you. Quick! Before the bear sees you, hop inside the watermelon," for
you see they had eaten up all the inside, and left the melon rind
hollow, just like a yellow pumpkin Jack-o'-lantern, at Hallowe'en.
Uncle Wiggily saw that this was the best thing to do, so inside the
melon he hopped, and then the grasshopper put back in place the piece
they had cut out, and you never would have known but that the melon
was a whole, new one, never having been cut and the inside eaten out.
On came the bear, sniffing with his black nose. Then he saw the
grasshopper and asked, suspicious-like:
"Is there a rabbit around here?"
"I don't see any," spoke the grasshopper, and he really couldn't see
any one but the bear because Uncle Wiggily was inside the melon, you
know.
"Well, if there is no rabbit I'll have to eat this watermelon, then,"
said the bear, "for I am very hungry."
Now the grasshopper knew that if the bear once bit into the melon and
opened it, he'd see the rabbit hiding inside. So what did the
hoppergrass do but give the melon a shove with his strong hind legs,
and down the hill the melon rolled, with the rabbit in it, just as
Buddy Pigg, the guinea pig boy, once rolled down hill inside a
cabbage.
Faster and faster down the hill rolled the melon, with Uncle Wiggily
in it, and then the bear saw one of the rabbit's paws sticking out of
a crack.
"Oh, ho! You have fooled me!" cried the bear to the grasshopper. "Now,
I'll chase after that melon and get the rabbit, too!"
So the bear started down the hill after the melon, but his foot
slipped and he slid down, oh, so fast, that he got to the bottom of
the hill first. There he stood waiting for Uncle Wiggily. But a queer
thing happened. The melon hit a stone, burst open and out flew the
rabbit on a pile of soft sand. But the pieces of the melon hit the
bear on his soft and tender nose, and he thought he was surely killed,
and off he ran to the woods howling and growling. So that's how Uncle
Wiggily escaped from the bear, for the old gentleman rabbit wasn't
hurt a bit for all his tumble.
Then he washed the pieces of melon off his clothes, and traveled on
again, with the grasshopper, to seek his fortune. And he had another
advantage soon. I'll tell you about it very shortly, when, in case the
ice man doesn't go skating and forget to leave us a loaf of bread, the
next Bedtime story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the Katy-Did.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
STORY XV
UNCLE WIGGILY AND KATE-DID
"Well, what are we going to do to-day?" asked the grasshopper of Uncle
Wiggily, as they sat down to breakfast one sunny morning, after a rain
the night before.
"Oh, I suppose I must keep on searching for some gold or diamonds for
my fortune," answered the old gentleman rabbit. "But I am getting
quite tired of going around so much and finding nothing. I'll keep it
up a week or so longer, and then, if I don't find any money, I'm going
back home, anyhow. I'm quite lonesome for Sammie and Susie Littletail
and all of my friends."
"When you go home I hope that I can go with you," said the grasshopper
sort of sad-like. "I'll be sorry when you leave me."
"Of course you can come along," answered Uncle Wiggily, kindly, as he
flopped his long ears back and forth.
Then he and the grasshopper finished their breakfast, washed the acorn
cups and saucers, and shook the crumbs off the green leaf which they
had used for a table cloth. And pretty soon a whole lot of little
black ants crawled along and ate up all the crumbs, so that nothing
was wasted.
"Well, here we go!" cried the old gentleman rabbit cheerfully as he
picked up his barber-pole crutch and slung his valise over his
shoulder. Then he hopped off and so did the grasshopper, singing a
funny little song on the way, and also playing the fiddle with his
left hind leg. The song went something like this:
"Here we go,
Fast and slow,
Hopping on our way.
In heat and cold
We look for gold,
Which we may find some day.
"Sing a song
Not too long,
Cheerful, gay and bright.
When wide awake
We eat sweet cake,
And then we sleep all night.
"Hipping, hopping,
Without stopping
We sing and do not cry.
Skip and jump
Around the pump;
Now we'll say good-by."
"Why, what in the world did you say that for?" asked Uncle Wiggily of
the grasshopper as the insect finished his song. "There is no one here
to whom we can say good-by, and not a sign of a pump."
"I know it, but you see I'm just making believe," replied the cheerful
little fellow, turning one somersault and part of another one.
"Oh, then that's different," agreed the old gentleman rabbit, as he
stooped over to take a stone out of his shoe. And, just as he did so
there came bouncing down out of a tall tree a big green hickory nut,
and it almost hit Uncle Wiggily on the end of his twinkling nose.
"Hum!" exclaimed the grasshopper, as he crawled under a big leaf in
order to be out of danger, "some one is throwing things at us. I
wonder who it can be?"
