[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 thePotato Face Blind Man" 47 His hat was popcorn, his mittens popcorn and hisshoes 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 closeto his nose 177 Away off where the sun was coming up, there werepeople and animals 195 There on a high stool in a high tower, on a high hillsits 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 italways was. "The chimney sits on top of the house and lets the smoke out, " saidGimme the Ax. "The doorknobs open the doors. The windows are alwayseither open or shut. We are always either upstairs or downstairs inthis 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 shallbe their names, " he said. "They shall name themselves. " When the first boy came to the house of Gimme the Ax, he was namedPlease Gimme. When the first girl came she was named Ax Me NoQuestions. And both of the children had the shadows of valleys by night in theireyes and the lights of early morning, when the sun is coming up, ontheir foreheads. And the hair on top of their heads was a dark wild grass. And theyloved to turn the doorknobs, open the doors, and run out to have thewind comb their hair and touch their eyes and put its six soft fingerson their foreheads. And then because no more boys came and no more girls came, Gimme theAx said to himself, "My first boy is my last and my last girl is myfirst and they picked their names themselves. " Please Gimme grew up and his ears got longer. Ax Me No Questions grewup and her ears got longer. And they kept on living in the house whereeverything is the same as it always was. They learned to say just astheir father said, "The chimney sits on top of the house and lets thesmoke out, the doorknobs open the doors, the windows are always eitheropen or shut, we are always either upstairs or downstairs--everythingis the same as it always was. " After a while they began asking each other in the cool of the eveningafter they had eggs for breakfast in the morning, "Who's who? Howmuch? 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 toughdaughter of Gimme the Ax, answered their father, "It _is_ too much tobe 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, thedifferent neighbors said, "They are going to Kansas, to Kokomo, toCanada, 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 andwhen they get there they will find everything is the same as it alwayswas. " All the spot cash money he got for selling everything, pigs, pastures, pepper pickers, pitchforks, Gimme the Ax put in a ragbag and slung onhis back like a rag picker going home. Then he took Please Gimme, his oldest and youngest and only son, andAx Me No Questions, his oldest and youngest and only daughter, andwent to the railroad station. The ticket agent was sitting at the window selling railroad ticketsthe 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 ticketto go away and _never_ come back?" the ticket agent asked wiping sleepout of his eyes. "We wish a ticket to ride where the railroad tracks run off into thesky and never come back--send us far as the railroad rails go and thenforty ways farther yet, " was the reply of Gimme the Ax. "So far? So early? So soon?" asked the ticket agent wiping more sleepout his eyes. "Then I will give you a new ticket. It blew in. It is along slick yellow leather slab ticket with a blue spanch across it. " Gimme the Ax thanked the ticket agent once, thanked the ticket agenttwice, and then instead of thanking the ticket agent three times heopened the ragbag and took out all the spot cash money he got forselling everything, pigs, pastures, pepper pickers, pitchforks, andpaid the spot cash money to the ticket agent. Before he put it in his pocket he looked once, twice, three times atthe long yellow leather slab ticket with a blue spanch across it. Then with Please Gimme and Ax Me No Questions he got on the railroadtrain, showed the conductor his ticket and they started to ride towhere the railroad tracks run off into the blue sky and then fortyways farther yet. The train ran on and on. It came to the place where the railroadtracks run off into the blue sky. And it ran on and on chickchick-a-chick chick-a-chick chick-a-chick. Sometimes the engineer hooted and tooted the whistle. Sometimes thefireman rang the bell. Sometimes the open-and-shut of the steam hog'snose choked and spit pfisty-pfoost, pfisty-pfoost, pfisty-pfoost. Butno 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 theblue sky. And then it ran on and on more and more. Sometimes Gimme the Ax looked in his pocket, put his fingers in andtook out the long slick yellow leather slab ticket with a blue spanchacross it. "Not even the Kings of Egypt with all their climbing camels, and alltheir speedy, spotted, lucky lizards, ever had a ride like this, " hesaid to his children. Then something happened. They met another train running on the sametrack. 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. "Thisis the Over and Under country. Nobody gets out of the way of anybodyelse. They either go over or under. " Next they came to the country of the balloon pickers. Hanging downfrom the sky strung on strings so fine the eye could not see them atfirst, was the balloon crop of that summer. The sky was thick withballoons. Red, blue, yellow balloons, white, purple and orangeballoons--peach, watermelon and potato balloons--rye loaf and wheatloaf balloons--link sausage and pork chop balloons--they floated andfilled the sky. The balloon pickers were walking on high stilts picking balloons. Eachpicker had his own stilts, long or short. For picking balloons nearthe ground he had short stilts. If he wanted to pick far and high hewalked on a far and high pair of stilts. Baby pickers on baby stilts were picking baby balloons. When they felloff the stilts the handful of balloons they were holding kept them inthe air till they got their feet into the stilts again. "Who is that away up there in the sky climbing like a bird in themorning?" Ax Me No Questions asked her father. "He was singing too happy, " replied the father. "The songs came out ofhis neck and made him so light the balloons pulled him off hisstilts. " "Will he ever come down again back to his own people?" "Yes, his heart will get heavy when his songs are all gone. Then hewill drop down to his stilts again. " The train was running on and on. The engineer hooted and tooted thewhistle when he felt like it. The fireman rang the bell when he feltthat way. And sometimes the open-and-shut of the steam hog had to gopfisty-pfoost, pfisty-pfoost. "Next is the country where the circus clowns come from, " said Gimmethe Ax to his son and daughter. "Keep your eyes open. " They did keep their eyes open. They saw cities with ovens, long andshort ovens, fat stubby ovens, lean lank ovens, all for baking eitherlong 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 thesunshine and put up to stand like a big white doll with a red mouthleaning against the fence. Two men came along to each baked clown standing still like a doll. Oneman threw a bucket of white fire over it. The second man pumped a windpump with a living red wind through the red mouth. The clown rubbed his eyes, opened his mouth, twisted his neck, wiggledhis ears, wriggled his toes, jumped away from the fence and beganturning handsprings, cartwheels, somersaults and flipflops in thesawdust ring near the fence. "The next we come to is the Rootabaga Country where the big city isthe Village of Liver-and-Onions, " said Gimme the Ax, looking again inhis pocket to be sure he had the long slick yellow leather slab ticketwith a blue spanch across it. The train ran on and on till it stopped running straight and beganrunning in zigzags like one letter Z put next to another Z and thenext and the next. The tracks and the rails and the ties and the spikes under the trainall stopped being straight and changed to zigzags like one letter Zand another letter Z put next after the other. "It seems like we go half way and then back up, " said Ax Me NoQuestions. "Look out of the window and see if the pigs have bibs on, " said Gimmethe Ax. "If the pigs are wearing bibs then this is the Rootabagacountry. " And they looked out of the zigzagging windows of the zigzagging carsand the first pigs they saw had bibs on. And the next pigs and thenext pigs they saw all had bibs on. The checker pigs had checker bibs on, the striped pigs had stripedbibs on. And the polka dot pigs had polka dot bibs on. "Who fixes it for the pigs to have bibs on?" Please Gimme asked hisfather. "The fathers and mothers fix it, " answered Gimme the Ax. "The checkerpigs have checker fathers and mothers. The striped pigs have stripedfathers and mothers. And the polka dot pigs have polka dot fathers andmothers. " And the train went zigzagging on and on running on the tracks and therails and the spikes and the ties which were all zigzag like theletter Z and the letter Z. And after a while the train zigzagged on into the Village ofLiver-and-Onions, known as the biggest city in the big, big Rootabagacountry. And so if you are going to the Rootabaga country you will know whenyou get there because the railroad tracks change from straight tozigzag, the pigs have bibs on and it is the fathers and mothers whofix it. And if you start to go to that country remember first you must selleverything you have, pigs, pastures, pepper pickers, pitchforks, putthe spot cash money in a ragbag and go to the railroad station and askthe ticket agent for a long slick yellow leather slab ticket with ablue spanch across it. And you mustn't be surprised if the ticket agent wipes sleep from hiseyes 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-Onionsto visit her uncle and her uncle's uncle on her mother's side and heruncle and her uncle's uncle on her father's side. It was the first time the four uncles had a chance to see their littlerelation, their niece. Each one of the four uncles was proud of theblue eyes of Wing Tip the Spick. The two uncles on her mother's side took a long deep look into herblue eyes and said, "Her eyes are so blue, such a clear light blue, they are the same as cornflowers with blue raindrops shining anddancing on silver leaves after a sun shower in any of the summermonths. " And the two uncles on her father's side, after taking a long deep lookinto the eyes of Wing Tip the Spick, said, "Her eyes are so blue, sucha clear light shining blue, they are the same as cornflowers with blueraindrops shining and dancing on the silver leaves after a sun showerin any of the summer months. " And though Wing Tip the Spick didn't listen and didn't hear what theuncles said about her blue eyes, she did say to herself when they werenot listening, "I know these are sweet uncles and I am going to have asweet 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 questionsto-morrow morning, and fifty questions any morning. I like to listento questions. They slip in one ear and slip out of the other. " Then the uncles asked her the first question first, "Where do you comefrom?" and the second question second, "Why do you have two freckleson your chin?" "Answering your first question first, " said Wing Tip the Spick, "Icome from the Village of Cream Puffs, a little light village on theupland corn prairie. From a long ways off it looks like a little hatyou could wear on the end of your thumb to keep the rain off yourthumb. " "Tell us more, " said one uncle. "Tell us much, " said another uncle. "Tell it without stopping, " added another uncle. "Interruptions nixnix, " murmured the last of the uncles. "It is a light little village on the upland corn prairie many milespast the sunset in the west, " went on Wing Tip the Spick. "It is lightthe same as a cream puff is light. It sits all by itself on the biglong prairie where the prairie goes up in a slope. There on the slopethe winds play around the village. They sing it wind songs, summerwind songs in summer, winter wind songs in winter. " "And sometimes like an accident, the wind gets rough. And when thewind gets rough it picks up the little Village of Cream Puffs andblows 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 theirwind songs in summer and winter. And they understand the rough windwho comes sometimes and picks up the village and blows it away offhigh in the sky all by itself. "If you go to the public square in the middle of the village you willsee a big roundhouse. If you take the top off the roundhouse you willsee a big spool with a long string winding up around the spool. "Now whenever the rough wind comes and picks up the village and blowsit away off high in the sky all by itself then the string winds looseof the spool, because the village is fastened to the string. So therough wind blows and blows and the string on the spool winds looserand looser the farther the village goes blowing away off into the skyall by itself. "Then at last when the rough wind, so forgetful, so careless, has hadall the fun it wants, then the people of the village all come togetherand begin to wind up the spool and bring back the village where it wasbefore. " "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 littlerelation, your niece who has four such sweet uncles, maybe she willlead you through the middle of the city to the public square and showyou the roundhouse. They call it the Roundhouse of the Big Spool. Andthey are proud because it was thought up and is there to show whenvisitors come. " "And now will you answer the second question second--why do you havetwo 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 girlgoes away from the Village of Cream Puffs her mother puts on twofreckles, on the chin. Each freckle must be the same as a little burntcream puff kept in the oven too long. After the two freckles lookinglike two little burnt cream puffs are put on her chin, they remind thegirl every morning when she combs her hair and looks in the lookingglass. They remind her where she came from and she mustn't stay awaytoo 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 bythemselves, saying: "She has a gift. It is her eyes. They are so blue, such a clear lightblue, the same as cornflowers with blue raindrops shining and dancingon 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 forsure now these are sweet uncles and I am going to have a sweet timevisiting 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 theVillage of Liver-and-Onions, a blizzard came up. Snow filled the skyand the wind blew and made a noise like heavy wagon axles grinding andcrying. And on this day a gray rat came to the house of the four uncles, a ratwith 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 makea little bowl of hot catfish soup to keep me warm through theblizzard. " And the four uncles all said together, "This is no time for rats to bearound--and we would like to ask you where you got the catfish in thebasket. " "Oh, oh, oh, please--in the name of the five rusty rats, the fivelucky rats of the Village of Cream Puffs, please don't, " was theexclamation of Wing Tip the Spick. The uncles stopped. They looked long and deep into the eyes of WingTip the Spick and thought, as they had thought before, how her eyeswere clear light blue the same as cornflowers with blue raindropsshining on the silver leaves in a summer sun shower. And the four uncles opened the door and let the gray rat come in withthe basket and the catfish. They showed the gray rat the way to thekitchen and the fire and the salt. And they watched the rat and kepthim company while he fixed himself a catfish soup to