Ask Any Vegetable

Abstract

This is a book about making animal forms out of common vegetables. As the eBay title for it proclaims: Very WEIRD! As the author writes in the foreword, Look long at an ordinary gourd of any sort and it will suggest many things to you (vi). This book is in this collection because of Fox and Crane on 24-25, Hare and Tortoise on 60-61, and Fox and Crow on 68-69. For the former scene, normal gourds were used to create the crane and the vase. For the fox an immature gourd was used; some clay was added, into which ears and eyes were stuck. A bit of cotton was pasted over the body to resemble fur, and the bushy tail was bult up of strands of corn silk. The fox's ears are feather-shaft ends (25). Did Aesop ever think that he would be getting into scenes made up of vegetables? The second scene is set in a forest whose trees are carrots. The rabbit is formed from a peanut, and the tortoise from a horse chestnut. The third scene represents some confusion or syncretism between FG and FC. The crow, which might be difficult to create, is cleverly left out of the scene. Prizes in the book go to the camel and leader on 36 (also on the front cover of the dust jacket), the resting sea lions on 53, and the sleeping student on 114. I would say that R.E. Eshmeyer was as crazy as I am, and that probably fits. He was also a man of the cloth.