had better go for a policeman." And then he happened to look up, and he
saw a whole lot of little birds sitting on a tree, and each one was
calling:
"Phoebe!" just like that. Really I'm not fooling a bit; honestly.
"Oh my! How surprised I am!" cried the rabbit. "Was that you birds calling
for the little lost girl?"
"It was," said the largest bird, "but there isn't any lost girl. You see
we are Phoebe birds, and that is the way we always sing. We always say
'Phoebe--Phoebe' over and over again. We didn't mean to fool you. It's
only our way of calling."
"Oh, that's all right," said the rabbit. "I don't mind. It was good
exercise for me to run after you."
Well, those birds liked Uncle Wiggily so much that they sang their
prettiest for him, and asked him to stay to dinner, which he did. And he
had chocolate cake with candied carrots on top.
And that's all to this story, if you please, but in case a red bird brings
me some green flower seeds to plant in my garden so I can grow some
lollypops, I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the milkman.
STORY XX
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE MILKMAN
Well, now I guess we're all ready for the story of the chicken who tried
to roll an egg up hill, and it fell down, and was broken into forty-'leven
pieces and the monkey--Oh dear! Did you ever hear of such a thing? I guess
I must have turned over two pages in the story book instead of one, for
to-night I'm going to tell you about Uncle Wiggily and the milkman, and
not about the chicken and the egg at all. That comes in later.
Let's see then, we left the old gentleman rabbit just after he had met the
Phoebe birds, didn't we? Well, a few days after that, as Uncle Wiggily was
hopping along with the elephant, who had come back to him again, now and
then, when he was tired, taking a ride on the back of the big fellow, all
of a sudden they heard a voice crying:
"Ah, ha! Now I have you!"
"My! What's that?" asked the old gentleman rabbit.
"It must be somebody after us," answered the elephant. "But don't you be
afraid, Uncle Wiggily, I'll take care of you, and not let them hurt you.
Just get behind me."
So the rabbit got behind the big elephant, and, would you believe it? you
couldn't see Uncle Wiggily at all, not even if you were to put on the
strongest kind of spectacles, such as Grandma wears. For he was hidden
behind the elephant.
Then, in another moment a man with a long rope came bursting through the
bushes, and he ran straight toward the elephant.
"Now I have you!" cried the man again. "You must come right back to the
circus with me."
"Oh, it's you they want, and not me," remarked Uncle Wiggily, and then he
wasn't afraid any more, and felt better, for he knew that he could still
travel on and seek his fortune.
"Yes, they're after me," said the elephant sadly. "I guess I'll have to
leave you, Uncle Wiggily. Do you want me to go with you, Mr. Man?"
"Yes, we want you back in the circus show."
"Will I have all the peanuts I want?" asked the elephant.
"Oh, yes," promised the man, "you may have a bushel and a pint every day,
besides a pailful of pink lemonade."
"Then I'll come," said the elephant, "though I would like to have Uncle
Wiggily come also. But he still has his fortune to find. Come and see me
some time," he called to the rabbit.
"I will," said Uncle Wiggily. Then the man tied a rope around the
elephant's trunk and led him away, and the big fellow waved and flapped
his ears at the rabbit to say good-by.
"Now I must travel all alone once more," said Uncle Wiggily to himself, as
he hopped on through the woods. "And I do hope I find part of my fortune
to-day, even if it's only ten cents' worth."
Well, he was passing across a nice green field a little while after that
when, all of a sudden, he heard some voices talking. He looked all around,
but he couldn't see any one, and he wondered if perhaps there were fairies
about. Then he heard a voice say:
"Now, children, hop just as I do. Take a long breath and then hop, and be
very careful where you go."
Then Uncle Wiggily looked down in the grass, and he saw a mamma hoptoad
and a whole lot of her little toads hopping along. The mamma toad was
giving the little ones their morning lesson. And I just wish you could
have seen how nicely those tiny toads could hop. One little chap, named
Sylvester, hopped over a big stone, and his little sister, named
Clarabella, leaped over a stick with a nail in it and didn't get hurt a
bit.
"Ha! That is very good hopping! Very fine, indeed!" cried Uncle Wiggily,
waving his ears back and forth. "I could hardly do better myself."
"Oh, it's very kind of you to say so," said the mamma toad. "Now,
children, give a big hop for Uncle Wiggily."
Well, they all took long breaths, and they were just going to hop when the
old gentleman rabbit suddenly called:
"Look out! Hold on! Don't jump!"
