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UNCLE WIGGILY'S TRAVELS
by
HOWARD R. GARIS
Author of _Sammie and Susie Littletail_, _Johnnie and Billy Bushytail_,
_Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow_, "Those Smith Boys," series, "The Island
Boys," series, etc.
Illustrated by LOUIS WISA
A.L. Burt Company
Publishers New York
1913
[Illustration]
THE FAMOUS BED TIME SERIES
Five groups of books, intended for reading aloud to the little folks each
night. Each volume contains 8 colored illustrations, 31 stories, one for
each day of the month. Handsomely bound in cloth. Size 6-1/2 x 8-1/4.
Price cents per volume, postpaid
* * * * *
HOWARD R. GARIS'
Bed Time Animal Stories
No. 1. SAMMIE AND SUSIE LTTTLETAIL
No. 2. JOHNNY AND BILLY BUSHYTAIL
No. 3. LULU, ALICE & JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE
No. 5. JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW-WOW
No. 7. BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES PIGG
No. 9. JOIE, TOMMIE AND KITTIE KAT
No. 10. CHARLIE AND ARABELLA CHICK
No. 14. NEDDIE AND BECKIE STUBTAIL
No. 16. BULLY AND BAWLY NO-TAIL
No. 20. NANNIE AND BILLIE WAGTAIL
No. 28. JOLLIE AND JILLIE LONGTAIL
Uncle Wiggily Bed Time Stories
No. 4. UNCLE WIGGILY'S ADVENTURES
No. 6. UNCLE WIGGILY'S TRAVELS
No. 8. UNCLE WIGGILY'S FORTUNE
No. 11. UNCLE WIGGILY'S AUTOMOBILE
No. 19. UNCLE WIGGILY AT THE SEASHORE
No. 21. UNCLE WIGGILY'S AIRSHIP
No. 27. UNCLE WIGGILY IN THE COUNTRY
* * * * *
For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt
of price by the publishers.
A.L. BURT CO., 114-120 East 23d St., New York
* * * * *
UNCLE WIGGILY'S TRAVELS
The stories herein contained appeared originally in the _Evening News_,
of Newark, N.J., where (so many children and their parents were kind
enough to say) they gave pleasure to a number of little folks and
grown-ups also. Permission to issue the stories in book form was kindly
granted by the publisher and editor of the _News_, to whom the author
extends his thanks.
CONTENTS
STORY PAGE
I. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE RED SQUIRREL 9
II. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BROWN WREN 16
III. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SUNFISH 22
IV. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE YELLOW BIRD 28
V. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SKY-CRACKER 34
VI. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BUTTERCUP 40
VII. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE JULY BUG 46
VIII. UNCLE WIGGILY AND JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT 52
IX. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LOST CHIPMUNK 58
X. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BLACK CRICKET 64
XI. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BUSY BUG 70
XII. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE FUNNY MONKEY 76
XIII. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BIG DOG 82
XIV. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE PEANUT MAN 88
XV. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CRAWLY SNAKE 94
XVI. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE WATER-LILIES 100
XVII. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SUNFLOWER 106
XVIII. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LIGHTNING BUGS 112
XIX. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE PHOEBE BIRDS 118
XX. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE MILKMAN 124
XXI. UNCLE WIGGILY'S SWIMMING LESSON 131
XXII. UNCLE WIGGILY IN THE BEAR'S DEN 137
XXIII. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE TOADSTOOL 144
XXIV. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CHICKIE 150
XXV. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE WASP 157
XXVI. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BLUEBELL 163
XXVII. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE WIBBLEWOBBLES 170
XXVIII. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BERRY BUSH 176
XXIX. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CAMP FIRE 183
XXX. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE COWBIRD 189
XXXI. UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE TAILOR BIRD 195
Uncle Wiggily's Travels
STORY I
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE RED SQUIRREL
You know when Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old rabbit gentleman, started
out to look for his fortune, he had to travel many weary miles, and many
adventures happened to him. Some of those adventures I have told you in
the book just before this one, and now I am going to tell you about his
travels when he hoped to find a lot of money, so he would be rich.
One day, as I told you in the last story in the other book, Uncle Wiggily
came to a farm, and there he had quite an adventure with a little boy. And
this little boy had on red trousers, because, I guess, his blue ones were
in the washtub. Anyhow, he and the rabbit gentleman became good friends.
And now I am going to tell you what happened when Uncle Wiggily met the
red squirrel.
"Where do you think you will go to look for your fortune to-day, Uncle
Wiggily?" asked the little boy with the red trousers the next morning,
after the rabbit had stayed all night at the farm house.
"I do not know," said the rabbit gentleman. "Perhaps I had better do some
traveling at night. I couldn't find the pot of gold at the end of the
rainbow, but perhaps there may be a gold, or silver fortune, at the end of
a moon-beam. I think I'll try."
"Oh, but don't you get sleepy at night?" asked the little boy's mother as
she fried an ice cream cone for Uncle Wiggily's breakfast.
"Well, I could sleep in the day time, and then I would stay awake at
night," answered the traveling uncle, blinking his ears.
"Oh, but aren't you afraid of the bogeyman at night?" inquired the boy
with the red hair--I mean trousers.
"There are no such things as bogeymen," said Uncle Wiggily, "and if there
were any, they would not harm you. I am not a bit afraid in the dark,
except that I don't like mosquitoes to bite me. I think I'll travel
to-morrow night, and look for gold at the end of the moon-beam."
So he started off that day, and he went only a short distance, for he
wanted to find a place to sleep in order that he would be wide awake when
it got dark.
Well, he found a nice, soft place under a pile of hay, and there he
stretched out to slumber as nicely as if he were in his bed at home. He
even snored a little bit, I believe, or else it was Bully Frog croaking
one of his songs.
