the pot. Then, what do you think occurred? Why, Sammie leaned too far
over and he fell right in that pot of skilligimink color; he and the egg
together. And oh, dear me! what a time there was. He splashed around
and scattered the skilligimink color all over the kitchen, and when his
mamma and Susie fished him out, if he wasn't dyed the most beautiful
sky-blue-pink you ever saw! Oh, but he was a sight! The skilligimink
color made him look like a piece of the rainbow. "Oh, Sammie!" cried
Susie, "how funny you do look?" And Sammie grunted: "Huh! I guess it's
nothing to laugh at!" So they dried him with a towel, but the color
didn't come off for ever so long, honest it didn't. But they had a
lovely lot of Easter eggs, anyhow, ready for the children, and so Sammie
didn't mind much. Now, how about Hot Cross Buns for to-morrow night, eh?
Oh, of course, I mean a story about them.
XXIII
SUSIE LITTLETAIL'S HOT CROSS BUNS
Let's see, where did we leave off last night? Oh, I remember now, it was
about how Sammie fell down and hurt his nose, wasn't it? Oh, no, it
wasn't either. It was about how he was colored sky-blue-pink; to be
sure. Well, now I'm going to tell you about Hot Cross Buns, how Susie
Littletail made some very especially fine ones, and what happened to
them. But the last part is a secret, so I wish you wouldn't tell any
one.
Susie was out skipping her grapevine rope, and thinking what a nice day
it was, when her mamma called to her:
"Susie, don't you want to help Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy make some Hot
Cross Buns?"
"Of course," the little rabbit girl said, and, being a very kind little
creature, she added: "Can Sammie help me, mamma?"
"Oh, I don't want to," said Sammie, who was playing marbles with Bully,
the frog. They were using old hickory nuts and acorns for their shooters
and for the agates in the ring. "I'm going to be a soldier or run an
automobile when I grow up, so I don't want to learn to cook."
"Humph! I guess soldiers and automobile men are glad enough to eat when
some one else cooks for them," said Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. "Anyhow, I can't
have you mussing around my kitchen, Sammie, so Susie is the only one who
can help me make Hot Cross Buns."
"Ask her if we can have the batter dishes and the one she mixes the
frosting in, to clean out," prosed Bully, in a whisper, and when Sammie
asked the nurse, who was also a cook, she said:
"Oh, I suppose so. But don't come around bothering while Susie and I are
busy. I'll set the dishes out for you."
Then Sammie and Bully felt very good, for it's lots of fun to clean out
the cake dishes when any one is baking, especially when Hot Cross Buns
are being made. So the little boy rabbit and the little frog, who was
such a good jumper, played marbles under the trees in the big woods.
Then Susie and Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy went to work in the kitchen. First
they took some flour, milk, eggs, sugar and whatever else goes into Hot
Cross Buns, and mixed them all up in a big dish.
"Oh, my! How good that smells!" exclaimed Susie. "Won't Sammie and
Bully be glad to get that?"
"Yes," said the nurse-cook, "but now we must make the frosting to go on
top, and I think I'll mix in it some of the maple sugar that Uncle
Wiggily boiled."
"Oh, fine!" exclaimed Susie, and she clapped her two front paws
together, she was so glad.
So she and Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy made a nice dish of maple-sugar frosting to
go on top of the buns when they were baked.
"Now," said the cook, after a little while, "we must get the pans ready
to bake them in. And, as we haven't much room in the kitchen, we will
just set the dish of dough and the frosting out on the window sill,
where they won't be in our way. As soon as we have the tins greased we
will make the buns and put them in the oven to bake."
So the nice, sweet, good-smelling and good-tasting batter and the dish
of maple-sugar frosting were set outside on the window sill. Oh, how
nice it smelled. It's a good thing that sly old fox wasn't around, I
tell you!
Well, after a while, Sammie and Bully got tired of playing marbles, and
they walked around to the back of the underground house. And what do you
think? If Bully didn't see those dishes that had been set out on the
window sill! Yes indeed, he saw them! Oh, he had sharp eyes, let me tell
you!
"Look here!" he cried to Sammie. "They've put the stuff out for us. Oh,
what a lot of it! Nice, sweet batter, and nice maple-sugar frosting. How
kind they are."
"Do you s'pose all this is for us?" asked Sammie, who, whenever he
cleaned out the baking dishes, had never seen so much as that in them.
"Of course it is," answered Bully. "Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy said she'd put it
out for us, and here it is out. Of course, it must be for us."
Well, Sammie thought so, too, after that, and then the little boy rabbit
and Bully sat down, with those two dishes, that had stuff in to make Hot
Cross Buns, and they began to eat it all up. And after awhile, when it
was pretty nearly all gone, who should come limping along but Uncle
Wiggily Longears.
"Well, well," he said, just like that. "What have we here?" Then Sammie
told him how the good stuff had been left out by Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. "My
goodness me!" exclaimed the old rabbit, leaning on his cornstalk crutch,
"how very odd."
"Would you like some?" asked Bully, the frog, very, very politely.
"Indeed I would," answered Uncle Wiggily Longears.
So they gave him some, and it tasted just as good as when he was a
little boy rabbit. But just as the last of the sweet batter and the
maple-sugar frosting was eaten up, what should happen but that Jane
Fuzzy-Wuzzy went to the window to take it in to bake, and of course it
was gone. Well, you should have seen how surprised she was. She was
going to scold Sammie and Bully, only they said it was all a mistake. So
they didn't get a whipping, and very luckily there was enough more stuff
in the burrow to make more Hot Cross Buns. So Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy and Susie
mixed up some, and these were soon baking in the oven. And, oh, how good
they smelled, and they tasted as good as they smelled, each one with a
maple-sugar cross on. Now, to-morrow night, if you would like me to,
I'll tell you about hiding the Easter eggs.
XXIV
HIDING THE EASTER EGGS
What a lot of Easter eggs there were! I'm sure if you tried to count all
that Sammie and Susie Littletail, and Papa and Mamma Littletail, to say
nothing of Uncle Wiggily Longears and Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had
colored, ready for Easter, you never could do it, never, never, never!
Of course, Uncle Wiggily couldn't get so very many of the eggs ready for
the children, because, you know, he has rheumatism, but then Sammie and
Susie were so quick, and Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy hurried so, that long before
Easter Sunday-morning, or Easter Monday morning, whenever you children
hunt for your eggs, they were all ready.
You see, the rabbits have to hide all the Easter eggs that you children
hunt for. Of course, I don't mean those in the store windows; the pretty
ones, made of candy, and with little windows that you look through to
see beautiful scenes. Oh, no, not those, but the ones you find at home.
Those in the windows are put there by different kinds of rabbits.
Well, all the Easter eggs were ready, and Sammie and Susie, their papa
and mamma, Uncle Wiggily Longears and Nurse Jane-Fuzzy-Wuzzy, set out to
hide them. There were many colors. I think I have told you about them,
but I'll just mention a few again. There were red ones, blue ones, green
ones, pink ones, Alice blue ones, Johnnie red ones, Froggie green ones,
strawberry color, and then that new shade, skilligimink, which is very
fine indeed, and which turned Sammie sky-blue-pink.
So the rabbits started off with their baskets of colored eggs on their
paws.
"Now, be careful, Sammie," called his mamma. "Don't fall down and break
any of those eggs."
"No, mamma," answered Sammie, who was still colored sky-blue-pink, for
it hadn't all worn off yet. "I'll be very careful."
"So will I, mamma," called Susie.
So they walked on through the woods to visit Newark and all the places
around where children want Easter eggs. Of course, if you had gone out
in the woods on top of Orange Mountain you could not have seen those
rabbits, because they were invisible. That is, you couldn't see them,
because Mrs. Cluck-Cluck, the fairy hen, had given them all cloaks spun
out of cobwebs, just like the Emperor of China once had, and this made
it so no one could see them. For it would never do, you know, to have
the rabbits spied upon when they were hiding the eggs. It wouldn't be
fair, any more than it would be right to peek when you're "it" in
playing blind man's buff.
Well, pretty soon, after a while, as they all walked through the woods,
Sammie kept going slower and slower and slower, because his basket was
quite heavy, until he was a long way in back of his papa, his mamma and
Susie. But he didn't mind that, for he knew he had plenty of time, when
all at once what should come running out of the bushes but a great big
dog. At first Sammie was frightened, but then when he looked again he
knew the dog was not a rabbit-dog. No, what is worse, he was an egg-dog.
Now an egg-dog is a dog that eats eggs, and they are one of the very
worst kinds of dogs there are. So the dog saw Sammie and knew what the
little rabbit boy had in his basket. But he asked him, making believe he
didn't know: "What have you in that basket, my little chap?" You see, he
called him "little chap" so as to pretend he was a friendly egg-dog.
"There are Easter eggs in the basket," said Sammie politely.
"And what, pray, are Easter eggs, if I may be so bold as to ask?"
inquired the dog, licking his teeth with his long red tongue, and
blinking his eyes, as if he didn't care.
"Easter eggs," replied Sammie, "are eggs for children for Easter, and
they are very prettily colored."
"Oh, ho!" exclaimed the dog, just like that, and he sniffed the air.
"Please excuse me. But would you kindly be so good as to let me see
those eggs? I never saw any colored ones."
"Well," answered Sammie, "I am in a hurry, but you may have one peep."
So he opened the top of the basket and there, sure enough, were the
eggs, the green, the blue, the pink, the Johnnie red and the
skilligimink colored ones and all.
"Oh, how lovely!" cried the bad dog, sniffing the air again. "May I have
one?"
"No," said Sammie, very decidedly, "these are for the little children."
Then that dog got angry. Oh, you should have seen how angry he got. No,
on second thoughts I am glad you did not see how unpleasant he was, for
it might spoil your Easter. Anyhow, he was dreadfully angry, dreadfully!
He showed his teeth, and he made his hair stand up straight, and he
growled: "Give me all those eggs, or I'll take them right away from
you! I am an egg-dog, and I must have eggs. Give them to me, I say!"
Well, maybe poor Sammie wasn't frightened! He trembled so that the eggs
rattled together and very nearly were broken. Then he started to run
away, but the bad dog ran after him, and what do you think? Just as the
horrid creature was about to take those lovely Easter eggs out of the
basket and eat them up, who should come flying through the woods but
Mrs. Cluck-Cluck, the fairy hen! She dashed at that dog, with her
feathers sticking out, and made him run off. Then how glad Sammie was!
He hurried and caught up to his papa and mamma, and soon all the Easter
eggs were hidden.
Oh, what fun Sammie and Susie had running back through the woods after
the eggs were all put in the secret places! Susie found a turnip in a
field, and Sammie a carrot, and they ate them as they hopped along.
Uncle Wiggily walked quite slowly, for his rheumatism was bothering him,
and when those rabbits got home to the burrow, what do you think they
found? Why, there were invitations for them all to come to a party that
was going to be given by Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble. Alice and Lulu
were little duck girls, and they lived with their papa and mamma, Mr.
and Mrs. Wibblewobble, in a pen, not far from the rabbit burrow. They
had a brother named Jimmie, but it wasn't his birthday, for he was a day
older than his sisters, who were twins. That is their birthdays came at
the same time. Some day I'm going to tell you a lot of stories about
these same ducks.
"May we go to the party, mamma?" asked Susie.
"Of course," answered Mamma Littletail, and they all went, even Nurse
Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. They had a fine time, which I will tell you about in
another book that has a lot of duck stories in it. But I just want to
mention one thing that occurred.
Just as the party was over, and every one was coming home, Uncle Wiggily
couldn't find his crutch, which Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had gnawed out of
a cornstalk for him. Finally he did find it behind the door. Then he,
and Sammie and Susie, and Mr. and Mrs. Littletail started for the
burrow.
Then, all at once, when they were in the front yard of the
Wibblewobble home, if a silver trumpet didn't sound in the woods:
"Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta-ra!" just like that, and up came riding a little boy,
all in silver and gold, on a white horse. He wanted to know if he was
too late for the party, the little boy did, and when Uncle Wiggily said
yes, the little boy was much disappointed.
Then Uncle Wiggily asked him who he was, and the little boy said:
"I am the fairy prince! I used to be a mud turtle, and live in the pond
where Lulu and Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble swim. But I got tired of
being a mud turtle, though I _was_ a fairy prince, so I changed myself
into a little boy."
But, do you know, Uncle Wiggily didn't believe him, and, what's more, he
said so. Oh, yes, indeed he did! Then what did that little
boy-fairy-prince do, but up and say:
"Well, you soon will believe me, Uncle Wiggily. You come back to the
woods a little later, and something wonderful will happen. I'll make you
believe in fairies; that's what I will, for you will see a red fairy
very shortly."
But still Uncle Wiggily didn't believe, and he went home, moving his
nose and ears at the same time. But you just wait, for if I should
happen to find a penny rolling up hill, I will tell you, to-morrow
night, about Uncle Wiggily and the red fairy.
XXV
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE RED FAIRY
Well, I didn't find that penny rolling up hill, after all, but never
mind, I'll tell you a story just the same. Let's see, we left off about
Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman rabbit, and what was going to
happen to him when he should meet the red fairy, didn't we?
Uncle Wiggily walked along very slowly, going home from the party Lulu
and Alice Wibblewobble had. Sammie Littletail saw how slowly his uncle
walked, and asked:
"What is the matter, Uncle Wiggily? Does your rheumatism hurt you very
much?"
"No, it isn't that," replied the old gentleman rabbit, "though it does
pain me some. I was just wondering about that red fairy."
"Oh, do you really suppose one will appear, as the fairy prince said?"
asked Susie, making her nose twinkle like two stars and a comet on a
frosty night.
"No," spoke Uncle Wiggily very decidedly, "I don't really believe one
will. Still, there may. You never can tell in this world what is going
to happen," and I think Uncle Wiggily was right about it.
"Oh!" cried Susie, "I wish I could come with you, Uncle Wiggily. I never
saw a real fairy in all my life. Couldn't I come with you?" and the
little rabbit girl went close to her uncle, and took hold of his crutch,
gnawed by the muskrat, Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, out of a cornstalk.
"Yes, I suppose you could," answered Susie's Uncle, who was very kind to
her.
"Oh, no!" exclaimed Sammie. "It might spoil the magic spell, if more
than one went, Uncle Wiggily. Maybe the fairy would not like it. You had
better go alone."
"All right," answered the old gentleman rabbit, "anything to please you.
I'll go alone."
Well, when the rabbit family got back to their burrow, after the party,
they could talk of nothing else but what was going to happen when Uncle
Wiggily should meet the red fairy. Sammie and Susie didn't want to go to
bed, they were so excited, but their mamma sent them up with Nurse Jane
Fuzzy-Wuzzy.
Now listen very carefully, for the fairy will soon appear, and you know
what happens then. Oh, yes, indeed, something wonderful.
Well, when it came time, Uncle Wiggily started off alone to the woods
to meet the red fairy. He walked on, and on, and on, and he had to go
pretty slow, because his rheumatism was hurting him again. And suddenly,
when he was right under a big oak tree, what should he hear but a silver
trumpet blowing "Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta-ra!" Just like that, honest. Then he
stood still, and a sort of shivery feeling came over him, and he looked
up and he looked down and he looked to one side and then to the other.
And then he wiggled his ears, and he wrinkled up his nose as fast as
fast could be. Then he heard some one call:
"Uncle Wiggily Longears!"
"Yes, I'm here!" he answered.
"And I am the red fairy!" cried the voice again, and when the old
gentleman rabbit looked up in the tree, what do you suppose he saw?
Well, you'd never guess, so I'll tell you.
There, perched on a limb, was a beautiful little lady, all dressed in
red, with a red cloak on, and a red hat on, and it had a red feather in
it; in fact, she was as red as Red Riding Hood ever thought of being.
"Do you believe in fairies, Uncle Wiggily?" she asked.
"No," replied the old rabbit, "I can't say that I do."
"Well," went on the little creature, "you soon will. Watch me
carefully."
And with that, what did she do but float down from that tall tree, just
as one of those red balloons you buy at the circus floats along. Yes,
sir, she floated right down to where Uncle Wiggily was. Then she waved
her magic wand in the air three times, and said this word:
"Higgildypiggilyhobbledehoi!" It's a very hard word for you to say, I
know, but easy for a fairy. Well, she said that word, and then, all at
once, what should happen but that a golden ball appeared, floating in
the air.
"Catch the golden ball!" cried the red fairy.
"I can't!" answered the old rabbit. "I haven't played ball in years, and
years, and years."
"Well," went on the fairy, with a laugh, "no matter. It will come to
you," and you may not believe me, but if that golden ball didn't float
right down into Uncle Wiggily's hands. He had to drop his crutch to
catch it.
"Now," proceeded the red fairy, "do you want to see me do something
magical to prove that I am wonderful, and a real fairy?'"
"Yes," answered Uncle Wiggily, "certainly."
"Well, what shall I do? Name something wonderful."
"If you could cure me of my rheumatism it would be wonderful," he
answered. "It hurts me something fierce, now."
"Ha! That is not wonderful at all," spoke the red fairy. "That is
altogether too easy. But I will do it all the same. Watch me carefully."
Then, as true as I'm telling you, if that golden ball didn't begin to
dance up and down, and sideways, and around and around Uncle Wiggily,
leaping here, and there, and everywhere, until he could hardly see it.
And the silver trumpet blew: "Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta-ra!" just like that, and
all of a sudden Uncle Wiggily felt himself being lifted up, and whirled
around, and then came a clap of thunder, and then it all got still, and
quiet, and a little bird began to sing. Then the fairy's voice asked:
"Well, Uncle Wiggily, how is your rheumatism now?"
