and Billie Bushytail on the other. Then the fight began--not real, you
understand--but make-believe.
First the loud cannons shot off; and what do you suppose the cannons
were? Why big stones, that the squirrels and rabbits and the other
animal boys held and clapped together as loud as anything. You know
stones can make a terrible racket when they are hit together real hard.
Well, it sounded like regular cannon, and the birds in the wood got
awfully scared.
"Now fire your guns!" cried General Buddy Pigg, and his soldiers took
sticks, and snapped them in two pieces and broke them, until they
sounded like real guns, or a lot of firecrackers going off.
Oh, it was fine, and the best of it was nobody could get hurt, or
burned, either.
"Now shoot them with your torpedoes!" cried General Billie Bushytail,
and all at once his side began firing off torpedoes at a great rate;
until you would have thought the woods were on fire. And you would
never guess what the torpedoes were, so I'll tell you. They were big,
rose petals, blown up with air until they were like little pink and red
balloons, and tied around with a string, just as you tie a paper bag
around the neck, after you've blown it up, to burst it, and when those
rose-torpedoes were cracked down on a flat stone--my! you should have
heard the noise!
Well, lots of them were fired off, and then Buddy Pigg got some empty
bags, and his soldiers blew them up, and they cracked 'em down, and they
went off "Boom! Boom!" like great, big cannons. They blew dust up in the
air, to pretend it was smoke, and there was the most terrible
make-believe battle you ever heard of. But nobody was hurt, and they had
lots of fun, and the best of it was that neither side won, which made
everybody happy.
"Now we'll take a rest," said Buddy Pigg. "I wonder what Brighteyes and
the others are doing?"
"Let's go see," proposed Billie Bushytail.
So they all marched off through the woods, just like real soldiers, and
pretty soon they came to the place where Brighteyes and Sister Sallie
and all the girls were having a picnic.
"You're just in time," called Brighteyes.
"Come and have some lunch, and some lemonade. You must be tired after
all that fighting." Now wasn't she kind, even after Buddy had laughed at
the idea of a picnic being better than a battle? Well, I just guess!
Those soldiers were glad enough to eat the lunch, and drink the
lemonade, I can tell you.
So the soldiers and the girls sat there in the woods under the trees and
had a fine time--almost as good as at the make-believe battle, I
think--and after a while, just as Buddy and his chums were getting ready
to go back and shoot some more stick-firecrackers and roseleaf
torpedoes, what should happen but that bad fox and that mean, old,
yellow, shaggy dog ran right out of the woods.
"Let's eat everything up!" cried the fox, waving his big tail.
"Yes, and then we'll eat the squirrels and rabbits and guinea pigs all
up!" cried the dog, gnashing his teeth and blinking his eyes as bold as
bold could be.
At first even the soldiers were so frightened that they hardly knew what
to do, and they were about to run away, when Buddy called out:
"Come on! Let's get our guns and our cannon and shoot them!"
Then he grabbed up some stick-firecrackers and began to break and snap
them, and Sammie shot off some roseleaf torpedoes and Billie and Johnnie
clapped stones together, and Jimmie and Bully and Bawly threw dust in
the air until it looked like smoke, and there was a terrible racket,
until--well, sir, if that dog and that fox weren't so frightened that
they ran away and didn't even get so much as a crumb of cracker or a
drop of lemonade; and it served them right, I think.
Then how thankful the girls were to the brave soldiers. Oh, everything
turned out just right, I'm glad to say. That afternoon Buddy and his
chums had more Fourth of July fun, and Brighteyes and her friends played
with their dolls.
Then at night Buddy and the boys sent up skyrockets and Roman candles
(which were sticks covered with lightning bugs), and prettier ones you
never saw. And they even had a lightning-bug pinwheel. Oh, it was the
nicest Fourth of July that ever was! I hope you children have as nice a
one and that none of you get burned or hurt when you celebrate
Independence Day. And, if none of you do, why, in the next story I'll
tell you about Buddy Pigg trying to buy a tail for himself, because he
didn't have any. That is, I will if the lollypop doesn't fall down
stairs and break his stick.
STORY IX
BUDDY PIG WANTS A TAIL
The day after the Fourth of July, when he and his sister had had such
fun, Buddy Pigg came into the pen, where his mamma was baking tea
biscuits for supper, and sat down in a chair by the table where she was
working.
He didn't say anything, but just watched his mamma rolling out the
crust, or whatever it is they make tea biscuits of, and pretty soon Mrs.
Pigg noticed that Buddy didn't seem very happy. His face was all twisted
up into a funny sort of a scowl, and every once in a while he would give
a long sigh, as though he hadn't a friend in all the world.