The day passed, and the sun went down, and it got all ready to be night,
and still Uncle Wiggily slept on soundly. But all of a sudden he heard
voices whispering:
"Now you go that way and I'll go this way, and we'll catch that rabbit and
put him in a cage and sell him!"
Well, you can just believe that Uncle Wiggily was frightened when he
awakened suddenly and saw two bad boys softly creeping up and making ready
to catch him.
"Oh, this is no place for me!" the rabbit cried, and he grabbed up his
crutch and his valise and hopped away so fast that the boys couldn't catch
him, no matter how fast they could run, even bare-footed.
"Let's throw stones at him!" they cried. And they did, but I'm glad to say
that none of them hit Uncle Wiggily. Isn't it queer how mean some boys can
be? But perhaps they were never told any better, so we'll forgive them
this time.
"Well, it is now night," said the rabbit gentleman as he hopped on through
the woods, "so I think I will sit under this tree and wait for the moon to
come up. And while I'm waiting I'll eat my supper."
So Uncle Wiggily ate his supper, which the kind farmer lady had put up for
him, and then he sat and waited for the moon to rise, and pretty soon he
heard a funny noise, calling like this:
"Who? Who? Who-tu-tu-tu."
"Oh, you know who I am all right, Mr. Owl," said the rabbit. "You can see
very well at night. You can see me."
"My goodness, if it isn't Uncle Wiggily!" cried the owl in surprise. "What
are you doing out so late, I'd like to know?"
"Waiting for a moon-beam, so I can see if there is any gold for my fortune
at the end of it," was the answer. "Is the moon coming up over the trees,
Mr. Owl?"
"Yes, here it comes," said the owl, "and now I must fly off to the dark
woods, for I don't like the light," and he fluttered away.
Then the moon came up, all silver and glorious; shining over the tree tops
like a shimmering ball, and soon the moon-beams fell to the ground in
slanting rays, but they fell so softly, like feathers, that they did not
get hurt at all.
"Well, I guess I'll follow that big one," said the old gentleman rabbit,
as he picked out a nice, broad, large, shiny moon-beam. "That must have
gold at the end, and, if I find it, my fortune is made." So off he started
to follow the moon-beam to where it came to an end.
It seemed to go quite a distance through the dark woods, and Uncle Wiggily
traveled on for several hours, and he didn't seem to be any nearer the end
by that time than he was at first.
"My land, this is a very long beam," he exclaimed. "It is almost big
enough to make a church steeple from. But I'll keep on a little longer,
for I'm not a bit sleepy yet."
Well, all of a sudden, just as he was turning the corner around a big
stone, the rabbit gentleman heard a funny noise.
It wasn't like any one crying, yet it sounded as if some one was in
trouble, for the voice said:
"Oh, dear! I'll never get it big enough, I know I can't! I've combed it
and brushed it, and done it up in curl papers to make it fluffy, but still
it isn't like theirs. What shall I do?"
"Hum, I wonder who that can be?" thought Uncle Wiggily. "Perhaps it is
some little lost child; but no children would be out in the woods at
night. I'll take a look."
So he hopped softly over, and peered around the edge of the stone, and
what do you think he saw?
Why, there was a nice, little, red squirrel-girl, and she had a comb and a
brush, and little looking-glass. And the glass was stuck up on a stump
where the moon-beam that Uncle Wiggily was following shone on it and
reflected back again. And by the light of the moon-beam the red squirrel
was combing and brushing out her tail as hard as she could comb and brush
it.
"What are you doing?" asked Uncle Wiggily in surprise.
"Oh, my! How you startled me!" exclaimed the red squirrel. "But I'm glad
it's you, Uncle Wiggily. I'm going to a surprise party soon, and I was
just trying to make my tail as big as Johnnie or Billie Bushytail's, but I
can't do it," she said sadly.
"No, and you never can," said the rabbit. "Their tails are a different
kind than yours, for they are gray squirrels and you are a red one. But
yours is very nice. Be content to have yours as it is."
"I guess I will," said the red squirrel. "But what are you doing out so
late, Uncle Wiggily?"
"Looking for the end of the moon-beam to get my fortune."
"Ha! The moon-beam ends right here," said the red squirrel-girl, pointing
to her looking-glass, and, surely enough, there the bright shaft of light
ended. "But there is no fortune here, Uncle Wiggily, I am sorry to say,"
she added.
"I see there isn't," answered the rabbit. "Well, I must travel on again
to-morrow, then. But now I will see that you get safely home, for it is
getting late."
And, just as he said that, what should happen but that a black, savage,
ugly bear stuck his nose out of the bushes and made a grab for the rabbit.
But what do you think the red squirrel did?
She just took her hair brush and with the hard back of it she whacked the
bear on the end of his tender-ender nose, and he howled, and turned around
to run away, and the squirrel girl tickled him with the comb, and he ran
faster than ever, and the bear didn't eat Uncle Wiggily that night.
Then the rabbit stayed at the red squirrel's mamma's house the rest of the
evening, and the next day the squirrel went to the surprise party with her
tail the regular size it ought to be, and not as big as the Bushytail
brothers' tails, and everybody was happy.
Now in case the granddaddy longlegs doesn't tickle the baby with his long
cow-pointing leg and make her laugh so she gets the hiccoughs, I'll tell
you in the next story about Uncle Wiggily and the brown wren.
STORY II
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BROWN WREN
Well, just as I expected, the granddaddy longlegs did tickle the baby, but
she only smiled in her sleep, and didn't awaken, so, as it's nice and
quiet I can tell you another story. And it's going to be about how Uncle
Wiggily, in his travels about the country, in search of his fortune,
helped a little brown wren.
"Well, where are you going this morning?" asked the red squirrel's mother
as Uncle Wiggily finished his breakfast, and shook out from his long ears
the oatmeal crumbs that had fallen in them.
