You see, I thought cherries were like peanuts. For you know you throw away
the outside part of the peanut, and eat the inside."
"Yes, and cherries are just the opposite," said the rabbit, laughing
again. "For you eat the outside of a cherry and throw away the pit or
stone that is inside. Now, I'll make you a cherry pie."
"I wish you would," said the porcupine. "I'll go get the cherries."
So he went out in the orchard, and he shot his sharp stickery quills, like
little arrows at the cherries on the tree, and they fell down, so he
could pick them up in a basket. I mean the cherries fell down, though of
course the quills did also though the hedgehog didn't pick them up.
And while he was doing that Uncle Wiggily was making the pie crust. He
took flour and lard and water, and mixed them together, and then he put in
other things--Oh, well, you just ask your mamma or the cook what they
were, for I might get it wrong--and soon the pie crust was ready. Then
Uncle Wiggily built a hot fire in the stove, and he waited for Mr.
Hedgehog to come in with the cherries.
And pretty soon the porcupine came back with his basket full, and he and
Uncle Wiggily shelled the peanuts--I mean the cherries--taking out the
pits.
"Now I'll put them in the pie, and put sugar on them, bake it in the oven,
and soon it will be done, and we can eat it," said the rabbit.
"Oh, joy!" cried the hedgehog. "That will be fine!"
So Uncle Wiggily put the cherries in the pie, and threw the pits away, and
he put the pie in the oven, and then he and Mr. Hedgehog sat down to wait
for it to bake. And oh, how delicious and scrumptious it did smell! if you
will excuse me for saying so.
Well, in a little while, the pie was baked, and Uncle Wiggily took it from
the oven.
"I can hardly wait to eat it!" cried the hedgehog, and just then there
came a terribly loud knock on the door.
"Oh, maybe it's that bad fox come for some of my pie!" exclaimed the
hedgehog. "If it is, I'll stick him full of stickery-stickers." But when
he went to the door there stood old Percival, the circus dog, and he was
crying as hard as he could cry.
"Come in," invited Uncle Wiggily. "Come in, and have some cherry pie, and
you'll feel better." So Percival came in, and they all three sat down, and
ate the cherry pie all up, and sure enough Percival did feel better, and
stopped crying.
Then the circus dog and Uncle Wiggily stayed all night with Mr. Hedgehog,
and they had more cherry pie next day, and it was very fine and sweet.
Now, if our cook makes some nice watermelon sandwiches, with maple syrup
on them, for supper, I'll tell you in the next story about Uncle Wiggily
and old dog Percival, and why Percival cried.
STORY XVI
UNCLE WIGGILY AND PERCIVAL
Now I'm going to tell you, before I forget it, why old dog Percival was
crying that time when he came to the little stone house where the hedgehog
lived, and where Uncle Wiggily gave him some cherry pie. And the reason
Percival was crying, was because he had stepped on a sharp stone, and hurt
his foot.
"But I don't in the least mind now," said Percival, after he had eaten
about sixty-'leven pieces of the pie. "My foot is all better."
"I should think that cherry pie would make almost any one better," said
the hedgehog, laughing with joy, for he felt better, too. "I know some bad
boys to whom I'm going to give some cherry pie, and I hope it makes them
better. And to think I threw away the good part of the cherries and cooked
the stones in the pie. Oh, excuse me while I laugh again!"
And the hedgehog laughed so hard that he spilled some of the red cherry
pie juice on his shirt front, but he didn't care, for he had another
shirt.
Well, Uncle Wiggily and Percival, the old circus dog, stayed for some days
at the home of the hedgehog, and they had cherry pie, or fritters with
maple syrup, at almost every meal. Then, finally, Uncle Wiggily said:
"Well, I guess I must travel on. I can't find my fortune here. I must
start off to-morrow."
"And I'll go with you," spoke Percival. "We'll go together, and see what
we can find."
Well, he and Uncle Wiggily went on together for some time, and nothing
happened, except that they met a poor pussy cat without any tail, and
Uncle Wiggily gave her some of the pie. And the next day they met a cat
and seven little kittens, and they all had tails, so they had to have some
pie, too.
But one night, after Percival and Uncle Wiggily had been traveling all
day, they came to a deep, dark, dismal woods.
"Oh, have we got to go through that forest?" asked the old gentleman
rabbit, wrinkling up his ears--I mean his nose.
"I guess we have," replied the circus dog. "We may find our fortunes in
there."
"It is a pretty dark spot to look for money, or fortunes," said the
rabbit. "The best thing we can do is to look for a place to sleep, and in
the morning we will hurry out of the woods."
