through a hoop, and rolled over, and barked liked a dog, and all the boys
that had tried to crawl under the tent to see the monkey-show for nothing,
ran out to see Uncle Wiggily's show.
And he did lots of tricks and kept them all from crawling in under the
tent, and he even ate a popcorn ball, standing on his hind legs, and
wiggling his left ear with a pin-wheel on it. Then, after a while, the
monkey-show was all over, and the monkey said:
"Uncle Wiggily, you did very well. You treated those troublesome boys just
fine! So I'll give you ten pennies, and perhaps they will make you have a
good fortune."
Then the monkey gave Uncle Wiggily ten pennies, and he went to sleep in a
feather bed, while the old gentleman rabbit went down to the drug store to
get an ice cream soda.
And what happened after the show was over, and what Uncle Wiggily did
after he had his ice cream, I'll tell you in the next story which will be
about Uncle Wiggily in a balloon. That is, if our pussy cat doesn't get
all covered with red paint, and look like a tomato growing on a strawberry
vine. So watch out, and don't let that happen.
STORY XII
UNCLE WIGGILY IN A BALLOON
Well, just as I expected, something happened to my pussy-cat named Peter.
He didn't fall into the pot of red paint, but he either ran away, or else
some one took him. So now I have no pussy-cat. But I'll tell you a story
about Uncle Wiggily just the same.
The old gentleman rabbit stayed with the monkey for several days, and he
was so kind and good to the troublesome boys--Uncle Wiggily was, I
mean--and he did such funny tricks for them, that they didn't crawl under
the tent any more, and the monkey could do his tricks in peace and
quietness.
"Oh, you have been a great help to me," said the monkey to the rabbit,
"and I would like you to work for me all Summer. I am now going to travel
on to the next town, and if you like you may go with me and keep the boys
there from crawling under the tent."
"No, I thank you," replied Uncle Wiggily slowly, as he put some bread and
butter, and a piece of pie, into his satchel. "I think I will travel
farther on by myself, and seek my fortune."
"Well, I'm sorry to see you go," said the monkey. "And here is fifty cents
for your work. I hope you have good luck."
And then Uncle Wiggily started off again, over the fields and through the
woods, seeking his fortune, while the monkey got ready to move his show to
the next town.
Well, for some time nothing happened to the old gentleman rabbit. He
walked on and on, and once he saw a little red ant, trying to drag a piece
of cake home for dinner. The cake was so big that the ant was having a
dreadful time with it, but Uncle Wiggily took his left ear, and just
brushed that cake into the ant's house as easily as anything.
"My, how strong and brave you are," cried the little red ant. "Won't you
let me get you a glass of water?"
"I would like it," said the rabbit, "for it is quite warm to-day."
Well, that ant got Uncle Wiggily a glass of water, but you know how it
is--an ant's glass is so very small that it only holds as much water as
you could put on the point of a pin, and really, I'm not exaggerating a
bit, when I say that Uncle Wiggily drank seventeen thousand four hundred
and twenty-six and a half ant-glasses of water before he had enough. It
took all the ants for a mile around to bring the water to him, but they
didn't mind, because they liked him.
Then the old gentleman rabbit traveled on again, and when it came night he
slept under a haystack.
"I am sure I'll find my fortune to-day," thought Uncle Wiggily as he got
up and brushed the hay seed out of his ears the next morning.
It was a bright, beautiful day, and he hadn't gone very far before he
heard some fine music.
"My, there must be a hand-organ around here," he said to himself. "And
perhaps there is another monkey. I'll watch out."
So he stood on his hind legs, Uncle Wiggily did, and the music played
louder, and all of a sudden the rabbit looked down the road, and there was
a nice circus, with the white tents, all covered with flags, and bands
playing, and elephants squirting water through their long noses over their
backs to wash the dust off. And lions and tigers were roaring, and the
horses were running, and the fat lady was drinking pink lemonade, and Oh!
it was fine!
"I've got fifty cents, and I guess I'll go to the circus," thought Uncle
Wiggily, and he was just entering the big tent when he happened to see a
man with a lot of red and green and yellow and pink balloons. Now, you
would have thought that man would have been happy, having so many
balloons, but he wasn't. He looked very sad, that man did, and he was
almost crying.
"Poor man!" thought Uncle Wiggily. "Perhaps he has no money to go in the
circus. I'll give him mine. Here is fifty cents, Mr. Man," said the old
gentleman rabbit, kindly. "Take it and go see the elephant eat peanuts."
"Oh, that is very good of you," spoke the balloon man, "but I don't want
to go to the circus. I want to sell my balloons, but no one will buy
them."
"Why not?" asked the rabbit.
"Oh, because there are so many other things to buy," said the man, "red
peanuts and lemonade in shells--oh, I've got that wrong, it is red
lemonade, isn't it? And peanuts in shells. But no matter. What I need,"
said the man, "is to get the people to listen to me--I need to make them
look at me, and when they see what fine balloons I have they'll buy some.
But there are so many other things to look at that they never look toward
me at all."
"Ha! I know the very thing!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "You ought to have some
one go up in a balloon. That would surprise the people like anything.
They'd be sure to look at that, and they'd all run over here and buy all
your balloons."
"Yes, but who can I get to go up in a balloon?" asked the man.
"I will!" cried Uncle Wiggily bravely. "Perhaps I may find my fortune up
in the sky, so I'll go in a balloon."
Well, the man thought that was fine. So he made a little basket for the
rabbit to sit in, and he fastened the basket to a big red balloon, and
then he took care of the rabbit's valise for him, while Uncle Wiggily got
ready to go toward the clouds, taking only his crutch with him.
When the man had everything fixed and when the rabbit was sitting in the
basket as easily as in a soft chair at home, the man cried:
"Over here! Over here, everybody! Over here, people! A rabbit is going up
in a balloon! A most wonderful sight! Over here!"
And then the man let go of the balloon, and Uncle Wiggily shot right up
toward the sky, only, of course, the man had a string fast to the balloon
to pull it down again. Up and up went the balloon carrying Uncle Wiggily.
Up and up!
And my! how surprised the people were. They rushed over and bought so many
balloons that the man couldn't take in the money fast enough. And Uncle
Wiggily stayed up there, high in the air, looking for his fortune.
And then, all of a sudden, a bad boy, with a bean shooter, shot at the
balloon, and "bang!" it burst, with a big hole in it. Down came Uncle
Wiggily, head over heels, bursted balloon, basket, crutch and all.
"Oh, he'll be killed! He'll be killed!" cried all the people.
"No, he'll not! We'll save him!" cried Dickie and Nellie Chip-Chip, the
boy and girl sparrow, who happened to be at the circus. "We'll save Uncle
Wiggily!"
So up into the air they flew, and before Uncle Wiggily could fall to the
ground Dickie and Nellie grabbed the basket in their bills, and, by
fluttering their wings, they let it come very gently to earth just like a
feather falling, and the rabbit wasn't hurt a bit. But, of course, the
balloon was broken.
So that's how Uncle Wiggily went up in a balloon and came down again, but
he hadn't yet found his fortune. And now in the next story, if our fire
shovel doesn't go out to play in the sand pile, and get its ears full of
dirt, I'll tell you about Uncle Wiggily in an automobile.
STORY XIII
UNCLE WIGGILY IN AN AUTO
Well, after Uncle Wiggily had been saved from the falling balloon by
Dickie and Nellie Chip-Chip, the sparrow children, the people were so
excited that they wanted the bad boy arrested for making a hole in the
balloon with his bean-shooter.
"No, let him go," said the rabbit gentleman, kindly. "I'm sure he won't do
it again." And do you know, that boy never did. It was a good lesson to
him.
Then the people bought all the balloons, until the man had none left, and
I guess if he could have sent for forty-'leven more he would have sold
them also.
"I will pay you good wages to stay with me, and go up in a balloon every
day," said the man to the rabbit. "You would help me do lots of business."
"No," said Uncle Wiggily. "I must travel on and seek my fortune. I didn't
find it up in the air."
But before the old gentleman rabbit traveled on, he went into the circus
with Dickie and Nellie. For they had an extra ticket that Bully the frog
was going to use, only Bully went in swimming and caught cold, and had to
stay home. So Uncle Wiggily enjoyed the show very much in his place.
"Give my love to Sammie and Susie Littletail and to all my friends," said
the rabbit, as he took his crutch and valise, after the circus was over,
and started to travel on, looking for his fortune.
Well, the first place he came to that day was an old hollow stump, and on
the door was a card which read:
COME IN.
"Ha! Come in; eh?" said Uncle Wiggily. "I guess not much! You can't fool
me again. There is a bad bear, or a savage owl inside that stump, and they
want to eat me. I'll just stay outside."
He was just hurrying past, when the door of the stump-house opened, and an
old grandfather fox stuck out his head. This fox was almost blind, and he
had no teeth, and he had no claws, and his tail was just like a last
year's dusting brush, that the moths have eaten most up, and altogether
that fox was so old and feeble that he couldn't have hurt a mosquito. So
Uncle Wiggily wasn't a bit afraid of him.
"I say, is there anything good to eat out there?" asked the fox, looking
over the tops of his spectacles at the rabbit. "Anything nice and juicy to
eat?"
"Yes, I am good to eat," said Uncle Wiggily, "but you are not going to eat
me. Good-by!"
"Hold on!" cried the old fox, "don't be afraid. I can only eat soup, for I
have no teeth to chew with, so unless you are soup you are of no use to
me."
"Well, I'm not soup, but I know how to make some," replied the rabbit, for
he felt sorry for the grandfather fox.
So what do you think our Uncle Wiggily did? Why, he went into the fox's
stump-house and made a big pot full of the finest kind of soup, and the
rabbit and the fox ate it all up, and, because the fox had no teeth or
claws, he couldn't hurt his visitor.
"I wish you would stay with me forever," said the old fox, as he blinked
his eyes at Uncle Wiggily. "I have a young and strong grandson coming home
soon, and you might show him how to make soup."
"No, thank you," replied the rabbit. "I'm afraid that young and strong
grandson of yours would want to eat me instead of the soup, I guess I'll
travel on." So the old gentleman rabbit took his crutch and valise and
traveled on.
Well, pretty soon, it began to get dark, and Uncle Wiggily knew night was
coming on. And he wondered where he could stay, for he didn't see any
haystacks to sleep under. He was thinking that he'd have to dig a burrow
in the ground for himself, and he was looking for a soft place to begin,
when, all at once, he heard a loud "Honk-Honk!" back of him in the road.
"Ha, an automobile is coming!" said Uncle Wiggily. "I must get out of the
way!" So he hopped on ahead, going down the road quite fast, until he got
to a place where there were prickly briar bushes on both sides of the
highway.
"My! I'll have to keep in the middle of the road if I don't want to get
scratched," said the rabbit. And then the automobile horn behind him
honked louder than ever.
"They are certainly coming along fast," thought Uncle Wiggily. "If I don't
look out I'll be run over." So he hopped along quicker than before, until,
all of a sudden, as he looked down the road, he saw a savage dog standing
there.
"Well, now! Isn't that just my bad luck!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "If I go on
the dog will catch me, and if I stand here the auto will run on top of me.
I just guess I'll run back and see if there is a hole where I can crawl
through the bushes."
So he started to run back, but, no sooner had he done so, than the dog saw
him, and came rushing at him with a loud, "Bow-wow-wow! Bow-wow-wow!"
"My, but he's savage!" thought the rabbit. "I wonder if I can get away in
time?"
And then the auto honked louder than before, and all of a sudden it came
whizzing down the road, right toward the rabbit.
"Oh, dear; I'm going to be caught, sure!" cried Uncle Wiggily, and indeed
it did look so, for there was the dog running from one direction, and the
auto coming in the other, and prickly briar bushes were on both sides of
the road, and Uncle Wiggily couldn't crawl through them without pulling
all the fur off his back, and his ears, too.
"Honk-Honk!" went the auto.
"Bow-wow!" went the dog.
"Oh, dear!" cried Uncle Wiggily. Then he thought of a plan. "I'll give a
big run and a long jump and maybe I can jump over the auto, and then the
auto will bump into the dog, and I will be safe!" he cried.
So he took a long run, and just as the auto was going to hit him, Uncle
Wiggily gave a big jump, right up into the air. He didn't jump quite
quickly enough, however, for one of the big rubber tires ran over his toe,
but he wasn't much hurt. And what do you think he did? Why, he landed
right in the auto, on the seat beside a little boy.
And that dog was so frightened of the automobile that he howled and
yowled, and his teeth chattered, and he tucked his tail between his legs,
and ran home.
"Oh, the bunny! The bunny!" cried the little boy, as he saw Uncle Wiggly.
"May we keep him, papa?"
"I guess so," said the boy's papa. "Anyhow his foot is hurt, and we'll
take care of him until it gets well. My, but he is a good jumper, though!"
So the man stopped the auto, and picked up Uncle Wiggily's crutch and
valise, which the old gentleman rabbit had dropped when he jumped upon the
seat beside the boy, and then the car went on. And Uncle Wiggily wasn't a
bit frightened at being in an auto, for he knew the boy and man would be
kind to him.
"Perhaps I shall find my fortune now," the rabbit gentleman said. And the
little boy patted him on the back, and stroked his long ears.
Now, in the story after this I'll tell you what happened to Uncle Wiggily
at the little boy's house, and in case our door key doesn't get locked
out, and have to sleep in the park, you are going to hear about Uncle
Wiggily in a boat.
STORY XIV
UNCLE WIGGILY IN A BOAT
"Poor rabbit!" exclaimed the little boy in the automobile, as he rubbed
Uncle Wiggily's ears. "I wonder if his foot is much hurt, papa?"
"I don't know," answered the man, as he steered the machine down the road.
"I'll have the doctor look at it."
"Oh, indeed, it isn't hurt much," spoke up Uncle Wiggily. "The rubber tire
was soft, you see. But my rheumatism is much worse on account of running
so fast."
"What's this? Well, of all things! This rabbit can talk!" cried the man in
surprise.
"Of course he can, papa," said the boy. "Lots of rabbits can talk. Why,
there's Sammie and Susie Littletail; they can talk, and maybe this rabbit
knows them."
"I'm their uncle," said the old gentleman rabbit, making a bow.
"Oh, then, you must be Uncle Wiggily Longears!" cried the little boy.
"Oh, I've always wanted to see you, and now I can!"
"Well, it is very strange to meet you this way," said the man. "Still, I
am glad you are not hurt, Uncle Wiggily. And so you are out seeking your
fortune," for the rabbit had told them about his travels. "Perhaps you
would like to rest at our house for a few days. We can give you a nice
room, with a brass bed, and a bath-tub to yourself, and you can have your
meals in bed, if you can't come down stairs."
"Oh, I am not used to that kind of a life," said the old gentleman rabbit.
"I would rather live out of doors. If you can get me some clean straw to
lie on, and once in a while a carrot or a turnip, and a bit of lettuce and
some cabbage leaves now and then, I'll be all right. And as soon as my
foot is well I'll travel on."
"Oh, what good times we'll have!" cried the little boy. "Our house is near
a lake, and I have a motor boat. And I'll give you a ride in it."