"Oh, I suppose I will have to be traveling on," answered the rabbit. "That
fortune of mine seems to be a long distance off. I've tried rainbows and
moon-beams and I didn't find any money at their ends. I guess I'll have to
look under the water next, but I'll wait until I get back home, and then
I'll have Jimmie Wibblewobble the duck boy put his head at the bottom of
the pond and see if there is any gold down there."
So off the old gentleman rabbit started, limping on his crutch, for his
rheumatism was troubling him again, and at his side swung his valise, with
some crackers and cheese and bread and butter and jam in it--plenty of
jam, too, let me tell you, for the red squirrel's mamma could make lovely
preserves, and this was carrot jam, with turnip frosting on it.
Well, Uncle Wiggily traveled on and on, over the hills and through the
deep woods, and pretty soon he came to a place where he saw a lot of
little black ants trying to carry to their nest a nice big piece of meat
that some one had dropped.
"My, how hard those ants are working," thought the rabbit. "But that meat
is too heavy for them. I'll have to help carry it."
Now the piece of meat was only as big as a quarter of a small cocoanut,
but, of course, that's too big for an ant to carry; or even for
forty-'leven ants, so Uncle Wiggily kindly lifted it for them, and put it
in their nest.
"Thank you very much," said the biggest ant. "If ever we can do you a
favor, or any of your friends, we will."
The old gentleman rabbit said he was glad to hear that, and then, taking
up his crutch and valise again, on he went.
Pretty soon he came to a place in the woods where the sun was shining
down through the trees, and a little brook was making pretty music over
the stones. And then, all at once, the old gentleman rabbit heard a
different kind of music, and it was that of a little bird singing. And
this is the song.
Now I did not make up this song. It is much prettier than I could write,
even if I had my Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes on, and I don't know who did
write it. But it used to be in my school reader when I was a little boy,
and I liked it very much. I hope whoever did write it won't mind if you
sing it. This is it:
"There's a little brown bird sitting up in a tree,
He's singing to you--he's singing to me.
And what does he say, little girl--little boy?
Oh, the world's running over with joy!"
Then the bird sang about how there were five eggs laid away up in a nest,
and how, pretty soon, little birds would come out from them, and then, all
of a sudden, the bird sang like this:
"But don't meddle,--don't touch,
Little girl--little boy,
Or the world will lose some of its joy!"
"Ha! you seem quite happy this beautiful morning," said Uncle Wiggily, as
he paused under the tree where the bird was singing. "Why, I do declare,"
he exclaimed. "If it isn't Mrs. Wren! Well, I never in all my born days! I
didn't know you were back from the South yet."
"Yes, Uncle Wiggily," said the little brown wren, "I came up some time
ago. But I'm real glad to see you. I'm going to take my little birdies out
of the shell pretty soon. They are almost hatched."
"Glad to hear it," said the rabbit, politely, and then he told about
seeking his fortune, and all of a sudden a great big ugly crow-bird flew
down out of a tall tree and made a dash for Mrs. Wren to eat her up. But
Mrs. Wren got out of the way just in time, and didn't get caught.
But alack, and alas-a-day! The crow knocked down the wren's nest, and all
the sticks and feathers of which it was made were scattered all about, and
the eggs, with the little birdies inside, would have been all broken
ker-smash, only that they happened to fall down on some soft moss.
"Oh, dear!" cried Mrs. Wren, sorrowfully. "Now see what that crow has
done! My home is broken up, and my birdies will be killed."
"Caw! Caw! Caw!" cried the crow as unkindly as he could, and it sounded
just as if he laughed "Haw! Haw! Haw!"
"Oh, whatever shall I do?" asked Mrs. Wren. "My birdies will have no nest,
and I haven't time to make another and break up the little fine sticks
that I need and gather the feathers that are scattered all over. Oh, what
shall I do? Soon my birdies will be out of the shells."
"Never fear!" said Uncle Wiggily, bravely. "I will help you. I'll gather
the sticks for you."
"Oh, but you haven't time; you must be off seeking your fortune," answered
the wren.
"Oh, I guess my fortune can wait. It has been waiting for me a long time,
and it won't hurt to wait a bit longer. I'll get you the sticks," said the
rabbit gentleman.
So while Mrs. Wren sat over the eggs to keep them warm with her fluffy
feathers, Uncle Wiggily looked for sticks with which to make a new nest.
He couldn't find any short and small enough, so what do you think he did?
Why, he took some big sticks and he jumped a jiggily dance up and down on
them with his sharp paws, and broke them up as fine as toothpicks for the
nest. Then he arranged them as well as he could in a sort of hollow, like
a tea cup.
"Oh, if we only had some feathers now, we would be all right," said Mrs.
Wren. "It's a very good nest for a rabbit to make."
"Don't say a word!" cried some small voices on the ground. "We will
gather up the feathers for you." And there came marching up a lot of the
little ants that Uncle Wiggily had been kind to, and soon they had
gathered up all the scattered feathers. And the nest was made on a mossy
stump, and lined with the feathers, and the warm eggs were put in it by
Mrs. Wren, who then hovered over them to hatch out the birdies. And she
was very thankful to Uncle Wiggily for what he had done.
Now, in case the water in the lake doesn't get inside the milk pail and
make lemonade of it, I'll tell you in the next story how the birdies were
hatched out, and also about Uncle Wiggily and the sunfish.
STORY III
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SUNFISH
Uncle Wiggily slept that night--I mean the night after he had helped Mrs.
Wren build her nest--he slept in an old under-ground house that another
rabbit must have made some time before. It was nicely lined with leaves,
and the fortune-hunting bunny slept very nice and warm there.
