"Well...
I was walking in the night
And I saw nothing scary.
For I have never been afraid
Of anything. Not very."

What's a pair of empty green trousers doing standing by itself in the woods? Or riding a bike in Grin-itch? Or fishing on Roover River? The narrator certainly doesn't want to find out but wherever he goes, he's haunted by the spooky empty pants. Finally, when the two find themselves hiding from each other in a Snide bush, the terrified narrator realizes, "I was just as strange to him as he was strange to me."

This story, published as a standalone book but first issued and often read within The Sneetches and Other Stories, is a little Seussian gem that delivers a timeless message about fear and tolerance.

Here, Dr. Seuss once again reminds us of the futility of holding pointless fears over senseless concerns. In What Was I Scared Of we find Seuss at his best, with wacky illustrations and tongue-twisting rhymes like only he can.