel of a dancer's foot."
+
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+7. One Story--"Only the
+   Fire-Born Understand Blue"
+
+          _People_: Fire the Goat
+                    Flim the Goose
+                    Shadows
+
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+                          Sand Flat Shadows
+
+
+Fire the Goat and Flim the Goose slept out. Stub pines stood over
+them. And away up next over the stub pines were stars.
+
+It was a white sand flat they slept on. The floor of the sand flat ran
+straight to the Big Lake of the Booming Rollers.
+
+And just over the sand flat and just over the booming rollers was a
+high room where the mist people were making pictures. Gray pictures,
+blue and sometimes a little gold, and often silver, were the pictures.
+
+And next just over the high room where the mist people were making
+pictures, next just over were the stars.
+
+Over everything and always last and highest of all, were the stars.
+
+Fire the Goat took off his horns. Flim the Goose took off his wings.
+"This is where we sleep," they said to each other, "here in the stub
+pines on the sand flats next to the booming rollers and high over
+everything and always last and highest of all, the stars."
+
+Fire the Goat laid his horns under his head. Flim the Goose laid his
+wings under his head. "This is the best place for what you want to
+keep," they said to each other. Then they crossed their fingers for
+luck and lay down and went to sleep and slept. And while they slept
+the mist people went on making pictures. Gray pictures, blue and
+sometimes a little gold but more often silver, such were the pictures
+the mist people went on making while Fire the Goat and Flim the Goose
+went on sleeping. And over everything and always last and highest of
+all, were the stars.
+
+They woke up. Fire the Goat took his horns out and put them on. "It's
+morning now," he said.
+
+Flim the Goose took his wings out and put them on. "It's another day
+now," he said.
+
+Then they sat looking. Away off where the sun was coming up, inching
+and pushing up far across the rim curve of the Big Lake of the Booming
+Rollers, along the whole line of the east sky, there were people and
+animals, all black or all so gray they were near black.
+
+There was a big horse with his mouth open, ears laid back, front legs
+thrown in two curves like harvest sickles.
+
+There was a camel with two humps, moving slow and grand like he had
+all the time of all the years of all the world to go in.
+
+There was an elephant without any head, with six short legs. There
+were many cows. There was a man with a club over his shoulder and a
+woman with a bundle on the back of her neck.
+
+And they marched on. They were going nowhere, it seemed. And they were
+going slow. They had plenty of time. There was nothing else to do. It
+was fixed for them to do it, long ago it was fixed. And so they were
+marching.
+
+Sometimes the big horse's head sagged and dropped off and came back
+again. Sometimes the humps of the camel sagged and dropped off and
+came back again. And sometimes the club on the man's shoulder got
+bigger and heavier and the man staggered under it and then his legs
+got bigger and stronger and he steadied himself and went on. And again
+sometimes the bundle on the back of the neck of the woman got bigger
+and heavier and the bundle sagged and the woman staggered and her legs
+got bigger and stronger and she steadied herself and went on.
+
+This was the show, the hippodrome, the spectacular circus that passed
+on the east sky before the eyes of Fire the Goat and Flim the Goose.
+
+"Which is this, who are they and why do they come?" Flim the Goose
+asked Fire the Goat.
+
+[Illustration: Away off where the sun was coming up, there were
+people and animals]
+
+"Do you ask me because you wish me to tell you?" asked Fire the Goat.
+
+"Indeed it is a question to which I want an honest answer."
+
+"Has never the father or mother nor the uncle or aunt nor the kith and
+kin of Flim the Goose told him the what and the which of this?"
+
+"Never has the such of this which been put here this way to me by
+anybody."
+
+Flim the Goose held up his fingers and said, "I don't talk to you with
+my fingers crossed."
+
+And so Fire the Goat began to explain to Flim the Goose all about the
+show, the hippodrome, the mastodonic cyclopean spectacle which was
+passing on the east sky in front of the sun coming up.
