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The Scarecrow of Oz | L. Frank Baum | |
The Little Old Man of the Island |
Page 3 of 7 |
Cap'n Bill and Trot were much astonished at this story and felt grieved for the poor Ork, but the little man Pessim seemed to think it a good joke. He began laughing when he heard the story and laughed until he choked, after which he lay down on the ground and rolled and laughed again, while the tears of merriment coursed down his wrinkled cheeks. "Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" he finally gasped, sitting up and wiping his eyes. "This is too rich! It's almost too joyful to be true." "I don't see anything funny about it," remarked Trot indignantly. "You would if you'd had my experience," said Pessim, getting upon his feet and gradually resuming his solemn and dissatisfied expression of countenance. The same thing happened to me." "Oh, did it? And how did you happen to come to this island?" asked the girl. "I didn't come; the neighbors brought me," replied the little man, with a frown at the recollection. "They said I was quarrelsome and fault-finding and blamed me because I told them all the things that went wrong, or never were right, and because I told them how things ought to be. So they brought me here and left me all alone, saying that if I quarreled with myself, no one else would be made unhappy. Absurd, wasn't it?" "Seems to me," said Cap'n Bill, "those neighbors did the proper thing." |
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The Scarecrow of Oz L. Frank Baum |
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