Once there was a table and he was taking a walk and he fell into a pond of water and an alligator bit him and then he came up out of the pond of water and he stepped into a trap that some hunters had set for him, and turned a somersault on his nose.
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There was a new engine and it didn’t have any headlight—its light wasn’t open in its headlight so its engineer went and put some fire in the wires and made a light. And then it saw a lot of other engines on the track in front of it. So when it wanted to puff smoke and go fast it told its engineer and he put some coal in the coal car. And then the other engines told their engineers to put coal in their coal cars and then they all could go.
(The child then played a song by a “’lectric” engine on the piano and tried to write the notes.)
Two Stories by Five-Year-Olds
Once upon a time there was a clown and the clown jumped on the bed and the bed jumped on the cup. Then the clown took a pencil and drawed on his face. And the clown said, “Oh, I guess I’ll sit in a rocking chair.” So the rocking chair said, “Ha! ha!” and it tumbled away. Then a little pig came along and he said, “Could you throw me up and throw an apple down?” So the clown threw him so far that he was dead. He was on the track.
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There was a big factory where all the men made engines. And one man made a smoke stack. And one man made a tender. And one man made a cab. And one man made a bell. And one man made a wheel. And then another man came and put them all together and made a great big engine. And this man said, “We haven’t any tracks!” And then a man came and made the tracks. And then another man said, “We haven’t any station!” So many men came and built a big station. And they said, “Let’s have the station in Washington Square.” So they pulled down the Arch and they pulled up all the sidewalks. And they built a big station. And they left all the houses; for where would we live else?
(In a sequel he says: So they knocked down the Arch and chopped up all the pieces. And they chopped all around the trees but they didn’t chop them down because they looked so pretty with our station!)