She used to think and then she used to think again.
Would she have been Rose if her name had not been Rose and would she have been Rose if she had been a twin.
Rose was her name all the same and her father’s name was Bob and her mother’s name was Kate and her uncle’s name was William and her aunt’s name was Gloria and her grandmother’s name was Lucy. They all had names and her name was Rose, but would she have been she used to cry about it would she have been Rose if her name had not been Rose.
I tell you at this time the world was all round and you could go on it around and around.
Rose had two dogs a big white one called Love, and a little black one called Pépé, the little black one was not hers but she said it was, it belonged to a neighbor and it never did like Rose and there was a reason why, when Rose was young, she was nine now and nine is not young no Rose was not young, well anyway when she was young she one day had little Pépé and she told him to do something, Rose liked telling everybody what to do, at least she liked to do it when she was young, now she was almost ten so now she did not tell every one what they should do but then she did and she told Pépé, and Pépé did not want to, he did not know what she wanted him to do but even if he had he would not have wanted to, nobody does want to do what anybody tells them to do, so Pépé did not do it, and Rose shut him up in a room. Poor little Pépé he had been taught never to do in a room what should be done outside but he was so nervous being left all alone he just did, poor little Pépé. And then he was let out and there were a great many people about but little Pépé made no mistake he went straight among all the legs until he found those of Rose and then he went up and he bit her on the leg and then he ran away and nobody could blame him now could they. It was the only time he ever bit any one. And he never would say how do you do to Rose again and Rose always said Pépé was her dog although he was not, so that she could forget that he never wanted to say how do you do to her. If he was her dog that was alright he did not have to say how do you do but Rose knew and Pépé knew oh yes they both knew.
Rose and her big white dog Love were pleasant together they sang songs together, these were the songs they sang.
Love drank his water and as he drank, it just goes like that like a song a nice song and while he was doing that Rose sang her song. This was her song.
I am a little girl and my name is Rose, Rose is my name.
Why am I a little girl
And why is my name Rose
And when am I a little girl
And when is my name Rose
And where am I a little girl
And where is my name Rose
And which little girl am I am I the little girl named Rose which little girl named Rose.
And as she sang this song and she sang it while Love did his drinking.
Why am I a little girl
Where am I a little girl
When am I a little girl
Which little girl am I
And singing that made her so sad she began to cry.
And when she cried Love cried he lifted up his head and looked up at the sky and he began to cry and he and Rose and Rose and he cried and cried and cried until she stopped and at last her eyes were dried.
And all this time the world just continued to be round.
Rose had a cousin named Willie and once he was almost drowned. Twice he was almost drowned.
That was very exciting.
Each time was very exciting.
The world was round and there was a lake on it and the lake was round. Willie went swimming in the lake, there were three of them they were all boys swimming and there were lots of them they were all men fishing.
Lakes when they are round have bottoms to them and there are water-lilies pretty water-lilies white water-lilies and yellow ones and soon very soon one little boy and then another little boy was caught right in by them, water-lilies are pretty to see but they are not pretty to feel not at all. Willie was one and the other little boy was the other one and the third boy was a bigger one and he called to them to come and they, Willie and the other boy they couldn’t come, the water-lilies did not really care but they just all the same did not let them.
Then the bigger boy called to the men come and get them they cannot come out from the water-lilies and they will drown come and get them. But the men they had just finished eating and you eat an awful lot while you are fishing you always do and you must never go into the water right after eating, all this the men knew so what could they do.
Well the bigger boy he was that kind he said he would not leave Willie and the other behind, so he went into the water-lilies and first he pulled out one little boy and then he pulled out Willie and so he got them both to the shore.
And so Willie was not drowned although the lake and the world were both all round.
That was one time when Willie was not drowned.
Another time he was not drowned was when he was with his father and his mother and his cousin Rose they were all together.
They were going up a hill and the rain came down with a will, you know how it comes when it comes so heavy and fast it is not wet it is a wall that is all.
So the car went up the hill and the rain came down the hill and then and then well and then there was hay, you know what hay is, hay is grass that is cut and when it is cut it is hay. Well anyway.