keep him warmtraveling 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 thefive rusty lucky rats of the Village of Cream Puffs where she livedwith her father and her mother and her folks. "When I was a little girl growing up, before I learned all I learnedsince I got older, my grandfather gave me a birthday present because Iwas nine years old. I remember how he said to me, 'You will never benine years old again after this birthday, so I give you this box for abirthday present. ' "In the box was a pair of red slippers with a gold clock on eachslipper. One of the clocks ran fast. The other clock ran slow. And hetold me if I wished to be early anywhere I should go by the clock thatran fast. And if I wished to be late anywhere I should go by the clockthat ran slow. "And that same birthday he took me down through the middle of theVillage of Cream Puffs to the public square near the Roundhouse of theBig Spool. There he pointed his finger at the statue of the five rustyrats, the five lucky rats. And as near as I can remember his words, hesaid: "'Many years ago, long before the snow birds began to wear funnylittle slip-on hats and funny little slip-on shoes, and away back longbefore the snow birds learned how to slip off their slip-on hats andhow to slip off their slip-on shoes, long ago in the faraway Villageof Liver-and-Onions, the people who ate cream puffs came together andmet in the streets and picked up their baggage and put theirbelongings on their shoulders and marched out of the Village ofLiver-and-Onions saying, "We shall find a new place for a village andthe 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 insacks on their shoulders. And a blizzard came up. Snow filled the sky. The wind blew and blew and made a noise like heavy wagon axlesgrinding and crying. "'The snow came on. The wind twisted all day and all night and all thenext day. The wind changed black and twisted and spit icicles in theirfaces. They got lost in the blizzard. They expected to die and beburied in the snow for the wolves to come and eat them. "'Then the five lucky rats came, the five rusty rats, rust on theirskin and hair, rust on their feet and noses, rust all over, andespecially, most especially of all, rust on their long curved tails. They dug their noses down into the snow and their long curved tailsstuck up far above the snow where the people who were lost in theblizzard could take hold of the tails like handles. "'And so, while the wind and the snow blew and the blizzard beat itsicicles in their faces, they held on to the long curved tails of therusty rats till they came to the place where the Village of CreamPuffs now stands. It was the rusty rats who saved their lives andshowed them where to put their new village. That is why this statuenow stands in the public square, this statue of the shapes of the fiverusty rats, the five lucky rats with their noses down in the snow andtheir long curved tails lifted high out of the snow. ' "That is the story as my grandfather told it to me. And he said ithappened long ago, long before the snow birds began to wear slip-onhats and slip-on shoes, long before they learned how to slip off theslip-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 threeuncles. "And sometime, " added Wing Tip the Spick, "when you go away from theVillage of Liver-and-Onions and cross the Shampoo River and ride manymiles across the upland prairie till you come to the Village of CreamPuffs, 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 withgold clocks on them, one clock to be early by, the other to be lateby. And if you are still more polite she will take you through themiddle of the town to the public square and show you the statue of thefive rusty lucky rats with their long curved tails sticking up in theair like handles. And the tails are curved so long and so nice youwill feel like going up and taking hold of them to see what willhappen 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 MainStreet 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 18carat gold accordion with rich pawnshop diamonds in it; it looks likeit 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 thePotato Face Blind Man, "and there was a diamond rabbit next to thehandles 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 makea nice rabbit with his diamond chin on his diamond toenails. When Iplay good pieces so people cry hearing my accordion music, then I putmy fingers over and feel of the rabbit's diamond chin on his diamondtoenails, 'Attaboy, li'l bunny, attaboy, li'l bunny. '" "Yes I hear you talking but it is like dream talking. I wonder whyyour accordion looks like somebody stole it and took it to a pawnshopand took it out and somebody stole it again and took it to a pawnshopand took it out and somebody stole it again. And they kept on stealingit and taking it out of the pawnshop and stealing it again till thegold 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 itused to be. It knows more knowledge than it used to know just the sameas this Potato Face Blind Man knows more knowledge than he used toknow. " "Tell me about it, " said Any Ice Today. "It is simple. If a blind man plays an accordion on the street to makepeople cry it makes them sad and when they are sad the gold goes awayoff the accordion. And if a blind man goes to sleep because his musicis full of sleepy songs like the long wind in a sleepy valley, thenwhile the blind man is sleeping the diamonds in the diamond rabbit allgo away. I play a sleepy song and go to sleep and I wake up and thediamond ear of the diamond rabbit is gone. I play another sleepy songand go to sleep and wake up and the diamond tail of the diamond rabbitis gone. After a while all the diamond rabbits are gone, even thediamond chin sitting on the diamond toenails of the rabbits next tothe 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 Ijust play the sleepy song of the long wind going up the sleepyvalleys. And that carries me away where I have time and money to dreamabout the new wonderful accordions and postoffices where everybodythat gets a letter and everybody that don't get a letter stops andremembers 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 highin the elm trees, the Potato Face Blind Man came down to his worksitting at the corner nearest the postoffice in the Village ofLiver-and-Onions and playing his gold-that-used-to-be accordion forthe pleasure of the ears of the people going into the postoffice tosee 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 theflummywisters yodeling their yisters in the long branches of thelingering leaves. So--so--I am going to listen to myself playing on myaccordion the same yisters, the same yodels, drawing them like longglad breathings out of my glad accordion, long breathings of thebranches of the lingering leaves. " And he sat down in his chair. On the sleeve of his coat he tied asign, "I Am Blind _Too_. " On the top button of his coat he hung alittle thimble. On the bottom button of his coat he hung a tin coppercup. On the middle button he hung a wooden mug. By the side of him onthe left side on the sidewalk he put a galvanized iron washtub, and onthe right side an aluminum dishpan. "It is a good day, a lucky day, and I am sure many people will stopand remember the Potato Face Blind Man, " he sang to himself like alittle song as he began running his fingers up and down the keys ofthe accordion like the yisters of the lingering leaves in the elmtrees. [Illustration: "I am sure many people will stop and remember thePotato Face Blind Man"] Then came Pick Ups. Always it happened Pick Ups asked questions andwished to know. And so this is how the questions and answers ran whenthe Potato Face filled the ears of Pick Ups with explanations. "What is the piece you are playing on the keys of your accordion sofast sometimes, so slow sometimes, so sad some of the moments, so gladsome of the moments?" "It is the song the mama flummywisters sing when they button loose thewinter 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 innickels and pennies. The one who throws the most into the cup will bethe most lucky. " "And the wooden mug?" "There is a hole in the bottom of it. The hole is as big as thebottom. The nickel goes in and comes out again. It is for the verypoor people who wish to give me a nickel and yet get the nickel back. " "The aluminum dishpan and the galvanized iron washtub--what are theydoing by the side of you on both sides on the sidewalk?" "Sometime maybe it will happen everybody who goes into the postofficeand comes out will stop and pour out all their money, because theymight get afraid their money is no good any more. If such a happeningever happens then it will be nice for the people to have some place topour their money. Such is the explanation why you see the aluminumdishpan 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 andcoming out, they have eyes--but they see nothing with their eyes. Theylook where they are going and they get where they wish to get, butthey forget why they came and they do not know how to come away. Theyare my blind brothers. It is for them I have the sign that reads, 'IAm 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 longbreathings like lingering leaves out of the accordion--along with thesong the mama flummywisters sing when they button loose the winterunderwear 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 onthe red meat, then in the Rootabaga Country they call it a WatermelonMoon and look for anything to happen. It was a night when a Watermelon Moon was shining. Lizzie Lazarus cameto the upstairs room of the Potato Face Blind Man. Poker Face theBaboon and Hot Dog the Tiger were with her. She was leading them witha pink string. "You see they are wearing pajamas, " she said. "They sleep with youto-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. Theychange 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 playhis accordion on the corner nearest the postoffice in the Village ofLiver-and-Onions, next to him on the right hand side sitting on thesidewalk was Poker Face the Baboon and on the left hand side sittingnext to him was Hot Dog the Tiger. They looked like dummies--they were so quiet. They looked as if theywere made of wood and paper and then painted. In the eyes of PokerFace was something faraway. In the eyes of Hot Dog was somethinghungry. Whitson Whimble, the patent clothes wringer manufacturer, cameby in his big limousine automobile car without horses to pull it. Hewas 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 ofPoker Face the Baboon and saw something faraway. Then he looked intothe eyes of Hot Dog the Tiger and saw something hungry. Then he readthe sign painted by the Potato Face Blind Man saying, "You look at 'emand 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 thechauffeur driving the car, "Go on. " Fifteen minutes later a man in overalls came down Main Street with awheelbarrow. He stopped in front of the Potato Face Blind Man, PokerFace 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 silverdollars out of the wheelbarrow into the aluminum dishpan and thegalvanized iron washtub. He shoveled out of the wheelbarrow till thedishpan was full, till the washtub was full. Then he put the shovelinto the wheelbarrow and went up Main Street. Six o'clock that night Pick Ups came along. The Potato Face Blind Mansaid to him, "I have to carry home a heavy load of money to-night, analuminum dishpan full of silver dollars and a galvanized iron washtubfull of silver dollars. So I ask you, will you take care of Poker Facethe Baboon and Hot Dog the Tiger?" "Yes, " said Pick Ups, "I will. " And he did. He tied a pink string totheir 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 endof the woodshed and when he was asleep his face had something farawayin it and he was so quiet he looked like a dummy with brown hair ofthe jungle painted on his black skin and a black nose painted on hisbrown face. Hot Dog the Tiger went to sleep on the hard coal at thesouth end of the woodshed and when he was asleep his eyelashes hadsomething hungry in them and he looked like a painted dummy with blackstripes painted over his yellow belly and a black spot painted away atthe end of his long yellow tail. In the morning the woodshed was empty. Pick Ups told the Potato FaceBlind Man, "They left a note in their own handwriting on perfumed pinkpaper. It said, '_Mascots never stay long_. '" And that is why for many years the Potato Face Blind Man had silverdollars to spend--and that is why many people in the Rootabaga Countrykeep their eyes open for a Watermelon Moon in the sky with a green rimand 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 cornernearest 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 fromhis right knee to his left knee, and singing softly to the tune he wasfumbling on the accordion keys, "Be Happy in the Morning When theBirds Bring the Beans. " "Yes, " said Any Ice Today, "is it not sad every year when the leaveschange from green to yellow, when the leaves dry on the branches andfall into the air, and the wind blows them and they make a songsaying, 'Hush baby, hush baby, ' and the wind fills the sky with themand 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 yearwhen the dream of the white moon toboggan comes back. Five weeksbefore the first snow flurry this dream always comes back to me. Itsays, 'The black leaves are falling now and they fill the sky but fiveweeks go by and then for every black leaf there will be a thousandsnow 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 myluck changed. I saw the big white spiders of the moon working, rushingaround climbing up, climbing down, snizzling and sniffering. I lookeda long while before I saw what the big white spiders on the moon weredoing. I saw after a while they were weaving a long toboggan, a whitetoboggan, white and soft as snow. And after a long while of snizzlingand sniffering, climbing up and climbing down, at last the tobogganwas done, a snow white toboggan running from the moon down to theRootabaga Country. "And sliding, sliding down from the moon on this toboggan were theWhite Gold Boys and the Blue Silver Girls. They tumbled down at myfeet because, you see, the toboggan ended right at my feet. I couldlean over and pick up the White Gold Boys and the Blue Silver Girls asthey slid out of the toboggan at my feet. I could pick up a wholehandful of them and hold them in my hand and talk with them. Yet, youunderstand, whenever I tried to shut my hand and keep any of them theywould snizzle and sniffer and jump out of the cracks between myfingers. Once there was a little gold and silver dust on my left handthumb, dust they snizzled out while slipping away from me. "Once I heard a White Gold Boy and a Blue Silver Girl whispering. Theywere standing on the tip of my right hand little finger, whispering. One said, 'I got pumpkins--what did you get?' The other said, 'I gothazel nuts. ' I listened more and I found out there are millions ofpumpkins and millions of hazel nuts so small you and I can not seethem. These children from the moon, however, they can see them andwhenever they slide down on the moon toboggan they take back theirpockets full of things so little we have never seen them. " "They are wonderful children, " said Any Ice Today. "And will you tellme 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 toslide _up_ to the moon as to slide down. Sliding up and sliding downis the same for them. The big white spiders fixed it that way whenthey 