Illustration: Frontispiece
UNCLE WIGGILY'S
FORTUNE
BY
HOWARD R. GARIS
Author of "Sammie and Susie Littletail," "Johnnie and Billie
Bushytail," "Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg," "Joie,
Tommie and Kittie Kat," "Uncle Wiggily's
Travels," "Those Smith Boys," Series,
"The Island Boys," Series, etc.
ILLUSTRATED BY LOUIS WISA
R. F. FENNO & COMPANY
18 EAST SEVENTEENTH STREET
NEW YORK
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
By HOWARD R. GARIS
THE BEDTIME STORIES SERIES
EIGHT COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS
_Price 75 cents each, postpaid_
SAMMIE AND SUSIE LITTLETAIL
31 Rabbit Stories
JOHNNIE AND BILLIE BUSHYTAIL
31 Squirrel Stories
LULU, ALICE AND JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE
31 Duck Stories
JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW WOW
31 Dog Stories
BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES PIGG
31 Guinea Pig Stories
JOIE, TOMMIE AND KITTIE KAT
31 Cat Stories
CHARLIE AND ARABELLA CHICK
31 Chicken Stories
=THE UNCLE WIGGILY SERIES=
EIGHT COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS
_Price 75 cents each, postpaid_
UNCLE WIGGILY'S ADVENTURES
31 of the Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories
UNCLE WIGGILY'S TRAVELS
31 more of the Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories
UNCLE WIGGILY'S FORTUNE
31 other of the Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories
UNCLE WIGGILY'S AUTOMOBILE
31 different Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories
=THOSE SMITH BOYS SERIES=
FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS
_Price 75 cents each, postpaid_
THOSE SMITH BOYS
THOSE SMITH BOYS ON THE DIAMOND
=THE ISLAND BOYS SERIES=
FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS
_Price 75 cents each, postpaid_
=THE ISLAND BOYS=
(_Other volumes In preparation_)
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY
R. F. FENNO & COMPANY
------------------------------------------------------------------------
UNCLE WIGGILY'S
FORTUNE
---
STORY I
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE FOX
Once upon a time, not so very many years ago, there lived an old
gentleman rabbit named Uncle Wiggily Longears. He was a nice, quiet
sort of a bunny, and he had lots of friends among other rabbits, and
squirrels, and ducks, and doggies, and pussy cats, and mice and lambs,
and all sorts of animals.
Most especially there was a muskrat lady, named Miss Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy,
who liked Uncle Wiggily very much. She made a crutch for him, when he
had the rheumatism. She gnawed it out of a cornstalk for him, and
painted it red, white and blue with raspberry jam.
Well, Uncle Wiggily was a funny old rabbit gentleman. He was always
having adventures--which means things happening to you, such as
stubbing your toe, or getting lost or things like that.
I have told you some of his adventures in a book before this one, and
also about how he traveled all around looking for his fortune, so he
would be rich. But he didn't find it for some time, though many things
happened to him.
The last thing that happened, in the book before this one, was that he
tore his nice coat, and a good tailor bird kindly mended it for him.
And he stayed at her house for some time, bringing up coal, and
sweeping the sidewalk, and things like that to be useful; for Uncle
Wiggily was very kind.
He used to sleep in a hollow stump, near the nest of the tailor bird,
and one night it rained so hard that he had to go to bed and pull the
dried leaves up over him to keep warm. All night it rained, and in the
morning Uncle Wiggily got up, and he was hoping it had cleared off, so
he could travel on and seek his fortune, and get rich.
Out of bed hopped Uncle Wiggily. In one corner of the stump was his
valise in which he carried his lunch and clean clothes and the like of
that.
The day before, a bad wolf had chased Uncle Wiggily, catching him and
tearing his coat, so that now the rabbit gentleman was quite stiff and
sore. Still he managed to move about.
"Oh, dear me!" he exclaimed as he looked out of a hole in the stump,
and saw the big rain drops still pattering down, "this is a very poor
day for me to find my fortune. Still, I can't stay in on account of
the weather, so I will get my breakfast and travel on."
He had some carrot and lettuce sandwiches in his valise and he ate
these and then looked out to see if the rain had stopped, but it had
not, I am sorry to say.
"Well," Uncle Wiggily said. "I don't like to get wet, but there is no
help for it. I'll start out." Then he happened to think of something.
"I know what I'll do!" he exclaimed. "I'll get the largest toadstool I
can find, and use it for an umbrella."
Out he ran and soon he had picked a big toadstool that made as fine an
umbrella as one could wish. Then, strapping his satchel to his back,
where it would be out of the way, the old gentleman rabbit hopped off,
holding the toadstool umbrella over his head, and limping along on his
barber-pole crutch. And as he went over the meadows and through the
woods he sang this little song, and sometimes when one sings it just
at the right time, why it stops raining almost at once. But it has to
be sung at the proper time. Anyhow this is the song:
"Splish-splash! Drip-dash!
How the raindrops fall!
When the weather gets too wet,
It isn't nice at all.
"Mr. Rain, oh, please go 'way!
For my feet are wet.
And you're splashing on my nose.
What? You can't stop yet?
"Won't you please be nice to me--
Make your raindrops dry.
I am sure you could do this
If you'd only try.
"Dry raindrops are very nice,
And if they would fall,
We could walk in showers, and
Not get wet at all."
Well, as soon as Uncle Wiggily had sung this song, he looked up
quickly from under his toadstool umbrella to see if it had stopped
raining, but it hadn't, and he got a drop right in his left eye, which
made him sneeze so hard that his spectacles fell off. And they dropped
right into a mud puddle.
