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Updated: May 21, 2025
Putting his hand on Hepzebiah's sunny curls, he asked that little girl: "What name do you think would be nice for the boat?" Now Hepzebiah really didn't know just what it all was about. But she had heard Marmaduke say "Peacock," so she took her finger out of her mouth just long enough to point at the Guinea-hen, who was screeching horribly out in the barnyard. "The Guinea-hen! Ha, ha!
"Now you keep still, you Wienerwurst, or we will put you back in the kennel," called the Toyman to the little yellow dog, who felt very frisky and wanted to bark all the time. By the feet of the Toyman was a tin can. He put in his hand and pulled out a worm. This was put on Jehosophat's hook, another on Marmaduke's, and another on Hepzebiah's. Then the Toyman threw the three hooks in the water.
The red and blue one was tied on Jehosophat's line, the red and yellow one on Marmaduke's, and the blue and yellow on little Hepzebiah's. "What are those pretty things?" asked Marmaduke. "Floaters," the Toyman answered. "Watch and you will see what we do with them."
Father tore open the envelopes and sowed the seeds in Hepzebiah's garden, some in the little holes, some in the furrows. Then he let the two boys sow their own gardens. After the envelopes were all empty and the seeds all scattered they covered them over with the fine brown soil. "The little seeds must sleep for a while," said their Mother, "like babies in a big brown bed."
I really believe he read a story once about a horse called that. Or perhaps he remembered one of the circus ponies with the same name. Anyway, that was the one he chose. So it can't be changed now, any more than Jehosophat's own, or Marmaduke's, or Hepzebiah's. A moment more they looked Little Geeup all over, from the black mane on his neck down his sleek back to his fine full tail.
The Toyman had no sooner said this than he called out loud: "Watch 'er!" The red and yellow floater was pulled way under the water. The string on Marmaduke's pole tightened and the pole bent. Three times the floater went under the water. Then Marmaduke threw his pole back quickly and the hook came out of the water. On it something wriggled. The thing fell plop into Hepzebiah's lap.
Jehosophat sat on the floor and pulled on his new rubber boots, which reached almost to his waist. On the stool sat Marmaduke, putting on his, and Mother helped little Hepzebiah with her wee little ones. Over Jehosophat's head went a red sweater, over Marmaduke's a green, and over Hepzebiah's curls one of blue.
On the edge of the table was a vise, a big tool with iron jaws. In the iron jaws was a block of wood. The Toyman screwed the vise very tight so tight the wood couldn't budge. Then he shaved this side of the block, then the other side, with a plane, a tool with a very sharp edge. Clean white shavings fell on the floor, some of them twisting like Hepzebiah's curls.
But once he sang out louder than ever, for he had found a bit of string from Jehosophat's broken kite. "The very thing, the very thing," he said to her. And once Mother Oriole found, caught in the shutter, little threads of Hepzebiah's hair. Then the three happy children woke up. They rubbed their eyes. They had been dreaming in the warm sun. But their dream was true and the fairy story was true.
Then they would call the little birds. And one by one they would fly to the branch. Their wings were weak at first like Hepzebiah's little feet. But soon they grew strong and before many weeks had gone they could fly as fast as the old birds. And before the summer was over they were as big as their parents. You see birds have shorter lives than real people. They do not live so many years.
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