+
+"People say they are shadows," began Fire the Goat. "That is a name, a
+word, a little cough and a couple of syllables.
+
+"For some people shadows are comic and only to laugh at. For some
+other people shadows are like a mouth and its breath. The breath comes
+out and it is nothing. It is like air and nobody can make it into a
+package and carry it away. It will not melt like gold nor can you
+shovel it like cinders. So to these people it means nothing.
+
+"And then there are other people," Fire the Goat went on. "There are
+other people who understand shadows. The fire-born understand. The
+fire-born know where shadows come from and why they are.
+
+"Long ago, when the Makers of the World were done making the round
+earth, the time came when they were ready to make the animals to put
+on the earth. They were not sure how to make the animals. They did not
+know what shape animals they wanted.
+
+"And so they practised. They did not make real animals at first. They
+made only shapes of animals. And these shapes were shadows, shadows
+like these you and I, Fire the Goat and Flim the Goose, are looking at
+this morning across the booming rollers on the east sky where the sun
+is coming up.
+
+"The shadow horse over there on the east sky with his mouth open, his
+ears laid back, and his front legs thrown in a curve like harvest
+sickles, that shadow horse was one they made long ago when they were
+practising to make a real horse. That shadow horse was a mistake and
+they threw him away. Never will you see two shadow horses alike. All
+shadow horses on the sky are different. Each one is a mistake, a
+shadow horse thrown away because he was not good enough to be a real
+horse.
+
+"That elephant with no head on his neck, stumbling so grand on six
+legs--and that grand camel with two humps, one bigger than the
+other--and those cows with horns in front and behind--they are all
+mistakes, they were all thrown away because they were not made good
+enough to be real elephants, real cows, real camels. They were made
+just for practice, away back early in the world before any real
+animals came on their legs to eat and live and be here like the rest
+of us.
+
+"That man--see him now staggering along with the club over his
+shoulder--see how his long arms come to his knees and sometimes his
+hands drag below his feet. See how heavy the club on his shoulders
+loads him down and drags him on. He is one of the oldest shadow men.
+He was a mistake and they threw him away. He was made just for
+practice.
+
+"And that woman. See her now at the end of that procession across the
+booming rollers on the east sky. See her the last of all, the end of
+the procession. On the back of her neck a bundle. Sometimes the bundle
+gets bigger. The woman staggers. Her legs get bigger and stronger. She
+picks herself up and goes along shaking her head. She is the same as
+the others. She is a shadow and she was made as a mistake. Early,
+early in the beginnings of the world she was made, for practice.
+
+"Listen, Flim the Goose. What I am telling you is a secret of the
+fire-born. I do not know whether you understand. We have slept
+together a night on the sand flats next to the booming rollers, under
+the stub pines with the stars high over--and so I tell what the
+fathers of the fire-born tell their sons."
+
+And that day Fire the Goat and Flim the Goose moved along the sand
+flat shore of the Big Lake of the Booming Rollers. It was a blue day,
+with a fire-blue of the sun mixing itself in the air and the water.
+Off to the north the booming rollers were blue sea-green. To the east
+they were sometimes streak purple, sometimes changing bluebell
+stripes. And to the south they were silver blue, sheet blue.
+
+Where the shadow hippodrome marched on the east sky that morning was a
+long line of blue-bird spots.
+
+"Only the fire-born understand blue," said Fire the Goat to Flim the
+Goose. And that night as the night before they slept on a sand flat.
+And again Fire the Goat took off his horns and laid them under his
+head while he slept and Flim the Goose took off his wings and laid
+them under his head while he slept.
+
+And twice in the night, Fire the Goat whispered in his sleep,
+whispered to the stars, "Only the fire-born understand blue."