"I don't know," answered the rabbit, and then he and the grasshopper
looked up in a tree, but they could see no one. So they went on a
little farther, and pretty soon Uncle Wiggily got another stone in his
shoe. He stooped over to take it out when slam-bang! down came a green
butternut this time, and it struck him on the end of his left ear.
"This must stop!" cried the old gentleman rabbit. "If it doesn't, the
first thing we know there will be cocoanuts falling down on us and
then we will be hurt."
"Oh, I think there are no monkeys around here to throw cocoanuts at
us," said the grasshopper, "but this is certainly very strange.
Perhaps it is the alligator or the fuzzy fox up in a tree trying to
hurt us by throwing the little nuts."
"Perhaps," agreed Uncle Wiggily. "Well, we will hurry on, and get out
of these woods." So they hurried all they could, but as it happened
the grasshopper got a big wooden splinter in his left front leg and it
took him and Uncle Wiggily quite a while to get it out, and when at
last they did so, it was almost night.
They were hopping along, looking for a place to sleep in the woods,
when all of a sudden down came a big black walnut, and it hit Uncle
Wiggily's crutch, bouncing off with a bang.
"Who did that?" cried the rabbit looking up as well as he could in the
darkness. "Who threw that nut?"
"Katy did!" cried a shrill voice up in a tree. "Katy did!"
"Oh, she did; eh?" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit. "Well I always
thought Katy was a nice little girl. I can't believe she'd throw
anything at me. It's not possible!"
"Katy did--she did!" cried the voice in the tree again.
"Oh, would you ever think such a thing of her?" asked the grasshopper,
who was quite excited.
"No, I wouldn't," declared Uncle Wiggily sad-like. "Where does Katy
live?" he went on. "Perhaps if I speak to her, and tell her how
unpleasant it is to have nuts thrown at one she won't do it again.
Where does she live?"
"Katy did! Katy did! Katy did!" was all the voice said.
"Of course! I know that by this time," said Uncle Wiggily. "But where
does she live? Whereabouts in these woods?"
"Katy did! Katy did!" cried the voice again.
"Ah, I see!" exclaimed the grasshopper, "That means she once did live
here, but that she has moved away. That must be it."
"Then I'm glad of it," spoke the rabbit. "I hope she doesn't come back
to throw any more things at us. Do you think she will?" and he looked
up in the tree to see who had been talking so about Katy.
"Katy did! Katy did!" was all the answer there was.
But all of a sudden there was a rustling in the bushes, and out into
the moonlight, which was then shining in the forest, there came a
little white pussy cat, with four legs and a long tail.
"Oh, dear!" she cried. "I'm Katy, and I heard what you all said about
me. But I didn't do it at all. I didn't throw a thing at you, Uncle
Wiggily, or at the grasshopper either. I wouldn't do such a thing. Oh,
how can you believe it? I didn't do it at all."
"Katy did! Katy did!" cried the shrill voice up in the tree-top. "Katy
did--she did!"
"Ha, hum!" cried the old gentleman rabbit. "This must be looked into.
If Katy didn't do it, we mustn't have her talked about that way. Come,
Mr. Grasshopper, we'll see who's calling out about Katy so much."
But just as the rabbit was helping the grasshopper to climb up the
tree, to see who it was that had been calling, all of a sudden out
from behind a stump there sprang a savage fox, who wanted to eat up
Uncle Wiggily and the pussy and the grasshopper also. But the rabbit
happened to see a hole in the ground.
"Quick! Jump down here all of you!" he cried and he helped the pussy
and the grasshopper to get into the hole where they would be safe from
the fox. And, as they disappeared under ground the voice up in the
tree-top cried once more:
"Katy did! Katy did!"
"Oh, ho! I'll put a stop to that to-morrow!" declared Uncle Wiggily.
"Don't cry, Katy, dear. I'll see that whoever is bothering you will
stop." Then the little white pussy dried her tears, and the three
friends slept safely in the hole all night, and the fox did not bother
them a bit.
And the next day Uncle Wiggily found out who was calling to Katy, and
who threw the nuts at him, and I'll tell you about it on the next
page, when the story will be about Uncle Wiggily and Katy-Didn't--that
is, if the trolley car doesn't run up on the front stoop and break the
rocking chair's arms so I can't sing the rag doll to sleep.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
STORY XVI
UNCLE WIGGILY AND KATY-DIDN'T
Katy, the nice little white pussy, was the first one to awaken the
next morning in the hole where she and Uncle Wiggily and the
grasshopper had crawled to get away from the bad fox. Katy arose,
washed her face and her paws with her red tongue, and then she softly
tickled the grasshopper on his nose with the end of her fuzzy-wuzzy
tail.