"Why, Buddy," Mrs. Pigg asked, when the tea biscuits were ready for the
oven, "whatever in the wide, wide world is the matter? Are you sick, or
did you burn yourself with a firecracker?"
"No, mother," Buddy answered, "I'm not sick and I didn't burn myself
with a firecracker, but I wish--I wish--" and then he stopped, and sort
of wiggled his nose.
"Well," asked his mother with a smile, "what do you wish? Remember,
though, that I am not a fairy and can't give you anything you want."
"Oh," answered the little boy guinea pig, "this is very easy, mamma. All
I want is a tail."
"A tail?" exclaimed his mamma in great surprise, and she wondered if,
after all, Buddy wasn't ill, for that was a very strange request. And
she began to wish that his papa was home, or that Brighteyes, who was
Buddy's sister, was in the house, to help look after him, but Brighteyes
had gone to see her aunt, and wouldn't be back till night.
"Yes," went on Buddy, "I want a tail. All the other boys and girls who
are friends of mine have them, and I don't see why I can't."
For you see guinea pigs never have tails. Why that is I don't know,
except, maybe, it's better that way in hot weather, but, anyhow, they
have no tails.
"You don't need a tail," said Buddy's mamma.
"Yes, I do, mother dear," he answered. "Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow have
tails, and so have Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, and the three
Wibblewobbles, and--"
"But Bully and Bawly, the frogs, have no tail," said Mrs. Pigg, "and
they are happy, Buddy."
"Well, they are in the water so much it doesn't show whether they have a
tail or not," went on Buddy.
"And Sammie and Susie Littletail haven't much of a tail, Buddy," said
Mrs. Pigg, as she looked in the oven to see if the biscuits were
burning.
"I know it, mother, but they have something of a tail," spoke Buddy,
"and maybe it will grow longer in time. I'd be glad if I had even as
much as Sammie has."
"Well," said Mrs. Pigg, "I'm sorry, Buddy, but I don't see how you are
ever going to get a tail. I haven't any, your father hasn't any, and we
get along very well. None of your relations have tails and they are
happy. They never had any. In fact there has never been a tail in our
family and I don't see why you want to start. Now run out and play, like
a good boy, and when Brighteyes comes back it will be supper time, and
we'll have hot biscuits and honey."
But, though Buddy ran out, he was not happy. There was a frown on his
face, and, as he walked through the woods, he kept thinking how nice it
would be to have a tail.
Pretty soon, oh, I guess in about a whisper and a squeak, Buddy Pigg
heard a rustling in the tree over his head. Then he saw two big, yellow
eyes peering down at him from the darkness of the woods, and a voice
called out:
"What's the matter, little boy? Why are you so sad?"
"Oh, I feel bad because I haven't a tail," answered Buddy, wondering who
was speaking.
"What's the matter? Did some one cut your tail off?" the voice asked.
"No," replied Buddy, "I never had one; but I want one, awfully bad."
"Oh, don't worry about a little thing like that," went on the voice. "I
can get a fine tail for you."
"Oh, can you?" cried Buddy, his face lighting up, "are you a fairy?"
"Well, not exactly," was the answer, "but you just run along after me,
and I'll get a tail for you, in less than no time."
Then there was a rustling in the branches, and a great, big owl, with
ears that looked like horns, flew out, and Buddy was frightened. But the
owl said:
"Oh, don't be alarmed, little boy. Just follow me, and I'll see that you
get a tail."
So the owl flew along through the dark, dismal woods, going slowly, and
close to the ground so Buddy could follow, and pretty soon, the owl
stopped in front of a hole in the side of a hill.
"There is where the tail is," said the owl. "Just wait and I'll have it
out to you in a jiffy and a half," and bless me, if that owl didn't go
in that hole. He stayed there some time, and Buddy could hear voices
inside, talking, and land sakes, goodness me alive, and a cherry pie!
out of that hole was thrust a great, big, bushy tail. A tail, and
nothing else, believe me, if you please.
"Oh, what a fine tail!" cried Buddy in delight.
"Do you think so?" asked a voice. "Then just grab hold of it, hold
tight, and it's yours!"
Well, Buddy didn't think there was any danger, so he grabbed hold of the
tail, and held on tight, but oh, dear me! instead of pulling the tail
out, he found himself being pulled in. Yes, sir, right into that hole,
and land knows what would have happened if Buddy's sister, Brighteyes,
hadn't come along just then on her way home from her aunt's house. She
saw right away that the bushy tail was fast to something inside the
hole.
