The Lorax

I am thankful for a lot of little things in this world, and one of them is Dr. Seuess. I think I like the good Doctor a little more than the average person too.

Maybe it's because I like the silly words he creates like "Snergally" or "Lerkim". Maybe it's because his characters are impossibly absurd. Maybe it's the brilliant rhyming presented in surprising simplicity. But most likely I think, is that reading Dr Seuess with my kids is almost always a fun experience, filled with lots of silly voices, smiles and giggles. These events also mark the end of the day, and a time that I know is close to "me time"... a time of peace, and appreciation.

Lately we have been reading the Lorax. I really like the Lorax because it is about the environment, and about self-responsibility. One of my favorite passages is the lead-in to the story, in the initial 'frame' where the story outside the story takes place. Seuess uses some genius here, his descriptions are thought provoking. I pasted for your enjoyment....

You won´t see the Once-ler.
Don´t knock at his door.
He stays in his Lerkim on top of his store.
He stays in his Lerkim, cold under the roof,
where he makes his own clothes
out of miff-muffered moof.
And on special dank midnights in August,
he peeks
out of the shutters
and smoetimes he speaks
and tells how the Lorax was lifted away.
He´ll tell you, perhaps...
if you´re willing to pay.

On the end of a rope
he lets down a tin pail
and you have to toss in fifteen cents
and a nail
and the shell of a great-great-great-
grandfather snail.

Then he pulls up the pail,
makes a most careful count
to see if you.ve paid him
the proper amount.

Then he hides what you paid him
away in his Snuvv,
his secret strange hole
in his gruvvulous glove.
Then he grunts, I will call you by Whisper-ma-Phone,
for the secrets I tell you are for your ears alone.

SLUPP
Down slupps the Whisper-ma-Phone to your ear
and the old Once-ler´s whispers are not very clear,
since they have to come down
through a snergelly hose,
and he sounds
as if he had
smallish bees up his nose.
Now I´ll tell you, he says, with his teeth sounding gray,
how the Lorax got lifted and taken away...
It all started way back...
such a long, long time back...