The hay came down the way it was no way for hay to come anyway. Hay should stay until it is taken away but this hay, the rain there was so much of it the hay came all the way and that made a dam so the water could not go away and the water went into the car and somebody opened the door and the water came more and more and Willie and Rose were there and there was enough water there to drown Willie certainly to drown Willie and perhaps to drown Rose.
Well anyway just then the hay went away, hay has that way and the water went away and the car did stay and neither Rose nor Willie were drowned that day.
Much later they had a great deal to say but they knew of course they knew that it was true the world was round and they were not drowned.
Now Willie liked to sing too. He was a cousin to Rose and so it was in the family to sing, but Willie had no dog with whom to sing so he had to sing with something and he sang with owls, he could only sing in the evening but he did sing in the evening with owls. There were three kinds of owls a Kew owl a chuette owl and a Hoot owl and every evening Willie sang with owls and these are the songs he sang.
My name is Willie I am not like Rose
I would be Willie whatever arose,
I would be Willie if Henry was my name
I would be Willie always Willie all the same.
And then he would stop and wait for the owls.
Through the moon the Q. owl blew
Who are you who are you.
Willie was not like his cousin Rose singing did not make him cry it just made him more and more excited.
So there was a moon and the moon was round.
Not a sound.
Just then Willie began to sing.
Drowning
Forgetting
Remembering
I am thinking
And the chuette owl interrupted him.
Is it
His it
Any eye of any owl is round.
Everything excited Willie, he was more excited and he sang
Once upon a time the world was round the moon was round
The lake was round
And I I was almost drowned.
And the hoot owl hooted
Hullo Hullo
Willie is your name
And Willie is your nature
You are a little boy
And that is your stature
Hullo Hullo.
SILENCE
Willie was asleep
And everything began to creep around
Willie turned in his sleep and murmured
Round drowned.
Rose did not care about the moon, she liked stars.
Once some one told her that the stars were round and she wished that they had not told her.
Her dog Love did not care about the moon either and he never noticed the stars. He really did not notice the moon not even when it was all round, he liked the lights of automobiles coming in and out. That excited him and even made him bark, Love was not a barker although little Pépé was. Pépé could always bark, he really did say bow wow really he did, when you listened he really did.
Well once they were out in the evening in an automobile, not Pépé, Pépé was not Rose’s dog, you remember that, but Rose and Love and the lights of the automobile were alight so who could listen to the bright moon-light, not Rose nor Love nor the rabbit, not they.
It was a little rabbit and there he was right in front and in the light and it looked as if he meant it but he really could not help it, not he not the little rabbit.
Bob, Rose’s father was driving and he stopped but that did not help the little rabbit.
Light is bright and what is bright will confuse a little rabbit who has not the habit.
So the little rabbit danced from one light to the other light and could never get alright, and then Bob the father said let out Love perhaps he will help the rabbit to run away, so they let out the white dog Love and he saw first the light and then he saw the rabbit and he went up to say how do you do to the rabbit, that is the way Love was, he always went up and said how do you do he said it to a dog or a man or a child or a lamb or a cat or a cook or a cake or anything he just said how do you do and when he said how do you do to the little rabbit the little rabbit forgot all about the light being bright he just left that light and Love the dog Love disappointed because the little rabbit had not said how do you do, back again, he went after him, of course any little rabbit can run quicker than any white dog and even if the white dog is nice and kind and Love is, so that was all of that. It was a lovely night and Love came back into the car and Bob the father drove on home and of course Rose sang as the rabbit ran and her song began.
My
What a sky
And then the glass pen
Rose did have a glass pen
When oh When
Little glass pen
Say when
Will there not be that little rabbit.
When
Then
Pen
And Rose burst into tears.
She did then she burst into tears.
A little later it was decided that Rose should go to school. She went to school where mountains were high, they were so high she never did see them. Rose was funny that way.
There at the school were other girls and Rose did not have quite as much time to sing and cry.
The teachers taught her
That the world was round
That the sun was round
That the moon was round
That the stars were round
And that they were all going around and around
And not a sound.