They all stopped quickly, and the mamma toad wanted to know what was the
matter.
"Why, there is a big cow walking along," said the rabbit, for he could see
over the top of the grass better than could the toads, and could watch the
big cow coming. "If that cow stepped on you, why, you would never hop
again," said the rabbit, and then he led the toads out of danger.
"Oh, I'm ever so much obliged to you," said the mamma toad to the rabbit.
"You saved our lives."
Then she had all the little toads thank the old gentleman rabbit, and the
mamma toad asked him to come to her house for dinner. Uncle Wiggily went,
but the toad's house was so small that he couldn't get in, until he had
made it bigger by scratching away some of the dirt around the front door.
Then he had a very good dinner, and he stayed all night at the toad
family's house and watched the little ones hop some more, and he and the
papa toad talked about the weather.
Well, in the morning when Uncle Wiggily got up and washed his face and
paws, and combed out his whiskers, he suddenly heard all the little toads
crying.
"Hum! Suz! Dud!" he exclaimed, "some of them must have the toothache." So
he went down stairs, and there all the toad family were sitting around the
breakfast table, but they weren't eating.
"What's the matter?" asked Uncle Wiggily, sadly-like.
"Why," said the papa toad, "the milkman hasn't come, and the children have
no milk for their oatmeal, and I have none for my coffee, and I'm in a
hurry to get down to the store where I work."
"That's too bad," said the rabbit. "Can't you use condensed milk?"
"We haven't any," spoke the mamma toad.
[Illustration]
"Well, I'll hop out and see if I can see the milkman coming," said the
rabbit, "for I can see a long distance." So he went out and he hopped up
and down the street, and he looked up and down, but no milkman could he
see. And the little toads were getting hungrier and hungrier every minute
and they cried a lot, yes, indeed!
"This is too bad!" said Uncle Wiggily. "I guess that milkman must be lost.
What can I do? Ah, I have it!" and away he hopped off toward the green
fields. Pretty soon he came to where the cow, who had nearly walked on the
toads, was eating grass, and, stepping up to her, Uncle Wiggily politely
asked:
"Will you please give me some milk for the toads?"
"To be sure I will," said the cow, kindly, "and I'm sorry I nearly stepped
on them yesterday." So she gave Uncle Wiggily a canful of fresh milk, for
the rabbit had brought the milk can out with him. Then Uncle Wiggily
hopped to the toadhouse as fast as he could, and the little toads had milk
for their breakfast, and didn't cry any more.
Then, after a while, the milkman (who was a big puppy dog) came along and
said he was sorry he was late, but he couldn't help it, because he had
stepped on a thorn and had a lame foot and couldn't go fast, so they
forgave him.
"Well, I'll travel along now, I guess," said Uncle Wiggily, and once more
he started off to seek his fortune. And if you don't let your bathing suit
fall into the water and get all wet, I'll tell you next about Uncle
Wiggily's swimming lesson.
STORY XXI
UNCLE WIGGILY'S SWIMMING LESSON
Uncle Wiggily was so tired and worn out after running for milk for the
toad family that he couldn't travel very far that day to seek his fortune.
He slept that night in a doghouse, where a kind puppy named Towser lived,
and Towser covered the old gentleman rabbit up with leaves and straw and
kept watch so that no one would hurt him.
"For I have heard about you from Percival, the old circus dog," said
Towser, the next morning when the rabbit awakened, "and I feel quite like
a friend to you. Will you gnaw one of my juicy bones?"
"No, thank you," said Uncle Wiggily, "but if I had a bit of carrot I would
be very glad."
"Don't say another word!" cried Towser. "I will have it for you in less
than two shakes of a crooked stick, or a straight one, either."
So he ran out into the vegetable garden, and, very carefully he dug up a
fine yellow carrot, which Uncle Wiggily ate for his breakfast. Then the
rabbit rested all that day, and stayed another night with Towser. And
Towser invited some of his friends over to call on the rabbit, and they
had quite an evening's entertainment.
Towser sang a funny song and stood on his tail, and Uncle Wiggily jumped
over two chairs and a footstool, and a dog named Rover stood up on his
hind legs and begged, and made believe he was a soldier with a broom for a
gun, and did lots of tricks like that.
Well, the next day Uncle Wiggily felt well enough to go on with his
travels again and so he started off.
"I will go part of the way with you," said Towser, "to see that no harm
comes to you."