"Ha, hum!" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit, "this is a pretty
kettle of fish!" Of course, he didn't mean that there was a kettle of
fish in the mud puddle, but that was his manner of talking, because he
was so surprised. "A very pretty kettle of fish, indeed!" cried the
old gentleman rabbit, "and speaking of fish, I guess I'll have to fish
for my spectacles."
So what did he do but use his red-white-and-blue-striped-barber-pole
crutch for a fishing pole, and he dipped it down in the mud puddle and
in a little while up came his glasses wiggling on the end of the
crutch just like an eel.
"That is good luck!" said the rabbit, as he wiped off the mud and
water and put on his spectacles, and he was just going to put his
toadstool umbrella over his head again when he found out that the rain
had stopped and he didn't need it.
Then he left the toadstool hanging on a berry bush by the mud puddle
to dry, so that whoever came along next time would have an umbrella
all ready for the rain.
"Well, now that the sun is coming out I must be on the watch for my
fortune," said the old gentleman rabbit to himself. And he peered
first on one side of the road and then on the other, but not a sign of
his fortune could he see.
Then, all of a sudden he saw something shining golden yellow in a
field close by.
"Ah, that must be a pile of yellow gold!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily.
"Now my fortune is made!" and he hopped over to the field. But alas!
and alack-a-day! Instead of being gold the pile of yellow things were
carrots.
"Well, it might be worse!" said the rabbit. "At least I can eat
carrots. I wonder if whoever they belong to would mind if I took
some?"
"I wouldn't mind a bit!" exclaimed a voice. "Take as many as you like,
Uncle Wiggily," and up jumped Mr. Groundhog, who owned the carrots.
"Take all you can eat and fill your valise," said Mr. Groundhog.
"Thank you very kindly," replied the rabbit, so he ate several carrots
and filled his satchel with more, and then he and Mr. Groundhog talked
about the weather, and things like that, until it was time for Uncle
Wiggily to hop on again after his fortune.
But he didn't find it, and pretty soon it came on toward night, and
the old gentleman rabbit looked for a place to stay while it was dark.
"I think this will do," he said, when he came to a small stone cave.
"I'll just crawl in here with my carrots and my crutch," and in he
crawled as nicely as a basket of shavings.
Pretty soon Uncle Wiggily was fast, fast asleep, and he never thought
the least mite about any danger. But danger was close at hand just the
same.
Hark! What's that creeping, creeping along under the bushes? Eh?
What's that? Why, my goodness me sakes alive and a piece of pie! It's
the fuzzy old fox! Yes, as true as I'm telling you, the old red fox
had seen Uncle Wiggily go into the cave, and now he was snooping and
snipping up to catch him if he could.
"Oh, I'll soon have a fine time!" said the fox in a whisper, smacking
his lips. Into the cave he crawled, and in the darkness he happened to
knock over Uncle Wiggily's crutch, which was standing in a corner.
Quickly the old gentleman rabbit awakened when he heard the noise. Up
he jumped and he cried out:
"Who's there?"
"I'm the fox," was the answer, "and I came to catch you."
But do you s'pose Uncle Wiggily was afraid? Not a bit of it. He ran to
his valise and he took out a pawful of carrots with their sharp
points, and before that fox could even sneeze the rabbit threw one
carrot at him and hit him on the nose, for Uncle Wiggily could see in
the dark.
Then he threw another carrot and hit the fox on the ear, and then he
threw still another one and he hit him on the two eyes, and that fox
was so frightened and surprised that he jumped out of the second-story
window of the cave house and sprained his toenail. Then he ran back to
his den and didn't bother Uncle Wiggily any more that night, and the
rabbit slept in peace and quietness, and dreamed about Santa Claus and
ice-cream popcorn balls.
But Uncle Wiggily had another adventure next day. I'll tell you about
it in a little while, when, in case some one sends me a mud pie with a
cherry on the top, the story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the
bird's nest.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
STORY II
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BIRD'S NEST
"Now, I must be very careful to-day," said Uncle Wiggily to himself as
he got up after sleeping in the stone cave, as I told you he did in
the story before this one. "I must be very careful so that fox won't
catch me."
So, very carefully and cautiously, he crept to the window of the stone
cave house, and looked down, but the red fox was not there. The sun
was brightly shining and the old gentleman rabbit could see the big
dent made in the soft ground, where the fox had landed when he jumped
out of the window and sprained his toenail.
"My! that certainly was a narrow escape for me," thought Uncle
Wiggily. Then he fried some of Mr. Groundhog's carrots for his
breakfast and, putting some of them in his valise for his lunch, off
he started once more to seek his fortune.
He hadn't gone very far before he came to a place where he heard a
funny buzzing sound. It was just like a small saw-mill away off in the
woods, where the men saw logs into boards in order that houses may be
built.
"Oh, my suz dud and a piece of red paper!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "I
must be careful or I might get my nose cut off in that saw-mill." So
he was very careful, and, after he had listened a while longer, he
wasn't quite so sure that it was a saw-mill that he heard, for he
could hear a little voice crying:
"Oh, dear. I'll never get loose! I'm caught fast! Oh, if some one
would only help me!"
"Ha! That is some one in trouble!" said the rabbit. "I'm going to see
if I can't help them." So he bravely kept on through the woods, and
the buzzing sound became louder, until, all at once, the old gentleman
rabbit saw a nice, good bumble bee caught in the web of a big, black
spider.
The bee was all tangled up in the web, and it was his wings fluttering
to and fro and up and down that made the buzzing sound.
"Ha! Can't you get loose?" asked the rabbit.
"Indeed he can't!" cried the big, black spider lady, as she sat all
hunched up in a corner of her web, waiting for the bee to get more
tangled up and all tired out, so she could bite him. "He'll never get
away from me," said the spider lady, sassy-like.