"Ha, ho! What's the matter?" cried the grasshopper, as he hopped out
of the bed made of dried leaves. "Is the house on fire?"
"No, we're not in a house, but in a hole under ground so I don't very
well see how it could catch on fire," spoke Katy. "I wanted you to get
up and help me with the breakfast. I thought we would let Uncle
Wiggily sleep late this morning, as he is tired."
"That's a good idea," declared the little jumping chap. "I'll just
take a hop outside and see what I can find to eat."
Well, the grasshopper started to go out of the hole, leaving Uncle
Wiggily fast asleep, but, all of a sudden the tiny jumping fellow came
back, and, instead of being green, as he usually was, he had turned
quite pale.
"What's the matter?" asked Katy.
"The hole is stopped up!" cried the grasshopper. "Some one has filled
up the front door with dirt and we can't get out."
"Oh, that's too bad!" said the pussy, and she and the grasshopper
looked at the lightning bug, who was shining brightly like a Christmas
tree-candle down in the dark hole so they could see. He had shone all
night for them. "How will we ever get out?" went on the pussy. "It is
terrible to be shut up here."
"What's that? Is there more trouble?" suddenly asked Uncle Wiggily, as
he got out of bed feet first.
"Yes," said the grasshopper, "the front door of the hole is stopped
up, and we can't get out. I think the bad fox did it."
"Very likely," agreed Uncle Wiggily. "But don't worry, for I can
easily dig out the dirt, and then we can go up and find out who it was
that said Katy threw nuts at us when she didn't."
So Uncle Wiggily went to the front door of the hole-house and began to
dig with his strong feet. And then he happened to think of something.
"If I dig a new front door near the place where the fox stopped up the
old one," said the old gentleman rabbit thoughtful-like, "that bad
creature may be there waiting to grab us when we go out. So I'll play
a trick on him. I'll dig a new door for this hole-house and we'll go
out that way. I'll dig it at the back."
So Uncle Wiggily did this and soon there was a nice opening from the
hole underground, and it was some distance away from the one by which
the three friends had gone in. And, surely enough, they looked through
the trees when they went out, and there was that bad fox near the
stopped-up hole, waiting for them to come out so that he might grab
them.
"I guess he'll wait there a long while for us," said Uncle Wiggily,
blinking his nose, and laughing. "Come on now, very quietly and we'll
go off in the woods where he can't find us." So away through the
forest they went, and the fox never saw them. He stayed by the hole,
which he had stopped up with dirt and stones, and he was there a week,
waiting for the rabbit and his friends to come up. And the fox got so
thin from having nothing to eat in all that time that when he finally
did go away his tail nearly dropped off and blew away.
But Uncle Wiggily, and the grasshopper, and the pussy whose name was
Katy traveled on and on. Over the hills they went, and through the
fields, but they couldn't find out who it was that had said Katy had
thrown the nuts when she didn't do it at all.
At last they came to another forest, and just as night was coming on,
and Uncle Wiggily was passing under a tree, slam-bang! down came
another butternut, and nearly hit him on the eye.
"There! You see, I didn't throw that," cried Katy, who was walking
beside Uncle Wiggily.
"Yes, it couldn't have been you," agreed the old gentleman rabbit. "I
wonder who did it?"
"Katy did! Katy did!" suddenly cried a voice.
"No, she didn't," said Uncle Wiggily, firmly. "Who are you to say such
things?"
"Here he is--I see him!" exclaimed the grasshopper. "It isn't any one
at all--it's a little green bug with wings, and he is something like
me. He's been saying that 'Katy did' when she didn't do it at all."
And, sure enough, there on a tree was a little light-green bug, and,
as Uncle Wiggily watched, he heard this insect call out as bold as
bold could be:
"Katy did! Katy did!"
"Now look here!" said the old gentleman rabbit, and he pointed his
long ears and his crutch at the green bug, "why do you say such things
when you know they aren't so? Katy never threw any nuts at me--they
just dropped down off the tree themselves. I'm sure of it. Katy never
did it, and she feels badly to have you say so."
"Katy did! Katy did!" cried the insect again, as if he hadn't heard
the rabbit speak. "I have to say it, you know," he went on, as he
scraped his two long hind legs together. "I have to call out that Katy
did, Uncle Wiggily."
"You do? Even when she didn't do it?" asked the rabbit,
surprised-like.
"Yes," said the insect. "Katy did! Katy did! I have to call--Katy
did."
