Show THE ItlOOKAS TOE A Strange Story of a Strange Creature Crea-ture Copyright 1898 by Frank Crane One day James was coming home from school and as he was going along the street he saw lying on the sidewalk side-walk somebodys little toe He picked it up and looked at it It was queer looking You know little tees are all folded and bent up together and are very odd shaped He wiggled it pack and forth and played with it and finally final-ly put it in hIs pocket He forgot all about It by the timed he had reached home That night about midnight James was I awakened by some one tapping at his window He sat up in bed and saw there peering into the window an old llooka The Moolta said in a deep bass voiceWhere 0 Where is my little toe Now Tames Was very much frightened fright-ened and did not know what to do The lioplta said again Where is my little toe As James did notanswer the Mooka raised the sash and in put his head I and said again Do you know where my little toe is Yes said James Ill get it for you Just wait there Ill get it He arose and searched for his trousers trous-ers But I must tell you of a very bad habit that James had When he undressed un-dressed at night instead of laying all his Clothes neatlY together where he could find them in the morning he would scatter them everrwhere Then in the morning he would have a very hard time finding them His shoes and stockIngs and coat and tie would be distributed all over the house And now therefore he could not find hIs trousers He went into mammas room and looked all around then he went into the girls room and then into grandmas room and he looked and he looked but nowhere were those trousers trous-ers to be seen He had to come back and tell the IOolta that he could not find his little toe toeThen Then said the 1looka if you cant give me back my little toe Ill come in and bIte off your little toe And with that he began to climb through the window Mamma always kept the 11ght burning burn-ing so low that she could see the children child-ren ii anythIng happel1d them during dur-ing thb night In the dim light James saw the old lfooka clamberIng into the 1 i a I < > window He was so bIg and lubberly that he could not move very fast so James got behind the door leading into in-to mammas roam and watched him He was a great big white Mooka all soft and fat like a bag of flour and he had long white arms He had a largemouth large-mouth and two great teeth one jn the upper and one in the lower jaw and James thought how those sharp teeth would hurt when they bit off his toe When the Mooka at length had squeezed through the window James decIded that it was tim for him to run away So he shut and bolted the door and ran around to the other side of mammas ben But lfookas can go through any hole or crack no matter how small it is And pretty soon James saw something white like a string coming through the u 1 I f i I 1 e r tAA Yti flJ 1 t G > 7ENTIN i u i 4e Lrr w f 1 1 1 S r i a tlfi c f ire l G 1 keyhole It was the Mooka who had I changed himself into a long strip and I thus could little get through a very I place As soon as he was through he returned to his natural size again and made for James James ran around and dodged hIm and escaped into the hall the Mooka aster him Then he ran down stairs I and through the parlor and sitting room and dinIng roOm and kitchen and every door he went through he bolted and fastened so the Mooka had to I change himself into a string every time In order to get through the keyholes I and that gave James time enough to keep out of his clutches At last he had run all through the house and locked every door His room I was between grandmas and mammas The last room he went through was grandmas and now he found himself once more in his own bedroom He couldnt get out of this because you see he had locked the door leadIng into mammas room on the other side What was he to do There he was standing by his own bed unable to get away I and there was the white thin string coming through the keyhole and pretty soon the old Mooka would be standing right before him and then off would come his little toe He glanced at the window but it was so high from the ground he was afraid to jump out He was in despair At length a thought occurred to him He sprang forward and caught the end of the string and wound up the Mooka Into a tight ball As fast as he came through the keyhole James wound him up until he had him all done up in a little ball and the llooka could not undo himself Then he put the ball under his pillow and went to sleep In the morning he was awakened by hearing his papa say Who bolted this door Then his grandma pretty soon exclaimed ex-claimed Who locked my door And all the people in the house wondered won-dered how it came that the doors were all fastened But James never said anything He looked under his pillow and there was a white ball of string He found his trousers tangled oUD in the bedclothes and nut them on After breakfast he went out in the alley and threw the little toe and the I old llooka strIng ball into the garbage barrel And the garbage man carted them off But after that night Tames alw ys put his clothes away carefully when he went to bed |