"Thank you, very much," said the rabbit, and so they set off together, the
puppy dog carrying Uncle Wiggily's valise for him.
Pretty soon, not so very long, they came to a pond of water, and as soon
as Towser saw it, he cried out:
"Oh, it is such a hot day I think I'll jump in and have a swim. Come on,
Uncle Wiggily, have a swim with me."
"Oh, no, I can't swim," said the old gentleman rabbit.
"What! You can't swim?" cried the dog. "Well, every one ought to swim,
for when they go on their vacation if they fall in the water they won't
drown if they know how to keep themselves up. Watch me and see how easy it
is."
So Towser set the satchel down on the bank and, taking off some of his
clothes, into the water he jumped with a big splashy dive. Right down
under the water he disappeared.
"Oh, he'll be drowned, sure!" cried Uncle Wiggily, who was much
frightened. But, no. In a second up came Towser, shaking the water from
his hair and eyes, and then he began swimming around as easily as a
chicken can pick up corn.
"Come on in, Uncle Wiggily," he called. "The water is fine."
"Oh, I'm afraid!" said the rabbit.
"Then the first thing to do is to get so you are not afraid of the water,"
said the dog. "You needn't be. Just see; it will hold you up easily if you
go at it right. Just keep your nose out, and don't splutter and splash too
much and you can swim. Come in and I will give you a lesson."
So Uncle Wiggily got in the water. At first it took his breath away, but
after a bit he got used to it, and he found that he could wade away far
out. Then he tried holding his breath and ducking his head away under, and
he found that he could do that and not be harmed in the least, and at
last he got so he wasn't afraid at all in the water.
"Now for a lesson," said the puppy dog. "You must wade out so that the
water is up to your neck, and then you face toward shore, so you won't be
frightened. Then you just lean forward, gently and easily, and you kick
out with your legs like a frog, and you wave your hands around from in
front of you to your sides, and keep on doing that and you'll swim."
"I'll try it," said the rabbit.
So he tried it, but, all of a sudden, he cried out:
"Ouch! Oh, my! Oh, dear me! Oh, hum, suz dud!"
"What's the matter," asked the dog, looking around.
"A fish bit my toe," exclaimed the rabbit.
"Oh, I guess you only hit it on a stone," said Towser. "Fish are too
frightened to bite any one. Come on, strike out and swim as I do."
Then Uncle Wiggily wasn't afraid, and soon he was swimming as nicely as
could be. For you know to swim you must first not be a bit afraid of the
water, for it can't hurt you. If ever you fall in, don't breathe--just
hold your breath as long as you can. Then, pretty soon you'll come up, and
if some one doesn't grab you, and you go under again, hold your breath
until you come up once more and then some one will surely grab you.
"You must never breathe under water--just hold your breath," said Towser
to Uncle Wiggily, and the rabbit did it that way, and soon he could even
swim under water.
"Well, I'm much obliged to you," he said to Towser, "but now I must be on
my way to seek my fortune."
So he said good-by to Towser and hopped on. And he hadn't gone very far
before a big bear saw him and chased after him.
"Oh, I'll catch you!" cried the bear to the rabbit. Well, I just wish you
could have seen Uncle Wiggily run! He ran until he came to a big river,
and the bear was right after him.
"Now I have you!" cried the bear. "You can't get across the river."
"Oh, can't I?" asked the rabbit. "Just you watch and see!"
So Uncle Wiggily threw his crutch and valise across the stream, and then
into it he jumped, and he swam just as Towser had taught him and he got
safely on the other side and so saved his life, for the bear couldn't swim
and Uncle Wiggily could. So you see it's a good thing to know how to swim,
and I hope all of you, who are big enough, know how to keep up in the
water.
Well, Uncle Wiggily got across to the other shore, and he looked back and
there that bear was raging and tearing around as mad as mad could be,
because the rabbit had gotten away from him. But I'm glad of it; aren't
you?
Now I have another story for you, and, in case my typewriter doesn't fall
in the lake and the fishes don't eat up the hair ribbon on it, I'll tell
you about Uncle Wiggily in the bear's den.
STORY XXII
UNCLE WIGGILY IN THE BEAR'S DEN
Well, here we are again, all ready for a story, I suppose, and I hope you
had a nice time at the surprise party. Let me see now, what shall I tell
you about? How would you like to hear about the old gentleman rabbit and
the toadstool?
