Every Who down in Who-ville liked Christmas a lot...

But the Grinch who lived just north of Who-ville,

Did not! The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!

Now please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.

It could be his head just wasn't screwed on just right.

It could be perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.

But I think that the most likely reason of all may have been

that his heart was two sizes too small. But, whatever the reason,

his heart or his shoes, he stood there on Christmas Eve,

hating the Whos.

Staring down from his cave with a sour, Grinchy frown

at the warm lighted windows below in their town. For he knew

every Who down in Who-ville beneath was busy now,

hanging a mistletoe wreath. "And they're hanging their

stockings!" he snarled with a sneer, "Tomorrow is Christmas!

It's practically here!" Then he growled, with his Grinch

fingers nervously drumming, "I MUST find some way to stop

Christmas from coming!"

For, tomorrow, he knew...

...all the Who girls and boyswould wake bright and early.

They'd rush for their toys! And Then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise!

Noise! Noise! Noise!

That's the one thing he hated! The NOISE!

NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!

Then the Whos young and old,

would sit down for a feast! And they'd feast! And they'd FEAST!

FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!

They'd feast on Who-pudding,

and rare Who-roast beast, which was something the Grinch

couldn't stand in the least!

And then they'd do something he liked least of all! Every Who down

in Who-ville, the tall and the small, would stand close together,

with Christmas bells ringing. They'd stand hand-in-hand.

And the Whos would start singing! They'd sing! And they'd sing! And they'd SING!

SING! SING! SING!

And the more the Grinch thought of this Who-Christmas-Sing,

the more the Grinch thought, "I MUST stop this whole thing!"

"Why, for fifty-three years I've put up with it now!"

"I must stop this Christmas from coming!...But HOW?"

Then he got an idea! An awful idea!

THE GRINCH GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!

"I know just what to do!", the Grinch laughed in his throat.

And he made a quick Santa Claus hat and a coat.And chuckled,

and clucked "What a great Grinch trick!" "With this coat

and this hat, I look just like Saint Nick!" "All I need

now is a reindeer..." The Grinch looked around. But since reindeer

are scarce, there was none to be found.

Did that stop the old Grinch...?

No! The Grinch simply said, "If I can't find a reindeer, I'll make one instead!"

So he called his dog, Max. Then he took some red thread,

and he tied a big horn on the top of his head.

Then he loaded some bags and some empty old sacks

on a ramshackle sleigh and he hitched up old Max.

Then the Grinch said,"Giddap!" and the sleigh started down

toward the homes where the Whos lay a-snooze in their town.

All their windows were dark. Quiet snow filled the air.

All the Whos were all dreaming sweet dreams without a care.

When he came to the first little house on the square.

"This is stop number one", the old Grinchy Claus hissed.

And he climbed to the roof, empty bags in his fist.

Then he slid down the chimney. A rather tight pinch.

But, if Santa could do it, then so could the Grinch.

He got stuck only once, for a moment or two, then he stuck

his head out of the fireplace flue where the little Who stockings

all hung in a row. "These stockings," he grinned, "are the first things to go!"

Then he slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant,

around the whole room, and he took every present!

Pop guns! And bicycles! Roller skates! Drums!

Checkerboards! Tricycles! Popcorn! And plums!

And he stuffed them in bags. Then the Grinch, very nimbly,

stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the chimney!

Then he slunk to the icebox. He took the Whos feast!

He took the Who-pudding! He took the roast beast!

He cleaned out the icebox as quick as a flash!

Why, that Grinch even took their last can of Who-hash!

Then he stuffed all the food up the chimney with glee.

"And NOW!", grinned the Grinch, "I will stuff up the tree!"

And the Grinch grabbed the tree, and he started to shove,

when he heard a small sound, like the coo of a dove.

He turned around fast, and saw a small Who!

Little Cindy-Lou Who, who was not more than two.

The Grinch had been caught by this tiny Who daughter,

who'd got out of bed for a cup of cold water.

She stared at the Grinch and said,"Santa Claus, why,

why are you taking our Christmas tree? WHY?"

But you know that old Grinch was so smart and so slick,

he thought up a lie, and he thought up it quick!

"Why my little sweet tot," the fake Santy Claus lied,

"there's a light on this tree that won't light on one side."

"So I'm taking it home to my workshop, my dear."

"I'll fix it up there. Then I'll bring it back here."

And his fib fooled the child.

Then he patted her head and got her a drink and sent her to bed.

And when Cindy-Lou Who went to bed with her cup,

HE went to the chimney and stuffed the tree up!

Then the last thing he took was the log for the fire!

Then he went up the chimney, himself, the old liar.

On their walls he left nothing but hooks and some wire.

And the only speck of food that he left in the house,

was a crumb that was even too small for a mouse!

Then he did the same thing to the other Whos' houses,

leaving crumbs much too small for the other Whos' mouses!

It was quarter past dawn...

All the Whos still a-bed,

all the Whos, still a-snooze when he packed up his sled,

packed it up with their presents!

The ribbons! The wrappings! The tags! And the tinsel!

The trimmings! The trappings!

Three thousand feet up! On the side of Mt. Crumpit,

he rode with his load to the tiptop to dump it!

"Pooh-Pooh to the Whos!" he was grinch-ish-ly humming.

"They're just waking up! Iknow just what they'll do!"

"Their mouths will hang open a minute or two,

then the Whos down in Who-ville will all cry Boo-Hoo!"

"That's a noise," grinned the Grinch, "that I simply must hear!"

So he paused. And the Grinch put his hand to his ear.

And he did hear a sound rising over the snow.

It started in low, then it started to grow...

...but the sound wasn't sad!

Why, this sound sounded merry! I t couldn't be so!

But it was merry! VERY!

He stared down at Who-ville! The Grinch popped his eyes!

Then he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise!

Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small, was singing!

Without any presents at all!

He hadn't stopped Christmas from coming!

IT CAME!

Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,

stood puzzling and puzzling:"How could it be so?"

"It came without ribbons! It came without tags!"

"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"

And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!

"Maybe Christmas," he thought,"doesn't come from a store."

"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

And what happened then...?

Well...in Who-ville they say that the Grinch's small heart

grew THREE sizes that day! And the minute his heart

didn't quite feel so tight,

he whizzed with his load through the bright morning light.

And he brought back the toys!

And the food for the feast!

And he...HE HIMSELF...!

The Grinch carved the roast beast!

THE END