The Lorax

By: Dr. Seuss At the far end of town where the Grickle-grass grows and the wind smells slow-andsour when it blows and no birds ever sing excepting old crows... is the Street of the Lifted Lorax. And deep in the Grickle-grass, some people say, if you look deep enough you can still see, today, where the Lorax once stood ust as long as it could before somebody lifted the Lorax away. !hat was the Lorax" Any why was it there" And why was it lifted and taken somewhere from the far end of town where the Grickle-grass grows" #he old $nce-ler still lives here. Ask him. %e knows. &ou won't see the $nce-ler. (on't knock at his door. %e stays in his Lerkim on top of his store. %e stays in his Lerkim, cold under the roor, where he makes his own clothes out of miff-muffered moof. And on special dank midnights in

August, he peeks out of the shutters and sometimes he speaks and tells how the Lorax was lifted away. %e'll tell you, perhaps... if you're willing to pay. $n the end of a rope he lets down a tin pail and you have to toss in fifteen cents and a nail and the shell of a great-greatgreatgrandfather snail. #hen he pulls up the pail, makes a most careful count to see if you've paid him the proper amount. #hen he hides what you paid him away in his Snuvv, his secret strange hole in his gruvvulous glove. #hen he grunts, ) will call you by !hisper-ma-*hone, for the secrets ) tell you are for your ears alone. SL+** (own slupps the !hisper-ma*hone to your ear and the old $nce-ler's whispers are not very clear, since they have to come down through a snergelly hose,

and he sounds as if he had smallish bees up his nose. ,ow )'ll tell you, he says, with his teeth sounding gray, how the Lorax got lifted and taken away... )t all started way back... such a long, long time back... !ay back in the days when the grass was still green and the pond was still wet and the clouds were still clean, and the song of the SwomeeSwans rang out in space... one morning, ) came to this glorious place. And ) first saw the trees#he #ruffula #rees#he bright-colored tufts of the #ruffula #rees.ile after mile in the fresh morning bree/e. And under the trees, ) saw 0rown 0ar-ba-loots frisking about in their 0ar-ba-loot suits as the played in the shade and ate #ruffula 1ruits. 1rom the rippulous pond came the comfortable sound of the %umming-1ish humming while splashing around. 0ut those trees- #hose trees#hose #ruffula #rees-

All my life )'d been searching for trees such as these. #he touch of their tufts was much softer than silk. And they had the sweet smell of fresh butterfly milk. ) felt a great leaping of oy in my heart. ) knew ust what )'d do) unloaded my cart. )n no time at all, ) had built a small shop. #hen ) chopped down a #ruffula #ree with one chop. And with great skillful skill and with great speedy speed, ) took the soft tuft. And ) knitted a #hneed#he instand )'d finished, ) heard a ga-2ump) looked. ) saw something pop out of the stump of the tree )'d chopped down. )t was sort of a man. (escribe him"...#hat's hard. ) don't know if ) can. %e was shortish. And oldish. And brownish. And mossy. And he spoke with a voice that was sharpish and bossy. .ister- he said with a sawdusty snee/e,

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The Lorax

) am the Lorax. ) speak for the trees. ) speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues. And )'m asking you, sir, at the top of my lungs-he was very upset as he shouted and puffed-!hat's that #%),G you've made out of my #ruffula tuft" Look, Lorax, ) said. #here's no cause for alarm. ) chopped ust one tree. ) am doing no harm. )'m being 3uite useful. #his thing is a #hneed. A #hneed's a 1ine-Something#hat-All-*eople-,eed)t4s a shirt. )t's a sock. )t's a glove. )t's a hat. 0ut it has other uses. &es, far beyond that. &ou can use it for carpets. 1or pillows- 1or sheets$r curtains- $r covers for bicycle seats#he Lorax said, Sir- &ou are cra/y with greed. #here is no one on earth who would buy that fool #hneed0ut the very next minute ) proved he was wrong. 1or, ust at that minute, a chap came along, and he thought that the #hneed ) had knitted was great.

%e happily bought it for three ninety-eight. ) laughed at the Lorax, &ou poor stupid guy&ou never can tell what some people will buy. ) repeat, cried the Lorax, ) speak for the trees)'m busy, ) told him. Shut up, if you please. ) rushed 'cross the room, and in no time at all, built a radio-phone. ) put in a 3uick call. ) called all my brothers and uncles and aunts and ) said, Listen here- %ere's a wonderful chance for the whole $nce-ler 1amily to get mighty richGet over here fast- #ake the road to ,orth ,itch. #urn left at !eehawken. Sharp right at South Stich. And, in no time at all, in the factory ) built, the whole $nce-ler 1amily was working full tilt. !e were all knitting #hneeds ust as busy as bees, to the sound of the chopping of #ruffula #rees. #hen... $h- 0aby- $h-