"Oh, ho! We will have to see about that!" exclaimed the rabbit. "I am
afraid you are mistaken, Mrs. Spider. I am very sorry to have to spoil
your cobweb, but I must help my friend, the bumble bee." And with that
Uncle Wiggily took his crutch, and broke the web away from the bee's
legs and wings so that he was loose and could fly away.
"I never can thank you enough, Uncle Wiggily," said the bee to the
rabbit, "and if ever I can do you, or any of your friends, a favor I
will. Don't forget to call on me."
"And if ever I can bite you, I will, Mr. Rabbit," said the spider in
her crossest voice, as she set to work to mend her cobweb net so that
she might catch some one else. Oh! but she was angry, though perhaps
we can't blame her.
Well, Uncle Wiggily didn't worry much about what the spider said, as
he knew he was going to travel on for a long distance after his
fortune, and he didn't think she would come after him, and she didn't.
On and on hopped the old gentleman rabbit, sometimes going slowly and
sometimes fast, and once in a while he would go up a hill, and then,
again, he would go down. And so it went on. When it wasn't one thing
it was another. But he didn't find his fortune anywhere.
Pretty soon, when it was nearly noon, Uncle Wiggily began to feel
hungry, so he looked for a nice place where he might sit down and eat
his lunch. He saw a shady tree, and he walked toward that, and, just
as he did so, he happened to look up, and there, hanging from a
branch, was a sort of brown-colored round object, that looked like a
small bag.
"Ha! I think I know what that is!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "That is
the nest of a stingery hornet, and if I go too close I'll get stung.
I'll just keep away, and go somewhere else to eat my lunch."
Uncle Wiggily started off, but at that moment he heard some voices
calling. And this is what they said:
"Oh, dear! How hungry we are! Oh, when will mamma come back! Oh, if we
only had something to eat!"
"Hum! I hope those hornets don't see me, and come out to bite me,"
said the rabbit.
And, would you ever believe it? the next moment those who had been
calling must have seen Uncle Wiggily, for a voice exclaimed:
"Oh, good Mr. Rabbit won't you please come here? We can't get out, and
our mamma has gone to the store for something to eat, and she hasn't
come back; and we're so hungry. Please help us!"
"No indeed, I will not!" said Uncle Wiggily firmly. "I don't want to
be unkind," he said, "but I am afraid you will sting me, you little
hornets!"
"Why, the idea!" cried all the voices at once. "We are not hornets, we
are only little birdies, and this is a bird's nest."
"Why, bless my whiskers!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "I believe I have
made a mistake." Then he put on his glasses, and surely enough he saw
that the brown object like a bag was a nest, and it was full of little
birds who could not yet fly very much, for their wings were not strong
enough.
"Now, will you help us?" the birdies asked the rabbit. "Help us,
please do; for we won't hurt you!"
"Bless my whiskers! Of course I will!" Uncle Wiggily cried, and he at
once opened his valise and gave them all they could eat.
"Now I will go look for your mamma," he said. Off he started, but he
had not gone very far before he heard the birdies in the nest crying:
"Help! Help! Help!" Uncle Wiggily looked back, and there was a great,
big, ugly snake crawling up the tree to get the little birds.
"Oh, I must stop that!" exclaimed the rabbit, and back he started to
hop to the nest. But he was quite a distance off, and he saw that he
could not get back in time to drive off the snake. "Oh, what shall I
do?" he cried. "If only the bumble bee would come along now and sting
that snake the crawly creature would run away!"
And, would you ever believe it if I didn't tell you? At that moment
along buzzed the bee and he saw the snake and stung him so that the
snake was glad to jump away, and not hurt the little birdies. Then
Uncle Wiggily and the little birds thanked the bee, who buzzed off to
find some apple blossom honey. And pretty soon the mamma bird came
home from the store, and she was very grateful to the rabbit for
taking care of her little ones.
The reason she was away so long was because a boy threw a stone at her
and made her spill the bread she had for her birdies. So she had to go
back to the store for more.
"If you stay with us for a few days we will help you look for your
fortune," said the mamma bird, and Uncle Wiggily did stay, and he had
an adventure.
I'll tell you about it on the next page, when, in case the popcorn
ball doesn't roll off the table and bump the kittie's nose, the story
will be about Uncle Wiggily and a big rat.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
STORY III
UNCLE WIGGILY AND A BIG RAT
When Uncle Wiggily had fed the little birds in the nest, after he and
the bumble bee had saved them from the snake, as I told you in another
story, the mamma bird said she could not do enough for the old
gentleman rabbit.
"I will have my little ones sing a song for you," she went on. "Come
now, birdies, sing for Uncle Wiggily."
So this is the song the little birds in the nest sang:
"Uncle Wiggily is good,
Uncle Wiggily is kind,
And we hope with all our hearts,
That his fortune he may find.
"Gold and silver, diamonds, too,
Ice-cream cones and candy sticks,
And we hope that he can buy,
Two red monkeys who do tricks."
"Oh! that is a very nice song, birdies," said the rabbit, as he took
off his hat and made a low bow. "But," he went on, "I don't know as I
care for red monkeys who do tricks. What in the world would I do with
them?"
"Why, you could give them to us and they would amuse us when our mamma
was away," said a little bird who had some feathers sticking crossways
in her tail.
"Yes, I suppose I could give you the monkeys," went on the old
gentleman rabbit, "but I hardly expect to find any in my
travels--especially red ones."
"Won't you stay to supper with us?" asked the mamma bird, "and we
would also be pleased to have you stay all night. Oh, no!" she
suddenly exclaimed. "I don't see how you can stay all night."