Well, the two animal friends started into the grove of trees, and they
hadn't gone very far before it got so dark that they couldn't see to go
any farther. Oh, but it was black and lonesome and sort of scary-like! and
Uncle Wiggily said:
"Let's stay here, Percival. We'll make a little bed under the trees to
sleep in, and we'll build a fire to keep us warm, and cook a little
supper."
So Percival thought that would be nice, and soon he and the rabbit had a
cheerful little fire blazing, and then it wasn't quite so lonely. Only
there was a big owl in a tree, and he kept hollering "Who? Who? Who?" and
Percival thought it meant him, and Uncle Wiggily thought it meant him, and
they were rather frightened, so they didn't either of them answer the owl,
who kept on calling "Who? Who? Who?"
They were just cooking their supper, and cutting up the cherry pie, and
putting it on some oak leaves for plates, and they had picked out a nice
smooth stump for a table, when, all of a sudden, they heard a voice
saying:
"Now you make a jump and grab the rabbit and I'll take the dog. Then we
can carry them off to our dens, and that will be the last of them. Get
ready now!"
"Did you hear that?" asked Uncle Wiggily of the circus dog.
"Indeed I did," replied Percival. "I wonder if it can be those owls?"
"It doesn't sound like them," said Uncle Wiggily. "I think it is a bad
fox, or maybe two of them."
And just then they looked off through the woods, and by the light of the
fire they saw two big, savage, ugly wolves. Oh, how their sharp teeth
gleamed in the dancing flames, and how red their tongues were!
"Come on! Grab 'em both!" cried one savage wolf. "Grab the rabbit and the
dog!"
"Sure! I'm with you!" growled the other savage wolf.
"Oh, what shall we do, Uncle Wiggily?" asked Percival. "They'll eat us up!
"Let me think a minute," said the rabbit. So he thought for maybe half a
minute, and then exclaimed: "Oh! I know a good thing to do."
"What?" asked Percival. "Say it quickly, Uncle Wiggily, for those wolves
are creeping up on us, and it's so dark we can't see to run away."
And surely enough, those wolves were sneaking up, with their red tongues
hanging out longer than ever, for all the world just as if they had eaten
cherry pie.
"We must do some funny tricks!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "You know how,
Percival, for you were once in a circus, and I learned some when I was
with the monkey, and with Fido Flip-Flop. Do some tricks, and maybe these
wolves will feel so good-natured that they won't bite us."
So brave Uncle Wiggily stood up on one ear and waved his feet in the air.
Then he stood on his nose and turned a somersault. Next he went around and
around as fast as a pinwheel, and he whistled a funny tune about a little
rubber ball that flew into the air, and when it landed on the ground it
would not stay down there.
But I wish you could have seen the tricks Percival did. He jumped through
between Uncle Wiggily's long ears, and he walked on his hind legs, and on
his front ones. Then he stood on his head, and he made believe he was
begging for something to eat, and Uncle Wiggily fed him a carrot, and a
piece of pie. Then he put a piece of bread on his nose, tossed it up into
the air--tossed the bread, I mean, not his nose--and when it came down he
caught it and ate it. Oh, it was great!
Well, those wolves were too surprised for anything. They had never seen
tricks like those. First they smiled a bit. Then they smiled some more.
Then one laughed, then the other laughed, and finally, when Uncle Wiggily
and Percival took turns jumping over each other's backs, the wolves
thought it so funny that they had to lie down on the leaves and roll over
and over because they were laughing so hard.
And, of course, after that they didn't feel like hurting Uncle Wiggily or
Percival. And just then the big alligator came along and chased the wolves
away, so the rabbit and dog had no one to bother them except the
alligator, and, as he had just had his supper, he wasn't hungry, so he
didn't eat them.
So Uncle Wiggily and Percival went to sleep, and so must you, and if the
vegetable man brings me a pumpkin Jack o' Lantern, with a pink ribbon on
the end of the stem, I'll tell you in the next story about Uncle Wiggily
in a well.
STORY XVII
UNCLE WIGGILY IN A WELL
Well, I didn't get the pumpkin Jack o' Lantern with the pink ribbon on,
but some one mailed me an ice cream cone, so it's just as well. That is, I
suppose it was an ice cream cone when it started on its journey, but when
I got it there was only the cone part left. Maybe the postman took out the
ice cream, with which to stick a stamp on the letter.
But there, I must tell you what happened to Uncle Wiggily after he and
Percival did those tricks, and made the wolves laugh so hard. The rabbit
and the circus dog stayed in the woods all that night, and nothing
bothered them.