+
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+8. Two Stories About Corn Fairies,
+   Blue Foxes, Flongboos and Happenings
+   That Happened in the
+   United States and Canada
+
+          _People_: Spink
+                    Skabootch
+                    A Man
+                    Corn Fairies
+
+                    Blue Foxes
+                    Flongboos
+                    A Philadelphia Policeman
+                    Passenger Conductor
+                    Chicago Newspapers
+                    The Head Spotter of the Weather Makers at Medicine Hat
+
+
+                           [Illustration]
+
+               How to Tell Corn Fairies If You See 'Em
+
+
+If you have ever watched the little corn begin to march across the
+black lands and then slowly change to big corn and go marching on from
+the little corn moon of summer to the big corn harvest moon of autumn,
+then you must have guessed who it is that helps the corn come along.
+It is the corn fairies. Leave out the corn fairies and there wouldn't
+be any corn.
+
+All children know this. All boys and girls know that corn is no good
+unless there are corn fairies.
+
+Have you ever stood in Illinois or Iowa and watched the late summer
+wind or the early fall wind running across a big cornfield? It looks
+as if a big, long blanket were being spread out for dancers to come
+and dance on. If you look close and if you listen close you can see
+the corn fairies come dancing and singing--sometimes. If it is a wild
+day and a hot sun is pouring down while a cool north wind blows--and
+this happens sometimes--then you will be sure to see thousands of corn
+fairies marching and countermarching in mocking grand marches over the
+big, long blanket of green and silver. Then too they sing, only you
+must listen with your littlest and newest ears if you wish to hear
+their singing. They sing soft songs that go pla-sizzy pla-sizzy-sizzy,
+and each song is softer than an eye wink, softer than a Nebraska
+baby's thumb.
+
+And Spink, who is a little girl living in the same house with the man
+writing this story, and Skabootch, who is another little girl in the
+same house--both Spink and Skabootch are asking the question, "How can
+we tell corn fairies if we see 'em? If we meet a corn fairy how will
+we know it?" And this is the explanation the man gave to Spink who is
+older than Skabootch, and to Skabootch who is younger than Spink:--
+
+All corn fairies wear overalls. They work hard, the corn fairies, and
+they are proud. The reason they are proud is because they work so
+hard. And the reason they work so hard is because they have overalls.
+
+But understand this. The overalls are corn gold cloth, woven from
+leaves of ripe corn mixed with ripe October corn silk. In the first
+week of the harvest moon coming up red and changing to yellow and
+silver the corn fairies sit by thousands between the corn rows weaving
+and stitching the clothes they have to wear next winter, next spring,
+next summer.
+
+They sit cross-legged when they sew. And it is a law among them each
+one must point the big toe at the moon while sewing the harvest moon
+clothes. When the moon comes up red as blood early in the evening they
+point their big toes slanting toward the east. Then towards midnight
+when the moon is yellow and half way up the sky their big toes are
+only half slanted as they sit cross-legged sewing. And after midnight
+when the moon sails its silver disk high overhead and toward the west,
+then the corn fairies sit sewing with their big toes pointed nearly
+straight up.
+
+If it is a cool night and looks like frost, then the laughter of the
+corn fairies is something worth seeing. All the time they sit sewing
+their next year clothes they are laughing. It is not a law they have
+to laugh. They laugh because they are half-tickled and glad because it
+is a good corn year.
+
+And whenever the corn fairies laugh then the laugh comes out of the
+mouth like a thin gold frost. If you should be lucky enough to see a
+thousand corn fairies sitting between the corn rows and all of them
+laughing, you would laugh with wonder yourself to see the gold frost
+coming from their mouths while they laughed.
+
+Travelers who have traveled far, and seen many things, say that if you
+know the corn fairies with a real knowledge you can always tell by the
+stitches in their clothes what state they are from.
+
+In Illinois the corn fairies stitch fifteen stitches of ripe corn silk
+across the woven corn leaf cloth. In Iowa they stitch sixteen
+stitches, in Nebraska seventeen, and the farther west you go the more
+corn silk stitches the corn fairies have in the corn cloth clothes
+they wear.
+
+In Minnesota one year there were fairies with a blue sash of
+corn-flowers across the breast. In the Dakotas the same year all the
+fairies wore pumpkin-flower neckties, yellow four-in-hands and yellow
+ascots. And in one strange year it happened in both the states of Ohio
+and Texas the corn fairies wore little wristlets of white morning
+glories.
