1.22 How Daddy made a stool
A bedtime story from 'When Daddy was a little boy' by Alexander Raskin
A story from a dad’s childhood, narrated to his daughter, written in 1961. Read the introduction below.
Hope you enjoyed receiving a bedtime tale from this long-lost collection at 8 PM IST every night the past few weeks. More readathons for kids of all ages coming soon :)
HOW DADDY MADE A STOOL
When Daddy was little, he made a stool all by himself. He never forgot that stool. There was probably not another one like it in the whole world. Zakhar Petrovich, the carpentry master, was sure there wasn't.
They had a workshop at school. And Zakhar Petrovich taught the boys how to saw and hammer, plane and glue, how to take apart what they had done badly and start over again, and again, and again, until they had it right. He was a small, middle-aged man with steel-rimmed eyeglasses.
His favourite saying was: "Well begun-half done."
Sometimes he would add: "And a loafer is afraid of work."
This is how he began the first lesson: "What's this?"
"A hammer!" everyone shouted.
"Right. And this?"
"A nail!"
"Right again! And what's this?"
"A board!"
"Good. Now the idea is to drive this nail into this board with one blow of this hammer. Any volunteers?"
"Me!"
"I can do it!"
"Let me do it!"
There were many volunteers. But even the strongest boys could not drive the nail in at a blow. Then Zakhar Petrovich took another nail, placed it on the board and struck it. He did not strike it very hard. Everyone gasped: the nail had gone right into the board with one blow.
"You need a good eye and a steady hand," Zakhar Petrovich said. "Is that clear?"
"Yes!" said little Daddy and struck his thumb with all his might.
He saw stars. The other boys laughed.
"There's nothing to laugh at," Zakhar Petrovich said. "Do you think I always hit the nail? Not at all. Sometimes I hit my finger and then I'd get a smack on my head, besides. That would be my master's way of telling me that he had hit the nail and I hadn't. That how we were taught."
Everyone felt sorry for little Zakhar Petrovich, but then he laughed and said: "Don't worry, I won't hit anyone. You're the masters here yourselves. Everything here is for you. We'll begin by learning how to make a little stool."
A little stool! What could be simpler? But you just try and make one. And make it fit the measurements. Oh, how much sawing and planing and gluing there is to be done, and how many times you have to take apart what you've done and start all over again! Oh, how much work, how much energy, how much skill and patience you need!
Misha Gorbunov was the first to complete his stool. "Have a seat," he said proudly.
"Have a seat, yourself!" Zakhar Petrovich answered. Misha looked very important as he sat down carefully. The stool creaked and fell apart. Misha sat on the floor while everyone laughed.
"You've done a quick job, but a bad one," Zakhar Petrovich said. "Now start all over again, and don't be in such a hurry, or you'll have everyone laughing again."
No one was able to make a good stool the first time. Everyone had to do it over again.
"Don't worry, kids," Zakhar Petrovich consoled them. "Moscow wasn't built in a day. You probably thought that anyone could hammer and saw. Yes, that's true, but you have to put a lot of sweat into it to do a good job."
The kids tried their best. It was just like a regular lesson: they were all trying to be the first to solve the problem. It was really fun. After all, you couldn't sit on a problem. After you've solved it, that's all there is to it. But here you could sit on your own stool after you'd made it. And you could invite others to sit on it, too.
Varya Glazunova was the first one to make a really good stool. But she was a girl!1 True, her father was a carpenter. He had taught her how to use a plane and a saw. Zakhar Petrovich had nothing but praise for Varya.
"It's an excellent job! You've put all the boys to shame!" The boys were terribly offended and began to tease her.
But she never got cross. She just kept saying: "Well, where are your stools?"
The boys had nothing to say.
Misha Gorbunov was the second to hand in his stool.
The boys did not feel so bad any more. After that everyone started handing in his finished work. Zakhar Petrovich would say: "It does resemble a stool in some way."
Finally, little Daddy completed his stool. He was scratched and bruised and there was glue on his face and hands, but that didn't worry him one bit. His first stool was ready! He had never felt as happy on his birthday as he had on the day his first stool was born.
Zakhar Petrovich must have realised this. “Come on, sit on it!" Those were the magic words.
Little Daddy sat down very cautiously. The stool didn't even squeak. But then Zakhar Petrovich looked at it very closely.
"Count your legs," he said in a quiet voice.
Little Daddy was very surprised. He looked down at his feet. There were two, as always. But then the girls began to giggle. Zakhar Petrovich laughed, too.
To this day Daddy can't understand how he managed to make a five-legged stool. But there it was. We still have it. And it still has five legs. Five, not four.
And he can still hear Zakhar Petrovich saying: "Five legs are no better than three. Start all over again."
And he thinks this is something you should remember no matter what job you're doing.
THE END
That’s all from Little Daddy for now. Thank you for being a part of our first ever readathon at the Kid Lit Corner. It’s been a delight revisiting this childhood treasure and reviving it for your reading pleasure. (We are also poets, we also don’t know it :P)
Enjoyed this collection of stories?
Want to enhance your reading habit with us?
As always, thank you for reading :) - Project Bibliotherapy
So what, we say! A pointer for parents - Mention it to your kids that this story was written in 1961 and set in the 1920s.