OF COBBLERS AND KINGS

Clever Gallo, the happy cobbler, leaves his bench when he sees the new carpenter tossing away all his nails because ""every one has its point at the wrong end."" And when Gallo laughingly explains that ""these nails are simply meant for the other side of the fence,"" the townspeople are so impressed that they make him mayor. And so begins Gallo's rise--to Governor to Prime Minister to Grand Chancellor, each promotion occasioned by a similar display of noodlehead wisdom (as governor he designs a 16-hour clock so the people will have more time to get their work done), but each occasioning further discontent on Gallo's part. At last, though, Gallo sees the kingdom's children barefoot for want of a cobbler, and he is ""clever enough to know"" that he belongs back at his bench--where we leave him, tapping happily. Though Leakes' gingerbread-mod cartoons are about as funny as cue cards for laughs, Sheldon manages to work some durable folk humor into a ser-viceable narrative framework.