+
+The traveler who heard about this asked many questions and found out
+the reason why that year the corn fairies wore little wristlets of
+white morning glories. He said, "Whenever fairies are sad they wear
+white. And this year, which was long ago, was the year men were
+tearing down all the old zigzag rail fences. Now those old zigzag rail
+fences were beautiful for the fairies because a hundred fairies could
+sit on one rail and thousands and thousands of them could sit on the
+zigzags and sing pla-sizzy pla-sizzy, softer than an eye-wink, softer
+than a baby's thumb, all on a moonlight summer night. And they found
+out that year was going to be the last year of the zigzag rail fences.
+It made them sorry and sad, and when they are sorry and sad they wear
+white. So they picked the wonderful white morning glories running
+along the zigzag rail fences and made them into little wristlets and
+wore those wristlets the next year to show they were sorry and sad."
+
+Of course, all this helps you to know how the corn fairies look in the
+evening, the night time and the moonlight. Now we shall see how they
+look in the day time.
+
+In the day time the corn fairies have their overalls of corn gold
+cloth on. And they walk among the corn rows and climb the corn stalks
+and fix things in the leaves and stalks and ears of the corn. They
+help it to grow.
+
+Each one carries on the left shoulder a mouse brush to brush away the
+field mice. And over the right shoulder each one has a cricket broom
+to sweep away the crickets. The brush is a whisk brush to brush away
+mice that get foolish. And the broom is to sweep away crickets that
+get foolish.
+
+Around the middle of each corn fairy is a yellow-belly belt. And stuck
+in this belt is a purple moon shaft hammer. Whenever the wind blows
+strong and nearly blows the corn down, then the fairies run out and
+take their purple moon shaft hammers out of their yellow-belly belts
+and nail down nails to keep the corn from blowing down. When a rain
+storm is blowing up terrible and driving all kinds of terribles across
+the cornfield, then you can be sure of one thing. Running like the
+wind among the corn rows are the fairies, jerking their purple moon
+shaft hammers out of their belts and nailing nails down to keep the
+corn standing up so it will grow and be ripe and beautiful when the
+harvest moon comes again in the fall.
+
+Spink and Skabootch ask where the corn fairies get the nails. The
+answer to Spink and Skabootch is, "Next week you will learn all about
+where the corn fairies get the nails to nail down the corn if you will
+keep your faces washed and your ears washed till next week."
+
+And the next time you stand watching a big cornfield in late summer or
+early fall, when the wind is running across the green and silver,
+listen with your littlest and newest ears. Maybe you will hear the
+corn fairies going pla-sizzy pla-sizzy-sizzy, softer than an eye wink,
+softer than a Nebraska baby's thumb.
+
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+                 How the Animals Lost Their Tails and
+                     Got Them Back Traveling From
+                     Philadelphia to Medicine Hat
+
+
+Far up in North America, near the Saskatchewan river, in the Winnipeg
+wheat country, not so far from the town of Moose Jaw named for the jaw
+of a moose shot by a hunter there, up where the blizzards and the
+chinooks begin, where nobody works unless they have to and they nearly
+all have to, there stands the place known as Medicine Hat.
+
+And there on a high stool in a high tower on a high hill sits the Head
+Spotter of the Weather Makers.
+
+When the animals lost their tails it was because the Head Spotter of
+the Weather Makers at Medicine Hat was careless.
+
+The tails of the animals were stiff and dry because for a long while
+there was dusty dry weather. Then at last came rain. And the water
+from the sky poured on the tails of the animals and softened them.
+
+Then the chilly chills came whistling with icy mittens and they froze
+all the tails stiff. A big wind blew up and blew and blew till all the
+tails of the animals blew off.