"I can if you want me to," said Uncle Wiggily, for he thought perhaps
the bird was afraid the snake might come back in the darkness, and the
old gentleman rabbit made up his mind that if the crawly creature did
sneak up, he would hit it with his crutch.
"Well, of course we'd like to have you stay," said the mamma bird,
slowly, "but the truth of the matter is that I have no place for you
to sleep. You see, our nest is so small; and besides, I never knew of
a rabbit in a nest, except at Easter time."
"Of course," agreed Uncle Wiggily, "I never thought of that. However,
it is very kind of you, and I'll travel on until I find a hollow
stump, or some place like that where I can sleep."
"Oh, mamma!" exclaimed a little boy birdie, "why can't Uncle Wiggily
make a tent, and sleep in it right near our nest? He can pretend that
he is camping out."
"The very thing!" cried the rabbit. "I'll do it. But of what can I
make a tent?"
"We can give you the sticks and the cloth," said the mamma bird, so
she showed Uncle Wiggily where there were some nice long sticks, like
fishing poles, and some old sheets from a bed that no one wanted.
"That will make a fine tent!" said Uncle Wiggily, "and I'm sure I will
sleep in it very nicely."
So he set to work to make the tent. First he stuck one stick in the
ground, and then he stuck another stick in, and then still another,
until he had about seven sticks sticking around in a circle. Next the
mamma bird pulled them together at the top, just like the Indians'
tents in the Wild West show, and then she and all the other little
birdies tied them with blades of grass for strings, and helped put the
cloth around to cover up the sticks.
Then, if you'll believe me, and I hope you do, there was the tent,
pointed on top and round at the bottom, just like those chocolate
drops with white cream inside that are so nice and soft.
"Ha! this is a very fine tent indeed!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "Now
I'll move my valise and crutch inside, and I'll feel right at home."
"And we'll help you make your bed," said the little birds, and away
some of the strongest of them flew around, gathering up in their bills
dozens of soft leaves, and soon they had made as fine a bed, almost,
as baby's crib.
Then supper was ready. And now, let me see, what did they have for
supper? Oh, I know! There was some rose leaf pie, and some violets
with sugar on, and some bird seed boiled in molasses, and for Uncle
Wiggily there was the loveliest turnip cake, with carrot frosting on
top, that you have ever seen. Oh! it was most delicious, and it makes
me hungry even to typewrite about it, and I'm sure you would like it
if you had some.
"Now it's bedtime for you birdies," said the mamma, and she sang them
a little lullaby and soon their eyes were tightly shut.
"Yes, and I guess I had better get in my tent," said the rabbit, so in
he crawled beneath the cloth that was stretched over the poles, down
upon the bed of leaves he lay, and soon he too was fast, fast asleep.
Well, along about in the middle of the night Uncle Wiggily was
awakened by hearing something scratching on the side of the tent.
"Ha, hum! I wonder what that can be?" he asked. "Perhaps it is the bad
snake coming back. If it is I must get ready with my crutch."
So he reached out in the darkness to get hold of the crutch and just
then he saw a light flickering. And a moment later something big and
black, with long whiskers, and long sharp teeth, came right inside the
tent. And Uncle Wiggily saw that it was a big rat, and that rat had a
bottle, and in it were a lot of flickering lightning bugs, and that
was the lantern the rat carried, so that he could see in the dark.
"Oh, hello! So you're in here, eh?" asked the rat as he waved his
whiskers to and fro at Uncle Wiggily. "Well, I'm disappointed."
"Why so?" asked the rabbit, as he got his crutch and stood ready to
hit the rat in case he sprang forward to use his sharp teeth. "Why are
you disappointed?"
"Because I thought the birds were in here," said the rat. "I mean to
take them all off to my den and make them sing me to sleep. But since
you are here, I'll begin on you first, and then I'll go out and pull
down the birds' nest."
"Oh, no, you can't do that," said Uncle Wiggily firmly.
"Why not?" asked the rat, surprised-like. "Who will stop me?"
"I will!" bravely cried Uncle Wiggily, and with that he raised his
crutch, and he tickled that rat right on the end of his long tail. And
the rat was so surprised that he thought he had been struck by a
policeman's club. So he jumped around, and, as he did so, Uncle
Wiggily threw a piece of cherry pie at him, and it was all soft and
squashy like, and the juice ran down in the rat's eyes, and so blinded
him that he couldn't see to bite the rabbit, or even a piece of
cheese.
"Now, you get right out of this tent, and don't you dare to harm the
birds!" cried the old gentleman rabbit, and that rat went right out,
taking his long thin tail with him, but forgetting his lightning bug
lantern, which he left on the ground.
So Uncle Wiggily looked out to make sure that the rat didn't go near
the birds' nest and the bad creature didn't, but he scurried back to
his hole in the rocks, feeling quite savage-like and more disappointed
than ever.
Next the rabbit took the cork out of the rat's bottle-lantern and he
let the poor lightning bugs go, and they were very thankful. And then
the rabbit stretched out on the leaves again, and went to sleep until
morning and nothing more disturbed him.
Now if the knives and forks don't jump up and down on the table, and
upset the sugar bowl, so that it scares the vinegar bottle, I'll tell
you next about Uncle Wiggily on a raft.
Illustration: Uncle Wiggily and the Big River Rat
------------------------------------------------------------------------
STORY IV
UNCLE WIGGILY ON A RAFT
"Well, I think I will be traveling along now," said Uncle Wiggily to
the bird family the next morning after he had had the adventure with
the rat. "I must have another try at finding my fortune. And, perhaps,
since you sang such a nice song for me yesterday, you little birds
will sing another as I am leaving."
"Of course they will," said their mamma, so she gave a few trills and
chords to start them off, and the birdies sang this:
"Dear old Uncle Wiggily,
We wish that you could stay
And live near our nest always,
To drive the rats away.
