Oncet, when I was a gret big man, I got mad at the way Ol’ nurses bossed the childruns an’ so I would n't stay; I jest got up and PUSHED MY HOUSE right over — yes, I did; An’ then I turned the streets all round, and runned away and hid!
When I come back, my childruns was cryin’ awful loud, Fer nobody knowed wher they lived, an’ there was such a crowd. I says, “Now, folks must shet their eyes — do n't open them a crack!” — An’ then I straightened out the streets, an’ put the houses back.
‘ N oncet I was a NELUPHANT, as big as all outdoors, ‘ N every time I turned around it shook the roofs and floors; I walked down to the river, and I drunk it up — ALL up, Jest like it was some cambric tea in my ol’ silver cup.
An’ when the people come fer me, I jest set down, kerplunk! An’ squashed‘ em flat — an’ picked them up — an’ packed‘ em in my trunk! ‘ N then I TWIST MY TRUNK OFF, an’ throwed it all away — You better let me go, Louise — I MIGHT do that to-day!
You wo n't? All right — you'd BETTER DID, for one time long ago, Before I gotter be a boy, I was a BEAR — oh, no — I was a SNAKE — a yaller snake, an’ I was TEN MILES long, ‘ N all I et was nurse girls — yes, I DID, although‘ twas wrong.
That was a million years ago, but something — inside me — Tells me I'm goin’ to be a snake AGAIN — jest watch and see! You do n't believe a word I say? Well, I do n't care — I DO — How could I‘ MEMBER all these things, unlessen they was true?
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