"That's a fox's tail!" she cried, "and he's pulling you into his den!
Let go, quickly! Let go, Buddy!"
So Buddy let go just in time, though the fox and the owl rushed out and
tried to grab him, but they fell down, and couldn't get up in time, and
he and his sister ran home. You see it was just a trick of that owl and
fox, to get Buddy into the den, and eat him up, but they didn't, I'm
glad to say. And after that Buddy never wanted a tail. Now if it doesn't
rain in the dishpan and turn the umbrella inside out, I'll tell you in
the next story about Buddy walking a tight rope.
STORY X
BUDDY WALKS A TIGHT ROPE
One day after Buddy Pigg had been on a visit to Jackie and Peetie Bow
Wow, the two puppy dogs, who were once in a circus, he came home all
excited. He ran out in the yard, began pawing over in the woodpile, and
soon he ran into the house, where Brighteyes, his sister, was washing
the potatoes for dinner.
"Do you know where there is any wire, Brighteyes?" the little boy guinea
pig asked.
"Wire? No, I haven't seen any around the house. What do you want of it?
Are you going to wire a tail on to yourself?" and Buddy's sister smiled
just the least bit.
"Please don't remind me of that," said Buddy, for he felt a little
ashamed of the time he had tried to get a tail for himself and had been
nearly dragged into a fox's den, as I told you in the story before this
one. "No, Brighteyes, I'm not going to make a tail. I am going to do a
circus trick, and you can see me if you want to," he said.
"Oh, Buddy! are you really?" she cried, and she was interested all of a
sudden, you see, for she had never seen much of a circus.
"Yes, I'll do the trick, if I can find a bit of wire," went on Buddy.
"Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow told me how to do it; and I'm sure I can.
It's walking a tight rope, and it's very hard to do."
"Oh! then you want rope, not wire," went on Brighteyes, as she put the
pan of potatoes on the table.
"Wire is what the circus performers use," insisted her brother, "but if
you can't find any I suppose rope will do."
"I saw some up in the attic," said Brighteyes. "I'll get it for you.
But, Buddy, isn't it dangerous? Do you s'pose mamma and papa would let
you do it?"
"There's not much danger," answered Buddy. "I'll not put the rope up
very high, and I'll put some pillows on the ground underneath, so that
if I fall I won't get hurt much."
Well, Brighteyes found a long rope, and she helped Buddy tie it from one
clothes post to the other, across the yard, so that it looked like a
real tight rope in a circus.
"Oh, you can never get on that!" she cried to her brother, as she saw
how high up it was.
"Yes, I can," he replied. "You just watch me. But first I must put some
pillows underneath, in case I fall."
So he ran into the house and got a lot of feather pillows and put them
on the ground under the rope, Brighteyes helping him.
Then Buddy got some old soap boxes, piled them one on top of the other,
and, by climbing up on them, he was able to step to the rope.
"Oh, how thin and slender and shaky it is!" cried Brighteyes. "You never
can walk across that, Buddy!"
"Yes, I think I can," he answered. "But I must get a pole to balance
myself with," so he got off the boxes and ran to the woodpile, got a
piece of an old broom handle, and ran back to the rope again. He stepped
one foot out on it, to try it, and it seemed quite strong, though it
wabbled a bit from side to side, like a duck's tail.
"Oh! are you really going to walk on it?" cried Brighteyes in delight.
"I really am," answered her brother.
"Then you ought to have an audience to applaud you and clap when you do
it," she went on. "Wait, and I'll run and get Johnnie and Billie
Bushytail and Sammie and Susie Littletail, and--"
"No, don't!" cried Buddy, quickly. "Better wait until I walk across a
few times, first, so as to sort of practise. Then I'll do the trick
before folks."
So he got up on the rope, standing up on his hind legs, and balancing
the pole with his front paws and he steadied himself for a moment and
then took a step. My! but that rope wiggled, though, from side to side,
almost like a hammock, only, of course, not as safe as a hammock. But
Buddy kept bravely on, and took another step--and land sakes laddy-da!
if that rope didn't wiggle more than ever.
"Oh, take care! You'll fall!" cried Brighteyes, and she screamed.
"Oh, Brighteyes, don't do that, please!" begged Buddy. "You make me
nervous, and then I can't walk the tight rope."
So Brighteyes, whose real name was Matilda, you know, kept real still
and quiet, just like a little mouse when it wants a bit of cheese, and
Buddy took another step out on the tight rope.
He held his balancing pole by the middle, and he went slowly and
cautiously, and he was actually walking that slender rope!
