![]() A daughter, Tiny, was born, but her parents' marriage was unhappy, and she and Carrie left home. The Narrator describes how Paul went wife-hunting, found an appropriately sized partner (Carrie), and married her (" The Spring came and the Summer and Fall"). Inkslinger, equally defeated, returns and accepts the job of book-keeper. Paul introduces a "dream of warning", sung by a quartet of the defeated (" Gold in the North came the blizzard to say"). Sam and Ben recruit cats Moppet and Poppet, and the dog Fido, to aid them in their work (" The single creature lives a partial life"). Paul predicts that, as Inkslinger has no resources, he will have to return. Johnny Inkslinger, an impecunious book-keeper, also turns up, but wishes to be independent and refuses offers of soup, beans and recompense before travelling on. Bad cooks Sam and Ben, devotees (respectively) of soup and beans, arrive (" Sam for Soups, Ben for beans", a parody of campaigns): However, there is still a need for some cooks who can provide the lumberjacks with nutritious food. The Swedes quarrel over which of them should be foreman, but a Western Union Boy bicycles in with a telegram from the King of Sweden, whose recommended foreman, Hel Helson, arrives and is duly appointed by Paul. Paul recruits lumberjacks from all over Europe (" My birthplace was in Sweden, it's a very long way off"). The two of them leave for the South, where Paul sets up a camp. ![]() One night, he awoke to find that his forehead was being licked by Babe the Blue Cow. The Narrator recounts the birth and growth of Paul, who gained 346 pounds every week, became as tall as the Empire State Building and had a stride of 3.7 miles (" The cold wind blew through the crooked thorn"). To the horror of the old trees, the moon turns blue (" It isn't very often the conservatives are wrong"). The geese explain that the old trees will have to leave when a Man arrives: Paul Bunyan will be born at the next blue moon. The old trees like life to be slow (" Since the birth Of the earth"), but are challenged by four young trees and three wild geese. Synopsis Place: In and around the American forest Time: Early- to mid- twentieth century Prologue Lumberjacks, farmers, frontier women, animals, trees, wild geese We love what we do at The King’s English and none of us can imagine a better life.Narrator and Balladeer (in the Interludes) ![]() We believe that this is a recipe not just for a successful bookstore but for a happy (and meaningful) existence. Readers trust us, have faith in both our stock and our recommendations, and feel not just welcome but cherished in our store we have carved out an important place for ourselves (and for all local business) in our community, and local businesses look to us for leadership on issues that impact us all and we participate actively in the wider world of bookselling. We put most of our effort, our money, and our planning into weaving these skills and priorities into an organic whole taken together, they define us and have insured our survival over the 33 years of our existence. This is what we cling to at The King’s English: creation of an environment that welcomes readers, an inventory carefully selected to fit the tastes of those readers, staff-wide ability to match our books to precisely those readers who will like them, and active engagement with both our local community and the larger community of independent booksellers. In so doing we have examined and re-examined our practices and our core values, deciding what to change and what to cling to. ![]() Our skills in that area have been acquired, shaped, and honed out of necessity over the years as the onslaught of chains and then the Internet has forced us to reinvent ourselves again and again. We, like all independent booksellers, are besotted by books, but we have long since learned that the love of books in and of itself isn’t enough: that passion must be coupled with a thoroughgoing knowledge of business practices. Our philosophy at The King’s English has always been a simple one: pick good books, pass them on. Shelf for shelf, The King’s English is the best bookstore I’ve ever been in.
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