This is the segment transcript for The Story of Flibber-o-Loo.
Transcript[]
(The story opens with a mountain with two towns on top. Just like any old Dr. Seuss story, this story is told entirely in rhyme.)
Bob: (Narrating) The sun always shone on the Mountains of Fibble, the wind and the rains never came. To call the place beautiful, no one would quibble, though hard on the feet, they'd exclaim. But high in those hills, past the rocks and the rubble, so high that the clouds were below, sat two tiny towns that were nothing but trouble! As you listen, you'll see that it's so. The town to the West, that thought it was best, bore the name Flibber-o-loo, where the women and men, since 1710, have worn on their heads, one large shoe. Now, in town number two, one big shoe wouldn't do. So, the people of Jibber-de-lot would look down and bellow at shoe-headed fellows and place on their own heads a pot.
Lenny: Mine's really more of a kettle.
(Cut to Mike Asparagus slinging shoes at Jibber-de-lot.)
Bob: (Narrating) For days without end, these two neighbors would bicker as to whose headgear was best. And the shoes and the pots would fly ever thicker, from morning to night, without rest. (A pot hits Mike on the head. Cut to the two towns throwing their headwear at each other.) But not all of the people who lived in these cities were angry and bitter and vile. (Cut to a potato) A few would write poems and sing happy ditties and greet all their friends with a smile. (Larry then appears.) One Flibbian fellow who hated to fight, tried hard not to act like a mobster. While pots crashed around him from morning till night, he's just play with his pet wind-up lobster. They kept to themselves and they'd talk and they'd talk, until one day he said...
Larry: Hey, let's go for a walk. I'm tired of lying around like a squid, I want to go out there.
Bob: (Narrating) So that's what he did. The shoe-headed boy and his blue plastic friend walked out of their town and began to descend to the dark, rocky valley between the two cities, away from his friends and their lighthearted ditties.
Random Flibbian: La-la-la, la-la-la!
Larry: Hey, this is swell...
Bob: (Narrating) He said...
Larry: Gosh, this is fun! It's great that my lobster can get out and run.
Bob: (Narrating) But neither the toy nor the boy with the shoe could see the disaster about to ensue. (Cut to three crooks, played by the scallions, hiding behind a rock.) For up in the rocks, hidden just out of sight, were six beady eyes filled with anger and spite! Six beady eyes watched our hero meander, two shifty crooks and their ruthless commander!
Scallion #1: Oh, look! What good fortune!
Bob: (Narrating) The nasty one said.
Scallion #1: Here comes a poor fool with a shoe on his head!
Scallion #2: I bet he's got money!
Scallion #3: I bet he's got gold! Or maybe some jewelry he'd like us to hold!
Scallion #1: Whatever the booty, I think I can stand it. Why, that's what I live for, that's why I'm a bandit!
Bob: (Narrating) And then they attacked him from under their rock. First they knocked off his shoe, then they knocked off his sock! (They hold Larry upside down.) But the thing they did next was extremely unfunny: Why, they shook him so hard that he dropped his milk money!
Larry: Hey!
Bob: (Narrating) He protested.
Larry: I don't like your ilk! How will I grow strong if I don't drink my milk?
Bob: (Narrating) But they didn't care, they'd accomplished their goal. So they put our friend down, stuck his head in a hole, and walked off with his money, every last nickel, then yelled back as they left...
Scallion #2: See ya 'round, silly pickle!
(Larry is stuck in a hole in the ground.)
Larry: Um, I'm a cucumber.
Bob: (Narrating) Then he said with a moan...
Larry: Well, I guess I'm alone.
Bob: (Narrating) But this was a loneliness he'd never known. His friends were far off and his lobster was missing. The sound he could hear was just the wind hissing.
(wind hissing)
Larry: Hello? Hello? (The blue lobster walks right by)
Bob: (Narrating) Things looked pretty grim for our Flibbian buddy, his head in a hole, his shoe bent and muddy. But then, were those footsteps? (Archibald Asparagus as the Mayor of Flibber-o-loo comes along.) Oh, could it be true? Along came the Mayor of Flibber-o-loo. Of anyone, surely he'd help the poor soul!
Larry: Hello?
Bob: (Narrating) Said the boy with his head in a hole.
Larry: I seem to have fallen, I seem to be stuck! But now that you're here, well, I guess I'm in luck!
Mayor (Archibald Asparagus): Oh dear!
Bob: (Narrating) Said the Mayor, observing the shoe.
Mayor: A fellow in need, and he's Flibbian too! Young man, I have noticed your dire situation and please rest assured that I share your frustration. But how can I put this? Oh, what can I say? Ah, maybe you'll understand better this way!
(The Mayor then starts dancing as music starts playing.)
Larry: Is that music?
Mayor: I'm busy, busy, dreadfully busy!
You've no idea what I have to do!