But he kept looking down and wondering whether he would fall or not, and
he got to thinking about the feather pillows, and wondering if they were
thick enough and soft enough, so that he wouldn't get hurt if he should
fall, when all at once, quicker than you can wheel the baby carriage
down hill, when he was right in the middle, Buddy's foot slipped, and
down he went, right a straddle across the tight rope, and the pole fell
with a bang!
[Illustration]
And Brighteyes screamed, for she couldn't help it, but Buddy didn't dare
call out. No, all he could do was to cling there with his teeth and his
paws to that swaying rope.
"Oh!" cried Brighteyes, "you're going to fall, Buddy!"
"I've fallen already," he panted. "But I'm going to land on the ground
in a minute, for I can't hold on any longer!"
And he looked down, picking out a soft spot to fall on, but, oh, dear
me, and a sour pickle! If the pole, when it fell down, hadn't knocked
the pillows to one side, and there was only hard ground for Buddy to
land on. Well, maybe he wasn't frightened, and Brighteyes was also
frightened, too flabbergasted, you see, to go and fix the pillows in
place again, and they didn't either of them know what in the world to
do.
I don't know what might have happened, for Buddy couldn't hold on much
longer, but, just as he was going to let go, along came Uncle Wiggily
Longears. He saw what the trouble was at once, and up he rushed and with
his crutch he piled the pillows in a soft heap right under Buddy, and
then Buddy let go the tight rope and down he came, just like in a
feather bed.
And he wasn't hurt the least mite, but he was very thankful to Uncle
Wiggily, the old rabbit gentleman, and Buddy never tried to walk a tight
rope, nor a loose one again.
Now, in case there is no salt in the ice cream to make the rag doll
sneeze, I'll tell you in the following story about Brighteyes Pigg in a
tin can.
STORY XI
BRIGHTEYES IN A TIN CAN
Of course, when Mamma Pigg came home the afternoon that Buddy tried to
walk a tight rope (for she had been away visiting Mrs. Wibblewobble when
it happened) she had to hear about it. Buddy and Brighteyes would have
told her, anyhow, for they always did, but, as it was, Mrs. Pigg saw a
scratch on Buddy's leg, where the rope had hurt him when he fell, and
she wanted to know all about it. Then Buddy told her of the trick he had
tried to perform.
"Little guinea pigs are safer on the ground," she said. "Leave such
things to Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, or the Bow Wows, who were once
in a circus. Now get washed for supper, for your papa will soon be here,
and I think he'll fetch a quart of carrot ice cream, as it is so hot."
And sure enough, Dr. Pigg did, and the carrot ice cream was the best
Brighteyes and Buddy had ever tasted, they thought.
Well, it was about two days after this that Brighteyes Pigg was sent to
the store for her mother, to get a nutmeg, a yeast cake, and a bottle of
blueing. Brighteyes started off, hurrying through the woods, where once
the owl had tried to get Buddy into the den of the old fox, and soon the
little guinea pig girl was at the grocery.
She got the things, and the storekeeper put them in a paper bag for her,
and back she started.
It was so warm that, after Brighteyes had reached a cool place in the
woods, near where a little brook ran over the stones, making a gurgling
noise, very pleasant to hear, she sat down to rest. And she hadn't been
sitting there more than about ten long breaths, when she saw, beside the
stream, a tin can.
"Now I wonder what is in that can?" thought Brighteyes. "I'm going to
see. Perhaps it's something good to eat, and I can take some home to
Buddy," for she was very kind to her brother, you understand.
So she went up to the can, but wasn't she disappointed when she saw that
it was empty! The open end was on the side that was turned away from
her, and that's why at first she thought it was full. But she smelled of
the opening, and oh, what a delicious perfume there was, sweet and
sugary, and in a minute Brighteyes knew what it was.
"There has been molasses in that can!" she exclaimed. "Oh, if there's
anything I dearly love it's molasses! I wonder if there is any left
inside? Sometimes people don't quite empty the cans before they throw
them away. I'm going to look."
So Brighteyes went closer, and, would you believe me? if she didn't see,
away down in the lower edge of that can, as it rested on its side, a lot
of nice molasses.
"Oh, I must have that!" cried Brighteyes, and, without thinking of what
she was doing, she put her head and her forepaws inside that can. She
found she could reach the molasses with her tongue, and she began to
lick it up, wishing she had some way of taking part of it to Buddy.
She was so excited over it that she even had taken her things from the
grocery store inside the can with her. There she was, with only part of
her body and her hind legs sticking out, and she was eating the molasses
as fast as she could.
It kept tasting better and better, but, after a while, Brighteyes
thought she had enough, and she started to pull her head out of the can.
But, oh dear me! She found she couldn't do it. The sharp edges of the
tin caught in her fur, and there she was, stuck fast with the can over
her head, and the nutmeg, the bottle of blueing and the yeast cake in
there with her.
"Oh, dear me suz-dud!" she cried. "I'm fast!"
She tried to shake the can off, but it wouldn't shake. Then she tried to
pull herself out, but the can was still on her head, and went everywhere
she went, like Mary's little lamb. Then poor Brighteyes tried to stand
up on her hind legs, and hit the can against a tree or a stone, thinking
she could knock it off, but it wouldn't come off, and then she turned a
somersault, thinking that would help, but, though she even stood on her
head in the can, and wiggled her hind legs, it did no good.
"Oh, I'm caught fast!" cried the poor little creature, and she rolled
around and around on the ground, thinking that would help some, but it
didn't.
Then she heard some one coming along through the woods, and she called
out: "Who's there? Please help me out of this can!"
"I'm Johnnie Bushytail," answered a voice. "Who are you?"
"I'm Brighteyes Pigg," she said. "Please help me."
But her voice sounded so queer and hollow, shut up as it was in the can,
and the nutmeg rattled around so, like thunder, that Johnnie Bushytail,
the squirrel, was frightened, and ran away, without helping Brighteyes.
Then she felt like crying, but, in a little while she heard some one
else coming along through the woods, and she called: "Oh, please help
me! Who is there?"
"I'm Sammie Littletail," was the answer. "Who are you?"
"I'm Brighteyes Pigg," she replied. "Help me, please!"
But her voice sounded so strange and hollow in the can, and just then
the yeast cake came bouncing out, where there was a little space near
Brighteyes' neck and the tinfoil was all shining so that Sammie thought
some one was shooting square, silver bullets at him, and away he ran.
Then Brighteyes was going to give up in despair, and she thought she
would never, never get out, and she wished she had never eaten the
molasses, when, all of a sudden, she heard some one else coming along,
and between her sobs she cried out:
"Oh, please, whoever you are, don't run away! Help me out of this can!
Who are you?"
"I am Alice Wibblewobble, the duck," was the answer. "Who are you?"
"I am Brighteyes Pigg," said the little creature in the molasses can,
and just then the bottle of blueing broke inside and the blue stuff ran
out, trickling to one side.
"Oh, you must be the blue fairy!" cried Alice, and she took her strong
bill and bent back the edges of the tin can so that Brighteyes could get
out, which she soon did, and was not hurt in the least.
Of course Alice was surprised to see a guinea pig instead of a blue
fairy, but she was glad she had saved Brighteyes, who had to go back to
the store for another bottle of blueing. But the nutmeg and the yeast
cake were all right.
Then Alice Wibblewobble poured the rest of the molasses out of the can
into an empty acorn cup and Brighteyes took it home to Buddy, who liked
it very much, and I almost wish I had some molasses candy; don't you?
Now, in the next story I'm going to tell you about Dr. Pigg and the
firecracker; that is if the mosquitoes don't sing so loudly that they
wake up the baby's rattle box.
STORY XII
DR. PIGG AND THE FIRECRACKER
Once upon a time it happened that, as Buddy Pigg was coming home from
having played baseball with Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, and all his
friends, he saw, lying beside the road, something long and round and
red, with a little string dangling from it.
"Aha!" exclaimed Buddy Pigg; "there is a stick of red candy? Oh, fine!
Oh, dandy! I'll take it home, and give Brighteyes some."
That was because she had managed to bring him home some of the molasses
that was in the can, in which the little girl guinea pig got stuck fast.
So Buddy picked up the long, round, red thing, with a string dangling
from it, and took a big bite. That is, he tried to, but he found his
teeth wouldn't go through it.
"Wow!" he cried. "That isn't a stick of candy at all."
And the funny part of it was that it wasn't a stick of candy. No, not in
the least, I do assure you. What it was Buddy couldn't guess, though I
suppose some of you children can.
Well, anyhow, he picked it up, and carried it in one paw, and his bat
and catching glove in the other. And pretty soon whom should he meet
hopping along but Bawly, the frog--Bully's brother, you know. And Bawly
was singing away for dear life, this little song, which you will have to
get some one to sing for you, as I am as hoarse as two crows and a
cricket. Well, anyhow, this is the song:
"As I was hopping along one day,
Hi diddle um diddle I!
A grasshopper sat in a greenwood tree,
Tum-tum-tum tiddle di!
"Oh, where are you going?" the grasshopper asked.
"Oh, not very far," I said.
"May I go along?" asked the funny bug.
And he stood right up on his head.