It was so sad it almost made her cry
But then she did not believe it
Because mountains were so high,
And so she thought she had better sing
And then a dreadful thing was happening
She remembered when she had been young
That one day she had sung,
And there was a looking-glass in front of her
And as she sang her mouth was round and was going around and around.
Oh dear oh dear was everything just to be round and go around and around. What could she do but try and remember the mountains were so high they could stop anything.
But she could not keep on remembering and forgetting of course not but she could sing of course she could sing and she could cry of course she could cry.
Oh my.
All this time Willie was living along
Of course he could always make a song
The thing that bothered Willie the most
Was that when there was no wind blowing
A twig in a bush would get going
Just as if the wind was blowing.
He knew when he ran
And he knew when he sang
And he knew who
Who was Willie
He was Willie
All through.
Willie went away not to stay.
Willie never went away to stay
That was not Willie.
But once when he went away it was to stay there where he had seen it.
He saw it.
It was a little house and two trees near it.
One tree sometimes makes another tree.
Willie
Will he.
In a little while nobody wondered that thunder rumbled in winter, lightning struck and thunder rumbled in winter.
Oh Willie.
Of course Willie never went away to stay.
But Willie could sing.
Oh yes he sang a song.
He sang a little song about a house two trees and a rabbit
He sang a little song about a lizard.
A lizard climbed up the side of the house, it climbed out on the roof of the house and then the poor little lizard fell off of it.
Plump it fell off of it.
Willie saw it.
And Willie said, if the earth is all round can a lizard fall off it.
And the answer was yes if there is a roof over it.
Little lizard it lost its tail but it was not dead.
Willie sat down to rest.
It’s funny he said, a lizard does not fall off a wall, it is funny and Willie sat down again to rest.
One of the things Willie did was to sit down and rest.
He liked cats and lizards, he liked frogs and pigeons he liked butter and crackers, he liked flowers and windows.
Once in a while they called for him and when they did he would talk to them.
And then he began to sing.
He sang.
Bring me bread
Bring me butter
Bring me cheese
And bring me jam
Bring me milk
And bring me chicken
Bring me eggs
And a little ham.
This is what Willie sang.
And then all at once
The world got rounder and rounder.
The stars got rounder and rounder
The moon got rounder and rounder
The sun got rounder and rounder
And Willie oh Willie was ready to drown her, not Rose dear me not Rose but his sorrows.
He loved to sing and he was exciting.
This is what Willie sang
Believe me because I tell you so
When I know yes when I know
Then I am Willie and Willie oh
Oh Willie needs Willie to tell them so.
Yes he said, he said yes.
Then Willie began to sing again.
Once upon a time I met myself and ran.
Once upon a time nobody saw how I ran.
Once upon a time something can
Once upon a time nobody sees
But I I do as I please
Run around the world just as I please.
I Willie.
Willie stopped again and again he began to sing.
He sang.
It was time Willie did something, why not when the world was all so full anywhere, Willie went on, he saw how many there were there.
Funny said Willie that a little dog sees another little dog far far away and I, said Willie, I see a little boy.
Well well said the dog little dogs are interesting
Well well said Willie little boys are interesting.
Undoubtedly Willie had something to do and now was the time to do it.
Willie had a father and Willie had a mother
That was Willie.
Willie went with his father to a little place where they sold wild animals.
If the world is round can wild animals come out of the ground.
In the place that his father took Willie wild animals did not grow there, they were not always sold there but they were always there. Everybody there had them. Wild animals were with them on the boats on the river and they went with every one in the garden and in the house. Everybody there had a wild animal and they always had them with them.
Nobody knows how the wild animals came there. If the world is round can they come out of the ground but anyway everybody had one and sometimes somebody sold one, quite often everybody sold one.
Willie’s father went to get one. Which one. That was for Willie to say. It was funny seeing wild animals in a boat, one wild animal in a rowing boat, one wild animal in a sail boat, one wild animal in a motor boat.
It was a funny place this town that is it would not have been a funny place it was just like any place only that every one always had a wild animal with them, men women and children and very often they were in the water in a boat and the wild animal with them and of course wild animals are wild, of course they are wild.
It was a funny place.
Willie went everywhere so of course he was there, beside his father had taken him there.
1 comment