When the sun was up, shining very brightly, and most beautifully, Uncle
Wiggily arose, shook his ears to get the dust out of them, and threw the
dried-leaf blankets off him.
"Ah, ha! I must be up and doing," he cried. "Perhaps I shall find my
fortune to-day."
Well, no sooner had he crawled out of the burrow than he heard a most
beautiful song. It was one Mrs. Wren was singing, and it went "tra-la-la
tra-la-la! tum-tee-tee-tum-tum-tee-tee!" too pretty for anything. And
then, afterward, there was a sort of an echo like "cheep-cheep
cheep-cheep!"
"Why, you must be very happy this morning, Mrs. Wren!" called Uncle
Wiggily to her as she sat in her new nest which the rabbit had made for
her on the mossy stump.
"I am," she answered, "very happy. What do you think happened in the
night?"
"I can't guess," he answered. "A burglar crow didn't come and steal your
eggs, I hope!"
"Oh, nothing sad or bad like that," she answered. "But something very
nice. Just hop up here and look."
So Uncle Wiggily hopped up on the stump, and Mrs. Wren got off her nest,
and there, on the bottom, in among some egg-shells, were a lot of tiny,
weeny little birdies, about as big as a spool of silk thread or even
smaller.
"Why, where in the world did they come from?" asked the old gentleman
rabbit, rubbing his eyes.
"Out of the eggs to be sure," answered Mrs. Wren. "And I do declare, the
last of my family is hatched now. There is little Wiggily out of the shell
at last. I think I'll name him after you, as he never could keep still
when he was being hatched. Now I must take out all the broken shells so
the birdies won't cut themselves on them." And she began to throw them out
with her bill, just as the mother hen does, and then one of the new little
birdies called out:
"Cheep-cheep-chip-chip!"
"Yes, I know you're hungry," answered their mamma, who understood their
bird talk. "Well, I'll fly away and get you something to eat just as soon
as your papa comes home to stay in the house. You know Mr. Wren went away
last night to see about getting a new position in a feather pillow
factory," said Mrs. Wren to Uncle Wiggily, "and he doesn't yet know about
the birdies. I hope he'll come back soon, as they are very hungry, and I
don't like to leave them alone to go shopping."
"Oh, I'll stay and take care of them for you while you go to the store,"
said the old gentleman rabbit, kindly.
"That will do very well," said Mrs. Wren. So she put on her bonnet and
shawl and took her market basket and off she flew to the store, while
Uncle Wiggily stayed with the new birdies, and they snuggled down under
his warm fur, and were as cozy as in their own mother's feathers.
Well, Mrs. Wren was gone some time, as the store was crowded and she
couldn't get waited on right away, and Uncle Wiggily stayed with the
birdies. And they got hungrier and hungrier, and they cried real hard.
Yes, indeed, as hard as some babies.
"Hum! I don't know what to do," said the old gentleman rabbit. "I can't
feed them. I guess I'll sing to them." So he sang this song:
"Hush, birdies, hush,
Please don't cry;
Mamma'll be back
By and by.
"Nestle down close
Under my fur,
I'm not your mother, but
I'm helping her."
But this didn't seem to satisfy the birdies and they cried "cheep-cheep"
harder than ever.
"Oh, dear! I believe I must get them something to eat," said Uncle
Wiggily. So he covered them all up warmly with the feathers that lined the
nest, and then he hopped down and went limping around on his crutch to
find them something to eat.
Pretty soon he came to a little brook, and as he looked down into it he
saw something shining, all gold and red and green and blue and yellow.
"Why, I do declare, if here isn't the end of the rainbow!" exclaimed the
old gentleman rabbit, as he saw all the pretty colors.
He rubbed his eyes with his paw, to make sure he wasn't dreaming, but the
colors were surely enough there, down under water.
"No wonder the giant couldn't find the pot of gold, it was down in the
water," spoke the rabbit. "But I'll get it, and then my fortune will be
made. Oh, how glad I am!"
Well, Uncle Wiggily reached his paw down and made a grab for the red and
green and gold and yellow thing, but to his surprise, instead of lifting
up a pot of gold, he lifted up a squirming, wiggling sunfish.
"Oh, my!" exclaimed the rabbit in surprise.
"I should say yes! Two Oh mys and another one!" gasped the fish. "Oh,
please put me back in the water again. The air out on land is too strong
for me. I can't breathe. Please, Uncle Wiggily, put me back."
"I thought you were a pot of gold," said the rabbit, sadly. "I'm always
getting fooled. But never mind. I'll put you in the water."
"What are you doing here?" asked the fish, as he slid into the water again
and sneezed three times.
"Just at present I am taking care of Mrs. Wren's new little birdies," said
the rabbit. "She has gone to the store for something for them to eat, but
they are so hungry they can't wait."
"Oh, that is easily fixed," said the sunfish. "Since you were so kind to
me I'll tell you what to do. Get them a few little worms, and some small
flower seeds, and feed them. Then the birdies will go to sleep."
So Uncle Wiggily did this, and as soon as the birds had their hungry
little mouths filled, sound to sleep they went. And in a little while Mrs.
Wren came back from the store with her basket filled, and Mr. Wren flew
home to say that he had a nice position in a feather factory, and how he
did admire his birdies! He hugged and kissed them like anything.
Then the two wrens both thanked Uncle Wiggily for taking care of their
children, and the rabbit said good-by and hopped on again to seek his
fortune. And if the trolley car conductor gives me a red, white and blue
transfer, for the pin cushion to go to sleep on, I'll tell you in the
following story about Uncle Wiggily and the yellow bird.
STORY IV
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE YELLOW BIRD
Once upon a time, when Johnnie Bushytail was going along the road to
school, he met a fox--oh, just listen to me, would you! This story isn't
about the squirrel boy at all. It's about Uncle Wiggily Longears to be
sure, and the yellow bird, so I must begin all over again.
