CHAPTER XXIII

SWEET-POTATO ALLIGATOR AND WHAT TO MAKE OF A RADISH

IF you have ever seen an alligator, a long-tailed sweet potato will make you think of one immediately.

Fig. 155 is a baby alligator with a sweet-potato body and paper head and legs. It is just the size of the little alligators they sell for pets down in Florida. That is, the alligator from which the drawing was made is the size of the live ones; the drawing is, of course, smaller.

Find a potato shaped like Fig. 156. Cut a slit in the large end and two slits on each side where you see them in Fig. 156. When you make the side slits push your knife in with the blade slanting upward and backward for the front legs, and slanting downward and backward for the back legs. This will allow the paper legs to slide in without bending.

Use brown paper, as near the color of the potato as you can get, for the alligator's head and legs. Make the head like Fig. 157, cutting along the heavy lines and bending along the dotted ones. Bend down the sides of the head and of the neck, then bend the head first up, then down, to lift it above the neck (Fig. 155.)

The eyes of a baby alligator are large and prominent. Draw them on the head as you see them in Fig. 157. That is as near as we can come to the real eyes.

Cut out of the same paper used for the head two fore legs like Fig. 158, and two hind legs like Fig. 159. Slide the fore legs into the slits nearest the large end of the potato and the hind legs into the slits near the tail. Push the point of the paper neck into the slit at the large end of the potato. That finishes the baby alligator, which is wonderfully true to life.

What to Make of a Radish

A crisp, fresh, clean radish is very tempting, but don't eat it this time; turn it into something else by the magic your ten fingers can work.

The Radish Imp

Fig. 160 shows a round white radish which, with its long, slender root and leaves still on it, has been changed into a queer little radish imp by using strong broom-straws to stiffen his leaf arms, his leaf legs, and his leaf body. His eyes are bits of broom-straw, his mouth is a slit with a broom-straw tongue, and his absurd, stand-out ears are also pieces of stout broom-straw.

The root growing out of the top of his head is like a Chinaman's queue standing on end with little, crinkly separate hairs at its base.

When you make your radish imp cut two broom-straws about four inches long for his arms; point these at the ends. Cut two more strong broom-straws a little longer than the distance between the radish and the tips of the two longest leaves. Point these at both ends (Fig. 161). Now choose two leaves of even length, nearest the radish, for the arms. Don't take them off but push a broom-straw through each leaf, first in, then out, then push the other end of the straw into the thick part of the stems just under the radish. Look at Fig. 160 and see how this is done.

The leaves with the longest stems must be used for the legs. If there are more than two long-stemmed leaves, cut off all except those wanted for the legs. Bend the long, stout broom-straws at one end, as in Fig. 161, and push the other end up through the thick part of the stems and into the radish; then with a piece of string or strong blade of grass tie the stems of the leaves to the straws, as shown in Fig. 160. This forms a little belt at the waist-line. Leave a large leaf with short stem loose at the back for a cape and run the bent ends of the long straws in and out of the leaves intended for the feet.

Cut a curved slit in the radish for a mouth and push in a small piece of broom-straw for a tongue, then put in bits of straw for eyes, nose, and uplifted ears.

A White Mouse

You can make a most amusing little white mouse of a white radish; not a round one like that used for the imp, but egg-shaped, like Fig. 162. The long root is the tail of the mouse and the other end of the radish is his head. Cut two paper ears like H, Fig. 163. Make two slits in the head and slip the pointed ends of the ears into the slits.

For whiskers (all mice have whiskers) find two sprays of fine branching broom-straws (I, Fig. 163), cut them the proper length, and push a spray into the head on each side of the nose. Put bits of broom-straw in for eyes and then cut four thick straws like J, Fig. 163, and push the pointed ends slantingly in the lower part of the radish for the feet of the mouse. His legs are not seen because he is crouching. The drawing of the mouse shows where to put the feet.