Oh, my! I just happened to remember that I promised to write about Uncle
Wiggily getting into the bear's den, so of course I'll have to tell about
that first, and afterward I'll write the story about the toadstool. I'll
tell you this much, however, the toadstool story is very curious, if I do
say so myself.
Anyhow, Uncle Wiggily was hopping along one fine morning, following a
stormy night, and he was thinking about the swimming lesson he had had a
few days before.
"I wonder if I have forgotten how to move my legs, and go skimming through
the water?" he said to himself as he set down his valise, and leaned his
crutch against a prickly briar bush. "I must practice a little."
And the old gentleman rabbit did practice then and there, going through
all the motions of swimming, only he was on dry land, of course. Next he
twinkled his nose, like a star on a very hot night, when you drink iced
lemonade to keep cool, and then Uncle Wiggily hopped forward once more.
He hadn't gone very far before he noticed a grasshopper moving along so
swiftly that the old gentleman rabbit could hardly see the legs go
flip-flap. My, but that grasshopper did hippity-hop!
"Hold on there, if you please!" called Uncle Wiggily. "What is your hurry.
Are you late for school?"
"There is no school now," said the grasshopper, as he sat on a daisy
flower, "but I am hopping along to get out of danger."
"Danger? What danger is there around here?" asked the rabbit. "Do you see
a fox, or anything like that?"
"No, but don't you hear that dreadful noise?" asked the grasshopper.
"Listen, and you will hear it. It scared me so that I went away as fast as
I could."
So Uncle Wiggily listened, and sure enough he heard, away off in the
woods, a voice shouting:
"Help! Help! Help! Oh, won't some one please help me, or I'll be killed!"
"There, did you hear it?" asked the grasshopper, as he shivered and got
ready to flit away again, "he said he was going to kill us."
"Oh, no! Nonsense!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "That is some poor animal
caught in a trap, and he's afraid of being killed himself. I'm going to
see who it is. Perhaps it is a friend of mine."
"Oh, no! Don't you go!" begged the grasshopper. "For it may be the
alligator with the skillery-scalery-railery tail."
"Oh, preposterous!" cried Uncle Wiggily, who sometimes used big words when
he was excited. "I'm not afraid. I'm going to help whoever it is, and,
perhaps, in that way I may find my fortune."
So the grasshopper, who was very much frightened, flew on, and the rabbit
hopped toward where he could hear the voice still calling for help.
And whom do you s'pose it was? Why, the second cousin to Grandfather
Prickly Porcupine was caught fast in a trap, and he was calling for help
as loudly as he could call.
"Oh, I'm so glad you came along," said the porcupine to Uncle Wiggily.
"Please help me to get my leg out of this trap."
"Of course I will," said the rabbit, and with his crutch he pried open the
trap, and set free the nice little second cousin to Grandfather Prickly
Porcupine.
"Oh, how thankful I am to you," said the porcupine, as he limped away. "If
ever I can do you a favor I will." And, would you believe it? the time was
soon to come when that porcupine was to save Uncle Wiggily's life.
Well, the old gentleman rabbit hopped on, looking all over for his
fortune, but he couldn't seem to find it anywhere until, all of a sudden,
as he was walking along by some big stones, he saw something shining, and
picking it up, he found he had a silver twenty-five-cent piece.
"Oh, my goodness me, sakes alive and a piece of cherry pie!" cried the
rabbit. "I've found part of my fortune! I'll have good luck now, and
perhaps I can find more."
So the rabbit looked all about in among the stones for other money. But he
didn't find any, and pretty soon he came to a place where there was a hole
down in between the big rocks.
"Perhaps there is more money down there," said the rabbit. "I'll take a
look." He leaned over, and looked down, and then--Oh, how sorry I am that
I have to tell it, but I do, all of a sudden Uncle Wiggily fell right down
that black hole.
Right down into it he fell, and he landed at the bottom with such a bump
that he nearly broke his spectacles. At first it was so dark that he
couldn't make out anything, but in a little while he could see something
big and black and shaggy coming toward him, and a grillery-growlery voice
called out:
"Who's there? Who dares to come into my den?"
"It is only I," said the rabbit. "I'm Uncle Wiggily Longears, and I came
in here by mistake. I was looking for my fortune."
"Ah, ha!" cried the bear, for the shaggy creature with the
grillery-growlery voice was a bear. "Ah, ha! That is a different story. I
am very glad you dropped in to see me, Mr. Longears. I was just wondering
what I'd have for my dinner, and now I know--it is going to be rabbit
stew, and you are going to be stewed," and the bear opened the dining-room
shutters so he could see to eat the rabbit.