"Now, Percival, you make the coffee, and I'll spread the bread and butter
for breakfast," said Uncle Wiggily the next morning.
"Where are you going to get the bread and butter?" asked the dog.
"Oh, I have it in my satchel," spoke the old rabbit, and, surely enough,
he did have several large, fine slices. So he and Percival ate their
breakfast, and then they started off again.
They hadn't gone very far before they met a grasshopper, who was limping
along on top of a fence rail, and looking quite sad--I mean the
grasshopper was looking sad, not the fence rail.
"What is the matter?" asked Uncle Wiggily, kindly. "Are you sad and
lonesome because you can't have some cherry pie, or some bread and butter;
or because you can't see any funny tricks? If you are, don't worry, Mr.
Grasshopper, for Percival and I can give you something to eat, and also do
some tricks to make you laugh."
"No, I am not sad about any of those things," replied the grasshopper,
"but you see I gave a big jump over a large stone a little while ago, and
I sprained my left hind leg. Now I can't jump any more, and here it is
Summer, and, of course, we grasshoppers have to hop, or we don't make any
money."
"Oh, don't let a little thing like that worry you," spoke Uncle Wiggily.
"I have some very nice salve, that a gentleman and his boy gave me when
their automobile ran over me, and it cured my sore toe, so I think it will
cure your left hind leg."
Then he put some salve on the grasshopper's leg, and in a little while it
was much better.
"Now we must travel on again, to seek our fortune," said Uncle Wiggily.
"Come, Percival."
"I will just do one little trick, to make the grasshopper feel better
before we leave," said the circus dog, so he stood up on the end of his
tail, and went around and around, and winked first one eye and then the
other, it was too funny for anything, really it was.
Well, the alligator laughed at that--oh there I go again--I mean the
grasshopper laughed, and then Uncle Wiggily and Percival went off
together, very glad indeed that they had had a chance to do a kindness,
even to a grasshopper.
Pretty soon they came to a place where there were two roads branching off,
one to the right hand and the other to the left, like the letter "Y."
"I'll tell you what we'll do," said Percival, "you go to the right, Uncle
Wiggily, and I'll go to the left, and, later on, we'll meet by the mill
pond, and perhaps each of us may have found his fortune by that time."
"Good!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "We'll do it!"
So he went off one way, and the circus dog took the other path through the
woods, and now I must tell you what happened to the old gentleman rabbit.
Uncle Wiggily went along for some time, and just as he got to a place
where there was a large stone, all of a sudden out popped a big fat toad.
And it wasn't a nice toad, either, but a bad toad.
"Hello, Uncle Wiggily," said the squatty-watty toad. "I haven't seen you
in some time. I guess you must be getting pretty old. You can't jump as
good as you once could, can you?"
"Of course, I can," exclaimed the rabbit, a bit pettish-like, for he
didn't care to have even a toad think he couldn't jump as well as ever he
could.
"I'd like to see you," went on the toad. "See if you jump from here over
on that pile of leaves," and he pointed to them with his warty toes.
"I'll do it," exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. So he laid aside his crutch and his
valise, gave a little run and a big jump, and then he came down kerthump
on the pile of leaves.
But wait. Oh! I have something sad to tell you. That toad was only playing
a trick on the rabbit, and those leaves were right over a big, deep, dark
well. And as soon as Uncle Wiggily landed on the leaves he fell through,
for there were no boards under them to cover up the well, and down, down,
down he went, and if there had been water in the well he would have been
drowned. But the well was dry, I'm glad to say. Still Uncle Wiggily had a
great fall--almost like the tumble of Humpty-Dumpty.
"Ah, ha!" exclaimed the mean, squatty-squirmy toad. "Now you are in the
well, and I'm going off, and tell the wolves, so they can come and get
you out, and eat you. Ah, ha!" Oh! but wasn't that toad a most unpleasant
one? You see, he used to work for the wolves, doing all sorts of mean
things for them, and trapping all the animals he could for them.
So off the toad hopped, to call the wolves to come and get Uncle Wiggily,
and the poor rabbit was left alone at the bottom of the well. He tried his
best to get up, but he couldn't.
"I guess I'll have to stay here until the wolves come," he thought, sadly.
"But I'll call for help, and see what happens." So he called: "Help! Help!
Help!" as loudly as he could.
And all of a sudden a voice answered and asked:
"Where are you?"
"In the well," shouted Uncle Wiggily, and he was afraid it was the wolves
coming to eat him. But it wasn't, it was the limpy grasshopper, and he
tried to pull Uncle Wiggily out of the well, but, of course, he wasn't
strong enough.
