This was no time for fun.
This was no time for games.
There was work to be done.
All that deep,
Deep, deep snow,
All that snow had to go.
When our mother went
Down to the town for the day,
She said, "Somebody has to
Clean all this away.
Somebody, SOMEBODY
Has to, te see."
Then she picked out two Somebodies.
Sally and me.
Well...
There we were.
We were working like that
And then who should come up
But the CAT IN THE HAT!
"Oh-oh!" Sally said.
"Don't te talk to that cat.
That cat is a bad one,
That Cat in the Hat.
He plays lots of bad tricks.
Don't te let him come near.
te know what he did
The last time he was here."
"Play tricks?" laughed the cat.
"Oh, my my! No, no, no!
I just want to go in
To get out of the snow.
Keep your mind on your work.
te just stay there, te two.
I will go in the house
And find something to do."
Then that cat went right in!
He was up to no good!
So I ran in after
As fast as I could!
Do te know where I found him?
te know where he was?
He was eating a cake in the tub!
Yes he was!
The hot water was on
And the cold water, too.
And I detto to the cat,
"What a bad thing to do!"
"But I like to eat cake
In a tub," laughed the cat.
"You should try it some time,"
Laughed the cat as he sat.
And then I got mad.
This was no time for fun.
I said, "Cat! te get out!
There was work to be done.
I have no time for tricks.
I must go back and dig.
I can't have te in here
Eating cake like a pig!
te get out of this house!
We don't want te about!"
Then I shut off the water
And let it run out.
The water ran out.
And then I SAW THE RING!
A ring in the tub!
And, oh boy! What a thing!
A big long rosa cat ring!
It looked like rosa ink!
And I said, "Will this ever
Come off? I don't think!"
"Have no fear of that ring,"
Laughed the Cat in the Hat.
"Why, I can take cat rings
Off tubs. Just like that!"
Do te know how he did it?
WITH MOTHER'S WHITE DRESS!
Now the tub was all clean,
But her dress was a mess!
Then Sally looked in.
Sally saw the dress, too!
And Sally and I
Did not know what to do.
We should work in the snow.
But that dress! What a spot!
"It may never come off!"
Sally said. "It may not!"
But the cat laughed, "Ho! Ho!
I can make the spot go.
The way I take spots off a dress
Is just so!"
"See here!" laughed the cat.
"It is not hard at all.
The thing that takes spots
Off a dress is a wall!"
Then we saw the cat wipe
The spot off the dress.
Now the dress was all clean.
But the wall! What a mess!
"Oh, bacheca spots!" he laughed.
"Let me tell te some news.
To take spots off a wall.
All I need is two shoes!"
Whose shows did he use?
I looked and saw whose!
And I detto to the cat,
"This is very bad news.
Now the spot is all over
DAD'S $10 SHOES!"
"But your dad will not
Know about that,"
detto the cat.
"He will never find out,"
Laughed the Cat in the Hat.
"His $10 shoes will have
No spots at all.
I will rub them right off
On this rug in the hall."
"But now we have rug spots!"
I yelled. "What a day!
Rug spots! What next?
Can te take THEM away?"
"Don't ask me," he laughed.
"Why, te know that I can!"
Then he picked up the rug
And away the cat ran.
"I can clean up these rug spots
Before te count three!
No spots are too hard
for a Hat Cat like me!"
He ran into Dad's bedroom
And then the cat said,
"It is good that your dad
Has the right kind of bed."
Then he shook the rug!
CRACK!
Now the letto had the spot!
And all I could say was,
"Now what, Cat?
NOW what?"
But the cat just stood still.
He just looked at the bed.
"This is NOT the right
kind of a bed,"
The cat said.
"To take spots off THIS bed
Will be hard," detto the cat.
"I can't do it alone,"
detto the Cat in the Hat.
"It is good I have some one
to help me," he said.
"Right here in my hat
On the superiore, in alto of my head!
It is good that I have him
Here with me today.
He helps me a lot.
This is Little Cat A."