+
+It was easy for the fat stub hogs with their fat stub tails. But it
+was not so easy for the blue fox who uses his tail to help him when he
+runs, when he eats, when he walks or talks, when he makes pictures or
+writes letters in the snow or when he puts a snack of bacon meat with
+stripes of fat and lean to hide till he wants it under a big rock by a
+river.
+
+[Illustration: There on a high stool in a high tower, on a high hill
+sits the Head Spotter of the Weather Makers]
+
+It was easy enough for the rabbit who has long ears and no tail at all
+except a white thumb of cotton. But it was hard for the yellow
+flongboo who at night lights up his house in a hollow tree with his
+fire yellow torch of a tail. It is hard for the yellow flongboo to
+lose his tail because it lights up his way when he sneaks at night on
+the prairie, sneaking up on the flangwayers, the hippers and
+hangjasts, so good to eat.
+
+The animals picked a committee of representatives to represent them in
+a parleyhoo to see what steps could be taken by talking to do
+something. There were sixty-six representatives on the committee and
+they decided to call it the Committee of Sixty Six. It was a
+distinguished committee and when they all sat together holding their
+mouths under their noses (just like a distinguished committee) and
+blinking their eyes up over their noses and cleaning their ears and
+scratching themselves under the chin looking thoughtful (just like a
+distinguished committee) then anybody would say just to look at them,
+"This must be quite a distinguished committee."
+
+Of course, they would all have looked more distinguished if they had
+had their tails on. If the big wavy streak of a blue tail blows off
+behind a blue fox, he doesn't look near so distinguished. Or, if the
+long yellow torch of a tail blows off behind a yellow flongboo, he
+doesn't look so distinguished as he did before the wind blew.
+
+So the Committee of Sixty Six had a meeting and a parleyhoo to decide
+what steps could be taken by talking to do something. For chairman
+they picked an old flongboo who was an umpire and used to umpire many
+mix-ups. Among the flongboos he was called "the umpire of umpires,"
+"the king of umpires," "the prince of umpires," "the peer of umpires."
+When there was a fight and a snag and a wrangle between two families
+living next door neighbors to each other and this old flongboo was
+called in to umpire and to say which family was right and which family
+was wrong, which family started it and which family ought to stop it,
+he used to say, "The best umpire is the one who knows just how far to
+go and how far not to go." He was from Massachusetts, born near
+Chappaquiddick, this old flongboo, and he lived there in a horse
+chestnut tree six feet thick half way between South Hadley and
+Northampton. And at night, before he lost his tail, he lighted up the
+big hollow cave inside the horse chestnut tree with his yellow torch
+of a tail.
+
+After he was nominated with speeches and elected with votes to be the
+chairman, he stood up on the platform and took a gavel and banged with
+the gavel and made the Committee of Sixty Six come to order.
+
+"It is no picnic to lose your tail and we are here for business," he
+said, banging his gavel again.
+
+A blue fox from Waco, Texas, with his ears full of dry bluebonnet
+leaves from a hole where he lived near the Brazos river, stood up and
+said, "Mr. Chairman, do I have the floor?"
+
+"You have whatever you get away with--I get your number," said the
+chairman.
+
+"I make a motion," said the blue fox from Waco, "and I move you, Sir,
+that this committee get on a train at Philadelphia and ride on the
+train till it stops and then take another train and take more trains
+and keep on riding till we get to Medicine Hat, near the Saskatchewan
+river, in the Winnipeg wheat country where the Head Spotter of the
+Weather Makers sits on a high stool in a high tower on a high hill
+spotting the weather. There we will ask him if he will respectfully
+let us beseech him to bring back weather that will bring back our
+tails. It was the weather took away our tails; it is the weather can
+bring back our tails."
+
+"All in favor of the motion," said the chairman, "will clean their
+right ears with their right paws."
+
+And all the blue foxes and all the yellow flongboos began cleaning
+their right ears with their right paws.
+
+"All who are against the motion will clean their left ears with their
+left paws," said the chairman.
+
+And all the blue foxes and all the yellow flongboos began cleaning
+their left ears with their left paws.
