Johnny Inkslinger Saves the Ink (Campfire Story)

Every logging camp needs somebody to keep track of things: who worked how many days, how many logs went down the river, and how many beans the cook needs for next week. In PAUL BUNYAN's camp, that job belonged to JOHNNY INKSLINGER.

Johnny was the fastest writer in the north woods. His pen was as long as a fence rail, and it was fed through a hose from twenty-four barrels of INK stacked behind his desk. When Johnny really got going, JOHNNY INKSLINGER could write so fast the paper smoked.

But all that writing took a lot of INK. Every month the supply wagon brought more barrels of INK, and every month the bill got bigger. One day PAUL BUNYAN came stomping into the office with the bill in his hand. 'Johnny,' he said, 'we're spending more on INK than we spend on beans. Do something!'

JOHNNY INKSLINGER thought about it all night. In the morning he had the answer. 'From now on,' he announced, 'I'm not going to dot my i's, and I'm not going to cross my t's. Think of all the INK that'll save!'

And it worked! That winter Johnny saved nine whole barrels of INK. Paul was so pleased he gave him a raise.

There was just one little problem. That winter was the coldest anybody could remember, and the loggers' mittens were worn clean through. So JOHNNY INKSLINGER sent an order to the store in town for one hundred pairs of mittens.

Only he didn't dot the i. And he didn't cross the two t's. So when the storekeeper read the order, it didn't say mittens. It said millens.

The storekeeper scratched his head. 'Millens? Must mean melons,' he said. So two weeks later, in the middle of a blizzard, the supply wagon pulled into camp with one hundred crates of watermelons.

PAUL BUNYAN looked at the watermelons. He looked at the loggers blowing on their frozen fingers. Then he looked at JOHNNY INKSLINGER.

And the next morning, Johnny went right back to dotting every i and crossing every t. Because the loggers decided they'd rather pay for the INK than spend another winter with watermelon rinds on their hands.

Storyteller tips: if you can, write "mittens" on a big sheet of paper with no dots and no crosses and hold it up when you get to the order. Let the Scouts try to read it.