"Oh, I think it's just too horrid for anything!" said poor Katy,
almost ready to cry.
"I wish you wouldn't say such things about a nice pussy," spoke the
grasshopper. "For Katy didn't do it. I know she didn't."
And just then, off in another tree, there came a second voice calling:
"Katy didn't! Katy didn't!"
"There, I knew some one would be kind to me!" exclaimed the pussy.
"Some one knows I didn't do it. I didn't throw the nuts."
"Katy did! Katy did!" cried the first green insect.
"Katy didn't! Katy didn't!" answered the second little green chap.
"She did!" went on the first one.
"She didn't! Katy didn't!" answered his brother, positive-like.
"Katy did!" "Katy didn't!"
"Oh, my, this dispute is very unpleasant!" said Uncle Wiggily. "Please
stop it." But the green insects wouldn't stop, and they kept on
calling. First one would say that Katy did do it and then the other
would say she didn't, and so they went on:
"Katy did!" "Katy didn't!"
"Well," said Uncle Wiggily at last, when he had tried to make them
stop disputing, but couldn't do it, "at any rate, Katy, you have some
friends who will stand up for you, and who will always say you didn't
do it, and I know you didn't, no matter if the others say you did. Now
let's find a place to sleep, and to-morrow I will once more look for
my fortune."
So they found a nice hollow stump in which to sleep, and nothing
happened to them all night, except that a big-eyed, feathery owl tried
to bite the grasshopper. But Uncle Wiggily tickled the bad bird with
his crutch and made him fly away, and then they all slept in peace and
quietness until morning.
The next day the old gentleman rabbit had quite an adventure. I'll
tell you what it was in the following Bedtime Story which will be
about Uncle Wiggily and Peetie Bow Wow--that is, if my piece of
huckleberry pie doesn't fall into the milk pitcher and turn it
sky-blue-pink like the elephant's lemonade at the circus.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
STORY XVII
UNCLE WIGGILY AND PEETIE
Katy, the little white pussy, felt quite happy the next day, after she
and Uncle Wiggily and the grasshopper had slept in the hollow stump,
as I told you last.
"No matter if some of the green insects do say I did throw those
nuts," she said, "others of them will say I didn't do it, so it will
be all right." And from then on, even up to the present time, you can
hear the did and the didn't insects calling to each other in the cool
night:
"Katy did!" "Katy didn't!" That's how they dispute, and they never
seem to settle it.
"Where are you going?" asked the old gentleman rabbit as he saw the
pussy starting off by herself in the woods, when breakfast was over.
"Oh, I am going back home," she said. "I have been away too long
already, and my mamma will be worried about me. But I am very glad to
have met you and the grasshopper, and I hope you will soon find your
fortune, Uncle Wiggily."
"I hope so too," spoke the rabbit, and then he and the grasshopper
started off together through the woods, looking on all sides for any
signs of gold or diamonds.
They traveled on for many miles, but I'm sorry to say they didn't find
any fortune at all--not even so much as a five-cent piece with a hole
in it. When noon came they sat down by a little spring of water and
built a fire. Then the rabbit roasted some carrots and the grasshopper
ate a small piece of cherry pie, and some bread and jam, for he was
very fond of sweet things.
"Well, we'll travel on again," said the rabbit, as he scattered the
crumbs for the ants to eat.
"Why don't you stay here and look for your fortune?" asked the
grasshopper, wiggling his ears.
"Oh, it would be of no use," said Uncle Wiggily. "Haven't we looked
all over in these woods? And we didn't even find a diamond ring. No,
we must travel on."
"Why don't you dig a hole here by this old stump?" asked the
grasshopper. "Perhaps there is a gold mine here. It is nice and shady,
and you can dig deep and keep cool. I will sit on the stump and watch
you, and also sing a song now and then."
"Perhaps that will be a good plan," agreed Uncle Wiggily, after
thinking it over. "I believe I will dig here. It can do no harm and it
may be of some use." So, laying aside his crutch and his valise, he
began to dig in the earth with his sharp feet.
"My! I'm making a regular mine!" thought Uncle Wiggily, after a while.
"But there doesn't seem to be any gold here. However, I'll go down a
little deeper."
And then, all of a sudden he heard the grasshopper cry:
"Look out, Uncle Wiggily! Look out! The alligator is coming!"
"Oh, me! Oh, my!" shouted the rabbit, as he tried to jump up out of
the hole he had dug. But it was too deep and he only fell back to the
bottom. He heard the whirr of the grasshopper's wings as that hopping
chap flew away, and as the grasshopper skipped over the daisies he
cried out:
"I'll go get help, Uncle Wiggily!" for he knew he couldn't fight the
alligator all alone.
