The Bashful Earthquake & Other Fables and Verses
No Thumbnail Available
Authors
Herford, Oliver
Issue Date
1906
Volume
Issue
Type
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
The copyright on this book is 1898. The title story is a delightful verse creation. An earthquake knocks down "Houses and palaces all in a lump!" and then moves on, growing weaker all the time, until it rumbles around a dormouse's nest. The earthquake is trying to apologize when he melts away. Herford's wit shows up even earlier when the author gratefully acknowledges the illustrator for "his exquisitely delicate art." Of course, Herford is both author and illustrator. In "The Lovesick Scarecrow" a scarecrow is smitten with love for a crow and believes she may reciprocate. He admits to having dreamt of her resting on his breast. In the meantime, she is plotting with her husband how to pluck out the scarecrow's heart of straw to line her nest! Herford may get even closer to traditional fable in "The Doorless Wolf." A wolf confronts a newly rich man and reminds him that he, the wolf, earlier sat by the man's only door. Now the rich man has many doors. Can he not help the starving wolf? The newly rich man thinks and makes an offer. Will the wolf sit by his door so that all those who have been bothering the rich man will think that he is poor? The wolf accepts. "Thus affluence makes niggards of us all!"
Description
Citation
Publisher
Charles Scribner's Sons
License
Journal
Volume
Issue
PubMed ID
DOI
Identifier
12248 (Access ID)