Gazooks

Lord of the Deep and World's Greatest Tickle Monster!

Home Page

Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure Novelization

Adaptation by Kathleen Daly

Page 68-69
Cream pies were still landing on their backs, but the Loonies were laughing so much they didn't notice that the three dolls had disappeared.
Suddenly, King KooKoo started to grow smaller. And smaller.
"Oh, oh, ouch!" he cried. "What's happening? I'm smaller than ever!"
The Loonies, all covered in goo, stopped laughing. Except for a giggle or two here and there, and a yum, yum there and here, there was a terrible silence.
"What have you done, Crackpot?" stormed King KooKoo. "You have let them escape--the best laughs I ever had!"
The Loonie knight stood up and looked around in a puzzled way.
"They have gone out through the IN door, you fool," said King KooKoo. He had sunk way down in his big throne. "But they won't get far," he said after a moment. "Quick, you stupid sardine can, get me my phone. I have an idea."
The Loonie knight slopped his way as fast as he could through the sea of cream pies. At last he found the telephone and brought it, dripping, to King KooKoo.
"I will call the Gazooks," said the king.
"The Gazooks?" said the Loonie knight, still giggling feebly.
"Yes," said King KooKoo. His head grew just a little bigger as he chuckled. "I'm going to have the best laugh of all. It's called the Last Laugh."
He started to push the buttons on the phone with a tiny, gooey finger.
"Hello, that you, Gazooks?"
"Lord of the Deep, here," said a watery voice.
"This is King KooKoo, Gazooks. I have a plan. Now listen carefully..."
Page 80-87
The something that turned up was King KooKoo himself. And the Gazooks.
And a more amazing sight you never did see.
The Gazooks, Lord of the Deep, looked like a cross between a sea monster, an old inner tube, and a great green frog. He was distantly related to an octopus. But he had a hundred arms instead of only eight.
At that moment all the arms were whirring and splashing.
"Full speed ahead!" yelled King KooKoo. He was holding on to one of the arms, swaying and skimming on a pair of water skis. He was very graceful. After all, it is quite easy to be graceful when you are very, very small. Especially when you are a king.
"Why are those little dollies so important to you, King KooKoo?" gurgled the Gazooks over his shoulder.
"Because they are simple and sweet! They are the nicest people I ever met! And there is no better laugh than laughing at the really good guys. Ha ha! I feel better already!"
"I see," said Gazooks, who didn't really see at all. "What is the plan? What are we going to do?"
"We are going to use your talents--all one hundred of them," said King KooKoo. "You are going to tickle those little dollies until they can't stand it anymore. Hee hee! A hundred tickling tenacles going all at once. Can you imagine anything funnier?"
The little king of the Loonies was beginning to grow at the very thought.
"Not boring, not boring at all," chuckled the Gazooks.
King KooKoo swung in a wide arc on his skis.
"There they are--straight ahead," yelled King KooKoo. "Get ready to attack!"

Meanwhile, down in the deep, dark hold of the ship, Captain Contagious and Queasy had stopped being sorry for themselves.
Queasy was busy using his sharp little beak on the lock of his irons. In a moment, he was free.
"Good work, Queasy. Now mine."
The Captain's irons were bigger and tougher, but at last they fell off with a clang.
"Now let's get up there and take our ship back!" barked the Captain, moustaches twirling again.
Nimbly he climbed the rope ladder and flung open the hatchway.
"What's going on here?" he shouted.
"Help, help, Captain!" called three little voices.
The Captain looked up and saw Raggedy Ann, Raggedy Andy, and the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees swinging helplessly from the top of the yardarm.
"Get us down!" called Raggedy Andy.
"Untie 'em Queasy."
"Aye, aye, Captain," squawked Queasy. He flew up aloft, and in a trice there was a bumpety-bump, bumpety-bump, THUD! and the three dolls landed safely on deck.
"Get back below, you wicked brute," cried Babette. "A-choo! You make me sneeze."
"Can't we be friends, Babette?" asked the Captain. His heart was melting all over again at the sight of the beautiful doll.
But Babette was staring right over his head.
"Eeeek!" she screamed. "Look--a sea monster!"

The Gazooks had risen up from the sea, water streaming from his round green face.
King KooKoo, on water skis, crashed into the side of the pirate ship.
"Fire one!" screamed King KooKoo.
A long green tentacle reached out and grabbed the Captain.
"Good," said King KooKoo, his nose beginning to grow. "Fire two!"
Another tenacle snaked out and got the Camel.
"Oh, dear," groaned the Camel. "If there's one thing I hate, it's being tickled."
"Hee hee," cried King KooKoo, beginning to get bigger. "This is the funniest thing I've ever seen. Keep 'em firing, Gazooks!"
The tentacles got Raggedy Andy.
Raggedy Ann grabbed Babette's hand.
"Quick--let's hide in this lifeboat until I think of something to do." She dragged Babette under the tarpaulin cover. Queasy flew in beside them.
King KooKoo was yelling like the madman that he was, growing bigger each time a tentacle captured one of the pirates. Everyone was giggling helplessly, tickled to death.
"Look at me, look at me," shrieked King KooKoo. "I'm getting bigger and bigger!"
"You see, Babette?" whispered Raggedy Ann. "Marcella told us never to leave the playroom."
"I made a mess of everything," sighed Babette. "What a blow."
"Blow," echoed Queasy.
"Don't give up," said Raggedy Ann.
"Up, up," said Queasy.
"What did you say?" said Raggedy Andy as he went whirling past, giggling.
"Blow up," repeated Queasy.
And suddenly Raggedy Ann knew what it was she had been trying to think about. One of her stitches went pop.
"Look at the king now," she said. "He's blown up like a balloon. He is a balloon! Go and give him a prick, Queasy--he's just full of hot air!"
"Ho ho ho," screamed King KooKoo. Now he was floating above the ship, an enormous round balloon. Only his head and feet stayed small. "Get the little rag doll! There she is, hiding in the lifeboat."
"This is really great," said the Gazooks, who was enjoying his work. With two tentacles he ripped off the tarpaulin. With another two he grabbed Raggedy Ann and Babette.
"Now tickle them, tickle them!" screamed King KooKoo. His huge body seemed to fill the entire sky. The galleon looked tiny beneath him.
"Quickly, Queasy," said Raggedy Andy, "Get him!" He gasped for breath, then started to giggle again.
"Oh, wonderful, wonderful," moaned King KooKoo in ecstasy. "At last I've done it. I've had the last laugh. I'm the biggest thing in the world."
He was right, he had the last laugh--his last laugh. Queasy streaked up through the air like an arrow. He took aim and dived right into the King's enormous belly.
There was a mighty BANG.
Then there was a great whoosh of air as the balloon-King exploded in a million pieces.
Everybody whirled up into the roaring current of air, holding on to each other, riding on planks, crouching in barrels, clinging to chairs and ropes.
The Gazooks sank with a horrid gurgle.
"Shiver me timbers!" yelled the Captain, moustaches streaming behind him.
"Hang on!" yelled Raggedy Andy, clutching the Camel.
"Save me, save me, Raggedy Ann!" screamed Babette.
"Hold on tight!" cried Raggedy Ann.
They all whirled away out of sight and into blackness.