How the Grinch Stole Christmas
by Dr. Seuss
Every Who Down in Who-ville Liked Christmas a lot...but the Grinch, who
lived just North of Who-ville, Did NOT!
The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season! Now, please
don't ask why, no one quite knows the reason. It could be that his head wasn't
screwed on quite right. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all may have been that his
heart was two sizes too small.
But, whatever the reason, his heart or his
shoes, he stood there on Christmas Eve, hating the Whos.
Staring down from his cave with a sour, Grinchy frown at the warm
lighted windows below in their town. For he knew every Who down in Who-ville
beneath was busy now, hanging a mistleoe wreath.
"And they're hanging
their stockings!" he snarled with a sneer. "Tomorrow is Christmas!
It's practically here!" Then he growled, with his grinch fingers nervously
drumming, "I MUST find a way to keep Christmas from coming!"
For, tomorrow, he knew...all the Who girls and boys would wake up bright
and early, they'd rush for their toys! And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise!
Noise! Noise! Noise! That's one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!
Then the Whos, young and old, would sit down to a feast. And they'd
feast! And they'd feast! And they'd FEAST! FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!
They would start on Who-pudding, and rare Who-roast-beast, which was
something the Grinch couldn't stand in the least! And THEN they'd do something
he liked least of all! Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small, would
stand close together, with Christmas bells ringing. They'd stand hand-in-hand and
the Whos would start singing!
They'd sing! And they'd sing! AND they'd SING! SING! SING! SING! And the
more the Grinch thought of the Who-Christmas-Sing the more the Grinch thought,
"I must stop this whole thing! "Why for fifty-three years I've put up
with it now! I MUST stop Christmas from coming! ...But HOW?"
Then he got an idea! An awful idea! THE GRINCH GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL
IDEA! "I know just what to do!" The Grinch Laughed in his throat and
he made a quick Santy Claus hat and a coat. And he chuckled, and clucked,
"What a great Grinchy trick! With this coat and this hat, I'll look just
like Saint Nick!"
"All I need is a reindeer..." the Grinch looked around, but
since reindeer are scarce, there was none to be found. Did that stop the old
Grinch...? No! The Grinch simply said, "If I can't find a reindeer, I'll
make one instead!" So he called his dog Max, then he took some red thread
and he tied a big horn on top of his head.
THEN He loaded some bags and some
old empty sacks on a ramshakle sleigh and he hitched up old Max.
Then the Grinch said, "Giddyap!" and the sleigh started down toward
the homes where the Whos Lay a-snooze in their town.
All their windows were
dark. Quiet snow filled the air. All the Whos were all dreaming sweet dreams
without care, when he came to the first house in the square. "This is stop
number one," The old Grinchy Claus hissed and he climbed to the roof,
empty bags in his fist.
Then he slid down the chimney, a rather tight pinch, but
if Santa could do it, then so could the Grinch. He got stuck only once, for a
moment or two, then he stuck his head out of the fireplace flue where the
little Who stockings all hung in a row. "These stockings," he
grinned, "are the first things to go!"
Then he slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant, around the
whole room, and he took every present! Pop guns! And bicycles! Roller skates!
Drums! Checkerboards! Tricycles! Popcorn! And plums! And he stuffed them in
bags. then the Grinch, very nimbly, stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the
chimney!
Then he slunk to the icebox. He took the Whos' feast! He took the
Who-pudding! He took the roast beast! He cleaned out that icebox as quick as a
flash. Why, that Grinch even took their last can of Who-hash!
Then he stuffed
all the food up the chimney with glee. "And NOW!" grinned the Grinch,
"I will stuff up the tree!"
And the Grinch grabbed the tree, and he started to shove when he heard a
small sound like the coo of a dove. He turned around fast, and he saw a small
Who! Little Cindy-Lou Who, who was not more than two.
The Grinch had been caught
by this little Who daughter who'd got out of bed for a cup of cold water. She
stared at the Grinch and said, "Santy Claus, “Why, why are you taking our
Christmas tree? WHY?"
But, you know, that old Grinch was so smart and so slick he thought up a
lie, and he thought it up quick! "Why, my sweet little tot," the fake
Santy Claus lied, "There's a light on this tree that won't light on one
side. "So I'm taking it home to my workshop, my dear. "I'll fix it up
there. Then I'll bring it back here."
And his fib fooled the child. Then
he patted her head and he got her a drink and he sent her to bed. And when
Cindy-Lou Who went to bed with her cup, HE went to the chimney and stuffed the
tree up!
Then the last thing he took was the log for their fire. Then he went up
the chimney himself, the old liar. On their walls he left nothing but hooks,
and some wire.
And the one speck of food he left in the house was a crumb
that was even too small for a mouse.
Then He did the same thing to the other
Whos' houses, leaving crumbs much too small for the other Whos' mouses!
It was quarter past dawn... all the Whos, still a-bed all the Whos,
still a-snooze when he packed up his sled, packed it up with their presents!
The ribbons! The wrappings! The tags! And the tinsel! The trimmings! The
trappings!
Three thousand feet up! Up the side of Mount Crumpit, he rode to the
tiptop to dump it! "Pooh-pooh to the Whos!" he was grinch-ish-ly
humming. "They're finding out now that no Christmas is coming!
"They're just waking up! I know just what they'll do! "Their mouths
will hang open a minute or two "Then all the Whos down in Who-ville will
all cry BOO-HOO!"
"That's a noise," grinned the Grinch, "That I simply must
hear!" So he paused and the Grinch put a hand to his ear. And he did hear
a sound rising over the snow, it started in low, then it started to grow...
But
the sound wasn't sad! Why, this sound sounded merry! It couldn't be so! But it
WAS merry! VERY!
He stared down at Who-ville! The Grinch popped his eyes! Then he shook!
What he saw was a shocking surprise! Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and
the small, was singing! Without any presents at all! He HADN'T stopped
Christmas from coming! IT CAME! Somehow or other, it came just the same!
And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow, Stood
puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so? It came without ribbons! It
came without tags! "It came without packages, boxes or bags!" And he
puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of
something he hadn't before! "Maybe Christmas," he thought,
"doesn't come from a store. "Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a
little bit more!"
And what happened then...? Well...in Who-ville they say that the
Grinch's small heart Grew three sizes that day! And the minute his heart didn't
feel quite so tight, he whizzed with his load through the bright morning light and
he brought back the toys! And the food for the feast! And he.....HE HIMSELF...!
The Grinch carved the roast beast!
Source: Seussville—the official home of Dr. Seuss on the Web; http://www.seussville.com/faq/about_seuss.php