"But if you now must leave us,
Then we will wish for you,
That you may have much happiness
Whatever you may do."
"I'm sure that's very nice," said the rabbit, "and now I'll bid you
good-bye and travel on."
"But you must take some lunch with you," said the mamma bird, and she
gave him some more cherry pie to make up for the piece he had thrown
at the rat.
Uncle Wiggily went on and on, and pretty soon he came to a place in
the woods where there was a tall tree. And some distance up from the
ground there was a hole in this tree trunk.
"Ha, hum!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, "perhaps there may be gold in that
tree hole. Now if I could only climb up to see, I might find my
fortune."
Well, you know how it is with rabbits. They can't climb a tree even as
well as a girl can, and, of course, Uncle Wiggily had to remain on the
ground.
"If only Johnnie or Billie Bushytail were here now," thought the
rabbit, "those squirrel boys could climb the tree for me. But I know
what I'll do, I'll tie a stone to a string, and I'll put some molasses
on the stone and throw it up into the hole in the tree. Then, if there
is any gold there, it may stick to the molasses on the stone, and I
can pull some down."
So he did this, and he made the string fast to the stone, and was all
ready to throw it up when he happened to remember that he had no
molasses.
"How careless of me! What shall I do?" he exclaimed. And a voice
answered:
"I will give you some molasses, Uncle Wiggily."
The old gentleman rabbit looked around, and there was a nice, green
grasshopper, and, as she had some molasses with her, she put quite a
lot on the stone. Then the rabbit threw it up at the hole in the tree,
but a most surprising thing happened.
For, instead of being gold in the hole there were two unpleasant old
owls there, and when the molasses-covered stone popped in on them it
awakened them from their sleep, for owls sleep in the day time, and
fly about at night, you know.
"Who threw that stone?" cried one owl.
"I don't know," answered the other owl, and she gnashed her sharp
beak, "but whoever it was I'm going to bite him!"
"Oh, run! Run for your life, Uncle Wiggily!" cried the grasshopper, as
the two owls stuck their heads out of the hole in the tree. "Hop
away!"
So Uncle Wiggily hopped off, and the grasshopper hopped also, and the
two owls flopped down after them. But the savage birds could not see
very well in the day time, and one went ker-bunk into a tree, and the
other went ker-thump into a briar bush, and they were all tangled up,
and so Uncle Wiggily and the grasshopper got safely away.
"Well, I didn't get any fortune that time," said the rabbit
sorrowfully as he hopped down a hill. "But perhaps I may find it
soon."
The next place he came to was a big river, and, as he stood on the
bank and looked across, it seemed to Uncle Wiggily that he could see a
big field of gold on the other side.
"I must get over there," he said to himself, "and I am sure I will
find my fortune. But how am I going to do it? That river is too wide
for me to jump across, and it is too wide for me to swim. If I only
had a boat I would be all right."
The old gentleman rabbit looked around for a boat, but none was at
hand. Then he happened to think of something that Sammie and Susie
Littletail once did.
"That's what I'll do!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, "I'll make a raft." So
he got some planks and boards and sticks, and he laid them crossways
one upon the other, and tied them together with strong pieces of wild
grape vine. Then he had a raft on which he could sit and push himself
across the river, almost as well as if he had a rowboat.
"Now, I'll put my valise on board, and hop on myself, and away we'll
go!" he cried, and he was very much pleased with the raft that he had
made. Into the water he shoved it, and in the middle of the raft he
placed his valise. Then he got on, and shoved off, using his crutch
for a pushing pole.
Out into the middle of the river went Uncle Wiggily on the raft, and
he was having a fine sail. Then all at once he felt hungry, so he
stopped pushing the raft, opened his valise and took out a piece of
cherry pie.
Well, as true as I'm telling you, just as he was eating it he heard a
swirling noise in the water behind him and a savage voice cried out:
"Ha! Now I have you! Give me that piece of cherry pie or I'll upset
the raft and you'll get all wet!"
Uncle Wiggily looked around, and there, swimming right up to him was a
big, snicky-snooky water rat--a second cousin to the rat that got into
Uncle Wiggily's tent the night before.
"Give me that pie!" cried the rat, as she put her claws on the raft.
"Give it to me."
"No, indeed, I will not," replied Uncle Wiggily, as politely as one
can speak to a rat.
Then the bad creature tried to climb up on the raft, but the rabbit
took his crutch and put it down in the water and pushed along on the
bottom of the river, sending the raft along very swiftly.
"Oh, I'll get you yet!" cried the rat, as she swam on after the raft.
Faster and faster she swam, and faster and faster did Uncle Wiggily
push, until he was all tired out, and he felt sure he would be caught
and carried away by the bad rat. And then a voice in the air overhead
suddenly cried out:
"Take your handkerchief, Uncle Wiggily, and make a sail out of it.
Then the wind will blow you along so fast that the rat can't catch
you. Make a sail!"
And Uncle Wiggily did so. He stuck the crutch up for a mast on the
raft, and then he fastened his largest red handkerchief to the crutch.
And the wind caught it, and blew upon that red handkerchief sail and
the raft skimmered over the river so fast that the bad rat was left
far, far behind, and so couldn't catch the rabbit.
It was the kind mamma bird who had called to the rabbit gentleman to
tell him what to do.
And in a little while Uncle Wiggily was safe on the other shore and he
hopped off the raft and ran toward the field that looked as if it was
filled with gold.