Well, Uncle Wiggily thought that would be nice, and he was rather glad,
after all, that he had jumped into the auto. So pretty soon they came to
the place where the boy lived. Oh, it was a fine, large house, with lots
of grounds, lawns and gardens all around it. And there were several dogs
on the place, but the little boy spoke to them all, telling them that the
rabbit was his friend Uncle Wiggily, who must not be bitten or barked at
on any account.
"Oh, we heard about him from Fido Flip-Flop," said big dog Rover. "We
wouldn't hurt Uncle Wiggily for two worlds, and part of another one, and a
bag of peanuts."
So Uncle Wiggily was given a nice bed of straw in one of the empty
dog-houses, and the boy got him some cabbage and lettuce, and the rabbit
made himself a sandwich of them, with some bread and butter which he had
in his satchel.
Then the rabbit and the dogs talked together, and the rabbit told of his
travels, and what had happened to him so far.
"Wonderful! Wonderful!" exclaimed the old dog Rover. "You should write a
book about your fortune."
"I haven't found it yet, but perhaps I may, and then I'll write the book,"
said Uncle Wiggily, combing out his whiskers.
That night the boy put a soft rag and some salve on the rabbit's sore
foot, and he also gave him some liniment for his rheumatism, and in the
morning Uncle Wiggily was much better. He and the boy and the dogs had
lots of fun playing together on the smooth, green, grassy lawn. They
played tag, and hide-and-go-seek, and a new game called "Don't Let the
Ragman Take Your Rubber Boots." And the dog Rover pretended he was the
ragman.
"Now, then, we'll all go out in my motor boat," said the boy, so he and
Uncle Wiggily and the dogs went down to the lake and, surely enough, there
was the boat, the nicest one you could wish for. There was a little cabin
in it, and seats out on deck, and a little engine that went "choo-choo!"
and pushed the boat through the water.
In the boat they all had a fine ride around the lake, which was almost
like the one where you go to a Sunday-school picnic, and then it was time
for dinner. And, as a special treat, when they got on shore, Uncle Wiggily
was given carrot ice cream, with chopped-up turnips in it. And oh, how
good it was to him!
Well, the days passed, and Uncle Wiggily was getting so he could walk
along pretty well, for his foot was all cured, and he began to think of
going on once more to seek his fortune. And then something happened. One
day the boy went out alone in a rowboat to see if he could find any fish.
And before he knew it his boat had tipped over, spilling him out into the
water, and he couldn't swim. Wasn't that dreadful?
"Oh! Help! Help!" he cried, as the water came up to his chin.
My, but it's awful to be tipped over in a boat! and I and I hope if you
can't swim you'll never go out in one alone. And there was that poor boy
splashing around in the water, and almost drowned.
"Save me! Save me!" the boy cried. "Oh, save me!"
Well, as it happened, Uncle Wiggily was walking along the shore of the
lake just then. He saw the little boy fall out of the boat, and he heard
him cry.
"I'll save you if I can!" exclaimed the brave old rabbit. "Come on, Rover,
we'll go out in the motor boat and rescue him."
"Bow-wow! Bow-wow! Sure! Sure!" cried Cover, wagging his tail.
So he and Uncle Wiggily ran down, and jumped into the motor boat. And they
knew just how to start the engine and run it, for the boy had showed them.
"Bang-bang!" went the engine. "Whizz-whizz!" went the boat through the
water.
"Faster! Faster!" cried Uncle Wiggily, who was steering the boat, while
Rover ran the engine. "Go faster!"
So Rover made it go as fast as he could, and then all of a sudden that boy
went down under the water, out of sight.
"Oh, he's drowned!" cried Uncle Wiggily sorrowfully.
But he wasn't, I'm glad to say. Just then along came Nurse Jane
Fuzzy-Wuzzy, the muskrat, swimming. And she dived away down under and
helped bring that boy up to the top of the water, and then Uncle Wiggily
and Cover grabbed him as the muskrat lifted him up, and they pulled him
into the motor boat, and so saved his life. And oh! how thankful he was
when he was safe on shore, and he was careful never to fall in the water
again.
