The Gnometown Tale of “Ole”

Norm Olson
It was a beautiful summer Sunday and all the gnomes were gathering down by the river under the large oak tree for church. Ole and his family were among them as they were every Sunday, arriving just in time to hear the choir singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy”. They found a comfortable place in the shade and listened to the “Rev” preach a fine sermon. After the service, they thanked the preacher and visited with friends before they started for home, looking forward to tuna casserole, green jello and ice cream for Sunday dinner. Of course, after such a fine meal a nap was in order to prepare himself for the next work week.
Ole, like many of the boys in Gnometown, worked in the fields and helped the farmers plant, cultivate and harvest their crops. On his way to work that day, he began to notice the ugliness of the debris scattered about the ditches and in the parks. On his way home from the fields, he decided to pick up the garbage that people had thoughtlessly thrown about. He took it home, reused what he could but decided to dig a hole and burn up the trash that was useless. He noticed how each house had a big pile of rubbish behind their homes and devised a plan. At the next Gnome meeting of the town Council, Ole told them he wished to start a business to beautify Gnometown. He would hitch his squirrel to his wagon and load up all the garbage and process it and they could grow flowers and vegetables in the spots where all the trash collected. The Council was delighted and told him they would pay him to do this because it would beautify the town and keep the rodents away.
So Ole started his new business collecting all the gnome garbage and cleaning up Gnometown. As he was going about his new business venture, he quietly saw other needs that the gnomes had. If someone needed a piano moved, Ole, tough and strong, did it for him. If a gnome moved from one tree to another, Ole was there to help pack up their belongings and help him move. His business grew. He needed to mechanize, so he contact Gnome Bob and bought a truck to make his work easier and faster. Do you know how many acorns he could get on that truck? The answer is lots and when he needed to unload it didn’t take a shovel, he just lifted the truck box in the air and they tumbled out so easily.
Gnometown was looking so much cleaner because of this new business. One day, the preacher stopped him as he was working and thanked him for all he was doing. “How did you ever get the idea to pick up everybody’s garbage?” he asked Ole. “Well, Rev, “he answered. “Last summer when I came to church, they were singing “Ole, Ole, Ole,’ so I figured that I had better listen good. Then you said we should go out and do something for our neighbors, so I took it to heart and started helping out. I figured it must be God speaking to me and I had better listen.”

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