fence, and looking over, Uncle Wiggily and the boys saw Grandfather
Goosey Gander, the old gentleman duck, standing there on one leg. "This
is my field of pumpkins," said Grandfather Goosey, "and you may take as
many as you like." Then he put down his other leg, which he had been
holding up under his feathers.
"Thank you very much," spoke Uncle Wiggily politely.
"And may we each have a pumpkin to make a Jack-o'-lantern?" asked
Billie.
"To be sure," answered Grandfather Goosey, so Uncle Wiggily took a very
large pumpkin for a pie, and the boy squirrels took smaller ones for
their lanterns. Then Uncle Wiggily took a few more to be sure he would
have plenty, but none was as large as the first one.
"I will send you some pumpkin pies when Mrs. Bushytail bakes them,"
promised the old gentleman rabbit as he got ready to travel on with the
boys in the auto.
"I wish you would," said Grandfather Goosey, "as I am very fond of
pumpkin pie with watercress salad on top."
On and on went the auto, and Billie and Johnnie were talking about how
they would make their Jack-o'-lanterns and have fun, when all of a
sudden, out from the bushes at the side of the road, jumped the big,
bad savage wolf.
"Hold on there!" he cried to Uncle Wiggily. "Stop, I want to see you!"
"You want to bite me, I guess," said the old gentleman rabbit. "No,
sir! I'm not going to stop."
"Then I'll just make you!" growled the wolf, and with that what did he
do but bite a hole in one of the big rubber tires, letting out all the
wind with a puff, so the auto couldn't go any more.
"Now see what you've done!" cried Johnnie. "Yes, and it was a nice, new
auto, too," said Billie sorrowfully.
"Fiddlesticks!" cried the wolf. "Double fiddlesticks. Don't talk to me.
I'm hungry. Get out of that auto, now, so I can bite you."
"Oh! what shall we do?" whispered Johnnie.
"Hush! Don't say a word. I'm going to play a trick on that wolf," said
Uncle Wiggily. Then he spoke to the savage creature, saying: "If you
are going to eat us up, I s'pose you will; but first would you mind
taking one of these pumpkins down to the bottom of the hill and leaving
it there for Mrs. Bushtail to make a pie of?"
"Oh, anything to oblige you, since I am going to eat you, anyhow,"
said the wolf. "Give me the pumpkin, but mind, don't try to run away,
while I'm gone for I can catch you. I'll come back and eat you up in a
minute."
"All right," said Uncle Wiggily, giving the wolf a little pumpkin, and
pretending to cry, to show that he was afraid. But he was only making
believe, you see. Well, the wolf began to run down to the foot of the
hill.
"Now, quick, boys!" suddenly cried Uncle Wiggily. "We'll roll the
biggest pumpkin down after him, and it will hit him and make him as
flat as a pancake, and then he can't eat us! Lively, now!"
So, surely enough, they took the big pumpkin out of the auto and rolled
it down after the wolf. He heard it coming and he tried to get out of
the way, but he couldn't, because he was carrying another pumpkin, and
he stumbled and fell down, and the big pumpkin rolled right over him,
including his tail, and he was as flat as two pancakes, and part of
another one, and he couldn't even eat a toothpick.
Then, Uncle Wiggily and the boys fixed the hole in the tire, pumped it
full of wind, and hurried on, and they had plenty of pumpkin left for
pies, and they were soon at the squirrel's house, safe and sound, so
that's the end of the story.
But on the next page, if the milk bottle doesn't roll down off the
stoop and tickle the doormat, I'll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and the
pumpkin pie.
STORY VIII
UNCLE WIGGILY'S JACK-O'-LANTERN
"I really think I must be traveling on to-day," said Uncle Wiggily,
the nice old gentleman rabbit, one bright morning when he had gone out
to the Bushtail barn to see if there were any slivers sticking in the
rubber tires of his automobile. "I have been here quite a while now,
boys, and I want to pay a visit to some of my other friends," he added.
"Oh, please don't think of going!" begged Johnnie Bushtail, the boy
squirrel.
