Rootabaga Stories


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

 



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

Never Kick a Slipper at the Moon  185

 

7.

One Story--"Only the Fire-Born Understand Blue"

Sand Flat Shadows  191

 

8.

Two Stories About Corn Fairies, Blue Foxes, Flongboos and Happenings That Happened in the United States and Canada

How to Tell Corn Fairies If You See 'Em  205

How the Animals Lost Their Tails and Got Them Back Traveling From Philadelphia to Medicine Hat  213


FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

 

PAGE
The balloons floated and filled the sky Frontispiece
He opened the ragbag and took out all the spot cash money 7
Then the uncles asked her the first question first 21
They held on to the long curved tails of the rusty rats 33
“I am sure many people will stop and remember the Potato Face Blind Man” 47
His hat was popcorn, his mittens popcorn and his shoes popcorn 83
They stepped into the molasses with their bare feet 113
The monkey took the place of the traffic policeman 129
So they stood looking 153
It seemed to him as though the sky came down close to his nose 177
Away off where the sun was coming up, there were people and animals 195
There on a high stool in a high tower, on a high hill sits the Head Spotter of the Weather Makers 215

1. Three Stories About the Finding of the Zigzag Railroad, the Pigs with Bibs On, the Circus Clown Ovens, the Village of Liver-and-Onions, the Village of Cream Puffs.

People: Gimme the Ax
  Please Gimme
  Ax Me No Questions
  The Ticket Agent
  Wing Tip the Spick
   
  The Four Uncles
  The Rat in a Blizzard
  The Five Rusty Rats
   
More People:  
  Balloon Pickers
  Baked Clowns
  Polka Dot Pigs



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