The day after the old gentleman rabbit had helped Mrs. Wren feed her
little birdies he found himself traveling along a lonely road through a
big forest of tall trees. Oh, it was a very lonesome place, and not even
an automobile was to be seen, and there wasn't the smell of gasoline, and
no "honk-honks" to waken the baby from her sleep.
"Hum, I don't believe I'll find any fortune along here," thought Uncle
Wiggily as he tramped on. "I haven't met even so much as a red ant, or
even a black one, or a grasshopper. I wonder if I can be lost?"
So he looked all around to see if he might be lost in the woods. But you
know how it is, sometimes you're lost when you least expect it, and again
you think you are lost, but you're right near home all the while.
That's the way it was with Uncle Wiggily, he didn't know whether or not he
was lost, so he thought he'd sit down on a flat stone and eat his lunch.
The reason he sat on a flat stone instead of a round one was because he
had some hard boiled eggs for his lunch, and you know if you put an egg on
a round stone it's bound to roll off and crack right in the middle.
"And I don't like cracked eggs," said the rabbit. So he laid the eggs he
had on the flat stone, and put little sticks in front of them and behind
them, so they couldn't even roll off the flat stone if they wanted to.
Then he ate his lunch.
"I guess it doesn't much matter if I am lost," said the traveling
fortune-hunting rabbit a little later. "I'll go on and perhaps I may meet
with an adventure." So on he hopped, and pretty soon he came to a place
where the leaves and the dirt were all torn up, just as if some boys had
been playing a baseball game, or leap-frog, or something like that.
"My, I must look out that I don't tumble down any holes here," thought
Uncle Wiggily, "for maybe some bad men have been setting traps to catch us
rabbits."
Well, he turned to one side, to get out of the way of some sharp thorns,
and, my goodness! if there weren't more sharp thorns on the ground on the
other side of the path. "I guess I'll have to keep straight ahead!"
thought our Uncle Wiggily. "I never saw so many thorns before in all my
life. I'll have to look out or I'll be stuck."
So he kept straight on, and all of a sudden he felt himself going down
into a big hole.
"Oh! Oh dear! Oh me! Oh my!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "I've fallen into a
trap! That's what those thorns were for--so I would have to walk toward
the trap instead of going to one side."
But, very luckily for Uncle Wiggily, his crutch happened to catch across
the hole, and so he didn't go all the way down, but hung on. But his
valise fell to the bottom. However, he managed to pull himself up on the
ground, though his rheumatism hurt him, and soon he was safe once more.
"Oh, my valise, with all my clothes in it!" he cried, as he looked down
into the hole, which had been covered over with loose leaves and dirt so
he couldn't see it before falling in. "I wonder how I can get my things
back again?" he went on.
Then he looked up, and in a tree, not far from him, he saw something
bright and yellow, shining like gold.
"Ah, ha!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "At last I have found the pot of gold,
even if the rainbow isn't here. That is yellow, and yellow is the color of
gold. Now my fortune is made. I will get that gold and go back home."
So, not worrying any more about his valise down the trap-hole, Uncle
Wiggily hopped over to the tree to get what he thought was a big bunch of
yellow gold. But as he came closer, he saw that the gold was moving about
and fluttering, though not going very far away.
"That is queer gold," thought the old gentleman rabbit. "I never saw
moving gold before. I wonder if it is a good kind."
Then he went a little closer and he heard a voice crying.
"Why, that is crying gold, too," he said. "This is very strange."
Then he heard some one calling:
"Oh, help! Will some one please help me?"
"Why, this is most strange of all!" the rabbit cried. "It is talking gold.
Perhaps there is a fairy about."
"Oh, I only wish there was one!" cried the yellow object in the tree. "If
I saw a fairy I'd ask her to set me free."
"What's that? Who are you?" asked the rabbit.
"Oh, I'm a poor little yellow bird," was the answer, "and I'm caught in a
string-trap that some boys set in this tree. There is a string around my
legs and I can't fly home to see my little ones. I got into the trap by
mistake. Oh! can't you help me? Climb up into the tree, Uncle Wiggily, and
help me!"
"How did you know my name was Uncle Wiggily?" asked the rabbit.
"I could tell it by your ears--your wiggling ears," was the answer. "But
please climb up and help me."
"Rabbits can't climb trees," said Uncle Wiggily. "But I will tell you what
I'll do. I'll gnaw the tree down with my sharp teeth, for they are sharp,
even if I am a little old. Then, when it falls, I can reach the string,
untie it, and you will be free."
So Uncle Wiggily did this, and soon the tree fell down, but the golden
yellow bird was on a top branch and didn't get hurt. Then the old
gentleman rabbit quickly untied the string and the bird was out of the
trap.
"I cannot thank you enough!" she said to the rabbit. "Is there anything I
can do for you to pay you?"
"Well, my valise is down a hole," said Uncle Wiggily, "but I don't see how
you can get it up. I need it, though."
"I can fly down, tie the string to the satchel and you can pull it up,"
said the birdie. And she did so, and the rabbit pulled up his valise as
nicely as a bucket of water is hoisted up from the well. Then some bad
boys and a man came along to see if there was anything in the hole-trap,
or the string-trap they had made; but when they saw the bird flying away
and the rabbit hopping away through the woods they were very angry. But
Uncle Wiggily and the yellow bird were safe from harm, I'm glad to say.
And the rabbit had another adventure soon after that, and what it was I'll
tell you soon, when the story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the
skyrockets. It will be a Fourth of July story, if you please; that is if
the bean bag doesn't fall down the coal hole and catch a mosquito.
