rabbits." So she made some hot catnip tea, and gave it to Uncle
Wiggily, and in an hour he was all better and could sit up. Then
Kittie made him some toast with some slices of yellow carrots on it,
and he felt better still, and by noon he was as good as ever.
"But I don't know what I would have done, only for you, Kittie Kat,"
said the rabbit. "Thank you, very much. Now I can travel on and seek
my fortune."
"And I'll come with you," spoke Kittie Kat. So they traveled on
together, and they had an adventure the next day. I'll tell you about
it right away, for the next story will be of Uncle Wiggily and Jennie
Chipmunk--that is, if the green trunk up in the attic doesn't go off
on a vacation all by itself down to Asbury Grove, and hide in the sand
to scare the popcorn man.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
STORY XXIX
UNCLE WIGGILY AND JENNIE
"Now, Uncle Wiggily," said Kittie Kat, as she and the old gentleman
rabbit went along, the day after he had been cured by the catnip tea,
"you must take good care of yourself. Keep in the shade, and walk
slowly, for I don't want you to get sick again."
"And I don't want to myself," spoke Uncle Wiggily, "for I want to find
my fortune."
"Oh, I think you will, and very soon," said Kittie. "I dreamed last
night of a pile of gold and diamonds, and I'm sure you will soon be
rich, so that you can come back home, and live with us all again."
"Where was the pile of gold of which you dreamed?" asked the rabbit.
"Was it at the end of the rainbow? Because, if it was, there is no use
to think of it. I once looked there and found nothing."
"No, it wasn't there," said Kittie, shaking her head. "I don't know
where it was because I awakened before my dream was over, but I'm sure
you will soon find your fortune. Now remember to walk slowly, and keep
in the shade."
So she and Uncle Wiggily traveled on and on. Once they came to a big
hill, which they could hardly climb, and they didn't know what to do.
But they happened to meet a friendly mud turtle, who was very strong,
and who had a large, broad shell.
"Get on my back," said the turtle, "and I will take you up the hill. I
go slowly, but I am very sure. You will have time to rest yourselves
while I am climbing up."
So Uncle Wiggily and Kittie Kat got on the turtle's back, and in time
he took them up the hill. Then, after traveling on a little farther,
they came to a broad river.
"Oh, how shall we ever get across?" asked Kittie.
"Perhaps I can make a boat," said the rabbit. He was looking for some
wood and some broad leaves with which to make a sail, when along came
swimming a big goldfish.
"Just perch upon my back," the fish said, "and I will be very glad to
take you across."
"But you swim under water, and we will get all wet," objected Uncle
Wiggily.
"No, I will swim with my back away up out of water," said the
goldfish, and this he did, so that the rabbit and the pussy girl were
taken safely over to the other side of the river and they never even
so much as wet their eyelashes.
"Perhaps I may find my fortune over here," spoke Uncle Wiggily, as he
hopped along after thanking the goldfish. He looked on the ground, and
up in the air, but no fortune could he find.
"There is a little house, made of leaves and bark over there," said
Kittie, pointing through the woods, "let us go and see who is in it."
"Perhaps a bear lives there," said the rabbit.
"It is too small for a bear's house," decided Kittie.
But as they came close to it they heard a scratching noise inside, and
they thought perhaps it might be the fuzzy fox. And then, all of a
sudden, they heard a voice singing this song:
"I sweep, I sew, I dust, I mend,
From morning until night.
And then I wash the plates and cups.
And scrub the table white.
"I love to make a pudding,
Also a pie and cake.
And when I do my ironing,
Potatoes do I bake.
"Now I must hurry--hurry,
To get a meal for you,
And then I'll go and gather
A hickory nut or two."
"Why, I know who that is!" cried Kittie Kat.
"Who?" asked Uncle Wiggily, making his nose twinkle like three stars
and a moon on a frosty night.
"It's Jennie Chipmunk!" cried Kittie. "I just know it is. Oh, Jennie!"
she called. "Is that you?"
"Yes, who is it that wants me?" asked a voice, and out from the tiny
house stepped the little chipmunk girl. She had on her sweeping cap,
and her apron, and in one hand was a cloth and in the other a plate
she was drying.
"Well, well, Jennie, you're as busy as ever, I see!" exclaimed Uncle
Wiggily. "But are you living here?"
