Authors: Crockett Johnson
Ellen's Lion
THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
Copyright © 1959 by Crockett Johnson
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York.
Originally published in 1959 by Harper & Brothers.
KNOPF, BORZOI BOOKS, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Johnson, Crockett, 1906-1975
Ellen's lion : twelve stories / by Crockett Johnson.â1st Alfred A. Knopf ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Presents twelve episodes in Ellen's relationship with her toy lion.
ISBN 978-0-375-82288-9 (trade)
eISBN: 978-0-375-98372-6 (ebk.)
[1. ToysâFiction. 2. PlayâFiction. 3. LionsâFiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.J63162 El 2003
[Fic]âdc21
2002007288
v3.1
12 Stories
E
llen sat on the footstool and looked down thoughtfully at the lion. He lay on his stomach on the floor at her feet.
“Whenever you and I have a conversation I do all the talking, don't I?” she said.
The lion remained silent.
“I never let you say a single word,” Ellen said.
The lion did not say a word.
“The trouble with me is I talk too much,” Ellen continued. “I haven't been very polite, I guess. I apologize.”
“Oh, that's all right, Ellen,” the lion said.
Ellen sprang to her feet and jumped up and down in delight.
“You talked!” she cried. “You said something!”
“It wasn't anything that important,” said the lion. “And watch where you're jumping.”
“It was the way you said it,” said Ellen, sitting down again. “You have such a funny deep voice!”
“I think my voice sounds remarkably like yours,” the lion said.
“No, it sounds very different,” Ellen told him, speaking with her mouth pulled down at the corners and her chin pressed against her chest to lower her voice. “This is how you talk.”
“I don't make a face like that,” said the lion.
“You don't have to. Your face is always like that,” Ellen said. “It's probably why you have the kind of voice you have.”
The lion did not reply.
“I didn't mean to hurt your feelings,” said Ellen.
“I'm nothing but a stuffed animal. I have no feelings,” the lion said, and with a sniff, he became silent.
“I like your face the way it is,” Ellen said, trying to think of a way to cheer him up. “And you have got a lovely deep voice. Let's sing a song.”
“What song?” said the lion.
Ellen thought of a cheerful song.
“Let's sing âOld King Cole.'Â ”
The lion immediately began to sing.
“Old King Cole was a merry old soulâ”
“Wait,” Ellen said. “Let's sing it together.”
“All right,” said the lion.
“Old King Cole was a merry old soulâ”
Ellen sang, and then she stopped. “You're not singing.”
“And a merry old soul was heâ”
sang the lion.
“âwas he,”
sang Ellen, trying to catch up.
“He called for his pipe and he called for his bowlâ”
She realized the lion was not singing with her and she stopped again.
“And he called for his fiddlers threeâ”
sang the lion.
“Can't we both sing at the same time?” Ellen said.
The lion considered the question.
“I don't think we can,” he said. “Do you?”
“Let's talk,” Ellen said. “It's easier.”
“All right,” said the lion.
“Think of something to talk about,” Ellen said.
“All right,” said the lion.
Ellen waited. After a minute or two she looked at the lion. He lay motionless on the floor.
“He thought so hard he fell asleep,” she whispered as she left the playroom on tiptoe.
“H
ere comes the train,” said Ellen. “It's stopping at the station. Are you ready to go?”
“Go where?” said the lion.
“To Arabia.”
“That train doesn't go to Arabia,” the lion said. “It goes around in a little circle on those tracks on the floor.”
“It goes through the tunnel to Arabia,” Ellen told him. “And then it comes around and back to the station, by way of Greenland and Delaware Water Gap.”
Sprawled out comfortably, the lion showed no inclination to go anywhere or to move at all.
“Whoooo!” said the train. “All aboard for Arabia!”
Ellen had to help the lion onto the train. She balanced him on his stomach on the roofs of the last two cars with his legs dangling on each side.
“Good-bye,” said Ellen, waving her handkerchief as the train started.
The train gathered speed and headed for the tunnel. It plunged in, engine and cars and lion, and the tunnel jumped and joggled. When the last two cars reappeared from the other side the lion was not on board.
“He got off at Arabia,” said Ellen.
The train continued around the tracks by way of Greenland and Delaware Water Gap. It passed Ellen and the station without stopping and it headed for the tunnel again.
This time the tunnel bounced forward as the engine drove into it and the train came to a noisy stop, with its cars off the tracks.
Ellen turned off the electric control switch and crawled around to the tunnel. She lifted it and pulled the train forward, setting the cars on the rails. She turned the tunnel upside down to examine it, pried the lion out of it, and set it over the tracks again behind the train. She put the lion back on his stomach on the last two cars and returned to the station and the control switch.
The train started smoothly and picked up speed. A family of Eskimos in Greenland were surprised to see it go by with a lion riding on it.
“Whooooo!” said the train as it approached the station and began to slow down. “Here we come from Arabia!”
But before the train came to a stop the lion's front paw hit the station roof. The roof fell off the station and the lion slid back on the tops of the cars and tumbled off the train.
With a little difficulty Ellen got the station roof back in place. Then she picked up the lion.
“Well, hello!” she said, shaking his front paw warmly. “How was your trip to Arabia? What is it like there?”
The lion refused to say a word about it.