STORY V
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SKY-CRACKER
Let me see, I think I promised to tell you a story about Uncle Wiggily and
the skyrocket, didn't I? Or was it to be about a firecracker, seeing that
it soon may be the Fourth of July? What's that--a firecracker--no? A
skyrocket? Oh, I'm all puzzled up about it, so I guess I'll make it a
sky-cracker, a sort of half-firecracker and half-skyrocket, and that will
do.
Well, after Uncle Wiggily had gotten the little yellow bird, that looked
like gold, out from the string-trap in the tree, the old gentleman rabbit
spent two nights visiting a second cousin of Grandfather Prickly
Porcupine, who lived in the woods. Then Uncle Wiggily got up one morning,
dressed himself very carefully, combed out his whiskers, and said:
"Well, I'm off again to seek my fortune."
"It's too bad you can't seem able to find it," said the second cousin to
Grandfather Prickly Porcupine, "but perhaps you will have good luck
to-day. Only you want to be very careful."
"Why?" asked the old gentleman rabbit.
"Well, because you know it will soon be the Fourth of July, and some boys
may tie a firecracker or a skyrocket to your tail," said the porcupine.
"Ha! Ha!" laughed Uncle Wiggily. "They will have a hard time doing that,
for my tail is so short that the boys would burn their fingers if they
tried to tie a firecracker to it."
"Then look out that they don't fasten a skyrocket to your long ears," said
the second cousin to Grandfather Prickly Porcupine, as he wrapped up some
lettuce and carrot sandwiches for Uncle Wiggily to take with him.
The old gentleman rabbit said he would watch out, and away he started,
going up hill and down hill with his barber-pole crutch as easily as if he
was being wheeled in a baby carriage.
"Well, I don't seem to find any fortune," he said to himself as he walked
along, and, just as he said that he saw something sparkling in the grass
beside the path in the woods. "What's that?" he cried. "Perhaps it is a
diamond. If it is I can sell it and get rich." Then he happened to think
what the second cousin of Grandfather Prickly Porcupine had told him about
Fourth of July coming, and Uncle Wiggily said:
"Ha! I had better be careful. Perhaps that sparkling thing is a spark on
a firecracker. Ah, ha!"
So he looked more carefully, and the bright object sparkled more and more,
and it didn't seem to be fire, so the old gentleman rabbit went up close,
and what do you suppose it was?
Why, it was a great big dewdrop, right in the middle of a purple violet,
that was growing underneath a shady fern. Oh, how beautiful it was in the
sunlight, and Uncle Wiggily was glad he had looked at it. And pretty soon,
as he was still looking, a big, buzzing bumble bee buzzed along and
stopped to take a sip of the dewdrop.
"Ha! That is a regular violet ice cream soda for me!" said the bee to
Uncle Wiggily. And just as he was taking another drink a big, ugly snake
made a spring and tried to eat the bee, but Uncle Wiggily hit the snake
with his crutch and the snake crawled away very much surprised.
"Thank you very much," said the bee to the rabbit. "You saved my life, and
if ever I can do you a favor I will," and with that he buzzed away.
Well, pretty soon, not so very long, in a little while, Uncle Wiggily came
to a place in the woods where there were a whole lot of packages done up
in paper lying on the ground. And there was a tent near them, and it
looked as if people lived in the white tent, only no one was there just
then.
[Illustration]
"I guess I'd better keep away," thought the old gentleman rabbit, "or they
may catch me." And just then he saw something like a long, straight stick,
standing up against a tree. "Ha, that will be a good stick to take along
to chase the bears away with," he thought. "I think no one wants it, so
I'll take it."
Well, he walked up and took hold of it in his paws, but, mind you, he
didn't notice that on one end of the stick was a piece of powder string,
like the string of a firecracker, sticking down, and this string was
burning. No, the poor old gentleman, rabbit never noticed that at all. He
started to take the stick away with him when, all of a sudden, something
dreadful happened.
With a whizz and a rush and a roar that stick shot into the air, carrying
Uncle Wiggily with it, just like a balloon, for he hadn't time to let go
of it.
Up and up he went, with a roar and a swoop, and just then he saw a whole
lot of boys rushing out of the woods toward the white tent. And one boy
cried:
"Oh, fellows, look! A rabbit has hold of our sky-cracker and it's on fire
and has gone off and taken him with it! Oh the poor rabbit! Because when
the sky-cracker gets high enough in the air the firecracker part of it
will go off with a bang, and he'll be killed. Oh, how sorry I am. The hot
sun must have set fire to the powder string."
You see those boys had come out in the woods to have their Fourth of July,
where the noise wouldn't make any one's head ache.
Well, Uncle Wiggily went on, up and up, with the sky-cracker, and he felt
very much afraid for he had heard what the boys said.
"Oh, this is the end of me!" he cried, as he held fast to the sky-cracker.
"I'll never live to find my fortune now. When this thing explodes, I'll be
dashed to the ground and killed."
The sky-cracker was whizzing and roaring, and black smoke was pouring out
of one end, and Uncle Wiggily thought of all his friends whom he feared he
would never see again, when all of a sudden along came flying the buzzing
bumble bee, high in the air. He was much surprised to see Uncle Wiggily
skimming along on the tail of a sky-cracker.
"Oh, can't you save me?" cried the rabbit.
"Indeed I will, if I can," said the bee, "because you were so kind to me.
You are too heavy, or I would fly down to earth with you myself, but I'll
do the next best thing. I'll fly off and get Dickie and Nellie Chip-Chip,
the sparrow children, and they'll come with a big basket and catch you so
you won't fall."
No sooner said than done. Off flew the bee. Quickly he found Dickie and
Nellie and told them the danger Uncle Wiggily was in.
"Quick," called Dickie to Nellie. "We must save him."
Off they flew like the wind, carrying a grocery basket between them. Right
under Uncle Wiggily they flew, and just as the sky-cracker was going to
burst with a "slam-bang!" the old gentleman rabbit let go, and into the
basket he safely fell and the sparrow children flew to earth with him.
