| Gus the Goldfish | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Gustav |
|
First Appearance |
Gustav, the Goldfish Redbook Magazine ( June 1950) |
|
Original Publisher |
McCall Corp. |
|
Created by |
Theodor Seuss Geisel |
Origin[]
Gustav (Gus for short) is a orange goldfish that a boy buys a fish from a pet store. Mr. VanBuss, warns the boy to not to over feed the fish.:
“Just feed him a spot. If you feed him a lot Then something might happen! It’s hard to say what.”
But the boy was conflicted, because Gustav always seemed so hungry. So, one day he decided to dump in the whole box of fish food! He knew right away that something was wrong, because Gustav grew twice as long! Soon he was too big for his bowl, so our narrator put him in a large vase, but he kept growing. Next he put him in a large pot, but when the fish grew out of that he had to run Gustav up to the tub. Even the tub wasn’t big enough and the bathroom eventually overflowed with water.
The first page of the story from Redbook Magazine, June 1950.
The second page of the story from Redbook Magazine, June 1950.
Just as the boy thought he was going to drown, the door burst open and they spilled down the stairs and into the cellar which filled up with water. At this point the boy ran up to the phone and called the man that sold Gustav to him. The man arrived quickly.
“With a lot of strange bottles tucked into his vest and a thing on his back like a medicine chest.”
He headed straight for the cellar and worked on Gustav for over an hour. When he came up from the cellar Mr. VanBuss had Gustav back to his normal size in a small fishbowl. He told the boy that this time it was free, but if it happened again he would charge a large free. So, now the boy only feeds Gustav a spot of food and no more,
"Cause something might happen. And now I know what!"
Full story[]
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Gustav, the Goldfish in Redbook Magazine (June 1950)
Notes[]
- The original Redbook magazine story of Gustav, the Goldfish was never renewed.
- The story later served as the basis for the 1961 Beginner Book, A Fish Out of Water.
- Gustav, the goldfish was one of the stories featured in the 2011 collection The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories.