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<h1 class='c001'>UNCLE WIGGILY'S <br/> FORTUNE</h1></div>
<div class='nf-center-c1'>
<div class='nf-center c002'>
<div>BY</div>
<div class='c000'><span class='large'>HOWARD R. GARIS</span></div>
<div class='c000'>Author of "Sammie and Susie Littletail," "Johnnie and Billie</div>
<div>Bushytail," "Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg," "Joie,</div>
<div>Tommie and Kittie Kat," "Uncle Wiggily's</div>
<div>Travels," "Those Smith Boys," Series,</div>
<div>"The Island Boys," Series, etc.</div>
<div class='c003'>ILLUSTRATED BY LOUIS WISA</div>
<div class='c003'>R. F. FENNO & COMPANY</div>
<div>18 EAST SEVENTEENTH STREET</div>
<div>NEW YORK</div>
</div></div>
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<div class='nf-center c003'>
<div><span class='xlarge'>CHILDREN'S BOOKS</span></div>
<div class='c000'><span class='large'>By HOWARD R. GARIS</span></div>
<div class='c000'>THE BEDTIME STORIES SERIES</div>
<div class='c000'>EIGHT COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS</div>
<div><i>Price 75 cents each, postpaid</i></div>
<div class='c000'>SAMMIE AND SUSIE LITTLETAIL</div>
<div>31 Rabbit Stories</div>
<div class='c000'>JOHNNIE AND BILLIE BUSHYTAIL</div>
<div>31 Squirrel Stories</div>
<div class='c000'>LULU, ALICE AND JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE</div>
<div>31 Duck Stories</div>
<div class='c000'>JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW WOW</div>
<div>31 Dog Stories</div>
<div class='c000'>BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES PIGG</div>
<div>31 Guinea Pig Stories</div>
<div class='c000'>JOIE, TOMMIE AND KITTIE KAT</div>
<div>31 Cat Stories</div>
<div class='c000'>CHARLIE AND ARABELLA CHICK</div>
<div>31 Chicken Stories</div>
<div class='c003'><b>THE UNCLE WIGGILY SERIES</b></div>
<div>EIGHT COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS</div>
<div><i>Price 75 cents each, postpaid</i></div>
<div class='c003'>UNCLE WIGGILY'S ADVENTURES</div>
<div>31 of the Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories</div>
<div class='c000'>UNCLE WIGGILY'S TRAVELS</div>
<div>31 more of the Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories</div>
<div class='c000'>UNCLE WIGGILY'S FORTUNE</div>
<div>31 other of the Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories</div>
<div class='c000'>UNCLE WIGGILY'S AUTOMOBILE</div>
<div>31 different Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories</div>
<div class='c000'><b>THOSE SMITH BOYS SERIES</b></div>
<div>FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS</div>
<div><i>Price 75 cents each, postpaid</i></div>
<div class='c000'>THOSE SMITH BOYS</div>
<div>THOSE SMITH BOYS ON THE DIAMOND</div>
<div class='c000'><b>THE ISLAND BOYS SERIES</b></div>
<div>FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS</div>
<div><i>Price 75 cents each, postpaid</i></div>
<div class='c000'><b>THE ISLAND BOYS</b></div>
<div class='c000'>(<i>Other volumes In preparation</i>)</div>
<div class='c003'><span class='sc'>Copyright, 1913, by</span></div>
<div>R. F. FENNO & COMPANY</div>
</div></div>
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<div><SPAN name='Page_9'></SPAN><span class='xlarge'>UNCLE WIGGILY'S</span></div>
<div><span class='xlarge'>FORTUNE</span></div>
</div></div>
<hr class='c005' />
<div class='chapter'>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY I</h2></div>
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<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE FOX</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>Once upon a time, not so very many years
ago, there lived an old gentleman rabbit named
Uncle Wiggily Longears. He was a nice, quiet
sort of a bunny, and he had lots of friends among
other rabbits, and squirrels, and ducks, and doggies,
and pussy cats, and mice and lambs, and all
sorts of animals.</p>
<p class='c009'>Most especially there was a muskrat lady,
named Miss Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, who liked
Uncle Wiggily very much. She made a crutch
for him, when he had the rheumatism. She
gnawed it out of a cornstalk for him, and painted
it red, white and blue with raspberry jam.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, Uncle Wiggily was a funny old rabbit
gentleman. He was always having adventures--which
<SPAN name='Page_10'></SPAN>means things happening to you, such as
stubbing your toe, or getting lost or things like
that.</p>
<p class='c009'>I have told you some of his adventures in a
book before this one, and also about how he
traveled all around looking for his fortune, so he
would be rich. But he didn't find it for some
time, though many things happened to him.</p>
<p class='c009'>The last thing that happened, in the book before
this one, was that he tore his nice coat, and a
good tailor bird kindly mended it for him. And
he stayed at her house for some time, bringing
up coal, and sweeping the sidewalk, and things
like that to be useful; for Uncle Wiggily was
very kind.</p>
<p class='c009'>He used to sleep in a hollow stump, near the
nest of the tailor bird, and one night it rained so
hard that he had to go to bed and pull the dried
leaves up over him to keep warm. All night it
rained, and in the morning Uncle Wiggily got
up, and he was hoping it had cleared off, so he
could travel on and seek his fortune, and get
rich.</p>
<p class='c009'>Out of bed hopped Uncle Wiggily. In one
corner of the stump was his valise in which he
carried his lunch and clean clothes and the like
of that.</p>
<p class='c009'>The day before, a bad wolf had chased Uncle
<SPAN name='Page_11'></SPAN>Wiggily, catching him and tearing his coat, so
that now the rabbit gentleman was quite stiff
and sore. Still he managed to move about.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, dear me!" he exclaimed as he looked out
of a hole in the stump, and saw the big rain drops
still pattering down, "this is a very poor day for
me to find my fortune. Still, I can't stay in on
account of the weather, so I will get my breakfast
and travel on."</p>
<p class='c009'>He had some carrot and lettuce sandwiches in
his valise and he ate these and then looked out to
see if the rain had stopped, but it had not, I am
sorry to say.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well," Uncle Wiggily said. "I don't like
to get wet, but there is no help for it. I'll start
out." Then he happened to think of something.
"I know what I'll do!" he exclaimed. "I'll get
the largest toadstool I can find, and use it for an
umbrella."</p>
<p class='c009'>Out he ran and soon he had picked a big toadstool
that made as fine an umbrella as one could
wish. Then, strapping his satchel to his back,
where it would be out of the way, the old gentleman
rabbit hopped off, holding the toadstool umbrella
over his head, and limping along on his
barber-pole crutch. And as he went over the
meadows and through the woods he sang this little
song, and sometimes when one sings it just at
<SPAN name='Page_12'></SPAN>the right time, why it stops raining almost at
once. But it has to be sung at the proper time.
Anyhow this is the song:</p>
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<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Splish-splash! Drip-dash!</div>
<div class='line in1'>How the raindrops fall!</div>
<div class='line in1'>When the weather gets too wet,</div>
<div class='line in1'>It isn't nice at all.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Mr. Rain, oh, please go 'way!</div>
<div class='line in1'>For my feet are wet.</div>
<div class='line in1'>And you're splashing on my nose.</div>
<div class='line in1'>What? You can't stop yet?</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Won't you please be nice to me--</div>
<div class='line in1'>Make your raindrops dry.</div>
<div class='line in1'>I am sure you could do this</div>
<div class='line in1'>If you'd only try.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Dry raindrops are very nice,</div>
<div class='line in1'>And if they would fall,</div>
<div class='line in1'>We could walk in showers, and</div>
<div class='line in1'>Not get wet at all."</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p class='c009'>Well, as soon as Uncle Wiggily had sung this
song, he looked up quickly from under his toadstool
umbrella to see if it had stopped raining,
but it hadn't, and he got a drop right in his left
<SPAN name='Page_13'></SPAN>eye, which made him sneeze so hard that his
spectacles fell off. And they dropped right into
a mud puddle.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha, hum!" exclaimed the old gentleman
rabbit, "this is a pretty kettle of fish!" Of
course, he didn't mean that there was a kettle of
fish in the mud puddle, but that was his manner
of talking, because he was so surprised. "A
very pretty kettle of fish, indeed!" cried the old
gentleman rabbit, "and speaking of fish, I guess
I'll have to fish for my spectacles."</p>
<p class='c009'>So what did he do but use his red-white-and-blue-striped-barber-pole
crutch for a fishing
pole, and he dipped it down in the mud puddle
and in a little while up came his glasses wiggling
on the end of the crutch just like an eel.</p>
<p class='c009'>"That is good luck!" said the rabbit, as he
wiped off the mud and water and put on his
spectacles, and he was just going to put his toadstool
umbrella over his head again when he found
out that the rain had stopped and he didn't need
it.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then he left the toadstool hanging on a berry
bush by the mud puddle to dry, so that whoever
came along next time would have an umbrella
all ready for the rain.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, now that the sun is coming out I must
be on the watch for my fortune," said the old
<SPAN name='Page_14'></SPAN>gentleman rabbit to himself. And he peered
first on one side of the road and then on the other,
but not a sign of his fortune could he see.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then, all of a sudden he saw something
shining golden yellow in a field close by.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ah, that must be a pile of yellow gold!" exclaimed
Uncle Wiggily. "Now my fortune is
made!" and he hopped over to the field. But
alas! and alack-a-day! Instead of being gold the
pile of yellow things were carrots.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, it might be worse!" said the rabbit.
"At least I can eat carrots. I wonder if whoever
they belong to would mind if I took some?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I wouldn't mind a bit!" exclaimed a voice.
"Take as many as you like, Uncle Wiggily,"
and up jumped Mr. Groundhog, who owned the
carrots. "Take all you can eat and fill your
valise," said Mr. Groundhog.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Thank you very kindly," replied the rabbit,
so he ate several carrots and filled his satchel
with more, and then he and Mr. Groundhog
talked about the weather, and things like that,
until it was time for Uncle Wiggily to hop on
again after his fortune.</p>
<p class='c009'>But he didn't find it, and pretty soon it came
on toward night, and the old gentleman rabbit
looked for a place to stay while it was dark.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I think this will do," he said, when he came
<SPAN name='Page_15'></SPAN>to a small stone cave. "I'll just crawl in here
with my carrots and my crutch," and in he
crawled as nicely as a basket of shavings.</p>
<p class='c009'>Pretty soon Uncle Wiggily was fast, fast
asleep, and he never thought the least mite about
any danger. But danger was close at hand just
the same.</p>
<p class='c009'>Hark! What's that creeping, creeping along
under the bushes? Eh? What's that? Why,
my goodness me sakes alive and a piece of pie!
It's the fuzzy old fox! Yes, as true as I'm telling
you, the old red fox had seen Uncle Wiggily
go into the cave, and now he was snooping
and snipping up to catch him if he could.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I'll soon have a fine time!" said the fox
in a whisper, smacking his lips. Into the cave
he crawled, and in the darkness he happened to
knock over Uncle Wiggily's crutch, which was
standing in a corner. Quickly the old gentleman
rabbit awakened when he heard the noise. Up
he jumped and he cried out:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Who's there?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'm the fox," was the answer, "and I came
to catch you."</p>
<p class='c009'>But do you s'pose Uncle Wiggily was afraid?
Not a bit of it. He ran to his valise and he took
out a pawful of carrots with their sharp points,
and before that fox could even sneeze the rabbit
<SPAN name='Page_16'></SPAN>threw one carrot at him and hit him on the nose,
for Uncle Wiggily could see in the dark.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then he threw another carrot and hit the fox
on the ear, and then he threw still another one
and he hit him on the two eyes, and that fox was
so frightened and surprised that he jumped out
of the second-story window of the cave house and
sprained his toenail. Then he ran back to his
den and didn't bother Uncle Wiggily any more
that night, and the rabbit slept in peace and
quietness, and dreamed about Santa Claus and
ice-cream popcorn balls.</p>
<p class='c009'>But Uncle Wiggily had another adventure
next day. I'll tell you about it in a little while,
when, in case some one sends me a mud pie with
a cherry on the top, the story will be about Uncle
Wiggily and the bird's nest.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_17'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY II</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BIRD'S NEST</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>"Now, I must be very careful to-day," said
Uncle Wiggily to himself as he got up after
sleeping in the stone cave, as I told you he did
in the story before this one. "I must be very
careful so that fox won't catch me."</p>
<p class='c009'>So, very carefully and cautiously, he crept to
the window of the stone cave house, and looked
down, but the red fox was not there. The sun
was brightly shining and the old gentleman rabbit
could see the big dent made in the soft ground,
where the fox had landed when he jumped out
of the window and sprained his toenail.</p>
<p class='c009'>"My! that certainly was a narrow escape for
me," thought Uncle Wiggily. Then he fried
some of Mr. Groundhog's carrots for his breakfast
and, putting some of them in his valise for
his lunch, off he started once more to seek his
fortune.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_18'></SPAN>He hadn't gone very far before he came to
a place where he heard a funny buzzing sound.
It was just like a small saw-mill away off in the
woods, where the men saw logs into boards in
order that houses may be built.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, my suz dud and a piece of red paper!"
exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "I must be careful
or I might get my nose cut off in that saw-mill."
So he was very careful, and, after he had listened
a while longer, he wasn't quite so sure that it
was a saw-mill that he heard, for he could hear
a little voice crying:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, dear. I'll never get loose! I'm caught
fast! Oh, if some one would only help me!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! That is some one in trouble!" said the
rabbit. "I'm going to see if I can't help them."
So he bravely kept on through the woods, and
the buzzing sound became louder, until, all at
once, the old gentleman rabbit saw a nice, good
bumble bee caught in the web of a big, black
spider.</p>
<p class='c009'>The bee was all tangled up in the web, and it
was his wings fluttering to and fro and up and
down that made the buzzing sound.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! Can't you get loose?" asked the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Indeed he can't!" cried the big, black spider
lady, as she sat all hunched up in a corner of her
<SPAN name='Page_19'></SPAN>web, waiting for the bee to get more tangled up
and all tired out, so she could bite him. "He'll
never get away from me," said the spider lady,
sassy-like.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, ho! We will have to see about that!"
exclaimed the rabbit. "I am afraid you are
mistaken, Mrs. Spider. I am very sorry to have
to spoil your cobweb, but I must help my friend,
the bumble bee." And with that Uncle Wiggily
took his crutch, and broke the web away
from the bee's legs and wings so that he was
loose and could fly away.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I never can thank you enough, Uncle Wiggily,"
said the bee to the rabbit, "and if ever I
can do you, or any of your friends, a favor I
will. Don't forget to call on me."</p>
<p class='c009'>"And if ever I can bite you, I will, Mr. Rabbit,"
said the spider in her crossest voice, as she
set to work to mend her cobweb net so that she
might catch some one else. Oh! but she was
angry, though perhaps we can't blame her.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, Uncle Wiggily didn't worry much about
what the spider said, as he knew he was going
to travel on for a long distance after his fortune,
and he didn't think she would come after him,
and she didn't.</p>
<p class='c009'>On and on hopped the old gentleman rabbit,
sometimes going slowly and sometimes fast, and
<SPAN name='Page_20'></SPAN>once in a while he would go up a hill, and then,
again, he would go down. And so it went on.
When it wasn't one thing it was another. But
he didn't find his fortune anywhere.</p>
<p class='c009'>Pretty soon, when it was nearly noon, Uncle
Wiggily began to feel hungry, so he looked for
a nice place where he might sit down and eat his
lunch. He saw a shady tree, and he walked toward
that, and, just as he did so, he happened
to look up, and there, hanging from a branch,
was a sort of brown-colored round object, that
looked like a small bag.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! I think I know what that is!" exclaimed
Uncle Wiggily. "That is the nest of a stingery
hornet, and if I go too close I'll get stung. I'll
just keep away, and go somewhere else to eat
my lunch."</p>
<p class='c009'>Uncle Wiggily started off, but at that moment
he heard some voices calling. And this is what
they said:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, dear! How hungry we are! Oh, when
will mamma come back! Oh, if we only had
something to eat!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Hum! I hope those hornets don't see me,
and come out to bite me," said the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>And, would you ever believe it? the next moment
those who had been calling must have seen
Uncle Wiggily, for a voice exclaimed:</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_21'></SPAN>"Oh, good Mr. Rabbit won't you please come
here? We can't get out, and our mamma has
gone to the store for something to eat, and she
hasn't come back; and we're so hungry. Please
help us!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"No indeed, I will not!" said Uncle Wiggily
firmly. "I don't want to be unkind," he said,
"but I am afraid you will sting me, you little
hornets!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why, the idea!" cried all the voices at
once. "We are not hornets, we are only little
birdies, and this is a bird's nest."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why, bless my whiskers!" exclaimed Uncle
Wiggily. "I believe I have made a mistake."
Then he put on his glasses, and surely enough
he saw that the brown object like a bag was a
nest, and it was full of little birds who could not
yet fly very much, for their wings were not strong
enough.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Now, will you help us?" the birdies asked
the rabbit. "Help us, please do; for we won't
hurt you!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Bless my whiskers! Of course I will!"
Uncle Wiggily cried, and he at once opened his
valise and gave them all they could eat.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Now I will go look for your mamma," he
said. Off he started, but he had not gone very
far before he heard the birdies in the nest crying:</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_22'></SPAN>"Help! Help! Help!" Uncle Wiggily
looked back, and there was a great, big, ugly
snake crawling up the tree to get the little birds.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I must stop that!" exclaimed the rabbit,
and back he started to hop to the nest. But
he was quite a distance off, and he saw that he
could not get back in time to drive off the snake.
"Oh, what shall I do?" he cried. "If only the
bumble bee would come along now and sting
that snake the crawly creature would run away!"</p>
<p class='c009'>And, would you ever believe it if I didn't tell
you? At that moment along buzzed the bee and
he saw the snake and stung him so that the snake
was glad to jump away, and not hurt the little
birdies. Then Uncle Wiggily and the little
birds thanked the bee, who buzzed off to find
some apple blossom honey. And pretty soon the
mamma bird came home from the store, and she
was very grateful to the rabbit for taking care
of her little ones.</p>
<p class='c009'>The reason she was away so long was because
a boy threw a stone at her and made her spill the
bread she had for her birdies. So she had to go
back to the store for more.</p>
<p class='c009'>"If you stay with us for a few days we will
help you look for your fortune," said the mamma
bird, and Uncle Wiggily did stay, and he had
an adventure.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_23'></SPAN>I'll tell you about it on the next page, when,
in case the popcorn ball doesn't roll off the table
and bump the kittie's nose, the story will be about
Uncle Wiggily and a big rat.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_24'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY III</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND A BIG RAT</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>When Uncle Wiggily had fed the little birds
in the nest, after he and the bumble bee had saved
them from the snake, as I told you in another
story, the mamma bird said she could not do
enough for the old gentleman rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I will have my little ones sing a song for
you," she went on. "Come now, birdies, sing
for Uncle Wiggily."</p>
<p class='c009'>So this is the song the little birds in the nest
sang:</p>
<div class='lg-container-l c010'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Uncle Wiggily is good,</div>
<div class='line in1'>Uncle Wiggily is kind,</div>
<div class='line in1'>And we hope with all our hearts,</div>
<div class='line in1'>That his fortune he may find.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Gold and silver, diamonds, too,</div>
<div class='line in1'>Ice-cream cones and candy sticks,</div>
<div class='line in1'>And we hope that he can buy,</div>
<div class='line in1'>Two red monkeys who do tricks."</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_25'></SPAN>"Oh! that is a very nice song, birdies," said
the rabbit, as he took off his hat and made a low
bow. "But," he went on, "I don't know as I
care for red monkeys who do tricks. What in
the world would I do with them?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why, you could give them to us and they
would amuse us when our mamma was away,"
said a little bird who had some feathers sticking
crossways in her tail.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes, I suppose I could give you the monkeys,"
went on the old gentleman rabbit, "but I
hardly expect to find any in my travels--especially
red ones."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Won't you stay to supper with us?" asked
the mamma bird, "and we would also be pleased
to have you stay all night. Oh, no!" she suddenly
exclaimed. "I don't see how you can stay
all night."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I can if you want me to," said Uncle Wiggily,
for he thought perhaps the bird was afraid
the snake might come back in the darkness, and
the old gentleman rabbit made up his mind that
if the crawly creature did sneak up, he would
hit it with his crutch.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, of course we'd like to have you stay,"
said the mamma bird, slowly, "but the truth of
the matter is that I have no place for you to
sleep. You see, our nest is so small; and besides,
<SPAN name='Page_26'></SPAN>I never knew of a rabbit in a nest, except at
Easter time."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Of course," agreed Uncle Wiggily, "I never
thought of that. However, it is very kind of
you, and I'll travel on until I find a hollow stump,
or some place like that where I can sleep."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, mamma!" exclaimed a little boy birdie,
"why can't Uncle Wiggily make a tent, and
sleep in it right near our nest? He can pretend
that he is camping out."</p>
<p class='c009'>"The very thing!" cried the rabbit. "I'll
do it. But of what can I make a tent?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"We can give you the sticks and the cloth,"
said the mamma bird, so she showed Uncle Wiggily
where there were some nice long sticks, like
fishing poles, and some old sheets from a bed
that no one wanted.</p>
<p class='c009'>"That will make a fine tent!" said Uncle
Wiggily, "and I'm sure I will sleep in it very
nicely."</p>
<p class='c009'>So he set to work to make the tent. First he
stuck one stick in the ground, and then he stuck
another stick in, and then still another, until he
had about seven sticks sticking around in a circle.
Next the mamma bird pulled them together at
the top, just like the Indians' tents in the Wild
West show, and then she and all the other little
birdies tied them with blades of grass for strings,
<SPAN name='Page_27'></SPAN>and helped put the cloth around to cover up the
sticks.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then, if you'll believe me, and I hope you do,
there was the tent, pointed on top and round at
the bottom, just like those chocolate drops with
white cream inside that are so nice and soft.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! this is a very fine tent indeed!" exclaimed
Uncle Wiggily. "Now I'll move my
valise and crutch inside, and I'll feel right at
home."</p>
<p class='c009'>"And we'll help you make your bed," said the
little birds, and away some of the strongest of
them flew around, gathering up in their bills
dozens of soft leaves, and soon they had made as
fine a bed, almost, as baby's crib.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then supper was ready. And now, let me see,
what did they have for supper? Oh, I know!
There was some rose leaf pie, and some violets
with sugar on, and some bird seed boiled in molasses,
and for Uncle Wiggily there was the loveliest
turnip cake, with carrot frosting on top,
that you have ever seen. Oh! it was most delicious,
and it makes me hungry even to typewrite
about it, and I'm sure you would like it if you had
some.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Now it's bedtime for you birdies," said the
mamma, and she sang them a little lullaby and
soon their eyes were tightly shut.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_28'></SPAN>"Yes, and I guess I had better get in my
tent," said the rabbit, so in he crawled beneath
the cloth that was stretched over the poles, down
upon the bed of leaves he lay, and soon he too
was fast, fast asleep.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, along about in the middle of the night
Uncle Wiggily was awakened by hearing something
scratching on the side of the tent.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha, hum! I wonder what that can be?" he
asked. "Perhaps it is the bad snake coming
back. If it is I must get ready with my crutch."</p>
<p class='c009'>So he reached out in the darkness to get hold
of the crutch and just then he saw a light flickering.
And a moment later something big and
black, with long whiskers, and long sharp teeth,
came right inside the tent. And Uncle Wiggily
saw that it was a big rat, and that rat had
a bottle, and in it were a lot of flickering lightning
bugs, and that was the lantern the rat carried,
so that he could see in the dark.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, hello! So you're in here, eh?" asked the
rat as he waved his whiskers to and fro at Uncle
Wiggily. "Well, I'm disappointed."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why so?" asked the rabbit, as he got his
crutch and stood ready to hit the rat in case he
sprang forward to use his sharp teeth. "Why
are you disappointed?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Because I thought the birds were in here,"
<SPAN name='Page_29'></SPAN>said the rat. "I mean to take them all off to my
den and make them sing me to sleep. But
since you are here, I'll begin on you first, and
then I'll go out and pull down the birds' nest."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, no, you can't do that," said Uncle Wiggily
firmly.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why not?" asked the rat, surprised-like.
"Who will stop me?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I will!" bravely cried Uncle Wiggily, and
with that he raised his crutch, and he tickled that
rat right on the end of his long tail. And the
rat was so surprised that he thought he had been
struck by a policeman's club. So he jumped
around, and, as he did so, Uncle Wiggily threw
a piece of cherry pie at him, and it was all soft
and squashy like, and the juice ran down in the
rat's eyes, and so blinded him that he couldn't
see to bite the rabbit, or even a piece of cheese.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Now, you get right out of this tent, and
don't you dare to harm the birds!" cried the old
gentleman rabbit, and that rat went right out,
taking his long thin tail with him, but forgetting
his lightning bug lantern, which he left on the
ground.</p>
<p class='c009'>So Uncle Wiggily looked out to make sure
that the rat didn't go near the birds' nest and
the bad creature didn't, but he scurried back to
<SPAN name='Page_30'></SPAN>his hole in the rocks, feeling quite savage-like
and more disappointed than ever.</p>
<p class='c009'>Next the rabbit took the cork out of the rat's
bottle-lantern and he let the poor lightning bugs
go, and they were very thankful. And then the
rabbit stretched out on the leaves again, and
went to sleep until morning and nothing more
disturbed him.</p>
<p class='c009'>Now if the knives and forks don't jump up
and down on the table, and upset the sugar
bowl, so that it scares the vinegar bottle, I'll tell
you next about Uncle Wiggily on a raft.</p>
<div class='figcenter id001'>
<ANTIMG src='images/p026.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
<div class='ic002'>
<p>Uncle Wiggily and the Big River Rat</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_31'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY IV</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY ON A RAFT</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>"Well, I think I will be traveling along
now," said Uncle Wiggily to the bird family the
next morning after he had had the adventure
with the rat. "I must have another try at finding
my fortune. And, perhaps, since you sang
such a nice song for me yesterday, you little
birds will sing another as I am leaving."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Of course they will," said their mamma, so
she gave a few trills and chords to start them
off, and the birdies sang this:</p>
<div class='lg-container-l c010'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Dear old Uncle Wiggily,</div>
<div class='line in1'>We wish that you could stay</div>
<div class='line in1'>And live near our nest always,</div>
<div class='line in1'>To drive the rats away.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"But if you now must leave us,</div>
<div class='line in1'>Then we will wish for you,</div>
<div class='line in1'>That you may have much happiness</div>
<div class='line in1'>Whatever you may do."</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_32'></SPAN>"I'm sure that's very nice," said the rabbit,
"and now I'll bid you good-bye and travel on."</p>
<p class='c009'>"But you must take some lunch with you,"
said the mamma bird, and she gave him some
more cherry pie to make up for the piece he had
thrown at the rat.</p>
<p class='c009'>Uncle Wiggily went on and on, and pretty
soon he came to a place in the woods where there
was a tall tree. And some distance up from the
ground there was a hole in this tree trunk.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha, hum!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily,
"perhaps there may be gold in that tree hole.
Now if I could only climb up to see, I might find
my fortune."</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, you know how it is with rabbits. They
can't climb a tree even as well as a girl can, and,
of course, Uncle Wiggily had to remain on the
ground.</p>
<p class='c009'>"If only Johnnie or Billie Bushytail were
here now," thought the rabbit, "those squirrel
boys could climb the tree for me. But I know
what I'll do, I'll tie a stone to a string, and I'll
put some molasses on the stone and throw it
up into the hole in the tree. Then, if there is any
gold there, it may stick to the molasses on the
stone, and I can pull some down."</p>
<p class='c009'>So he did this, and he made the string fast to
the stone, and was all ready to throw it up when
<SPAN name='Page_33'></SPAN>he happened to remember that he had no molasses.</p>
<p class='c009'>"How careless of me! What shall I do?" he
exclaimed. And a voice answered:</p>
<p class='c009'>"I will give you some molasses, Uncle Wiggily."</p>
<p class='c009'>The old gentleman rabbit looked around, and
there was a nice, green grasshopper, and, as she
had some molasses with her, she put quite a lot
on the stone. Then the rabbit threw it up at the
hole in the tree, but a most surprising thing happened.</p>
<p class='c009'>For, instead of being gold in the hole there
were two unpleasant old owls there, and when
the molasses-covered stone popped in on them
it awakened them from their sleep, for owls sleep
in the day time, and fly about at night, you
know.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Who threw that stone?" cried one owl.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I don't know," answered the other owl, and
she gnashed her sharp beak, "but whoever it was
I'm going to bite him!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, run! Run for your life, Uncle Wiggily!"
cried the grasshopper, as the two owls
stuck their heads out of the hole in the tree.
"Hop away!"</p>
<p class='c009'>So Uncle Wiggily hopped off, and the grasshopper
hopped also, and the two owls flopped
<SPAN name='Page_34'></SPAN>down after them. But the savage birds could
not see very well in the day time, and one went
ker-bunk into a tree, and the other went ker-thump
into a briar bush, and they were all
tangled up, and so Uncle Wiggily and the grasshopper
got safely away.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, I didn't get any fortune that time,"
said the rabbit sorrowfully as he hopped down
a hill. "But perhaps I may find it soon."</p>
<p class='c009'>The next place he came to was a big river, and,
as he stood on the bank and looked across, it
seemed to Uncle Wiggily that he could see a big
field of gold on the other side.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I must get over there," he said to himself,
"and I am sure I will find my fortune. But how
am I going to do it? That river is too wide for
me to jump across, and it is too wide for
me to swim. If I only had a boat I would be
all right."</p>
<p class='c009'>The old gentleman rabbit looked around for
a boat, but none was at hand. Then he happened
to think of something that Sammie and
Susie Littletail once did.</p>
<p class='c009'>"That's what I'll do!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily,
"I'll make a raft." So he got some planks
and boards and sticks, and he laid them crossways
one upon the other, and tied them together
with strong pieces of wild grape vine. Then he
<SPAN name='Page_35'></SPAN>had a raft on which he could sit and push himself
across the river, almost as well as if he had
a rowboat.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Now, I'll put my valise on board, and hop
on myself, and away we'll go!" he cried, and he
was very much pleased with the raft that he had
made. Into the water he shoved it, and in the
middle of the raft he placed his valise. Then he
got on, and shoved off, using his crutch for a
pushing pole.</p>
<p class='c009'>Out into the middle of the river went Uncle
Wiggily on the raft, and he was having a fine
sail. Then all at once he felt hungry, so he
stopped pushing the raft, opened his valise and
took out a piece of cherry pie.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, as true as I'm telling you, just as he was
eating it he heard a swirling noise in the water
behind him and a savage voice cried out:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! Now I have you! Give me that piece
of cherry pie or I'll upset the raft and you'll get
all wet!"</p>
<p class='c009'>Uncle Wiggily looked around, and there,
swimming right up to him was a big, snicky-snooky
water rat--a second cousin to the rat that
got into Uncle Wiggily's tent the night before.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Give me that pie!" cried the rat, as she put
her claws on the raft. "Give it to me."</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_36'></SPAN>"No, indeed, I will not," replied Uncle Wiggily,
as politely as one can speak to a rat.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then the bad creature tried to climb up on the
raft, but the rabbit took his crutch and put it
down in the water and pushed along on the bottom
of the river, sending the raft along very
swiftly.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I'll get you yet!" cried the rat, as she
swam on after the raft. Faster and faster she
swam, and faster and faster did Uncle Wiggily
push, until he was all tired out, and he felt sure
he would be caught and carried away by the bad
rat. And then a voice in the air overhead suddenly
cried out:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Take your handkerchief, Uncle Wiggily, and
make a sail out of it. Then the wind will blow
you along so fast that the rat can't catch you.
Make a sail!"</p>
<p class='c009'>And Uncle Wiggily did so. He stuck the
crutch up for a mast on the raft, and then he
fastened his largest red handkerchief to the
crutch. And the wind caught it, and blew upon
that red handkerchief sail and the raft skimmered
over the river so fast that the bad rat was left
far, far behind, and so couldn't catch the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>It was the kind mamma bird who had called to
the rabbit gentleman to tell him what to do.</p>
<p class='c009'>And in a little while Uncle Wiggily was safe
<SPAN name='Page_37'></SPAN>on the other shore and he hopped off the raft and
ran toward the field that looked as if it was filled
with gold.</p>
<p class='c009'>Whether he found any or not, and what happened
to him, I'll tell you on the next page, when
the story will be about Uncle Wiggily in a boat--that
is if our puppy dog doesn't sit down in the fly-paper
and get so stuck up so he can't gnaw a bone
when he goes to the kitten's party.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_38'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY V</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY IN A BOAT</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>When Uncle Wiggily got to the edge of the
yellow golden-colored field after jumping off the
raft, as I told you in the story before this one,
the old gentleman rabbit rubbed his eyes, and
then rubbed them again, for he wasn't quite sure
of what he saw.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why!" he exclaimed, as he put on his spectacles
in order to see better. "I have made quite
a mistake. This isn't a field of gold at all, it is
only a field of golden rod, which is a flower."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ah, if it is golden rod, perhaps if you wait
long enough it will turn into chunks of gold,"
said a little voice down on the ground, and, glancing
there, Uncle Wiggily saw a little ant with a
tiny loaf of bread on her back. "Why don't you
wait for that to happen, Mr. Rabbit?" she asked.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, it would never happen," said Uncle Wiggily.
"This golden rod is a flower, and it will
always remain a flower. I am disappointed once
more about finding my fortune. I thought when
<SPAN name='Page_39'></SPAN>I saw this shining yellow color from my raft,
after I got away from the rat, that I had found
the gold for which I am looking. But, never
mind, this flower is very pretty," and he picked a
bunch of it and smelled of it.</p>
<p class='c009'>And some of the yellow dust of the posy-blossom
got up the rabbit's twinkling nose, and he
sneezed so hard that his glasses fell off. But the
ant kindly picked them up for the old gentleman
though he had to reach over to take them from
her, as she was so small that she hardly came up
to the rabbit's knee.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, I must get home to my little ones,"
said the ant with a loaf of bread. "I hope you
have good luck, Uncle Wiggily."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Thank you very kindly," spoke the rabbit,
and then he put a golden rod flower in his button-hole
and hopped on to look for his fortune.</p>
<p class='c009'>Pretty soon, not so very long, in a little while,
the rabbit came to a nice smooth rock which was
long and slanting, just like a hill down which you
slide on your sleds in the winter time. Only, of
course, there was no snow or ice now, as it was
summer.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! Now if I was a little younger, and
didn't have the rheumatism, I'd slide down that
rock!" exclaimed the rabbit. "I wish Sammie
and Susie Littletail were here, for they would
<SPAN name='Page_40'></SPAN>enjoy this very much. And so would Johnnie
and Billie Bushytail, the squirrel brothers, not to
mention the puppy dogs."</p>
<p class='c009'>Then the rabbit looked at the nice, smooth
rocky slide, and all of a sudden he heard a voice
singing:</p>
<div class='lg-container-l c010'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Lumps of pudding and pieces of pie</div>
<div class='line in1'>My mamma gave me when I was a boy,</div>
<div class='line in1'>And for those things I used to cry--</div>
<div class='line in1'>For lumps of pudding and pieces of pie!"</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p class='c009'>"Hum! I wonder who that can be?" asked
Uncle Wiggily, and then he heard some one laugh
and shout, and a great big boy, about as big as
two barrels of molasses, burst out of the bushes.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why, it's the giant's little boy!" exclaimed
Uncle Wiggily in great surprise.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes, that's who I am!" cried the boy who
was as large as two barrels of molasses, and a can
of condensed milk besides. "How are you,
Uncle Wiggily? Have you found your fortune
yet?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"No," said the rabbit a bit sadly, "I have
not."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Never mind," spoke the giant's little boy,
"come on and have a slide, it's lots of fun," and
with that the big boy threw himself down on the
<SPAN name='Page_41'></SPAN>smooth rock, just as if he were on a sled, and
away he whizzed down the hill as nicely as a cake
of soft soap slips into the bathtub.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I believe I will try it!" exclaimed the old
rabbit gentleman, so, taking a firm hold of his
crutch and valise he sat down on the smooth rock,
and away he whizzed down after the boy who was
as big as two barrels of sweet molasses and an
ice-cream cone also.</p>
<p class='c009'>Faster and faster went the rabbit, and faster
and faster went the giant's little boy, until, all of
a sudden, the boy slipped off the stone and landed
in a big pile of hay, and wasn't hurt at all.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I wonder if that's what will happen to me?"
thought Uncle Wiggily, and he was just looking
to see where he would land, and he was hoping it
would be in a feather bed, when, as quickly as you
can catch an alligator, if ever there's one to catch,
the old gentleman rabbit slid off the rock, and
down he came, plump on top of a big toadstool,
and he wasn't hurt a bit; only sort of jounced up
and down like.</p>
<p class='c009'>"My! That was a fine slide," he said. Then
he looked up and he saw that he was right on the
shore of a little lake, and close at hand was a rowboat
with oars in, and on the boat was a sign
which read:</p>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div><SPAN name='Page_42'></SPAN><span class='large'>"PLEASE TAKE A RIDE IN ME ON</span></div>
<div><span class='large'>THE LAKE."</span></div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>"Ha! That is very polite of some one," said
the rabbit. "I believe I will take a ride in the
boat. And perhaps I may find my fortune in
it."</p>
<p class='c009'>Then he looked more carefully, and he saw
that there was a box in the boat, and on the box
was a sign which read:</p>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div><span class='large'>"PLEASE DO NOT OPEN THIS</span></div>
<div><span class='large'>BOX."</span></div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>"Hum! Perhaps there is gold in there. But
I won't open it to see until some one tells me I
may," thought the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>So he got into the boat, and he stuck the oars
through the oarlocks, which are places made for
them, then he dipped the wide part of the oar
into the water and pulled on the handle part and,
my land sakes, flopsy-dub! Uncle Wiggily was
rowing as nicely as you please.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, he rowed on and on, until he was out in
the middle of the lake, and then, all of a sudden,
he heard a funny noise inside the box. It was a
sort of scratching, growling noise, and before
the rabbit could do anything, the top of the box
<SPAN name='Page_43'></SPAN>flew open and out stepped a little black bear.
Oh, but Uncle Wiggily was frightened!</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ah, ha! Now I have you, just where I want
you, Mr. Rabbit," said the bear. "This is the
last of you. Burr-r-r-r!"</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, Uncle Wiggily was so frightened that
he didn't know what to do, for he surely thought
his end had come. Then he happened to remember
that he had some cherry pie in his valise, and
he knew that bears are very fond of sweet stuff.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I know what I'll do," thought the rabbit.
"I'll give the bear some pie, and when he isn't
looking I'll row toward shore, and perhaps I can
get away from him." So he quickly opened his
satchel, took out the pie and gave it to the bear
most politely.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! this is very good," said the bear in a
grillery, growlery voice, as he took the pie. "I
will eat this first and afterward I'll attend to
your case!"</p>
<p class='c009'>And when the bear was eating the pie, and
licking the sweet, red juice off his clawy paws,
Uncle Wiggily rowed toward shore. But he
wasn't yet quite near enough to jump out of the
boat, so he gave the bear another piece of pie
and rowed a little closer to shore.</p>
<p class='c009'>The bear was so interested in eating the cherries
from the pie, and sucking the juice off his
<SPAN name='Page_44'></SPAN>paws, that he never noticed what was going on.
But finally he glanced up, and when he saw how
near the shore the rabbit had rowed the boat the
bear cried:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ah! ha! So that's your trick, eh? Well, I'll
scratch you, anyhow."</p>
<p class='c009'>And with that he made a spring for the rabbit,
but Uncle Wiggily was too quick for him. Grabbing
up his crutch and valise, the rabbit jumped
out of the boat and landed on shore, and then the
wind suddenly sprang up and blew the boat and
bear in it out into the middle of the lake, and
Uncle Wiggily was safe, I'm glad to say, for the
bear couldn't swim to shore that day on account
of having no bathing suit.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then, hopping on, Uncle Wiggily looked all
over for his fortune. But he did not find it right
away. And he had another adventure soon.
What it was I'll tell you almost immediately,
which is very soon, when in case the pink cow
doesn't eat the chocolate pudding from off the
back stoop where the cook sets it to cool, the next
story will be about Uncle Wiggily at the seashore.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_45'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY VI</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AT THE SEASHORE</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>One morning Uncle Wiggily was hopping
along a dusty road. It was the day after he had
gotten away from the bad black bear in the boat,
and the old gentleman rabbit was thinking of
what great danger he had been in.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I must certainly be more careful," he
thought, "and not get in every boat I see. Why,
just think of it! If that bear had eaten me up
I couldn't search for my fortune any more," and
this so frightened Uncle Wiggily that he looked
all around and behind the bushes, fearing the
bear might, after all, have come ashore and be
chasing after him.</p>
<p class='c009'>But no bear was there, for he had fallen out of
the boat and caught cold and had gone to bed,
after drinking some hot honey lemonade. The
old gentleman rabbit felt better, when he saw
there was no bear, but it was so hot that he was
thirsty, so he looked for a place to get a drink.
Pretty soon he saw a nice, cold spring, and he
<SPAN name='Page_46'></SPAN>took three drinks of water and part of another
one.</p>
<p class='c009'>And just as the rabbit was drinking the last
drop of water he heard a funny noise out in the
road, and, looking up, he saw a whole lot of children
going past. Some of them were barefooted,
and some had little tin pails and shovels in their
hands, and some had red balloons and some blue
or green ones. Some of the children had on bathing
suits and a few had their little dresses tucked
up as far as they could go, and they were dancing
along on their slim white legs, as happy as
happy could be.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why, this certainly is very strange," thought
the rabbit. "I wonder where they can all be
going? Perhaps it is to a circus parade. I must
go see, for I might meet my friend the elephant
there. Oh, this will be some fun! Is it a circus
parade?" he called aloud.</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, it isn't a circus parade," said a voice at
Uncle Wiggily's side, and, looking down, the old
gentleman rabbit saw the kind grasshopper who
had once given him some molasses.</p>
<p class='c009'>"If it isn't a circus parade, what is it?" asked
the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"These children are going to the seashore to
bathe and paddle in the salty ocean waves," went
on the grasshopper, "and some of them will
<SPAN name='Page_47'></SPAN>build sand houses, or dig wells for the water to
fill up. Why don't you go, Uncle Wiggily?
Perhaps you may find your fortune there."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I believe I will," said the rabbit. "Won't
you come along?" Well, the grasshopper said
he would, so off they hopped together, the hoppergrass--I
beg your pardon,--I mean the
grasshopper--and the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>Pretty soon they heard the noise of the waves
pounding on the sandy shores, and they could
smell the salt breeze and it made them hungry for
clam chowder and lobsters and crabs and things
like that. Then they saw ever so many more
children running along and in a little while they
were at the seashore.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, now to look for my fortune," said the
rabbit, as he watched the waves rush up on the
sand with a big noise and lots of foam, and then
they would tumble out to the sea again. "How
do you think I had better go about it, Mr. Grasshopper?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"If I were you I would dig in the sand," said
the grasshopper. "Sometimes men, who were
called pirates, used to bury gold in the sand, and
perhaps there is some of their money left. You
dig and I will watch you."</p>
<p class='c009'>"But I have nothing with which to dig," said
the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_48'></SPAN>"Oh, you may take my shovel," said a little
girl with her dress tucked up high so that it
would not get wet. "I am going in wading, so
I won't need it."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Thank you kindly," said the rabbit gentleman
to the little girl, and then she went in wading,
and a wave splashed up all over her, no matter
if her dress was above her knees, and her
mamma called to her to be more careful, and not
to get so wet.</p>
<p class='c009'>So Uncle Wiggily began to dig. Deeper and
deeper he dug in the sand, while the grasshopper
watched him. And every few minutes Uncle
Wiggily would look down the hole to see if there
was any gold among the grains of sand, but
there wasn't any.</p>
<p class='c009'>All around were children having lots of fun.
One boy made a tunnel, and then he played that
some sticks of wood were steam cars and he
pushed them through the tunnel and puffed out
his cheeks to pretend it was the engine choo-chooing.</p>
<p class='c009'>And a little girl made a garden in the sand,
with seaweed for flowers and clam-shells for a
house, and she and another little girl had a play-party.
Oh, it was great fun!</p>
<p class='c009'>Then a big boy stretched out on the sand, and
another boy covered him all up, from the tips of
<SPAN name='Page_49'></SPAN>his toes to the tips of his nose, and he left his nose
out so the boy could breathe. Well, the grasshopper
and Uncle Wiggily looked at all this fun
going on and they were happy as they could be.
And the rabbit kept on digging the hole down in
the sand, hoping he would soon come to the gold.</p>
<p class='c009'>And then all of a sudden, before you could
count up to forty-'leven, the hole which Uncle
Wiggily was digging filled up with water, just
like a well.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, my!" exclaimed the rabbit. "This is
certainly bad luck. Now I can't find any gold.
What am I to do?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I guess you'll have to dig another hole," said
the grasshopper. "But perhaps there is gold at
the bottom of this one, after all. Let's get a pail
and dip out the water, then we may see the gold."</p>
<p class='c009'>So the little girl who had loaned the rabbit her
shovel let Uncle Wiggily take her pail to dip out
the water. But the funny part of it was that the
faster he dipped out the water the more came in,
until there was enough for two wells. Then
even the grasshopper helped dip out the water
with another little pail, but it did no good.</p>
<p class='c009'>The rabbit and the grasshopper were both so
interested in what they were doing that they
didn't notice a big crab crawling up behind them,
<SPAN name='Page_50'></SPAN>and the first thing they knew Uncle Wiggily felt
some one pinch him on his little short tail.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! What is that?" he cried, turning
around quickly, and then he saw the crab, with
its big blue claws pinching him.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ouch! Oh, my!" cried the rabbit. "Whatever
shall I do?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'll help pull him off!" shouted the grasshopper,
but he was not strong enough, and the
crawly crab still clung to the rabbit's tail.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why are you pinching me?" asked the rabbit,
as he tried to reach around and pull off the
crab, only he found he could not do it.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I am pinching you because you dug a hole
down in my sandy beach," said the crab, "and
I'm going to hold on to you until you give me a
thousand pieces of cheese for my supper."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I can never get that many!" cried the
rabbit. "Will no one help me get away from
this crab?" But all the children had run home
to dinner and there was no one to help the rabbit,
until all of a sudden, a big wave washed up, and
almost covered Uncle Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'>He could just manage to breathe, and he
sprang up on the beach to get beyond the water,
and the grasshopper hopped out of the way also.
But the wave was a good one after all, for as
soon as the crab felt the water sloshing up around
<SPAN name='Page_51'></SPAN>him he let go of the rabbit's tail to swim away,
and that's how Uncle Wiggily was saved from
the crab, even if he didn't find any gold, and he
was very glad his tail wasn't pinched off.</p>
<p class='c009'>The old gentleman rabbit remained at the seashore
for several days, and he had many adventures.
And, in case I find a peanut shell with a
red popcorn ball inside of it, the next bedtime
story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the big
lobster.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_52'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY VII</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LOBSTER</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>"Where are you going to stay to-night, Uncle
Wiggily?" asked the grasshopper of the old
gentleman rabbit, after the wave had rolled up
and washed away the crab that had hold of the
bunny's tail, I told you about last, you remember.
"Are you going to stay at the seashore?"
asked the grasshopper, as he looked at his left
hind leg and blinked his two eyes, sort of thoughtful-like.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, yes, I like it here very much," said Uncle
Wiggily, "and I'm going to stay, but as true as
I live I don't know where I can sleep to-night."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Couldn't you build a sand house, such as we
see the children making?" asked the grasshopper.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, no, for in the night it might fall down
on me, and the sand would get in my ears. Or a
big wave might roll up on the shore and wash
me out to sea. Oh, dear, isn't it a puzzle what
to do when you are seeking your fortune?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, don't feel so badly over it," begged the
<SPAN name='Page_53'></SPAN>grasshopper. "We will look around and see
what we can find."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Where are you going to stay, Mr. Grasshopper?"
asked the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Who, me? Oh, I am going to crawl under a
leaf and sing myself to sleep as I always do; but
for you, a leaf is hardly large enough."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Not unless it was a palm-leaf fan," spoke
the old gentleman rabbit. "But come on, we
will look around."</p>
<p class='c009'>So they hopped up and down the beach where
the ocean waves were rolling along with a booming
noise. All the children had gone in by this
time, as it was getting dark and rather lonesome.
Uncle Wiggily and the grasshopper looked, and
they looked, and they looked still more, but they
could find no place for the rabbit to stay. At
last the old gentleman rabbit said:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, Mr. Grasshopper, you had better get
along and look for the leaf under which you are
going to sleep, or else it will get so dark that you
can't find your way."</p>
<p class='c009'>"But what will you do, Uncle Wiggily? I
don't like to leave you all alone."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, if it comes to the worst I can sleep out
here on the sands, but I don't like to do it, as the
dampness will make my rheumatism worse. But
it can't be helped."</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_54'></SPAN>Well, the grasshopper didn't want to go away
and leave his friend, the rabbit, all alone, but
Uncle Wiggily finally persuaded him that it
would be best, so the little creature hopped
off and found a nice leaf. Then he curled up on
the underside of it, where, in case it rained, he
would not get wet, and he sang himself to sleep.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, now, I must tell you what happened to
Uncle Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'>At first he was quite lonesome, as he walked
along the beach looking for a place to sleep, but
then he looked up at the stars shining in the sky
above him, and he saw the moon just coming up
from behind the clouds, and it was shining on the
ocean waves, making them look like silver, and
it wasn't quite so dark then.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I guess I will be all right," said Uncle Wiggily,
bravely. "I'm not going to be afraid, for
I don't believe the alligator, or fox, or bear, will
come here. But I do wish I had some place
where I could go in out of the dampness."</p>
<p class='c009'>Then he suddenly thought of something.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I know what I'll do!" he exclaimed, as he
came to a pile of driftwood on the beach. "I'll
make me a house of this wood, and put some seaweed
on top for the roof, and in that I'll sleep
as nicely as if I were at home."</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, it didn't take Uncle Wiggily long to do
<SPAN name='Page_55'></SPAN>this, and soon he had built as fine a little wood-and-seaweed
house as heart could wish. Then
he crawled inside with his crutch and his valise,
and ate a small piece of cherry pie, and stretched
out on some soft seaweed for his bed. In a little
while he was fast, fast asleep.</p>
<p class='c009'>Ha! But what is this funny animal crawling
up along the sand with his big claws like a pair
of shears which the tinsmith or the plumber uses?
Eh? What's that? Why, as true as I live it's a
big lobster that crawled up out of the ocean to
see what he could find to eat.</p>
<p class='c009'>Oh, Uncle Wiggily had better look out now, I
tell you; hadn't he? But the poor old gentleman
rabbit is still fast asleep.</p>
<p class='c009'>The big lobster stuck out his bulgy eyes, and
he moved them this way and that way, and he
even looked over his shoulder with them, and then
he saw the little house which the rabbit had made.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! I must see what is in that!" the lobster
exclaimed and he crawled toward it. "Perhaps
it is something good to eat, and I am very hungry,"
he said.</p>
<p class='c009'>So the lobster looked in through the little window
which Uncle Wiggily had made, and he saw
the rabbit fast asleep.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, ho! Now for a good meal!" cried the
lobster. Then he took one big claw and he softly
<SPAN name='Page_56'></SPAN>pulled away some of the boards which Uncle
Wiggily had used to make his house. That left
a hole, and through this hole the lobster stuck
his other claw, and he caught hold of the rabbit
by his two ears.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh! who has me? Who is it? What are you
doing? Oh, my poor ears! Let go! Please let
go!"</p>
<p class='c009'>That is how Uncle Wiggily cried as he suddenly
awakened.</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, I will not!" exclaimed the lobster in a
sort of a boiled-egg voice. "I'm going to crawl
off with you to the bottom of the ocean!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Then this is the last of me and my fortune,"
thought the rabbit. "I might as well say
good-by."</p>
<p class='c009'>So the lobster pulled the rabbit right out of the
wood-and-seaweed house, holding him by the two
long ears, and he started down the sandy beach
with him toward the rolling, tumbling ocean.
Uncle Wiggily tried to get away, but he couldn't.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, if you'll believe me, the big lobster nearly
had the rabbit in the rolling, tumbling waves of
the surf, when suddenly a flashing lantern showed
glimmeringly over the sand, and a voice exclaimed:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Shiver my timbers! If the big lobster hasn't
caught a rabbit. Oh, ho! And he's trying to
<SPAN name='Page_57'></SPAN>drown him. That will never do. I will save
him. Yo ho! Heave ho!"</p>
<p class='c009'>Uncle Wiggily looked up and he saw a big,
brown, life-saving man, who was out taking a
walk along the beach with a lantern to see if anybody
needed to be saved. And before that lobster
could drag the rabbit into the water that life
guard just reached over and took the lobster up
by his back, where the crawly creature couldn't
pinch, and the lobster was so frightened that he
let go of Uncle Wiggily's ears at once.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Now, hop away, Mr. Rabbit," said the life
guard, kindly, and you may be sure that Uncle
Wiggily didn't waste any time hopping. "I'll
attend to this lobster," went on the big, brown
man, and then the rabbit hopped back to his
wood-and-seaweed house, where he slept in peace
and quietness the rest of the night. And, as for
the lobster, the man put him in a pot and
boiled him until he was as red as your coral necklace,
or your pink necktie, and that was the end
of the lobster.</p>
<p class='c009'>So that's all to this story, if you please, but in
case the clothes-wringer doesn't squeeze all the
rice out of the ice-cream pudding, I'll tell you
next about Uncle Wiggily and the little clam.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_58'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY VIII</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CLAM</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>Uncle Wiggily awakened in his wood-and-seaweed
house in the morning, and he rubbed his
sleepy eyes with his paws. Then he got up off
his seaweed bed and as he heard a noise he exclaimed:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! That sounds like thunder. I wonder
if we are going to have a storm?" And, truly,
there was quite a booming and rumbling racket
outside. Then the rabbit laughed at himself.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why, how silly of me!" he exclaimed.
"That is the waves pounding on the beach. I
forgot that I was at the seashore. Now I must
look out and see if there are any more lobsters
waiting to catch me."</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, he was just peering out of the window,
when there came a knock on the door, and Uncle
Wiggily jumped back.</p>
<p class='c009'>"My sakes alive and some baked beans!" he
cried. "What's that?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"It is only I," said a small voice. "I'm your
friend, the grasshopper. How are you?"</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_59'></SPAN>"Oh, I'm very well, thank you," replied the
rabbit. "I'm coming right out. I must tell you
about the terrible time I had with the big lobster
last night."</p>
<p class='c009'>So Uncle Wiggily hopped out of the little
house and told the grasshopper all about it, and
the grasshopper was so frightened that he kept
looking behind him all the while, for fear the
lobster might be coming after him. But we all
know what happened to that lobster; don't we?</p>
<p class='c009'>"What are you going to do now?" asked the
grasshopper after a while, when Uncle Wiggily
was washing his face and paws, and combing out
his whiskers, which had some seaweed in them.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I am going to look for my fortune to-day,"
answered the rabbit. "I may find it, for I
have heard that often very valuable things are
cast up on the seashore by the waves. Yes, I
think I shall find my fortune to-day. But won't
you have some breakfast, Mr. Grasshopper? I
have some cherry pie left, and a few lettuce and
carrot sandwiches with parsley trimmings."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I might have a bit of parsley," spoke the
jumping insect, and he ate quite a bit of it,
while the rabbit ate the other things. Then they
both hopped along the beach, looking for a fortune
of gold or diamonds for the old gentleman
rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_60'></SPAN>And, just as on the other day, there were children
playing in the sand, making little wells of
water, and tunnels, and sandhouses, and gardens,
and castles and all things like that. But there
was no chest of gold, nor bag of diamonds, to be
seen, though the two friends looked in every
place they could think of, and in some other
places, too.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I don't believe the seashore is a very good
place to find your fortune," said the rabbit, sadly,
as he hopped along. And then he had to stop
to take some sand out of his left ear.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Perhaps if we ask some of the children they
may be able to help us," suggested the grasshopper.
Well, they did this, but, though the children
were very kind, they hadn't seen any gold
or diamonds, either.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Then we'll ask some of the clams or starfish
on the beach," said the grasshopper, but the
clams or starfish hadn't seen anything of the
rabbit's fortune, though they were very polite
about it.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I know what let's do," exclaimed the
grasshopper.</p>
<p class='c009'>"What?" asked Uncle Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'>"We'll go in bathing," went on the jumping
insect, "and that will cool us off, and perhaps
<SPAN name='Page_61'></SPAN>down under the water we may find your fortune."</p>
<p class='c009'>"The very thing," cried Uncle Wiggily; "in
bathing we shall go."</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, the old gentleman rabbit could swim a
little bit, you know, and the grasshopper could
float on his back as nicely as a fat man can, and
together they had a very good time. It was so
warm that the water didn't make Uncle Wiggily's
rheumatism any worse, I'm glad to say.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then, after a bit, the grasshopper said he
thought he'd take a little hop on the sand to dry
off, and that left Uncle Wiggily alone in the
water. And now comes the second part of the
story.</p>
<p class='c009'>The old gentleman rabbit was swimming
slowly along, looking down under the waves
every once in a while to see if there was any gold
on the sand beneath, when, all of a sudden, he
felt something grab hold of his left hind leg.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, my! I wonder if that's the bad lobster
again?" cried the rabbit, and then he saw a
most curious fish, called the toggle-taggle, and
this fish had hold of him.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, please let go of me!" cried the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, indeed, I will not," said the toggle-taggle,
speaking under water, and making a lot of
bubbles come up from his breath. "I am going
<SPAN name='Page_62'></SPAN>to drag you off to my den beneath the rocks."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, don't be so cruel!" begged the rabbit.
"If you do that I can never find my fortune, and
I never can go back and see Sammie and Susie
Littletail again."</p>
<p class='c009'>"That makes no difference to me at all," said
the toggle-taggle, speaking in a thin, watery sort
of voice, "no matter of difference at all. Here
we go!" and he started to drag poor Uncle
Wiggily to the bottom of the ocean, under the
rocks.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! I guess I'm not going as easily as
that!" cried the rabbit, and at once he began to
swim as hard as he could toward land, and Uncle
Wiggily could swim pretty well when he tried,
let me tell you. This time he swam so hard that
he pulled the toggle-taggle fish along with him,
and in a second or two Uncle Wiggily was out on
the sand, but the toggle-taggle still had hold of
him.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Dry land or water is all the same to me!"
cried the odd fish, and then the rabbit saw that
the toggle-taggle had legs, as well as fins and
a tail, and so he could walk on dry land. "Now
you come with me!" cried the bad fish, and he
braced with his legs in the sand and was pulling
the rabbit back into the water again.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, will no one help me?" cried Uncle Wiggily,
<SPAN name='Page_63'></SPAN>for he was getting weak. And just then a
little voice whispered:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Turn him around, Uncle Wiggily, so I can
get hold of his tail. Then I'll pinch him and
make him let go of you."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Uncle Wiggily looked, and there was a nice
little clam on the sand behind the toggle-taggle,
and the clam had his two shells wide open, ready
to pinch the bad fish. Well, the rabbit at once began
to push the toggle-taggle toward the clam,
and the fish didn't know what this meant. But
before he could say anything, his tail came right
close to the clam's open shells, and in an instant
that brave clam shut his sharp shells down
very hard on the tail of the bad toggle-taggle
and held on tight.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, who has me?" cried the fish, and he
turned around to see what it was, and with that
of course he let go of the rabbit. And then
Uncle Wiggily gave a big hop and got safely
away. And when the toggle-taggle saw the
clam he was so frightened (for he knew that he
couldn't bite through the hard shells) that the
bad fish at once jumped back into the ocean,
taking the brave little clam with him. But the
clam didn't mind that--in fact, it was just
where he wanted to go--so everything was all
right.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_64'></SPAN>"My! That clam saved my life, and I didn't
get a chance to thank him!" said Uncle Wiggily,
somewhat sadly, as he sat away up on the
beach. "But I will the next time I see him."
Then the grasshopper came back, and had to
hear all about what had happened.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then he and Uncle Wiggily went on looking
for the fortune, and they had some more adventures
before they found it.</p>
<p class='c009'>So in the next story, if the doorknob doesn't
drop off and fall into the boiled eggs, making
a big white and yellow splash, I'll tell you about
Uncle Wiggily and the starfish.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_65'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY IX</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE STARFISH</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>Let me see, where did we leave off? Oh, I remember,
it was where the red monkey jumped
up on the elephant's back and tickled him with
an ice-cream cone, wasn't it? No, I beg your
pardon, I'm wrong. I promised to tell you
about the old gentleman rabbit and the starfish.
So if you're all ready, and are sitting comfortably,
I'll begin.</p>
<p class='c009'>It was the day after Uncle Wiggily had gotten
away from the toggle-taggle fish that
walked, and the little clam had pinched the bad
creature on his tail. Uncle Wiggily was hopping
along the sand at the seashore beach, and
he was looking all around for his fortune of gold
or diamonds, he didn't care much which it was,
so long as he got rich and could go back home.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I wonder what has happened to the grasshopper?"
said the rabbit, for he hadn't seen the
jumping insect that morning.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_66'></SPAN>"Here I am," exclaimed the little chap, and
with a hop he landed down beside Uncle Wiggily
on the sand.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Where have you been?" asked the rabbit.
"I was beginning to think that you had left
me."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Not yet, but I am going to soon," replied
the grasshopper. "You see, there is going to
be a big jumping race back where I live and
the hopper who jumps the farthest will get a
bag of popcorn. And, as I think I will go back
home to jump, I came to say good-by. Afterward,
I will come here again and help you to
look for your fortune."</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, Uncle Wiggily felt a little sad to have
his friend, the hoppergrass, go away, but there
was no help for it. So they shook legs with each
other, the grasshopper gave a big spring and a
jump and away over the sea he sailed to take
part in the hopping races at his home.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, now, I wonder what will happen to
me to-day?" thought Uncle Wiggily as he
walked along the beach, looked down at the sand
and listened to the waves washing up on the
shore. "Perhaps I may find a bag of diamonds,"
he said.</p>
<p class='c009'>And just then, if you'll believe me, he looked
ahead and there, on the sand, was something
<SPAN name='Page_67'></SPAN>that looked like a black bag, with a long, thin
handle on it with which to carry it.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, ho!" exclaimed the rabbit, "I believe
that is my fortune." He hopped forward, intending
to pick it up, when, all of a sudden, the
thing like a bag moved slowly along.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Hum! That's queer," said the rabbit, "I
never heard of a bag that could move. I must
see what this is." So he went up a little closer
and he saw that it wasn't a bag at all. It was
a queer creature with a long sharp tail like an
ice pick, or a black lead pencil, and it was crawling
along, but the funny part of it was that
Uncle Wiggily couldn't see any legs on which
the animal walked.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Stranger and still more strange!" exclaimed
Uncle Wiggily; "what can that be?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"If you please, I am a horseshoe crab," said
a voice from under the black shell, "and if you
lift me up you can see my legs."</p>
<p class='c009'>"How shall I lift you up, Mr. Horseshoe
Crab?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"By my long tail, like an ice pick," was the
answer, and when the rabbit did this, underneath
a shell that was shaped somewhat like the hoof
of a horse, he saw the legs of the crab. They
were all covered up when the crab walked, so no
one could step on his toes.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_68'></SPAN>"That is very fine," said the rabbit. "Perhaps
you can tell me where to find my fortune."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'm sorry, but I can't," said the horseshoe
crab, and then he crawled on again, very slowly,
and Uncle Wiggily hopped forward looking for
the bag of diamonds, or gold.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, in a little while it got quite warm on the
sandy beach, and the old gentleman rabbit felt
sleepy. He yawned and he twinkled his nose
like two stars on a frosty night, and then he said:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, me! Oh, my! I think I'll lie down and
take a little nap on the sands." So he took some
sticks and stuck them up in the beach, and over
them he put some seaweed to make a shady
shelter, and down under this he stretched himself
out, very nice and comfortable.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, the first thing you know Uncle Wiggily
was fast asleep. And now listen and see what
happened to him. All of a sudden, up from the
ocean, on her thin, kinky legs came a big sea
spider, a creature something like a crab. She
shot forward her big, bulgy eyes, and she saw the
rabbit under the seaweed shelter.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ah, ha!" cried the sea spider to herself,
"here is where I have a good rabbit dinner."</p>
<p class='c009'>Slowly and softly she went on until she was
quite close to the old gentleman rabbit, and
Uncle Wiggily never awakened. Then the sea
<SPAN name='Page_69'></SPAN>spider began to weave a web around the rabbit,
just as a land spider weaves a web around a fly
that gets into her trap. Strand after strand of
the cobwebs did the sea spider throw around the
sleeping rabbit, until Uncle Wiggily was as
tightly fast as if he had been tied with ropes.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Now, I'll bite him and that will be the end
of him," said the sea spider, and she was just
going to do this when, all of a sudden, some of
the cobweb blew down and tickled Uncle Wiggily
on the end of his twinkling nose, and he
woke up.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! What's this?" he exclaimed, and then
he found that he could not move, for he was fast
in the web. "What does this mean?" he asked.</p>
<p class='c009'>"It means that I have you!" cried the sea
spider, wiggling her legs like a trolley car.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, please let me go," begged the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Never! Never! Never!" exclaimed the
spider. Then Uncle Wiggily tried, and he tried,
and he tried again, but he couldn't get loose
from the web.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, will no one help me?" cried the rabbit.
And just then, if you'll believe me, the waves
washed something up on the sand, close to where
the sea spider had Uncle Wiggily fast. And
that something was a curious little fish, shaped
like a star. In fact, it was a starfish with five
<SPAN name='Page_70'></SPAN>sharp points to it. And that starfish heard
Uncle Wiggily calling.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'll help you, Mr. Rabbit!" kindly exclaimed
the fish.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Now, you get right away from here," cried
the sea spider, for well she knew that the sharp-pointed
starfish could cut her cobweb in a second.
"Keep away or I'll bite you!" the spider said.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, you can't scare me!" shouted the starfish.
"I'm not afraid of you, and I'm going to
help Uncle Wiggily." So the starfish began to
roll over and over on the sand like a pinwheel,
a hoop, or a wheel that has no rim, and only
spokes to it. Bumpity-bump on its five points
went the starfish, until it was close to Uncle
Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then right into the sea spider's cobweb rolled
the sharp-pointed starfish until, with his points,
he had cut the web all to pieces and set Uncle
Wiggily free, as easily as you can eat bread and
jam on Saturday afternoon.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Now you get away from here!" cried the
starfish to the spider, and he threw sand at her
until the crawly creature was glad enough to go
back into the ocean where she belonged. And
the old gentleman rabbit thanked the fish very
much, and gave him a piece of lemon pie, because
he was all out of the cherry kind.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_71'></SPAN>"Now, I must hurry on to seek my fortune,"
said Uncle Wiggily, for the day was cooler now.
So on he hopped, and he had another adventure.</p>
<p class='c009'>In case the dishpan doesn't fall down off the
nail, and smash the watermelon all to pieces, so
there's no supper for the little mouse who lives
under the ice-box, I'll tell you next about Uncle
Wiggily and the slippery eel.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_72'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY X</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE EEL</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>My, how it did rain! The water just dripped
down from the clouds as if it came from a fountain
turned wrong side up, and as Uncle Wiggily
walked along the seashore beach, with a
toadstool held over him for an umbrella he
thought he had never seen such a storm.</p>
<p class='c009'>"But, I can't stay indoors, because it rains,"
he said to himself as he started out that morning
to look for his fortune. "That would never do.
A little water can't hurt me, and besides, with
this toadstool umbrella, it isn't as bad as it might
be."</p>
<p class='c009'>So he hopped along, leaning on his red-white-and-blue-striped-barber-pole crutch, and with
his valise strapped to his back, and holding the
toadstool umbrella over his head. And he felt
so happy in spite of the rain that he sang a little
song.</p>
<div class='figcenter id001'>
<ANTIMG src='images/p072.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
<div class='ic002'>
<p>Uncle Wiggily and the Eel</p>
</div>
</div>
<p class='c009'>It went something like this, to the tune of
"Hum tum-tum ti tiddle-i-um:"</p>
<div class='lg-container-l c010'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><SPAN name='Page_74'></SPAN>"I feel so very happy,</div>
<div class='line in4'>No matter if it rains,</div>
<div class='line'>For I don't ride on trolley cars,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Nor yet on railroad trains.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Whenever I feel thirsty,</div>
<div class='line in4'>I take a drink of tea,</div>
<div class='line'>Or, if I can't find any,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Why, milk will do for me.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"I haven't found my fortune,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Perhaps I never can,</div>
<div class='line'>But I can hop upon the beach,</div>
<div class='line in4'>And beat an old tin pan."</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p class='c009'>And just then the gentleman rabbit saw an
old tin pan lying on the sand, and he went up to
it and pounded on it with his crutch. Not hard
you understand--not so hard as to hurt it, but
enough to make a noise like a drum.</p>
<p class='c009'>"There, perhaps that will wake the people
up," thought the rabbit for the beach was very
lonesome in the rainstorm, with no children building
sand houses, and no one in bathing. So
Uncle Wiggily beat the tin pan again, and made
a great racket, and, all of a sudden something
glided out from under the pan. It was something
long and thin, and it had a long, thin tail.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_75'></SPAN>"Oh, my! It's the bad snake!" cried the rabbit,
and he jumped back so quickly that he
dropped his toadstool umbrella and the rain
came down on the end of his twinkling nose.
He was just about to hop away as fast as he
could when the long, thin creature, who had been
under the tin pan, exclaimed:</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'm not a snake."</p>
<p class='c009'>"No? Then pray tell what you are?" asked
Uncle Wiggily quickly.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I am a slippery eel," was the answer. "Just
see if you can hold me, and that will show you
how slippery I am."</p>
<p class='c009'>So Uncle Wiggily very politely took hold of
the eel by the tail. But, my goodness me, sakes
alive and a piece of ice! In an instant that slippery
eel had slipped away.</p>
<p class='c009'>"What did I tell you?" the eel called to the
rabbit, as he crawled back toward the tin.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, you are certainly very slippery," said
Uncle Wiggily. "I hope I didn't squeeze you
too hard."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, pray do not mention it," said the eel,
politely. "I am used to being squeezed, and
that's why I'm so slippery; in order that I may
get away easily."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I hope I didn't wake you up from your sleep
<SPAN name='Page_76'></SPAN>under the tin pan," went on the rabbit, who was
very kind-hearted.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Pray do not mention that, either," said the
slippery eel, who was very polite. "It was time
I awakened, anyhow. But, since you have been
so nice about it, if ever I can do you a favor
please let me know." Then he stood up on the
end of his thin tail and made a low bow, and
slipped into the ocean.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! That is a curious sort of chap," said
Uncle Wiggily as he hopped on. "I should like
to meet him again, when I have more time to
talk to him. But now I must look for my fortune."
So he went on looking along the beach
in the rain, but never a bit of his fortune could
he find.</p>
<p class='c009'>Now, in a little while, something is going to
happen. In fact it's time for it now, so I'll tell
you all about it. As Uncle Wiggily was hopping
along the beach, where some bushes grew
close down to the water, he thought he saw something
shining in the sand.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Perhaps that may be a diamond," he said.
"I'll dig it up." So he got a nice pink shell with
which to dig, and he set to work, laying aside
his toadstool umbrella, and not minding the rain
in the least.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then, all of a sudden, up behind the bushes
<SPAN name='Page_77'></SPAN>came sneaking the old fuzzy fox. He had been
looking all over for something to eat, but all he
could find were hard shell clams, and they were
too rough on his teeth, so he couldn't eat them.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, but there is a soft, delicious morsel!" exclaimed
the fox, as he saw Uncle Wiggily digging
in the sand, and the fox smacked his lips,
and sharpened his teeth on a stone. "Now I
will have a good dinner," he added.</p>
<p class='c009'>So he crept closer and closer to Uncle Wiggily,
and the old gentleman rabbit never heard
him, for he was busy digging for his fortune.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Now the thing for me to do," thought the
fox, "is to spring out on him before he has a
chance to move. And I think I can do it, because
his back is toward me, and he can't see."</p>
<p class='c009'>So the fox got ready to spring right on Uncle
Wiggily and maybe carry him off to his den in
the woods, and the old gentleman rabbit didn't
know a thing about it, but kept on digging for
his fortune.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Here I go!" said the fox to himself, and he
crouched down for a spring, just as your kittie
does when she plays she is after a mouse. Up
into the air leaped the fox, right toward the rabbit.
And then, suddenly a voice cried:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Look out, Uncle Wiggily! Look out!"</p>
<p class='c009'>The rabbit glanced up, but he was down in the
<SPAN name='Page_78'></SPAN>sand hole and he couldn't get out quickly on account
of his rheumatism. Right toward him the
fox was springing, and then, all at once, the slippery
eel--for it was he who had called to the
rabbit--the kind eel wiggled up out of the ocean.
Up along the beach he crawled quickly, until
he was right in front of the rabbit in the hole.
Then the eel stretched out like a piece of rope
and waited.</p>
<p class='c009'>And then the fox came down on his four feet,
but, instead of landing on Uncle Wiggily he
landed right on the slippery eel, and that eel was
truly as slippery as a piece of ice. Right out
from under him slipped the feet of the old fuzzy
fox, and down he fell. Slippery, sloppery, slappery
he went, sliding along on the eel until he
slid all the way off and plumped into the ocean,
where he was nearly drowned, for the water got
in his nose and mouth and eyes.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Now, you can get away, Uncle Wiggily,"
said the eel, and the rabbit kindly thanked the
slippery creature, and grabbed up the shining
thing he had dug out of the sand, for he thought
it was a diamond. Then the fox slunk away,
taking his wet and bushy tail with him, and Uncle
Wiggily was safe for that time, anyhow, and the
eel wiggled along after the old gentleman rabbit,
<SPAN name='Page_79'></SPAN>who thought he had better look for a good
place to sleep.</p>
<p class='c009'>But he soon had another adventure, and I'll
tell you what it was on the next page, when, in
case the parlor lamp doesn't go out to a moving
picture show and melt all the ice in the gas stove,
the bedtime story will be about Uncle Wiggily
and the horseshoe crab.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_80'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XI</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CRAB</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>"My, that was a narrow escape!" said the rabbit
to the slippery eel, after the fuzzy fox had
gone away, as I told you in the last story. "I
never can thank you enough."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, that is a mere nothing!" said the slippery
eel, as he dug his tail down in the sand,
modest-like. "I am always happy to do a kindness
for my friends."</p>
<p class='c009'>"You are certainly slippery," said the rabbit,
"as slippery as a rubber doormat on a wet
day. But look at this thing which I dug up just
before the fox jumped for me. I think it is
a diamond, and if it is, I will get rich, and I can
go home and see my little rabbit grandchildren,
Sammie and Susie Littletail." Then he held out
to the slippery eel the shining object he had
found in the sand.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Alas! Alas!" sorrowfully exclaimed the
eel, as he looked at the shining thing.</p>
<p class='c009'>"What's the matter; isn't it a diamond?"
asked the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_81'></SPAN>Then the slippery eel said this in a sing-song
voice:</p>
<div class='lg-container-l c010'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Alas, alas,</div>
<div class='line in1'>'Tis only glass.</div>
<div class='line in1'>It is no good</div>
<div class='line in1'>To eat for food.</div>
<div class='line in1'>It will not do</div>
<div class='line in1'>For me or you.</div>
<div class='line in1'>Throw it away;</div>
<div class='line in1'>Some other day</div>
<div class='line in1'>Your fortune may</div>
<div class='line in1'>Come past your way."</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p class='c009'>"Ha, I did not know you could make up
verses," said the rabbit in surprise.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I didn't know it, either," answered the eel.
"That is the first time I have ever done such a
thing," and once more he dug his tail down into
the sand, real modest-like and shy.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, if that is only glass, instead of a diamond,
I may as well throw it away," said the
rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes," agreed the eel, and with a flip of his
tail he sent the glass spinning out into the heaving
ocean.</p>
<p class='c009'>"More bad luck for me," thought the rabbit,
but he did not give up, and, bidding good-by to
<SPAN name='Page_82'></SPAN>the slippery eel the rabbit set off down the beach
to look for his fortune once more.</p>
<p class='c009'>By this time it had stopped raining and he
didn't need the toadstool umbrella, so he stuck it
up in the sand in order that the next person who
came along might sit under it and get out of the
sun.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, Uncle Wiggily went on and on. He
saw the children in bathing, and building sand houses,
and he saw the fishermen going out to
sea to catch fishes and lobsters, but still he
couldn't see anything of his fortune.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then, pretty soon, in a little while, not so very
long, the old gentleman rabbit came to a place on
the sand where there was a little white card.
And on the card was some writing, which read:</p>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c011'>
<div><span class='large'>"DIG HERE AND SEE WHAT YOU</span></div>
<div><span class='large'>CAN FIND."</span></div>
</div></div>
<p class='c009'>"Ha, hum! I wonder what that means,"
thought Uncle Wiggily, as he sat down on the
sand to rest himself. "I wonder if that can be
a trick?" He had been fooled so many times
that he made up his mind to be careful now. So
he looked all around, but he couldn't see anything
that looked like danger.</p>
<p class='c009'>To be sure, there were some bushes up on the
<SPAN name='Page_83'></SPAN>beach, a little way off, but there seemed to be no
one in them. And there was no one on the beach
near where the rabbit was.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I guess I'll take a chance and dig," thought
Uncle Wiggily. So he laid aside his valise and
crutch and began to dig in the sand with a clam-shell.
Deeper and deeper he went down until
he began to feel something hard.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, ho!" he exclaimed. "I guess I'm getting
close to it. This must be a chest of gold or
diamonds that the pirates or robbers buried in
the sand years ago. Now, I'll dig it up and I'll
be rich. This is a lucky day for me!"</p>
<p class='c009'>So he dug deeper and still deeper until he had
partly uncovered something black and round.
He thought sure it was a chest of gold, and he
dug faster and faster, until all of a sudden something
slipped in the sand and rolled out into the
hole Uncle Wiggily had dug, and, before he
knew it, he found himself slipping down and
there he was, held fast by one paw, under a big
black stone. It was a stone he had found under
the sand and not a chest of gold at all.</p>
<p class='c009'>At first he was too surprised to say or do anything,
and then, as his foot began to pain him, he
cried out:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, dear! Oh, dear! I'm caught in a trap,
and I can't get out!"</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_84'></SPAN>"No, indeed, you can't get out!" exclaimed a
voice at the edge of the hole, and, looking up,
the rabbit saw a big wolf.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, did you put that card there on the sand,
telling me to dig?" asked Uncle Wiggily reproachful-like.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I did," answered the wolf, showing his teeth
in a most impolite grin. "I wanted to catch you
under the stone and I did. The stone rolled out
of the sand when you had dug down deep
enough to loosen it, and now you are fast. I'm
going to jump down on you presently, and tickle
you until your ribs ache."</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, Uncle Wiggily felt pretty bad on hearing
this, and he didn't know what to do. The
wolf was getting ready to spring down on him,
when, all at once the rabbit heard a voice whispering
down to him:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Say, Uncle Wiggily, you just ask that wolf
if he is a good jumper. He'll say he is, and then
you ask him if he can jump on top of the round
stone he sees on the sand near the hole. He'll
say he can, for he is very proud, but, instead of
jumping on a stone, he'll jump on me, and then
I'll stick him with my sharp tail, and he'll run
away. Then I'll help you get loose."</p>
<p class='c009'>"But who are you?" asked the rabbit, somewhat
puzzled.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_85'></SPAN>"I am the horseshoe crab," was the answer.
"I'm up here on the sand, and I look just like
a stone, and I'll pretend I really am one. The
wolf can't understand my talk, so it's safe. You
just ask him to jump on me."</p>
<p class='c009'>So Uncle Wiggily looked up at the wolf, and
said:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Mr. Wolf, since you are going to tickle me
anyhow, would you mind showing me what a
good jumper you are before you do it?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Of course not!" said the wolf, who was very
proud of his jumping. "I'll jump anywhere
you say, and then I'll jump down and get you."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Very well," said Uncle Wiggily, slow and
sad-like, "just jump on that round stone up
there on the beach, will you?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I will," said the wolf, and he didn't know
that what he thought was a stone was only the
horseshoe crab waiting to stick him with his sharp
tail.</p>
<p class='c009'>So the bad wolf gave one big jump up into
the air, and down on top of the horseshoe crab
he came, and the crab just stuck up his sharp
pointed tail, and it tickled that wolf in the ribs
so very much that the wolf had to laugh whether
he wanted to or not, and he laughed so hard that
he had a conniption fit, and so he couldn't get the
rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_86'></SPAN>Then the horseshoe crab dug away the sand
around the stone, and helped Uncle Wiggily get
his leg out, and the rabbit was safe, and he
thanked the crab, and hopped away and the wolf
didn't get him after all.</p>
<p class='c009'>So that's all to-night, if you please, but the
next Bedtime Story will be about Uncle Wiggily
and the pink shell--that is if the red lobster
doesn't pinch the stove's legs and make it dance
a hornpipe on top of the washtubs.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_87'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XII</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SHELL</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>Uncle Wiggily was lame the next day after
he had been caught under the stone when the
wolf nearly got him, and the horseshoe crab had
dug him out. You see the stone pressed on his
leg that had rheumatism in it, and it hurt the old
gentleman rabbit very much.</p>
<p class='c009'>But he was quite brave, and when he got up in
the morning, even though he could hardly limp
along, he decided that he would hop down the
sandy beach at the seashore and see if he couldn't
find his fortune there.</p>
<p class='c009'>"It is certainly taking me quite a long time
to get rich," he said to himself as he slowly moved
along over the soft sand, "and perhaps I may
never find any diamonds or gold. But no matter,
I am enjoying myself, and that is something.
Still, I would like to see Sammie and Susie Littletail
again."</p>
<p class='c009'>And when he thought of the two little rabbit
children he was a bit sad. Then he decided that
<SPAN name='Page_88'></SPAN>would never do, so he cheered himself up by
singing a little song that went something like
this:</p>
<div class='lg-container-l c010'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Don't be sad,</div>
<div class='line in1'>Just be glad,</div>
<div class='line in1'>For the sun is shining.</div>
<div class='line in1'>Don't be blue,</div>
<div class='line in1'>For it's true</div>
<div class='line in1'>Clouds have silver lining.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Sing and dance,</div>
<div class='line in1'>Hop and prance,</div>
<div class='line in1'>Make some one feel jolly,</div>
<div class='line in1'>Go 'way, care,</div>
<div class='line in1'>Don't you dare</div>
<div class='line in1'>Make me melancholy."</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p class='c009'>"Ha, hum! I feel much better after that,"
said Uncle Wiggily, and he moved his whiskers
sideways and up and down, and twinkled his
nose, and then he went on looking for his fortune.</p>
<p class='c009'>Pretty soon he came to a big snail that was
crawling slowly along the beach.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Have you seen any gold?" asked the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, I am sorry to say I have not," said the
snail, slowly and carefully. "But I have not gone
very far this morning. I have only traveled
<SPAN name='Page_89'></SPAN>about as far as from one orange seed to another,
and that is not very far, you know. Perhaps
later I may find some gold."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Then have you seen any diamonds?" asked
Uncle Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, but I saw a dewdrop inside a flower
sparkling in the sunshine," said the snail, "and
it was brighter than a diamond."</p>
<p class='c009'>"That is very pretty, but it is not my fortune,"
said the rabbit. "I must keep on." So
on he went, singing his jolly song, and he kept
humming it, even when the sun went behind a
cloud, and it looked as if it were going to storm.
The waves of the ocean grew into big billows,
and they dashed up on the beach with a booming,
thundering sound.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I think we are going to have a shower," said
the old gentleman rabbit. "I must look about
for another toadstool umbrella." So he found
one growing in the grass a little distance from
the water, and he picked it. Then, strapping
his valise over his shoulder, he hopped ahead,
leaning on his crutch.</p>
<p class='c009'>Pretty soon, not so very long, it began to rain.
My! how the drops did come pelting down,
harder and harder, but Uncle Wiggily didn't
get wet because of his toadstool umbrella. And
then, before you could eat a stick of peppermint
<SPAN name='Page_90'></SPAN>candy, something hard hit the old gentleman
rabbit on the nose.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! My umbrella must be leaking!" he
cried. Then there came a flash of lightning, and
a loud clap of thunder, and something else hit
Uncle Wiggily on the end of his nose.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I hope I'm not struck by lightning!"
he cried. So he looked up, and he saw that his
toadstool umbrella was full of holes, and the
reason of this was that it was hailing instead of
raining. The rain drops had turned into little
round chunks of ice, just like white pebbles, and
they were pelting down, and had torn the rabbit's
umbrella all to pieces.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Whatever shall I do?" cried Uncle Wiggily,
as he tossed aside the toadstool. "That is
of no use to me now, and there is no place where
I can go to get in out of the rain. Oh, my!
How those hailstones hurt!" And indeed they
did, for they were as large as bird's eggs now,
and they were bouncing down all over, and hitting
Uncle Wiggily on his ears and nose and all
over.</p>
<p class='c009'>He tried to hold his crutch over his head, but
that did no good, and then he tried to hold up his
valise with the cherry pie in it to shelter himself,
but that did no good, either.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I'll be knocked to pieces by the hailstones!"
<SPAN name='Page_91'></SPAN>the rabbit cried. "Where can I go?
Oh, if I only had a shell house such as the snail
carries on her back, I would be all right."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Here is a house for you!" cried a little voice,
and looking to one side Uncle Wiggily saw his
old friend the grasshopper, and that grasshopper
was beneath a big pink shell that was on the
beach, with one edge raised up like a shed.
"Crawl under the shell, and the hailstone can't
hurt you!" went on the hoppergrass. "This
pink shell is the best kind of a house."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, I do declare--so it is!" agreed Uncle
Wiggily, and he lost no time in crawling under
the pink shell which was just the color of baby's
cheeks. Then how the hailstones did rattle down
on that shell! It was just like peas or dried corn
falling into a tin pan. Rattle-te-bang! Rattle-te-bang!
went the hailstones, but they couldn't
hurt the grasshopper or Uncle Wiggily now,
for the chunks of ice hit on the hard shell and
burst to pieces.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then, all of a sudden Uncle Wiggily heard
some one crying. Oh, it was such a sad, pitiful
voice.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, what shall I do? Where can I go?"
wailed the voice.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Some one needs help," said the rabbit
quickly.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_92'></SPAN>"Maybe it's a bear," suggested the hoppergrass.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Nonsensicalness!" exclaimed the rabbit.
"I'm going to look out." So he peered out
from under the edge of the big pink shell, and he
saw a little baby crab crawling along with a
basket of seapeanuts in little bags on one claw.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I'm so miserable!" cried the little crab.
"I started out to sell peanuts, but the hailstones
burst the bags open, and the peanuts came out
and they're all wet, and no one will buy wet peanuts.
What shall I do?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Come right in here," said Uncle Wiggily
kindly. "We'll help you." So the little crab
crawled beneath the pink shell, where the hailstones
couldn't hit him, and when the storm was
over the old gentleman rabbit and the grasshopper
built a fire, and they dried out the peanuts.
Then the grasshopper took some of his molasses
and he glued the torn bags together, and Uncle
Wiggily put back the dry peanuts in them, and
then the little crab went off very happy, indeed,
and sold them for a penny a bag.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! The pink shell did us a great kindness,"
said the old gentleman rabbit, as he hopped
out. "Now I will look once more for my fortune."
Then the grasshopper flew away over
<SPAN name='Page_93'></SPAN>the sea again and the rabbit went on alone, eating
a few peanuts the baby crab had given him.</p>
<p class='c009'>And he soon had another adventure. What
it was I'll tell you soon, for the story will be about
Uncle Wiggily and the fiddler--that is, if the
piano stool doesn't turn into a merry-go-'round
and whirl about so fast that it makes the milk
bottle dizzy.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_94'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XIII</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE FIDDLER</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>It was the day after Uncle Wiggily had taken
shelter under the pink shell when the hailstones
came down, and the old gentleman rabbit was
walking along the sandy beach, looking to see
what he could see.</p>
<p class='c009'>"You never can tell when you are going to
find your fortune in this world," he said, "and
I may come upon mine any moment. So I must
be ready for it." Then he went on a little farther,
and he felt hungry. "Perhaps there is a
bit of cherry pie still in my valise," he said. So
he looked, and, sure enough, there was some pie,
and he ate it.</p>
<p class='c009'>It was nearly all gone, and there were only a
few crumbs of the pie left, when the old gentleman
rabbit heard some one say:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, how hungry I am! Oh, if I only had
something to eat. I wonder where I can find
anything?"</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_95'></SPAN>Then the rabbit looked down, and there was
the slow-crawling snail, looking very hungry
indeed.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, ho! So it's you, is it?" asked the rabbit.
"Why, it seems to me you are not very far
from the place where I last saw you."</p>
<p class='c009'>"That is so, I am not," answered the snail.
"You see I go very slowly and in a whole day I
only moved about as far as an ice-cream cone.
I have been looking for something to eat, but I
can't find it."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I'll gladly give you what I have left,"
spoke Uncle Wiggily, as he scattered the crumbs
of the cherry pie about, and the snail ate them
all up.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I don't s'pose you have seen anything of my
fortune, have you?" asked the rabbit, as he
wiped his whiskers on a red napkin, and closed
up his valise.</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, I haven't," said the snail. "But I will
tell you something I overheard to-day and perhaps
that will help you. As I was crawling
slowly along I heard two sand fleas talking together.
One said to the other that there was going
to be a grand dance of all the sand fleas on
the beach to-night and that there would be plenty
of gold and diamonds at the party. Perhaps
if you went to it you might find your fortune--that
<SPAN name='Page_96'></SPAN>is, if some one had any gold or diamonds
they didn't want."</p>
<p class='c009'>"That's a good idea," said the rabbit. "I'll
be there, and I'm much obliged to you for telling
me. Where do the sand fleas hold their dance?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Down on the beach by the wreck of the old
sailing ship," answered the snail. "Be there at
the hour of midnight, and I hope you will find
your fortune."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'll be there," said the rabbit. "Oh, I'll be
there."</p>
<p class='c009'>Then the snail crawled away, and Uncle Wiggily
hopped along on the sand, but he didn't
look for his fortune as he thought he would find
it at the fleas' party.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Since I am going to be up quite late to-night,"
he said, "I had better take a little sleep
now." So he stretched out under some seaweed
that he laid over some driftwood for a shady
shelter and soon he was fast asleep. Then, after
a while, he awakened and ate his supper and soon
it was midnight, and he set off toward the place
where the wreck of the old ship was on the beach,
for there the sand fleas were to have their hop
and dance.</p>
<p class='c009'>As he came near the place, the old gentleman
rabbit heard laughter and talking, and he saw
tiny lights flitting about. Then he came still
<SPAN name='Page_97'></SPAN>nearer, and he saw a most curious sight. All
around in the sand were little pieces of wood, set
in a circle, and on each piece of wood was a lightning
bug. They lighted up the place like small
electric lanterns.</p>
<p class='c009'>There was a large circle of sand, and inside
of that was the ballroom where the dance was to
take place. It was all decorated with seaweed
and moss, and it looked very pretty with lightning
bugs scattered here and there in the green
drapery like fairy lights.</p>
<p class='c009'>And then the sand fleas! Oh, there were hundreds
of them, and they were hopping all about,
sometimes over each other's backs and around
corners and through the middle, while some even
turned somersaults, and they were having a
glorious time.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I wonder when the dance is going to begin?"
thought Uncle Wiggily. "I wish it would
soon start, for I see that these fleas have on many
diamonds, and they also have lots of gold in their
pockets. Perhaps, when they dance they will
drop some of the gold and diamonds, and, in case
they don't want them, I can pick them up and
have them for my fortune."</p>
<p class='c009'>Then, all of a sudden, some of the fleas began
to cry out:</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_98'></SPAN>"Where is the music? Why doesn't the music
start, so that we can dance?"</p>
<p class='c009'>And surely enough, there was no music for
the party. Then a big gray flea called out:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Alas, and lack-a-day! We will have no
music! I had hired a dozen Katy-Dids and a
dozen Katy-Didn'ts to come and play for us,
but they have just telephoned that they can't
come, as their legs are stiff. So we can have no
dance, as we have no music."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, how perfectly dreadful!" cried a blue
lady flea.</p>
<p class='c009'>And just then some of the other fleas saw
Uncle Wiggily looking in at them from behind
the old wrecked ship.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Perhaps the rabbit can play for us," said
some of the fleas. "Can you, Mr. Rabbit?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, I can't," he said, and he felt very sorry
for them. "But I will see if I can find some one
who can," for Uncle Wiggily was very kind-hearted,
and always did what he could to help.</p>
<p class='c009'>So he strolled down the beach looking for
some one to play for the sand fleas. And as he
walked along he met a fiddler crab, which is a
crab with very long legs. And as soon as he saw
that fiddler crab Uncle Wiggily knew that the
long-legged creature could make music.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Will you come and play for the fleas'
<SPAN name='Page_99'></SPAN>party?" asked the rabbit. "I will make a fiddle
out of my crutch and some seaweed for strings,
and you can play it."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I will," said the fiddler crab, kindly, "but
who will play the drum? We need a drum.
Who will play it?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I would if I had a drum," said the rabbit,
bravely.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'll be the drum," suddenly cried a voice,
and up from the ocean popped a fish called the
puff fish or sea robin, and he can make himself
look like a blown-up paper bag full of wind.
"I'll be the drum and you can make me go
'Boom! Boom!'" said the blow-fish.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Fine!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "Come on
back to the sand fleas' party with me." So the
fiddler crab and the drum fish went along. Then
the rabbit soon made a fiddle, with seaweed for
strings, and the fiddler crab played it with his
long legs, making tunes like "Please Buy Me an
Ice-Cream Cone and Take Me on the Merry-go-'Round."</p>
<p class='c009'>And the drum fish puffed himself up like a
balloon, and Uncle Wiggily beat him with a soft
stick, and there was fine music. Then the sand
fleas hopped and danced about until they could
hop and dance no more.</p>
<p class='c009'>But they didn't drop any gold or diamonds,
<SPAN name='Page_100'></SPAN>and, when the party was over, the rabbit was as
poor as when it started. But still he didn't mind.
Then he went to sleep under a pile of seaweed,
while the sea robin and the fiddler crab went
home in the ocean.</p>
<p class='c009'>And on the next page, in case the egg beater
doesn't get stuck on the rolling-pin and make the
pie crust fall through the nutmeg grater, I'll tell
you about Uncle Wiggily and the watermelon.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_101'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XIV</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE WATERMELON</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>"Well," asked the slow snail of Uncle Wiggily,
as he met the old gentleman rabbit on the
beach next day, "did you get any of your fortune
at the fleas' party?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"None at all," answered the old gentleman
rabbit. "There was plenty of gold and diamonds
to be seen, but the fleas didn't give me
any."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Perhaps they forgot it?" suggested the
snail. "Some of the fleas are very forgetful. I
once knew one whose mother sent him to the
store for a pound of sugar and a quart of milk,
and what do you s'pose he bought?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I don't know," answered the rabbit, curious-like.</p>
<p class='c009'>"He got a pound of milk and a quart of sugar,
and the milk all ran out of the paper bag in
which the groceryman put it, and the sugar stuck
fast to the milk pail, and they had a dreadful
time getting it out. That shows you what a flea
<SPAN name='Page_102'></SPAN>will do sometimes. Perhaps if you ask them for
your fortune they will give it to you."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'll do it the next time I meet one," decided
Uncle Wiggily. "But now I must go on and
look for myself."</p>
<div class='figcenter id001'>
<SPAN name='Page_103'></SPAN><ANTIMG src='images/p100.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
<div class='ic002'>
<p>Uncle Wiggily and the Watermelon</p>
</div>
</div>
<p class='c009'>"Wait until I sing a little song for you," said
the slow snail, and he hummed this song very,
very slowly:</p>
<div class='lg-container-l c010'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"When I am in a hurry</div>
<div class='line in4'>I slowly crawl along,</div>
<div class='line in1'>And when I finish crawling</div>
<div class='line in1'>I sing a little song.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"For if I hurried too much</div>
<div class='line in4'>I'd get there all too soon,</div>
<div class='line in1'>Though some day I am going</div>
<div class='line in1'>To climb up to the moon.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"And then when I get up there</div>
<div class='line in4'>I'll sleep the whole long day,</div>
<div class='line in1'>Or crawl upon the moonbeams,</div>
<div class='line in1'>Or jump into the hay."</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! hum!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily.
"That's a very good song, and I'm sure it will
help me find my fortune. Now I must say
good-by and travel along."</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_104'></SPAN>"If you will wait I'll come with you," spoke
the snail. "But then I s'pose you are in a hurry,
Uncle Wiggily, and I go too slow for you."</p>
<p class='c009'>"That's it," said the rabbit kindly, and he
gave one big hop that carried him twice as far
as the snail could travel in a week of Sundays
without counting Christmas.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, it wasn't very long after this before
Uncle Wiggily got to the top of a hill. When
he started to climb up from the bottom he
thought perhaps there might be gold at the top,
but when he did get to the summit all he found
there was a big green thing, with stripes on.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I wonder what this can be?" thought the
rabbit. "It looks like a baseball, and yet it's
too large for that, and besides it isn't quite
round. And, once more, it's green instead of
white, for all baseballs are white. Ha! I know
what it is. That must be a football which the
boys kick about. I guess I'll kick it. Perhaps
there may be gold inside."</p>
<p class='c009'>So he got ready to kick it, but you know how
it is with old gentlemen rabbits who have the
rheumatism and have to go about on a crutch.
As soon as Uncle Wiggily lifted up one foot--the
one that had no rheumatism in it--and when
he leaned on his crutch, the crutch suddenly
<SPAN name='Page_105'></SPAN>slipped, and down he went ker-flumux ker-flimix
all in a heap.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, here's a pretty kettle of fish!" he cried.
"I ought never to have tried to kick that green
football. I should have waited until it was
ripe."</p>
<p class='c009'>So he sat down on top of the hill, and looked
at the ocean tumbling and foaming on the beach
below him, and he waited for the green football
to get ripe. And, every once in a while he would
poke it with his crutch to see if it was getting
soft, but it wasn't.</p>
<p class='c009'>And once, right after he did this, the old
gentleman rabbit heard some one cry out:</p>
<p class='c009'>"My goodness, Uncle Wiggily! What are
you doing?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Waiting for this green football to get ripe
so that I can kick it," was the rabbit's reply.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, ho! Oh, ha!" laughed the grasshopper
for it was that leaping insect who had spoken,
"that is not a football, it is a watermelon, and
inside it is all red and sweet and juicy. Come,
if you can, cut it open, we will have a fine feast.
I haven't had any watermelon in some time.
Can you cut it?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I can cut it fast enough," declared the
rabbit. "Here goes, and I hope it is better looking
on the inside than it is on the outside."</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_106'></SPAN>So the rabbit took out his knife, with which he
usually spread his bread and butter, and he cut
a hole in the watermelon. Then Uncle Wiggily
and the grasshopper scooped out all the nice,
red, juicy part and ate it.</p>
<p class='c009'>And, would you ever believe it? Something
happened right after that. They had no sooner
wiped the red watermelon juice off their faces
than there was a terrible roaring sound in the
bushes, and out jumped a big black bear. Oh,
he was going on something frightful, yes, really
he was, but don't be frightened, for I won't let
him hurt anybody. I'll let him chew on my typewriter
first and that will dull his teeth. On the
bear came, straight for the watermelon.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, what can I do?" cried Uncle Wiggily.
"That bear will get me, but he won't hurt you,
Mr. Grasshopper, as you are so small."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Don't worry," said the hoppergrass, kindly.
"I'll find a way to save you. Quick! Before
the bear sees you, hop inside the watermelon,"
for you see they had eaten up all the inside, and
left the melon rind hollow, just like a yellow
pumpkin Jack-o'-lantern, at Hallowe'en.</p>
<p class='c009'>Uncle Wiggily saw that this was the best
thing to do, so inside the melon he hopped,
and then the grasshopper put back in place the
piece they had cut out, and you never would have
<SPAN name='Page_107'></SPAN>known but that the melon was a whole, new one,
never having been cut and the inside eaten out.</p>
<p class='c009'>On came the bear, sniffing with his black nose.
Then he saw the grasshopper and asked, suspicious-like:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Is there a rabbit around here?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I don't see any," spoke the grasshopper,
and he really couldn't see any one but the bear
because Uncle Wiggily was inside the melon, you
know.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, if there is no rabbit I'll have to eat this
watermelon, then," said the bear, "for I am very
hungry."</p>
<p class='c009'>Now the grasshopper knew that if the bear
once bit into the melon and opened it, he'd see the
rabbit hiding inside. So what did the hoppergrass
do but give the melon a shove with his
strong hind legs, and down the hill the melon
rolled, with the rabbit in it, just as Buddy Pigg,
the guinea pig boy, once rolled down hill inside
a cabbage.</p>
<p class='c009'>Faster and faster down the hill rolled the
melon, with Uncle Wiggily in it, and then the
bear saw one of the rabbit's paws sticking out of
a crack.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, ho! You have fooled me!" cried the
bear to the grasshopper. "Now, I'll chase after
that melon and get the rabbit, too!"</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_108'></SPAN>So the bear started down the hill after the
melon, but his foot slipped and he slid down, oh,
so fast, that he got to the bottom of the hill first.
There he stood waiting for Uncle Wiggily. But
a queer thing happened. The melon hit a stone,
burst open and out flew the rabbit on a pile of
soft sand. But the pieces of the melon hit the
bear on his soft and tender nose, and he thought
he was surely killed, and off he ran to the woods
howling and growling. So that's how Uncle
Wiggily escaped from the bear, for the old gentleman
rabbit wasn't hurt a bit for all his tumble.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then he washed the pieces of melon off his
clothes, and traveled on again, with the grasshopper,
to seek his fortune. And he had another
advantage soon. I'll tell you about it very
shortly, when, in case the ice man doesn't go skating
and forget to leave us a loaf of bread, the
next Bedtime story will be about Uncle Wiggily
and the Katy-Did.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_109'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XV</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND KATE-DID</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>"Well, what are we going to do to-day?"
asked the grasshopper of Uncle Wiggily, as they
sat down to breakfast one sunny morning, after
a rain the night before.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I suppose I must keep on searching for
some gold or diamonds for my fortune," answered
the old gentleman rabbit. "But I am
getting quite tired of going around so much and
finding nothing. I'll keep it up a week or so
longer, and then, if I don't find any money, I'm
going back home, anyhow. I'm quite lonesome
for Sammie and Susie Littletail and all of my
friends."</p>
<p class='c009'>"When you go home I hope that I can go with
you," said the grasshopper sort of sad-like. "I'll
be sorry when you leave me."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Of course you can come along," answered
Uncle Wiggily, kindly, as he flopped his long
ears back and forth.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then he and the grasshopper finished their
breakfast, washed the acorn cups and saucers,
<SPAN name='Page_110'></SPAN>and shook the crumbs off the green leaf which
they had used for a table cloth. And pretty soon
a whole lot of little black ants crawled along and
ate up all the crumbs, so that nothing was wasted.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, here we go!" cried the old gentleman
rabbit cheerfully as he picked up his barber-pole
crutch and slung his valise over his shoulder.
Then he hopped off and so did the grasshopper,
singing a funny little song on the way, and also
playing the fiddle with his left hind leg. The
song went something like this:</p>
<div class='lg-container-l c010'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Here we go,</div>
<div class='line'>Fast and slow,</div>
<div class='line'>Hopping on our way.</div>
<div class='line'>In heat and cold</div>
<div class='line'>We look for gold,</div>
<div class='line'>Which we may find some day.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Sing a song</div>
<div class='line'>Not too long,</div>
<div class='line'>Cheerful, gay and bright.</div>
<div class='line'>When wide awake</div>
<div class='line'>We eat sweet cake,</div>
<div class='line'>And then we sleep all night.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Hipping, hopping,</div>
<div class='line'>Without stopping</div>
<div class='line'><SPAN name='Page_111'></SPAN>We sing and do not cry.</div>
<div class='line'>Skip and jump</div>
<div class='line'>Around the pump;</div>
<div class='line'>Now we'll say good-by."</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p class='c009'>"Why, what in the world did you say that
for?" asked Uncle Wiggily of the grasshopper
as the insect finished his song. "There is no one
here to whom we can say good-by, and not a sign
of a pump."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I know it, but you see I'm just making believe,"
replied the cheerful little fellow, turning
one somersault and part of another one.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, then that's different," agreed the old
gentleman rabbit, as he stooped over to take a
stone out of his shoe. And, just as he did so
there came bouncing down out of a tall tree a
big green hickory nut, and it almost hit Uncle
Wiggily on the end of his twinkling nose.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Hum!" exclaimed the grasshopper, as he
crawled under a big leaf in order to be out of
danger, "some one is throwing things at us. I
wonder who it can be?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I don't know," answered the rabbit, and then
he and the grasshopper looked up in a tree, but
they could see no one. So they went on a little
farther, and pretty soon Uncle Wiggily got another
stone in his shoe. He stooped over to take
<SPAN name='Page_112'></SPAN>it out when slam-bang! down came a green butternut
this time, and it struck him on the end of
his left ear.</p>
<p class='c009'>"This must stop!" cried the old gentleman
rabbit. "If it doesn't, the first thing we know
there will be cocoanuts falling down on us and
then we will be hurt."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I think there are no monkeys around
here to throw cocoanuts at us," said the grasshopper,
"but this is certainly very strange. Perhaps
it is the alligator or the fuzzy fox up in a
tree trying to hurt us by throwing the little
nuts."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Perhaps," agreed Uncle Wiggily. "Well,
we will hurry on, and get out of these woods."
So they hurried all they could, but as it happened
the grasshopper got a big wooden splinter in his
left front leg and it took him and Uncle Wiggily
quite a while to get it out, and when at last they
did so, it was almost night.</p>
<p class='c009'>They were hopping along, looking for a place
to sleep in the woods, when all of a sudden down
came a big black walnut, and it hit Uncle Wiggily's
crutch, bouncing off with a bang.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Who did that?" cried the rabbit looking up
as well as he could in the darkness. "Who threw
that nut?"</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_113'></SPAN>"Katy did!" cried a shrill voice up in a tree.
"Katy did!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, she did; eh?" exclaimed the old gentleman
rabbit. "Well I always thought Katy was
a nice little girl. I can't believe she'd throw anything
at me. It's not possible!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Katy did--she did!" cried the voice in the
tree again.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, would you ever think such a thing of
her?" asked the grasshopper, who was quite excited.</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, I wouldn't," declared Uncle Wiggily
sad-like. "Where does Katy live?" he went on.
"Perhaps if I speak to her, and tell her how unpleasant
it is to have nuts thrown at one she
won't do it again. Where does she live?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Katy did! Katy did! Katy did!" was all
the voice said.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Of course! I know that by this time," said
Uncle Wiggily. "But where does she live?
Whereabouts in these woods?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Katy did! Katy did!" cried the voice again.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ah, I see!" exclaimed the grasshopper,
"That means she once did live here, but that she
has moved away. That must be it."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Then I'm glad of it," spoke the rabbit. "I
hope she doesn't come back to throw any more
things at us. Do you think she will?" and he
<SPAN name='Page_114'></SPAN>looked up in the tree to see who had been talking
so about Katy.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Katy did! Katy did!" was all the answer
there was.</p>
<p class='c009'>But all of a sudden there was a rustling in the
bushes, and out into the moonlight, which was
then shining in the forest, there came a little
white pussy cat, with four legs and a long tail.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, dear!" she cried. "I'm Katy, and I
heard what you all said about me. But I didn't
do it at all. I didn't throw a thing at you, Uncle
Wiggily, or at the grasshopper either. I
wouldn't do such a thing. Oh, how can you believe
it? I didn't do it at all."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Katy did! Katy did!" cried the shrill voice
up in the tree-top. "Katy did--she did!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha, hum!" cried the old gentleman rabbit.
"This must be looked into. If Katy didn't do
it, we mustn't have her talked about that way.
Come, Mr. Grasshopper, we'll see who's calling
out about Katy so much."</p>
<p class='c009'>But just as the rabbit was helping the grasshopper
to climb up the tree, to see who it was
that had been calling, all of a sudden out from
behind a stump there sprang a savage fox, who
wanted to eat up Uncle Wiggily and the pussy
and the grasshopper also. But the rabbit happened
to see a hole in the ground.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_115'></SPAN>"Quick! Jump down here all of you!" he
cried and he helped the pussy and the grasshopper
to get into the hole where they would be safe
from the fox. And, as they disappeared under
ground the voice up in the tree-top cried once
more:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Katy did! Katy did!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, ho! I'll put a stop to that to-morrow!"
declared Uncle Wiggily. "Don't cry, Katy,
dear. I'll see that whoever is bothering you will
stop." Then the little white pussy dried her
tears, and the three friends slept safely in the
hole all night, and the fox did not bother them a
bit.</p>
<p class='c009'>And the next day Uncle Wiggily found out
who was calling to Katy, and who threw the nuts
at him, and I'll tell you about it on the next page,
when the story will be about Uncle Wiggily and
Katy-Didn't--that is, if the trolley car doesn't
run up on the front stoop and break the rocking
chair's arms so I can't sing the rag doll to sleep.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_116'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XVI</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND KATY-DIDN'T</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>Katy, the nice little white pussy, was the first
one to awaken the next morning in the hole
where she and Uncle Wiggily and the grasshopper
had crawled to get away from the bad
fox. Katy arose, washed her face and her paws
with her red tongue, and then she softly tickled
the grasshopper on his nose with the end of her
fuzzy-wuzzy tail.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha, ho! What's the matter?" cried the
grasshopper, as he hopped out of the bed made
of dried leaves. "Is the house on fire?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, we're not in a house, but in a hole under
ground so I don't very well see how it could
catch on fire," spoke Katy. "I wanted you to
get up and help me with the breakfast. I
thought we would let Uncle Wiggily sleep late
this morning, as he is tired."</p>
<p class='c009'>"That's a good idea," declared the little jumping
chap. "I'll just take a hop outside and see
what I can find to eat."</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, the grasshopper started to go out of the
hole, leaving Uncle Wiggily fast asleep, but, all
<SPAN name='Page_117'></SPAN>of a sudden the tiny jumping fellow came back,
and, instead of being green, as he usually was,
he had turned quite pale.</p>
<p class='c009'>"What's the matter?" asked Katy.</p>
<p class='c009'>"The hole is stopped up!" cried the grasshopper.
"Some one has filled up the front door
with dirt and we can't get out."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, that's too bad!" said the pussy, and she
and the grasshopper looked at the lightning bug,
who was shining brightly like a Christmas tree-candle
down in the dark hole so they could see.
He had shone all night for them. "How will we
ever get out?" went on the pussy. "It is terrible
to be shut up here."</p>
<p class='c009'>"What's that? Is there more trouble?" suddenly
asked Uncle Wiggily, as he got out of bed
feet first.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes," said the grasshopper, "the front door
of the hole is stopped up, and we can't get out.
I think the bad fox did it."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Very likely," agreed Uncle Wiggily. "But
don't worry, for I can easily dig out the dirt, and
then we can go up and find out who it was that
said Katy threw nuts at us when she didn't."</p>
<p class='c009'>So Uncle Wiggily went to the front door of
the hole-house and began to dig with his strong
feet. And then he happened to think of something.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_118'></SPAN>"If I dig a new front door near the place
where the fox stopped up the old one," said the
old gentleman rabbit thoughtful-like, "that bad
creature may be there waiting to grab us when
we go out. So I'll play a trick on him. I'll dig
a new door for this hole-house and we'll go out
that way. I'll dig it at the back."</p>
<p class='c009'>So Uncle Wiggily did this and soon there was
a nice opening from the hole underground, and
it was some distance away from the one by which
the three friends had gone in. And, surely
enough, they looked through the trees when they
went out, and there was that bad fox near the
stopped-up hole, waiting for them to come out
so that he might grab them.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I guess he'll wait there a long while for
us," said Uncle Wiggily, blinking his nose, and
laughing. "Come on now, very quietly and
we'll go off in the woods where he can't find us."
So away through the forest they went, and the
fox never saw them. He stayed by the hole,
which he had stopped up with dirt and stones,
and he was there a week, waiting for the rabbit
and his friends to come up. And the fox got so
thin from having nothing to eat in all that time
that when he finally did go away his tail nearly
dropped off and blew away.</p>
<p class='c009'>But Uncle Wiggily, and the grasshopper, and
<SPAN name='Page_119'></SPAN>the pussy whose name was Katy traveled on and
on. Over the hills they went, and through the
fields, but they couldn't find out who it was that
had said Katy had thrown the nuts when she
didn't do it at all.</p>
<p class='c009'>At last they came to another forest, and just
as night was coming on, and Uncle Wiggily was
passing under a tree, slam-bang! down came another
butternut, and nearly hit him on the eye.</p>
<p class='c009'>"There! You see, I didn't throw that," cried
Katy, who was walking beside Uncle Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes, it couldn't have been you," agreed the
old gentleman rabbit. "I wonder who did it?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Katy did! Katy did!" suddenly cried a
voice.</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, she didn't," said Uncle Wiggily, firmly.
"Who are you to say such things?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Here he is--I see him!" exclaimed the grasshopper.
"It isn't any one at all--it's a little
green bug with wings, and he is something like
me. He's been saying that 'Katy did' when she
didn't do it at all."</p>
<p class='c009'>And, sure enough, there on a tree was a little
light-green bug, and, as Uncle Wiggily watched,
he heard this insect call out as bold as bold could
be:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Katy did! Katy did!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Now look here!" said the old gentleman rabbit,
<SPAN name='Page_120'></SPAN>and he pointed his long ears and his crutch
at the green bug, "why do you say such things
when you know they aren't so? Katy never
threw any nuts at me--they just dropped down
off the tree themselves. I'm sure of it. Katy
never did it, and she feels badly to have you say
so."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Katy did! Katy did!" cried the insect
again, as if he hadn't heard the rabbit speak. "I
have to say it, you know," he went on, as he
scraped his two long hind legs together. "I
have to call out that Katy did, Uncle Wiggily."</p>
<p class='c009'>"You do? Even when she didn't do it?"
asked the rabbit, surprised-like.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes," said the insect. "Katy did! Katy
did! I have to call--Katy did."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I think it's just too horrid for anything!"
said poor Katy, almost ready to cry.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I wish you wouldn't say such things about a
nice pussy," spoke the grasshopper. "For Katy
didn't do it. I know she didn't."</p>
<p class='c009'>And just then, off in another tree, there came
a second voice calling:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Katy didn't! Katy didn't!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"There, I knew some one would be kind to
me!" exclaimed the pussy. "Some one knows I
didn't do it. I didn't throw the nuts."</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_121'></SPAN>"Katy did! Katy did!" cried the first green
insect.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Katy didn't! Katy didn't!" answered the
second little green chap.</p>
<p class='c009'>"She did!" went on the first one.</p>
<p class='c009'>"She didn't! Katy didn't!" answered his
brother, positive-like.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Katy did!" "Katy didn't!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, my, this dispute is very unpleasant!"
said Uncle Wiggily. "Please stop it." But the
green insects wouldn't stop, and they kept on
calling. First one would say that Katy did do
it and then the other would say she didn't, and so
they went on:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Katy did!" "Katy didn't!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well," said Uncle Wiggily at last, when he
had tried to make them stop disputing, but
couldn't do it, "at any rate, Katy, you have some
friends who will stand up for you, and who will
always say you didn't do it, and I know you
didn't, no matter if the others say you did. Now
let's find a place to sleep, and to-morrow I will
once more look for my fortune."</p>
<p class='c009'>So they found a nice hollow stump in which
to sleep, and nothing happened to them all night,
except that a big-eyed, feathery owl tried to bite
the grasshopper. But Uncle Wiggily tickled
the bad bird with his crutch and made him fly
<SPAN name='Page_122'></SPAN>away, and then they all slept in peace and quietness
until morning.</p>
<p class='c009'>The next day the old gentleman rabbit had
quite an adventure. I'll tell you what it was in
the following Bedtime Story which will be about
Uncle Wiggily and Peetie Bow Wow--that is,
if my piece of huckleberry pie doesn't fall into
the milk pitcher and turn it sky-blue-pink like
the elephant's lemonade at the circus.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_123'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XVII</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND PEETIE</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>Katy, the little white pussy, felt quite happy
the next day, after she and Uncle Wiggily and
the grasshopper had slept in the hollow stump, as
I told you last.</p>
<p class='c009'>"No matter if some of the green insects do say
I did throw those nuts," she said, "others of
them will say I didn't do it, so it will be all
right." And from then on, even up to the present
time, you can hear the did and the didn't insects
calling to each other in the cool night:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Katy did!" "Katy didn't!" That's how
they dispute, and they never seem to settle it.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Where are you going?" asked the old gentleman
rabbit as he saw the pussy starting off
by herself in the woods, when breakfast was
over.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I am going back home," she said. "I
have been away too long already, and my
mamma will be worried about me. But I am
very glad to have met you and the grasshopper,
<SPAN name='Page_124'></SPAN>and I hope you will soon find your fortune,
Uncle Wiggily."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I hope so too," spoke the rabbit, and then
he and the grasshopper started off together
through the woods, looking on all sides for any
signs of gold or diamonds.</p>
<p class='c009'>They traveled on for many miles, but I'm
sorry to say they didn't find any fortune at all--not
even so much as a five-cent piece with a
hole in it. When noon came they sat down by a
little spring of water and built a fire. Then the
rabbit roasted some carrots and the grasshopper
ate a small piece of cherry pie, and some bread
and jam, for he was very fond of sweet things.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, we'll travel on again," said the rabbit,
as he scattered the crumbs for the ants to
eat.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why don't you stay here and look for your
fortune?" asked the grasshopper, wiggling his
ears.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, it would be of no use," said Uncle Wiggily.
"Haven't we looked all over in these
woods? And we didn't even find a diamond
ring. No, we must travel on."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why don't you dig a hole here by this old
stump?" asked the grasshopper. "Perhaps
there is a gold mine here. It is nice and shady,
and you can dig deep and keep cool. I will sit
<SPAN name='Page_125'></SPAN>on the stump and watch you, and also sing a song
now and then."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Perhaps that will be a good plan," agreed
Uncle Wiggily, after thinking it over. "I believe
I will dig here. It can do no harm and it
may be of some use." So, laying aside his crutch
and his valise, he began to dig in the earth with
his sharp feet.</p>
<p class='c009'>"My! I'm making a regular mine!" thought
Uncle Wiggily, after a while. "But there
doesn't seem to be any gold here. However, I'll
go down a little deeper."</p>
<p class='c009'>And then, all of a sudden he heard the grasshopper
cry:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Look out, Uncle Wiggily! Look out! The
alligator is coming!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, me! Oh, my!" shouted the rabbit, as
he tried to jump up out of the hole he had dug.
But it was too deep and he only fell back to the
bottom. He heard the whirr of the grasshopper's
wings as that hopping chap flew away, and
as the grasshopper skipped over the daisies he
cried out:</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'll go get help, Uncle Wiggily!" for he
knew he couldn't fight the alligator all alone.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, whatever shall I do?" thought the rabbit.
"I must get out." So he gave another
jump, but it was of no use, and then before
<SPAN name='Page_126'></SPAN>Uncle Wiggily could twinkle his nose twice, over
the edge of the hole leaned the skillery-scalery
alligator.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ah, ho! So there you are!" cried the scaly
creature, smiling such a big smile that it is a
wonder the top of his head didn't fly off. "So
you are in a hole? Well, that suits me, for you
can't get away, and I can take you whenever I
please. I guess I'll wait until I am a little more
hungry. Meanwhile I'll sit here and look at
you."</p>
<p class='c009'>And the alligator did this, perched on the
edge of the hole, with his mouth grinning from
ear to ear and his tail slowly switching to and
fro, to keep off the flies from his scaly hide.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Are you really going to bite me?" asked the
rabbit, sad-like.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I am," replied the alligator, in a nutmeg-grater
voice.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Would you let me go if I gave you my barber-pole
crutch and my valise filled with cherry
pie?" asked Uncle Wiggily, sorrowful-like.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Not for worlds!" cried the alligator, smacking
his jaws. "I'm going to bite you now."
And with that he started to crawl down into the
hole to get the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>But don't worry. Some one is on the way to
save Uncle Wiggily. All of a sudden, just as
<SPAN name='Page_127'></SPAN>the alligator was almost down to Uncle Wiggily,
and only the tip of his tail was sticking out
over the edge, there was a movement on the
other side of the hole, and, looking up, the rabbit
saw a curious sight.</p>
<p class='c009'>There was some sort of an animal peering
down at him. But such an animal! His tail was
all stuck up with stickery burrs, and it had a
lump of mud on the end. On one ear was stuck
a big green leaf, and on the other ear was a
piece of red paper from a Chinese lantern. And
on his back were chestnut burrs and bits of briar
bushes; and this animal grinned and showed his
teeth and shook himself so that mud was scattered
all over. Then this animal cried:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Here, you bad alligator! Get away and let
that rabbit alone!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"What for; do you want to bite him yourself?"
asked the skillery-scalery alligator creature,
grinning from ear to ear.</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, I don't," answered the dreadful looking
animal. "But you get away from here or I'll
eat you!" And, my! you should have heard that
muddy creature growl. No, perhaps it's just as
well you didn't hear him, or you might have bad
dreams. Anyhow, that new, queer animal
growled so that even the alligator was frightened,
and Uncle Wiggily said to himself:</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_128'></SPAN>"Oh, worse and worse! If the alligator
doesn't get me this terrible creature will!"</p>
<p class='c009'>Then the terrible creature growled some more
and showed his teeth and the alligator crawled
out of the hole and scurried away, taking his
scaly tail with him.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! Ha! That's the time I fooled you!"
cried the terrible looking animal, and then he
burst out laughing and took the paper and leaf
from his ears, shook out the burrs from his tail,
and whom do you s'pose it was? Why none
other than Peetie Bow Wow, the nice puppy
dog.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, you saved my life!" cried Uncle Wiggily,
thankfully.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes, he certainly did," said the grasshopper,
perching himself on the edge of the hole. "I met
Peetie in the woods and told him about you, and
he rolled in the mud and water and stuck himself
all up with burrs, so as to make himself look
as terrible as possible and scare the alligator. It
was a good trick; wasn't it?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"It was, indeed!" cried the rabbit, as the
grasshopper and the puppy dog helped him out
of the hole; "even if I didn't find my fortune."</p>
<p class='c009'>So the alligator didn't get the rabbit, and
Uncle Wiggily had another adventure next day.
I'll tell you what it was very soon for the following
<SPAN name='Page_129'></SPAN>story will be about Uncle Wiggily and
Jackie Bow-Wow--that is, if the picture on the
wall doesn't turn upside down and scare the parlor
lamp so that it goes out on the porch to sit
on the door mat.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_130'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XVIII</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND JACKIE</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>Uncle Wiggily, with the grasshopper, and
Peetie Bow-Wow, the little puppy dog, were
traveling along the road together, and the old
gentleman rabbit was looking on both sides for
his fortune. It was the day after Peetie had
saved Uncle Wiggily from the bad alligator, and
the three friends had spent the night in a hollow
stump in the woods. Then they had breakfast,
eating some cherry pie that the rabbit had left
in his valise.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Tell me, Peetie," said Uncle Wiggily, as
they tramped along, "how does it happen that
you are so far from home; and what were you
doing in the woods just before you scared the
alligator away?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, my brother Jackie and I came to visit
our grandpa, who lives somewhere around here,"
said the puppy dog. "Yesterday Jackie and I
went for a walk in the woods, and I got lost. It
was then that the grasshopper found me and
asked me to come and help you."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Which you kindly did," said the old gentleman
<SPAN name='Page_131'></SPAN>rabbit, as he brushed a mosquito off his
twinkling nose. "But I didn't know you were
lost, Peetie. Why didn't you say something
about it? And here you've been away from your
grandpa's house all night and he and your
brother Jackie may be very much worried. Why
didn't you tell me about this yesterday?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, I thought you had troubles enough of
your own," said Peetie politely, as he looked
down in a puddle of water to see if his tail was
fastened on straight. "But I would like very
much, Uncle Wiggily, to find my way back to
grandpa's house, and see Jackie," he went on.
"And I know he'll be glad to see you."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Then we must start off at once and look for
your grandpa's house," decided the old gentleman
rabbit. "I will let my fortune go for to-day,
and we will take care of you."</p>
<p class='c009'>So off they started, looking for the house of
Peetie's grandpa. The puppy dog helped them
look, of course, but he was too small to be of
much use. Every once in a while he would find
a nice juicy bone, and he would stop to gnaw
that instead of looking for the path back home.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, you mustn't do that," said Uncle Wiggily,
as he leaned on his crutch to rest himself.
"There will be time enough to eat bones after
you are home. Trot along now, Peetie."</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_132'></SPAN>"Well, I'll just bury this bone here, where
Jackie and I can get it later," said Peetie. So
he dug a hole for the bone and carefully covered
it with earth, where it would keep just as good
as if it was in a refrigerator or an ice-box.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, the rabbit and the grasshopper and the
puppy dog looked in all the places they could
think of, and around corners and up and down
the middle and on both sides, for a sight of the
house of Peetie's grandpa, but they couldn't
seem to find it.</p>
<p class='c009'>And then, all of a sudden, and so quickly that
it happened before you could roll a popcorn ball
on top of the piano, there was a growling in the
bushes, and a shaking of the leaves, and out
popped a big, black bear. My! Oh, my! But
he was a big, savage bear, and as soon as he saw
Uncle Wiggily he cried out:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Now I have you, my fine rabbit friend!
And a puppy dog also, to say nothing of a grasshopper,
with which to finish off. Oh, this is a
lucky day for me!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"You--you don't mean to say that you are
going to eat us, do you?" asked Uncle Wiggily,
turning pale around the ears.</p>
<p class='c009'>"That's exactly what I do mean," said the bear
in a grillery-growlery voice. "And how very
lucky! It's just my dinner time," and he looked
<SPAN name='Page_133'></SPAN>at his watch to make sure, and then shut the cover
with a bang.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, you can't eat me!" cried the grasshopper
and with that he gave a spring and landed
inside of a Jack-in-the-Pulpit growing on top
of a high rock, and he pulled the cover of the
plant over him so the bear couldn't see him.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, the grasshopper got away," said the
bear in a disappointed voice, "but I have you
two yet, anyhow," and with that he made a jump,
and grabbed Uncle Wiggily in one paw and
Peetie Bow-Wow in the other paw. Then he
hugged them tight, just like a little girl hugs,
her two dollies, and the bear looked down at them,
first at Uncle Wiggily and then at Peetie. And
that bear showed his ugly teeth, and said in his
grillery-growlery voice:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Let me see; which one of you shall I eat
first?"</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, you can just imagine how frightened
Uncle Wiggily and the puppy dog were. They
didn't know what to do.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I think I'll eat you first, Mr. Rabbit," said
the bear at length, and he was just getting ready
to eat Uncle Wiggily, as you would eat a strawberry,
when there was a rushing sound in the
bushes back of that bear, and a brave voice called
out:</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_134'></SPAN>"No, Mr. Bear, you're not going to eat either
one of them. Put Uncle Wiggily down at once
and let go of Peetie Bow-Wow. At once, I
say!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! Who are you?" cried the bear, turning
around quickly in order to see better. "Who
are you, if I may ask?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'm Jackie Bow-Wow," was the answer,
"and if you don't at once do as I say I'll shoot
you with my gun!"</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, you can just imagine how surprised
Uncle Wiggily and Peetie were to see Jackie
standing there as brave as a lion, pointing a black
gun at the black bear.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'm not going to let them go!" cried the
bear, savagely, and he hugged the rabbit and the
puppy dog tighter than ever.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Then I'm going to shoot!" cried Jackie.
"One--two--three!" he counted. "Here I go!
Bang!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, don't shoot! Don't shoot!" begged the
bear, and he quickly dropped the rabbit and the
doggie and then he ran away through the bushes,
taking his little stubby tail with him. Then
Jackie burst out laughing as hard as he could.</p>
<p class='c009'>"What's the matter?" asked Uncle Wiggily,
in surprise.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! Ha!" laughed Jackie. "What a
<SPAN name='Page_135'></SPAN>joke on that bear! I didn't have a real gun at
all. It's only a wooden one, with which I was
playing hunt Indians. But he thought it was a
real one, and he was so scared that he let you
go. Ha! Ha! Ho! Ho!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"It's a good thing you came along when you
did," said his brother Peetie. "We were just
looking for grandpa's house. I was lost, you
know, and couldn't find my way back."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I know you were and I was looking for you,"
spoke Jackie. Then Peetie told him about the
alligator and where he had been with Uncle Wiggily,
and Jackie was very glad to see his brother
and the old gentleman rabbit again, and he was
soon ready to show them the way to his grandpa's
house.</p>
<p class='c009'>But they had forgotten about the grasshopper
in the Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and a very curious
thing happened to that poor insect. I'll tell you
about it on the next page, when the Bedtime
Story will be named "Uncle Wiggily and the
Red Monkey;" that is, if the rubber ball doesn't
bounce into the rice pudding and scatter it all
over the clean tablecloth.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_136'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XIX</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE MONKEY</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>Uncle Wiggily, with Peetie and Jackie
Bow-Wow, was walking along the road toward
the puppy dogs' grandpa's house, and they were
talking how Jackie had made the black bear run
away by pointing a make-believe wooden gun at
the savage creature. All at once the old gentleman
rabbit exclaimed:</p>
<p class='c009'>"That grasshopper!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"What about the grasshopper?" asked
Jackie. "Did one bite you, Uncle Wiggily?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, but my friend, the green grasshopper,
jumped into a Jack-in-the-Pulpit when the bear
came, and here we have come away and forgotten
all about him. We must go right back."</p>
<p class='c009'>So back they started, and on the way the rabbit
told what a kind friend the grasshopper had
been to him on his travels. Well, they got to the
place where the bear had scared them, but when
they looked up on the rock no Jack-in-the-Pulpit
<SPAN name='Page_137'></SPAN>was to be seen, and there was no sign of the
grasshopper.</p>
<div class='figcenter id001'>
<ANTIMG src='images/p134.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
<div class='ic002'>
<p>Uncle Wiggily and the Monkey</p>
</div>
</div>
<p class='c009'>"I'm sure it was here that the grasshopper
made his jump," said Uncle Wiggily, looking
carefully about.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes," said Jackie, "but there is no Jack-in-the-Pulpit
on this rock at all."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Here is a pile of dirt, though," spoke Peetie.
"Perhaps there is a bone under it. Let's dig,
Jackie."</p>
<p class='c009'>So those two puppy dogs dug in the earth
while Uncle Wiggily looked all around for the
grasshopper. Then, all of a sudden, Peetie cried
out:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh! Look here! The Jack-in-the-Pulpit is
under this pile of earth! The top is just sticking
out. Now, we'll find the hoppergrass."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I see how it is," said the rabbit. "When
the bear ran away so fast from Jackie's wooden
gun the toenails of the savage creature scattered
up the earth, and it went in a shower all over
the Jack where the grasshopper was hidden. No
wonder we couldn't find him, for he was buried.
But please dig very carefully, Peetie and
Jackie, or you might scratch him with your
paws."</p>
<p class='c009'>"We will be careful," said Jackie. So he and
his brother dug and dug, until the Jack-in-the-Pulpit
<SPAN name='Page_138'></SPAN>was almost uncovered. Then they didn't
dig any more, but, with their tails, which were
like dusting brushes, they dashed off the earth
very gently, until the plant was all clear, and out
popped the grasshopper, not a bit harmed,
though he was somewhat frightened.</p>
<p class='c009'>"My! I thought I'd never get out!" exclaimed
the jumping chap, taking a long breath,
and blowing the dust off his legs.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then he was introduced to Jackie Bow-Wow,
whom he had not met before, and the four friends
trudged along the road together. Pretty soon
they came to the house of Grandpa Bark, and
the old gentleman dog was very glad to see
Peetie, who had been lost, and had stayed away
all night.</p>
<p class='c009'>"And I am very glad to see you also, Uncle
Wiggily," said Grandpa Bark, "and likewise
the grasshopper. Come in and have something
to eat, and stay awhile to rest yourself."</p>
<p class='c009'>So Uncle Wiggily did this, and after a bit he
said:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, now, I must be off once more to seek
my fortune. When I find it I am going back
home, and I hope that soon comes to pass, for I
am tired of traveling about."</p>
<p class='c009'>So he said good-by to Peetie and Jackie Bow-Wow,
and he and the grasshopper hopped off together.
<SPAN name='Page_139'></SPAN>On and on they went, over the hills and
dales, through the woods and fields, and pretty
soon they came to a place in the woods where
there was a big box. It was almost as large as a
small house, and it had a front door to it, but
no windows. The front door was open and over
it was a card reading:</p>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c011'>
<div><span class='large'>"COME IN, IF YOU WANT TO."</span></div>
</div></div>
<p class='c009'>"Ha, hum! I wonder if that means me?"
said Uncle Wiggily. "Perhaps I may find my
fortune in there. I'm going inside."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I wouldn't if I were you," spoke the grasshopper.
"It may be a trap."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Nonsensicalness!" exclaimed the old gentleman
rabbit, quick-like. "Come along. We'll
go in."</p>
<p class='c009'>So he and the grasshopper went inside, but no
sooner had they entered, than slam-bang! down
came the sliding door with a crash, catching them
fast there just like mice in a trap.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, what did I tell you!" cried the grasshopper,
sadly. "This is a trap! We're in it."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes, I see we are," spoke Uncle Wiggily,
much puzzled. "It was all my fault. I should
have been more careful."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Never mind," said the grasshopper, kindly,
<SPAN name='Page_140'></SPAN>as he wiped away his tears on a piece of green
leaf. "I see a crack between the boards that I
can crawl through. It is too small for you, but I
can get out, and I'll go for help."</p>
<p class='c009'>So out he crawled, leaving Uncle Wiggily
there. The old gentleman rabbit was thinking
of the dreadful things that might happen to him,
when, all of a sudden, he heard some one unlocking
the front door that had fallen shut.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I must see who that is!" whispered the rabbit
to himself. So he peered out of a crack, and
he saw something red and fuzzy-like at the door.
"Oh, it's a red bear!" thought the rabbit, and he
was looking for a place to hide, when all at once
the door opened and there stood a nice, kind red
monkey, with a red cap on.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I've got company, I see!" cried the red
monkey in delight. "I'm glad of that, Uncle
Wiggily. I've been waiting some time to see
you. How did you get here?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Isn't--isn't this a trap?" asked the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Not a bit of it!" cried the red monkey with a
jolly laugh. "This is my house. I went out this
morning and left the door open. It must have
blown shut by mistake. I'm sorry you were
frightened. Wait, I'll do some tricks to make
you laugh."</p>
<p class='c009'>So the red monkey stood on his nose, and then
<SPAN name='Page_141'></SPAN>on one ear, and then he made all the letters of the
alphabet on his tail, all except the letter "X,"
which is very hard for a monkey to make. Then
the monkey took two apple pies and made them
into one, and he and Uncle Wiggily ate it, and
my! how good it was. By this time the rabbit
wasn't frightened any more, and he told the red
monkey all about his travels to find a fortune.
And then the grasshopper came hopping back
with Old Dog Percival to help Uncle Wiggily
get out of the trap, but there wasn't any need,
for it was no trap at all, you see.</p>
<p class='c009'>So the red monkey and the dog and the grasshopper
and the old gentleman rabbit had a nice
time at the house of the red monkey, who told
them many stories, and one was how he came to
be colored red.</p>
<p class='c009'>I'll tell you about that as soon as I can, when,
in case the fishpole doesn't go out in the rain and
catch cold, the Bedtime Story will be about
Uncle Wiggily and the butterfly.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_142'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XX</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BUTTERFLY</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>"You have a very nice house here," said
Uncle Wiggily to the red monkey after they had
all sat down, and Old Dog Percival had been told
that there was no need to rescue his rabbit friend
from a trap.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes, it is a fine little house," said the red
monkey. "I built it away off in the woods so
as to be nice and quiet. You see I used to live
with the monkey who plays five hand organs at
once, but finally it got so that I couldn't stand
the music any longer, so I went off by myself and
made this little house."</p>
<p class='c009'>"But how did you happen to get splashed
with that lovely red color?" asked the grasshopper,
"that is if you will excuse me asking you
such a personal question."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Pray do not mention it, I beg of you," said
the red monkey as he tossed up a lump of coal
and caught it on his nose. "I will gladly tell you
<SPAN name='Page_143'></SPAN>how I became colored red. It was this way: I
was writing a letter to a friend of mine and I had
no more black ink left. I didn't know what to
do until I happened to think that out in the yard
back of my house on a bush were some red raspberries.
I gathered some of them and put them
in a teacup.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Then, with the potato-masher, I crushed
them all up until the red juice ran out. Then I
had the loveliest red ink you ever saw. But just
then a fly lit on the end of my nose. I went to
brush him off with the potato-masher when I happened
to hit the cup full of red juice by mistake.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, you can imagine what happened. The
raspberry juice splashed all over me until I
looked like a strawberry ice-cream cone, and I've
been red ever since."</p>
<p class='c009'>"It's a very fine color," said Uncle Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes," agreed the monkey with a sigh "but
sometimes it's quite a trouble. All the turkey
gobblers and the bulls in the fields chase me whenever
they see me, for they don't like red. I'm
thinking of taking some dandelions and coloring
myself yellow next year. But, now tell me of
your travels, Uncle Wiggily."</p>
<p class='c009'>So the old gentleman rabbit did so, mentioning
how he was searching for his fortune, but
<SPAN name='Page_144'></SPAN>couldn't find it. Then Percival told about when
he used to be in a circus and do tricks, and the
grasshopper told how he made his music by playing
the fiddle with his left hind leg, and then the
red monkey gave them all some chocolate-cocoanut
pudding and it was time to go to bed.</p>
<p class='c009'>Now, I have something sad to tell you, but
please don't get alarmed, for I'll make it come
out right at the end. In the middle of the night
poor Uncle Wiggily was taken ill. He had a
dreadful pain, and he was as hot with a fever
as a stove with a fire in it.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I am afraid you have been traveling about
too much," said the red monkey, as he lighted a
lamp and gave the rabbit a drink of cool water.
"We must have Dr. Possum see you in the
morning."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Perhaps I ate too much chocolate-cocoanut
pudding," said Uncle Wiggily. "Oh, how I
suffer, and how hot I am."</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, they did all they could for him by putting
his paws in mustard water and giving him
sweet spirits of nitre, but it didn't seem to do any
good.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes, he is a very sick rabbit," said Dr. Possum,
who came in the morning. "He ought to
be home in bed, but we can't move him now.
He'll have to stay here."</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_145'></SPAN>"Oh, the grasshopper and Old Dog Percival
and I will take good care of him," said the red
monkey, kindly.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes, I guess you will," agreed Dr. Possum.
So he left some bitter medicine for Uncle Wiggily
and the old gentleman rabbit took it without
even wrinkling up his nose--and it was very,
very bitter--the medicine I mean, and not his
nose.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, how hot I am!" cried Uncle Wiggily,
as the sun got higher and higher in the sky and
beat down on the house where the red monkey
lived. "I wish I had some ice." Then he fell
asleep.</p>
<p class='c009'>"We will see if we can't find some," said the
grasshopper, so he and the monkey and Old Dog
Percival started off to look for an ice-house,
leaving Uncle Wiggily asleep. Pretty soon he
awakened.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I wish I had an electric fan to cool me!"
cried the poor sick old gentleman rabbit. "Oh,
how hot I am! Oh, dear!"</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, he kept getting hotter and hotter, and
tossed to and fro on the bed, and he wished for
ice, and ice-cream cones and all such cool things
as those. Then, all of a sudden, when he was so
warm he couldn't seem to stand it any longer he
heard a little voice singing this song:</p>
<div class='lg-container-l c010'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><SPAN name='Page_146'></SPAN>"Away up North in the ice and snow,</div>
<div class='line in1'>That's the place for you to go.</div>
<div class='line in1'>Where wintry winds do always blow,</div>
<div class='line in1'>And the polar bear's on a big ice floe.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Where seals dive down in the icy sea,</div>
<div class='line in1'>Where it's far too cold for a bug like me,</div>
<div class='line in1'>Where snowflakes fall so you cannot see,</div>
<div class='line in1'>That is the place for you to be."</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I'm sure it is," cried poor Uncle Wiggily.
"I wish I was up there in the Arctic regions.
But I can't go. Oh, if I only had an electric
fan to cool me off!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'll be an electric fan for you," said the
voice, and turning his head, Uncle Wiggily
saw, perched on the window-sill, a beautiful big
butterfly, with red and yellow wings. Then the
splendid creature flew right up on the rabbit's
pillow, and began to wave his wings. Faster
and faster the butterfly's wings went until you
couldn't see them move--just like an electric fan.
And a cool breeze swept over poor, hot Uncle
Wiggily, and made him feel much better.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then the butterfly fluttered harder than ever,
and he sang another song about ice-cream
freezers and blizzards and snow and hail and
icebergs and polar bears and all cool things like
<SPAN name='Page_147'></SPAN>that, and he kept on fanning the rabbit with his
wings, and before he knew it Uncle Wiggily
went fast asleep again.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then, in a little while, the grasshopper and
the red monkey and Old Dog Percival came back
with some ice and they gave the rabbit a cool
drink, and the butterfly kept on fanning him.
And soon Dr. Possum came in, and he said:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, I do declare! Uncle Wiggily is all
well again. The butterfly with his cool wings
and cold songs has cured him."</p>
<p class='c009'>Then the rabbit thanked the beautiful winged
creature very kindly and got ready to go on
seeking his fortune again next day. He had
quite an adventure, too, and I'll tell it to you on
the next page, when, in case the little boy across
the street doesn't lose his mittens inside a watermelon
and freeze his rubber boots, the story will
be about Uncle Wiggily and roast potatoes.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_148'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XXI</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE POTATOES</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>"Well, how are you feeling this beautiful
morning, Uncle Wiggily?" asked the red monkey,
as he knocked on the door of a hollow stump
where the rabbit had spent the night. "Are you
all better?" the red monkey went on, as he took
a cocoanut out of his pocket and looked inside
the shell to see what time it was.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, yes, I am much better, thank you kindly
for asking," said the rabbit. "But how comes
it that you are here? I thought you were off in
the woods."</p>
<p class='c009'>"So I was," answered the monkey, as he nibbled
a little bit of the cocoanut. "But I came
here to keep you company and help you look for
your fortune."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! But where is my friend the grasshopper?"
asked Uncle Wiggily, sort of anxious-like.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, he had to hop away in the night to see
a sick cousin of his," spoke the red monkey, "and
<SPAN name='Page_149'></SPAN>on his way he jumped past my house and asked
me if I wouldn't come and stay with you while
he was gone. He said you might be lonesome.
So I came."</p>
<p class='c009'>"It is very kind of you, I'm sure," said the
rabbit. "I like company. I think I am all well
and strong again, for the butterfly, who pretended
he was an electric fan, made me nice and
cool and I am much better. I am ready to start
off now and look once more for my fortune.
Are you coming?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I am," said the red monkey, looking at his
tail to see if a pink cow had stepped on it. But
no pink cow was there, so after Uncle Wiggily
had put some cherry pie in his valise he and the
monkey started off together.</p>
<p class='c009'>And, on the way, the red monkey--who was
red, you know, because some red ink which he
made from raspberry juice splashed on him--this
red monkey, as he and Uncle Wiggily
walked along, tossed the cocoanut up in the air
and caught it as it came down. Sometimes the
monkey would catch the cocoanut in his left paw
and sometimes in his right, and again in his left
foot, and still again in his right foot. So altogether
he had quite an exciting time, you see.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, Uncle Wiggily looked on all sides for
his fortune, but he couldn't seem to find it. The
<SPAN name='Page_150'></SPAN>red monkey helped him, too, but it was of no use.
On and on they went, over the hills and through
the woods and across the fields, until finally they
came to a place where there were a whole lot of
stones made into a sort of a fireplace, as if some
boys had built it to play camp, and hunt the Indians,
only, of course, you know, there aren't
really any Indians to hunt any more.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Hum suz dud!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily,
as he sat down on a log, and looked at the stone
fireplace, "I wonder what this is for?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I don't know," said the monkey, as he made
the cocoanut whiz about like a merry-go-round,
"I don't know what it is for, but I should say it
was very lucky for us."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why so!" asked Uncle Wiggily, and he
wiped the dust off his red-white-and-blue-barber-pole
crutch on his fuzzy ears. "Why is this
lucky for us?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Because," answered the monkey, "here are
some potatoes growing in this field next door,
and here is a place to make a fire. It is nearly
dinner time, so there is nothing to stop us from
having some roast potatoes for our lunch."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Fine!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "I don't believe
the man who owns the potatoes will mind
if we take a few. I'll dig them with my paws,
and we'll cook some."</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_151'></SPAN>"And I'll make the fire," said the red monkey
as he looked about for a puddle of water. You
know, he wanted the water puddle to use as a
looking-glass, in order to see if any of the red
had come off him yet. But there was no water,
so he didn't bother, but instead he gathered the
wood, and soon he had made a fine fire in the
stone fireplace. Then along came Uncle Wiggily
with some potatoes which he had dug, and
they were put in to roast.</p>
<p class='c009'>My! how the fire did blaze when the monkey
kept putting sticks of wood on it. And how the
potatoes roasted and crackled there in the heat!
Oh, how nice they smelled, too! It makes me
hungry for some, and as soon as I finish this
story I'm going out and roast some just as Uncle
Wiggily did.</p>
<p class='c009'>But you children mustn't do it unless your
papa, or mamma, or big brother or sister is near,
in case any sparks got on you and burned you.
But the red monkey and Uncle Wiggily were
very careful. To be sure some smoke got in the
monkey's eyes, and he looked as if he were crying,
and some smoke got up Uncle Wiggily's
twinkling nose and made him sneeze, but they
didn't mind that.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I guess the potatoes are cooked now," said
the monkey after a while, and he took out on a
<SPAN name='Page_152'></SPAN>sharp-pointed stick a big potato and broke it
open. "Yes, it's done," he went on, as he saw
how mealy and flaky-white the potato was, even
if the outside was burned black. Then he and
Uncle Wiggily took out some more of the potatoes,
and when they were cool the two friends put
salt on them, and ate them all up. Then the
monkey played ball with his cocoanut again.</p>
<p class='c009'>And, all of a sudden, as he threw the cocoanut
quite high up in the air, it came down in the middle
of a prickly briar bush. Then, all at once,
there was a terrible roaring sound and a savage
voice cried out from the middle of the bushes:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Hi, there! Who is throwing stones at
me?"</p>
<p class='c009'>Then, before Uncle Wiggily or the red monkey
could move, out sprang the skillery-scalery
alligator with his double-jointed tail. Right at
the red monkey and poor Uncle Wiggily he
rushed, and he cried:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Who threw that stone?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Please, Mr. Alligator," said the monkey,
"it wasn't a stone. It was my cocoanut, and I
didn't mean to hurt you."</p>
<p class='c009'>"A cocoanut, eh?" roared the alligator. "So
much the worse for you! I'm going to eat you
both. Here I come! Get ready!"</p>
<p class='c009'>And with that he opened his mouth as wide as
<SPAN name='Page_153'></SPAN>a big paper bag, and fairly jumped for the red
monkey.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I'm gone, sure, this time!" cried the
monkey, sadly-like.</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, you're not!" shouted brave Uncle Wiggily.
"I'll save you!" And what do you s'pose
that rabbit gentleman did? Why, he just put on
a pair of gloves, as quickly as a cat can wash her
face on a rainy day, and he reached in the hot
ashes, and he pulled out three hot, roast potatoes.
Then, taking careful aim, he threw one
hot potato right into the alligator's open mouth,
which was as wide as two paper bags now, ready
to eat the red monkey.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, wow!" cried the alligator, as he felt the
hot potato slipping down his throat like a roast
marshmallow candy.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Wait, I'm not done yet," shouted the rabbit,
and he threw hot potato number two down
the alligator's throat.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Wow! Wow!" cried the skillery-scalery
creature as he felt the blistering heat on his
forty-'leven sharp teeth.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Wait! I have something more for you!" exclaimed
Uncle Wiggily, and then with slow and
careful aim, he threw hot roast potato number
three down the alligator's throat.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Wow! Wow! Wow!" yelled the skillery-scalery
<SPAN name='Page_154'></SPAN>creature, and then, fairly boiling inside,
he turned a big backward somersault, standing
up on the end of his double-jointed tail, and he
ran off to find some iced water with which to
cool himself.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! That's the time you saved my life with
the roast potatoes. They were just fine!" cried
the red monkey. Then he and Uncle Wiggily
traveled on, and the alligator didn't bother them
any more that day, being so busy drinking iced
water.</p>
<p class='c009'>But they had another adventure soon, and I'll
tell it to you a little later, when the story will be
about Uncle Wiggily and Buddy Pigg--that is
if the goldfish doesn't get caught in the mosquito
net and tear a hole in it for the June bugs
to come in and read the fly-paper.</p>
<div class='figcenter id001'>
<ANTIMG src='images/p152.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
<div class='ic002'>
<p>Uncle Wiggily and the Potatoes</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_155'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XXII</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND BUDDY PIGG</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>Uncle Wiggily and the red monkey were
going slowly along through the woods. It was
the day after the alligator had started to eat up
the little red monkey, but he had to stop when
the old gentleman rabbit threw hot roast potatoes
down his skillery-scalery throat.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Do you think you will find your fortune to-day?"
asked the monkey, as he tossed up a stone
and caught it as it came down. You see he had
lost the cocoanut he used to have that time when
it hit the alligator.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, I can't say for sure," replied Uncle
Wiggily. "I hope I may find some gold or diamonds,
so I can get rich and go back home. But
you can never tell what is going to happen in
this world, not even whether you are going to
have an ice-cream cone or not; no, indeed, and a
stick of peppermint candy besides."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I tell you what it is," said the red monkey,
slow and thoughtful-like, as he scratched his
<SPAN name='Page_156'></SPAN>stubby black nose with a piece of straw. "I
don't believe you have looked in the right places
for your fortune, Uncle Wiggily."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why, nonsensicalness!" exclaimed the old
gentleman rabbit. "I look in every place I can
think of. I look on the ground, and under
stones, and behind stumps, and down holes, and
alongside of rail fences. But I haven't found
any gold or diamonds yet."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Exactly," spoke the red monkey. "But did
you ever look up a tree for them?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Once I did," said the rabbit. "I threw up
a stone with some molasses and a string to it to
get some gold. But the stone went in an owl's
hole, I think. That's all the luck I ever had."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Then I'm going to look up some more trees
for you," went on the monkey. "I am a good
climber, and perhaps I may have better luck.
Hop along lively now and maybe we will find
your fortune before breakfast."</p>
<p class='c009'>So the two friends went along together, and
every once in a while the monkey would climb a
tree. The first one he scrambled up was a maple
tree, and he hoped he might find some maple
sugar hanging on the branches, but it wasn't
time for maple sugar. Anyhow, you remember
that this kind of sugar comes from the inside of
a tree and not the outside. They take the tree
<SPAN name='Page_157'></SPAN>juice and boil it in the spring of the year, you
know, and that makes maple sugar.</p>
<p class='c009'>The next tree the monkey went up was a
hickory nut tree, and there were some nuts on it,
but they weren't ripe yet, and when he ate one it
was so bitter that he had to make a funny face.
And Uncle Wiggily, who was on the ground,
happened to see the monkey's funny face, and
the old gentleman rabbit laughed so hard that he
dropped his valise.</p>
<p class='c009'>The valise came open and out fell a piece of
cherry pie, and when the monkey saw this he
laughed. He laughed so hard that he shook the
tree, and a whole lot of green hickory nuts fell
down, and two of them struck Uncle Wiggily on
the end of his twinkling nose, making him sneeze
forty-'leven times.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then the monkey was sorry, and he scrambled
to the ground without having found any gold or
diamond fortunes. He said he was sorry that
Uncle Wiggily was hurt.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Pray do not mention it," spoke the rabbit,
politely. "It was partly my fault. Let us hurry
on."</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, let's eat breakfast first," suggested the
monkey; so they sat down and ate the cherry
pie, after brushing off the dirt, and really it
wasn't damaged hardly any.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_158'></SPAN>Well, then they traveled on again, and the
next tree which the monkey climbed was a pine
tree, and on it were long pine cones, something
like brown bananas, but not very good to eat.
The monkey began picking them, and Uncle
Wiggily called out:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Have you found any fortune for me?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"No," said the red monkey, sadly, "I haven't,
but we can have a game of baseball with these
cones when I come down. Look out, I'm going
to toss some to you."</p>
<p class='c009'>Uncle Wiggily got safely out of the way behind
a big stone, and the red monkey tossed down
a number of the long, brown pine cones. And
just as the first of them were nearing the ground
a most surprising thing happened. Out from
the woods came a big black bear, and he walked
toward the tree in which the monkey was, just
in time to be hit on the end of his soft and tender
nose by the sharp pine cones which the monkey
threw.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Wow!" cried the bear. "Who did that?"</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, of course, Uncle Wiggily wasn't going
to say that he had done it, for he hadn't, so the
rabbit just crouched down behind the rock, and
waited to see what would happen.</p>
<p class='c009'>And the monkey hadn't seen the bear, so he
threw down some more pine cones, and land
<SPAN name='Page_159'></SPAN>sakes flopsy dub and a potato pancake! one of
the cones hit the bear on his soft nose again!</p>
<p class='c009'>"Wow! Wow!" cried the bear once more.
"Who did that?"</p>
<p class='c009'>And this time he happened to look up, and
there he saw the poor red monkey up in the pine
tree.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ah, ha! It's you, is it?" growled the bear.
"Now, just for that I'm going to climb up there
and eat you."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, please don't!" begged the monkey.
"It was all a mistake. I didn't mean to do it!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, there won't be any mistake about
this!" growled the bear. "Here I come!"
And up he climbed, for bears can climb a tree
better than can a cat.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, you can just imagine how scared that
monkey was. He was so frightened that he
didn't think to run to the top of the pine tree,
and jump into another, so he could get away.
Instead he just sat there on a limb, shivering.
And Uncle Wiggily was also frightened as he
hid behind the stone.</p>
<p class='c009'>"The poor monkey will be eaten up," thought
the rabbit, "and it will be my fault, because he
was looking for my fortune. Oh! what can I
do?"</p>
<p class='c009'>And just then Uncle Wiggily heard a rustling
<SPAN name='Page_160'></SPAN>in the leaves at his feet. He jumped back,
thinking it might be a little baby bear, but, instead
out pounced a tiny brown and white chap
without any tail.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why, Buddy Pigg!" exclaimed the rabbit.
"How does it happen that you are here?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'm just walking about for exercise," said
the guinea-pig boy, for he it was. "But what is
the trouble, Uncle Wiggily?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"The bear is going to eat up the red monkey,"
said the old gentleman rabbit, sadly. "Look!"</p>
<p class='c009'>Buddy Pigg looked, and by this time the bear
had almost climbed up to where the monkey was
sitting and shivering.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I must stop that!" exclaimed Buddy.
"Wait a minute and watch. You know how I
can whistle, don't you? so listen."</p>
<p class='c009'>Now, you know all guinea pigs can make a
funny, squeaking noise just like some one whistling,
and that's exactly what Buddy did. He
whistled loudly and he whistled softly through
his teeth. Then he whistled double and single
and next he whistled like a man calling to his
dog.</p>
<p class='c009'>And that's exactly what the bear thought it
was--a man whistling for the dogs to come and
bite the bear. Louder whistled Buddy through
his teeth, hiding down behind the rock with
<SPAN name='Page_161'></SPAN>Uncle Wiggily, and the bear was very much
frightened.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I guess the dogs are coming for me!" the
bear exclaimed, and he stopped climbing up the
tree. Then he called to the monkey: "I'll get
you some other time." Then the bear slid down
the tree and ran off in the woods, while Buddy
whistled louder than ever. And then the monkey
came safely down, and he wasn't eaten by
the bear, after all, and that's all to this story, if
you please.</p>
<p class='c009'>The next one will be about Uncle Wiggily
and Munchie Trot, the pony boy--that is if the
automobile horn doesn't stick in the lace curtains
and scare the fish cakes so that they bite the
mashed potatoes.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_162'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XXIII</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND MUNCHIE TROT</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>"Weren't you frightened when you were up
in the tree and the bear was coming after you?"
asked Buddy Pigg of the red monkey, as he and
Uncle Wiggily were walking along, after the adventure
that I told you about last night.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Frightened? I should say I was!" exclaimed
the monkey. "I thought I'd never get down
again to help look for Uncle Wiggily's fortune.
I never can thank you enough for whistling and
scaring that savage bear. How do you do it?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, it is very simple," said the guinea pig
boy, as he modestly looked down at the ground.
"It's this way."</p>
<p class='c009'>Then he whistled through his teeth again,
slowly and faster, just to show how it was done.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I wish I could learn how to do that," said the
monkey. "If I ever get caught up a tree again
by a bear I could whistle for myself, and make
believe some hunter's dogs were coming to help
me."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'll show you," said Buddy Pigg, and he told
<SPAN name='Page_163'></SPAN>the monkey how to put his tongue against his
teeth and how to blow through his lips. Well,
the red monkey tried it, and he tried again, but he
couldn't seem to whistle.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Perhaps if I stand on my head I could do
better," he said, and in a moment there he was
standing on his head and trying to whistle upside
down. But still he couldn't do it.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Try hanging by your tail," suggested Buddy
Pigg, and the little red chap did so, but still it
was of no use. He hung there by his tail so long
that Uncle Wiggily was afraid the monkey's
head might fall off, so he made him get down.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then the red chap tried again and again, but
he couldn't whistle a bit, and at last the old gentleman
rabbit said:</p>
<p class='c009'>"I believe I know what the trouble is."</p>
<p class='c009'>"What?" asked Buddy.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why, you see you have no tail, Buddy, and
you are a good whistler," went on the rabbit, for
you know it's really so--guinea pigs have no
tails--though I'm not allowed to tell you the
reason just yet.</p>
<p class='c009'>"You have no tail, and you are a good whistler,"
said the rabbit again, "but the monkey has
a long tail, and he can't seem to whistle a bit.
The tail must make all the difference. Just cut
off your tail, red monkey, and you'll whistle."</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_164'></SPAN>"Yes, I guess I would!" exclaimed the monkey,
surprised-like. "I'd cry too, and feel very
badly. No, if I have to lose my tail to whistle
I'll never do it. I know what I can do instead."</p>
<p class='c009'>"What?" asked Buddy Pigg.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I can hire a green parrot to whistle for me,"
said the monkey. "Parrots can whistle for real
or make-believe dogs as good as a man can. I'll
take a parrot with me, and he'll scare the bears."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Very good," said Uncle Wiggily, "for I
would not like to see you lose your tail."</p>
<p class='c009'>So, the three friends traveled on for some distance
until it was time for Buddy Pigg to go
home. And with him Uncle Wiggily sent his
love to all his friends and to Sammie and Susie
Littletail also.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, we don't seem to be finding your fortune
very fast," spoke the red monkey after they
had climbed up one hill, and part of another one,
and had looked under a lot of stones and behind
several stumps.</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, I guess we won't find it to-day," said the
rabbit. It was now getting on toward afternoon,
and Uncle Wiggily began thinking of where he
would spend the night.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I know what to do," said the red monkey.
"I'll make a little house here in the woods, and
we'll stay in that. We'll build a fire, and make
<SPAN name='Page_165'></SPAN>believe we are camping out. And, while I am
making the house out of sticks and leaves, you
can walk around and look for your fortune."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Very good," said the old gentleman rabbit,
and so he started off, leaving the monkey to make
the house in the woods. Uncle Wiggily walked
on and on, but he didn't find his fortune, and it
was getting rather late. He was just about to
start back to where he had left the red monkey,
when all of a sudden he heard a crying in the
woods.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! I know what that is!" exclaimed the
rabbit. "That is a baby fox, and near him is the
old papa fox, who wants to catch and eat me. I'll
not go near him, but I'll hurry home."</p>
<p class='c009'>So he started toward the monkey's house, but
the crying became louder, and the rabbit thought
that perhaps, after all, it might not be a baby fox.
And then, before he could twinkle his nose more
than seven times, there was a rustling in the
bushes, and out came a little boy squirrel. One
of his legs was broken, and he was limping along
on a piece of wood for a crutch.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, you poor little fellow!" cried the rabbit.
"You look just like Billie or Johnny Bushytail
after a football game. What has happened?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, a boy threw a stone at me, and hurt
me!" answered the little squirrel. "I'm lost and
<SPAN name='Page_166'></SPAN>I can't walk home, and I don't know what to
do."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'll help you," spoke Uncle Wiggily, kindly,
but when he tried to, he found that his own rheumatism
was so bad that he could hardly move.
And the little boy squirrel was so stiff that he
could barely walk, and there they were, both in
the woods, with night coming on, and no way to
get home.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, what shall we do?" cried Uncle Wiggily,
and he wished the monkey would come
along. And just then, if you will believe me,
there was another rustling in the bushes, and out
galloped Munchie Trot, the strong pony boy.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! What is the trouble here?" he asked,
switching his tail, just like a wooden horse on the
merry-go-round.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, we are both so lame that we can't walk,"
said Uncle Wiggily, "and we are a long way
from the monkey's house. What shall we do?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes!" cried the little lame squirrel boy,
"Boo-hoo! Hoo-boo what shall we do?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Don't say another word!" cried Munchie.
"I'll take care of you. Just get on my back and
I'll soon take you to the monkey's house in the
woods." Then the pony boy knelt down so that
Uncle Wiggily and the squirrel could get up on
his back.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_167'></SPAN>And when they got there and the cupboard was
bare--oh, please excuse me, that belongs in another
story--when they got up on Munchie's
back and were holding tightly to the saddle, off
the pony boy started through the woods, galloping
to the monkey's house.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then a whole lot of mosquitoes swarmed out of
the bushes and tried to bite Uncle Wiggily and
the squirrel, but Munchie switched his tail at the
stinging insects, and away they scattered.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then a big owl flew down out of a tree and
tried to grab the squirrel, but the pony trotted
so fast that the owl was left behind. And next
a wolf tried to pull the rabbit off the horse, but
Munchie tickled the savage creature in the ribs
with his hoof, and the wolf ran away, sneezing.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then the pony came safely to the house that
the monkey had built in the woods, and he and
Uncle Wiggily and the squirrel stayed there in
peace and quietness all night, and they put some
salve and a bandage on the squirrel's hurt leg to
make it well.</p>
<p class='c009'>And the next day there was another adventure.
I'll tell you what it was on the next page, when
the story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the
green parrot--that is, if the piano key doesn't
unlock the front door and let in a red, white and
blue mosquito to bite the baby's toes.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_168'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XXIV</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE PARROT</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>Uncle Wiggily was the first one to awaken
in the little house that the monkey had built in
the woods. It was the morning after the day
when Munchie Trot had brought the rabbit and
the little squirrel boy home on his back.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, my rheumatism is somewhat better to-day,"
said the old gentleman rabbit to himself as
he stretched out first one leg and then the other
to see if they hurt him. He didn't have much
pain, so he started to make the fire to boil the
coffee.</p>
<p class='c009'>And some of the wood which he put on the fire
was wet so that it smoked. And the smoke got
up the monkey's nose, and made him sneeze, so
that he was awakened, and he helped to get the
breakfast in a hurry.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then, in turn, Munchie Trot woke up, and
next the squirrel boy. His leg hurt him very
much, but Uncle Wiggily and the monkey bound
it up with some splints, and some soft bark, tying
<SPAN name='Page_169'></SPAN>it with ribbon grass, and then they all had breakfast,
and felt better.</p>
<p class='c009'>"But how am I to get home?" asked the little
squirrel boy. "My mamma and papa will worry
about me, I know."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, as to that," said Munchie Trot, switching
his long tail to keep the flies off the breakfast
table, "I will take you home on my back."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Very good," said Uncle Wiggily, "and I
will go a little way with you, and come back here.
Perhaps I may find part of my fortune in that
way."</p>
<p class='c009'>"That's nice," spoke the red monkey, "and
I'll stay here and get dinner. And, say, Uncle
Wiggily, if you happen to see a green parrot just
bring him along to whistle for me."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I will," promised the old gentleman rabbit.
Then he helped the little lame squirrel boy up on
the pony's back, and off Munchie started with
Uncle Wiggily hopping alongside. The rabbit
looked for his fortune, but he couldn't find it, and
pretty soon he had come as far as he thought he
ought to go, so he said he would start back.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Good-by," called the lame squirrel boy, "and
thank you so much for being kind to me. Perhaps
you may find your fortune on your way
back."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Or, if you don't find that," spoke Munchie,
<SPAN name='Page_170'></SPAN>as he waved good-by with his long tail, "perhaps
you will find the green parrot."</p>
<p class='c009'>Then Uncle Wiggily hopped back toward
where he had left the monkey getting dinner at
the little house in the woods. And, just as the
old gentleman rabbit was passing under a butternut
tree, he heard a voice singing this little song:</p>
<div class='lg-container-l c010'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Oh, I'm a jolly, jolly sailor lad,</div>
<div class='line in1'>I sail the ocean blue.</div>
<div class='line in1'>And if you're glad, and not very bad,</div>
<div class='line in1'>I'd like to sail with you.</div>
<div class='line in1'>Oh, it's yo-ho-ho when the wind does blow,</div>
<div class='line in1'>And the waves run mountains high.</div>
<div class='line in1'>We will skip along and sing a song</div>
<div class='line in1'>Beneath the bright blue sky.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Oh, once I lived in a big wire cage,</div>
<div class='line in1'>In a house upon a hill.</div>
<div class='line in1'>For birds like me were the style you see,</div>
<div class='line in1'>Though I sometimes felt quite ill.</div>
<div class='line in1'>I had seeds to eat, in a seed dish neat,</div>
<div class='line in1'>But they didn't agree with me,</div>
<div class='line in1'>So I flew away on a rainy day,</div>
<div class='line in1'>To live in a greenwood tree."</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p class='c009'>"My, that's rather strange," said Uncle Wiggily.