"But I'll get Percival, the circus dog, and he'll pull you out before the
wolves come," said the grasshopper. "Now I have a chance to do you a
kindness for the one you did me." So he hopped off, as his leg was nearly
all better, and he found Percival on the left road and told him what had
happened.
And, my! how that circus dog did rush back to help Uncle Wiggily. And he
got him out of the well in no time, by lowering a long rope to him, and
pulling the rabbit gentleman up, and then the rabbit and dog ran away,
before the toad could come back with the savage wolves, who didn't get any
supper out of the well, after all, and it served them right.
So that's all of this story, but I have some more, about the adventures of
Uncle Wiggily, and next, in case the load of hay doesn't fall on my
puppy-dog, and break off his curly tail, I'll tell you about Uncle Wiggily
and Jennie Chipmunk.
STORY XVIII
UNCLE WIGGILY AND JENNIE CHIPMUNK
After Uncle Wiggily had been pulled up out of the well by Percival, the
old circus dog, and they had run far enough off so that the wolves
couldn't get them, the rabbit and the grasshopper and Percival sat down on
the ground to rest. For you see Uncle Wiggily was tired from having fallen
down the well, and the grasshopper was tired from having run so fast to
call back Percival, and of course Percival was tired from having pulled up
the old gentleman rabbit. So they were all pretty well tired out.
"I'm sure I can't thank you enough for what you did for me," said Uncle
Wiggily to Percival, and the grasshopper. "And as a little treat I'm going
to give you some cherry pie that I made for the hedgehog."
So they ate some cherry pie, and then they felt better. And they were just
going to travel on together again, when, all at once, there was a rustling
in the bushes, and out flew Dickie Chip-Chip, the sparrow boy.
"Oh, my" cried Uncle Wiggily, wrinkling up his nose. "At first I thought
you were a savage owl."
"Oh, no, I'm not an owl," said Dickie. "But I'm in a great hurry, and
perhaps I made a noise like an owl. Percival, you must come back home to
the Bow Wow house right away."
"Why?" asked Percival, sticking up his two ears so that he could hear
better.
"Because Peetie Bow Wow is very ill with the German measles, and he wants
to see you do some of your funny circus tricks," spoke Dickie. "He thinks
that will make him better."
"Ha! I've no doubt that it will!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "If I were not
traveling about, seeking my fortune, I'd go back with you, Percival. I
love Peetie Bow Wow, and Jackie, too."
"Oh, I'll go," said the grasshopper. "I will play Peetie a funny fiddle
tune, on my left hind leg, and that may make him laugh."
"And Nellie and I will sail through the air, and go off to find some
pretty flowers for him," said Dickie.
So the sparrow boy, the grasshopper and old Percival, the circus dog,
started off together to see poor sick Peetie Bow Wow, leaving Uncle
Wiggily there on the grass.
"Give my love to Peetie!" called the old gentleman rabbit after them,
"and tell him that I'll come and see him as soon as I find my fortune."
Uncle Wiggily felt a little bit sad and lonely when his friends were gone,
but he ate another piece of cherry pie, taking care to get none of the
juice, on his blue necktie, and then he was a little happier.
"Now to start off once more," he said. "I wonder what will happen next?
But I know one thing, I'm never going to do any jumping for any squatty
old toads any more."
So Uncle Wiggily traveled on and on, and when it came night he didn't have
any place to sleep. But as it happened he met a kind old water snake, who
had a nice house in an old pile of wood, and there the rabbit stayed until
morning, when the water snake got him a nice breakfast of pond lilies,
with crinkly eel-grass sauce on.
Pretty soon it was nearly noon that day, and Uncle Wiggily was about to
sit down on a nice green mossy bank in the woods--not a toy bank with
money in it, you understand, but a dirt-bank, with moss on it like a
carpet. That's where he was going to sit.
"I think I'll eat my dinner," said the old gentleman rabbit as he opened
his valise, and just then he heard a voice in the woods singing. And this
was the song:
"Oh dear! I'm lost, I know I am,
I don't know what to do.
I had a big red ribbon, and
I had one colored blue.
But now I haven't got a one
Because a savage bear
Took both of them, and tied a string
Around my curly hair.
I wish I had a penny bright,
To buy a trolley car.
I'd ride home then, because, you see,
To walk it is too far."
"I guess that's some one in trouble, all right," said Uncle Wiggily, as he
cautiously peeped through the bushes. "Though, perhaps, it is a little
wolf boy, or a fox." But when he looked, whom should he see but little
Jennie Chipmunk, and she was crying as hard as she could cry, so she
couldn't sing any more.
