“That is the story as my grandfather told it to me. And he said it happened long ago, long before the snow birds began to wear slip-on hats and slip-on shoes, long before they learned how to slip off the slip-on hats and to slip off the slip-on shoes.” 

“O-h-h-h,” said one of the uncles. “Um-m-m-m,” said the other three uncles. 

“And sometime,” added Wing Tip the Spick, “when you go away from the Village of Liver-and-Onions and cross the Shampoo River and ride many miles across the upland prairie till you come to the Village of Cream Puffs, you 37 will find a girl there who loves four uncles very much. 

37

“And if you ask her politely, she will show you the red slippers with gold clocks on them, one clock to be early by, the other to be late by. And if you are still more polite she will take you through the middle of the town to the public square and show you the statue of the five rusty lucky rats with their long curved tails sticking up in the air like handles. And the tails are curved so long and so nice you will feel like going up and taking hold of them to see what will happen to you.” 

 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

 Prev. P 15/79 next