"Why!" exclaimed the old rabbit, "it is all gone. It certainly is. I
never would have believed it," and, honestly, the pain was all gone, and
he didn't need his crutch for a long time after that. Then he believed
that the red lady was a fairy, and he hurried home to tell Sammie and
Susie, while the little red lady and the golden ball flew back into the
tree. "Oh!" cried Susie, when she heard the story, "I wish I could see a
fairy!" And, listen, she did! The very next day; and, if nothing
happens, the story to-morrow night will be about Susie Littletail and
the blue fairy.
Now listen, Uncle Wiggily felt so good at being cured of his rheumatism
that he asked the red fairy if some boys and girls, who had been very
good, couldn't stay up after they had heard the bedtime story to-night.
"I want to make them happy because I am happy," said Uncle Wiggily.
"Yes, they stay up if their papas and mammas will let them," answered
the red fairy, so now you just ask, but be very polite about it, and see
what happens. But don't stay up too late, you know, for that would never
do, never at all.
XXVI
SUSIE AND THE BLUE FAIRY
They were talking about Uncle Wiggily's visit to the red fairy, in the
rabbits' burrow the next day, when Susie remarked:
"Well, if I saw a fairy, I think I'd ask for something more magical than
having my rheumatism cured."
"No you wouldn't," said her uncle, as he nibbled a bit of
chocolate-covered carrot that Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had made. "You
think you would, but you wouldn't. In the first place, you never had
rheumatism, or you'd be glad to get the first fairy you saw to cure it.
And in the second place, when you see a fairy it makes you feel so
funny you don't know what you are saying. But I am certainly glad I met
that one. I never felt better in all my life than I do since my
rheumatism is cured. I believe I'll dance a jig."
"Oh, no, don't," begged Mamma Littletail.
"Yes, I shall to," spoke Uncle Wiggily. "Begging your pardon, of course,
Alvinah." You see, Mamma Littletail's first name was Alvinah. So Uncle
Wiggily danced a jig, and did it fairly well, considering everything.
That afternoon Susie Littletail went for a walk in the woods. She was
all alone, for Sammie had gone over to play with Bully, the frog, and
Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, his squirrel chums. Susie walked along,
and she was rather hoping she might meet the fairy prince, who was
changed from a mud turtle into a nice boy, and came to Lulu and Alice
Wibblewobble's party. But Susie didn't meet him, and, when it began to
get dark, she started for home.
"Oh!" she exclaimed aloud, as she came to a little spot where the grass
grew nice and green, and where the trees were all set in a circle, just
as if they were playing, Ring Around the Rosy, Sweet Tobacco Posey. "Oh,
dear, I wish I would meet with a fairy, as Uncle Wiggily did! But I
don't s'pose I ever will. I never have any good luck! Only last week I
lost my ring with the blue stone in it."
And just then--oh, in fact, right after Susie finished speaking, what
should she hear but a voice singing. Yes, a voice singing; a sweet,
silvery voice, and this is what it sang. Of course, I can't sing this in
a sweet, silvery voice, but I'll do the best I can. Now this is the
song:
"If any one is seeking
A fairy for to see,
If they will kindly glance up
Into this chestnut tree
They'll see what they are seeking,
I'm truly telling you,
For I'm a little fairy
All dressed in baby-blue."
Then, you may believe me or not, if Susie didn't look up into the tree,
and there, in a hole where the Owl school teacher once lived, was a
really and truly-ruly fairy. Honest. Susie knew at once it was a fairy
that she saw because the little creature was colored baby blue, you
know, the shade they put on babies, and she had gauzy wings, with stars
on them, and carried a magic wand which also had a star on it, did the
little blue creature. Still, the little rabbit girl wanted to make
sure, so she asked: "Are you a fairy?"
"I am," replied the little creature in blue. "Can you kindly tell me how
much two and two are?"
"Four," answered Susie.
"Is it really?"
"Of course. You ought to know that," spoke Susie proudly, for she was at
the head of her arithmetic class.
"Ought I?" asked the fairy with a sigh. "Well, I suppose I had, but I
haven't been to school in ever so long--not since I was a wee bit of a
child, and that's ever and ever so many years ago, when I was no bigger
than that," and she pointed to something in the air.
"Bigger than what?" asked Susie, who didn't see anything.
"Than that speck of star dust," went on the blue fairy. "It's so small
you can't see it. But no matter. Because you were so kind as to tell me
how much two and two are, I will give you three wishes."
"Will you, really?" cried Susie in delight.
"Yes, three wishes, for I am a regular fairy, and that is the regular
number of wishes you may have. Some fairies only give two wishes, and
some only one. But I always give three. Go ahead now, and wish."
"Let me see," thought Susie, and her nose twinkled like three stars, she
was so excited. "First I wish for a golden coach drawn by four horses."