Whether he found any or not, and what happened to him, I'll tell you
on the next page, when the story will be about Uncle Wiggily in a
boat--that is if our puppy dog doesn't sit down in the fly-paper and
get so stuck up so he can't gnaw a bone when he goes to the kitten's
party.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
STORY V
UNCLE WIGGILY IN A BOAT
When Uncle Wiggily got to the edge of the yellow golden-colored field
after jumping off the raft, as I told you in the story before this
one, the old gentleman rabbit rubbed his eyes, and then rubbed them
again, for he wasn't quite sure of what he saw.
"Why!" he exclaimed, as he put on his spectacles in order to see
better. "I have made quite a mistake. This isn't a field of gold at
all, it is only a field of golden rod, which is a flower."
"Ah, if it is golden rod, perhaps if you wait long enough it will turn
into chunks of gold," said a little voice down on the ground, and,
glancing there, Uncle Wiggily saw a little ant with a tiny loaf of
bread on her back. "Why don't you wait for that to happen, Mr.
Rabbit?" she asked.
"Oh, it would never happen," said Uncle Wiggily. "This golden rod is a
flower, and it will always remain a flower. I am disappointed once
more about finding my fortune. I thought when I saw this shining
yellow color from my raft, after I got away from the rat, that I had
found the gold for which I am looking. But, never mind, this flower is
very pretty," and he picked a bunch of it and smelled of it.
And some of the yellow dust of the posy-blossom got up the rabbit's
twinkling nose, and he sneezed so hard that his glasses fell off. But
the ant kindly picked them up for the old gentleman though he had to
reach over to take them from her, as she was so small that she hardly
came up to the rabbit's knee.
"Well, I must get home to my little ones," said the ant with a loaf of
bread. "I hope you have good luck, Uncle Wiggily."
"Thank you very kindly," spoke the rabbit, and then he put a golden
rod flower in his button-hole and hopped on to look for his fortune.
Pretty soon, not so very long, in a little while, the rabbit came to a
nice smooth rock which was long and slanting, just like a hill down
which you slide on your sleds in the winter time. Only, of course,
there was no snow or ice now, as it was summer.
"Ha! Now if I was a little younger, and didn't have the rheumatism,
I'd slide down that rock!" exclaimed the rabbit. "I wish Sammie and
Susie Littletail were here, for they would enjoy this very much. And
so would Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrel brothers, not to
mention the puppy dogs."
Then the rabbit looked at the nice, smooth rocky slide, and all of a
sudden he heard a voice singing:
"Lumps of pudding and pieces of pie
My mamma gave me when I was a boy,
And for those things I used to cry--
For lumps of pudding and pieces of pie!"
"Hum! I wonder who that can be?" asked Uncle Wiggily, and then he
heard some one laugh and shout, and a great big boy, about as big as
two barrels of molasses, burst out of the bushes.
"Why, it's the giant's little boy!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily in great
surprise.
"Yes, that's who I am!" cried the boy who was as large as two barrels
of molasses, and a can of condensed milk besides. "How are you, Uncle
Wiggily? Have you found your fortune yet?"
"No," said the rabbit a bit sadly, "I have not."
"Never mind," spoke the giant's little boy, "come on and have a slide,
it's lots of fun," and with that the big boy threw himself down on the
smooth rock, just as if he were on a sled, and away he whizzed down
the hill as nicely as a cake of soft soap slips into the bathtub.
"I believe I will try it!" exclaimed the old rabbit gentleman, so,
taking a firm hold of his crutch and valise he sat down on the smooth
rock, and away he whizzed down after the boy who was as big as two
barrels of sweet molasses and an ice-cream cone also.
Faster and faster went the rabbit, and faster and faster went the
giant's little boy, until, all of a sudden, the boy slipped off the
stone and landed in a big pile of hay, and wasn't hurt at all.
"I wonder if that's what will happen to me?" thought Uncle Wiggily,
and he was just looking to see where he would land, and he was hoping
it would be in a feather bed, when, as quickly as you can catch an
alligator, if ever there's one to catch, the old gentleman rabbit slid
off the rock, and down he came, plump on top of a big toadstool, and
he wasn't hurt a bit; only sort of jounced up and down like.
"My! That was a fine slide," he said. Then he looked up and he saw
that he was right on the shore of a little lake, and close at hand was
a rowboat with oars in, and on the boat was a sign which read:
"PLEASE TAKE A RIDE IN ME ON
THE LAKE."
"Ha! That is very polite of some one," said the rabbit. "I believe I
will take a ride in the boat. And perhaps I may find my fortune in
it."
Then he looked more carefully, and he saw that there was a box in the
boat, and on the box was a sign which read:
"PLEASE DO NOT OPEN THIS
BOX."
"Hum! Perhaps there is gold in there. But I won't open it to see until
some one tells me I may," thought the rabbit.
So he got into the boat, and he stuck the oars through the oarlocks,
which are places made for them, then he dipped the wide part of the
oar into the water and pulled on the handle part and, my land sakes,
flopsy-dub! Uncle Wiggily was rowing as nicely as you please.
Well, he rowed on and on, until he was out in the middle of the lake,
and then, all of a sudden, he heard a funny noise inside the box. It
was a sort of scratching, growling noise, and before the rabbit could
do anything, the top of the box flew open and out stepped a little
black bear. Oh, but Uncle Wiggily was frightened!
"Ah, ha! Now I have you, just where I want you, Mr. Rabbit," said the
bear. "This is the last of you. Burr-r-r-r!"
Well, Uncle Wiggily was so frightened that he didn't know what to do,
for he surely thought his end had come. Then he happened to remember
that he had some cherry pie in his valise, and he knew that bears are
very fond of sweet stuff.
"I know what I'll do," thought the rabbit. "I'll give the bear some
pie, and when he isn't looking I'll row toward shore, and perhaps I
can get away from him." So he quickly opened his satchel, took out the
pie and gave it to the bear most politely.