"Why, Jennie, what is the matter?" kindly asked Uncle Wiggily.
"Oh, I came out in the woods to gather acorns in a little basket for
supper," she said, "and I guess I must have come too far. The first thing
I knew a big bear jumped out of the bushes at me, and he took off both my
nice, new hair ribbons and put on this old string."
And, sure enough, there was only just an old black shoestring on Jennie's
nice hair.
"Where is that bear?" asked Uncle Wiggily, quite savage like. "Just tell
me where he is, and I'll make him give you back those ribbons, and then
I'll show you the way home."
"Oh, the bear ran off after he scared me," said the little chipmunk girl.
"Please don't look for him, Uncle Wiggily, or he might eat you all up."
"Pooh!" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit. "I'm not afraid of a bear. I
have traveled around a great deal of late, and I have had many adventures.
It takes more than a bear to scare me!"
"Oh, it does; does it?" suddenly cried a growly-scowly voice, and, would
you believe me? right out from the bushes jumped that savage bear! And he
had Jennie's blue ribbon tied on his left ear, and the red one tied on his
right ear, and he looked too queer for anything. "I can't scare you; eh?"
he cried to the rabbit. "Well, I'm just going to eat you, and that
chipmunk girl all up, and maybe that will scare you!"
So he made a jump for Uncle Wiggily, but do you s'pose the rabbit
gentleman was afraid? Not a bit of it. He knew what he was going to do.
"Quick, Jennie!" called Uncle Wiggily. "Get in front of me. I'll fix this
bear all right." So Jennie got in front, and the rabbit turned his back on
the bear, and, then Uncle Wiggily began scratching in the dirt with his
sharp claws. My! how he did make the dirt fly. It was just like a regular
rain-shower of sand and gravel.
And the dirt flew all over that bear; in his eyes and nose and mouth and
ears, it went, and he sneezed, and he couldn't see out of his eyes, and he
fairly howled. And by that time Uncle Wiggily had dug a big hole in the
ground with his feet, and he and Jennie hid there until the bear ran off
to get some water to wash the dirt off his face, and then the rabbit and
the chipmunk girl came out safely.
Then Uncle Wiggily gave Jennie some pennies to buy two new hair ribbons,
and he showed her the way home with her basket of acorns, and he himself
went on with his travels. And he had another adventure the next day. Now
in case a cowboy doesn't come along, and take my little pussy cat off to
the wild west show I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the paper
lantern.
STORY XIX
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LANTERN
After Uncle Wiggily had taken Jennie Chipmunk home, so that the bear
couldn't get her, as I told you about in the story before this one, the
old gentleman rabbit walked on over the fields and through the woods,
seeking his fortune. He looked everywhere for it; down in hollow stumps,
behind big stones, and even in an old well, but you may be sure he didn't
jump down any more wells. No, I guess not!
"Ha! Here is a little brook!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, after a while, as
he came to a small stream of water flowing over green, mossy stones, with
a nice gurgling sound like an ice cream soda, "perhaps I may find my
fortune here."
But he looked and he looked in the water without seeing anything but a
goldfish.
"I might sell the goldfish for money," thought the fortune-hunting rabbit,
"but it wouldn't be kind to take him out of the brook, so I won't. I'll
look a little farther, on the other side."
Then, taking up his crutch and his valise, Uncle Wiggily gave a big jump,
and leaped safely across the water. Then, once more, he traveled on.
Pretty soon he came to a place where there was a tree, and on one branch
of this tree there hung a funny round ball, that looked as if it was made
of gray-colored paper. And there was a funny buzzing sound coming from it.
"Ha! Do you see that?" asked a big, fat hop-toad, as he suddenly bobbed up
out of the grass. It was the same toad who had made the rabbit jump down
in the leaf-covered well. "Do you see that?" asked the toad.
"Well, if you want to find your fortune, take a stick and hit that ball."
"Indeed I will not!" cried the old gentleman rabbit. "I know you and your
tricks! That is a hornets' nest, and if I struck it they would fly out,
and sting me. Oh, no! You can't catch me again. Now you go away, or I'll
tell a policeman dog to arrest you."
So the toad knew it was of no use to try to fool Uncle Wiggily again, and
he hopped away, scratching his warty back on a sharp stone.
Well, the old gentleman rabbit traveled on and on, and when it came night
he wondered where he was going to stay, for he hadn't yet found his
fortune and the weather looked as if it was going to rain. Then, all of a
sudden, he heard voices calling like this:
"Come on, Nannie, you've got to blind your eyes now, and I'll go hide."
"All right, Billie," was the answer. "And after that we'll get Uncle
Butter to tell us a story."