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 postofficeand around, looking around. Maybe I will hear about somethinghappening last night when I was sleeping. Maybe a policeman beganlaughing and fell in a cistern and came out with a wheelbarrow full ofgoldfish wearing new jewelry. How do I know? Maybe the man in the moongoing down a cellar stairs to get a pitcher of butter-milk for thewoman in the moon to drink and stop crying, maybe he fell down thestairs and broke the pitcher and laughed and picked up the brokenpieces and said to himself, 'One, two, three, four, accidents happenin the best regulated families. ' How do I know?" So with his mind full of simple and refreshing thoughts, Gimme the Axwent out into the backyard garden and looked at the different necktiepoppies growing early in the summer. Then he picked one of the necktiepoppies to wear for a necktie scarf going downtown to the postofficeand around looking around. "It is a good speculation to look nice around looking around in anecktie scarf, " said Gimme the Ax. "It is a necktie with a picturelike whiteface pony spots on a green frog swimming in the moonshine. " So he went downtown. For the first time he saw the Potato Face BlindMan playing an accordion on the corner next nearest the postoffice. Heasked the Potato Face to tell him why the railroad tracks run zigzagin the Rootabaga Country. "Long ago, " said the Potato Face Blind Man, "long before the necktiepoppies began growing in the backyard, long before there was a necktiescarf like yours with whiteface pony spots on a green frog swimming inthe moonshine, back in the old days when they laid the rails for therailroad they laid the rails straight. " "Then the zizzies came. The zizzy is a bug. He runs zigzag on zigzaglegs, eats zigzag with zigzag teeth, and spits zigzag with a zigzagtongue. "Millions of zizzies came hizzing with little hizzers on their headsand under their legs. They jumped on the rails with their zigzag legs, and spit and twisted with their zigzag teeth and tongues till theytwisted the whole railroad and all the rails and tracks into a zigzagrailroad with zigzag rails for the trains, the passenger trains andthe freight trains, all to run zigzag on. "Then the zizzies crept away into the fields where they sleep andcover themselves with zigzag blankets on special zigzag beds. "Next day came shovelmen with their shovels, smooth engineers withsmooth blue prints, and water boys with water pails and water dippersfor the shovelmen to drink after shoveling the railroad straight. AndI nearly forgot to say the steam and hoist operating engineers cameand began their steam hoist and operating to make the railroadstraight. "They worked hard. They made the railroad straight again. They lookedat the job and said to themselves and to each other, 'This is it--wedone it. ' "Next morning the zizzies opened their zigzag eyes and looked over tothe railroad and the rails. When they saw the railroad all straightagain, 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 withtheir zigzag legs and spit and twisted till they spit and twisted allthe rails and the ties and the spikes back into a zigzag like theletter Z and the letter Z at the end of the alphabet. "After that the zizzies went to breakfast. And they said to themselvesand to each other, the same as the shovelmen, the smooth engineers andthe 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 theAx. "Yes, it was the zizzies, " said the Potato Face Blind Man. "That isthe story told to me. " "Who told it to you?" "_Two little zizzies. _ They came to me one cold winter night and sleptin my accordion where the music keeps it warm in winter. In themorning I said, 'Good morning, zizzies, did you have a good sleep lastnight and pleasant dreams?' And after they had breakfast they told methe story. Both told it zigzag but it was the same kind of zigzag eachhad 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 shetook it home and put it on the wall of her room with a ribbon tied toit. She would look at the moon through her fingers, under her arms, over her right shoulder but never--never over her _left_ shoulder. Shelistened and picked up everything anybody said about the ground hogand whether the ground hog saw his shadow when he came out the secondof February. If she dreamed of onions she knew the next day she would find a silverspoon. If she dreamed of fishes she knew the next day she would meet astrange man who would call her by her first name. She grew up lookingfor luck. She was sixteen years old and quite a girl, with her skirts down toher shoe tops, when something happened. She was going to thepostoffice to see if there was a letter for her from Peter PotatoBlossom Wishes, her best chum, or a letter from Jimmy the Flea, herbest friend she kept steady company with. Jimmy the Flea was a climber. He climbed skyscrapers and flagpoles andsmokestacks and was a famous steeplejack. Blixie Bimber liked himbecause he was a steeplejack, a little, but more because he was awhistler. Every time Blixie said to Jimmy, "I got the blues--whistle the bluesout of me, " Jimmy would just naturally whistle till the blues justnaturally 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 bethere she never knew and nobody ever told her. "It's luck, " she saidto herself as she picked it up quick. And so--she took it home and fixed it on a little chain and wore itaround her neck. She did not know and nobody ever told her a gold buckskin whincher isdifferent from just a plain common whincher. It has a _power_. And ifa thing has a power over you then you just naturally can't helpyourself. So--around her neck fixed on a little chain Blixie Bimber wore thegold buckskin whincher and never knew it had a power and all the timethe power was working. "The first man you meet with an X in his name you must fall head overheels in love with him, " said the silent power in the gold buckskinwhincher. And that was why Blixie Bimber stopped at the postoffice and went backagain asking the clerk at the postoffice window if he was sure therewasn't a letter for her. The name of the clerk was Silas Baxby. Forsix weeks he kept steady company with Blixie Bimber. They went todances, hayrack rides, picnics and high jinks together. All the time the power in the gold buckskin whincher was working. Itwas hanging by a little chain around her neck and always working. Itwas saying, "The next man you meet with two X's in his name you mustleave all and fall head over heels in love with him. " She met the high school principal. His name was Fritz Axenbax. Blixiedropped her eyes before him and threw smiles at him. And for six weekshe 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'sa power. " "One of his feet is bigger than the other--how can you keep steadycompany 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 littlechain around her neck was working. It was saying, "If she meets a manwith three X's in his name she must fall head over heels in love withhim. " At a band concert in the public square one night she met JamesSixbixdix. There was no helping it. She dropped her eyes and threw hersmiles at him. And for six weeks they kept steady company going toband 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'thelp myself. " Leaning down with her head in a rain water cistern one day, listeningto the echoes against the strange wooden walls of the cistern, thegold buckskin whincher on the little chain around her neck slipped offand fell down into the rain water. "My luck is gone, " said Blixie. Then she went into the house and madetwo telephone calls. One was to James Sixbixdix telling him shecouldn't keep the date with him that night. The other was to Jimmy theFlea, 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 thenext man you meet with an X in his name. Or it will do other strangethings 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. Ifyou looked down into a cistern when he was lifting buckets of slushand mud you could tell where he was, you could pick him out down inthe dark cistern, by the lights of his greenish yellowish hair. Sometimes the buckets of slush and mud tipped over and ran down on thetop of his head. This covered his greenish yellowish hair. And then itwas hard to tell where he was and it was not easy to pick him out downin 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'smother, "do I understand you sent for me to clean the cistern in yourback yard?" "You understand exactly such, " said Mrs. Bimber, "and you are welcomeas the flowers that bloom in the spring, tra-la-la. " "Then I will go to work and clean the cistern, tra-la-la, " heanswered, speaking to Mrs. Bimber. "I'm the guy, tra-la-la, " he saidfurther, running his excellent fingers through his greenish yellowishhair which was shining brightly. He began cleaning the cistern. Blixie Bimber came out in the backyard. She looked down in the cistern. It was all dark. It looked likenothing but all dark down there. By and by she saw something greenishyellowish. She watched it. Soon she saw it was Jason Squiff's head andhair. And then she knew the cistern was being cleaned and Jason Squiffwas on the job. So she sang tra-la-la and went back into the house andtold her mother Jason Squiff was on the job. The last bucketful of slush and mud came at last for Jason Squiff. Hesquinted at the bottom. Something was shining. He reached his fingersdown through the slush and mud and took out what was shining. It was the gold buckskin whincher Blixie Bimber lost from the goldchain around her neck the week before when she was looking down intothe cistern to see what she could see. It was exactly the same goldbuckskin whincher shining and glittering like a sign of happiness. "It's luck, " said Jason Squiff, wiping his fingers on his greenishyellowish hair. Then he put the gold buckskin whincher in his vestpocket and spoke to himself again, "It's luck. " A little after six o'clock that night Jason Squiff stepped into hishouse and home and said hello to his wife and daughters. They allbegan 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 ticklishlaughter. Then they showed him. His hat was popcorn, his mittens popcorn and hisshoes popcorn. He didn't know the gold buckskin whincher had a powerand was working all the time. He didn't know the whincher in his vestpocket was saying, "You have a letter Q in your name and because youhave the pleasure and happiness of having a Q in your name you musthave a popcorn hat, popcorn mittens and popcorn shoes. " The next morning he put on another hat, another pair of mittens andanother pair of shoes. And the minute he put them on they changed topopcorn. So he tried on all his hats, mittens and shoes. Always they changed topopcorn the minute he had them on. [Illustration: His hat was popcorn, his mittens popcorn and hisshoes popcorn] He went downtown to the stores. He bought a new hat, mittens andshoes. And the minute he had them on they changed to popcorn. So he decided he would go to work and clean cisterns with his popcornhat, popcorn mittens and popcorn shoes on. The people of the Village of Cream Puffs enjoyed watching him walk upthe street, going to clean cisterns. People five and six blocks awaycould see him coming and going with his popcorn hat, popcorn mittensand popcorn shoes. When he was down in a cistern the children enjoyed looking down intothe cistern to see him work. When none of the slush and mud fell onhis hat and mittens he was easy to find. The light of the shiningpopcorn lit up the whole inside of the cistern. Sometimes, of course, the white popcorn got full of black slush andblack mud. And then when Jason Squiff came up and walked home he wasnot 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 bealone with my thoughts. Everybody looks at me when I go up thestreet. " "If I meet a funeral even the pall bearers begin to laugh at mypopcorn hat. If I meet people going to a wedding they throw all therice 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 tohorses 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 andwhite beautiful shoes like these white popcorn mittens and shoes. " When the boys yelled, "Snow man! yah-de-dah-de-dah, Snow man!" he justwaved his hand to them with an upward gesture of his arm to show hewas proud of how he looked. "They all watch for me, " he said to himself, "I am distinquished--am Inot?" he asked himself. And he put his right hand into his left hand and shook hands withhimself and said, "You certainly look fixed up. " One day he decided to throw away his vest. In the vest pocket was thegold buckskin whincher, with the power working, the power saying, "Youhave a letter Q in your name and because you have the pleasure andhappiness 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 buckskinwhincher being in the vest. He just handed the vest to a rag man. And the rag man put the vestwith the gold buckskin whincher in a bag on his back and walked away. After that Jason Squiff was like other people. His hats would neverchange to popcorn nor his mittens to popcorn nor his shoes to popcorn. And when anybody looked at him down in a cistern cleaning the cisternor when anybody saw him walking along the street they knew him by hisgreenish yellowish hair which was always full of bright lights. And so--if you have a Q in your name, be careful if you ever comeacross a gold buckskin whincher. Remember different whinchers havedifferent 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 wasdown. Street lamps began shining. Burglars were starting on theirnight's work. It was no time for an honest ragman to be knocking onpeople's back doors, saying, "Any rags?" or else saying, "Any rags?any bottles? any bones?" or else saying "Any rags? any bottles? anybones? any old iron? any copper, brass, old shoes all run down and nogood to anybody to-day? any old clothes, old coats, pants, vests? Itake 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 wasthe same old vest Jason Squiff threw out of a door at Rags Habakuk. Inthe pocket of the vest was the gold buckskin whincher with a power init. Well, Rags Habakuk got home just like always, sat down to supper andsmacked his mouth and had a big supper of fish, just like always. Thenhe went out to a shanty in the back yard and opened up the gunnysackrag bag and fixed things out classified just like every day when hecame home he opened the gunnysack bag and fixed things out classified. The last thing of all he fixed out classified was the vest with thegold buckskin whincher in the pocket. "Put it on--it's a glad rag, " hesaid, looking at the vest. "It's a lucky vest. " So he put his rightarm in the right armhole and his left arm in the left armhole. Andthere he was with his arms in the armholes of the old vest all fixedout classified new. Next morning Rags Habakuk kissed his wife g'by and his eighteen yearold girl g'by and his nineteen year old girl g'by. He kissed them justlike he always kissed them--in a hurry--and as he kissed each one hesaid, "I will be back soon if not sooner and when I come back I willreturn. " Yes, up the street went Rags Habakuk. And soon as he left homesomething happened. Standing on his right shoulder was a blue rat andstanding on his left shoulder was a blue rat. The only way he knewthey were there was by looking at them. There they were, close to his ears. He could feel the far edge oftheir 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 evenif 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 rightshoulder and squinting with his left eye slanting