We go scooting over the hills, We go tooting back to town.

SILLY WILL

In this story I have used a device to tie together many isolated familiar facts. I have never found that six-year-old children did not readily discriminate the actual from the imaginary.

SILLY WILL

PART 1

Once there was a little boy. Now he was a very silly little boy, so silly that he was called Silly Will. He had an idea that he was tremendously smart and that he could quite well get along by himself in this world. This foolish idea made him do and say all sorts of silly things which led to all sorts of terrible happenings as this story will show.

One day he went out walking. He walked down the road until he met a little girl. The little girl was crying.

"What's the matter with you?" asked Silly Will.

"Oh!" sobbed the little girl, "our cow has died and I don't know what we shall do. I don't know how we can get along without her milk and everything. We depended on her so!"

"Depended on a cow!" cried Silly Will. "Whoever heard of such a thing!

I've often seen that stupid old cow of yours. Clumsy, lumbering thing!

Cows are no good! I wouldn't depend on any animal, not I! It wouldn't matter to me if all the cows in the world died!" And Silly Will strutted off down the road.

The little girl looked after him with astonishment. "I just wish no cow would ever give that silly boy anything!" she thought.

Before long he met an old woman. The old woman was crying too.

"What's the matter with you?" asked Silly Will.

"Oh!" cried the old woman wringing her hands. "Our sheep has fallen over a cliff and broken its legs and it's going to die. I don't know how we shall get along without her wool for spinning. We depended so much on her!"

"Depended on a sheep!" cried Silly Will. "Whoever heard of such a thing!

I've often heard your stupid old sheep bleating. Sheep are no good. I wouldn't depend on any animal, not I! It wouldn't matter to me if all the sheep in the world died!" And Silly Will strutted off down the road feeling very smart.

The old woman looked after him greatly surprised. "Silly little boy!"

she thought. "He little knows! I just wish no sheep would give him anything!"

Then before long Silly Will met a man. The man was sitting beside the road with his face in his hands.

"What's the matter with you?" asked Silly Will.

The man looked up. "Oh, our horse has died!" he sighed dolefully, "and I don't know how we can get along without him to plow for us now that it's seeding time. And there's not much use getting in the seeds anyway without a horse to carry the grain to market when it's ripe. We depended so on our horse!"

"Depended on a horse!" cried Silly Will. "Whoever heard of such a thing!

First I meet a little girl who says she depended on a cow for food: then I meet an old woman who says she depended on a sheep for clothes. And here is a man who says he depends on a horse to work and to carry for him! As for me, I depend on no animal, not I! It wouldn't matter to me if there were no animals in the world. They needn't give me anything! I wish they wouldn't!"

The man looked at him greatly amazed. "Silly little boy!" he said. "I hope your silly wish will come true. How little you understand! I just wish tonight all the animal kingdom would leave you and then perhaps you would understand a little!" But Silly Will walked home feeling very smart, for he _didn't_ understand. Silly people never _do_ understand!

Now that night a strange thing happened to Silly Will. I can't explain how or why it happened. But in the middle of the night, all the animals _did_ leave Silly Will. Not only the cow and the sheep and the horse but all the animal kingdom! He was sound asleep in his flannel nightgown snuggled under warm wool blankets. Suddenly he felt a jerk. What was happening? He sat up in bed just in time to see his blankets whisk off him and disappear. He looked down. His night shirt was gone! He heard a faint sound almost like the bleating of the old woman's sheep.

"Ba-ba-a-a I take back my wool!"

Then he was aware that something queer had happened to his mattress. It was just an empty bag of ticking. He heard a faint sound almost like the neighing of the man's horse who had died. "Whey-ey-ey, I take back my hair!"

He reached for his pillow. It too was an empty sack.

"Hh-ss-s-hh" hissed a faint sound almost like a goose. "I take back my feathers!"

"Whatever is happening?" screamed Silly Will. "Let me get a light." He found a match and struck it, but his candlestick was empty.

"Ba-a-moo-oo" said some faint voices. "I take back my fat!"

By this time Silly Will was thoroughly frightened and shivering with cold besides.

"I'd better get dressed," he thought, and groped his way to the chair where he had left his clothes. He could find only his cotton underwaist and his cotton shirt. His wool undershirt and drawers, his trousers and stockings, and his silk necktie were gone. And so were his leather shoes. Just the lacings lay on the floor. "Mooooo" he seemed to hear a faint sound almost like the little girl's cow he had made fun of in the afternoon. "I take back my hide."

He put on the few cotton clothes that were left, but there were no b.u.t.tons to hold them together. "Moooooo," he heard a faint voice say. "I take back my bones."

Terrified he ran to the closet to see what more he could find. "I'll surely freeze," he thought as he lighted another match. "I'll slip on my coat and get into bed." But his warm coat with the fur collar was gone, too. "Chee, chee, chee," he seemed to hear a faint sound almost like the squirrel he was fond of frightening. "I take back my skin!"

But he did find some cotton stockings and some old overalls. These he put on relieved to find they had metal b.u.t.tons. Then poor Silly Will crawled back to bed wearing his cotton clothes and waited for morning to come. He didn't sleep much for the wire spring cut into him. He was cold, too.

As soon as it was light he hunted around for more clothes. He found some straw bed-room slippers. His rubbers too were there and he put them on over his slippers. Then he ran downstairs to get something to eat.

"Anyway," he thought, "those old animals can't get me when it comes to eating. I never did care much about meat."

The pantry door squeaked as he opened it. It sounded for all the world like a far away barnyard--hens, cows, and pigs. He looked around. No milk, no eggs, no bacon! "Bread and b.u.t.ter will do me," he thought.

But the b.u.t.ter had gone too! He opened the bread box. The bread was still there! He almost wept from relief. By hunting around he found a good deal to eat. Cocoa made with water instead of milk was pretty good.

Then there were crackers and apples. His oatmeal wasn't very good without milk or b.u.t.ter. But he ate it. He knew he would have plenty of vegetables and fruits and cereals.

And the day was warm enough so that he didn't mind his cotton clothes.

But his feet did hurt him. He wondered about wooden shoes and thought he would try to make some.

He was a little worried too about his bed. He hunted around in the house until he found two cotton comforters. One he put under his sheet in place of his mattress and one on top in place of his blankets. So, on the whole, he thought, he could manage to get along.

Poor little Silly Will! He had never before thought how much the animals did for him. Once in a while he would think of the little girl and the old woman and the man he had met that afternoon. But not for long. And he never remembered that some time winter would come. But long before that time came, Silly Will had got himself into still more trouble. For even now he didn't understand!

PART 2

From this time on nothing went well with Silly Will. When he had eaten the vegetables he had in the house he walked over to a gardener who lived nearby. He wanted to get potatoes and other supplies for the winter. To his horror he found everything drooping and wilted and withered. "What's the matter with the vegetables, gardener?" asked Silly Will.

"A frost," sighed the gardener. "It's killed all the potatoes. I hope you weren't depending on them?"