Rootabaga Stories

Part one is copyright 1922, renewed in 1950 which let it fall into the public domain on January 1, 1978. Part two is copyright 1923, renewed in 1951 and would have become public domain in 1979, save for a 1978 law that extended things to 95 years from the date of first publication. The copyright on part 2 will expire January 1, 2018, unless congress extends things again.

An abridgement of the first story, How They Broke Away to Go to the Rootabaga Country was used in my mother in law's memorial service on June 27, 2002.

The table of contents reads as follows :

Part One - Rootabaga Stories

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
   • How They Bring Back the Village of Cream Puffs When the Wind Blows It Away
   • How the Five Rusty Rats Helped Find a New Village
2. Five stories about the potato face blind man.
   • The Potato Face Blind Man Who Lost the Diamond Rabbit on His Gold Accordion
   • How the Potato Face Blind Man Enjoyed Himself on a Fine Spring Morning
   • Poker Face the Baboon and Hot Dog the Tiger
   • The Toboggan-to-the-Moon Dream of the Potato Face Blind Man
   • How Gimme the Ax Found Out About the Zigzag Railroad and Who Made It Zigzag
3. Three stories about the gold buckskin whincher
   • The Story of Blixie Bimber and the Power of the Gold Buckskin Whincher
   • The Story of Jason Squiff and Why He Had a Popcorn Hat, Popcorn Mittens and Popcorn Shoes
   • The Story of Rags Habakuk, the Two Blue Rats, and the Circus Man Who Came with Spot Cash Money
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
   • How the Hat Ashes Shovel Helped Snoo Foo
   • Three Boys with Jugs of Molasses and Secret Ambitions
   • How Bimbo the Snip's Thumb Stuck to His Nose When the Wind Changed
5. Three stories about three ways the wind went winding
   • The Two Skyscrapers Who Decided to Have a Child
   • The Dollar Watch and the Five Jack-Rabbits
   • The Wooden Indian and the Shaghorn Buffalo
6. Four stories about dear, dear eyes.
   • The White Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy
   • What Six Girls with Balloons Told the Gray Man on Horseback
   • How Henry HagglyHoagly Played the Guitar with His Mittens On
   • Never Kick a Slipper at the Moon
7. One story -- "Only the fire-born understand blue"
   • Sand Flat Shadows
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 Them
   • How the Animals Lost Their Tails and Got Them Back Traveling from Philadelphia to Medicine Hat

Part Two - Rootabaga Pigeons

1. Two stories told by the potato face blind man
   • The Skyscraper to the Moon and How the Green Rat with the Rheumatism Ran a Thousand Miles Twice
   • Slipfoot and How He Nearly Always Never Gets What He Goes After
2. Two stories about bugs and eggs
   • Many, Many Weddings in One Corner House
   • Shush Shush, the Big Buff Banty Hen Who Laid an Egg in the Postmaster's Hat
3. Five stories about Hatrack the Horse, six pigeons, three wild Babylonian baboons, six umbrellas, Bozo the Button Buster
   • How Rag Bag Mammy Kept Her Secret While the Wind Blew Away the Village of Hat Pins
   • How Six Pigeons Came back to Hatrack the Horse after Many Accidents and Six Telegrams
   • How the Three Wild Babylonian Baboons Went Away in the Rain Eating Bread and Butter
   • How Six Umbrellas Took Off Their Straw Hats to Show Respect to the One Big Umbrella
   • How Bozo the Button Buster Busted All His Buttons When a Mouse Came
4. Two stories about four boys who had different dreams.
   • How Googler and Gaggler, the Two Christmas Babies, Came Home with Monkey Wrenches
   • How Johnny the Wham Sleeps in Money All the Time and Joe the Wimp Shines and Sees Things
5. Two stories told by the potato face blind man about two girls with red hearts.
   • How Deep Red Roses Goes Back and Forth between the Clock and the Looking Glass
   • How Pink Peony Sent Spuds, the Ballplayer, Up to Pick Four Moons
6. Three stories about moonlight, pigeons, bees, Egypt, Jesse James, Spanish onions, the queen of cracked heads, the king of paper sacks
   • How Dizzy the Wisp and Slip Me Liz Came in the Moonshine Where the Potato Face Blind Man Sat with His Accordion]
   • How Hot Balloons and His Pigeon Daughters Crossed Over into the Rootabaga Country
   • How Two Sweetheart Dippies Sat in the Moonlight on a Lumberyard Fence and Heard about the Sooners and the Boomers
7. Two stories out of the tall grass
   • The Haystack Cricket and How Things Are Different Up in the Moon Towns
   • Why the Big Ball Game between Hot Grounders and the Grand Standers Was a Hot Game
8. Two stories out of Oklahoma and Nebraska
   • The Huckabuck Family and How They Raised Popcorn in Nebraska and Quit and Came Back
   • Yang Yang and Hoo Hoo, or the Song of the Left Foot of the Shadow of the Goose in Oklahoma
9. One story about big people now and little people long ago
   • How a Skyscraper and a Railroad Train Got Picked Up and Carried Away from Pig's Eye Valley Far in the Pickax Mountains
10. Three stories about the letter X and how it got into the alphabet
    • Pig Wisps
    • Kiss Me
    • Blue Silver