Children's stories, American; Fairy tales -- United States; Fantasy literature; Short stories
“‘When the sky began to fall who was it ran out and held up the sky?’ he
sang out. ‘It was me, it was me ran out and held up the sky when the sky
began to fall.’
“‘When the blue came off the sky, where did they get the blue to put on
the sky to make it blue again? It was me, it was me picked the bluebirds
and the blue pigeons to get the blue to fix the sky.’
“‘When it rains now it rains umbrellas first so everybody has an
umbrella for the rain afterward. Who fixed that? I did—Bozo the Button
Buster.’
“‘Who took the rainbow off the sky and put it back again in a hurry?
That was me.’
[Illustration: The mouse bit the knot and cut it loose]
“‘Who turned all the barns upside down and then put them right side up
again? I did that.’
“‘Who took the salt out of the sea and put it back again? Who took the
fishes out of the sea and put them back again? That was me.’
“‘Who started the catfish fighting the cats? Who made the slippery elms
slippery? Who made the King of the Broken Bottles a wanderer wandering
over the world mumbling, “Easy, easy”? Who opened the windows of the
stars and threw fishes, cats and rabbits all over the frames of the sky?
I did, I did, I did.’
“All the time Bozo kept on speaking the buttons kept on busting because
he had to stop so often to fill his lungs with new wind to go on
speaking. The public square was filled with piles of buttons that kept
busting off from Bozo the Button Buster that day.
“And at last a mouse came, a sneaking, slippery, quick little mouse. He
ran with a flash to the string tied to Bozo, the long string hanging
down with a knot in the end. He bit the knot and cut it loose. He slit
the string with his teeth as Bozo cried, ‘Ai! Ai! Ai!’
“The last of all the buttons busted loose off Bozo. The clothes fell
off. The people came up to see what was happening to Bozo. There was
nothing in the clothes. The man inside the clothes was gone. All that
was left was buttons and a few clothes.
“Since then whenever it rains umbrellas first so everybody has an
umbrella for the rain afterward, or if the sky looks like it is falling,
or if a barn turns upside down, or if the King of the Broken Bottles
comes along mumbling ‘Easy, easy,’ or if firetails, fishes, cats and
rabbits come on the sky in the night, or if a button busts loose and
flies into somebody’s face, people remember Bozo the Button Buster.”
When the three girls started home, each one said to Hatrack the Horse,
“It looks dark and lonesome on the prairie, but you put a yellow rose in
my hair for luck—and I won’t be scared after I get home.”
[Illustration]
4. Two Stories About Four Boys Who Had Different Dreams.
_People_: Googler
Gaggler
Twins
The Family Doctor
The Father of the Twins
The Mother of the Twins
Pen Wipers and Pencil Sharpeners
Smokestacks and Monkey Wrenches
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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