"Oh, whatever shall I do?" thought the rabbit. "I must get out." So he
gave another jump, but it was of no use, and then before Uncle Wiggily
could twinkle his nose twice, over the edge of the hole leaned the
skillery-scalery alligator.
"Ah, ho! So there you are!" cried the scaly creature, smiling such a
big smile that it is a wonder the top of his head didn't fly off. "So
you are in a hole? Well, that suits me, for you can't get away, and I
can take you whenever I please. I guess I'll wait until I am a little
more hungry. Meanwhile I'll sit here and look at you."
And the alligator did this, perched on the edge of the hole, with his
mouth grinning from ear to ear and his tail slowly switching to and
fro, to keep off the flies from his scaly hide.
"Are you really going to bite me?" asked the rabbit, sad-like.
"I am," replied the alligator, in a nutmeg-grater voice.
"Would you let me go if I gave you my barber-pole crutch and my valise
filled with cherry pie?" asked Uncle Wiggily, sorrowful-like.
"Not for worlds!" cried the alligator, smacking his jaws. "I'm going
to bite you now." And with that he started to crawl down into the hole
to get the rabbit.
But don't worry. Some one is on the way to save Uncle Wiggily. All of
a sudden, just as the alligator was almost down to Uncle Wiggily, and
only the tip of his tail was sticking out over the edge, there was a
movement on the other side of the hole, and, looking up, the rabbit
saw a curious sight.
There was some sort of an animal peering down at him. But such an
animal! His tail was all stuck up with stickery burrs, and it had a
lump of mud on the end. On one ear was stuck a big green leaf, and on
the other ear was a piece of red paper from a Chinese lantern. And on
his back were chestnut burrs and bits of briar bushes; and this animal
grinned and showed his teeth and shook himself so that mud was
scattered all over. Then this animal cried:
"Here, you bad alligator! Get away and let that rabbit alone!"
"What for; do you want to bite him yourself?" asked the
skillery-scalery alligator creature, grinning from ear to ear.
"No, I don't," answered the dreadful looking animal. "But you get away
from here or I'll eat you!" And, my! you should have heard that muddy
creature growl. No, perhaps it's just as well you didn't hear him, or
you might have bad dreams. Anyhow, that new, queer animal growled so
that even the alligator was frightened, and Uncle Wiggily said to
himself:
"Oh, worse and worse! If the alligator doesn't get me this terrible
creature will!"
Then the terrible creature growled some more and showed his teeth and
the alligator crawled out of the hole and scurried away, taking his
scaly tail with him.
"Ha! Ha! That's the time I fooled you!" cried the terrible looking
animal, and then he burst out laughing and took the paper and leaf
from his ears, shook out the burrs from his tail, and whom do you
s'pose it was? Why none other than Peetie Bow Wow, the nice puppy dog.
"Oh, you saved my life!" cried Uncle Wiggily, thankfully.
"Yes, he certainly did," said the grasshopper, perching himself on the
edge of the hole. "I met Peetie in the woods and told him about you,
and he rolled in the mud and water and stuck himself all up with
burrs, so as to make himself look as terrible as possible and scare
the alligator. It was a good trick; wasn't it?"
"It was, indeed!" cried the rabbit, as the grasshopper and the puppy
dog helped him out of the hole; "even if I didn't find my fortune."
So the alligator didn't get the rabbit, and Uncle Wiggily had another
adventure next day. I'll tell you what it was very soon for the
following story will be about Uncle Wiggily and Jackie Bow-Wow--that
is, if the picture on the wall doesn't turn upside down and scare the
parlor lamp so that it goes out on the porch to sit on the door mat.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
STORY XVIII
UNCLE WIGGILY AND JACKIE
Uncle Wiggily, with the grasshopper, and Peetie Bow-Wow, the little
puppy dog, were traveling along the road together, and the old
gentleman rabbit was looking on both sides for his fortune. It was the
day after Peetie had saved Uncle Wiggily from the bad alligator, and
the three friends had spent the night in a hollow stump in the woods.
Then they had breakfast, eating some cherry pie that the rabbit had
left in his valise.
"Tell me, Peetie," said Uncle Wiggily, as they tramped along, "how
does it happen that you are so far from home; and what were you doing
in the woods just before you scared the alligator away?"
"Oh, my brother Jackie and I came to visit our grandpa, who lives
somewhere around here," said the puppy dog. "Yesterday Jackie and I
went for a walk in the woods, and I got lost. It was then that the
grasshopper found me and asked me to come and help you."