Poem about a young boy who does not want to wash. He gets so filthy that all his toys, clothes and other possessions run away and desert him. A giant anthropomorphic washstand named "Moidodyr" appears. (Most common interpretation/translation of Moidodyr is "Wash 'em clean.") The "Chief of all Washstands," Moidodyr summons washstands, soap bars, and body scrubbers (loofahs), and commands them to clean the boy. The boy flees, and is chased through the streets of Leningrad by a loofah. They bump into a crocodile, the central character in another Chukovsky story (Krokodil), who eats the loofah, and reprimands the boy for being so filthy. The boy goes back home where Moidodyr is waiting, and agrees to take a bath. All of his possessions come flying back to him, and the boy finds he enjoys being clean.