at the blue rat onhis left shoulder. "If I stood on somebody's shoulder with my whiskers right up insomebody's ear I would say something for somebody to listen to, " hemuttered. Of course, he did not understand it was the gold buckskin whincher andthe power working. Down in the pocket of the vest he had on, the goldbuckskin whincher power was saying, "Because you have two K's in yourname you must have two blue rats on your shoulders, one blue rat foryour right ear, one blue rat for your left ear. " It was good business. Never before did Rags Habakuk get so much oldrags. "Come again--you and your lucky blue rats, " people said to him. Theydug into their cellars and garrets and brought him bottles and bonesand 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 hisshoulders, blinking their eyes straight ahead and chewing theirwhiskers so they sometimes tickled the ears of old Rags Habakuk, sometimes women came running out on the front porch to look at him andsay, "Well, if he isn't a queer old mysterious ragman and if thoseain't queer old mysterious blue rats!" All the time the gold buckskin whincher and the power was working. Itwas saying, "So long as old Rags Habakuk keeps the two blue rats heshall have good luck--but if he ever sells one of the blue rats thenone of his daughters shall marry a taxicab driver--and if he eversells the other blue rat then his other daughter shall marry amoving-picture hero actor. " Then terrible things happened. A circus man came. "I give you onethousand dollars spot cash money for one of the blue rats, " heexpostulated with his mouth. "And I give you two thousand dollars spotcash money for the two of the blue rats both of them together. " "Show me how much spot cash money two thousand dollars is all countedout in one pile for one man to carry away home in his gunnysack ragbag, " was the answer of Rags Habakuk. The circus man went to the bank and came back with spot cashgreenbacks money. "This spot cash greenbacks money is made from the finest silk ragsprinted by the national government for the national republic to makebusiness rich and prosperous, " said the circus man, expostulating withhis mouth. "T-h-e f-i-n-e-s-t s-i-l-k r-a-g-s, " he expostulated again holding twofingers under the nose of Rags Habakuk. "I take it, " said Rags Habakuk, "I take it. It is a whole gunnysackbag full of spot cash greenbacks money. I tell my wife it is printedby the national government for the national republic to make businessrich and prosperous. " Then he kissed the blue rats, one on the right ear, the other on theleft ear, and handed them over to the circus man. And that was why the next month his eighteen year old daughter marrieda taxicab driver who was so polite all the time to his customers thathe never had time to be polite to his wife. And that was why his nineteen year old daughter married a moving-picturehero actor who worked so hard being nice and kind in the moving picturesthat he never had enough left over for his wife when he got home afterthe day's work. And the lucky vest with the gold buckskin whincher was stolen fromRags 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 pickedbecause the Broom Handle fixed her eyes. A proud child, proud but careless, banged the head of the Rag Dollagainst a door one day and knocked off both the glass eyes sewed onlong ago. It was then the Broom Handle found two black Californiaprunes, and fastened the two California prunes just where the eyesbelonged. So then the Rag Doll had two fine black eyes brand new. Shewas even nicknamed Black Eyes by some people. There was a wedding when the Rag Doll married the Broom Handle. It wasa grand wedding with one of the grandest processions ever seen at arag doll wedding. And we are sure no broom handle ever had a granderwedding 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 ofthem 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. Andas they marched in the wedding procession of the Rag Doll and theBroom Handle, they licked their spoons and looked around and lickedtheir spoons again. Next came the Tin Pan Bangers. Some had dishpans, some had fryingpans, some had potato peeling pans. All the pans were tin with tighttin bottoms. And the Tin Pan Bangers banged with knives and forks andiron and wooden bangers on the bottoms of the tin pans. And as theymarched in the wedding procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handlethey banged their pans and looked around and banged again. Then came the Chocolate Chins. They were all eating chocolates. Andthe chocolate was slippery and slickered all over their chins. Some ofthem spattered the ends of their noses with black chocolate. Some ofthem spread the brown chocolate nearly up to their ears. And then asthey marched in the wedding procession of the Rag Doll and the BroomHandle they stuck their chins in the air and looked around and stucktheir 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 bibswere dirty. The plain white bibs were dirty, the checker bibs weredirty, the stripe bibs, the blue bibs and the bibs with butterflies onthem, they were all dirty. And so in the wedding procession of the RagDoll and the Broom Handle, the Dirty Bibs marched with their dirtyfingers on the bibs and they looked around and laughed and lookedaround and laughed again. Next came the Clean Ears. They were proud. How they got into theprocession nobody knows. Their ears were all clean. They were cleannot only on the outside but they were clean on the inside. There wasnot a speck of dirt or dust or muss or mess on the inside nor theoutside of their ears. And so in the wedding procession of the RagDoll and the Broom Handle, they wiggled their ears and looked aroundand wiggled their ears again. The Easy Ticklers were next in the procession. Their faces wereshining. Their cheeks were like bars of new soap. Their ribs werestrong and the meat and the fat was thick on their ribs. It was plainto 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 theBroom Handle, they tickled themselves and laughed and looked aroundand tickled themselves again. The music was furnished mostly by the Musical Soup Eaters. Theymarched with big bowls of soup in front of them and big spoons foreating the soup. They whistled and chuzzled and snozzled the soup andthe noise they made could be heard far up at the head of theprocession where the Spoon Lickers were marching. So they dipped theirsoup and looked around and dipped their soup again. The Chubby Chubs were next. They were roly poly, round faced smackersand snoozers. They were not fat babies--oh no, oh no--not fat but justchubby and easy to squeeze. They marched on their chubby legs andchubby feet and chubbed their chubbs and looked around and chubbedtheir chubbs again. The last of all in the wedding procession of the Rag Doll and theBroom Handle were the Sleepyheads. They were smiling and glad to bemarching but their heads were slimpsing down and their smiles werehalf fading away and their eyes were half shut or a little more thanhalf shut. They staggered just a little as though their feet were notsure where they were going. They were the Sleepyheads, the last ofall, in the wedding procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handleand 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 butthe three littlest ones were named Blunk, Swunk and Junk. One day lastJanuary the three biggest had a fuss with the three littlest. The fusswas about a new hat for Snoo Foo, the snow man, about what kind of ahat he should wear and how he should wear it. Blink, Swink and Jinksaid, "He wants a crooked hat put on straight. " Blunk, Swunk and Junksaid, "He wants a straight hat put on crooked. " They fussed andfussed. Blink fussed with Blunk, Swink fussed with Swunk, and Jinkfussed with Junk. The first ones to make up after the fuss were Jinkand Junk. They decided the best way to settle the fuss. "Let's put acrooked hat on crooked, " said Jink. "No, let's put a straight hat onstraight, " said Junk. Then they stood looking and looking into eachother's shiny laughing eyes and then both of them exploded to eachother at the same time, "Let's put on two hats, a crooked hat crookedand a straight hat straight. " Well, they looked around for hats. But there were not any hatsanywhere, that is, no hats big enough for a snow man with a big headlike 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 motherwould 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 atall. She rubbed her chin with her finger and said softly, "Oh lah dedah, oh lah de dah, where is that hat ashes shovel, last week I had itwhen I was making a hat for Mister Sniggers; I remember I had that hatashes shovel right up here over the clock, oh lah de dah, oh lah dedah. 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 fivechildren waited. Bling-bling the bell began ringing and--listen--thedoor of the clock opened and the hat ashes shovel fell out. "Oh lah dedah, get out of here in a hurry, " said Missus Sniggers. Well, the children ran out and dug a big pail of hat ashes with thehat ashes shovel. And they made two hats for Snoo Foo. One was acrooked hat. The other was a straight hat. And they put the crookedhat on crooked and the straight hat on straight. And there stood SnooFoo in the front yard and everybody who came by on the street, hewould take off his hat to them, the crooked hat with his arm crookedand the straight hat with his arm straight. That was the end of thefuss between the Sniggers children and it was Jink, the littlest oneof the biggest, and Junk, the littlest one of the littlest, whosettled 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 groceryfor a jug of molasses it is just like always. And if _two_ boys go tothe grocery for a jug of molasses together it is just like always. Butif _three_ boys go to the grocery for a jug of molasses each and alltogether then it is not like always at all, at all. Eeta Peeca Pie grew up with wishes and wishes working inside him. Andfor 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 hisface 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 andsome of the suspicions got fastened on his mouth. So when he looked atother people straight in the face they used to say, "Meeny Miney looksso sad-like I wonder if he'll get by. " Miney Mo was different. He wasn't sad-like and suspicious like MeenyMiney. Nor was he full of wishes inside and freckles outside like EetaPeeca Pie. He was all mixed up inside with wishes and suspicions. Sohe had a few freckles and a few suspicions on his face. When he lookedother people straight in the face they used to say, "I don't knowwhether to laugh or cry. " So here we have 'em, three boys growing up with wishes, suspicions andmixed-up wishes and suspicions. They all looked different from eachother. Each one, however, had a secret ambition. And all three had thesame secret ambition. An ambition is a little creeper that creeps and creeps in your heartnight and day, singing a little song, "Come and find me, come and findme. " The secret ambition in the heart of Eeta Peeca Pie, Meeney Miney, andMiney Mo was an ambition to go railroading, to ride on railroad carsnight and day, year after year. The whistles and the wheels ofrailroad trains were music to them. Whenever the secret ambition crept in their hearts and made them toosad, so sad it was hard to live and stand for it, they would all threeput their hands on each other's shoulder and sing the song of Joe. Thechorus 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 eachone a jug and said, "Go to the grocery and get a jug of molasses. " Allthree got to the grocery at the same time. And all three went out ofthe door of the grocery together, each with a jug of molasses togetherand each with his secret ambition creeping around in his heart, allthree together. Two blocks from the grocery they stopped under a slippery elm tree. Eeta Peeca Pie was stretching his neck looking straight up into theslippery elm tree. He said it was always good for his freckles and ithelped 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 jugof molasses. And the jug went ka-flump, ka-flumpety-flump down on thestone sidewalk, cracked to pieces and let the molasses go running outover the sidewalk. If you have never seen it, let me tell you molasses running out of abroken jug, over a stone sidewalk under a slippery elm tree, lookspeculiar 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 alotta fun, " he said. "It tickles all over. " So Meeney Miney and MineyMo both stepped into the molasses with their bare feet. Then what happened just happened. One got littler. Another gotlittler. All three got littler. "You look to me only big as a potato bug, " said Eeta Peeca Pie toMeeney Miney and Miney Mo. "It's the same like you look to us, " saidMeeney Miney and Miney Mo to Eeta Peeca Pie. And then because theirsecret ambition began to hurt them they all stood with hands on eachother's shoulders and sang the Mexico Joe song. Off the sidewalk they strolled, across a field of grass. They passedmany 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 whenthey 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 oftwisted-nose spiders. On the main street was a store with a showwindow 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 madefrom the famous pink grass. You will lose them all, all three. Thenthey will all walk back to me here in this store on main street. I cannot sell you something I know you will surely lose. Neither can I askyou to pay, for something you will forget, somewhere sometime, and whenyou forget it, it will walk back here to me again. Look--look!" As he said "Look, " the door opened and five pink parasols camewaltzing 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 MineyMo. And once more because they all felt lonesome and their secretambitions were creeping and eating, they put their hands on theirshoulders and sang the Mexico Joe song. Then came happiness. They entered the Potato Bug Country. And they hadluck 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 nofleems you can't buy nothing nor anything. But if you got a millionfleems you're a Potato Bug millionaire. " Then he surprised them. "I like you because you got wishes and freckles, " he said to EetaPeeca Pie, filling the pockets of Eeta with fleems. "And I like you because you got suspicions and you're sad-like, " hesaid to Meeney Miney filling Meeney Miney's pockets full of fleems. "And I like you because you got some wishes and some suspicions andyou look mixed up, " he said to Miney Mo, sticking handfuls andhandfuls of fleems into the pockets of Miney Mo. Wishes do come true. And suspicions do come true. Here they had beenwishing all their lives, and had suspicions of what was going tohappen, and now it all came true. With their pockets filled with fleems they rode on all the railroadtrains of the Potato Bug Country. They went to the railroad stationsand bought tickets for the fast trains and the slow trains and eventhe trains that back up and run backward instead of where they startto go. On the dining cars of the railroads of the Potato Bug Country they atewonder ham from the famous Potato Bug Pigs, eggs from the Potato BugHens, 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 aplace to sleep, they put their hands on each other's shoulders andsang the Mexico Joe song. In the Potato Bug Country they all said theMexico Joe song was wonderful. One morning while they were waiting to take an express train on theEarly Ohio & Southwestern they sat near the roots