Then the sky-cracker burst all to pieces for Fourth of July, but Uncle
Wiggily wasn't on it to be hurt, I'm glad to say.
He spent the Fourth visiting the Bumble bee's family, and had ice cream
and cake and lemonade for supper, and at night he heard the band play, and
he gave Nellie and Dickie ten cents for ice cream sodas, and that's all to
this story.
But on the next page, if the baker man brings me a pound of soap bubbles
with candy in the middle for Cora Janet's doll, I'll tell you about Uncle
Wiggily and the buttercup.
STORY VI
UNCLE WIGGILY AND BUTTERCUP
I hope none of you were burned by a sky-cracker or a Roman candle stick
when you had your Fourth of July celebration, but if you were I hope you
will soon be better, and perhaps if I tell you a story it will make you
forget the pain. So here we go, all about Uncle Wiggily and the buttercup.
The old gentleman rabbit spent a few days in an old burrow next to the
bumble bee's house, and then one morning, when the sun was shining
brightly, he started off again to seek his fortune.
"I never can thank you enough," he said to the bee, "for going after the
sparrow children and saving me from the exploding sky-cracker. If ever I
find my fortune I will give you some of it."
"Thank you very kindly," said the bee, as she looked in the pantry, "and
here are some sweet honey sandwiches for you to eat on your travels. This
is some honey that I made myself."
"Then it must be very good," said the old gentleman rabbit politely, as
he put the sandwiches in his valise and started off down the dusty road.
Well, he hopped on and on, sometimes in the woods where it was cool and
green and shady, and sometimes out in the hot sun, and every minute or so
he would stop and look around to see if he could find his fortune.
"For, who knows?" he said, "perhaps I may pick up a bag of gold, or some
diamonds at almost any minute. Then I could go back home and buy an
automobile for myself to ride around in, and my travels would be over. I
have certainly been on the go a long time, but my health is much better
than it was."
So he kept on, looking under all the big leaves and clumps of ferns for
his fortune. But he didn't find it, and pretty soon he came to a hole in
the ground. And in front of this hole was a little sign, printed on a
piece of paper, and it read:
"COME IN! EVERYBODY WELCOME."
"Humph! I wonder if that means me?" thought the old gentleman rabbit.
"Let's see, gold grows under ground, in mines, and perhaps this is a gold
mine. I'm going down. I'm sure there is a fortune waiting for me. Yes,
I'll go down."
So he laid aside his valise and barber-pole crutch and got ready to go
down in the hole, which wasn't very big.
"But I can scratch it bigger if I need to," said Uncle Wiggily.
Well, he had no sooner gotten his front feet and part of his nose down the
hole, but his ears were still sticking out, when he heard a voice calling:
"Here! Where are you going?"
"Down this hole after gold," replied Uncle Wiggily.
"You mustn't go down there," went on the voice, and pulling out his nose
and looking about him, the old gentleman rabbit saw a white pussy cat
sitting on a stump. And the pussy cat was washing his face with his paws,
taking care not to let the claws stick out for fear of scratching his
eyes.
"Why can't I go down this hole, Pussy?" asked the rabbit. "Do you have
charge of it?"
"No, indeed," was the answer, "but there is a bad snake who lives down
there, and he puts up that sign so the animals will come down, and then he
eats them. That's the reason he says they are welcome. No, indeed, I
wouldn't want to see you go down there!"
"Ha! Hum! I wouldn't like to see myself!" spoke Uncle Wiggily, and he
crawled away from the hole just in time, for the snake stuck out his ugly
head and was about to bite the rabbit. It was the same snake that had
nearly caught the bumble bee.
"Say!" cried the snake, quite angry like, to the pussy cat, "I wish you
would get away from here! You are always spoiling my plans. I thought I
was going to have a nice rabbit dinner, and now look at what you have
done," and that snake was so angry that he hissed like a boiling
teakettle.
"I will never let you eat up Uncle Wiggily!" cried the pussy. "Now look
out for yourself, Mr. Snake!" and with that the pussy made his back round
like a hoop, and he swelled up his tail like a bologna sausage, and he
showed his teeth and claws to the snake, and that snake popped down the
hole again very quickly, I can tell you, taking his tail with him. Oh, my,
yes, and a bucket of sawdust soup besides.
"I thank you very much for telling me about that snake, little pussy cat,"
said Uncle Wiggily. "Well, I am disappointed about my fortune again. I
shall never be rich I fear. But I almost forgot that I have some fine
honey sandwiches and I will give you some, for you must be hungry. I know
I am."
"I am, too," said the pussy. So Uncle Wiggily opened his valise and took
out the honey sandwiches which the bee had given him, but when he went to
eat them he found that the bee had forgotten to butter the bread.
"Oh, that is too bad!" cried the pussy, when Uncle Wiggily spoke of it.
"Still they will do very well without butter."
"No, we must have some," said the rabbit. "I wonder how I can get butter
in the woods?" So he looked all around and the first thing he saw was a
yellow buttercup flower. You know the kind I mean. You hold them under
your chin to see if you like butter, and the shine of the flower makes
your chin yellow.
"Ha!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "Now we will have butter."
"But you are not going to eat the flower, are you?" asked the pussy.
"No, indeed!" cried the rabbit, "I'll show you."
Now there was a cow in the field a short distance away, and Uncle Wiggily
went over and got some milk from the cow in a little tin cup. "Butter is
made from milk," said the rabbit to the pussy. "So I will just pour some
milk in the buttercup flower, and shake it just as if it was a churn, and
then we'll have butter for our honey sandwiches."
So he did this. Into the buttercup he poured the milk, and it became
yellow like butter at once. But Uncle Wiggily did not have to shake the
flower, for a little wind came along just then and shook it for him.