"Ha! this is very good," said the bear in a grillery, growlery voice,
as he took the pie. "I will eat this first and afterward I'll attend
to your case!"
And when the bear was eating the pie, and licking the sweet, red juice
off his clawy paws, Uncle Wiggily rowed toward shore. But he wasn't
yet quite near enough to jump out of the boat, so he gave the bear
another piece of pie and rowed a little closer to shore.
The bear was so interested in eating the cherries from the pie, and
sucking the juice off his paws, that he never noticed what was going
on. But finally he glanced up, and when he saw how near the shore the
rabbit had rowed the boat the bear cried:
"Ah! ha! So that's your trick, eh? Well, I'll scratch you, anyhow."
And with that he made a spring for the rabbit, but Uncle Wiggily was
too quick for him. Grabbing up his crutch and valise, the rabbit
jumped out of the boat and landed on shore, and then the wind suddenly
sprang up and blew the boat and bear in it out into the middle of the
lake, and Uncle Wiggily was safe, I'm glad to say, for the bear
couldn't swim to shore that day on account of having no bathing suit.
Then, hopping on, Uncle Wiggily looked all over for his fortune. But
he did not find it right away. And he had another adventure soon. What
it was I'll tell you almost immediately, which is very soon, when in
case the pink cow doesn't eat the chocolate pudding from off the back
stoop where the cook sets it to cool, the next story will be about
Uncle Wiggily at the seashore.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
STORY VI
UNCLE WIGGILY AT THE SEASHORE
One morning Uncle Wiggily was hopping along a dusty road. It was the
day after he had gotten away from the bad black bear in the boat, and
the old gentleman rabbit was thinking of what great danger he had been
in.
"I must certainly be more careful," he thought, "and not get in every
boat I see. Why, just think of it! If that bear had eaten me up I
couldn't search for my fortune any more," and this so frightened Uncle
Wiggily that he looked all around and behind the bushes, fearing the
bear might, after all, have come ashore and be chasing after him.
But no bear was there, for he had fallen out of the boat and caught
cold and had gone to bed, after drinking some hot honey lemonade. The
old gentleman rabbit felt better, when he saw there was no bear, but
it was so hot that he was thirsty, so he looked for a place to get a
drink. Pretty soon he saw a nice, cold spring, and he took three
drinks of water and part of another one.
And just as the rabbit was drinking the last drop of water he heard a
funny noise out in the road, and, looking up, he saw a whole lot of
children going past. Some of them were barefooted, and some had little
tin pails and shovels in their hands, and some had red balloons and
some blue or green ones. Some of the children had on bathing suits and
a few had their little dresses tucked up as far as they could go, and
they were dancing along on their slim white legs, as happy as happy
could be.
"Why, this certainly is very strange," thought the rabbit. "I wonder
where they can all be going? Perhaps it is to a circus parade. I must
go see, for I might meet my friend the elephant there. Oh, this will
be some fun! Is it a circus parade?" he called aloud.
"No, it isn't a circus parade," said a voice at Uncle Wiggily's side,
and, looking down, the old gentleman rabbit saw the kind grasshopper
who had once given him some molasses.
"If it isn't a circus parade, what is it?" asked the rabbit.
"These children are going to the seashore to bathe and paddle in the
salty ocean waves," went on the grasshopper, "and some of them will
build sand houses, or dig wells for the water to fill up. Why don't
you go, Uncle Wiggily? Perhaps you may find your fortune there."
"I believe I will," said the rabbit. "Won't you come along?" Well, the
grasshopper said he would, so off they hopped together, the
hoppergrass--I beg your pardon,--I mean the grasshopper--and the
rabbit.
Pretty soon they heard the noise of the waves pounding on the sandy
shores, and they could smell the salt breeze and it made them hungry
for clam chowder and lobsters and crabs and things like that. Then
they saw ever so many more children running along and in a little
while they were at the seashore.
"Well, now to look for my fortune," said the rabbit, as he watched the
waves rush up on the sand with a big noise and lots of foam, and then
they would tumble out to the sea again. "How do you think I had better
go about it, Mr. Grasshopper?"
"If I were you I would dig in the sand," said the grasshopper.
"Sometimes men, who were called pirates, used to bury gold in the
sand, and perhaps there is some of their money left. You dig and I
will watch you."
"But I have nothing with which to dig," said the rabbit.
"Oh, you may take my shovel," said a little girl with her dress tucked
up high so that it would not get wet. "I am going in wading, so I
won't need it."
"Thank you kindly," said the rabbit gentleman to the little girl, and
then she went in wading, and a wave splashed up all over her, no
matter if her dress was above her knees, and her mamma called to her
to be more careful, and not to get so wet.
So Uncle Wiggily began to dig. Deeper and deeper he dug in the sand,
while the grasshopper watched him. And every few minutes Uncle Wiggily
would look down the hole to see if there was any gold among the grains
of sand, but there wasn't any.
All around were children having lots of fun. One boy made a tunnel,
and then he played that some sticks of wood were steam cars and he
pushed them through the tunnel and puffed out his cheeks to pretend it
was the engine choo-chooing.
And a little girl made a garden in the sand, with seaweed for flowers
and clam-shells for a house, and she and another little girl had a
play-party. Oh, it was great fun!
Then a big boy stretched out on the sand, and another boy covered him
all up, from the tips of his toes to the tips of his nose, and he left
his nose out so the boy could breathe. Well, the grasshopper and Uncle
Wiggily looked at all this fun going on and they were happy as they
could be. And the rabbit kept on digging the hole down in the sand,
hoping he would soon come to the gold.
And then all of a sudden, before you could count up to forty-'leven,
the hole which Uncle Wiggily was digging filled up with water, just
like a well.