"Please, can't you stay a little longer?" asked Billie, his brother.
"Johnnie and I are going to make Jack-o'-lanterns to-night from the
pumpkin you got us, and you may help if you like."
"Oh, that will be fine," said Uncle Wiggily. "I suppose I really must
stay another night. But after that I shall have to be traveling along,
for I have many more friends to visit, and only to-day I had a letter
from Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck boy, asking when I was coming to see
him."
"Well, never mind about that. Let's get to work at making
Jack-o'-lanterns now and not wait for to-night," suggested Johnnie.
"We'll make three lanterns, one for Uncle Wiggily and one for each of
us."
So they sat down on benches out in the back yard, where the pumpkin
seeds wouldn't do any harm, and they began to make the lanterns. And
this is how you do it. First you cut a little round hole in the top of
the pumpkin--the part where the stem is, you know. And then you scoop
out the soft inside where all the seeds are, and you can save the seeds
to make more pumpkins grow next year, if you like.
Then, after you have the inside all scraped out clean, so that the
shell is quite thin, you cut out holes for the two eyes and a nose and
a mouth, and if you know how to do it you can cut make-believe teeth
in the Jack-o'-lantern's mouth. If you can't do it yourselves, perhaps
some of the big folks will help you.
[Illustration]
So that's how the squirrel boys and Uncle Wiggily made their
Jack-o'-lanterns, and when they were all finished they put a lighted
candle inside and say! My goodness! It looked just like a real person
grinning at you, only, of course, it wasn't.
"Won't we have fun to-night!" exclaimed Johnnie as he finished his
lantern.
"We certainly will!" said Billie, dancing a little jig.
"What are you going to do with your lantern, Uncle Wiggily?" asked
Johnnie.
"Oh, I don't know," answered the old gentleman rabbit. "I may take it
with me on my travels."
Well, after the three lanterns were made, there was still plenty of
time before it would be dark, so Uncle Wiggily and the boys made some
more lanterns. And along came Lulu and Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble,
the duck children, and as they had no Jack-o'-lanterns of their own,
Johnnie gave Lulu one and Billie gave Alice one, and Uncle Wiggily
gave Jimmie one, and my! you should have seen how pleased those duck
children were! It was worth going across the street just to look at
their smiling faces.
Well, pretty soon, after a while, not so very long, it was supper time,
and there was pumpkin pie and carrot sandwiches and lettuce salad, and
things like that for Uncle Wiggily, and nut cake and nut candy and nut
sandwiches for the squirrels.
Uncle Wiggily was folding up his napkin, and he was just getting out of
his chair to go in the parlor, and read the paper with Mr. Bushytail,
when, all of a sudden, there came a knock on the front door.
"My goodness! I wonder who that can be?" exclaimed Mrs. Bushytail.
"I'll go see," spoke her husband, and when he went to the door there
was kind old Mrs. Hop Toad on the mat, wiping her feet.
"Oh, is Uncle Wiggily Longears here?" asked Mrs. Toad. "If he is, tell
him to come back to the rabbit house at once, for Sammie Littletail is
very sick, and they can't get him to sleep, and the nurse thinks if he
heard one of Uncle Wiggily's stories he would shut his eyes and rest."
"I'll come right away," said Uncle Wiggily, for he had gone to the
front door, also, and had heard what Mrs. Hop Toad had said. "Wait
until I get on my hat and coat and I'll crank up my automobile and go
see Sammie," said the rabbit gentleman.
"I won't wait," said Mrs. Toad. "I'll hop on ahead, and tell them
you're coming. Anyhow it gives me the toodle-oodles to ride in an auto."
So she hopped on ahead, and Uncle Wiggily was soon ready to start off
in his car. Just as he was going, Billie Bushytail cried out:
"Oh, Uncle Wiggily, take a Jack-o'-lantern with you and maybe Sammie
will like that."
So the old gentleman rabbit took one of the pumpkin lanterns up on the
seat with him, and away he went. And then, all at once, as he was going
through a dark place in the woods in his auto, the wind suddenly blew
out all his lanterns--all the oil lamps on the auto I mean, and right
away after that a policeman dog cried out:
"Hey, there, Mr. Longears, you can't go on in your auto without a
light, you know. It's against the law."
"I know it is," said Uncle Wiggily. "I'll light the lamps at once." But
when he tried to do it he found there was no more oil in them.
"Oh, what shall I do?" he cried. "I'm in a hurry to get to Sammie
Littletail, who is sick, but I can't go in the dark. Ah! I have it. The
Jack-o'-lantern! I'll light the candle in that, and keep on going. Will
that be all right, Mr. Policeman?"
"Sure it will," said the policeman dog, swinging his club, and wishing
he was home in bed.
So Uncle Wiggily lighted the Jack-o'-lantern and it was real bright,
and soon the old gentleman rabbit was speeding on again. And, all of a
sudden out from the bushes jumped a burglar fox.
"Hold on there!" he cried to Uncle Wiggily. "I want all your money."
And just then he saw the big pumpkin Jack-o'-lantern, with its staring
eyes and big mouth and sharp teeth, looking at him from the seat of the
auto, and the fox was so scared, thinking it was a giant going to catch
him, that he ran off in the woods howling, and he didn't bother Uncle
Wiggily a bit more that night.
Then the old gentleman rabbit drove his auto on toward Sammie's house,
and he was soon there and he told Sammie a funny story and gave him the
Jack-o'-lantern, and the little rabbit boy was soon asleep, and in the
morning he was all better.
So that's what the Jack-o'-lantern did for Uncle Wiggily and Sammie,
and now if you please you must go to bed, and on the page after this,
in case the basket of peaches doesn't fall down the cellar stairs and
break the furnace door all to pieces, I'll tell you about Uncle Wiggily
and the lazy duck.
STORY IX
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LAZY DUCK
The day after Uncle Wiggily had scared the bad burglar fox with the
Jack-o'-lantern, the old rabbit gentleman and Lulu and Alice and Jimmie
Wibblewobble, the ducks, went for a little ride in the automobile.
For it was Saturday, you see, and there was no school. So they went
along quite a distance over the hills and through the woods and fields,
for Uncle Wiggily's auto was a sort of fairy machine and could go
almost anywhere.
Pretty soon they came to a little house beside the road, and in the
front yard was a nice pump, where you could get a drink of water.
"I am very thirsty," said Uncle Wiggily to Jimmie. "I wonder if we
could get a drink here?"
"Oh, yes," said Lulu, as she looked to see if her hair ribbon was on
straight; "a duck family lives here, and they will give you all the
water you want."
Right after that, before Uncle Wiggily could get out of the auto to
pump some water, there came waddling out of the duckhouse a duck boy,
about as big as Jimmie.
"How do you do?" said Uncle Wiggily, politely to this duck boy. "May we
get a drink of water here?"
"Oh--um--er--oo--I--guess--so," said the duck boy slowly, and he
stretched out his wings and stretched out his legs and then he sat down
on a bench in the front yard and nearly went to sleep.
"Why, I wonder what is the matter with him?" asked Uncle Wiggily. "Why
does he act so strangely, and speak so slow?"
"I can tell you!" exclaimed Lulu, and she got down out of the auto and
picked up a stone. "That duck boy is lazy, that's what's the matter
with him. He never even wants to play. Why, at school he hardly ever
knows his lessons."
"Oh, you surprise me!" said the old gentleman rabbit. "A lazy duck boy!
I never heard of such a thing. Pray what is his name?"
"It's Fizzy-Whizzy," said Jimmie, who also knew the boy.
"Why, what a strange name!" exclaimed the rabbit gentleman. "Why do
they call him that?"
"Because he is so fond of fizzy-izzy soda water," said Alice. "Oh,
let's go along, Uncle Wiggily."
"No," said the rabbit gentleman, slowly, "if this is a lazy duck boy he
should be cured. Laziness is worse than the measles or whooping cough,
I think. And as I am very thirsty I want a drink. Then I will think of
some plan to cure this boy duck of being lazy."
So Uncle Wiggily went close up to the boy duck and called out loud,
right in his ear, so as to waken him:
"Will you please get me a cup so I may get a drink of water?"
"Hey? What's--that--you--said?" asked the lazy boy duck, slowly,
stretching out his wings.
Uncle Wiggily told him over again, but that lazy chap just stretched
his legs this time and said:
"Oh--I--am--too--tired--to--get--you--a--cup.
You--had--better--go--in--the--house--and--get--it--for--yourself," and
then he was going to sleep again.
But, all of a sudden, his mother, who worked very hard at washing and
ironing, came to the door and said:
"Oh, dear! If Fizzy-Wizzy hasn't gone to sleep again. Wake up at once,
Fizzy, and get me some wood for the fire! Quick."
"Oh--ma--I am--too--tired," said Fizzy-Wizzy.
"I--will--do--it--to-morrow--um--ah--er--boo--soo!" and he was asleep
once more.
"Oh, I never saw such a lazy boy in all my life!" exclaimed the duck
boy's mother, and she was very much ashamed of him. "I don't know what
to do."
"Do you want me to make him better?" asked Uncle Wiggily.
"Indeed I do, but I am afraid you can't," she said.
"Yes I can," said Uncle Wiggily. "I'll come back here this evening and
I'll cure him. First let me get a drink of water and then I'll think of
a way to do it." So the duck lady herself brought out a cup so Uncle
Wiggily and Lulu and Alice and Jimmie could get a drink from the pump,
and all the while the lazy chap slept on.
"How are you going to cure him, Uncle Wiggily?" asked Jimmie when they
were riding along in the auto once more.
"I will show you," said the old gentleman rabbit. "And you children
must help me, for to be lazy is a dreadful thing."
Well, that night, after dark, Uncle Wiggily took a lantern, and some
matches and some rubber balls and some beans and something else done up
in a package, and he put all these things in his auto. Then he and the
Wibblewobble children got in and they went to the house of the lazy boy
duck.
"Is he in?" asked Uncle Wiggily of the boy's mamma.
"Yes," she said in a whisper.
"Well, when I throw a pebble against the kitchen window tell him to
come out and see who's here," went on the rabbit gentleman. Then he
opened the package and in it were four false faces, one of a fox, one
of a wolf, one of a bear and one was of an alligator. And Uncle Wiggily
put on the alligator false face, gave the bear one to Jimmie, the fox
one to Alice and the wolf one to Lulu.
Then he gave Jimmie a handful of beans and he gave Alice a rubber ball
filled with water to squirt and Lulu the same. They knew what to do
with them. Then Uncle Wiggily built a fire and made some stones quite
warm, not warm enough to burn one, but just warm enough.
These stones he put in front of the lazy duck boy's house and then he
threw a pebble against the window.
"Go and see who is there," said the duck boy's mamma to him.
"I--don't--want--to," the lazy chap was just saying, but he suddenly
became very curious and thought he would just take a peep out. And no
sooner had he opened the door and stepped on the warm stones than he
began to run down the yard, for he was afraid if he stood still he
would be burned.
And then, as he ran, up popped Uncle Wiggily from behind the bushes,
looking like an alligator with the false face on.
"Oh! Oh!" cried the lazy boy and he ran faster than ever.
Then up jumped Jimmie, looking like a bear with the false face on, and
up popped Lulu looking like a wolf and Alice looking like a fox.
"Oh! Oh!" cried the lazy boy, and he ran faster than ever before in his
life.
Then Alice and Lulu squirted water at him from their rubber balls.
"Oh! It's raining! It's raining!" cried the boy duck, and he ran faster
than before.
Then Jimmie threw the beans at him and they rattled all over.
"Oh! It's snowing and hailing!" cried the lazy boy, and he ran faster
than ever. And then Uncle Wiggily threw some hickory nuts at him, and
that lazy duck ran still faster than he had ever run in his life before
and ran back in the house.
"Oh, mother!" he cried, "I've had a terrible time," and he spoke very
fast. "I'll never be lazy again."
"I'm glad of it," she said. "I guess Uncle Wiggily cured you."
And so the old gentleman rabbit had, for the duck boy was always ready
to work after that. Then Lulu and Alice and Jimmie went home in the
auto and went to bed, and that's where you must go soon.
And if the pussy cat doesn't slip in the molasses, and fall down the
cellar steps, I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily helping Jimmie.
STORY X
UNCLE WIGGILY HELPS JIMMIE
Old Percival, who used to be a circus dog, wasn't feeling very well.
Some bad boys had tied a tin can to his tail, and had thrown stones at
him and done other mean things. But Uncle Wiggily had come along and
driven the boys away, and Percival had come home in the automobile of
the old gentleman rabbit, and was given a nice warm place behind the
kitchen stove, where he could lie down.
"But I don't feel a bit good," Percival said to Uncle Wiggily. "I don't
know whether it was the tin can the boys tied to my tail, or the leaves
they stuck on me, or the bone they put in my mouth or the molasses they
used, but I don't feel at all well."
"Perhaps it is the epizootic," said Alice Wibblewobble, the duck girl,
as she untied her green hair ribbon and put on a pink one.
"That may be it," said Percival, and he blinked his two eyes slow and
careful-like, so as not to get any dust in them.
"Perhaps if I made you some dog-biscuit-soup it would make you feel
better," said Mrs. Wibblewobble. "I'll cook some right away."
So she did that and Percival ate it, but still that night he didn't
feel much better, and the only trick he could do for the children was
to stand up on his tail, and make believe he was a soldier. But he
couldn't do that very long, and then he had to crawl back to his bed
behind the stove.
"Poor Percival is getting old," said Mr. Wibblewobble. "He isn't the
lively dog he used to be when he showed Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow how
to do tricks in a circus parade."
"No, indeed," said Uncle Wiggily, and then the old gentleman rabbit
played blind man's bluff with Lulu and Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble
until it was time to go to bed.
Well, the next day poor old Percival wasn't any better and when the
duck children started for school their mamma told them to stop on their
way home and tell Dr. Possum to come and give Percival some medicine.
"We will," said Jimmie, and just then they saw Uncle Wiggily putting
some gasoline in his automobile.
"Oh, dear! You're not going away, are you, Uncle Wiggily?" asked Lulu
Wibblewobble as she picked up a stone and threw it even better than the
lazy boy duck could have done.
"No," said the old gentleman rabbit, "I am just going for a little ride
to see Grandfather Goosey Gander, but I will be back here when you come
from school. Don't forget about telling Dr. Possum to come and see
Percival."
So they said they wouldn't forget, and then the three duck children
hurried on to school so they wouldn't be late, and Uncle Wiggily
tickled the flinkum-flankum of his auto and away he went whizzing over
the fields and through the woods.
Well, as it happened that day, Dr. Possum wasn't home, so all that
Jimmie and his sisters could do was to leave word for him to come and
see Percival as soon as the doctor got back.
"I'll send him right away, just as soon as he comes in," said Dr.
Possum's wife. "Oh, I am so sorry for poor Percival."
Well, when Lulu and Alice and Jimmie got home from school Dr. Possum
hadn't yet come to the duck house to see the sick dog, who was much
worse. And Uncle Wiggily hadn't come back from his automobile ride,
either.
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Wibblewobble. "I don't know what to do! The
doctor ought to come, and Uncle Wiggily ought to be here. Perhaps Uncle
Wiggily has met with an accident and Dr. Possum had to attend to him
first."
"Oh, I hope not, mamma," said Alice.
"I know what I can do," said Jimmie, the boy duck. "I can hurry back to
Dr. Possum's house to see if he has come back yet. If he has I'll tell
him to please hurry here."
"I think that would be a good idea," spoke Mrs. Wibblewobble. "Go
quickly, Jimmie, and here is a molasses cookie to eat on your way.
Hurry back and bring the doctor with you if you can."
So Jimmie said he would, and off he started, eating the molasses cookie
that his mamma had baked. He was thinking how good it was, and wishing
it was larger when, all at once, he stepped on a sharp stone and hurt
his foot so that he couldn't walk.
