Front matter
Reading edition
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
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
