Rootabaga Stories

Potato Fac

Ice

ck

ie L

ace the

og th

on Wh

hovelin

ermel

Gold

Silve

te Moon

zz

the Ax

Face Blind

d Rabbit o

ord

n accordion on the Main Street corner nearest th

18 carat gold accordion with rich pawnshop diamonds in it; it loo

aid the Potato Face Blind Man, "and there was a diamond ra

iamond rabbits?" A

his diamond toenails. When I play good pieces so people cry hearing my accordion music, then I put my fingers

hop and took it out and somebody stole it again and took it to a pawnshop and took it out and somebody stole it again. And they kept

ed to be. It knows more knowledge than it used to know just the same as

t it," said A

wind in a sleepy valley, then while the blind man is sleeping the diamonds in the diamond rabbit all go away. I play a sleepy song and go to sleep and I wake up and the diamond ear of the diamond rabbit is gone. I play another sleepy song and go t

ng I can do?" as

e sleepy valleys. And that carries me away where I have time and money to dream about the new wonderful accordions and postof

to Face Blin

a Fine Sp

ork sitting at the corner nearest the postoffice in the Village of Liver-and-Onions and playing his gold-that-used-to-be accordion f

yodeling their yisters in the long branches of the lingering leaves. So-so-I am going to listen to myself playing on my accordion the same yist

ng a little thimble. On the bottom button of his coat he hung a tin copper cup. On the middle button he hung a wooden mug. By

Face Blind Man," he sang to himself like a little song as he began running his fingers up

people will stop

Face Bl

d wished to know. And so this is how the questions and answers ran

r accordion so fast sometimes, so slow sometimes, so

ng when they button loose the winter unde

u little

u little

little thimble on the t

ome people see it and say, 'Oh, I must

tin cop

feet and throw in nickels and pennies. The one who t

e woode

tom. The nickel goes in and comes out again. It is for the very poo

iron washtub-what are they doing by the s

cause they might get afraid their money is no good any more. If such a happening ever happens then it will be nice for the peo

gn-why is it, 'I

ut, they have eyes-but they see nothing with their eyes. They look where they are going and they get where they wish to get, but they forget

explanations and I tha

ike lingering leaves out of the accordion-along with the song the mama flummywi

the Baboon

Ti

k seeds on the red meat, then in the Rootabaga Country they

the upstairs room of the Potato Face Blind Man. Poker Face the Baboon an

d. "They sleep with you to-night and to-mor

?" asked the Pota

your good luck if it is good. They

my ears get yo

t the postoffice in the Village of Liver-and-Onions, next to him on the right hand side sitting on the

er Face was something faraway. In the eyes of Hot Dog was something hungry. Whitson Whimble, the patent clothes wringer manufacturer

mmanded the chauff

Hot Dog the Tiger and saw something hungry. Then he read the sign painted by the Potato Face Blind Man saying, "You look at 'em and see 'em; I look

et with a wheelbarrow. He stopped in front of the Potato Fa

aluminum dishp

sidewalk," answered th

galvanized i

t side on t

e aluminum dishpan and the galvanized iron washtub. He shoveled out of the wheelbarrow till the dishpan

a heavy load of money to-night, an aluminum dishpan full of silver dollars and a galvanized iron washtub

. He tied a pink string to their legs and

rown hair of the jungle painted on his black skin and a black nose painted on his brown face. Hot Dog the Tiger went to sleep on the hard coal at the south end of the woodshed and when he was asl

to Face Blind Man, "They left a note in their own handwriting

at is why many people in the Rootabaga Country keep their eyes open for a Watermelon Moon i

-to-the-Moon

Face Bl

ato Face Blind Man sat on the

g and said, "This is th

t knee to his left knee, and singing softly to the tune he was fumbling on t

dry on the branches and fall into the air, and the wind blows them and they make a song saying, 'Hush baby, hush

ot sad," was the

Five weeks before the first snow flurry this dream always comes back to me. It says, 'The black leaves are falling now and

the white moon tobogga

niffering. I looked a long while before I saw what the big white spiders on the moon were doing. I saw after a while they were weaving a long toboggan, a white toboggan, white and soft as sn

the White Gold Boys and the Blue Silver Girls as they slid out of the toboggan at my feet. I could pick up a whole handful of them and hold them in my hand and talk with them. Yet, you understand, whenever I tried to shut my

get?' The other said, 'I got hazel nuts.' I listened more and I found out there are millions of pumpkins and millions of hazel nuts so small you and I can not see them. These ch

day. "And will you tell me how they get back t

moon as to slide down. Sliding up and sliding down is the same for them. The big whi

the Ax Fou

Railroad

Zig

cistern and came out with a wheelbarrow full of goldfish wearing new jewelry. How do I know? Maybe the man in the moon going down a cellar stairs to get a pitcher of butter-milk for the woman in the moon to drink and

n and looked at the different necktie poppies growing early in the summer. Then he picked one of the n

ecktie scarf," said Gimme the Ax. "It is a necktie with a picture l

ng an accordion on the corner next nearest the postoffice. He asked the Potato

, long before there was a necktie scarf like yours with whiteface pony spots on a green frog swimming in t

uns zigzag on zigzag legs, eats zigzag with zigz

igzag legs, and spit and twisted with their zigzag teeth and tongues till they twisted the whole railroad and all the rails and

ds where they sleep and cover themselves w

ils and water dippers for the shovelmen to drink after shoveling the railroad straight. And I nearly forgot to say

t again. They looked at the job and said to thems

the rails. When they saw the railroad all straight again, and the rails and the ties

nd spit and twisted till they spit and twisted all the rails and the ties and the spi

s and to each other, the same as the shovelmen, the smooth engineers

he which-it was the zizz

d the Potato Face Blind Man. "

ld it t

inter. In the morning I said, 'Good morning, zizzies, did you have a good sleep last night and pleasant dreams?' And af