And pretty soon, in a little while, the milk in the buttercup was churned
into lovely sweet butter, and the rabbit and pussy spread it on their
honey sandwiches, and what a fine feast they had. Just as they were eating
it the bad alligator came along, and wanted to take the honey away from
them, but the pussy scratched the end of the savage beast's tail with his
claws, and the bad alligator ran away as fast as he could.
Then Uncle Wiggily and the pussy traveled on together and the next day
they had quite an adventure. What it was I'll tell you in the next story
when, in case the steamboat stops at our house for a little girl wearing a
green sunbonnet, with horse chestnuts on it, I'll tell you about Uncle
Wiggily and the July bug.
STORY VII
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE JULY BUG
"Well, what shall we do to-day?" asked the white pussy of Uncle Wiggily,
as they traveled on together, the next day after the adventure at the
snake hole. They had slept that night in a nice hollow stump.
"Hum! I hardly know what to do," replied the old gentleman rabbit. "Of
course I must be on the watch for my fortune, but, as I don't seem to be
finding it very fast, what do you say to having a picnic to-day?"
"The very thing!" cried pussy. "We will get some lunch, and go off in the
woods and eat it. Only we ought to have a lot more people. Two are hardly
enough for a picnic."
"I would like some of my friends to come to it," spoke Uncle Wiggily, "but
I am afraid they are too far off."
"Couldn't you send them word by telephone?" inquired the pussy. "I'm sure
I would like to meet them, for I have heard so much about Sammie and
Susie Littletail, and Johnnie and Billie Bushytail."
"There is no telephone in these woods," replied Uncle Wiggily, "and we
haven't time to send them postcards. I wish I could get word to them,
however, but I don't s'pose I can."
"Yes, you can!" suddenly cried a voice down in the grass. "I'll tell all
your friends to come to the picnic if you like."
"Indeed, I would like it," said the rabbit, "but who are you, if I may be
so bold as to ask? I can't see you."
"There he is--it's a big June bug!" exclaimed the pussy.
"I beg your pardon," spoke the bug quickly, as he crawled out from under a
leaf and sat on a toadstool. "But I am not a June bug, if you please."
"You look like one," said Uncle Wiggily politely.
"I am a July bug," went on the funny little creature. "I was intended for
a June bug, but there was some mistake made, and I didn't come out of my
shell until July. So you see I'm a July bug, and at first I thought it
would be jolly fun, to hear all the firecrackers and skyrockets go off."
"It isn't so much fun as you imagine," said Uncle Wiggily, as he thought
of the time he went sailing into the air on the sky-cracker. "But don't
you like being a July bug?"
"Not very much. You see I'm the only one there is, and all the others are
June bugs. The June bugs won't speak to me, nor let me play with them, so
I'm very lonesome. I heard you talking about a picnic you were going to
have, and so I offered to call all your friends to it. I thought perhaps
if I did that you would let me come to it also."
"To be sure!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "You may gladly come, but how are
you going to send word to all of my friends?"
"I will fly through the air and tell them to come," was the answer. "I am
a very swift flyer. Watch me," and then and there the July bug buzzed
around so fast that Uncle Wiggily and the pussy couldn't see his wings go
flip-flop-flap.
Well, they decided it would be a good plan to have the July bug act as a
postman, so Uncle Wiggily wrote out the invitations on little pieces of
white birch bark, and gave them to the bug. Off he flew into the air
waving one leg at Uncle Wiggily and the pussy.
"Well, now we must get ready for the picnic--get the things to eat--for
that bug flies so fast that soon all my friends will be here," said the
rabbit, so he and the pussy began to get the lunch ready.
Uncle Wiggily had some food in his valise, but they got more good things
from a kind old monkey who lived in the woods. He used to work on a hand
organ, but when he got old he bought him a nest in the woods with the
pennies he had saved up, and he lived in peace and quietness, and played a
mouth organ on Sundays.
Well, you will hardly believe me, but it's true, no sooner had Uncle
Wiggily and the pussy put up the lunch, wrapping some for each visitor in
nice, green grape leaves, than the first ones of the picnic party began to
arrive. They were Dickie and Nellie Chip-Chip, the sparrows, for they
could fly through the air very quickly, and so they came on ahead.
"We got your invitation that the July bug left us, Uncle Wiggily, and we
came at once," said Dickie.
"Where are the others?" asked the old gentleman rabbit.
"They are coming," answered Nellie, as she tied her tail ribbon over
again, for the bow knot had become undone as she was flying through the
air.
Well, in a little while along came hopping, Sammie and Susie Littletail,
the rabbit children, and Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrel
brothers, and Bully and Bawly the frogs, and Dottie and Munchie Trot, the
ponies, and Lulu and Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck twins, and
Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg, and oh, all the boy and girl animals I have
ever told you about.
And oh! how glad they were to see Uncle Wiggily. He had to tell them all
about his travels after his fortune before they would go off in the woods
to the picnic. But at last they went, each one with a little leaf-package
of lunch. The July bug came along, too, and he had a very little package
of good things, because he was so small, you see, but it was enough.
They all sat down on the ground with flat stones for plates, and sticks
for knives and forks, and they ate their picnic lunch there. Oh, they had
the finest time, and it didn't matter if some ants did get in the sugar.
Uncle Wiggily said they could have all they wanted of the sweet stuff.
And, when the picnic was almost over, there was a sudden noise in the
bushes, and two bad foxes sprang out. One tried to grab Uncle Wiggily, and
another made a dash for Lulu Wibblewobble.
"Oh dear!" cried Dottie Trot, without looking to see if her hair ribbon
was on straight. "We shall all be eaten up!"
"No, you won't!" cried the brave July bug. "I'll fix those foxes!"