The Lorax

By: Dr. Seuss August, and he sounds as if he had All my life I'd been searching he peeks out of the shutters smallish bees up his nose. for trees such as these. At the far end of and sometimes he speaks Now I'll tell you, he says, with his The touch of their tufts town and tells how the Lorax was lifted teeth sounding gray, was much softer than silk. where the Grickle-grass grows away. how the Lorax got lifted and And they had the sweet smell and the wind smells slow-and- He'll tell you, perhaps... taken away... of fresh butterfly milk. sour when it blows if you're willing to pay. It all started way back... and no birds ever sing excepting such a long, long time back... I felt a great leaping old crows... On the end of a rope of joy in my heart. is the Street of the Lifted Lorax. he lets down a tin pail Way back in the days when the I knew just what I'd do! and you have to toss in fifteen grass was still green I unloaded my cart. And deep in the Grickle-grass, cents and the pond was still wet some people say, and a nail and the clouds were still clean, In no time at all, I had built a if you look deep enough you can and the shell of a great-great- and the song of the Swomee- small shop. still see, today, great- Swans rang out in space... Then I chopped down a Truffula where the Lorax once stood grandfather snail. one morning, I came to this Tree with one chop. just as long as it could glorious place. And with great skillful skill and before somebody lifted the Lorax Then he pulls up the pail, And I first saw the trees! with great speedy speed, away. makes a most careful count The Truffula Trees! I took the soft tuft. And I knitted a to see if you've paid him The bright-colored tufts of the Thneed! What was the Lorax? the proper amount. Truffula Trees! Any why was it there? Mile after mile in the fresh The instand I'd finished, I heard a And why was it lifted and taken Then he hides what you paid him morning breeze. ga-Zump! somewhere away in his Snuvv, I looked. from the far end of town where his secret strange hole And under the trees, I saw Brown I saw something pop out of the the Grickle-grass grows? in his gruvvulous glove. Bar-ba-loots stump The old Once-ler still lives here. Then he grunts, I will call you by frisking about in their Bar-ba-loot of the tree I'd chopped down. It Ask him. He knows. Whisper-ma-Phone, suits was sort of a man. for the secrets I tell you are for as the played in the shade and Describe him?...That's hard. I You won't see the Once-ler. your ears alone. ate Truffula Fruits. don't know if I can. Don't knock at his door. He stays in his Lerkim on top of SLUPP From the rippulous pond He was shortish. And oldish. his store. Down slupps the Whisper-ma- came the comfortable sound And brownish. And mossy. He stays in his Lerkim, cold Phone to your ear of the Humming-Fish humming And he spoke with a voice under the roor, and the old Once-ler's whispers while splashing around. that was sharpish and bossy. where he makes his own clothes are not very clear, out of miff-muffered moof. since they have to come down But those trees! Those trees! Mister! he said with a sawdusty And on special dank midnights in through a snergelly hose, Those Truffula Trees! sneeze,

