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The balloons floated and filled the sky

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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

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COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY
HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC.

 

Published, October, 1922
Second Printing, October. 1922
Third Printing, November, 1922
Fourth Printing, November, 1922
Fifth Printing, December, 1922

 
 
 
 
 

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. BY
THE QUINN & BODEN COMPANY
RAHWAY. N. J

​

TO
SPINK AND SKABOOTCH

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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 Country⁠3

How They Bring Back the Village of Cream Puffs When the Wind Blows It Away⁠19

How the Five Rusty Rats Helped Find a New Village⁠29

2.

Five Stories About the Potato Face Blind Man

The Potato Face Blind Man Who Lost the Diamond Rabbit on His Gold Accordion⁠41

How the Potato Face Blind Man Enjoyed Himself on a Fine Spring Morning⁠45

Poker Face the Baboon and Hot Dog the Tiger⁠53

The Toboggan-to-the-Moon Dream of the Potato Face Blind Man⁠59

How Gimme the Ax Found Out About the Zigzag Railroad and Who Made It Zigzag⁠65

3.

Three Stories About the Gold Buckskin Whincher

The Story of Blixie Bimber and the Power of the Gold Buckskin Whincher⁠73

​The Story of Jason Squiff and Why He Had a Popcorn Hat, Popcorn Mittens and Popcorn Shoes⁠79

The Story of Rags Habakuk, the Two Blue Rats, and the Circus Man Who Came With Spot Cash Money⁠89

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 It⁠99

How the Hat Ashes Shovel Helped Snoo Foo⁠105

Three Boys with Jugs of Molasses and Secret Ambitions⁠109

How Bimbo the Snip's Thumb Stuck to His Nose When the Wind Changed⁠123

5.

Three Stories About Three Ways the Wind Went Winding

The Two Skyscrapers Who Decided to Have a Child⁠133

The Dollar Watch and the Five Jack Rabbits⁠141

The Wooden Indian and the Shaghorn Buffalo⁠151

6.

Four Stories About Dear, Dear Eyes

The White Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy⁠159

What Six Girls with Balloons Told the Gray Man on Horseback⁠167

How Henry Hagglyhoagly Played the Guitar With His Mittens On⁠175

Never Kick a Slipper at the Moon⁠185

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7.

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

Sand Flat Shadows⁠191

8.

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

How to Tell Corn Fairies When You See 'Em⁠205

How the Animals Lost Their Tails and Got Them Back Traveling from Philadelphia to Medicine Hat⁠213

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FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

The balloons floated and filled the sky Frontispiece (ln color)
PAGE
He opened the ragbag and took out all the spot cash money
.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
 7
Then the uncles asked her the first question first
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 21
They held on to the long curved tails of the rusty rats
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 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
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 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
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 153
It seemed to him as though the sky came down close to his nose
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 177
Away off where the sun was coming up there were people and animals
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 195
There on a high stool in a high tower on a high hill sits the Head Spotter of the Weather Makers
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 215

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