Father

Mother

Billy

Suzy

Drove out one sunny day to buy a house in the country.

Along the winding lanes,

they saw many houses with signs FOR SALE

But they liked best an old house which sat quietly

among the tall weeds listening to the birds

singing in the tree tops.

It was a very old house. The shutters were hanging

this way and that, the stairs were tumbling

upon one another, the rain pipes had rusted away,

and an old owl lived in the attic.

“The old owl is wise,” said Father.

“He chose a nice house. Let’s choose it too.”

Soon there was much hustle and bustle

around the old house.

The carpenter hung the shutters tight,

the mason rebuilt the stairs, the tinsmith came

with new rain pipes. But the old owl, who could not sleep

with so much noise, flew away to find a new home.

“The house needs painting, too,” said Father.

“Wouldn’t it be fun to paint it ourselves?”

“Yes,” cried Suzy, “let’s paint it red with green shutters.

It would be beautiful in the spring

with all the flowers and the buds on the trees!”

“No, yellow with purple shutters,” cried Billy.

“It would be so bright in summertime

when everything turns green.”

“Red and yellow are beautiful colors,” said Mother,

“but I think a brown house with blue shutters

would be more handsome in the fall

with all the yellow leaves that flutter all around.”

Father laughed. “How about a green house

with orange shutters for winter?

It would be so gay—like a Christmas tree in the snow!”

“Well,” said Mother, “Imagine a blue, red, yellow,

purple, green, orange, brown house!

It would look like grandmother’s bed quilt.”

But Suzy clapped her hands and cried,

“Let’s paint each side a different color,

one side for each of us!”

“And one side for each season,” cried Billy.

“We could call it the House of Four Seasons!”

“I never saw such a house,” Father mused,

“but let’s play with all those colors and see

how we like them.”

And the next day, Father, Mother, Suzy and Billy

went to town to buy at the hardware store

a ladder, four brushes, and cans of red, blue,

yellow, brown, orange, purple, and green paint.

But the storekeeper said,

“Here are red, yellow and blue paint, but, I’m sorry,

we have no brown, no orange, no purple, no green.”

“Oh!” cried Suzy, “then we can’t have

our House of Four Seasons!”

“We can have the yellow house,” said Billy.

“Or red,” said Mother.

“Let’s take home the blue, yellow and red,” said Father.

“I’ll show you what three colors can do.”

“You’ll see,” said Father

when they were home,

“colors can do

many tricks when they get together.”

And Father took a brush

and dipped it in the yellow paint.

“What can the yellow and blue do when they meet?

Why they make green!

And so we have four colors instead of the original three.”

“What trick will the red and yellow play

when they meet? See, they turn into orange!

And so we have five colors instead of three.”

“And when the red and the blue cross each other’s paths,

they change to purple.

And so we have six colors instead of three.”

“And if the blue, the yellow and the red

meet at the same place, they turn into brown.

And so we have all the colors we wanted!”

“Then we can have the House of Four Seasons!” said Suzy.

“Wait,” said Father, “I have an idea

for another sort of House of Four Seasons.

When we mix blue, red and yellow with the brush

they are brown. But when they mix another way,

they can do an even better trick.”

Father painted a disk of heavy cardboard with the three colors.

He put two strings through two holes near the center

and he began to spin the disk

until the string was twisted tight.

Then by first pulling on the string, then drawing it in,

he made it spin fast, very fast . . . until it buzzed.

As the children watched, the red, blue and yellow

disappeared, and the disk became white.

“You see,” said Father, “this trick shows

that white is made of all colors.

And now I think we have found the right color for our house.

Let’s paint it white—since white is all colors.

It will make the true House of Four Seasons.”

So Father, Mother, Suzy and Billy

put up ladders

all around the house

and painted it a fresh lovely white.

It was very beautiful,

and when it was all finished

the birds flew and sang in all the bushes.

And the old owl came back,

to live in an old tree nearby.