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I am the Lorax. I speak for the He happily bought it for three How my business did grow! hope that they may. trees. ninety-eight. Now, chopping one tree Good luck, boys, he cried. And I speak for the trees, for the trees I laughed at the Lorax, You poor at a time was too slow. he sent them away. have no tongues. stupid guy! And I'm asking you, sir, at the top You never can tell what some So I quickly invented my Super- I, the Once-ler, felt sad of my lungs-- people will buy. Axe-Hacker as I watched them all go. he was very upset as he shouted which whacked off four Truffula BUT... and puffed-- I repeat, cried the Lorax, Trees at one smacker. business is business! What's that THING you've made I speak for the trees! We were making Thneeds And business must grow out of my Truffula tuft? four times as fast as before! regardless of crummies in I'm busy, I told him. And that Lorax?... He didn't show tummies, you know. Look, Lorax, I said. There's no Shut up, if you please. up any more. cause for alarm. I rushed 'cross the room, and in I meant no harm. I most truly did I chopped just one tree. I am no time at all, But the next week not. doing no harm. built a radio-phone. I put in a he knocked on my new office But I had to grow bigger. So I'm being quite useful. This thing quick call. door. bigger I got. is a Thneed. I called all my brothers and He snapped, I'm the Lorax who I biggered my factory. I biggered A Thneed's a Fine-Something- uncles and aunts speaks for the trees my roads. That-All-People-Need! and I said, Listen here! Here's a which you seem to be chopping I biggered my wagons. I biggered It«s a shirt. It's a sock. It's a wonderful chance as fast as you please. the loads glove. It's a hat. for the whole Once-ler Family to But I'm also in charge of the of the Thneeds I shipped out. I But it has other uses. Yes, far get mighty rich! Brown Bar-ba-loots was shipping them forth beyond that. Get over here fast! Take the road who played in the shade in their to the South! To the East! To the You can use it for carpets. For to North Nitch. Bar-ba-loot suits West! To the North! pillows! For sheets! Turn left at Weehawken. Sharp and happily lived, eating Truffula I went right on biggering...selling Or curtains! Or covers for bicycle right at South Stich. Fruits. more Thneeds. seats! NOW...thanks to your hacking And I biggered my money, which The Lorax said, And, in no time at all, my trees to the ground, everyone needs. Sir! You are crazy with greed. in the factory I built, there's not enough Truffula Fruit There is no one on earth the whole Once-ler Family to go 'round. Then again he came back! I was who would buy that fool Thneed! was working full tilt. And my poor Bar-ba-loots are all fixing some pipes We were all knitting Thneeds getting the crummies when that old nuisance Lorax But the very next minute I proved just as busy as bees, because they have gas, and no came back with more gripes. he was wrong. to the sound of the chopping food, in their tummies! I am the Lorax, he coughed and For, just at that minute, a chap of Truffula Trees. he whiffed. came along, They loved living here. But I can't He sneezed and he snuffled. He and he thought that the Thneed I Then... let them stay. snarggled. He sniffed. had knitted was great. Oh! Baby! Oh! They'll have to find food. And I Once-ler! he cried with a

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cruffulous croak. their future is dreary. done. and worried away. Once-ler! You're making such They'll walk on their fins and get So, in no time, my uncles and Through the years, while my smogulous smoke! woefully weary aunts, every one, buildings My poor Swomee-Swans...why, in search of some water that isn't all waved my good-bye. They have fallen apart, they can't sing a note! so smeary. jumped into my cars I've worried about it No one can sing who has smog and drove away under the with all of my heart. in his throat. And then I got mad. smoke-smuggered stars. I got terribly mad. But now, says the Once-ler, And so, said the Lorax, I yelled at the Lorax, Now listen Now all that was left 'neath the Now that you're here, --please pardon my cough-- here, Dad! bad-smelling sky the word of the Lorax seems they cannot live here. All you do is yap-yap and say, was my big empty factory... perfectly clear. So I'm sending them off. Bad! Bad! Bad! Bad! the Lorax... UNLESS someone like you Well, I have my rights, sir, and and I. cares a whole awful lot, Where will they go?... I'm telling you nothing is going to get better. I don't hopefully know. I intend to go on doing just what I The Lorax said nothing. Just It's not. They may have to fly for a do! gave me a glance... month...or a year... And, for your information, you just gave me a very sad, sad SO... To escape from the smog you've Lorax, I'm figgering backward glance... Catch! calls the Once-ler. smogged-up around here. on biggering as he lifted himself by the seat of He lets something fall. and Biggering his pants. It's a Truffula Seed. What's more, snapped the Lorax. and BIGGERING And I'll never forget the grim look It's the last one of all! (His dander was up.) and BIGGERING!! on his face You're in charge of the last of the Let me say a few words about turning MORE Truffula Trees into when he hoisted himself and Truffula Seeds. Gluppity-Glupp. Thneeds took leave of this place, And Truffula Trees are what Your machinery chugs on, day which everyone, EVERYONE, through a hole in the smog, everyone needs. and night without stop EVERYONE needs! without leaving a trace. Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with making Gluppity-Glup. Also care. Schloppity-Schlopp. And at that very moment, we And all that the Lorax left here in And what do you do with this heard a loud whack! this mess Give it clean water. And feed it leftover goo?... From outside in the fields came a was a small pile of rocks, with fresh air. I'll show you. You dirty old Once- sickening smack one word... Grow a forest. Protect it from ler man, you! af an axe on a tree. Then we UNLESS. axes that hack. heard the tree fall. Whatever that meant, well, I just Then the Lorax You're glumping the pond where The very last Truffula Tree of couldn't guess. and all of his friends the Humming-Fish hummed! them all! may come back. No more can they hum, for their That was long, long ago. gills are all gummed. No more trees. No more But each day since that day So I'm sending them off. Oh, Thneeds. No more work to be I've sat here and worried

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