+
+"The motion is carried both ways--it is a razmataz," said the
+chairman. "Once again, all in favor of the motion will stand up on the
+toes of their hind legs and stick their noses straight up in the air."
+And all the blue foxes and all the yellow flongboos stood up on the
+toes of their hind legs and stuck their noses straight up in the air.
+
+"And now," said the chairman, "all who are against the motion will
+stand on the top and the apex of their heads, stick their hind legs
+straight up in the air, and make a noise like a woof woof."
+
+And then not one of the blue foxes and not one of the yellow flongboos
+stood on the top and the apex of his head nor stuck his hind legs up
+in the air nor made a noise like a woof woof.
+
+"The motion is carried and this is no picnic," said the chairman.
+
+So the committee went to Philadelphia to get on a train to ride on.
+
+"Would you be so kind as to tell us the way to the union depot," the
+chairman asked a policeman. It was the first time a flongboo ever
+spoke to a policeman on the streets of Philadelphia.
+
+"It pays to be polite," said the policeman.
+
+"May I ask you again if you would kindly direct us to the union depot?
+We wish to ride on a train," said the flongboo.
+
+"Polite persons and angry persons are different kinds," said the
+policeman.
+
+The flongboo's eyes changed their lights and a slow torch of fire
+sprang out behind where his tail used to be. And speaking to the
+policeman, he said, "Sir, I must inform you, publicly and respectfully,
+that we are The Committee of Sixty Six. We are honorable and
+distinguished representatives from places your honest and ignorant
+geography never told you about. This committee is going to ride on the
+cars to Medicine Hat near the Saskatchewan river in the Winnipeg wheat
+country where the blizzards and chinooks begin. We have a special
+message and a secret errand for the Head Spotter of the Weather
+Makers."
+
+"I am a polite friend of all respectable people--that is why I wear
+this star to arrest people who are not respectable," said the
+policeman, touching with his pointing finger the silver and nickel
+star fastened with a safety pin on his blue uniform coat.
+
+"This is the first time ever in the history of the United States that
+a committee of sixty-six blue foxes and flongboos has ever visited a
+city in the United States," insinuated the flongboo.
+
+"I beg to be mistaken," finished the policeman. "The union depot is
+under that clock." And he pointed to a clock near by.
+
+"I thank you for myself, I thank you for the Committee of Sixty Six, I
+thank you for the sake of all the animals in the United States who
+have lost their tails," finished the chairman.
+
+Over to the Philadelphia union depot they went, all sixty-six, half
+blue foxes, half flongboos. As they pattered pitty-pat, pitty-pat,
+each with feet and toenails, ears and hair, everything but tails, into
+the Philadelphia union depot, they had nothing to say. And yet though
+they had nothing to say the passengers in the union depot waiting for
+trains thought they had something to say and were saying it. So the
+passengers in the union depot waiting for trains listened. But with
+all their listening the passengers never heard the blue foxes and
+yellow flongboos say anything.
+
+"They are saying it to each other in some strange language from where
+they belong," said one passenger waiting for a train.
+
+"They have secrets to keep among each other, and never tell us," said
+another passenger.
+
+"We will find out all about it reading the newspapers upside down
+to-morrow morning," said a third passenger.
+
+Then the blue foxes and the yellow flongboos pattered pitty-pat,
+pitty-pat, each with feet and toenails, ears and hair, everything
+except tails, pattered scritch scratch over the stone floors out into
+the train shed. They climbed into a special smoking car hooked on
+ahead of the engine.
+
+"This car hooked on ahead of the engine was put on special for us so
+we will always be ahead and we will get there before the train does,"
+said the chairman to the committee.
+
+The train ran out of the train shed. It kept on the tracks and never
+left the rails. It came to the Horseshoe Curve near Altoona where the
+tracks bend like a big horseshoe. Instead of going around the long
+winding bend of the horseshoe tracks up and around the mountains, the
+train acted different. The train jumped off the tracks down into the
+valley and cut across in a straight line on a cut-off, jumped on the
+tracks again and went on toward Ohio.
