After awhile Raggedy Ann turned to say something to Raggedy Andy, and
there coming behind them was Mr. Doodle. “Oh dear! Here comes Mr.
Doodle!” Raggedy Ann said.
Raggedy Andy turned and looked. “My goodness!” he cried. “I forgot and
left my magic wooden sword and now Mr. Doodle is riding upon the magic
wooden sword and will soon catch up with us!”
The Dragon, on hearing this wiggled faster than ever, so fast that the
trees and bushes seemed to whiz by, but the paper dragon could not go
as fast as the magic wooden sword and pretty soon Mr. Doodle caught up
with them.
“Stop, or I’ll cut off the dragon’s tail!” Mr. Doodle shouted to
Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy.
“You cannot use the magic sword to cut off the dragon’s tail while you
are riding upon the wooden sword,” Raggedy Andy laughed.
“Of course I can’t when I am riding upon the wooden sword,” Mr. Doodle
shouted. “But unless you stop, I shall climb from the wooden sword to
the dragon’s back and then cut off his tail!”
“There isn’t anything to do except stop,” Raggedy Ann said. “We do
not care to have Mr. Doodle cut off your tail again,” she said to the
dragon.
“How did you get free from where you were glued to the log?” Raggedy
Andy asked Mr. Doodle.
[Illustration]
“When I saw you leaving me alone on the log I wiggled and twisted as
hard as I could, trying to get loose, but I could not get free. Then I
grew angry and cried and the tears ran down my nose onto the log and
melted the glue. When I got loose, didn’t I laugh!”
[Illustration]
“Why did you laugh, silly?” Marggy’s mama wished to know, as she opened
her basket and gave cookies to everyone.
“I laughed because I saw that Raggedy Andy had left his magic wooden
sword and I knew I would soon catch up with you! That’s why I laughed!”
“Sit down on the log beside Raggedy Andy and me and have some lunch,
Mr. Doodle. We do not believe in being unkind to you even if you have
been mean to us,” Raggedy Ann said.
Mr. Doodle looked carefully to see if Raggedy Andy had put more glue
upon the log. “If you try to fool me again I shall give you a hard
thump, Raggedy Andy,” Mr. Doodle said.
“Give Mr. Doodle a handful of cookies,” Raggedy Andy said to Marggy’s
mama and when Marggy’s mama had done this Raggedy Andy said, “Now give
Mr. Doodle a large piece of chocolate cake because he must be hungry!”
Marggy’s mama did as Raggedy Andy said, so when Mr. Doodle reached
for the large piece of chocolate cake, he had to drop Raggedy Andy’s
magic wooden sword, because Mr. Doodle had both hands full of cake and
cookies.
“Whee!” Raggedy Andy cried as he picked up the magic wooden sword. “Now
I have the wooden sword and Mr. Doodle cannot follow us. As soon as we
finish eating our lunch, we will start again!”
This made Mr. Doodle feel so badly to think how easily Raggedy Andy
had fooled him, he cried, and Raggedy Ann had to wipe the tears to
keep them from spoiling Mr. Doodle’s cake and cookies. Then Raggedy
Ann wiped the crumbs from everyone’s mouths and said, “It is time we
hurried along.”
So Raggedy Andy helped Marggy and her mama and Raggedy Ann upon the
back of the paper dragon and then climbed up himself, “All right,
Mister Paper Dragon!” Raggedy Andy called. “You can wiggle along
through the woods as fast as you wish.” Then the paper dragon started
moving; slow at first, then faster and faster until he was going just
as fast as it is possible for paper dragons to wiggle.
After they had ridden upon the Dragon’s back for almost an hour, they
came to a little house, and out across the road at the side of the
house was a gate.
The Dragon came to a stop with his nose touching the gate, just as a
man came out of the little house and said, “This is a toll gate, so you
will have to pay one penny for each passenger and two pennies for the
Dragon, if you wish to travel down the road.”
“Dear me!” Raggedy Ann said to the man. “We haven’t any pennies!”
“Then you must turn around and go back,” the man said.
“But if we do not go further down the road, we shall never find
Marggy’s Daddy,” Raggedy Ann said.
“That would be too bad,” the man replied as he wiped the tears from
his eyes. “But I must have a penny from each passenger and two for the
Dragon before I can let you pass.”
“I know what to do!” the Dragon cried. “I’ll wiggle back the road and
get a good start, then I’ll jump right over the gate.”
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
“Oh no!” Raggedy Ann said. “That would be cheating if you did that!
And every one knows it isn’t fair to cheat. We must find the pennies
somewhere.”
“Hasn’t that man back there any pennies?” the toll gate keeper asked as
he pointed back towards the Dragon’s tail. And when they looked back
there sitting upon the dragon’s tail they saw Mr. Doodle.
When he found that he was discovered riding upon the Dragon’s tail, Mr.
Doodle came up to the Dragon’s head and asked, “How much is it, Mr.
Tollgate Keeper?”
“One penny for each passenger and two pennies for the Dragon,” the
Tollgate Keeper replied.
Mr. Doodle looked through all his pockets but could only find two
pennies, a shoe button and a wire nail, “Dear me!” Mr. Doodle said.
“I only have two pennies and that is only enough to take the Dragon
through the tollgate.”
“What shall we do?” Marggy’s mama asked. “We can never find Marggy’s
daddy unless we go farther down the road!”
The tollgate keeper took off his hat and scratched his head. Finally he
said, “I’ll tell you how we can let you go through the tollgate. You
know we charge only for people who ride, so if you hop down from the
Dragon’s back, I will charge two pennies for the Dragon and the rest of
you can walk through the tollgate.”
“We are very glad that you happened to think of that before we turned
back,” Raggedy Andy laughed as he jumped from the Dragon’s back and
helped Marggy and her mama and Raggedy Ann down.
Marggy’s mama gave the toll gate keeper six cookies and a piece of
chocolate cake and this pleased the Tollgate Keeper so much he asked
every one, except the Dragon, who was too large, into his house and
gave them each a glass of soda water, for you see, the Tollgate Keeper
owned a little store too, so that anyone passing could have candy and
peanuts and popcorn and lollypops and ice cream sodas.
Then Mr. Doodle, who was very fond of ice cream sodas asked the
Tollgate Keeper if he would trade a lot of soda water for the shoe
button and wire nail.
The Tollgate Keeper said that he had always longed for a shoe button
and a wire nail, so he gave every one a soda and a bag of peanuts and
took the shoe button and wire nail.
“I really believe Mr. Doodle has forgotten he wanted to take the Dragon
home for a chicken coop,” Raggedy Ann whispered to Raggedy Andy.
[Illustration]
“I believe so, too!” Raggedy Andy whispered in return to Raggedy Ann.
“For if he had not paid the Tollgate Keeper the two pennies to get the
Dragon through the tollgate, he could have taken the Dragon away from
us again.”
But Raggedy Andy did not remind Mr. Doodle of this. Mr. Doodle laughed
and talked with everyone and said he was sorry he did not have another
shoe button and a wire nail he could trade for more sodas and peanuts.
“Well,” Mr. Doodle said, when he had finished drinking the last of his
soda. “I guess we had better be going on, or it will be late before we
find Marggy’s Daddy!”
After shaking hands with the kind Tollgate Keeper the Dragon carried
them through the woods until they came to a great marble castle.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]