%ow my business did grow,ow, chopping one tree at a time was too slow. So ) 3uickly invented my SuperAxe-%acker which whacked off four #ruffula #rees at one smacker. !e were making #hneeds four times as fast as beforeAnd that Lorax"... %e didn't show up any more. 0ut the next week he knocked on my new office door. %e snapped, )'m the Lorax who speaks for the trees which you seem to be chopping as fast as you please. 0ut )'m also in charge of the 0rown 0ar-ba-loots who played in the shade in their 0ar-ba-loot suits and happily lived, eating #ruffula 1ruits. ,$!...thanks to your hacking my trees to the ground, there's not enough #ruffula 1ruit to go 'round. And my poor 0ar-ba-loots are all getting the crummies because they have gas, and no food, in their tummies#hey loved living here. 0ut ) can't let them stay. #hey'll have to find food. And )

hope that they may. Good luck, boys, he cried. And he sent them away. ), the $nce-ler, felt sad as ) watched them all go. 0+#... business is businessAnd business must grow regardless of crummies in tummies, you know. ) meant no harm. ) most truly did not. 0ut ) had to grow bigger. So bigger ) got. ) biggered my factory. ) biggered my roads. ) biggered my wagons. ) biggered the loads of the #hneeds ) shipped out. ) was shipping them forth to the South- #o the 5ast- #o the !est- #o the ,orth) went right on biggering...selling more #hneeds. And ) biggered my money, which everyone needs. #hen again he came back- ) was fixing some pipes when that old nuisance Lorax came back with more gripes. ) am the Lorax, he coughed and he whiffed. %e snee/ed and he snuffled. %e snarggled. %e sniffed. $nce-ler- he cried with a

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The Lorax

cruffulous croak. $nce-ler- &ou're making such smogulous smoke.y poor Swomee-Swans...why, they can't sing a note,o one can sing who has smog in his throat. And so, said the Lorax, --please pardon my cough-they cannot live here. So )'m sending them off. !here will they go"... ) don't hopefully know. #hey may have to fly for a month...or a year... #o escape from the smog you've smogged-up around here. !hat's more, snapped the Lorax. 6%is dander was up.7 Let me say a few words about Gluppity-Glupp. &our machinery chugs on, day and night without stop making Gluppity-Glup. Also Schloppity-Schlopp. And what do you do with this leftover goo"... )'ll show you. &ou dirty old $nceler man, you&ou're glumping the pond where the %umming-1ish hummed,o more can they hum, for their gills are all gummed. So )'m sending them off. $h,

their future is dreary. #hey'll walk on their fins and get woefully weary in search of some water that isn't so smeary. And then ) got mad. ) got terribly mad. ) yelled at the Lorax, ,ow listen here, (adAll you do is yap-yap and say, 0ad- 0ad- 0ad- 0ad!ell, ) have my rights, sir, and )'m telling you ) intend to go on doing ust what ) doAnd, for your information, you Lorax, )'m figgering on biggering and 0iggering and 0)GG58),G and BIGGERING!! turning .$85 #ruffula #rees into #hneeds which everyone, 5958&$,5, EVERYONE needsAnd at that very moment, we heard a loud whack1rom outside in the fields came a sickening smack af an axe on a tree. #hen we heard the tree fall. #he very last #ruffula #ree of them all,o more trees. ,o more #hneeds. ,o more work to be

done. So, in no time, my uncles and aunts, every one, all waved my good-bye. #hey umped into my cars and drove away under the smoke-smuggered stars. ,ow all that was left 'neath the bad-smelling sky was my big empty factory... the Lorax... and ). #he Lorax said nothing. :ust gave me a glance... ust gave me a very sad, sad backward glance... as he lifted himself by the seat of his pants. And )'ll never forget the grim look on his face when he hoisted himself and took leave of this place, through a hole in the smog, without leaving a trace. And all that the Lorax left here in this mess was a small pile of rocks, with one word... +,L5SS. !hatever that meant, well, ) ust couldn't guess. #hat was long, long ago. 0ut each day since that day )'ve sat here and worried

and worried away. #hrough the years, while my buildings have fallen apart, )'ve worried about it with all of my heart. 0ut now, says the $nce-ler, ,ow that you're here, the word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear. +,L5SS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. )t's not. S$... ;atch- calls the $nce-ler. %e lets something fall. )t's a #ruffula Seed. )t's the last one of all&ou're in charge of the last of the #ruffula Seeds. And #ruffula #rees are what everyone needs. *lant a new #ruffula. #reat it with care. Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air. Grow a forest. *rotect it from axes that hack. #hen the Lorax and all of his friends may come back.

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