The Gammage Cup

I've finished The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall. It is a 1960 Newbery Honor book. Onion John by Joseph Krumgold won the medal that year. I believe I've said before that I often prefer the honor books to the award winner. It is unfortunate that second best is often forgotten.

The book cover to the left is the one that Decatur Public Library owns. It gives a vague image of what to expect from this novel. The story is about the Minnipins and their life in the Land Between the Mountains. What are Minnipins? The book refers to them as "the small ones". They have run away from the Mushrooms or "the Hairless ones". Mushrooms? Mushrooms chased the Minnipins through a mountain tunnel which was then flooded by a river engorged by rain that not only swept the Mushrooms out, but sealed off the tunnel leaving the Minnipins safe within the mountains.

This next picture to the right, I have just discovered online. It is not a quality image, and having read the book, I know the picture to be false. However, here is solid evidence that the Minnipins are just men and women like ourselves. For the longest time I was picturing Hobbits. I still don't think there is anything wrong with that. They are very odd characters. They have built twelve villages within the mountains, but the book is about one village, the first one, Slipper-on-the-Water. This village is governed by a family known as the Periods. They are called this because all of their names end in a period: Ltd., Co., Bros., Wm., Geo., Eng., Scot., Etc., Rd., St., and Ave. They are descendants of Fooley the Magnificent, the one and only Minnipin to ever leave the valley, by hot air balloon.

To the left you see yet another variation of the cover of this novel. I burst out laughing when I saw it. Who were they trying to sell this to AFTER it got the nod from the Newbery Committee? The guy in the center with the sword is Walter the Earl. He comes from a long line of Earls. Through this glorious line of Earls, was passed down the ability to read the "old writing". Based upon old writings, Walter the Earl is convinced that there is a lost treasure that can only be found when the Minnipins are in need of it. Walter the Earl spends all of his time and energy in digging up his yard looking for the lost treasure, much to the chagrin of the Periods.

I have no idea who the other two people are. I have to assume that they must be another two of the five outlaws. A better word would be "outcasts." The villagers just call them "Oh, Them." The male that is sitting down must be Mingy, for if he were Gummy, he would be wearing a conical hat. I have always imagined it to be a Dunce Cap. Gummy is one of "Oh, Them," because he does absolutely nothing except scribble rhymes and play pranks. He often disappears in his little boat, or stares off into space with a dreamy look on his face.

The woman on the cover MIGHT be Curley Green. She's the female "Oh, Them." The door on her cottage is painted bright scarlet when everyone else's door is painted green. She is an artist. She paints blobs on whatever she can get her hands on - the walls of her cottage or a piece of birch bark. What are blobs you wonder? In Slipper-on-the-Water, there is only one kind of painting and it resembles a diagram of a Family Tree, but it is called a painting and therefore all paintings must look like it.

I mentioned Mingy before. He is the Money Keeper and while he becomes an outlaw, he was never considered one of "Oh, Them." He carries the money box, clutching it to his chest, complaining that the Periods think the money will never expire. He would rather the money be spent on necessities like helping the poor, feeding the starving, and aiding the sick. The Periods prefer to use the money on beautification and happiness and festivities.

There is one other outlaw who is also NOT an "Oh, Them." That would be Muggles. She is considered to be simple-minded. She has come to believe that she IS simple-minded although she may be the only sensible one. Occasionally, she likes to wear a bright orange sash rather than a plain green one. And this is frowned upon. The Periods warn her to stay away from "Oh, Them," lest she becomes one of them.

Why are these five outlaws? They willingly leave Slipper-on-the-Water of their own accord rather than stand in the way of the Periods' dreams of winning the Gammage Cup. What were the Periods' demanding? That they paint their doors green and wear green cloaks and act normal while the Judges judge Slipper-on-the-Water OR that they leave until after the Judges have gone. The outlaws choose to leave permanently and be true to themselves rather than to give up their identity. This is most important, for if they had not left, they would have been unable to save their village from the coming Mushrooms!