"Oh, my!" exclaimed the rabbit. "This is certainly bad luck. Now I
can't find any gold. What am I to do?"
"I guess you'll have to dig another hole," said the grasshopper. "But
perhaps there is gold at the bottom of this one, after all. Let's get
a pail and dip out the water, then we may see the gold."
So the little girl who had loaned the rabbit her shovel let Uncle
Wiggily take her pail to dip out the water. But the funny part of it
was that the faster he dipped out the water the more came in, until
there was enough for two wells. Then even the grasshopper helped dip
out the water with another little pail, but it did no good.
The rabbit and the grasshopper were both so interested in what they
were doing that they didn't notice a big crab crawling up behind them,
and the first thing they knew Uncle Wiggily felt some one pinch him on
his little short tail.
"Ha! What is that?" he cried, turning around quickly, and then he saw
the crab, with its big blue claws pinching him.
"Ouch! Oh, my!" cried the rabbit. "Whatever shall I do?"
"I'll help pull him off!" shouted the grasshopper, but he was not
strong enough, and the crawly crab still clung to the rabbit's tail.
"Why are you pinching me?" asked the rabbit, as he tried to reach
around and pull off the crab, only he found he could not do it.
"I am pinching you because you dug a hole down in my sandy beach,"
said the crab, "and I'm going to hold on to you until you give me a
thousand pieces of cheese for my supper."
"Oh, I can never get that many!" cried the rabbit. "Will no one help
me get away from this crab?" But all the children had run home to
dinner and there was no one to help the rabbit, until all of a sudden,
a big wave washed up, and almost covered Uncle Wiggily.
He could just manage to breathe, and he sprang up on the beach to get
beyond the water, and the grasshopper hopped out of the way also. But
the wave was a good one after all, for as soon as the crab felt the
water sloshing up around him he let go of the rabbit's tail to swim
away, and that's how Uncle Wiggily was saved from the crab, even if he
didn't find any gold, and he was very glad his tail wasn't pinched
off.
The old gentleman rabbit remained at the seashore for several days,
and he had many adventures. And, in case I find a peanut shell with a
red popcorn ball inside of it, the next bedtime story will be about
Uncle Wiggily and the big lobster.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
STORY VII
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LOBSTER
"Where are you going to stay to-night, Uncle Wiggily?" asked the
grasshopper of the old gentleman rabbit, after the wave had rolled up
and washed away the crab that had hold of the bunny's tail, I told you
about last, you remember. "Are you going to stay at the seashore?"
asked the grasshopper, as he looked at his left hind leg and blinked
his two eyes, sort of thoughtful-like.
"Oh, yes, I like it here very much," said Uncle Wiggily, "and I'm
going to stay, but as true as I live I don't know where I can sleep
to-night."
"Couldn't you build a sand house, such as we see the children making?"
asked the grasshopper.
"Oh, no, for in the night it might fall down on me, and the sand would
get in my ears. Or a big wave might roll up on the shore and wash me
out to sea. Oh, dear, isn't it a puzzle what to do when you are
seeking your fortune?"
"Oh, don't feel so badly over it," begged the grasshopper. "We will
look around and see what we can find."
"Where are you going to stay, Mr. Grasshopper?" asked the rabbit.
"Who, me? Oh, I am going to crawl under a leaf and sing myself to
sleep as I always do; but for you, a leaf is hardly large enough."
"Not unless it was a palm-leaf fan," spoke the old gentleman rabbit.
"But come on, we will look around."
So they hopped up and down the beach where the ocean waves were
rolling along with a booming noise. All the children had gone in by
this time, as it was getting dark and rather lonesome. Uncle Wiggily
and the grasshopper looked, and they looked, and they looked still
more, but they could find no place for the rabbit to stay. At last the
old gentleman rabbit said:
"Well, Mr. Grasshopper, you had better get along and look for the leaf
under which you are going to sleep, or else it will get so dark that
you can't find your way."
"But what will you do, Uncle Wiggily? I don't like to leave you all
alone."
"Oh, if it comes to the worst I can sleep out here on the sands, but I
don't like to do it, as the dampness will make my rheumatism worse.
But it can't be helped."
Well, the grasshopper didn't want to go away and leave his friend, the
rabbit, all alone, but Uncle Wiggily finally persuaded him that it
would be best, so the little creature hopped off and found a nice
leaf. Then he curled up on the underside of it, where, in case it
rained, he would not get wet, and he sang himself to sleep.
Well, now, I must tell you what happened to Uncle Wiggily.
At first he was quite lonesome, as he walked along the beach looking
for a place to sleep, but then he looked up at the stars shining in
the sky above him, and he saw the moon just coming up from behind the
clouds, and it was shining on the ocean waves, making them look like
silver, and it wasn't quite so dark then.
"I guess I will be all right," said Uncle Wiggily, bravely. "I'm not
going to be afraid, for I don't believe the alligator, or fox, or
bear, will come here. But I do wish I had some place where I could go
in out of the dampness."
Then he suddenly thought of something.
"I know what I'll do!" he exclaimed, as he came to a pile of driftwood
on the beach. "I'll make me a house of this wood, and put some seaweed
on top for the roof, and in that I'll sleep as nicely as if I were at
home."
Well, it didn't take Uncle Wiggily long to do this, and soon he had
built as fine a little wood-and-seaweed house as heart could wish.
Then he crawled inside with his crutch and his valise, and ate a small
piece of cherry pie, and stretched out on some soft seaweed for his
bed. In a little while he was fast, fast asleep.
Ha! But what is this funny animal crawling up along the sand with his
big claws like a pair of shears which the tinsmith or the plumber
uses? Eh? What's that? Why, as true as I live it's a big lobster that
crawled up out of the ocean to see what he could find to eat.