of a big potatoplant under the big green leaves. And far above them they saw a dimblack 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 thepotato plants. A big drop of paris green spattered down and fell onto the heads andshoulders 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 ofmolasses breaking on the stone sidewalk under the slippery elm tree, their mothers said it was careless. The boys said it was lucky becauseit helped them get their secret ambitions. And a secret ambition is a little creeper that creeps and creeps inyour 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 wasBimbo the Snip. He forgot nearly everything his father and mother toldhim to do and told him not to do. One day his father, Bevo the Hike, came home and found Bimbo the Snipsitting on the front steps with his thumb fastened to his nose and thefingers wiggling. "I can't take my thumb away, " said Bimbo the Snip, "because when I putmy thumb to my nose and wiggled my fingers at the iceman the windchanged. And just like mother always said, if the wind changed thethumb would stay fastened to my nose and not come off. " Bevo the Hike took hold of the thumb and pulled. He tied a clothesline rope around it and pulled. He pushed with his foot and heelagainst it. And all the time the thumb stuck fast and the fingerswiggled from the end of the nose of Bimbo the Snip. Bevo the Hike sent for the ward alderman. The ward alderman sent forthe barn boss of the street cleaning department. The barn boss of thestreet cleaning department sent for the head vaccinator of thevaccination bureau of the health department. The head vaccinator ofthe vaccination bureau of the health department sent for the big mainfixer of the weather bureau where they understand the tricks of thewind and the wind changing. And the big main fixer of the weather bureau said, "If you hit thethumb six times with the end of a traffic policeman's club, the thumbwill come loose. " So Bevo the Hike went to a traffic policeman standing on a streetcorner with a whistle telling the wagons and cars which way to go. He told the traffic policeman, "The wind changed and Bimbo the Snip'sthumb is fastened to his nose and will not come loose till it is hitsix times with the end of a traffic policeman's club. " "I can't help you unless you find a monkey to take my place standingon the corner telling the wagons and cars which way to go, " answeredthe traffic policeman. So Bevo the Hike went to the zoo and said to a monkey, "The windchanged and Bimbo the Snip's thumb is fastened to his nose and willnot come loose till it is hit with the end of a traffic policeman'sclub six times and the traffic policeman cannot leave his place on thestreet corner telling the traffic which way to go unless a monkeycomes and takes his place. " The monkey answered, "Get me a ladder with a whistle so I can climb upand whistle and tell the traffic which way to go. " So Bevo the Hike hunted and hunted over the city and looked and lookedand asked and asked till his feet and his eyes and his head and hisheart were tired from top to bottom. Then he met an old widow woman whose husband had been killed in asewer explosion when he was digging sewer ditches. And the old womanwas carrying a bundle of picked-up kindling wood in a bag on her backbecause she did not have money enough to buy coal. Bevo the Hike told her, "You have troubles. So have I. You arecarrying a load on your back people can see. I am carrying a load andnobody sees it. " "Tell me your troubles, " said the old widow woman. He told her. Andshe said, "In the next block is an old umbrella handle maker. He has aladder with a whistle. He climbs on the ladder when he makes long longumbrella handles. And he has the whistle on the ladder to bewhistling. " Bevo the Hike went to the next block, found the house of the umbrellahandle maker and said to him, "The wind changed and Bimbo the Snip'sthumb is fastened to his nose and will not come loose till it is hitwith the end of a traffic policeman's club six times and the trafficpoliceman cannot leave the corner where he is telling the trafficwhich way to go unless a monkey takes his place and the monkey cannottake his place unless he has a ladder with a whistle to stand on andwhistle the wagons and cars which way to go. " Then the umbrella handle maker said, "To-night I have a special jobbecause I must work on a long, long umbrella handle and I will needthe ladder to climb up and the whistle to be whistling. But if youpromise 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 themonkey, the monkey took the place of the traffic policeman while thetraffic policeman went to the home of Bevo the Hike where Bimbo theSnip was sitting on the front steps with his thumb fastened to hisnose wiggling his fingers at everybody passing by on the street. The traffic policeman hit Bimbo the Snip's thumb five times with theclub. And the thumb stuck fast. But the sixth time it was hit with theend of the traffic policeman's thumb club, it came loose. Then Bevo thanked the policeman, thanked the monkey, and took theladder with the whistle back to the umbrella handle maker's house andthanked him. When Bevo the Hike got home that night Bimbo the Snip was in bed andall tickled. He said to his father, "I will be careful how I stick mythumb to my nose and wiggle my fingers the next time the windchanges. " [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 Villageof Liver-and-Onions. In the daylight when the streets poured full ofpeople buying and selling, these two skyscrapers talked with eachother the same as mountains talk. In the night time when all the people buying and selling were gonehome 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 andgray wrapper over everything, in the night when the stars and the skyshook out sheets of purple and gray mist down over the town, then thetwo skyscrapers leaned toward each other and whispered. Whether they whispered secrets to each other or whether they whisperedsimple things that you and I know and everybody knows, that is theirsecret. One thing is sure: they often were seen leaning toward eachother and whispering in the night the same as mountains lean andwhisper in the night. High on the roof of one of the skyscrapers was a tin brass goatlooking out across prairies, and silver blue lakes shining like blueporcelain breakfast plates, and out across silver snakes of windingrivers in the morning sun. And high on the roof of the otherskyscraper was a tin brass goose looking out across prairies, andsilver blue lakes shining like blue porcelain breakfast plates, andout across silver snakes of winding rivers in the morning sun. Now the Northwest Wind was a friend of the two skyscrapers. Coming sofar, coming five hundred miles in a few hours, coming so fast alwayswhile the skyscrapers were standing still, standing always on the sameold street corners always, the Northwest Wind was a bringer of news. "Well, I see the city is here yet, " the Northwest Wind would whistleto the skyscrapers. And they would answer, "Yes, and are the mountains standing yet wayout 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 tothe mountains, to the sea, " the Northwest Wind would answer. And now there was a pledge made by the Northwest Wind to the twoskyscrapers. Often the Northwest Wind shook the tin brass goat andshook the tin brass goose on top of the skyscrapers. "Are you going to blow loose the tin brass goat on my roof?" oneasked. "Are you going to blow loose the tin brass goose on my roof?" theother asked. "Oh, no, " the Northwest Wind laughed, first to one and then to theother, "if I ever blow loose your tin brass goat and if I ever blowloose your tin brass goose, it will be when I am sorry for you becauseyou are up against hard luck and there is somebody's funeral. " So time passed on and the two skyscrapers stood with their feet amongthe policemen and the taxicabs, the people buying and selling, --thecustomers with parcels, packages and bundles--while away high on theirroofs stood the goat and the goose looking out on silver blue lakeslike blue porcelain breakfast plates and silver snakes of riverswinding in the morning sun. So time passed on and the Northwest Wind kept coming, telling the newsand 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 achild standing still all its life on a street corner. Yes, if we havea 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, theGolden Spike Limited, the fastest long distance train in the RootabagaCountry. It ran across the prairie, to the mountains, to the sea. They were glad, the two skyscrapers were, glad to have a free childrunning away from the big city, far away to the mountains, far away tothe sea, running as far as the farthest mountains and sea coaststouched by the Northwest Wind. They were glad their child was useful, the two skyscrapers were, gladtheir child was carrying a thousand people a thousand miles a day, sowhen people spoke of the Golden Spike Limited, they spoke of it as astrong, lovely child. Then time passed on. There came a day when the newsies yelled asthough they were crazy. "Yah yah, blah blah, yoh yoh, " was what itsounded like to the two skyscrapers who never bothered much about whatthe newsies were yelling. "Yah yah, blah blah, yoh yoh, " was the cry of the newsies that came upagain to the tops of the skyscrapers. At last the yelling of the newsies came so strong the skyscraperslistened and heard the newsies yammering, "All about the great trainwreck! All about the Golden Spike disaster! Many lives lost! Manylives lost!" And the Northwest Wind came howling a slow sad song. And late thatafternoon a crowd of policemen, taxicab drivers, newsies and customerswith bundles, all stood around talking and wondering about two thingsnext to each other on the street car track in the middle of thestreet. One was a tin brass goat. The other was a tin brass goose. Andthey 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 oatstraw gold and the spots of timothy hay green in their marvelouscurving tail feathers, long before the doo-doo-jangers whistled amongthe honeysuckle blossoms and the bitter-basters cried their last anddying wrangling cries, long before the sad happenings that came later, it was then, some years earlier than the year Fifty Fifty, that YoungLeather and Red Slippers crossed the Rootabaga Country. To begin with, they were walking across the Rootabaga Country. Andthey were walking because it made their feet glad to feel the dirt ofthe earth under their shoes and they were close to the smells of theearth. They learned the ways of birds and bugs, why birds have wings, why bugs have legs, why the gladdywhingers have spotted eggs in abasket nest in a booblow tree, and why the chizzywhizzies scrape offlittle fiddle songs all summer long while the summer nights last. Early one morning they were walking across the corn belt of theRootabaga Country singing, "Deep Down Among the Dagger Dancers. " Theyhad just had a breakfast of coffee and hot hankypank cakes coveredwith cow's butter. Young Leather said to Red Slippers, "What is thebest secret we have come across this summer?" "That is easy to answer, " Red Slippers said with a long flish of herlong black eyelashes. "The best secret we have come across is a ropeof gold hanging from every star in the sky and when we want to go upwe 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 brotherput on a straw hat in the middle of the winter and went out on thestreets laughing; my brother had his hair cut pompompadour and wentout on the streets bareheaded in the summertime laughing; and thesethings were against the law. Worst of all he sneezed at the wrong timeand he sneezed before the wrong persons; he sneezed when it was notwise to sneeze. So he will be hanged to-morrow morning. The gallowsmade of lumber and the rope made of hemp--they are waiting for himto-morrow morning. They will tie around his neck the hangman's necktieand hoist him high. " The man with a sorry face looked more sorry than ever. It made YoungLeather feel reckless and it made Red Slippers feel reckless. Theywhispered to each other. Then Young Leather said, "Take this dollarwatch. Give it to your brother. Tell him when they are leading him tothe gallows he must take this dollar watch in his hand, wind it up andpush on the stem winder. The rest will be easy. " So the next morning when they were leading the man to be hanged to thegallows made of lumber and the rope made of hemp, where they weregoing to hoist him high because he sneezed in the wrong place beforethe wrong people, he used his fingers winding up the watch and pushingon the stem winder. There was a snapping and a slatching like a gasengine slipping into a big pair of dragon fly wings. The dollar watchchanged into a dragon fly ship. The man who was going to be hangedjumped into the dragon fly ship and flew whonging away before anybodycould stop him. Young Leather and Red Slippers were walking out of the town laughingand singing again, "Deep Down Among the Dagger Dancers. " The man witha sorry face, not so sorry now any more, came running after them. Behind the man and running after him were five long-legged spiderjack-rabbits. "These are for you, " was his exclamation. And they all sat down on thestump of a booblow tree. He opened his sorry face and told the secretsof the five long-legged spider jack-rabbits to Young Leather and RedSlippers. They waved good-by and went on up the road leading the fivenew jack-rabbits. In the next town they came to was a skyscraper higher than all theother skyscrapers. A rich man dying wanted to be remembered and leftin his last will and testament a command they should build a buildingso high it would scrape the thunder clouds and stand higher than allother skyscrapers with his name carved in stone letters on the top ofit, and an electric sign at night with his name on it, and a clock onthe tower with his name on it. "I am hungry to be remembered and have my name spoken by many peopleafter I am dead, " the rich man told his friends. "I command you, therefore, to throw the building high in the air because the higher itgoes the longer I will be remembered and the longer the years men willmention my name after I am dead. " So there it was. Young Leather and Red Slippers laughed when theyfirst saw the skyscraper, when they were far off along a country roadsinging their old song, "Deep Down Among the Dagger Dancers. " "We got a show and we give a performance and we want the whole town tosee it, " was what Young Leather and Red Slippers said to the mayor ofthe town when they called on him at the city hall. "We want a licenseand 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 overthe 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 fromus while it is daylight and you are giving your performance, then hereis your license permit, " said the mayor speaking in the manner of apolitician who has studied politics. Thousands of people came to see the show on the public square. Theywished to know how it would look to see five long-legged, spiderjack-rabbits jump over the highest skyscraper in the city. Four of the jack-rabbits had stripes. The fifth had stripes--andspots. Before they started the show Young Leather and Red Slippersheld the jack-rabbits one by one in their arms and petted them, rubbedthe feet and rubbed the long ears and ran their fingers along the longlegs of the jumpers. "Zingo, " they yelled to the first jack-rabbit. He got all ready. "Andnow zingo!" they yelled again. And the jack-rabbit took a