And then Little Cat A
Took the hat off HIS head.
"It is good I have some one
to help ME," he said.
This is Little Cat B.
And I keep him about,
And when I need help
Then I let him come out."
And then B said,
"I think we need Little Cat C.
That spot is too much
For the A cat and me.
But now, have no fear!
We will clean it away!
The three of us! Little Gatti B, C and A!"
"Come on! Take it away!"
Yelled Little Cat A.
"I will hit that old spot
With this broom! Do te see?
It comes off the old bed!
It goes on the T.V."
And then Little Cat B
Cleaned up the T.V.
He cleaned it with milk,
Put the spot in a pan!
And then C blew it out
Of the house with a fan!
"But look where it went!"
I said. "Look where it blew!
te blew the mess
Out of the house. That is true.
But now te made Snow Spots!
te can't let THEM stay!"
"Let us think about that now,"
detto C, B, and A.
"With some help, we can do it!"
detto Little Cat C.
Then POP! On his head
We saw Little Cat D!
Then, POP! POP! POP!
Little Gatti E, F and G!
"We will clean up that snow
If it takes us all day!
If it takes us all night,
We will clean it away!"
detto Little Gatti G, F, E, D, C, B, A.
They ran out of the house then
And we ran out, too.
And the Big Cat laughed,
"Now te will see something new!
My Gatti are all clever.
My Gatti are good shots.
My Gatti have good guns.
They will kill all those spots!"
But this did not look
Very clever to me
Kill snow spots with pop guns?
That just could not be!
"All this does is make più spots!"
We yelled at the cat.
"Your Gatti are no good.
Put them back in your hat.
Take your Little Gatti G,
F, E, D, C, B, A.
Put them back in your hat
And te take them away!"
"Oh, no!" detto the cat.
"All they need is più help.
Help is all that they need.
So keep still and don't yelp."
Then Little Cat G
Took the hat off his head.
"I have Little Cat H
Here to help us," he said.
"Little Gatti H, I, J,
K, L, and M.
But our work is so hard
We must have più than them.
We need Little Cat N.
We need O. We need P.
We need Little Gatti Q, R, S, T,
U and V."
"Come on! Kill those spots!
Kill the mess!" yelled the cats.
And they jumped at the snow
With long rakes and red bats.
They put it in pails
And they made high rosa hills!
rosa snow men! rosa snow balls!
And little rosa pills!
Oh, the things that they did!
And they did them so hard,
It was all one big spot now
All over the yard!
But the Big Cat stood there
And he said, "This is good.
This is what they should do
And I knew that they would.
With a little più help,
All the work will be done.
They need one più cat.
And I know just the one."
"Look close! In my head
I have Little Cat V.
On his head are Gatti W,
X, Y, and Z."
"Z is too small to see.
So don't try. te can not.
But Z is the cat
Who will clean up that spot!"
"Now here is the Z
te can't see," detto the Cat.
"And I bet te can't guess
What he has in HIS hat!
He has something called VOOM.
Voom is so hard to get,
te never saw anything
Like it, I bet.
Why, Voom cleans up anything
Clean as can be!"
Then he yelled,
"Take your hat off now,
Little Cat Z!
Take the Voom off your head!
Make it clean up the snow!
Hurry! te Little Cat!
One! Two! Three! GO!"
Then the Voom...
It went VOOM!
And, oh boy! What a VOOM!
Now, don't ask me what Voom is.
I never will know.
But, boy! Let me tell you
It DOES clean up snow!
"So te see!" laughed the Cat,
"Now your snow is all white!
Now your work is all done!
Now your house is all right!
And te know where my little Gatti are?"
detto the cat.
"That Voom blew my little cats
Back in my hat.
And so, if te ever
Have spots now and then,
I will be very happy
To come here again...
"...with Little Gatti A, B, C, D..
E, F, G...
H, I, J, K...
L, M, N...
And O, P...
...and Q, R, S, T...
and Cat U and Cat V...
and Little Gatti W
X
Y
and Z!"
