village -- to buy groceries, she said -- and it was a journey of at least
two days.

So he took his axe to the forest, and selected some stout, straight
saplings, which he cut down and trimmed of all their twigs and leaves. From
these he would make the arms, and legs, and feet of his man. For the body he
stripped a sheet of thick



11
bark from around a big tree, and with much labor fashioned it into a
cylinder of about the right size, pinning the edges together with wooden
pegs. Then, whistling happily as he worked, he carefully jointed the limbs
and fastened them to the body with pegs whittled into shape with his knife.

By the time this feat had been accomplished it began to grow dark, and Tip
remembered he must milk the cow and feed the pigs. So he picked up his
wooden man and carried it back to the house with him.

During the evening, by the light of the fire in the kitchen, Tip carefully
rounded all the edges of the joints and smoothed the rough places in a neat
and workmanlike manner. Then he stood the figure up against the wall and
admired it. It seemed remarkably tall, even for a full-grown man; but that
was a good point in a small boy's eyes, and Tip did not object at all to the
size of his creation.

Next morning, when he looked at his work again, Tip saw he had forgotten to
give the dummy a neck, by means of which he might fasten the pumpkinhead to
the body. So he went again to the forest, which was not far away, and