After the Simpsons win a trip to
Delaware,
Homer refuses to pay a $5 airport tax for his flight. After Homer violates the Anti-Fist Shaking Law, the family jumps onto a
freight train where they meet a singing
hobo who tells them three stories.
"Paul Bunyan" Homer portrays
Paul Bunyan, a giant who quickly becomes a great burden on the local townspeople, as he crushes their houses and greedily eats all their food. Eventually, the townspeople drug him and drag him out of their town. Out of loneliness, Bunyan carves a block of stone from the mountains into a blue ox that he calls Babe, who is rendered alive by the Northern Lights. In his travels with Babe, Homer creates several landmarks. Bunyan later meets a young woman,
Marge, and though she is initially frightened of him, the two fall in love. When a meteor is soon to hit the town, the townspeople call Paul back to help them. Paul obliges and, after the meteor first hits and severely burns his backside, Paul throws the meteor towards
Chicago, starting the
Great Fire there. After the hobo has told this story, he asks them for a sponge bath as compensation. Disgusted, Homer is forced to oblige, as nobody else will do so, but the hobo does not mind anyone seeing his nakedness.
"Connie Appleseed" The hobo's second tall tale revolves around
Lisa as
Connie. Connie is part of a wagon train, and all of the travelers shoot and eat
buffalo. Connie, who is against the practice, tries to urge them to stop slaughter or they will wipe out the buffalo, to much ridicule. She worries that no one is eating a renewable source of food and finds some apples for the pioneers to eat, but they reject them. Eventually, she changes her last name to "Appleseed", and leaves her family to journey across the
United States and plant apple seeds wherever she goes. Meanwhile, the Simpsons change their surname to "Bufflekill" and they succeed in killing all the buffalo in the land. The travelers eventually starve, and just as they are about to
cannibalize Homer, Connie returns and offers them apples instead. Won over by the taste of apples, they agree to the trade, sparing Homer.
"Tom and Huck" The hobo's third tale tells the story of
Tom Sawyer (
Bart) and
Huckleberry Finn (
Nelson). Tom is a rebellious trouble maker while Huck is a bully. Huck is caught holding hands with Becky (Lisa) after he falls over in her garden from the fence and is
forced to marry her by her father, Homer. During the ceremony, Huck switches places with a pig and goes on the run with Tom, leaving
Missouri for Missoura. However, they are chased by townspeople led by Becky's father and their families. Huck and Tom flee to a river boat, but are thrown into the Mississippi River and are caught by the townspeople. The townspeople take them back to town and execute them before lowering their bodies into coffins.
Conclusion The family arrives in Delaware and disembarks the train, but the hobo reminds them that they owe him one more sponge bath as compensation. Homer volunteers to stay behind to do the dirty work and promises to catch up with them in
Wilmington. ==Production==