Part 25 (1/2)

THE WIND

In the summer-time the wind goes like breathing, But in a winter storm it growls and roars.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Sometimes the wind goes oo-oo-oo-oo-oo! It sounds like water running. It makes a singing sound. It blows through the gra.s.s. It blows against the tree and the tree bows over and bends way down. It whistles in the leaves and makes a rustling sound. The tree shakes, the branches and leaves all rustle. The wind knocks the leaves off the trees and tosses them up in the air. Then it blows them straight in to the window and drags them around on the floor. It makes the leaves whirl and twirl.

And sometimes the wind is frisky. It whisks around the corners. It comes blowing down the street. It blows the papers round and round on the ground. It tears them and rares them, then up, it takes them sailing. It sweeps around the house, blowing and puffing. It blows the wash up. It blows the chickens off the trees. It makes the nuts come rattling down.

It turns the windmill and makes the fire burn. It blows out the matches, it blows out the candles, it blows out the gas lights. It hits the people on the street. Some it keeps back from walking and some it pushes forward. It unb.u.t.tons the coat of a little girl, it unb.u.t.tons her leggings too and the little girl feels all chilly in the frisky wind. It blows up her skirt. It pulls off her hat and blows through her hair till she feels all chilly on her head too. Puff! it goes, puff! puff! Then off go other hats spinning down the street. It gets under umbrellas and turns them inside out. The frisky wind blows harder and harder. The houses shake. The windows rattle. And the people on the street are whirling and twirling like the leaves.

Sometimes there is a storm. The wind roars over the ocean and makes the waves bigger than the s.h.i.+ps. The waves go up and down, and up and down, and the s.h.i.+p goes rocking and rocking, this way and that way, this way and that way, to the right, to the left, to the right, to the left, back and forth and back and forth. A boat gets tossed on the sea. The sails are all torn to pieces by the storm. The masts get broken off and fall down on the s.h.i.+p. The s.h.i.+p just rocks and rocks. Then pretty soon it b.u.mps into a rock and is wrecked and sinks. And all the men get drowned.

The wind growls and roars over the mountain. There is thunder and lightning. The thunder says, ”Boompety, boom, boom, boom!” The lightning is all s.h.i.+ny. The rain comes pouring down. The wind whistles in the trees. It blows a tree over. It crashes down. The lightning goes crack!

and splits the tree in two. And then the tree catches on fire and the leaves burn like paper.

In the summer-time the wind goes like breathing, But in a winter storm it growls and roars.

THE LEAF STORY

All the content and many of the expressions were taken from stories on dried leaves dictated by a six-year-old and a seven-year-old cla.s.s.

THE LEAF STORY

[Ill.u.s.tration]

I want to fly up in the air!

If I take two leaves in my hands and put two leaves on my feet And the wind blows Perhaps I'll fly up in the air!

Listen!

Something stirs in the dried leaves, The tree bends, the tree bows, The wind sweeps through the brown leaves.

The brown leaves crackle and rattle and dance, They rustle and murmur and pull at the bough, They s.h.i.+ver, they quiver till they pull themselves loose And are free.

Up, up they fly!

Little brown specks in the sky.

They twist and they spin, They whirl and they twirl, They teeter, they turn somersaults in the air.

Then for a moment the wind holds its breath.

Down, down, down float the leaves, Still turning and twisting, Still twirling and whirling, The brown leaves float to the earth.

Puff! goes the wind, Up they fly again With a little soft rustling laugh.

Then down they float.

Down, down, down.