"I don't see how a sailor lad could live in
<SPAN name='Page_171'></SPAN>a cage, nor yet perch in a tree. I must look into
this. Perhaps it may be the beginning of my
fortune."</p>
<p class='c009'>So he crept along very softly, and there,
perched on the limb of a tree, was a nice green
parrot, scratching his crooked beak with his left
foot.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! How do you do? How are the oysters?
Have you been in swimming? Pass the crackers,
please. Right this way for your hot ice-cream
cones!" quickly cried the green parrot in a shrill
voice.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well of all things!" exclaimed the rabbit.
"I am pretty well, thank you, but I don't know
anything about oysters, and I haven't been in
swimming. I don't see any crackers to pass, and,
as for hot ice-cream cones, I never heard of
them."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! Ha!" laughed the parrot. "Never
mind me. That was only my joking way. But
I'm glad to see you anyhow. I was only fooling
about hot ice-cream cones. Listen and I'll whistle
a song for you," and then and there, without
even wiggling his tail once, he whistled a song
called: "Never Drop a Penny Down a Crack
in the Boardwalk."</p>
<p class='c009'>"How do you like that?" asked the parrot as
he stood on one leg and stretched out his wings.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_172'></SPAN>"It was very fine," said the rabbit. "And I
believe you are just what I am looking for. Will
you kindly come and whistle for the monkey, so
the bears won't catch him?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I certainly will," spoke the parrot, politely.
"Show me the way. I am very fond of monkeys.
I used to know one who could play five hand
organs at once--one with his tail."</p>
<p class='c009'>"This is a red monkey, and he is a friend of
the hand organ one," said Uncle Wiggily, as he
hopped on ahead to show the green parrot the
way.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, pretty soon, not so very long, they came
near to the place where the little house was.
They heard a curious hissing noise, like a steam
radiator sissing in cold weather.</p>
<p class='c009'>"My! What's that? A snake?" asked the
parrot, in alarm. Uncle Wiggily looked through
the bushes. Then he laughed.</p>
<p class='c009'>"It is only the monkey trying to whistle," said
the rabbit, "but he can't do it."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Poor fellow!" spoke the green parrot kindly.
"I'll whistle for him," and he did so. At first the
monkey was frightened, thinking some real dogs
were coming at the sound of the whistle, but
then Uncle Wiggily and the parrot popped out
of the bushes, laughing, and they told the monkey
who they were, the rabbit explaining that
<SPAN name='Page_173'></SPAN>the parrot had come to whistle and scare the bears
away.</p>
<p class='c009'>"It's very kind of you," said the red monkey,
"and perhaps in time I may learn to whistle a
little myself. But come now and have dinner."</p>
<p class='c009'>So the monkey and the parrot and Uncle Wiggily
ate their lunch and in the afternoon they all
looked for the old gentleman's fortune, but they
couldn't find it. And that night something very
strange happened as they were all sleeping in the
little house which the monkey had built in the
woods.</p>
<p class='c009'>It was all dark and quiet when, all of a sudden,
the fuzzy fox sneaked up. He broke open
the front window, and he was just crawling in
through the hole to eat up the rabbit when the
parrot was quickly awakened by feeling the wind
blowing on him through the broken glass. Then
he saw the burglar fox, and he whistled for the
make-believe dogs and cried out:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Fire! Thieves! Police! Bean-soup! Trolley
Cars! Ice-cream cones! Robbers! Get out
of here! Take your tail with you! Police! Mud
pies! Cocoanut pudding! Merry-go-rounds!
Look out! Fire! Fish hooks! Automobiles!
Bang-bang! Whoop-de-doodle-do!"</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, if you'll believe me, that fuzzy fox was
never so frightened in all his life before. He
<SPAN name='Page_174'></SPAN>thought a whole lot of soldiers, and guns, and
dogs, and police were after him, and he jumped
out of the window and ran off as fast as his legs
would take him. Then Uncle Wiggily and the
green parrot and the red monkey went to sleep
again, and there's no more to this story, as you
can see for yourself.</p>
<p class='c009'>But in case the umbrella doesn't turn outside
in, and scare the spoon holder off the table and
make the napkins jump over the sugar bowl, the
next story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the
hippity-hop toad.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_175'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XXV</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE HOPTOAD</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>"Dear me!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily as he
got out of bed the morning after the green parrot
had scared away the fuzzy fox, "I do seem to
be having the most surprising adventures, but I
can't find my fortune. Anyhow, I'm glad we
had the parrot with us last night; aren't you, red
monkey?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Indeed I am," declared the little chap with
the long tail. "And perhaps he will bring us
good luck, and you may come across your fortune
at any moment. Why don't you go look for
it while I take my whistling lesson?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Are you going to try again to whistle?"
asked the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Indeed I am," replied the monkey. "I'm
not going to give up just because I can't do a
thing the first time or the forty-'leventh time.
If it's possible for me to whistle I'm going to
learn."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Bravo!" cried the parrot, fluttering his
<SPAN name='Page_176'></SPAN>green wings. "That's the way to talk. Well,
now we'll have breakfast, and after that I'll give
you a whistling lesson, but first I must sing a
song." So he sang this one:</p>
<div class='lg-container-l c010'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Once there was a dollie,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Who could shut her eyes,</div>
<div class='line'>They were blue like buttercups,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Under summer skies.</div>
<div class='line'>She had hair like roses,</div>
<div class='line in4'>And her teeth were red,</div>
<div class='line'>Sometimes when she walked along</div>
<div class='line in3'>She stood on her head.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"Inside her was sawdust,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Fine as fine could be,</div>
<div class='line'>Made from sawing little boards</div>
<div class='line in4'>That grew in a tree.</div>
<div class='line'>She could walk on tiptoes,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Also skip a rope,</div>
<div class='line'>Every Sunday morning she</div>
<div class='line in4'>Washed her face with soap."</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p class='c009'>"My! That was a funny doll, with red teeth
and hair like roses," said the monkey. "I wonder
if she was any relation to me?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"And who ever heard of blue buttercups?"
<SPAN name='Page_177'></SPAN>asked the rabbit. "Buttercups are yellow!
Every one knows that."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I know," said the parrot. "You see there
really wasn't ever any such dollie--I just made
up that song as I went along. But now for
breakfast. Yo, ho! Ho, yo!"</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, it was a nice breakfast they all had together
in the little house the monkey had built,
and when it was over the parrot started on the
whistling lesson. Uncle Wiggily watched the
monkey for a time, and saw the long-tailed chap
turn a double back somersault when he found he
couldn't whistle any other way. But even that
didn't seem to do any good.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Never mind," said the parrot, kindly; "you
may learn yet. Never give up!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'll not," said the monkey.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, I think I will go off and see if I can
find my fortune," said Uncle Wiggily. "I'll
come back to dinner," and off he hopped, looking
on all sides for gold or diamonds so that he could
get rich and go back home to live in peace and
comfort.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, the old gentleman rabbit hadn't gone on
very far before he came to a place where there
was a hole in the ground, and in front of it was
a sign, which read:</p>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c011'>
<div><SPAN name='Page_178'></SPAN><span class='large'>"HOP DOWN HERE AND GET</span></div>
<div><span class='large'>RICH."</span></div>
</div></div>
<p class='c009'>"Ah, ha!" exclaimed the rabbit. "Indeed,
I'll not do that. There must be a bad fox or a
bear down there. I'll keep away." So he
hopped on very quickly, and a voice called out
after him:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Aren't you coming down and get rich?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, I'm not!" answered the rabbit, as he
looked back and saw a savage mud turtle sticking
his long neck and snaky head out of the hole.
Then the rabbit kept on, and he went so fast that
the turtle couldn't catch up to him.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, the next place he came to was a little
pond of water, and in front of this was a piece
of paper on which was written:</p>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c011'>
<div><span class='large'>"JUMP IN HERE AND GET RICH."</span></div>
</div></div>
<p class='c009'>"Ah, ha! No, indeed!" exclaimed Uncle
Wiggily, foxy-like. "They can't catch me that
way! There is probably an alligator in that
pond."</p>
<p class='c009'>So away he ran as fast as he could go, and a
voice cried after him:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Aren't you coming in?" And, looking back,
he saw a big, savage water rat.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_179'></SPAN>"No, indeed; I'm not coming in," said the old
gentleman rabbit, and he hurried on, while the
water rat gnashed his sharp teeth, because he
was so disappointed at not catching the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, the next place Uncle Wiggily came to
was a big, bright, tin can standing beside the
path that led through the woods.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! I wonder what that can be?" thought
the rabbit. "Perhaps there is a sign on it telling
me to climb in and get rich." So he looked
all around the tin can, but there was no sign.
"That must be a safe place," thought the rabbit.
"It may be full of gold or diamonds. I'm
going to have a look in."</p>
<p class='c009'>He tried to climb up the sides of the can, but
they were too smooth, so he got some long sticks
and some short ones, and, by tying them together
with ribbon grass, Uncle Wiggily made a little
ladder. Then, by standing this up against
the tin can, he could climb up and look in.</p>
<p class='c009'>When he first looked over the top of the can
he couldn't see anything. Then he leaned away
far over, and the first thing he knew, in he had
fallen ker-splash! and the can was full of molasses--yes,
there poor Uncle Wiggily was in a
can of molasses and he was so stuck up that he
didn't know what to do.</p>
<p class='c009'>He tried to swim out, but the molasses was
<SPAN name='Page_180'></SPAN>too thick. And he kept sinking deeper and
deeper.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, dear! What shall I do?" he cried. "I
can never get out!"</p>
<p class='c009'>And then, all of a sudden, a voice outside the
can called:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Who are you, and what is the trouble?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, please help me," begged the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I will," said the voice again. "I am the
hippity-hop toad, and I am going to take that
can up on my back, and hippity-hop up and
down with it until I turn all the molasses into
molasses candy, and then you can climb out
on that. Hold fast, please."</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, Uncle Wiggily held fast, and the first
thing he knew the can in which he was a prisoner
gave a lurch and a swaying motion, and then it
almost turned upside down, and then he knew it
must be up on the back of the hippity-hop toad.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then, my goodness! I wish you could have
seen that toad hop. Up and down he went like
the dasher in a churn, or like a steam pump.
Up and down! Up and down, faster and faster!
The molasses splashed all over and some got up
Uncle Wiggily's nose and some in his eyes, and
it was all he could do to hold on to the sides of
the can. But somehow he managed it.</p>
<p class='c009'>But pretty soon the molasses got thicker and
<SPAN name='Page_181'></SPAN>thicker, and then it began to get harder and
harder, and pretty soon it was turned into sticks
of molasses candy. Then Uncle Wiggily took
these candy sticks and made a ladder of them,
and when the hippity-hop toad set down the can
off his back the rabbit climbed up the inside of
it on his candy ladder, went down his wooden
ladder outside the can and he was safe.</p>
<p class='c009'>Of course he had lots of spots of molasses on
him, but the toad showed him where there was
a brook of water in which he washed himself.
Then he thanked the hippity-hop toad and went
back to the monkey house, though still without
his fortune.</p>
<p class='c009'>Now in the next story, in case the mucilage
bottle doesn't upset on the doormat and make
the letterman stick fast to it so he can't whistle,
I'll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and the angle
worms.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_182'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XXVI</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE WORMS</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>"Well, where in the world have you been?"
asked the red monkey of Uncle Wiggily, as the
old gentleman rabbit hopped along after he had
gotten out of the molasses can.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I had an adventure," replied the rabbit,
and he told how the hippity-hop toad had saved
him from the sticky stuff. "But can you
whistle yet, red monkey?" asked Uncle Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, he doesn't seem to be able to do it,"
spoke the green parrot, in a sort of sad and hopeless
tone. "Every time he tries to whistle he
puckers his face up in such a funny way that I
have to laugh, and when I laugh I can't whistle.
Can't you keep your face straight, so I won't
have to giggle?" asked the green bird, solemn-like.</p>
<div class='figcenter id001'>
<ANTIMG src='images/p180.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
<div class='ic002'>
<p>Uncle Wiggily and the Alligator</p>
</div>
</div>
<p class='c009'>"I can't seem to," replied the monkey, and he
made another effort to whistle, but he puckered
<SPAN name='Page_183'></SPAN>up such a funny face, and his tail got all tied up
in a hard knot, and he looked so queer that even
Uncle Wiggily had to laugh.</p>
<p class='c009'>"You see how it is," said the parrot. "I
can't give whistling lessons and laugh at the
same time," and then he had to laugh "Ha!
Ha!" and "Ho! Ho!" because you see the
monkey made another queer face trying to get
the knots out of his tail.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I think I have a plan," said Uncle Wiggily
after a bit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"What is it?" asked the monkey.</p>
<p class='c009'>"You must get behind a tree, red monkey,"
said the rabbit. "Then the parrot can tell you
how to whistle, and give you a lesson without seeing
the funny faces you make. Then he can
whistle, to show you how, and he won't have to
laugh."</p>
<p class='c009'>"The very thing!" cried the parrot. So they
tried that way, and they got along quite nicely.
Well, by that time it was the dinner hour, and,
after the meal, Uncle Wiggily said he would go
out again to look for his fortune, and would come
back to supper.</p>
<p class='c009'>"But don't fall into any more molasses
cans," cautioned the monkey, and the rabbit
gentleman said he would not. Away Uncle
Wiggily hopped over the hills, across the fields
<SPAN name='Page_184'></SPAN>and through the woods. Pretty soon he came
to a pile of nice brown dirt.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha, some one has been digging here,"
thought the rabbit. "Perhaps some one else is
also looking for a fortune of gold or diamonds.
If that is so I had better dig here, too."</p>
<p class='c009'>So, with his sharp paws, the rabbit began to
dig in the dirt near the pile of earth. Faster and
faster he dug until, all of a sudden, he saw something
moving in the hole he had made.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! I wonder if there is moving-gold
here?" he thought.</p>
<p class='c009'>But when he looked again he saw that it was
only a little angleworm, or earth worm, as some
people call them, who was crawling out to sun
himself.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I hope I haven't hurt you!" exclaimed
Uncle Wiggily, kindly, as he lifted up the worm
gently in his paws.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Not a bit of it," answered the worm, twisting
about to see if his tail was all there. "But
I'm glad you're not a fisherman, Mr. Rabbit."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why so?" asked Uncle Wiggily, as he shook
some dirt out of his left ear.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Because if you were you might stick me on
a sharp hook and toss me into the water for the
fish to eat. Nothing is worse than to have a hook
stuck into you," said the worm, moving around
<SPAN name='Page_185'></SPAN>until he was in two knots. Then he untied himself
again.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I should think hooks might be unpleasant,"
spoke the rabbit. "But I won't hurt you, and
here is a bit of cherry pie for you."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Thank you, most kindly," said the angle
worm, as he sat up on the end of his tail and ate
the cherry pie, juice and all. "But why are you
digging in the earth, Uncle Wiggily?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"To find my fortune," answered the rabbit, and
he told how long he had been looking for gold or
diamonds and how he hadn't found any yet. "Is
there any gold down under the ground where
you live?" asked the rabbit, sad-like.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Not a bit, I'm sorry to say," answered the
worm. "I live down there with numbers of my
friends, but there is no gold. You had better
dig somewhere else. But you have been very
kind to me, and if ever I can do you a favor I
will."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Thank you," said Uncle Wiggily, so he
hopped out of the hole he had made, and, after
saying good-bye to the worm, he traveled on to
find another place where he might dig for his
fortune.</p>
<p class='c009'>He came to a place in the woods, where the
ground was nice and soft, and there he started to
make another hole. Well, he hadn't gone down
<SPAN name='Page_186'></SPAN>very far before, all of a sudden, he heard a growling
voice behind him calling out:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Here! Who said you could dig in my
land?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I beg your pardon. Is this your land?"
asked the rabbit, and he looked up to see the skillery-scalery
alligator glaring down at him.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes, this is my land, and these are my woods,
and because you were so bold as to dig here I'm
going to eat you up!" shouted the 'gator, lashing
his double-jointed tail around in the dried
leaves. "Here I come!" he cried.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then he made a dive, with his big, wide-open
jaws, down into the hole Uncle Wiggily had
dug, but the rabbit didn't wait for him. Out he
jumped, and away he hopped, and the 'gator
crawled after him. Faster and faster ran the
rabbit, and faster and faster came the alligator.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I know he'll catch me!" thought poor
Uncle Wiggily. "Oh, help! Will no one help
me?" he cried.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes, we'll help you!" called a little voice on
the ground, and, looking down the rabbit saw the
angle worm. And, crawling along with him
were about a million other worms, some larger
and some smaller than he. "Run along as fast
as you can," said the first angle worm, "and
we'll twine ourselves in knots around the alligator's
<SPAN name='Page_187'></SPAN>legs so that he can't chase you any more.
Run! Run!"</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, you may be sure Uncle Wiggily ran as
hard as he could.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'll get you!" cried the alligator, and he
made a jump after the rabbit, but it was the last
jump the skillery-scalery creature made that
day. For the next instant those million angle
worms just tied themselves in hard knots, and
sailor knots, and bow knots, and double knots,
and true lovers' knots and all sorts of knots
around the tail and legs of the alligator, and he
couldn't move another inch.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Now's your chance! Hop away, Uncle
Wiggily!" cried the first worm. "We'll hold
the alligator here because you were so kind to
me."</p>
<p class='c009'>And the rabbit hopped safely away, and the
ugly 'gator couldn't even wiggle his double-jointed
tail. Then, when the rabbit was safe at
the monkey's house, all the angle worms untied
their knots off the alligator, and they scurried
down into the ground before he could bite them.
So that's how it all happened, just as true as I'm
telling you. And that 'gator was so angry that
he almost bit a piece out of his own tail. Then
he went off in the woods and wasn't seen again
for some time.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_188'></SPAN>But this wasn't the last of Uncle Wiggily's
adventures; no, indeed. In case the fish-hook
doesn't catch the baseball and make the lamp
chimney all smoky, I'll tell you next about Uncle
Wiggily and the black beetle.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_189'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XXVII</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BEETLE</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>One beautiful sunshiny day, when the wind
was blowing through the tree-tops, making music
like a church organ many miles away, Uncle
Wiggily awakened in the little house which the
red monkey had built for him in the deep woods.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, I'm going to make another search for
my fortune this morning," he said as he wiggled
his whiskers to get the dried leaves out of them,
for he had slept on a bed of leaves, you know.</p>
<p class='c009'>"And I'll go with you," said the red monkey;
"Because the last two or three times you went
off by yourself you got into trouble."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Trouble? I should say I did!" exclaimed
the old gentleman rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"There was the time when you fell into the
can of molasses, and the hippity-hop toad had
to jump up and down with it on his back, until
it was made into sticks of candy," said the red
monkey.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_190'></SPAN>"True enough," spoke Uncle Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'>"And then there was the time when the skillery-scalery
alligator chased you," went on the
red monkey, "and the angle worms tied themselves
into knots about his legs to stop him. Do
you remember that?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Indeed I do," said the old gentleman rabbit.
"And I will be very glad to have you come
along with me and help me. We will start right
after breakfast."</p>
<p class='c009'>So the two friends built a little camp-fire in
front of the wooden house in the woods and they
cooked some oatmeal and some carrots and turnips,
and Uncle Wiggily made a cherry pie with
plenty of red juice in it. And the monkey found
a bag of peanuts under a chestnut tree and he
roasted them for his breakfast. Then they
started off.</p>
<p class='c009'>On and on they went through the woods, over
the hills, up one side and down the other, around
the corner, where a big gray rock rested on some
green moss, and then, all of a sudden, there was
a queer noise up in the air. It was like wings
fluttering and a voice calling. And the voice
said:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Is the red monkey down there?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, my! I wonder who can want you?" said
Uncle Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_191'></SPAN>"Maybe it's the bear who once climbed up a
tree after me," cried the red monkey. "I'm going
to hide." So he crawled under a big, broad
leaf. Then once more the voice called:</p>
<p class='c009'>"I want the red monkey!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, please Uncle Wiggily, don't let him get
me!" begged the shivering and shaking monkey.
"Throw a stone at that bear, will you?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! Hum!" exclaimed the old gentleman
rabbit. "I don't very well see how it can be a
bear. Bears don't fly in the air, for they have no
wings. I'll take a look."</p>
<p class='c009'>So he looked up in the air, and there, instead
of a bear flying overhead, it was only Dickie
Chip-Chip, the little sparrow boy.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, bless me!" cried Uncle Wiggily.
"What are you doing up there, Dickie?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I'm making believe I'm a messenger
boy," said the sparrow. "I have a telegram for
the red monkey."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, ho! So that's why you wanted me, is
it?" asked the long-tailed chap, as he crawled out
from under the leaf. "What is the message
about, if you please?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Here it is," spoke Dickie, and then from
under his wing he took a piece of white cocoanut
with writing on it. And no sooner had the red
monkey read it than he began to cry.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_192'></SPAN>"What's the matter?" asked Uncle Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, dear!" sobbed the red monkey, "my
little brother who works on a hand organ nearly
had his tail cut off by getting it twisted around
the handle. He is very sick, and I must go home
right away. Oh, how sorry I am!" and then the
red monkey ate up the piece of cocoanut that
had the message written on it.</p>
<p class='c009'>"You had better go home at once," said Uncle
Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'>"But I don't like to leave you," said the red
monkey.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I will get along all right!" spoke the
brave old rabbit gentleman. "Go ahead, and
when your brother is well, come back."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I will," promised the red monkey, as he
started for home.</p>
<p class='c009'>"And I'll fly on ahead to tell them he is coming,"
said Dickie Chip-Chip. So they both called
good-by to Uncle Wiggily, and hurried away
through the woods, while the rabbit gentleman
kept on in search of his fortune. And now for
the black beetle.</p>
<p class='c009'>Uncle Wiggily was walking along under a
green tree, looking for some gold or diamonds
when, all of a sudden something jumped out of
the bushes and grabbed his crutch away from
him. Then Uncle Wiggily saw that it was a
<SPAN name='Page_193'></SPAN>wolf, and the wolf sprang down into a big hole
in the ground, taking the crutch with him.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Now," called the wolf, showing his ugly
teeth, "if you want your crutch, Mr. Rabbit,
you'll have to come down this hole after it.
Come on down."</p>
<p class='c009'>But Uncle Wiggily knew better than that, for
just as surely as he jumped down into that hole
the wolf would have eaten him all up. And the
rabbit didn't know what to do, for he couldn't
walk without his crutch on account of being lame
with the rheumatism.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, this is terrible!" cried the rabbit.
"Whatever shall I do? I can't stay in these
woods forever."</p>
<p class='c009'>And just then there was a rustling in the
leaves, and out walked a big black, pinching
beetle. In front of his head he had two things
just like fire tongs, or a crab's claws, with which
to pinch.</p>
<p class='c009'>"What is the trouble?" asked the black beetle
politely.</p>
<p class='c009'>"The wolf, down the hole, has my crutch, and
he won't give it to me," said the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! we will very soon fix that," spoke the
beetle. "Just tie a string around me, Uncle
Wiggily, and lower me down into the hole.
Then I'll pick up the crutch in my strong pincers,
<SPAN name='Page_194'></SPAN>and you can haul me up again as I hold
fast to it."</p>
<p class='c009'>"But the wolf may get you," said the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'll fix that wolf," replied the beetle, winking
his two little eyes, real jolly-like.</p>
<p class='c009'>So Uncle Wiggily tied a string around the
black insect, and lowered him down into the hole.
The wolf saw him coming and cried out:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh! You can't get this crutch, for I'm sitting
on it, and I'll bite you."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Just you watch," spoke the black beetle,
winking one eye this time. So he looked down,
and, surely enough, the wolf was sitting on the
crutch. But the beetle knew a good trick. He
swung himself around on the end of the string,
which the rabbit held, and, as he got near to the
wolf, the beetle suddenly pinched the savage
creature on the tail.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, my! Ouch!" cried the wolf, and he
jumped up in a hurry. And that was just what
the beetle wanted, for now he could reach the
crutch as the wolf was not sitting on it any more.
In his strong pincers he took hold of it.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Pull me up!" called the beetle to the rabbit,
and Uncle Wiggily did so, crutch and all, by
the string, and they left the wolf down in the
hole as angry as a mud pie. So that's how the
<SPAN name='Page_195'></SPAN>beetle got back the rabbit's crutch for him, and
that's the end of this story.</p>
<p class='c009'>But there'll be another one soon, about Uncle
Wiggily and Kittie Kat--that is if the puppy
dog across the street doesn't chew a hole in the
milk bottle and scare the iceman all to pieces so
that he goes roller skating with the jumping
rope.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_196'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XXVIII</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND KITTIE KAT</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>"Well," said Uncle Wiggily, as he and the
black beetle went along through the woods, after
the rabbit's crutch had been taken away from
the savage wolf, "don't you want to come along
with me, Mr. Beetle, and help me look for my
fortune?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Indeed, I would like to very much," said the
funny little insect, "but the truth of the matter
is that I have to go to work to-morrow, and so
I can't come."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Work--what work do you do?" inquired
Uncle Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I am going to punch holes in trolley car
transfers with my strong pincers," answered the
beetle. "Now, I will have to bid you good-by,
but if ever any one takes your crutch down a hole
again, send for me and I'll get it back for you."</p>
<p class='c009'>So the beetle said good-by to the old gentleman
rabbit, and went his way, and Uncle Wiggily,
after looking at his crutch to be sure the
<SPAN name='Page_197'></SPAN>wolf had not bitten a piece out of it, went on
looking for his fortune.</p>
<p class='c009'>"My! It's quite lonesome going by yourself,"
said the rabbit, as he hopped along through the
woods. "I miss the red monkey and the grasshopper
and the black beetle. But then they can't
always be with me, so I'll have to travel on
alone."</p>
<p class='c009'>On and on he went. Sometimes in the fields
he stopped to hear the birds sing, and he heard
them talking among themselves about how they
must soon get ready to go down South, for cold
weather was coming. That made the old gentleman
rabbit feel a little sad, and he wished that
he could soon go back home, where Sammie and
Susie Littletail were waiting for him.</p>
<p class='c009'>"But I can't go until I find my fortune," he
said. "I must look harder than ever for it."</p>
<p class='c009'>Then, sometimes, when he went through the
woods, he heard the little brooks whispering to
the ferns, how that soon there would be ice and
snow all over, with boys and girls skating and
sliding down hill.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Burr-r-r-r-r-r! That makes me shiver!" exclaimed
the rabbit. "I, too, must get ready for
winter. Oh, if I could only find that gold and
those diamonds I'd go right straight home, and
never travel about any more."</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_198'></SPAN>So he looked under stones and down in hollow
stumps, but not a piece of gold nor a sparkling
diamond could he find. Then it began to get
late, and the sun was darkened behind the
clouds.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I wonder where I can stay to-night?"
thought Uncle Wiggily. "I must pick out a
nice, big stump, fill it with leaves, and sleep in
there."</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, it didn't take him long to find what he
wanted, and he prepared his bed for the night.
Then he built a little fire in front of the stump
and cooked his supper. He ate some carrots
and a turnip sandwich with peanut butter on it,
and the last thing he ate was a large piece of
cherry pie. Then he washed the dishes and, curling
up on the soft leaves, he was soon asleep,
dreaming of his little nephew and niece, Sammie
and Susie.</p>
<p class='c009'>Now, about midnight, the savage alligator,
who hadn't had anything to eat in a long time,
started out to find something. And pretty soon
he came to the stump where Uncle Wiggily was
sleeping.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ah, there is a good meal for me!" cried the
skillery-scalery creature, as he reared up on the
end of his double-jointed tail and put his long
nose down in the hollow stump.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_199'></SPAN>"Hey! What's this? Who is it? Has
the red monkey come back?" cried the rabbit,
suddenly awakening. "I'm glad to see you, Mr.