run, liftedoff his feet and went on and on and up and up till he went over theroof of the skyscraper and then went down and down till he lit on hisfeet and came running on his long legs back to the public square wherehe started from, back where Young Leather and Red Slippers petted himand 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 threetogether in a row, their long ears touching each other, they liftedoff their feet and went on and on and up and up till they cleared theroof of the skyscraper. Then they came down and down till they lit ontheir feet and came running to the hands of Young Leather and RedSlippers to have their long legs and their long ears rubbed andpetted. Then came the turn of the fifth jack-rabbit, the beautiful one withstripes 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 thelast and fifth of the five long-legged spider jack-rabbits. "Good-by, old bunny, good-by, you're the dandiest bunny there everwas, " they whispered in his long ears. And he, because he knew whatthey were saying and why they were saying it, he wiggled his long earsand looked long and steady at them from his deep eyes. "Zango, " they yelled. He got ready. "And now zango!" they yelledagain. And the fifth jack-rabbit with his stripes and spots lifted offhis feet and went on and on and on and up and up and when he came tothe roof of the skyscraper he kept on going on and on and up and uptill 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 backand the spots on his hair, he was gone. And Young Leather and RedSlippers said they were glad they had kissed him on the nose before hewent 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. Thesidewalks and the stones, the walls and the windows all stood out milkwhite. And there was a thin blue mist drifted and shifted like awoman'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 andsoft all over and all through. It was past midnight. The Wooden Indian in front of the cigar storestepped down off his stand. The Shaghorn Buffalo in front of thehaberdasher shop lifted his head and shook his whiskers, raised hishoofs out of his hoof-tracks. Then--this is what happened. They moved straight toward each other. Inthe middle of Main Street they met. The Wooden Indian jumped straddleof the Shaghorn Buffalo. And the Shaghorn Buffalo put his head downand ran like a prairie wind straight west on Main Street. At the high hill over the big bend of the Clear Green River theystopped. They stood looking. Drifting and shifting like a woman's blueveil, the blue mist filled the valley and the milk white moon filledthe 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 andwooden feathers, and the Shaghorn Buffalo with his big head and heavyshoulders 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 eyefulof the high hill, the big bend and the moon mist on the river all blueand white and soft, after they had looked a long while, they turnedaround and the Shaghorn Buffalo put his head down and ran like aprairie wind down Main Street till he was exactly in front of thecigar store and the haberdasher shop. Then whisk! both of them wereright back like they were before, standing still, taking whatevercomes. This is the story as it came from the night policeman of the Villageof Cream Puffs. He told the people the next day, "I was sitting on thesteps of the cigar store last night watching for burglars. And when Isaw the Wooden Indian step down and the Shaghorn Buffalo step out, andthe 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 eveninghas come in summer or the lamps and fires are lit for the night inwinter, then the fathers and mothers in the Rootabaga Countrysometimes tell the young people the story of the White Horse Girl andthe 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 ofall things for her was to be straddle of a white horse loping with aloose bridle among the hills and along the rivers of the westRootabaga Country. She rode one horse white as snow, another horse white as new washedsheep wool, and another white as silver. And she could not tellbecause she did not know which of these three white horses she likedbest. "Snow is beautiful enough for me any time, " she said, "new washedsheep wool, or silver out of a ribbon of the new moon, any or eitheris white enough for me. I like the white manes, the white flanks, thewhite noses, the white feet of all my ponies. I like the forelockshanging down between the white ears of all three--my ponies. " And living neighbor to the White Horse Girl in the same prairiecountry, with the same black crows flying over their places, was theBlue Wind Boy. All the years he grew up as a boy he liked to walk withhis feet in the dirt and the grass listening to the winds. Best of allthings for him was to put on strong shoes and go hiking among thehills and along the rivers of the west Rootabaga Country, listening tothe winds. There was a blue wind of day time, starting sometimes six o'clock on asummer morning or eight o'clock on a winter morning. And there was anight wind with blue of summer stars in summer and blue of winterstars in winter. And there was yet another, a blue wind of the timesbetween night and day, a blue dawn and evening wind. All three ofthese 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 tellit I know it believes and remembers, " he said, "and the night windwith the big dark curves of the night sky in it, the night wind getsinside of me and understands all my secrets. And the blue wind of thetimes between, in the dusk when it is neither night nor day, this isthe wind that asks me questions and tells me to wait and it will bringme whatever I want. " Of course, it happened as it had to happen, the White Horse Girl andthe Blue Wind Boy met. She, straddling one of her white horses, andhe, wearing his strong hiking shoes in the dirt and the grass, it hadto happen they should meet among the hills and along the rivers of thewest Rootabaga Country where they lived neighbors. And of course, she told him all about the snow white horse and thehorse white as new washed sheep wool and the horse white as a silverribbon of the new moon. And he told her all about the blue winds heliked listening to, the early morning wind, the night sky wind, andthe wind of the dusk between, the wind that asked him questions andtold him to wait. One day the two of them were gone. On the same day of the week theWhite Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy went away. And their fathersand mothers and sisters and brothers and uncles and aunts wonderedabout them and talked about them, because they didn't tell anybodybeforehand they were going. Nobody at all knew beforehand or afterwardwhy 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, toguess and guess where two darlings had gone. Many years passed. One day there came riding across the RootabagaCountry a Gray Man on Horseback. He looked like he had come a longways. So they asked him the question they always asked of any riderwho looked like he had come a long ways, "Did you ever see the WhiteHorse 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 wouldtake years and years to ride to where they are. They were sittingtogether and talking to each other, sometimes singing, in a placewhere the land runs high and tough rocks reach up. And they werelooking out across water, blue water as far as the eye could see. Andaway 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 theblue 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 aday, white horses, some white as snow, some like new washed sheepwool, some white as silver ribbons of the new moon. "I asked them, 'Whose place is this?' They answered, 'It belongs tous; this is what we started for; this is where the white horses comefrom; this is where the blue winds begin. '" And that was all the Gray Man on Horseback would tell the people ofthe west Rootabaga Country. That was all he knew, he said, and ifthere was any more he would tell it. And the fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers and uncles andaunts of the White Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy wondered andtalked often about whether the Gray Man on Horseback made up the storyout of his head or whether it happened just like he told it. Anyhow this is the story they tell sometimes to the young people ofthe west Rootabaga Country when the dishes are washed at night and thecool of the evening has come in summer or the lamps and fires are litfor 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 onHorseback. He looked as if he had come a long ways. He looked like abrother to the same Gray Man on Horseback who said he had seen theWhite Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy. He stopped in the Village of Cream Puffs. His gray face was sad andhis eyes were gray deep and sad. He spoke short and seemed strong. Sometimes his eyes looked as if they were going to flash, but insteadof fire they filled with shadows. Yet--he did laugh once. It did happen once he lifted his head and faceto the sky and let loose a long ripple of laughs. On Main Street near the Roundhouse of the Big Spool, where they windup the string that pulls the light little town back when the windblows it away, there he was riding slow on his gray horse when he metsix 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 braidsof yellow hair and each braid of hair had a balloon tied on the end. Alittle blue wind was blowing and the many balloons tied to the braidsof the six girls swung up and down and slow and fast whenever the bluewind went up and down and slow and fast. For the first time since he had been in the Village, the eyes of theGray Man filled with lights and his face began to look hopeful. Hestopped his horse when he came even with the six girls and theballoons 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 theirheads back and forth and sideways, which of course turned all theballoons back and forth and sideways because the balloons werefastened to the fine braids of hair which were fastened to theirheads. "And where do you go when you get back where you came from?" he askedjust to be asking. "Oh, hoo-hoo-hoo, then we start out and go straight ahead and see whatwe can see, " they all answered just to be answering and they dippedtheir heads and swung them up which of course dipped all the balloonsand swung them up. So they talked, he asking just to be asking and the six balloon girlsanswering just to be answering. At last his sad mouth broke into a smile and his eyes were lit like amorning sun coming up over harvest fields. And he said to them, "Tellme why are balloons--that is what I want you to tell me--why areballoons?" The first little girl put her thumb under her chin, looked up at hersix balloons floating in the little blue wind over her head, and said:"Balloons are wishes. The wind made them. The west wind makes the redballoons. The south wind makes the blue. The yellow and green balloonscome from the east wind and the north wind. " The second little girl put her first finger next to her nose, lookedup at her six balloons dipping up and down like hill flowers in asmall wind, and said: "A balloon used to be a flower. It got tired. Then it changed itselfto a balloon. I listened one time to a yellow balloon. It was talkingto itself like people talk. It said, 'I used to be a yellow pumpkinflower stuck down close to the ground, now I am a yellow balloon highup 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 theywould wiggle while she slid with a skip, turned quick, and looking upat her balloons, spoke these words: "A balloon is foam. It comes the same as soap bubbles come. A longtime ago it used to be sliding along on water, river water, oceanwater, waterfall water, falling and falling over a rocky waterfall, any water you want. The wind saw the bubble and picked it up andcarried it away, telling it, 'Now you're a balloon--come along and seethe world. '" The fourth little girl jumped straight into the air so all six of herballoons made a jump like they were going to get loose and go to thesky--and when the little girl came down from her jump and was standingon 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 herhead down to her knees and looked at her toes, then swinging straightup and looking at the flying spotted yellow and red and greenballoons, she said: "Balloons come from orchards. Look for trees where half is oranges andhalf is orange balloons. Look for apple trees where half is redpippins and half is red pippin balloons. Look for watermelons too. Along green balloon with white and yellow belly stripes is a ghost. Itcame from a watermelon said good-by. " The sixth girl, the last one, kicked the heel of her left foot withthe toe of her right foot, put her thumbs under her ears and wiggledall her fingers, then stopped all her kicking and wiggling, and stoodlooking up at her balloons all quiet because the wind had gonedown--and she murmured like she was thinking to herself: "Balloons come from fire chasers. Every balloon has a fire chaserchasing it. All the fire chasers are made terrible quick and when theycome they burn quick, so the balloon is made light so it can run awayterrible quick. Balloons slip away from fire. If they don't they can'tbe balloons. Running away from fire keeps them light. " All the time he listened to the six girls the face of the Gray Mankept getting more hopeful. His eyes lit up. Twice he smiled. And afterhe said good-by and rode up the street, he lifted his head and face tothe sky and let loose a long ripple of laughs. He kept looking back when he left the Village and the last thing hesaw was the six girls each with six balloons fastened to the sixbraids of yellow hair hanging down their backs. The sixth little girl kicked the heel of her left foot with the toe ofher right foot and said, "He is a nice man. I think he must be ouruncle. If he comes again we shall all ask him to tell us where hethinks 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 countryroad, 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 justbeginning arithmetic. It was this kind of a night Henry Hagglyhoagly was walking down acountry road on his way to the home of Susan Slackentwist, thedaughter of the rutabaga king near the Village of Liver-and-Onions. When Henry Hagglyhoagly turned his face up to look at the sky itseemed to him as though the sky came down close to his nose, and therewas a writing in stars as though some girl had been doing arithmeticexamples, writing number 4 and number 7 and 4 and 7 over and overagain 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 andthe cold weather. " "You are good, mittens, keeping my fingers warm, " he said every oncein a while to the wool yarn mittens on his hands. The wind came tearing along and put its chilly, icy, clammy clamps onthe nose of Henry Hagglyhoagly, fastening the clamps like a nipping, gripping clothes pin on his nose. He put his wool yarn mittens up onhis nose and rubbed till the wind took off the chilly, icy, clammyclamps. His nose was warm again; he said, "Thank you, mittens, forkeeping my nose warm. " [Illustration: It seemed to him as though the sky came down closeto his nose] He spoke to his wool yarn mittens as though they were two kittens orpups, or two little cub bears, or two little Idaho ponies. "You're mychums keeping me company, " he said to the mittens. "Do you know what we got here under our left elbow?" he said to themittens, "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 aconcertina nor a fiddle. It is a guitar, a Spanish Spinnish Splishyguitar made special. "Yes, mittens, they said a strong young man like me ought to have apiano because a piano is handy to play for everybody in the house anda 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 SpinnishSplishy guitar made special in a hardware store window for eightdollars and a half. "And so, mittens--are you listening, mittens?