"Oh, dear!" cried Jimmie. "What shall I do? I can't go get Dr. Possum
for Percival now."
Well, he was in great pain, and he was just wondering how he could send
word to the doctor when, all at once, he saw a pony-horse in the field
near by.
"The very thing!" exclaimed Jimmie. "That is Munchie Trot, the pony
boy, and he'll let me ride to the doctor on his back."
So Jimmie took a stick to use as a cane, and he managed to get right
close up beside the pony-horse, who was eating grass.
"I'll surprise him," thought Jimmie. "I'll fly up on his back before he
sees me."
So with his strong wings he flew up on the pony's back and he cried out:
"Surprise on you, Munchie! Please gallop and trot with me to Dr.
Possum's so he can make Percival well."
And then a funny thing happened. All at once Jimmie noticed that he was
on the back of a strange pony. It wasn't Munchie Trot at all! Jimmie
had made a mistake. Think of that! And the worst of it was that when he
flew so suddenly up on the pony's back Jimmie frightened him, and the
next instant the pony jumped over the fence and began running down the
road as fast as he could.
"Oh! Stop! Stop!" cried Jimmie. "I'll fall off!" The duck boy had to
take hold of the pony's mane in his yellow bill, and he had to hold on
so he wouldn't fall off. Faster and faster ran the pony, trying to get
away from what was on his back, for he hadn't seen Jimmie fly up, and
he didn't know what it was. Maybe he thought it was a burglar fox, but
I'm not sure.
Anyhow the pony went faster and faster, and though Jimmie cried as hard
as he could for him to stop the pony wouldn't do it. Jimmie was almost
falling off, and he thought surely he would be hurt, when, all of a
sudden, down the road, came Uncle Wiggily in his automobile. He saw
what was the matter.
"Hold on, Jimmie!" cried the old gentleman rabbit. "Hold on, and I'll
be up to you in a minute. Then you can fly into my auto and be safe."
Well, the pony was going fast, but the auto went faster, and it was
soon up beside the little galloping horsie.
"Now jump, Jimmie!" called Uncle Wiggily, and the boy duck did so,
landing safely in the auto, and he wasn't hurt a bit.
Then the pony galloped on until he looked back and saw it had only been
a duck on his back and then he was ashamed for having run away, and he
stopped and said he was sorry, so Jimmie forgave him.
"Quick, we must go for Dr. Possum for Old Dog Percival," said Jimmie,
and he told Uncle Wiggily how the doctor hadn't yet come. Then Uncle
Wiggily told how he accidentally got a hole in one of his big rubber
tires or he would have been home sooner.
"But it's a good thing I happened to come along to help you," he said
to Jimmie, and Jimmie thought so too. Then they went for Dr. Possum,
who had just come home, and they took him to Percival in the auto, and
Dr. Possum soon made Percival all well, and I'm glad of it. Then the
doctor cured Jimmie's sore foot, and everybody was happy, and I hope
you are.
And next, if the dried leaves don't blow in my window and scare the
wallpaper so that it falls off, I'll tell you about Uncle Wiggily
helping Alice.
STORY XI
UNCLE WIGGILY HELPS ALICE.
One day the postman bird flew down out of the sky and stopped in
front of the Wibblewobble duck house. Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old
gentleman rabbit, was out in front, cleaning some mud off his auto, for
he had run it very fast into a puddle of water the day he saved Jimmie
off the pony's back.
"Does anybody named Alice Wibblewobble live here?" asked the postman
bird as he looked in his bag of letters.
"Yes, Alice lives here," said Uncle Wiggily.
"And does Lulu Wibblewobble?"
"Yes, of course."
"And Jimmie, too?"
"Certainly," said the old gentleman rabbit.
"Then this is the right house," said the postman bird as he blew his
whistle, like a canary, "and here is a letter for each of them."
So he handed Uncle Wiggily three letters and then he flew up into the
air again, as fast as he could go, to deliver the rest of the mail.