I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew
I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew is a 1965 children's book by Dr. Seuss. The story features classic Seuss rhymes and drawings in his distinctive pen and ink style.
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| Author | Dr. Seuss |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Publisher | Random House |
Publication date | 1965 (renewed 1993) |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and paperback) |
| OCLC | 1425583 |
| Preceded by | Fox in Socks |
| Followed by | The Cat in the Hat Song Book |
The book is a first-person narrative told by a young narrator who experiences troubles in his life (mostly aggressive small animals that bite and sting) and wishes to escape them. He sets out for the city of Solla Sollew ("where they never have troubles / at least very few") and learns that he must face his problems instead of running away from them. He then goes back home to deal with his "troubles", arming himself with a big bat and resolving that "Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!"
The journey includes several fantastic, and troublesome, encounters. In one instance, the protagonist is forced to haul a wagon for a bossy companion. ("'This is called teamwork. I furnish the brains. You furnish the muscles, the aches and the pains.'") In another scene, he is drafted into the army under the command of the fearsome (and, ultimately, cowardly) General Genghis Kahn Schmitz, who abandons him at a critical moment.
Plot
As the story opens, an unnamed protagonist (resembling a cat or dog) lives a happy and carefree life in the Valley of Vung, until one day he goes out for a stroll to look at daisies and hurts himself by tripping over a rock, setting off the troubles he will soon face. The protagonist vows to be more careful, but a Green-Headed Quilligan Quail bites his tail from behind. Worse still, a Skritz dives to sting his neck and a Skrink bites his toe, proving that troubles can come from every direction.
As the protagonist tries to fight off his troubles, a man on a One-Wheeler Wubble drawn by a camel comes up and explains that like the protagonist, he too is experiencing a troubled life and has decided to escape his troubles by going to Solla Sollew, a city on the beautiful banks of the river Wah-Hoo, and never known to have troubles (at least very few). He invites the protagonist to come along with him. Eager to escape from his troubles, the protagonist joins the Wubble driver, but after a long night of traveling, the camel gets sick and starts to bubble. At first, the driver and protagonist pull him on the Wubble, but for the rest of the day, the driver acts lazy and the protagonist has to do all the hard work.
The next day, they thankfully discover a camel doctor named Dr. Sam Snell, who diagnoses their camel with a bad case of gleeks and orders him to go to bed for at least twenty weeks. The driver makes it up to the protagonist by telling him he can catch the 4:42 bus to Solla Sollew at the nearest bus stop, but when the protagonist gets to the bus stop he learns from a notice letter tacked on a stick and written by the bus line president, Horace P. Sweet, that the 4:42 Solla Sollew bound bus is out of service because the driver, Butch Myers, apparently destroyed all his tires from accidentally running over four nails..."But," adds Horace P. Sweet, "I wish you a most pleasant journey by feet." So the protagonist now has no choice but to hike to Solla Sollew. After hiking a hundred miles, the poor protagonist is caught in a rainstorm. A kindly stranger tells him that the storm is the infamous "Midwinter Jicker" and allows the protagonist to take shelter in his house (where a family of mice and a family of owls also happen to be taking shelter) while he escapes the Midwinter Jicker to stay at his grandfather's house in Palm Springs.
After a sleepless night and dreaming of sleeping in Solla Sollew, the protagonist awakens to find that the flood-waters have washed the house over a cliff, leaving him still trapped inside. He spends twelve days in the flood-waters, until somebody rescues him by throwing down a rope. The protagonist climbs the rope, only to discover that his savior is none other than General Genghis Kahn Schmitz, who immediately drafts him into his army for an upcoming battle against a lion-like creature known as the Perilous Poozer of Pompelmoose Pass and arms him with only a shooter and a little bean. At the pass, the General and his army catch sight of a poozer and charge ahead to certain victory...only to discover that they are outnumbered by several Poozers and General Genghis Kahn Schmitz orders an immediate retreat without fighting, leaving the protagonist to face the Poozers alone, armed with nothing but "a shooter and one little bean" and wondering to himself if he'll ever get through to Solla Sollew.
The protagonist has a hard time escaping the pursuing Poozers until he comes upon an air vent marked "Vent No. 5", and escapes them by diving into the vent...only to end up in a dark tunnel network negotiating heavy traffic of strange birds, all going in the wrong direction, for three days, injuring and starving himself and even growing moss on his feet due to the dampness of the tunnels! By the end of the third day, he finally finds a door and discovers he's come out at the beautiful banks of the river Wah-Hoo. Realizing he's reached his goal, the protagonist rushes out to Solla Sollew.
At the gates of Solla Sollew, the protagonist is greeted by a friendly doorman. The doorman explains to the protagonist about one trouble the city has: a key-slapping Slippard who's taken charge of the city by moving into the lock of the only door into Solla Sollew "two weeks ago Tuesday at quarter to four," and is known to cause trouble by repeatedly slapping the key out of the keyhole whenever the doorman tries to insert it, thus keeping anyone from entering the city. Because killing a Slippard is considered bad luck, the doorman can do nothing to evict this pest. Therefore, he has no choice but to resign his doorman job and leave Solla Sollew for the city of Boola Boo Ball on the banks of the beautiful river Woo-Wall, where troubles are never known to exist ("No troubles at all!"), and invites the protagonist to come along.
At first, the protagonist considers joining the doorman, but realizing that he's come all this way for nothing, he has no choice but to go back home to the Valley of Vung and have to deal with his troubles. He recognizes that he will have at least some troubles for the rest of his life, but at least now, he's ready to face them. Armed with nothing but a baseball bat, the protagonist now gives the rocks, Quail, Skritz, and Skrink their own troubles ("But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready, you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!").
In Seussical
In Seussical, the character of General Genghis Kahn Schmitz makes an appearance as a secondary character. He introduces JoJo to the military school in song. This sets up a subplot concerning JoJo in which he is thought to be lost in battle. The character of Schmitz in the play is a cross between the Schmitz seen in the book and the unnamed generals in the Butter Battle Book.
Solla Sollew is the subject of a song in which the main characters yearn for a happy resolution to their problems. It is referred to as "a faraway land, so the stories all tell / somewhere beyond the horizon." It is said that "troubles there are few" and that "maybe it's something like heaven."
Solla Sollew is believed to be a place of hope and wonder, where "breezes are warm" and "people are kind." It is a dream of the characters to find this incredible place, where they will find each other and be happy once and for all. However, they cannot ever find it, saying in the song "when I get close, it disappears".