Rootabaga Stories

: Gimm

se G

No Que

icket

ip the

our U

in a B

ve Rus

Peo

on Pi

d Cl

a Do

roke Away

baga

ouse where everything is

e doorknobs open the doors. The windows are always either open or shut. We are always

let his childre

ey learn to make words shall be their nam

the Ax, he was named Please Gimme. When the fi

by night in their eyes and the lights of early mor

turn the doorknobs, open the doors, and run out to have the wind comb thei

mme the Ax said to himself, "My first boy is my last and my l

g is the same as it always was. They learned to say just as their father said, "The chimney sits on top of the house and lets the smoke out, the doork

of the evening after they had eggs for breakfast in the

long anywhere," said the t

n and the tough daughter of Gimme the Ax, answered th

stures, pepper pickers, pitchforks, everyt

erent neighbors said, "They are going to Kansas, to Kokomo, to Cana

ghed in his hat five ways and said, "They are going to the moon and when

, pastures, pepper pickers, pitchforks, Gimme the Ax put in

only son, and Ax Me No Questions, his oldest and younge

at the window selling railroa

g and took out all

you wish a ticket to go away and never come back?"

the sky and never come back-send us far as the railroad rails g

out his eyes. "Then I will give you a new ticket. It blew in. It is

the ticket agent three times he opened the ragbag and took out all the spot cash money he got for selling

e, twice, three times at the long yellow lea

n, showed the conductor his ticket and they started to ride to where the

railroad tracks run off into the blue sky. And it ran on

og's nose choked and spit pfisty-pfoost, pfisty-pfoost, pfisty-pfoost. But no matter what happened to the whistle and the bell and th

his fingers in and took out the long slick yellow

camels, and all their speedy, spotted, lucky lizards,

n the same track. One train was going one way. The other

ppened?" the childre

ered. "This is the Over and Under country. Nobody gets out

rst, was the balloon crop of that summer. The sky was thick with balloons. Red, blue, yellow balloons, white, purple and orange balloons-p

his own stilts, long or short. For picking balloons near the ground he had short s

fell off the stilts the handful of balloons they were holding ke

climbing like a bird in the morning?

"The songs came out of his neck and made him s

down again back t

n his songs are all gone. Then he

en he felt like it. The fireman rang the bell when he felt that way. And somet

owns come from," said Gimme the Ax to hi

short ovens, fat stubby ovens, lean lank ovens, all for baking eit

ut into the sunshine and put up to stand like a big w

l. One man threw a bucket of white fire over it. The second man

rs, wriggled his toes, jumped away from the fence and began turning handsprin

of Liver-and-Onions," said Gimme the Ax, looking again in his pocket to be sur

raight and began running in zigzags like one lette

e train all stopped being straight and changed to zigzags lik

f way and then back up,"

bibs on," said Gimme the Ax. "If the pigs are w

agging cars and the first pigs they saw had bibs on. And

e striped pigs had striped bibs on. And

s to have bibs on?" Pleas

s have checker fathers and mothers. The striped pigs have striped fathers

e tracks and the rails and the spikes and the ties wh

the Village of Liver-and-Onions, known as the

ou get there because the railroad tracks change from straight to zigz

ures, pepper pickers, pitchforks, put the spot cash money in a ragbag and go to the railroad statio

icket agent wipes sleep from his eyes

ing Back th

s When the

A

d-Onions to visit her uncle and her uncle's uncle on her mother

their little relation, their niece. Each one of the four

eyes are so blue, such a clear light blue, they are the same as cornflowers with blue rain

ck, said, "Her eyes are so blue, such a clear light shining blue, they are the same as cornflowers with

about her blue eyes, she did say to herself when they were not listening, "I know

us ask you two questions, first the first

asked her the fi

ns to-morrow morning, and fifty questions any morning. I like to l

"Where do you come from?" and the second question

Cream Puffs, a little light village on the upland corn prairie. From a long ways off it look

er uncle. "Tell it without stopping," added another uncle.

s light the same as a cream puff is light. It sits all by itself on the big long prairie where the prairie goes up in a slope. Ther

hen the wind gets rough it picks up the little Village of C

cle. "Um-m-m-m," said

in summer and winter. And they understand the rough wind who comes sometimes

ll see a big roundhouse. If you take the top off the roundhouse you

string winds loose of the spool, because the village is fastened to the string. So the rough wind blows and blows and t

the fun it wants, then the people of the village all come together and b

cle. "Um-m-m-m," said

aybe she will lead you through the middle of the city to the public square and show you the roundhouse. They call it

y do you have two freckles on your chin?" interrupted

eckle must be the same as a little burnt cream puff kept in the oven too long. After the two freckles looking like two little burnt cream puffs are put on her chin,

her three uncles. And they talked among each other

t blue, the same as cornflowers with blue raindrops shining and danc

elf, "I know for sure now these are sweet uncles and I

Rusty Rats

Vi

lage of Liver-and-Onions, a blizzard came up. Snow filled the sky and th

gravy on a beefsteak. The rat had a basket. In the basket was a catfish. And the rat said, "Please let me have a lit

o time for rats to be around-and we would like to

, the five lucky rats of the Village of Cream Puffs, p

d thought, as they had thought before, how her eyes were clear light blue the same a

the gray rat the way to the kitchen and the fire and the salt. And they watched the rat and kept him company w

Wing Tip the Spick and asked her to tell them about the five rusty lucky rats of the

her gave me a birthday present because I was nine years old. I remember how he said to me, 'You wil

ast. The other clock ran slow. And he told me if I wished to be early anywhere I should go by the

e public square near the Roundhouse of the Big Spool. There he pointed his finger at the statu

hats and how to slip off their slip-on shoes, long ago in the faraway Village of Liver-and-Onions, the people who ate cream puffs came together and met in the streets and picked up their baggage a

e long curved tail

s on their shoulders. And a blizzard came up. Snow filled the sky. The wind

nd changed black and twisted and spit icicles in their faces. They got lost in the bliz

and especially, most especially of all, rust on their long curved tails. They dug their noses down into the snow and their long

where the Village of Cream Puffs now stands. It was the rusty rats who saved their lives and showed them where to put their new village. That is why this statue now stands in th

, long before the snow birds began to wear slip-on hats and slip-on shoes, long befo

e uncles. "Um-m-m-m," sai

nions and cross the Shampoo River and ride many miles across the upland prairie till you co

ore polite she will take you through the middle of the town to the public square and show you the statue of the five rusty lucky rats with their long curved tails s