--after cornhusking wasall husked and the oats thrashing all thrashed and the rutabagadigging all dug, I took eight dollars and a half in my inside vestpocket and I went to the hardware store. "I put my thumbs in my vest pocket and I wiggled my fingers like a manwhen he is proud of what he is going to have if he gets it. And I saidto the head clerk in the hardware store, 'Sir, the article I desire topurchase this evening as one of your high class customers, the articleI desire to have after I buy it for myself, is the article there inthe window, sir, the Spanish Spinnish Splishy guitar. ' "And, mittens, if you are listening, I am taking this Spanish SpinnishSplishy guitar to go to the home of Susan Slackentwist, the daughterof the rutabaga king near the Village of Liver-and-Onions, to sing aserenade song. " The cold wind of the bitter cold weather blew and blew, trying to blowthe guitar out from under the left elbow of Henry Hagglyhoagly. Andthe worse the wind blew the tighter he held his elbow holding theguitar where he wanted it. He walked on and on with his long legs stepping long steps till atlast he stopped, held his nose in the air, and sniffed. "Do I sniff something or do I not?" he asked, lifting his wool yarnmittens to his nose and rubbing his nose till it was warm. Again hesniffed. "Ah hah, yeah, yeah, this is the big rutabaga field near the home ofthe rutabaga king and the home of his daughter, Susan Slackentwist. " At last he came to the house, stood under the window and slung theguitar 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 freezemy hands so stiff and bitter cold my fingers will be too stiff to playthe guitar. _I will play with mittens on. _" Which he did. He stood under the window of Susan Slackentwist andplayed the guitar with his mittens on, the warm wool yarn mittens hecalled his chums. It was the first time any strong young man going tosee his sweetheart ever played the guitar with his mittens on when itwas a bitter night with a cold wind and cold weather. Susan Slackentwist opened her window and threw him a snow-bird featherto keep for a keepsake to remember her by. And for years afterwardmany a sweetheart in the Rootabaga Country told her lover, "If youwish to marry me let me hear you under my window on a winter nightplaying the guitar with wool yarn mittens on. " And when Henry Hagglyhoagly walked home on his long legs stepping longsteps, he said to his mittens, "This Spanish Spinnish Splishy guitarmade special will bring us luck. " And when he turned his face up, thesky came down close and he could see stars fixed like numbers and thearithmetic writing of a girl going to school learning to write number4 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 somethings to do, some things _not_ to do. "Never kick a slipper at the moon if it is the time for the DancingSlipper Moon when the slim early moon looks like the toe and the heelof a dancer's foot, " was the advice Mr. Wishes, the father of PeterPotato Blossom Wishes, gave to his daughter. "Why?" she asked him. "Because your slipper will go straight up, on and on to the moon, andfasten 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 passedaround to all the shoes standing in the bedrooms and closets. "The whisper of the secret was: 'To-night all the shoes and theslippers and the boots of the world are going walking without any feetin 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 walkingwhere we walk in the daytime. ' "And in the middle of the night, when the people in the beds weresleeping, the shoes and the slippers and the boots everywhere walkedout of the bedrooms and the closets. Along the sidewalks on thestreets, up and down stairways, along hallways, the shoes and slippersand the boots tramped and marched and stumbled. "Some walked pussyfoot, sliding easy and soft just like people in thedaytime. Some walked clumping and clumping, coming down heavy on theheels and slow on the toes, just like people in the daytime. "Some turned their toes in and walked pigeon-toe, some spread theirtoes 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 camehome from a dance that night. And she was tired from dancing rounddances and square dances, one steps and two steps, toe dances and toeand heel dances, dances close up and dances far apart, she was sotired she took off only one slipper, tumbled onto her bed and went tosleep with one slipper on. "She woke up in the morning when it was yet dark. And she went to thewindow and looked up in the sky and saw a Dancing Slipper Moon dancingfar 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 alittle song to herself. "She opened the window, saying again, 'Oh! what a moon!'--and kickedher 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 inthe moonshine. "It never came back, that slipper. It was never seen again. When theyasked the girl about it she said, 'It slipped off my foot and went upand up and the last I saw of it the slipper was going on straight tothe moon. '" And these are the explanations why fathers and mothers in theRootabaga Country say to their girls growing up, "Never kick a slipperat the moon if it is the time of the Dancing Slipper Moon when theends 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 overthem. 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 ranstraight to the Big Lake of the Booming Rollers. And just over the sand flat and just over the booming rollers was ahigh 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 makingpictures, 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 stubpines on the sand flats next to the booming rollers and high overeverything and always last and highest of all, the stars. " Fire the Goat laid his horns under his head. Flim the Goose laid hiswings under his head. "This is the best place for what you want tokeep, " they said to each other. Then they crossed their fingers forluck and lay down and went to sleep and slept. And while they sleptthe mist people went on making pictures. Gray pictures, blue andsometimes a little gold but more often silver, such were the picturesthe mist people went on making while Fire the Goat and Flim the Goosewent on sleeping. And over everything and always last and highest ofall, were the stars. They woke up. Fire the Goat took his horns out and put them on. "It'smorning now, " he said. Flim the Goose took his wings out and put them on. "It's another daynow, " he said. Then they sat looking. Away off where the sun was coming up, inchingand pushing up far across the rim curve of the Big Lake of the BoomingRollers, along the whole line of the east sky, there were people andanimals, all black or all so gray they were near black. There was a big horse with his mouth open, ears laid back, front legsthrown in two curves like harvest sickles. There was a camel with two humps, moving slow and grand like he hadall the time of all the years of all the world to go in. There was an elephant without any head, with six short legs. Therewere many cows. There was a man with a club over his shoulder and awoman with a bundle on the back of her neck. And they marched on. They were going nowhere, it seemed. And they weregoing slow. They had plenty of time. There was nothing else to do. Itwas fixed for them to do it, long ago it was fixed. And so they weremarching. Sometimes the big horse's head sagged and dropped off and came backagain. Sometimes the humps of the camel sagged and dropped off andcame back again. And sometimes the club on the man's shoulder gotbigger and heavier and the man staggered under it and then his legsgot bigger and stronger and he steadied himself and went on. And againsometimes the bundle on the back of the neck of the woman got biggerand heavier and the bundle sagged and the woman staggered and her legsgot bigger and stronger and she steadied herself and went on. This was the show, the hippodrome, the spectacular circus that passedon 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 Gooseasked Fire the Goat. [Illustration: Away off where the sun was coming up, there werepeople 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 andkin 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 byanybody. " Flim the Goose held up his fingers and said, "I don't talk to you withmy fingers crossed. " And so Fire the Goat began to explain to Flim the Goose all about theshow, the hippodrome, the mastodonic cyclopean spectacle which waspassing on the east sky in front of the sun coming up. "People say they are shadows, " began Fire the Goat. "That is a name, aword, a little cough and a couple of syllables. "For some people shadows are comic and only to laugh at. For someother people shadows are like a mouth and its breath. The breath comesout and it is nothing. It is like air and nobody can make it into apackage and carry it away. It will not melt like gold nor can youshovel it like cinders. So to these people it means nothing. "And then there are other people, " Fire the Goat went on. "There areother people who understand shadows. The fire-born understand. Thefire-born know where shadows come from and why they are. "Long ago, when the Makers of the World were done making the roundearth, the time came when they were ready to make the animals to puton the earth. They were not sure how to make the animals. They did notknow what shape animals they wanted. "And so they practised. They did not make real animals at first. Theymade only shapes of animals. And these shapes were shadows, shadowslike these you and I, Fire the Goat and Flim the Goose, are looking atthis morning across the booming rollers on the east sky where the sunis coming up. "The shadow horse over there on the east sky with his mouth open, hisears laid back, and his front legs thrown in a curve like harvestsickles, that shadow horse was one they made long ago when they werepractising to make a real horse. That shadow horse was a mistake andthey threw him away. Never will you see two shadow horses alike. Allshadow horses on the sky are different. Each one is a mistake, ashadow horse thrown away because he was not good enough to be a realhorse. "That elephant with no head on his neck, stumbling so grand on sixlegs--and that grand camel with two humps, one bigger than theother--and those cows with horns in front and behind--they are allmistakes, they were all thrown away because they were not made goodenough to be real elephants, real cows, real camels. They were madejust for practice, away back early in the world before any realanimals came on their legs to eat and live and be here like the restof us. "That man--see him now staggering along with the club over hisshoulder--see how his long arms come to his knees and sometimes hishands drag below his feet. See how heavy the club on his shouldersloads 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 forpractice. "And that woman. See her now at the end of that procession across thebooming rollers on the east sky. See her the last of all, the end ofthe procession. On the back of her neck a bundle. Sometimes the bundlegets bigger. The woman staggers. Her legs get bigger and stronger. Shepicks herself up and goes along shaking her head. She is the same asthe 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 thefire-born. I do not know whether you understand. We have slepttogether a night on the sand flats next to the booming rollers, underthe stub pines with the stars high over--and so I tell what thefathers of the fire-born tell their sons. " And that day Fire the Goat and Flim the Goose moved along the sandflat 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 eastthey were sometimes streak purple, sometimes changing bluebellstripes. And to the south they were silver blue, sheet blue. Where the shadow hippodrome marched on the east sky that morning was along line of blue-bird spots. "Only the fire-born understand blue, " said Fire the Goat to Flim theGoose. 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 hishead while he slept and Flim the Goose took off his wings and laidthem 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 theblack lands and then slowly change to big corn and go marching on fromthe 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'tbe any corn. All children know this. All boys and girls know that corn is no goodunless there are corn fairies. Have you ever stood in Illinois or Iowa and watched the late summerwind or the early fall wind running across a big cornfield? It looksas if a big, long blanket were being spread out for dancers to comeand dance on. If you look close and if you listen close you can seethe corn fairies come dancing and singing--sometimes. If it is a wildday and a hot sun is pouring down while a cool north wind blows--andthis happens sometimes--then you will be sure to see thousands of cornfairies marching and countermarching in mocking grand marches over thebig, long blanket of green and silver. Then too they sing, only youmust listen with your littlest and newest ears if you wish to heartheir singing. They sing soft songs that go pla-sizzy pla-sizzy-sizzy, and each song is softer than an eye wink, softer than a Nebraskababy's thumb. And Spink, who is a little girl living in the same house with the manwriting this story, and Skabootch, who is another little girl in thesame house--both Spink and Skabootch are asking the question, "How canwe tell corn fairies if we see 'em? If we meet a corn fairy how willwe know it?" And this is the explanation the man gave to Spink who isolder than Skabootch, and to Skabootch who is younger than Spink:-- All corn fairies wear overalls. They work hard, the corn fairies, andthey are proud. The reason they are proud is because they work sohard. And the reason they work so hard is because they have overalls. But understand this. The overalls are corn gold cloth, woven fromleaves of ripe corn mixed with ripe October corn silk. In the firstweek of the harvest moon coming up red and changing to yellow andsilver the corn fairies sit by thousands between the corn rows weavingand 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 eachone must point the big toe at the moon while sewing the harvest moonclothes. When the moon comes up red as blood early in the evening theypoint their big toes slanting toward the east. Then towards midnightwhen the moon is yellow and half way up the sky their big toes areonly half slanted as they sit cross-legged sewing. And after midnightwhen the moon sails its silver disk high overhead and toward the west, then the corn fairies sit sewing with their big toes pointed nearlystraight up. If it is a cool night and looks like frost, then the laughter of thecorn fairies is something worth seeing. All the time they sit sewingtheir next year clothes they are laughing. It is not a law they haveto laugh. They laugh because they are half-tickled and glad because itis a good corn year. And whenever the corn fairies laugh then the laugh comes out of themouth like a thin gold frost. If you should be lucky enough to see athousand corn fairies sitting between the corn rows and all of themlaughing, you would laugh with wonder yourself to see the gold frostcoming from their mouths while they