- Friendly: Once upon a time, not long ago and not far away,
there was a farm, and on the farm, there was a goose.
Find the goose.
Near the windmill.
And on the farm, there was a horse.
Find the horse.
In the barnyard.
And there's the boot.
Now, look up.
It's easy to find a goose and a horse on a farm,
but I know of a circus with a goose and a horse and a clown.
The circus is in a book, and the book is in a book bag,
and the book bag is in the castle.
That's where we'll go.
I'll hurry over first and go in the back door
so that I can let the drawbridge down
and open the big front doors for you.
Are you ready?
Here's my castle.
[whimsical music]
Here we are, inside, and here's one little chair for one of you
and a bigger chair for two more to curl up in,
and a rocking chair for someone who likes to rock.
Now, look up.
Way up.
I'll call Rusty.
Rusty?
- Hi, Friendly. - Hi, Rusty.
- How are you? - Fine.
We saw a goose and a horse on the farm.
- A goose and a horse. - Mm-hmm.
- Oh!
- And I told everyone about the goose and the horse.
- In the book. - In the circus.
- Yes. - You know that book.
- I know that one, mm-hmm.
Oh, that's a good one.
- Let's call Jerome, because he likes circuses.
- Mm-hmm. [Friendly whistles]
Oh, he likes circuses very much. [Jerome whistles]
- Here he comes. - Hi, Friendly.
- Hi, Jerome. - Hi, Rusty.
- Hi. - Well.
- We were talking about circuses.
- Circuses?
Oh, I like circuses.
- We were talking about a circus with a horse and a goose.
- A horse and a goose, yes.
- Whoever heard of a horse and a goose in a circus?
- And a clown. - And a clown?
In a circus, a horse and a goose and a clown?
- Show him, Rusty. - I'll show you, Jerome.
Here it is.
You'll have to help a little bit, Friendly.
- What's the clown's name, Rusty?
- Rusty: Well, oh, there it is.
- Friendly: Sad Eye. - Rusty: Mm-hmm.
- Friendly: The clown. - Rusty: Sad Eye the Clown.
- It's a circus story. - Well, a goose and a horse.
- Well, you'll see.
Let me put the book up where everyone can see it.
- I don't know this story. - I didn't think so.
- Well, I know about circuses, though, with all kinds of camels
and lions and tigers, but not a goose and a horse. [laughs]
- Well, you just wait and see.
And you'll see this clown and a goose and a horse in a circus.
- Friendly: There, can you see the book?
- Jerome: A little higher, Friendly.
- Friendly: How's that? - Jerome: There.
- Friendly: Sad Eye the Clown: A Circus Story.
Written and illustrated by Nils Hogner.
It's an Abelard-Schuman book.
"The circus was coming to town.
"First, of course, came the parade.
"At the head of the parade came the band.
"And after the band came the circus people
"riding beautiful horses.
"Next came the camels with gaudy saddles.
"And then came the animal wagons,
pulled by heavy work horses."
And look!
A giraffe. - Rusty: A giraffe!
Look, Jerome. - Jerome: Oh!
- Friendly: "After the animal wagons came the elephants
"with their keepers riding on the heads of the big animals.
"And at the very end of the parade came Sad Eye Jim,
"the clown, carrying Gossi the Goose.
"They had to be at the end
"because Gossi had hurt his foot and was very lame.
"He couldn't keep up with the parade.
"So, Sad Eye Jim and Gossi got all the dust kicked up
by the elephants in front of them."
- Rusty: Oh, see, there's the goose, Jerome.
- Jerome: Oh, yes.
- Friendly: "That night, under the big tent in the circus,
"everybody was having fun except Sad Eye Jim.
"Gossi the Goose was an important part of the act,
"and the clown couldn't perform without him.
"They sat together outside the tent, both looking very unhappy.
"Through the entrance of the big tent,
"Sad Eye watched the men swinging high up in the air
"on the trapeze.
"He saw the bareback riders in one ring,
and he watched--" what? - Jerome: The seal.
- Friendly: The sea lion. - Jerome: The sea lion, yes.
- Friendly: That's a sea lion.
"He watched the sea lion balance a ball on the tip of its nose."
- Rusty: On his nose. [laughs]
- Friendly: "He heard the boys and girls in the audience
"laughing gaily at the other clowns
"as they ran past the opening in the big circus tent.
Sad Eye did not even smile." - Jerome: Aw.
- Friendly: "The ringmaster came
"and gently tapped him on the shoulder.
"'People are asking about you,' he said.
"The bareback rider and the snake man
"tried to cheer the clown,
"but Sad Eye Jim only sank deeper down in his chair,
"holding Gossi the Goose in his lap.
"The thin man and two small dwarfs
"came to talk to Sad Eye Jim, and at last,
"Don Mustachio, the circus owner,
"started to look for Sad Eye Jim.
"He looked outside the tent and inside,
but the clown and Gossi the Goose were nowhere to be seen."
What do you think happened? - Jerome: I don't know.
- Friendly: "Don Mustachio was greatly worried
about losing Sad Eye Jim and Gossi the Goose."
- Rusty: I know.
- Friendly: "So, he went out to look for him,
"and he came to a farm.
"'Have you seen Sad Eye Jim the clown?'
"the circus owner asked the farmer who lived on the farm.
"'Well, what would a clown be doing here?' the farmer replied.
"'But I'll help you look for him.'
"Together, Don Mustachio and the farmer wandered down the road,
"looking here and there.
They passed many cows."
- Jerome: Mm-hmm. - Friendly: See.
"They passed a flock of geese.
But Gossi wasn't with them."
- Jerome: Oh, Gossi wasn't in there.
- Friendly: No.
"Soon, they came to the old rail fence.
