hecker fathers and mothers. The striped pigs have striped
fathers and mothers. And the polka dot pigs have polka dot fathers and
mothers."

And the train went zigzagging on and on running on the tracks and the
rails and the spikes and the ties which were all zigzag like the
letter Z and the letter Z.

And after a while the train zigzagged on into the Village of
Liver-and-Onions, known as the biggest city in the big, big Rootabaga
country.

And so if you are going to the Rootabaga country you will know when
you get there because the railroad tracks change from straight to
zigzag, the pigs have bibs on and it is the fathers and mothers who
fix it.

And if you start to go to that country remember first you must sell
everything you have, pigs, pastures, pepper pickers, pitchforks, put
the spot cash money in a ragbag and go to the railroad station and ask
the ticket agent for a long slick yellow leather slab ticket with a
blue spanch across it.

And you mustn't be surprised if the ticket agent wipes sleep from his
eyes and asks, "So far? So early? So soon?"

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

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

A girl named Wing Tip the Spick came to the Village of Liver-and-Onions
to visit her uncle and her uncle's uncle on her mother's side and her
uncle and her uncle's uncle on her father's side.

It was the first time the four uncles had a chance to see their little
relation, their niece. Each one of the four uncles was proud of the
blue eyes of Wing Tip the Spick.

The two uncles on her mother's side took a long deep look into her
blue eyes and said, "Her eyes are so blue, such a clear light blue,
they are the same as cornflowers with blue raindrops shining and
dancing on silver leaves after a sun shower in any of the summer
months."

And the two uncles on her father's side, after taking a long deep look
into the eyes of Wing Tip the Spick, said, "Her eyes are so blue, such
a clear light shining blue, they are the same as cornflowers with blue
raindrops shining and dancing on the silver leaves after a sun shower
in any of the summer months."

And though Wing Tip the Spick didn't listen and didn't hear what the
uncles said about her blue eyes, she did say to herself when they were
not listening, "I know these are sweet uncles and I am going to have a