(Larry gives an annoyed and frustrated look)
Busy, busy, shockingly busy!
Much, much too busy for you!
Larry: Oh, I see.
Bob: (Narrating) As soon as the Mayor had finished his song, a Flibbian doctor came strolling along.
(Lovey as the Doctor slides down the hill.)
Doctor (Lovey): Out of my way!
Bob: (Narrating) She said, starting to slide.
Doctor: If you and your pickle would please step aside. I'm very important, I can't stand and chat.
Mayor: Well, that's not my pickle. I found him like that! Besides, it so happens, I'm noteworthy too. Why, I am the Mayor of Flibber-o-loo.
Larry: Um, Um, I'm a cucumber.
Doctor: I see.
Bob: (Narrating) Said the doctor.
Doctor: Then you'll understand without an appointment, I can't lend a hand. There are folks with bronchitis, there are kids with the flu!
Bob: (Narrating) She said to the Mayor of Flibber-o-loo.
Doctor: If I'm not mistaken, you're quite busy too.
Bob: (Narrating) Well, they talked about schedules, compared daily planners, until finally a voice said...
Larry: Please pardon my manners. I don't mean to bug you. I see that you're busy, but being inverted has made me quite dizzy!
Bob: (Narrating) The two other Flibbians paused for a while. They looked at each other, then said with a smile...
Both: We're busy, busy, dreadfully busy!
You've no idea what we have to do.
(as they sing, Larry gives the same annoyed and frustrated look)
Busy, busy, shockingly busy!
Much, much too busy for you!
Cause we're busy, busy, frightfully busy!
More than a bumble bee more than an ant!
Busy, busy, horribly busy!
We'd love to help, but we can't!
(The song ends.)
Mayor: Ta-ta.
(The Mayor and the Doctor then leave after that.)
Bob: (Narrating) Oh, it was just dreadful! How could they desert their Flibbian friend with his head in the dirt?
Larry: That's it then, I'm finished. I'll die here down under. If they would not help me, then who would?
Bob: (Narrating) He wondered. (Junior Asparagus then appears wearing a pot on his head.) But wait! Someone else on the road overhead! Would they help a friend, beaten up, left for dead? Oh, look! On his head, not a shoe, but a pot! Why this little guy was from Jibber-de-lot! Would he help a Flibbian? Certainly not! The boy with the pot saw our friend with the shoe.
Junior: Oh, look!
Bob: (Narrating) He exclaimed.
Junior: He's from Flibber-o-loo! Why, they think we're garbage! They pelt us with shoes! Why should I care if he's beaten and bruised? But out here in the wild, his chances are slim. If I was in need, would I want help from him?
Bob: (Narrating) He looked at our friend and he looked at the shoe and then in his heart, he knew what to do.
Junior: He may be Flibbian, that's plain to see, but God made him special, just like He made me.
(Junior pulls Larry out of the hole, puts his shoe back on his head and walks him to the doctor's office in Flibber-O-Loo.)
Bob: (Narrating) So he got him unstuck and he picked up his shoe and together they walked back to Flibber-o-loo. Out of the valley and back into town where he stayed by his side till the Doctor was found.
Doctor: Oh my!
Bob: (Narrating) Said the doctor.
Doctor: He's wearing a pot! The little one there is from Jibber-de-lot!
Larry: *coughs*
Doctor: You saved this fellow? You pulled him through it? I don't understand. Tell me, why did you do it?
(Music then starts playing.)
Junior: He has a shoe and I have a pot,
but when we look deeper there's more that we've got.
God made us special and now I can see,
if you're special to Him then you're special to me!
Love your neighbor, when someone helps you then you'll understand
when you love your neighbor, then loving means lending a hand.
(The Mayor, the Doctor, and Larry then join Junior.)
All: If you see someone who's hurt or in need,
Maybe it's time to perform a good deed.
And when you've finished you'll find that it's true,
when you make them feel better you'll feel better too.
(Larry then falls over.)
Junior: Here, let me help you.
Larry: Thank you.
Larry and Junior: Oh, love your neighbor,
Larry: When someone helps you then you'll understand.
Larry and Junior: when you love your neighbor, then loving means lending a hand.
Bob: (Narrating) So the boy with the pot gave the doctor some money, to pay for the cucumber's bill. And the Mayor cried out with his eyes moist and runny.
Mayor: I'm touched by his act of good will. If this little guy can take care of his brother, when he lives in one town and he in the other, well why can't we all try to help one another and love will surround our fair hill!
(Townspeople are heard cheering far out in the distance from the two cities.)
Bob: (Narrating) Now if you visit the mountains of Fibble, you won't see a shoe or a pot. Instead, they throw flowers and candy to nibble, I bet that you'd like it a lot!
(As the sun sets, both towns are shown throwing flowers and candy. The camera then zooms out on the mountains before we iris out on the two towns)