Folk Tales
Author's TalesA 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 sweet time visiting my relations.”
The four uncles said to her, “Will you let us ask you two questions, first the first question and second the second question?”
Then the uncles asked her the first question first.
“I will let you ask me fifty questions this morning, fifty questions tomorrow morning, and fifty questions any morning. I like to listen to questions. They slip in one ear and slip out of the other.”
Then the uncles asked her the first question first, “Where do you come from? ” and the second question second, “Why do you have two freckles on your chin? ”
“Answering your first question first,” said Wing Tip the Spick, “I come from the Village of Cream Puffs, a little light village on the upland corn prairie. From a long ways off it looks like a little hat you could wear on the end of your thumb to keep the rain off your thumb.”
“Tell us more,” said one uncle.
“Tell us much,” said another uncle.
“Tell it without stopping,” added another uncle.
“Interruptions nix nix,” murmured the last of the uncles.
“It is a light little village on the upland corn prairie many miles past the sunset in the west,” went on Wing Tip the Spick. “It is light the same as a cream puff is light. It sits all by itself on the big long prairie where the prairie goes up in a slope. There on the slope the winds play around the village. They sing it wind songs, summer wind songs in summer, winter wind songs in winter.”
“And sometimes like an accident, the wind gets rough. And when the wind gets rough it picks up the little Village of Cream Puffs and blows it away off in the sky all by itself.”
“O-o-h-h,” said one uncle.
“Um-m-m-m,” said the other three uncles.
“Now the people in the village all understand the winds with their wind songs in summer and winter. And they understand the rough wind who comes sometimes and picks up the village and blows it away off high in the sky all by itself. If you go to the public square in the middle of the village you will see a big roundhouse. If you take the top off the roundhouse you will see a big spool with a long string winding up around the spool.”
“Now whenever the rough wind comes and picks up the village and blows it away off high in the sky all by itself then the string winds loose off the spool, because the village is fastened to the string. So the rough wind blows and blows and the string on the spool winds looser and looser the farther the village goes blowing away off into the sky all by itself.”
“Then at last when the rough wind, so forgetful, so careless, has had all the fun it wants, then the people of the village all come together and begin to wind up the spool and bring back the village where it was before.”
“O-o-h-h,” said one uncle.
“Um-m-m-m,” said the other three uncles. “And sometimes when you come to the village to see your little relation, your niece who has four such sweet uncles, maybe she will lead you through the middle of the city to the pub- lic square and show you the roundhouse. They call it the Roundhouse of the Big Spool. And they are proud because it was thought up and is there to show when visitors come.”
“And now will you answer the second question, second why do you have two freckles on your chin,” interrupted the uncle who had said before, “Interruptions nix nix.”
“The freckles are put on,” answered Wing Tip the Spick. “When a girl goes away from the Village of Cream Puffs her mother puts on two freckles, on the chin. Each freckle must be the same as a little burnt cream puff kept in the oven too long. After the two freckles looking like two little burnt cream puffs are put on her chin, they remind the girl every morning when she combs her hair and looks in the looking glass. They remind her where she came from and she mustn”t stay away too long.”
“O-h-h-h,” said one uncle.
“Um-m-m-m,” said the other three uncles. And they talked among each other afterward, the four uncles by themselves, saying: “She has a gift. It is her eyes. They are so blue, such a clear light blue, the same as cornflowers with blue raindrops shining and dancing on silver leaves after a sun shower in any of the summer months.”
At the same time Wing Tip the Spick was saying to herself, “I know for sure now these are sweet uncles and I am going to have a sweet time visiting my relations.”