L’Envoi
O, Pollyanna, here’s to you—
I’ll greet you, if you chance to roam
My way, and ask when I am blue
“Have you a fairy in your home?”
THE JUSTIFICATION AND REVENGE OF GOBBLE-ME-UP
(A Story for Children with Appetites, and for Children Who Do Not Eat.)
Once upon a time, in the days of long ago, when ogres and giants were as plentiful as policemen, and when the ocean was dotted with desert islands, there lived a Giant whose name was Gobble-me-up. As you may have guessed, he lived on one of these islands. All about him stretched ocean, and ocean, and more and more waves; but they didn’t bother him at all. He just lived there alone, and was very happy.
He was a great, large, burly giant, who would have stood over six feet tall in his stocking feet, if he had worn stockings. He had round red cheeks, and dancing blue eyes, and his hair curled itself up into “irrepressible locks” just like your favorite hero’s. He was comfortably fat, and when he laughed he shook all over, just the way the dessert that we have on Sunday does.
As I said, he was a very happy giant indeed, and he used to laugh and shake all over a very great deal. You see, he never realized that he was all alone on his island, because he had never known what it would be like to have someone there to play with him. Every morning when he had finished his rhubarb, he used to walk along the seashore, dabbling his toes in the soapy waves, and singing:
“Gobble-me-up is my name,