Monkey. Here is some cherry pie for you."</p>
<p class='c009'>And then, being only half awake, Uncle
Wiggily took a large piece of the pie and held it
out, thinking he was giving it to the monkey.
But it slipped from his hand and it fell right
into the alligator's face.</p>
<p class='c009'>And the cherry juice ran down into the eyes of
the skillery-scalery creature, and tickled him so
that he sneezed, and then he ran away, for he
thought the red monkey might possibly be in the
stump, and the alligator was afraid the monkey
might throw hot potatoes down his throat.</p>
<p class='c009'>Uncle Wiggily looked out of the stump, and
by the light of the silvery moon he saw the
alligator running away, and that was the first
time he knew it was the skillery creature, and not
the monkey, who had come in so suddenly.</p>
<p class='c009'>"My! That was a narrow escape!" cried the
rabbit. "It's a good thing I took that cherry
pie to bed with me. I must be on the watch, for
the alligator may come back." But the skillery-scalery
creature, with the double-jointed tail,
didn't return, though Uncle Wiggily didn't sleep
very good the rest of the night on account of being
so anxious and worrying so much.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_200'></SPAN>And in the morning when he awakened from a
little nap the old gentleman rabbit felt very
strange. He tried to get up, but he found that
he couldn't. He was as dizzy as if he had been
on a merry-go-round and he felt very ill.</p>
<p class='c009'>"It must have been the fright the alligator
gave me," he thought. "Oh, dear, what shall I
do? Here I am, all alone in this stump in the
woods, and no one to help me. Oh, I'm a poor,
forsaken old rabbit, and nobody loves me! Oh,
if Sammie or Susie were only here. I'm
sure----"</p>
<p class='c009'>And just then there was a scratching sound
outside the stump.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Hark! What's that?" whispered the rabbit.
"That must be the alligator coming back to get
me! And I can't even get up to throw some
cherry pie at him. Oh, if the red monkey or the
black beetle would only come!"</p>
<p class='c009'>Then the scratching noise sounded some more,
and Uncle Wiggily was getting so frightened
that he didn't know what to do. And then, all
of a sudden, he saw something white at the top
hole of the stump, and a voice exclaimed:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, if there isn't my dear old Uncle
Wiggily! And you are ill, I know you are. I
can tell by the way your nose twinkles."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Indeed, I am ill," said the poor rabbit, "but
<SPAN name='Page_201'></SPAN>who are you?" For you know he couldn't see
well, as his glasses had fallen off.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I am Kittie Kat," said the voice, and
there, surely enough, was the little pussy girl.
She had been away on her summer vacation, and
was just coming back to get ready for school
when she happened to walk through the woods.
There she heard a voice in the stump, and, going
to look, she saw Uncle Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, how glad I am to see you, Kittie Kat,"
said the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"And how sorry I am to see you ill," said the
pussy girl. "But don't worry. I'm going to
make you well. Just keep quiet."</p>
<p class='c009'>Then that brave little pussy girl scurried
around, and gathered some leaves from a plant
called catnip.</p>
<p class='c009'>"For," said Kittie, "if catnip is good for cats,
it must be good for rabbits." So she made some
hot catnip tea, and gave it to Uncle Wiggily,
and in an hour he was all better and could sit up.
Then Kittie made him some toast with some
slices of yellow carrots on it, and he felt better
still, and by noon he was as good as ever.</p>
<p class='c009'>"But I don't know what I would have done,
only for you, Kittie Kat," said the rabbit.
"Thank you, very much. Now I can travel on
and seek my fortune."</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_202'></SPAN>"And I'll come with you," spoke Kittie Kat.
So they traveled on together, and they had an
adventure the next day. I'll tell you about it
right away, for the next story will be of Uncle
Wiggily and Jennie Chipmunk--that is, if the
green trunk up in the attic doesn't go off on a
vacation all by itself down to Asbury Grove, and
hide in the sand to scare the popcorn man.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_203'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XXIX</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY AND JENNIE</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>"Now, Uncle Wiggily," said Kittie Kat, as
she and the old gentleman rabbit went along,
the day after he had been cured by the catnip
tea, "you must take good care of yourself.
Keep in the shade, and walk slowly, for I don't
want you to get sick again."</p>
<p class='c009'>"And I don't want to myself," spoke Uncle
Wiggily, "for I want to find my fortune."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I think you will, and very soon," said
Kittie. "I dreamed last night of a pile of gold
and diamonds, and I'm sure you will soon be
rich, so that you can come back home, and live
with us all again."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Where was the pile of gold of which you
dreamed?" asked the rabbit. "Was it at the
end of the rainbow? Because, if it was, there is
no use to think of it. I once looked there and
found nothing."</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, it wasn't there," said Kittie, shaking her
head. "I don't know where it was because I
awakened before my dream was over, but I'm
<SPAN name='Page_204'></SPAN>sure you will soon find your fortune. Now remember
to walk slowly, and keep in the shade."</p>
<p class='c009'>So she and Uncle Wiggily traveled on and on.
Once they came to a big hill, which they could
hardly climb, and they didn't know what to do.
But they happened to meet a friendly mud turtle,
who was very strong, and who had a large, broad
shell.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Get on my back," said the turtle, "and I will
take you up the hill. I go slowly, but I am very
sure. You will have time to rest yourselves while
I am climbing up."</p>
<p class='c009'>So Uncle Wiggily and Kittie Kat got on the
turtle's back, and in time he took them up the hill.
Then, after traveling on a little farther, they
came to a broad river.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, how shall we ever get across?" asked
Kittie.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Perhaps I can make a boat," said the rabbit.
He was looking for some wood and some broad
leaves with which to make a sail, when along
came swimming a big goldfish.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Just perch upon my back," the fish said,
"and I will be very glad to take you across."</p>
<p class='c009'>"But you swim under water, and we will get
all wet," objected Uncle Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, I will swim with my back away up out
of water," said the goldfish, and this he did, so
<SPAN name='Page_205'></SPAN>that the rabbit and the pussy girl were taken
safely over to the other side of the river and they
never even so much as wet their eyelashes.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Perhaps I may find my fortune over here,"
spoke Uncle Wiggily, as he hopped along after
thanking the goldfish. He looked on the
ground, and up in the air, but no fortune could
he find.</p>
<p class='c009'>"There is a little house, made of leaves and
bark over there," said Kittie, pointing through
the woods, "let us go and see who is in it."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Perhaps a bear lives there," said the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"It is too small for a bear's house," decided
Kittie.</p>
<p class='c009'>But as they came close to it they heard a
scratching noise inside, and they thought perhaps
it might be the fuzzy fox. And then, all of a
sudden, they heard a voice singing this song:</p>
<div class='lg-container-l c010'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"I sweep, I sew, I dust, I mend,</div>
<div class='line in2'>From morning until night.</div>
<div class='line'>And then I wash the plates and cups.</div>
<div class='line in2'>And scrub the table white.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>"I love to make a pudding,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Also a pie and cake.</div>
<div class='line'>And when I do my ironing,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Potatoes do I bake.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><SPAN name='Page_206'></SPAN>"Now I must hurry--hurry,</div>
<div class='line in2'>To get a meal for you,</div>
<div class='line'>And then I'll go and gather</div>
<div class='line in2'>A hickory nut or two."</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p class='c009'>"Why, I know who that is!" cried Kittie Kat.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Who?" asked Uncle Wiggily, making his
nose twinkle like three stars and a moon on a
frosty night.</p>
<p class='c009'>"It's Jennie Chipmunk!" cried Kittie. "I
just know it is. Oh, Jennie!" she called. "Is
that you?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes, who is it that wants me?" asked a voice,
and out from the tiny house stepped the little
chipmunk girl. She had on her sweeping cap,
and her apron, and in one hand was a cloth and
in the other a plate she was drying.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, well, Jennie, you're as busy as ever,
I see!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "But are
you living here?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Hush! No," answered Jennie Chipmunk.
"I don't live here, but in this house is a dear
old lady squirrel, who is so feeble that she can't
get around and do all her work. So every day
I come over and clean up for her, and get her
meals. Oh, I just love to work!" cried Jennie.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I believe you," spoke the rabbit. "But can't
we help?"</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_207'></SPAN>"Of course we can," decided Kittie. "You
get some wood for the fire, Uncle Wiggily, and
Jennie and I will do the housework."</p>
<p class='c009'>Then the rabbit and Kittie went in the little
house, and Jennie Chipmunk introduced them to
the old lady squirrel, who had to lie down in bed
most of the time.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I am very glad to see you," she said in
her gentle voice. "I don't know what I would
do without Jennie. She is such a help; aren't
you, Jennie?"</p>
<p class='c009'>But Jennie wasn't there to answer, for she had
skipped out into the kitchen to finish the dishes,
and she was singing away as she hurried along as
happy as a grasshopper.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then Uncle Wiggily brought in a lot of wood,
and with Kittie to help with the sweeping and
dusting, the house was soon as neat as a piece
of apple pie on a Sunday morning.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Now we must go out and gather some nuts
for the old lady squirrel," said Jennie.</p>
<p class='c009'>"What will we carry them in?" asked Kittie.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, there is a basket for you, and Uncle
Wiggily can use his valise, and as for me," said
Jennie, "I have little pockets in each side of my
cheeks, you know." And it's really true, a chipmunk
has little pouches or pockets one on each
side of its face. You look the next time you see
<SPAN name='Page_208'></SPAN>one, and notice how a chipmunk's cheeks stick
out when it has a lot of nuts to carry.</p>
<p class='c009'>So the nuts were soon gathered for the old
lady squirrel, and then Jennie made a cup of tea
for Uncle Wiggily and Kittie. And as they sat
in the house drinking it, and talking cheerfully
to the old lady squirrel, all of a sudden the fuzzy
old fox came along and tried to get in. But
Uncle Wiggily saw him through the window, and
quickly shut and locked the door.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Never mind," cried the fox, as he sat down
outside and licked his lips. "I'll wait until you
come out, Mr. Rabbit, and then I'll get you."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh! what shall we do?" cried Kittie Kat in
great fright.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'll show you," said Jennie Chipmunk. So
she took the big dusting brush down off the nail,
and she stuck the brush out of the window, and
she waved it at the fox--waved the brush, not the
window you know.</p>
<p class='c009'>And when that fox saw the fuzzy brush waving,
he thought it was the bushy tail of Old Dog
Percival. And the fox was so afraid of dogs that
then and there he gave three separate and distinct
howls, and away he ran as fast as his legs would
take him and so Uncle Wiggily and Kittie Kat
could come out.</p>
<p class='c009'>"My! But you are a smart little girl, Jennie
<SPAN name='Page_209'></SPAN>Chipmunk," said the old gentleman rabbit. "I
never would have thought of that."</p>
<p class='c009'>Then Jennie sang her song again, and made a
cherry pie for the rabbit, and he and Kittie
traveled on, and the next day something else
happened. I'll tell you about it right soon, when
the story will be of Uncle Wiggily going berrying;
that is, if the peanut man doesn't put a
watermelon in the baby carriage and break the
wheels so the rag doll can't eat her sawdust cake.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_210'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XXX</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY GOES BERRYING</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>"Well, this is a beautiful day," said Kittie
Kat, as she and Uncle Wiggily walked along
through the woods one morning.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes, this weather is very nice," agreed the
old gentleman rabbit. "I ought to find my
fortune to-day. I have been traveling after it
a long time, and I am getting quite tired."</p>
<p class='c009'>Kittie Kat looked at him, and she was sorry to
see that Uncle Wiggily appeared quite old. He
was bending over as he walked, and he had to go
very slowly, for his rheumatism was quite painful,
even though he had his crutch that Nurse
Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had made for him out of a
cornstalk.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Poor old rabbit," thought the pussy girl. "I
hope that he finds his fortune soon, or it will not
be of much use to him. I must look as hard as I
can."</p>
<p class='c009'>So, as they went along Kittie Kat looked under
all the stones and behind the bushes and down
<SPAN name='Page_211'></SPAN>in hollow stumps. And once, when she lifted up
a stone with her claws, she saw something glittering
under it.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, here is a diamond!" she cried, but it was
only a piece of glass.</p>
<p class='c009'>And, a little later Uncle Wiggily saw something
shining under a big log. He cried out:</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, joy! I have found some gold." But it
was only a shining piece of tin. They were both
much disappointed, but they kept on, still searching.</p>
<p class='c009'>At last they came to a house that was built just
on the edge of a deep, dark, dismal wood, and
there was some smoke coming from the chimney
of this house.</p>
<p class='c009'>"I'm going there and ask if they know where
I can find my fortune," said Uncle Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Better not," spoke Kittie Kat. "There may
be a wolf or a fox in there. Better not."</p>
<p class='c009'>So Uncle Wiggily looked carefully on the
ground all about the little house, and then he
said:</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, Kittie Kat, a fox or a wolf can't live in
here, or I could see the marks of their feet in
the mud. I think a man or a woman lives in that
house, and I am going to knock on the door, for
they surely will be kind to us."</p>
<p class='c009'>So, with the pussy girl following behind,
<SPAN name='Page_212'></SPAN>Uncle Wiggily went up to the door of the little
house, and knocked: "Rat-a-tat-tat!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ha! Who is there?" asked a quivering-quavering
voice.</p>
<p class='c009'>"It is I--Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old
gentleman rabbit, and I am looking for my
fortune," he said.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then the door suddenly opened, and there
stood a little old woman, in a green dress, and
she had such a long nose and such a long chin
that they almost touched, and if she had been
strong enough she could have cracked a nut between
them.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, that's an old witch!" cried Kittie Kat.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Nonsensicalness!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily.
"There are no such things as witches. Besides,
it isn't polite to call names, Kittie Kat."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I'm sorry," said the pussy girl, looking
at her tail.</p>
<p class='c009'>"That's all right," said the old lady kindly,
and she smiled. And when she did this she wasn't
at all bad looking, but instead, very nice. "Lots
of people think I'm a witch," she said, "and they
won't come near me. But I'm not, and I love
boys and girls and animals."</p>
<p class='c009'>"I am so old, however, that I can't go very far
from home, and I would like to go off in the
woods, and get some berries to make a berry pie.
<SPAN name='Page_213'></SPAN>But alas! and alack-a-day! I cannot. But what
was it you wanted, Uncle Wiggily?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I wanted to know if you could tell me where
to find my fortune," said the rabbit.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes," answered the old lady in the green
dress, "I think I can tell you where to find your
fortune. If you will travel on for three days
more you will come to a little hill. Go up this
hill, and down the other side, and there, at the
bottom, you will find your fortune."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, joy!" cried the rabbit gentleman.</p>
<p class='c009'>"How lovely!" exclaimed Kittie Kat. "Oh,
how glad I am. Let's start off at once, Uncle
Wiggily."</p>
<p class='c009'>"No, not at once," said the old gentleman
rabbit. "First I must do a kindness to this good
old lady. I heard you say you would like some
berries," he went on, "so I will go and get them."</p>
<p class='c009'>"And I will come also," said Kittie Kat.</p>
<p class='c009'>"It is very kind of you," spoke the old lady
with the long nose and the pointed chin. So she
gave them a basket in which to put the berries,
and away went Uncle Wiggily and the pussy
girl.</p>
<p class='c009'>Soon they came to where there were a whole
lot of bushes and they began picking the berries.
The basket was almost full, and the rabbit was
wondering if the lady would give him some of the
<SPAN name='Page_214'></SPAN>berry pie after she made it, when, all of a sudden,
there was a rustling in the bushes and out sprang
a savage wolf.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Ah, ha!" he growled, as he showed his sharp
teeth, "now I have you both! Oh, what a good
meal I will have!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, please do not eat us!" begged the rabbit.
"I am just about to find my fortune; can't you
wait until after that?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"No!" growled the wolf. Then he crouched
down, ready for a spring. Uncle Wiggily and
Kittie Kat were too frightened to move. They
looked all around for help, but all they could see
were the berry bushes. And one bush seemed
redder than the others. In fact, it was as red as
red ink, and, as the rabbit looked at it this bush
seemed to move.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Here I come!" cried the wolf, and he jumped
up into the air. But, as he did so the very red
bush seemed to leap also, and then this bush
grabbed the wolf by his tail, swung him around
and around and tossed him away up in the top of
a tall tree.</p>
<p class='c009'>"There! I'll teach you to play tricks on Uncle
Wiggily," cried a voice, and then the red bush
came over to the rabbit, and instead of being
a bush it was the red monkey, and he had come
along just in time to save the rabbit and the
<SPAN name='Page_215'></SPAN>pussy. You see he looked so much like a berry
bush, as he crouched down, that the wolf didn't
know him, and neither did Uncle Wiggily.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, this is a joyful surprise!" cried the
rabbit, as he and Kittie Kat thanked the red
monkey. "I'm glad to see you once more."</p>
<p class='c009'>Then the wolf ran howling away through the
woods, and the monkey helped the rabbit and the
pussy girl to fill the basket with berries and they
took them to the old lady, who made a pie as big
as the wash basin.</p>
<p class='c009'>And the next day the rabbit started off after
the gold and diamonds. And, in case the lead
pencil doesn't crawl up the white wall and make
a funny picture of a man riding on an elephant,
I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily finding
his fortune.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='chapter'>
<SPAN name='Page_216'></SPAN>
<h2 class='c006'>STORY XXXI</h2></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c007'>
<div>UNCLE WIGGILY'S FORTUNE</div>
</div></div>
<p class='c008'>The little old lady in the green dress, whose
nose and chin nearly touched, was very glad to
get the berries which Uncle Wiggily and Kittie
Kat gathered. She was very sorry that the wolf
had frightened them, but she thought it was just
fine of the red monkey to come along when he
did.</p>
<p class='c009'>"And I just wish you could have seen him toss
the wolf over the tree-tops by his tail," said the
old gentleman rabbit. "It was as good as going
to the circus."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Well, for doing such a trick, the red monkey
can have two pieces of my berry pie," spoke the
little old woman in the green dress. And that
red monkey was very, very thankful, and he ate
the two pieces of pie, even down to the last drop
of juice.</p>
<div class='figcenter id001'>
<ANTIMG src='images/p214.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' />
<div class='ic002'>
<p>Uncle Wiggily's Fortune</p>
</div>
</div>
<p class='c009'>Of course the rabbit gentleman and Kittie Kat
had some pie too, and, after they had eaten their
share, and had washed their faces and paws they
<SPAN name='Page_217'></SPAN>stayed at the house of the little old woman all
night.</p>
<p class='c009'>"For I want Uncle Wiggily to be nice and
rested so he can start off after his fortune to-morrow,"
she said.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, the next morning the rabbit gentleman
got ready to go. The old lady with the green
dress filled his valise full of good things to eat,
including some berry pie, for there were no more
cherries now, you know. Then, with Kittie Kat
on one side of him and the red monkey on the
other side, Uncle Wiggily set off.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Remember," called the old lady, as she said
good-by, "you must travel straight on for three
days, and you needn't stop on the way to look
for your fortune, for you won't find it. Just
keep on, and at the end of the third day you will
come to a hill. Go up the hill, and down the
other side, and you will then come into your
fortune, and I hope you will live for a good many
years to enjoy it."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Thank you so much!" exclaimed the rabbit.
"It hardly seems possible that I am going to be
rich after all my travels. What kind of a fortune
will it be?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, you must wait and see," said the kind
little old lady.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, the rabbit and the pussy girl and the red
<SPAN name='Page_218'></SPAN>monkey traveled on and on. The first day they
came to a big mountain, and the monkey wanted
to climb up it to see if there were any cocoanut
trees growing on the top.</p>
<p class='c009'>"No," Uncle Wiggily told him. "We must
keep straight on the level road until we come to
the hill." And it is a good thing they didn't
climb that mountain. For on top lived a big
giant who had a big club, and he might have hit
the red monkey with it. Mind, I'm not saying
for sure, but that might have happened, you
know.</p>
<p class='c009'>So the three friends traveled on and on, and
at the second day they came to where there was a
big ball of blue yarn beside a little lake. It was
a nice, soft ball of yarn, such as kittens play with
when grandma is knitting warm mittens for
winter.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, I must stop and play with that ball of
yarn," said Kittie Kat.</p>
<p class='c009'>"No," said the rabbit, "you must not do that,
for the old lady said we were to keep straight on
for three days."</p>
<p class='c009'>And it is a good thing Kittie Kat didn't roll
the ball, for inside of it was a big rat, and he
might have bitten the little pussy girl. Mind,
I'm not saying for sure, but that might have
happened.</p>
<p class='c009'><SPAN name='Page_219'></SPAN>"Now, this is the third day," spoke Uncle
Wiggily when they got up one morning, after
having slept in a hollow stump. "By nightfall
we ought to come to the hill, and on the other
side will be my fortune. Oh, how glad I am!"</p>
<p class='c009'>So they kept on and on, stopping for dinner
in a nice shady place, and toward evening they
came to the hill.</p>
<p class='c009'>"There it is!" cried the rabbit as he hurried
up it. "Oh, I can hardly wait until I get to the
other side."</p>
<p class='c009'>Up he went, and up went the red monkey and
up went Kittie Kat. And on the way the bad
fuzzy fox sprang out from the bushes and tried
to catch them, but Uncle Wiggily tickled him
with his crutch and made him sneeze and fall
down hill.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then they came to the top of the hill. The sun
was just setting in the clouds, and they were all
colored golden and violet and purple, and oh, it
was beautiful! Uncle Wiggily came to a stop.
On one side was the red monkey and on the other
the pussy girl. The rabbit rubbed his eyes.
Then he took off his glasses and polished them
on his handkerchief. Then he looked down the
hill.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why--why!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily.
"There must be some mistake. I don't see any
<SPAN name='Page_220'></SPAN>gold or diamonds. And this place--why, it's the
very place I started away from so many weeks
ago! There is where I live--there is where
Sammie and Susie Littletail live--that's the tree
where Johnnie and Billie Bushytail live, and
there is the pond where Alice and Lulu and
Jimmie Wibblewobble, the ducks, live! This is
home! There can't be a fortune here!"</p>
<p class='c009'>Oh, how disappointed he felt. The sun sank
lower behind the clouds and made them more
golden and green and purple.</p>
<p class='c009'>Then out from their homes ran the rabbit children
and the squirrel brothers and the duck children,
and Peetie, and Jackie Bow-Wow, and
Bully the Frog, and his brother, and Dottie and
Munchie Trot, and Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg--and
all the others.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Oh, here is Uncle Wiggily! Our Uncle
Wiggily has come back!" they cried, leaping
about in joy. "Oh, how glad we are to see you.
Happy! Happy welcome! You are rich, Uncle
Wiggily! Rich! Very rich!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Rich!" said the rabbit, rubbing his eyes and
trying to stand up while all his friends gathered
around him. "But I don't understand. The
little old lady in the green dress said I would find
my fortune here, but I don't see it."</p>
<p class='c009'>"Let me explain," said Sammie Littletail.
<SPAN name='Page_221'></SPAN>"Do you see that field of cabbage, Uncle
Wiggily?" and the rabbit boy pointed to it.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes," said the rabbit, "I see the field."</p>
<p class='c009'>"There are seventeen million, two hundred
and fifty-six thousand, nine hundred and three
cabbages there," said Sammie, "and they are all
yours. And do you see that field of turnips?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Yes," said Uncle Wiggily, as he looked
down the hill, "I see them."</p>
<p class='c009'>"There are nineteen million, four hundred and
thirty-three thousand, eight hundred and sixty-six
turnips," said Sammie, "and they are all
yours. And do you see that field of carrots?"</p>
<p class='c009'>"I do," said Uncle Wiggily, but he couldn't
see so very far, as tears of joy were in his eyes.</p>
<p class='c009'>"There are one hundred million, eight hundred
and twenty-three thousand nine hundred and
ninety-nine and a half carrots in that field," said
Sammie. "Jillie Longtail, the mouse, had the
half carrot because she was ill, but all the rest
are yours, and you are the richest rabbit in the
world--the very richest--there is your fortune.
You can sell the turnips and carrots and cabbages
and have forty-'leven barrels of gold."</p>
<p class='c009'>"But--but I don't understand," said Uncle
Wiggily, as he tried to hug all his friends at once.</p>
<p class='c009'>"It was this way," said Sammie, "when you
were gone we all planted things in your garden
<SPAN name='Page_222'></SPAN>and fields for you, and we took care of them,
hoeing and watering them, until they grew as
never carrots or turnips or cabbages grew before.
So now you have come back to us, and you are
rich."</p>
<p class='c009'>And it was true. After traveling almost
around the earth in search of his fortune, Uncle
Wiggily came back to find it right at home, and
that's the way it often happens in this world.</p>
<p class='c009'>Well, you can imagine how surprised he was.
He hugged and kissed all his friends and then he
went into his old house with Sammie and Susie
Littletail, and when he had sold the cabbages and
carrots and turnips for many barrels of gold,
there he lived for many, many years, as happy an
old gentleman rabbit as you could find in a day's
journey. And though his rheumatism bothered
him at times it couldn't be helped. And he gave
all his friends as much money as they wanted,
and they all had good times together, and lots of
fun, and every once in a while Uncle Wiggily
would treat everybody to strawberry ice-cream
cones with cabbage or turnip sauce on.</p>
<p class='c009'>And now I have come to the end of this book.
But I still have some more stories about the old
gentleman rabbit in my typewriter, in case you
would like to hear them. And I am going to
<SPAN name='Page_223'></SPAN>put them in another volume to be called "Uncle
Wiggily's Automobile."</p>
<p class='c009'>In that machine he had the most surprising
adventures of which you ever heard. Why, once
the doodle-oodle-um got twisted around the
tinker-um-tankerum, and again the noodle-oodle-um
wouldn't go, and he had to give it a
drink of molasses. And again the snicker-snoozicum
got the toothache. But Uncle
Wiggily didn't mind, and he traveled many miles
in his auto. I'll tell you all that happened, so
don't worry, but go to sleep and in the morning
the sun may be shining. So I'm going to say
good-by for a little while, and I wish you all
happy dreams.</p>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c004'>
<div>THE END</div>
</div></div>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<div class='nf-center-c0'>
<div class='nf-center c004'>
<div><SPAN name='Page_224'></SPAN><span class='xlarge'>JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW WOW</span></div>
</div></div>
<p class='c009'>"Come on, Jackie!" called Peetie Bow Wow,
the boy doggie, one morning. "Come on!"</p>
<p class='c009'>"Where are you going?" asked Jackie of
Peetie.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Let's run off and join the circus," suggested
Peetie, as he tried to stand up on the end of his
tail and turn a somersault. "We can earn a lot
of money."</p>
<p class='c009'>"How?" asked Jackie, scratching his nose
with his ear.</p>
<p class='c009'>"Why, we can make money by doing tricks in
the circus," went on Peetie. "We can jump
over the backs of elephants, climb up to the top
of the tent, and do lots of things like that. A
circus is fun!"</p>
<hr class='c012' />
<p class='c009'>You have read how Daddy Blake took Hal
and Mab to the circus, and you will like to read
about Jackie and Peetie. They are in a book
called "Bedtime Stories: Jackie and Peetie
Bow Wow," by Howard R. Garis, who also
wrote the Daddy books.</p>
<p class='c009'>Send to R. F. Fenno & Company, 18 East
17th Street, New York City, and they will mail
the book on receipt of price, if you can not get it
in your book store. The book has colored
pictures.</p>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c000' /></div>
<ul class='ul_1 c002'>
<li>Transcriber's Notes:
<ul class='ul_2'>
<li>Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.
</li>
<li>Typographical errors were silently corrected.
</li>
<li>Spelling and hyphenation were made consistent when a predominant
form was found in this book; otherwise it was not changed.
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<SPAN name="endofbook"></SPAN>
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