laughed. Travelers who have traveled far, and seen many things, say that if youknow the corn fairies with a real knowledge you can always tell by thestitches in their clothes what state they are from. In Illinois the corn fairies stitch fifteen stitches of ripe corn silkacross the woven corn leaf cloth. In Iowa they stitch sixteenstitches, in Nebraska seventeen, and the farther west you go the morecorn silk stitches the corn fairies have in the corn cloth clothesthey wear. In Minnesota one year there were fairies with a blue sash ofcorn-flowers across the breast. In the Dakotas the same year all thefairies wore pumpkin-flower neckties, yellow four-in-hands and yellowascots. And in one strange year it happened in both the states of Ohioand Texas the corn fairies wore little wristlets of white morningglories. The traveler who heard about this asked many questions and found outthe reason why that year the corn fairies wore little wristlets ofwhite morning glories. He said, "Whenever fairies are sad they wearwhite. And this year, which was long ago, was the year men weretearing down all the old zigzag rail fences. Now those old zigzag railfences were beautiful for the fairies because a hundred fairies couldsit on one rail and thousands and thousands of them could sit on thezigzags and sing pla-sizzy pla-sizzy, softer than an eye-wink, softerthan a baby's thumb, all on a moonlight summer night. And they foundout 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 wearwhite. So they picked the wonderful white morning glories runningalong the zigzag rail fences and made them into little wristlets andwore 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 theevening, the night time and the moonlight. Now we shall see how theylook in the day time. In the day time the corn fairies have their overalls of corn goldcloth on. And they walk among the corn rows and climb the corn stalksand fix things in the leaves and stalks and ears of the corn. Theyhelp it to grow. Each one carries on the left shoulder a mouse brush to brush away thefield mice. And over the right shoulder each one has a cricket broomto sweep away the crickets. The brush is a whisk brush to brush awaymice that get foolish. And the broom is to sweep away crickets thatget foolish. Around the middle of each corn fairy is a yellow-belly belt. And stuckin this belt is a purple moon shaft hammer. Whenever the wind blowsstrong and nearly blows the corn down, then the fairies run out andtake their purple moon shaft hammers out of their yellow-belly beltsand nail down nails to keep the corn from blowing down. When a rainstorm is blowing up terrible and driving all kinds of terribles acrossthe cornfield, then you can be sure of one thing. Running like thewind among the corn rows are the fairies, jerking their purple moonshaft hammers out of their belts and nailing nails down to keep thecorn standing up so it will grow and be ripe and beautiful when theharvest moon comes again in the fall. Spink and Skabootch ask where the corn fairies get the nails. Theanswer to Spink and Skabootch is, "Next week you will learn all aboutwhere the corn fairies get the nails to nail down the corn if you willkeep your faces washed and your ears washed till next week. " And the next time you stand watching a big cornfield in late summer orearly fall, when the wind is running across the green and silver, listen with your littlest and newest ears. Maybe you will hear thecorn 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 Winnipegwheat country, not so far from the town of Moose Jaw named for the jawof a moose shot by a hunter there, up where the blizzards and thechinooks begin, where nobody works unless they have to and they nearlyall 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 HeadSpotter of the Weather Makers. When the animals lost their tails it was because the Head Spotter ofthe Weather Makers at Medicine Hat was careless. The tails of the animals were stiff and dry because for a long whilethere was dusty dry weather. Then at last came rain. And the waterfrom the sky poured on the tails of the animals and softened them. Then the chilly chills came whistling with icy mittens and they frozeall the tails stiff. A big wind blew up and blew and blew till all thetails of the animals blew off. It was easy for the fat stub hogs with their fat stub tails. But itwas not so easy for the blue fox who uses his tail to help him when heruns, when he eats, when he walks or talks, when he makes pictures orwrites letters in the snow or when he puts a snack of bacon meat withstripes of fat and lean to hide till he wants it under a big rock by ariver. [Illustration: There on a high stool in a high tower, on a high hillsits the Head Spotter of the Weather Makers] It was easy enough for the rabbit who has long ears and no tail at allexcept a white thumb of cotton. But it was hard for the yellowflongboo who at night lights up his house in a hollow tree with hisfire yellow torch of a tail. It is hard for the yellow flongboo tolose his tail because it lights up his way when he sneaks at night onthe prairie, sneaking up on the flangwayers, the hippers andhangjasts, so good to eat. The animals picked a committee of representatives to represent them ina parleyhoo to see what steps could be taken by talking to dosomething. There were sixty-six representatives on the committee andthey decided to call it the Committee of Sixty Six. It was adistinguished committee and when they all sat together holding theirmouths under their noses (just like a distinguished committee) andblinking their eyes up over their noses and cleaning their ears andscratching themselves under the chin looking thoughtful (just like adistinguished 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 hadhad their tails on. If the big wavy streak of a blue tail blows offbehind a blue fox, he doesn't look near so distinguished. Or, if thelong yellow torch of a tail blows off behind a yellow flongboo, hedoesn't look so distinguished as he did before the wind blew. So the Committee of Sixty Six had a meeting and a parleyhoo to decidewhat steps could be taken by talking to do something. For chairmanthey picked an old flongboo who was an umpire and used to umpire manymix-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 familiesliving next door neighbors to each other and this old flongboo wascalled in to umpire and to say which family was right and which familywas 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 togo and how far not to go. " He was from Massachusetts, born nearChappaquiddick, this old flongboo, and he lived there in a horsechestnut tree six feet thick half way between South Hadley andNorthampton. And at night, before he lost his tail, he lighted up thebig hollow cave inside the horse chestnut tree with his yellow torchof a tail. After he was nominated with speeches and elected with votes to be thechairman, he stood up on the platform and took a gavel and banged withthe 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, " hesaid, banging his gavel again. A blue fox from Waco, Texas, with his ears full of dry bluebonnetleaves from a hole where he lived near the Brazos river, stood up andsaid, "Mr. Chairman, do I have the floor?" "You have whatever you get away with--I get your number, " said thechairman. "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 thetrain till it stops and then take another train and take more trainsand keep on riding till we get to Medicine Hat, near the Saskatchewanriver, in the Winnipeg wheat country where the Head Spotter of theWeather Makers sits on a high stool in a high tower on a high hillspotting the weather. There we will ask him if he will respectfullylet us beseech him to bring back weather that will bring back ourtails. It was the weather took away our tails; it is the weather canbring back our tails. " "All in favor of the motion, " said the chairman, "will clean theirright ears with their right paws. " And all the blue foxes and all the yellow flongboos began cleaningtheir right ears with their right paws. "All who are against the motion will clean their left ears with theirleft paws, " said the chairman. And all the blue foxes and all the yellow flongboos began cleaningtheir left ears with their left paws. "The motion is carried both ways--it is a razmataz, " said thechairman. "Once again, all in favor of the motion will stand up on thetoes 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 thetoes of their hind legs and stuck their noses straight up in the air. "And now, " said the chairman, "all who are against the motion willstand on the top and the apex of their heads, stick their hind legsstraight 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 flongboosstood on the top and the apex of his head nor stuck his hind legs upin 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, " thechairman asked a policeman. It was the first time a flongboo everspoke 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 thepoliceman. The flongboo's eyes changed their lights and a slow torch of firesprang out behind where his tail used to be. And speaking to thepoliceman, he said, "Sir, I must inform you, publicly and respectfully, that we are The Committee of Sixty Six. We are honorable anddistinguished representatives from places your honest and ignorantgeography never told you about. This committee is going to ride on thecars to Medicine Hat near the Saskatchewan river in the Winnipeg wheatcountry where the blizzards and chinooks begin. We have a specialmessage and a secret errand for the Head Spotter of the WeatherMakers. " "I am a polite friend of all respectable people--that is why I wearthis star to arrest people who are not respectable, " said thepoliceman, touching with his pointing finger the silver and nickelstar fastened with a safety pin on his blue uniform coat. "This is the first time ever in the history of the United States thata committee of sixty-six blue foxes and flongboos has ever visited acity in the United States, " insinuated the flongboo. "I beg to be mistaken, " finished the policeman. "The union depot isunder that clock. " And he pointed to a clock near by. "I thank you for myself, I thank you for the Committee of Sixty Six, Ithank you for the sake of all the animals in the United States whohave lost their tails, " finished the chairman. Over to the Philadelphia union depot they went, all sixty-six, halfblue foxes, half flongboos. As they pattered pitty-pat, pitty-pat, each with feet and toenails, ears and hair, everything but tails, intothe Philadelphia union depot, they had nothing to say. And yet thoughthey had nothing to say the passengers in the union depot waiting fortrains thought they had something to say and were saying it. So thepassengers in the union depot waiting for trains listened. But withall their listening the passengers never heard the blue foxes andyellow flongboos say anything. "They are saying it to each other in some strange language from wherethey belong, " said one passenger waiting for a train. "They have secrets to keep among each other, and never tell us, " saidanother passenger. "We will find out all about it reading the newspapers upside downto-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, everythingexcept tails, pattered scritch scratch over the stone floors out intothe train shed. They climbed into a special smoking car hooked onahead of the engine. "This car hooked on ahead of the engine was put on special for us sowe 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 neverleft the rails. It came to the Horseshoe Curve near Altoona where thetracks bend like a big horseshoe. Instead of going around the longwinding bend of the horseshoe tracks up and around the mountains, thetrain acted different. The train jumped off the tracks down into thevalley and cut across in a straight line on a cut-off, jumped on thetracks again and went on toward Ohio. The conductor said, "If you are going to jump the train off thetracks, tell us about it beforehand. " "When we lost our tails nobody told us about it beforehand, " said theold flongboo umpire. Two baby blue foxes, the youngest on the committee, sat on the frontplatform. Mile after mile of chimneys went by. Four hundred smokestacksstood 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 thefirst baby blue fox. "I believe your affidavit, " said the second blue fox. Crossing Ohio and Indiana at night the flongboos took off the roof ofthe car. The conductor told them, "I must have an explanation. " "Itwas between us and the stars, " they told him. The train ran into Chicago. That afternoon there were pictures upsidedown in the newspapers showing the blue foxes and the yellow flongboosclimbing telephone poles standing on their heads eating pink ice creamwith iron axes. Each blue fox and yellow flongboo got a newspaper for himself and eachone looked long and careful upside down to see how he looked in thepicture in the newspaper climbing a telephone pole standing on hishead eating pink ice cream with an iron ax. Crossing Minnesota the sky began to fill with the snow ghosts ofMinnesota snow weather. Again the foxes and flongboos lifted the roofoff the car, telling the conductor they would rather wreck the trainthan miss the big show of the snow ghosts of the first Minnesota snowweather of the winter. Some went to sleep but the two baby blue foxes stayed up all nightwatching the snow ghosts and telling snow ghost stories to each other. Early in the night the first baby blue fox said to the second, "Whoare 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 fishor a snow pattycake, everybody has a snow ghost. " And that was only the beginning of their talk. It would take a big bookto tell all that the two baby foxes told each other that night aboutthe Minnesota snow ghosts, because they sat up all night telling oldstories their fathers and mothers and grandfathers and grandmotherstold them, and making up new stories never heard before about where thesnow ghosts go on Christmas morning and how the snow ghosts watch theNew Year in. Somewhere between Winnipeg and Moose Jaw, somewhere it was theystopped the train and all ran out in the snow where the white moon wasshining down a valley of birch trees. It was the Snowbird Valley whereall the snowbirds of Canada come early in the winter and make theirsnow shoes. At last they came to Medicine Hat, near the Saskatchewan River, wherethe blizzards and the chinooks begin, where nobody works unless theyhave to and they nearly all have to. There they ran in the snow tillthey came to the place where the Head Spotter of the Weather Makerssits on a high stool in a high tower on a high hill watching theweather. "Let loose another big wind to blow back our tails to us, let loose abig freeze to freeze our tails onto us again, and so let us get backour lost tails, " they said to the Head Spotter of the Weather Makers. Which was just what he did, giving them exactly what they wanted, sothey all went back home satisfied, the blue foxes each with a big wavybrush of a tail to help him when he runs, when he eats, when he walksor talks, when he makes pictures or writes letters in the snow or whenhe puts a snack of bacon meat with stripes of fat and lean to hidetill he wants it under a big rock by the river--and the yellowflongboos each with a long yellow torch of a tail to light up his homein a hollow tree or to light up his way when he sneaks at night on theprairie, sneaking up on the flangwayer, the hipper or the hangjast. [Illustration]