What makes a children’s story a complete book? When can it stand alone and when does it belong in an anthology? Sometimes the mechanicals of publication pull tales together in a collection. Other times, an author might publish a series of short stories to view the same theme from a different perspective. I suspect a little of both in Dr. Seuss’ Yertle the Turtle and Other Short Stories.
These stories were originally copyrighted by the McCall Corporation in 1950 and 1951, with the copyright reverting to Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and his wife, Audrey, in 1958. While the first story could have stood on its own, the other two are weaker and lack the cadence and charm that makes Seuss so adored. Yet, in some ways, the other two stories are variations on Yertle, and belong close to it.
Yertle the Turtle: A Cry for Freedom and Humility
The first story is the one that is best known and best written. It talks about the king of the turtles, Yertle. He likes his pond and he rules it well, but power corrupts, and Yertle wants more. He builds his throne up, knowing that he will be able to rule all that he can see. But his throne is made of fellow turtles. Only through tyranny is he able to build his kingdom and he goes from the happy smiling turtle in the beginning to the snarly, snappy turtle toward the end.
Finally, poor Mack, the turtle stuck at the bottom who hesitatingly complains that he and his fellows are starving, burps. Up fly all the turtles and Yertle, the proud ruler, has a great fall.
The final page reads,
“And today the great Yertle, that Marvelous he,
Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.
And the turtles, of course . . . all the turtles are free
As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.”
There are many who read lots of political meanings into this story, and surely it is a statement against tyranny. It even shows up on Libertarian reading lists. While I won’t argue against its political meaning, I prefer to see a more personal one there. After all, this is a book directed at children, not politicians. Yertle would have used all those around him to increase his power. He cared nothing for the people he was quite literally stepping on to get to the top. Because he lacked consideration and kindness, he lost everything.
Gertrude McFuzz: Spurn Conformity and Vanity
Gertrude McFuzz is a bird (a girl-bird, Seuss is careful to tell us) with a very small tail. She sees another young bird who has fancy feathers and determines that she must have ones like it. So she throws tantrums, begs, and pleads, and finally her uncle tells her where she can get a pill to make her tail grow. Sure enough, it works. But then she keeps eating these pills until she’d eaten three dozen.
She now has a beautiful, huge tail that weighed ninety pounds. Poor Gertrude couldn’t fly with that many feathers. She had to yelp and her Uncle came to her rescue. He brought lots of birds and they carried her and her feathers home. Seuss then claims that it took a week to pull out all the feathers, leaving Gertrude quite sore. The picture, though, seems to belie this, for this huge array of feathers is connected to Gertrude in but one place.
This is, perhaps, one of the least satisfying efforts by Dr. Seuss. It’s meaning is wonderful, but it is a little too heavy handed. The humor value is small and it is more preachy than his other works. I also found it overly stereotypical in its treatment of women. Like Gertrude’s, this tale is lacking.
The Big Brag: Quit Yer Boasting and Get on with It
Seuss’ next story has to do with a rabbit and a bear who fall into a bragging contest. The rabbit is convinced that he is the best animal in all the world. A bear contests this claim and they begin to argue and show off their prowess.
The rabbit tries to prove that he is the best by showing how far he can hear. He hears a fly cough on a mountain 90 miles away. The bear brags that he can smell twice as far as the rabbit can hear.
Up to this point, the story is OK, but lacks some of the sparkle that other Seuss tales have. Perhaps if Seuss did not write so many good books, this tale would stand up better. But he did, and it doesn’t.
Then Seuss gives us the twist that reminds us why he is the master of this genre–indeed, he almost stands alone in the genre. A third animal shows up–an earthworm who claims that his sight can put their hearing and smelling to shame. He claims to see all the way around the world and right back to the hill on which they say. “And I saw on this hill, since my eyesight’s so keen, the two biggest fools that have ever been seen! And the fools that I saw were none other than you, who seem to have nothing else better to do, than sit here and argue who’s better than who!” Then he flipped around and dove back into his hole and back to work.
Taken As A Whole
The three stories combined take an interesting look at those human foibles of pride, vanity,and boastfulness. In Seuss’ ever-friendly manner they help us look at our own foolishness and the wages of such behaviors.
While the latter two stories are weak, they still have moments to cherish and a lot to smile over. I’m not sure that either of them could have stood alone in a book, but it would have been a shame to never have them published or to go out of print. Yertle the Turtle can easily carry the other two stories on his back and everyone wins.
–B. Redman
Leave A Comment