"Don Mustachio had a great deal of trouble climbing the fence.
The farmer helped him." - Rusty: Oh!
- Friendly: "'Well,' said the farmer,
"'There is Cirros, my horse.'
"The grass was so high
"that only the head and back of the horse could be seen.
Suddenly, they saw a goose fly up onto the small horse's back."
- Rusty: Oh, there he is.
- Friendly: "'Oh, goodness me,' said Don Mustachio.
"'That's Gossi the Goose.'
"And at the sound of Don Mustachio's voice,
"Sad Eye Jim jumped up out of the grass where he'd been hiding
and started to run." - Jerome: Oh!
- Friendly: "He didn't want to be found
"because he didn't want to be in the circus
if Gossi the Goose couldn't be with him."
- Rusty: That's right.
- Friendly: "But Cirros, the horse,
caught the clown's long coattails and held him fast."
- Rusty: Here's the part I like.
- Friendly: "Poor Sad Eye tugged and tugged
until suddenly, one of his coattails ripped off."
- Rusty: Oh! [laughs]
- Friendly: The clown rolled over and over on the ground.
- Jerome: Oh, that's pretty funny.
- Friendly: "Gossi the Goose
"still perched on the small horse's back,
"and he flapped his wings happily.
"And Sad Eye Jim got up again and tried to run.
But Cirros still had the other coattail."
- Jerome: Yes.
- Friendly: What do you think happened?
- Jerome: Well, all there-- - Friendly: "The clown tugged
"as hard as he could to get away,
and there was another rip, and off came the other coattail."
"And Sad Eye Jim rolled over and over on the green grass."
- Rusty: Whee! [laughs]
- Friendly: Clowns are good at rolling.
- Jerome: Oh, that was funny.
- Friendly: "'Well, this is terrible!' cried the farmer.
"'Well, this is wonderful!' cried Don Mustachio,
as he ran and shook Sad Eye's hand."
- Jerome: He liked it too. - Friendly: Mm-hmm.
"To Cirros's great surprise,
"Don Mustachio took a roll of bills out of his pocket,
"and he gave the farmer the money and he said,
"'My friend, Cirros the horse has done us a great favor.
"'Gossi the lame goose can now go back to the circus and ride.
"'You must come and see them,
"and you'll know what a clown does in the circus.'
And even Sad Eye Jim nearly smiled."
You see, they bought Cirros the horse.
- Rusty: And Gossi doesn't have to ride-- to walk anymore.
- Friendly: "The next afternoon, the big tent was crowded
"with people to see Sad Eye Jim the Clown.
"And at the end of each of his new coattails,
a lump of sugar was tied." - Jerome: Oh.
- Friendly: "Behind Sad Eye came Cirros, the small horse,
"with Gossi the Goose in the saddle.
"As the clown rolled over and over,
"Gossi flapped his wings gaily,
"and Cirros tugged so hard to get the sugar
"that both coattails came off, one after another.
"The people at the circus
"thought this was the funniest thing they'd ever seen.
"And the farmer laughed and laughed,
"and the hot dog man said, 'Red hot horses!'"
- Rusty: Red hot horses! [laughs]
- Friendly: He was laughing so hard,
he forgot he was selling hot dogs.
- Jerome: Who ever heard of red hot horses?
- Friendly: "Don Mustachio took off his silk hat and bowed.
"And behind him stood Sad Eye Jim, smiling.
"Gossi the Goose honked, and Cirros the horse whinnied.
And all the other circus people cheered."
- Oh, that was good, Friendly.
- You see? - That was funny.
- It was just an accident, wasn't it?
- Just an accident, yeah.
- Because the horse bit the coattails of the clown
and they tore off.
- Once Rusty and I, when we went to the circus,
we saw an accident that was very funny.
- What? - Tell him, Rusty.
- Well, this clown wanted to jump on the back of a horse.
And he jumped too hard,
and he jumped right over the horse.
[Friendly laughs] And the-- That's not all.
- Oh? - He jumped so far
over the horse
that he ran into a man who was selling cotton candy.
- With a big carton of cotton candy?
- Yes, mm-hmm. - Oh.
- And he knocked him down,
and both of 'em got cotton candy smeared all over them.
- Yeah. - They weren't hurt?
- Oh, no, they weren't hurt at all.
- Because clowns are good at falling down.
- Oh, yes, they weren't hurt, no.
- Well, do you know-- - But it was an accident.
It happened just by accident. - They could do it again,
and it would be just as funny if they did it on purpose.
- They could, couldn't they?
- That's what happened in the book.
- Yes!
They could do it again and again and again and again.
- Sometimes, if accidents don't hurt anyone...
- Oh, they were just rolling around.
- ...they can be funny.
Rusty, would you get the giant's pipe please?
- Oh, all right. - Nobody was hurt.
- No.
- Rusty: Here's the giant's pipe.
- There.
- Oh, I hung on to it too far that time.
- Are you trying to be a clown too?
- I think he's a very funny clown.
- I could be a clown.
- Maybe you could, Rusty.
- What would we call him?
[gentle recorder music] - Rusty the Clown.
- Well, that'd be nice, mm-hmm.
[Jerome yawns]
- And I could be the center pole of a big tent and hold it up.
Yes.
- Friendly: Or we could call you Sleepy Eye the Clown.
- Oh, mm-hmm. - Friendly: Good night, Rusty.
- Good night, Friendly.
- Friendly: Good night, Jerome. - Good night, Friendly.
- Friendly: It is late.
This little chair will be waiting for one of you,
and the rocking chair for another who likes to rock,
and the big arm chair for two more to curl up in
when you come again to our castle.
Now, I'll close the big front doors and pull up the drawbridge
after you're gone.
Good night.
[gentle music]