Now, in case the clothes wringer doesn't squeeze all the juice out of my
breakfast orange, I'll tell you in the next story about Uncle Wiggily
making a cherry pie.
STORY XV
UNCLE WIGGILY MAKES A PIE
Do you remember the little boy whom Uncle Wiggily helped save after he
fell out of the boat? Well, that boy's papa was so glad because Uncle
Wiggily had helped save the little chap from drowning that he couldn't do
enough for the old gentleman rabbit.
"You can stay here forever, and have carrot ice cream every day if you
like," the man said.
"Oh, thank you very much, but I think I'll travel on," replied Uncle
Wiggily. "I have still to seek my fortune."
"Why, _I_ will give you a fortune!" said the boy's papa. "I will give you
a thousand million dollars, and a penny besides."
"That would be a fine fortune," spoke the rabbit, "but I would much rather
find my own. It is no fun when you get a thing given to you. It is better
to earn it yourself, and then you think more of it."
"Yes, that is so," said the man. "Well, we will be sorry to see you go."
Uncle Wiggily started off the next day, once more to seek his fortune, and
the little boy felt so sad at seeing him go that he cried, and put his
arms around the old gentleman rabbit, and kissed him between the ears. And
Uncle Wiggily felt badly, too.
Well, the old gentleman rabbit traveled on and on for several days after
that, sleeping under hay stacks part of the time, or in empty hollow
stumps, and sometimes he dug a burrow for himself in the soft ground.
And one afternoon, just as the sun was getting ready to go to bed for the
night, Uncle Wiggily came to an open place in the woods where there was a
cave, made of a lot of little stones piled up together.
"My! I wonder who lives there?" thought the rabbit. "It is too small for a
giant to live in, but there may be a bad bear or a savage fox in there. I
guess I'd better get away from here."
Well, Uncle Wiggily was just going, when, all at once, a voice cried out:
"Here, hold on there!"
The rabbit looked back, and he saw a great big porcupine, or hedgehog--you
know, those animals like a big gray rabbit, only their fur is the
stickery-prickery kind, like needles, and the quills come out and stick in
anybody who bites a hedgehog. So I hope none of you ever bite one. And
they won't bite you if you don't bother them.
So as soon as Uncle Wiggily saw that it was Mr. Hedgehog who was speaking
he wasn't a bit afraid, for he knew him.
"Oh, it's you, is it?" asked the rabbit. "I'm real glad to see you. I was
going to travel on, but----"
"Don't say another word!" cried the hedgehog heartily. "You can stay in my
cave all night. I have two beds, and it's a good thing I have, for if you
slept with me you might get full of my stickery-stickers."
"Yes, I guess I had better sleep alone," said Uncle Wiggily, with a laugh.
"But it seems to me, Mr. Hedgehog, that you are not looking well."
"I'm not," answered the porcupine, as he shivered so that several of his
quills fell out on the grass. "I'm suffering for some cherry pie. Oh,
cherry pie! If I only had some I know I'd feel better at once. I just love
it!"
"Why don't you make some yourself?" asked Uncle Wiggily.
"I have tried," replied the hedgehog. "I've tried and tried again, but,
somehow, it never comes out right. Here, I'll show you. I made a cherry
pie just before I looked out of the door and saw you. I'll show it to
you."
He went into his little stone house, and Uncle Wiggily went with him.
"There's the pie--it's no good!" cried the porcupine, as he pointed to
something on the table. Well, as soon as Uncle Wiggily saw it he laughed
so hard that his ears waved back and forth.
"What's the matter? I don't see anything funny," asked Mr. Hedgehog,
shivering so that more quills fell out.
"Why, you've gone and put the cherry pits into the pie instead of the
cherries," said the rabbit. "That's no way to do. You must take out the
stones from inside the cherries and put the outside part of them inside
the pie, and throw the inside or stony part of the cherries away."