"Hush! No," answered Jennie Chipmunk. "I don't live here, but in this
house is a dear old lady squirrel, who is so feeble that she can't get
around and do all her work. So every day I come over and clean up for
her, and get her meals. Oh, I just love to work!" cried Jennie.
"I believe you," spoke the rabbit. "But can't we help?"
"Of course we can," decided Kittie. "You get some wood for the fire,
Uncle Wiggily, and Jennie and I will do the housework."
Then the rabbit and Kittie went in the little house, and Jennie
Chipmunk introduced them to the old lady squirrel, who had to lie down
in bed most of the time.
"Oh, I am very glad to see you," she said in her gentle voice. "I
don't know what I would do without Jennie. She is such a help; aren't
you, Jennie?"
But Jennie wasn't there to answer, for she had skipped out into the
kitchen to finish the dishes, and she was singing away as she hurried
along as happy as a grasshopper.
Then Uncle Wiggily brought in a lot of wood, and with Kittie to help
with the sweeping and dusting, the house was soon as neat as a piece
of apple pie on a Sunday morning.
"Now we must go out and gather some nuts for the old lady squirrel,"
said Jennie.
"What will we carry them in?" asked Kittie.
"Oh, there is a basket for you, and Uncle Wiggily can use his valise,
and as for me," said Jennie, "I have little pockets in each side of my
cheeks, you know." And it's really true, a chipmunk has little pouches
or pockets one on each side of its face. You look the next time you
see one, and notice how a chipmunk's cheeks stick out when it has a
lot of nuts to carry.
So the nuts were soon gathered for the old lady squirrel, and then
Jennie made a cup of tea for Uncle Wiggily and Kittie. And as they sat
in the house drinking it, and talking cheerfully to the old lady
squirrel, all of a sudden the fuzzy old fox came along and tried to
get in. But Uncle Wiggily saw him through the window, and quickly shut
and locked the door.
"Never mind," cried the fox, as he sat down outside and licked his
lips. "I'll wait until you come out, Mr. Rabbit, and then I'll get
you."
"Oh! what shall we do?" cried Kittie Kat in great fright.
"I'll show you," said Jennie Chipmunk. So she took the big dusting
brush down off the nail, and she stuck the brush out of the window,
and she waved it at the fox--waved the brush, not the window you know.
And when that fox saw the fuzzy brush waving, he thought it was the
bushy tail of Old Dog Percival. And the fox was so afraid of dogs that
then and there he gave three separate and distinct howls, and away he
ran as fast as his legs would take him and so Uncle Wiggily and Kittie
Kat could come out.
"My! But you are a smart little girl, Jennie Chipmunk," said the old
gentleman rabbit. "I never would have thought of that."
Then Jennie sang her song again, and made a cherry pie for the rabbit,
and he and Kittie traveled on, and the next day something else
happened. I'll tell you about it right soon, when the story will be of
Uncle Wiggily going berrying; that is, if the peanut man doesn't put a
watermelon in the baby carriage and break the wheels so the rag doll
can't eat her sawdust cake.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
STORY XXX
UNCLE WIGGILY GOES BERRYING
"Well, this is a beautiful day," said Kittie Kat, as she and Uncle
Wiggily walked along through the woods one morning.
"Yes, this weather is very nice," agreed the old gentleman rabbit. "I
ought to find my fortune to-day. I have been traveling after it a long
time, and I am getting quite tired."
Kittie Kat looked at him, and she was sorry to see that Uncle Wiggily
appeared quite old. He was bending over as he walked, and he had to go
very slowly, for his rheumatism was quite painful, even though he had
his crutch that Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had made for him out of a
cornstalk.
"Poor old rabbit," thought the pussy girl. "I hope that he finds his
fortune soon, or it will not be of much use to him. I must look as
hard as I can."
So, as they went along Kittie Kat looked under all the stones and
behind the bushes and down in hollow stumps. And once, when she lifted
up a stone with her claws, she saw something glittering under it.
"Oh, here is a diamond!" she cried, but it was only a piece of glass.
And, a little later Uncle Wiggily saw something shining under a big
log. He cried out:
"Oh, joy! I have found some gold." But it was only a shining piece of
tin. They were both much disappointed, but they kept on, still
searching.
At last they came to a house that was built just on the edge of a
deep, dark, dismal wood, and there was some smoke coming from the
chimney of this house.
"I'm going there and ask if they know where I can find my fortune,"
said Uncle Wiggily.
"Better not," spoke Kittie Kat. "There may be a wolf or a fox in
there. Better not."
So Uncle Wiggily looked carefully on the ground all about the little
house, and then he said:
"No, Kittie Kat, a fox or a wolf can't live in here, or I could see
the marks of their feet in the mud. I think a man or a woman lives in
that house, and I am going to knock on the door, for they surely will
be kind to us."
So, with the pussy girl following behind, Uncle Wiggily went up to the
door of the little house, and knocked: "Rat-a-tat-tat!"
"Ha! Who is there?" asked a quivering-quavering voice.
"It is I--Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman rabbit, and I am
looking for my fortune," he said.
Then the door suddenly opened, and there stood a little old woman, in
a green dress, and she had such a long nose and such a long chin that
they almost touched, and if she had been strong enough she could have
cracked a nut between them.
"Oh, that's an old witch!" cried Kittie Kat.
"Nonsensicalness!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "There are no such things
as witches. Besides, it isn't polite to call names, Kittie Kat."
"Oh, I'm sorry," said the pussy girl, looking at her tail.
"That's all right," said the old lady kindly, and she smiled. And when
she did this she wasn't at all bad looking, but instead, very nice.
"Lots of people think I'm a witch," she said, "and they won't come
near me. But I'm not, and I love boys and girls and animals."
"I am so old, however, that I can't go very far from home, and I would
like to go off in the woods, and get some berries to make a berry pie.
But alas! and alack-a-day! I cannot. But what was it you wanted, Uncle
Wiggily?"
"I wanted to know if you could tell me where to find my fortune," said
the rabbit.
"Yes," answered the old lady in the green dress, "I think I can tell
you where to find your fortune. If you will travel on for three days
more you will come to a little hill. Go up this hill, and down the
other side, and there, at the bottom, you will find your fortune."
"Oh, joy!" cried the rabbit gentleman.
"How lovely!" exclaimed Kittie Kat. "Oh, how glad I am. Let's start
off at once, Uncle Wiggily."
"No, not at once," said the old gentleman rabbit. "First I must do a
kindness to this good old lady. I heard you say you would like some
berries," he went on, "so I will go and get them."
"And I will come also," said Kittie Kat.
"It is very kind of you," spoke the old lady with the long nose and
the pointed chin. So she gave them a basket in which to put the
berries, and away went Uncle Wiggily and the pussy girl.
Soon they came to where there were a whole lot of bushes and they
began picking the berries. The basket was almost full, and the rabbit
was wondering if the lady would give him some of the berry pie after
she made it, when, all of a sudden, there was a rustling in the bushes
and out sprang a savage wolf.
"Ah, ha!" he growled, as he showed his sharp teeth, "now I have you
both! Oh, what a good meal I will have!"
"Oh, please do not eat us!" begged the rabbit. "I am just about to
find my fortune; can't you wait until after that?"
"No!" growled the wolf. Then he crouched down, ready for a spring.
Uncle Wiggily and Kittie Kat were too frightened to move. They looked
all around for help, but all they could see were the berry bushes. And
one bush seemed redder than the others. In fact, it was as red as red
ink, and, as the rabbit looked at it this bush seemed to move.
"Here I come!" cried the wolf, and he jumped up into the air. But, as
he did so the very red bush seemed to leap also, and then this bush
grabbed the wolf by his tail, swung him around and around and tossed
him away up in the top of a tall tree.
"There! I'll teach you to play tricks on Uncle Wiggily," cried a
voice, and then the red bush came over to the rabbit, and instead of
being a bush it was the red monkey, and he had come along just in time
to save the rabbit and the pussy. You see he looked so much like a
berry bush, as he crouched down, that the wolf didn't know him, and
neither did Uncle Wiggily.
"Well, this is a joyful surprise!" cried the rabbit, as he and Kittie
Kat thanked the red monkey. "I'm glad to see you once more."
Then the wolf ran howling away through the woods, and the monkey
helped the rabbit and the pussy girl to fill the basket with berries
and they took them to the old lady, who made a pie as big as the wash
basin.
And the next day the rabbit started off after the gold and diamonds.
And, in case the lead pencil doesn't crawl up the white wall and make
a funny picture of a man riding on an elephant, I'll tell you next
about Uncle Wiggily finding his fortune.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
STORY XXXI
UNCLE WIGGILY'S FORTUNE
The little old lady in the green dress, whose nose and chin nearly
touched, was very glad to get the berries which Uncle Wiggily and
Kittie Kat gathered. She was very sorry that the wolf had frightened
them, but she thought it was just fine of the red monkey to come along
when he did.
"And I just wish you could have seen him toss the wolf over the
tree-tops by his tail," said the old gentleman rabbit. "It was as good
as going to the circus."
"Well, for doing such a trick, the red monkey can have two pieces of
my berry pie," spoke the little old woman in the green dress. And that
red monkey was very, very thankful, and he ate the two pieces of pie,
even down to the last drop of juice.
Illustration: Uncle Wiggily's Fortune
Of course the rabbit gentleman and Kittie Kat had some pie too, and,
after they had eaten their share, and had washed their faces and paws
they stayed at the house of the little old woman all night.
"For I want Uncle Wiggily to be nice and rested so he can start off
after his fortune to-morrow," she said.
Well, the next morning the rabbit gentleman got ready to go. The old
lady with the green dress filled his valise full of good things to
eat, including some berry pie, for there were no more cherries now,
you know. Then, with Kittie Kat on one side of him and the red monkey
on the other side, Uncle Wiggily set off.
"Remember," called the old lady, as she said good-by, "you must travel
straight on for three days, and you needn't stop on the way to look
for your fortune, for you won't find it. Just keep on, and at the end
of the third day you will come to a hill. Go up the hill, and down the
other side, and you will then come into your fortune, and I hope you
will live for a good many years to enjoy it."
"Thank you so much!" exclaimed the rabbit. "It hardly seems possible
that I am going to be rich after all my travels. What kind of a
fortune will it be?"
"Oh, you must wait and see," said the kind little old lady.
Well, the rabbit and the pussy girl and the red monkey traveled on and
on. The first day they came to a big mountain, and the monkey wanted
to climb up it to see if there were any cocoanut trees growing on the
top.
"No," Uncle Wiggily told him. "We must keep straight on the level road
until we come to the hill." And it is a good thing they didn't climb
that mountain. For on top lived a big giant who had a big club, and he
might have hit the red monkey with it. Mind, I'm not saying for sure,
but that might have happened, you know.
So the three friends traveled on and on, and at the second day they
came to where there was a big ball of blue yarn beside a little lake.
It was a nice, soft ball of yarn, such as kittens play with when
grandma is knitting warm mittens for winter.
"Oh, I must stop and play with that ball of yarn," said Kittie Kat.
"No," said the rabbit, "you must not do that, for the old lady said we
were to keep straight on for three days."
And it is a good thing Kittie Kat didn't roll the ball, for inside of
it was a big rat, and he might have bitten the little pussy girl.
Mind, I'm not saying for sure, but that might have happened.
"Now, this is the third day," spoke Uncle Wiggily when they got up one
morning, after having slept in a hollow stump. "By nightfall we ought
to come to the hill, and on the other side will be my fortune. Oh, how
glad I am!"
So they kept on and on, stopping for dinner in a nice shady place, and
toward evening they came to the hill.
"There it is!" cried the rabbit as he hurried up it. "Oh, I can hardly
wait until I get to the other side."
Up he went, and up went the red monkey and up went Kittie Kat. And on
the way the bad fuzzy fox sprang out from the bushes and tried to
catch them, but Uncle Wiggily tickled him with his crutch and made him
sneeze and fall down hill.
Then they came to the top of the hill. The sun was just setting in the
clouds, and they were all colored golden and violet and purple, and
oh, it was beautiful! Uncle Wiggily came to a stop. On one side was
the red monkey and on the other the pussy girl. The rabbit rubbed his
eyes. Then he took off his glasses and polished them on his
handkerchief. Then he looked down the hill.
"Why--why!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "There must be some mistake. I
don't see any gold or diamonds. And this place--why, it's the very
place I started away from so many weeks ago! There is where I
live--there is where Sammie and Susie Littletail live--that's the tree
where Johnnie and Billie Bushytail live, and there is the pond where
Alice and Lulu and Jimmie Wibblewobble, the ducks, live! This is home!
There can't be a fortune here!"
Oh, how disappointed he felt. The sun sank lower behind the clouds and
made them more golden and green and purple.
Then out from their homes ran the rabbit children and the squirrel
brothers and the duck children, and Peetie, and Jackie Bow-Wow, and
Bully the Frog, and his brother, and Dottie and Munchie Trot, and
Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg--and all the others.
"Oh, here is Uncle Wiggily! Our Uncle Wiggily has come back!" they
cried, leaping about in joy. "Oh, how glad we are to see you. Happy!
Happy welcome! You are rich, Uncle Wiggily! Rich! Very rich!"
"Rich!" said the rabbit, rubbing his eyes and trying to stand up while
all his friends gathered around him. "But I don't understand. The
little old lady in the green dress said I would find my fortune here,
but I don't see it."
"Let me explain," said Sammie Littletail. "Do you see that field of
cabbage, Uncle Wiggily?" and the rabbit boy pointed to it.
"Yes," said the rabbit, "I see the field."
"There are seventeen million, two hundred and fifty-six thousand, nine
hundred and three cabbages there," said Sammie, "and they are all
yours. And do you see that field of turnips?"
"Yes," said Uncle Wiggily, as he looked down the hill, "I see them."
"There are nineteen million, four hundred and thirty-three thousand,
eight hundred and sixty-six turnips," said Sammie, "and they are all
yours. And do you see that field of carrots?"
"I do," said Uncle Wiggily, but he couldn't see so very far, as tears
of joy were in his eyes.
"There are one hundred million, eight hundred and twenty-three
thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine and a half carrots in that
field," said Sammie. "Jillie Longtail, the mouse, had the half carrot
because she was ill, but all the rest are yours, and you are the
richest rabbit in the world--the very richest--there is your fortune.
You can sell the turnips and carrots and cabbages and have
forty-'leven barrels of gold."
"But--but I don't understand," said Uncle Wiggily, as he tried to hug
all his friends at once.
"It was this way," said Sammie, "when you were gone we all planted
things in your garden and fields for you, and we took care of them,
hoeing and watering them, until they grew as never carrots or turnips
or cabbages grew before. So now you have come back to us, and you are
rich."
And it was true. After traveling almost around the earth in search of
his fortune, Uncle Wiggily came back to find it right at home, and
that's the way it often happens in this world.
Well, you can imagine how surprised he was. He hugged and kissed all
his friends and then he went into his old house with Sammie and Susie
Littletail, and when he had sold the cabbages and carrots and turnips
for many barrels of gold, there he lived for many, many years, as
happy an old gentleman rabbit as you could find in a day's journey.
And though his rheumatism bothered him at times it couldn't be helped.
And he gave all his friends as much money as they wanted, and they all
had good times together, and lots of fun, and every once in a while
Uncle Wiggily would treat everybody to strawberry ice-cream cones with
cabbage or turnip sauce on.
And now I have come to the end of this book. But I still have some
more stories about the old gentleman rabbit in my typewriter, in case
you would like to hear them. And I am going to put them in another
volume to be called "Uncle Wiggily's Automobile."
In that machine he had the most surprising adventures of which you
ever heard. Why, once the doodle-oodle-um got twisted around the
tinker-um-tankerum, and again the noodle-oodle-um wouldn't go, and he
had to give it a drink of molasses. And again the snicker-snoozicum
got the toothache. But Uncle Wiggily didn't mind, and he traveled many
miles in his auto. I'll tell you all that happened, so don't worry,
but go to sleep and in the morning the sun may be shining. So I'm
going to say good-by for a little while, and I wish you all happy
dreams.
THE END
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW WOW
"Come on, Jackie!" called Peetie Bow Wow, the boy doggie, one morning.
"Come on!"
"Where are you going?" asked Jackie of Peetie.
"Let's run off and join the circus," suggested Peetie, as he tried to
stand up on the end of his tail and turn a somersault. "We can earn a
lot of money."
"How?" asked Jackie, scratching his nose with his ear.
"Why, we can make money by doing tricks in the circus," went on
Peetie. "We can jump over the backs of elephants, climb up to the top
of the tent, and do lots of things like that. A circus is fun!"
--------------
You have read how Daddy Blake took Hal and Mab to the circus, and you
will like to read about Jackie and Peetie. They are in a book called
"Bedtime Stories: Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow," by Howard R. Garis, who
also wrote the Daddy books.
Send to R. F. Fenno & Company, 18 East 17th Street, New York City, and
they will mail the book on receipt of price, if you can not get it in
your book store. The book has colored pictures.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
● Transcriber's Notes:
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Spelling and hyphenation were made consistent when a predominant
form was found in this book; otherwise it was not changed.
○ Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_); text in
bold by “equal” signs (=bold=).
End of Project Gutenberg's Uncle Wiggily's Fortune, by Howard R. Garis