+
+The conductor said, "If you are going to jump the train off the
+tracks, tell us about it beforehand."
+
+"When we lost our tails nobody told us about it beforehand," said the
+old flongboo umpire.
+
+Two baby blue foxes, the youngest on the committee, sat on the front
+platform. Mile after mile of chimneys went by. Four hundred smokestacks
+stood in a row and tubs on tubs of sooty black soot marched out.
+
+"This is the place where the black cats come to be washed," said the
+first baby blue fox.
+
+"I believe your affidavit," said the second blue fox.
+
+Crossing Ohio and Indiana at night the flongboos took off the roof of
+the car. The conductor told them, "I must have an explanation." "It
+was between us and the stars," they told him.
+
+The train ran into Chicago. That afternoon there were pictures upside
+down in the newspapers showing the blue foxes and the yellow flongboos
+climbing telephone poles standing on their heads eating pink ice cream
+with iron axes.
+
+Each blue fox and yellow flongboo got a newspaper for himself and each
+one looked long and careful upside down to see how he looked in the
+picture in the newspaper climbing a telephone pole standing on his
+head eating pink ice cream with an iron ax.
+
+Crossing Minnesota the sky began to fill with the snow ghosts of
+Minnesota snow weather. Again the foxes and flongboos lifted the roof
+off the car, telling the conductor they would rather wreck the train
+than miss the big show of the snow ghosts of the first Minnesota snow
+weather of the winter.
+
+Some went to sleep but the two baby blue foxes stayed up all night
+watching the snow ghosts and telling snow ghost stories to each other.
+
+Early in the night the first baby blue fox said to the second, "Who
+are the snow ghosts the ghosts of?" The second baby blue fox answered,
+"Everybody who makes a snowball, a snow man, a snow fox or a snow fish
+or a snow pattycake, everybody has a snow ghost."
+
+And that was only the beginning of their talk. It would take a big book
+to tell all that the two baby foxes told each other that night about
+the Minnesota snow ghosts, because they sat up all night telling old
+stories their fathers and mothers and grandfathers and grandmothers
+told them, and making up new stories never heard before about where the
+snow ghosts go on Christmas morning and how the snow ghosts watch the
+New Year in.
+
+Somewhere between Winnipeg and Moose Jaw, somewhere it was they
+stopped the train and all ran out in the snow where the white moon was
+shining down a valley of birch trees. It was the Snowbird Valley where
+all the snowbirds of Canada come early in the winter and make their
+snow shoes.
+
+At last they came to Medicine Hat, near the Saskatchewan River, where
+the blizzards and the chinooks begin, where nobody works unless they
+have to and they nearly all have to. There they ran in the snow till
+they came to the place where the Head Spotter of the Weather Makers
+sits on a high stool in a high tower on a high hill watching the
+weather.
+
+"Let loose another big wind to blow back our tails to us, let loose a
+big freeze to freeze our tails onto us again, and so let us get back
+our lost tails," they said to the Head Spotter of the Weather Makers.
+
+Which was just what he did, giving them exactly what they wanted, so
+they all went back home satisfied, the blue foxes each with a big wavy
+brush of a tail to help him when he runs, when he eats, when he walks
+or talks, when he makes pictures or writes letters in the snow or when
+he puts a snack of bacon meat with stripes of fat and lean to hide
+till he wants it under a big rock by the river--and the yellow
+flongboos each with a long yellow torch of a tail to light up his home
+in a hollow tree or to light up his way when he sneaks at night on the
+prairie, sneaking up on the flangwayer, the hipper or the hangjast.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rootabaga Stories, by Carl Sandburg
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROOTABAGA STORIES ***
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
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author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 02:33:49 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 02:33:49 -0700
commit	6f5ba61a5c5ca03097ce9abb209ac126c01459da (patch)
tree	9dd28381453c006dafaedb62ca68b9afb843fdbf