"Oh, how can you be so cruel to me?" asked Uncle Wiggily. "I only came in
here by mistake. I found twenty-five cents, and I was looking for more."
"Found twenty-five cents, did you, eh?" cried the bear, savage-like. "Give
it to me at once! I lost that, it's my money!"
And he took the twenty-five-cent piece right away from Uncle Wiggily. Then
the bear was just going to eat up the nice old gentleman rabbit, and Uncle
Wiggily didn't know how to get away, and he was feeling most dreadful,
when, all of a sudden, a voice sharply cried:
"Here, you let my friend Uncle Wiggily alone," and then some one scrambled
down through the top hole of the bear's den.
"Who are you?" asked the shaggy creature with the grillery-growlery voice,
and the bear gnashed his teeth.
"I'm the second cousin to Grandfather Prickly Porcupine," was the answer,
"and I'm going to save my rabbit friend."
And with that the porcupine took out a whole handful of his
stickery-ickery quills, like toothpicks, and he stuck them right into the
soft and tender nose of that bad bear. And the stickery-ickery quills so
tickled the bear and hurt him that he nearly sneezed his head off, and
tears came into his eyes.
"Now's our time! Come on, let's get away from here!" cried the porcupine
to the rabbit, and up out of the bear's den they scrambled, and got safely
away before the bear had finished his sneezing.
"Oh, you saved my life," said Uncle Wiggily to the prickly porcupine, "and
I thank you very much." Then they traveled on together, and they had an
adventure the next day.
What it was I'll tell you soon, when, in case the boys who go in swimming
don't duck my typewriter under water and make it catch the measles, I'll
tell you about Uncle Wiggily and the toadstool.
STORY XXIII
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE TOADSTOOL
"Were you much frightened when you were in the bear's den?" asked the
prickly porcupine as he and Uncle Wiggily went along the road next day.
They had slept that night in a hole where an old fox used to live, but
just then he was away on his summer vacation at Asbury Park, and so he
wasn't home.
"Was I frightened?" repeated the old gentleman rabbit, as he looked to see
if there was any mud on his crutch, "why I was so scared that my heart
almost stopped beating. But I'm glad you happened to come along, and that
you stuck your stickery-ickery quills into the bear's nose. It was very
lucky that you chanced to come past the den."
"Oh, I did it on purpose," said the porcupine. "After you got me out of
the trap, and I scurried away, I happened to think that you might go past
the bear's house, so I hurried after you, and--well, I'm glad that I
did."
[Illustration]
"So am I," said the rabbit. "Will you have a bit of my carrot sandwich?"
"I don't mind if I do," said the porcupine, polite-like, so he and the
rabbit traveler ate the carrot sandwiches as they walked along.
"Well, I don't believe I'm ever going to find my fortune," said Uncle
Wiggily sadly. "I began to have hopes, when I picked up the
twenty-five-cent piece, but now the bear has that and I have nothing. Oh,
I certainly am very unlucky."
"Never mind," said the porcupine, "I'll help you look." But even with the
sharp eyes, and the sharp, stickery-ickery quills of the hedgehog, Uncle
Wiggily couldn't find his fortune.
But it is a good thing the old gentleman rabbit had company, for as they
were walking along under some trees, all of a sudden a big snake hissed at
them, like a coffee-pot boiling over. And then the snake uncoiled himself
and tried to grab the rabbit by the ears.
"Here! That will never do!" cried the porcupine, and then and there,
without even stopping to take off his necktie, that brave creature stuck
twenty-seven and a half stickery-stockery-stackery quills into the snake,
and then that snake was glad enough to crawl away. Oh, my, yes, and a
basketful of soap bubbles besides!
Well, it wasn't long after that before it was dinner time, and the two
friends sat down in a place where there were a lot of toadstools to eat
their lunch. They sat on the low toadstools, and the higher ones they used
for tables, each one having a toadstool table for himself, just like in a
restaurant.
"Now, this is what I call real jolly," said the porcupine, as he ate his
third piece of hickory-nut pie with carrot sauce on it.
"Yes, it is real nice," said the rabbit. "After all, it isn't so bad to go
hunting for your fortune when you have company, but it's not so much fun
all alone."
Well, the two friends were just finishing their meal, and they were
getting ready to travel on, when, all at once, there was a terrible
crashing sound in the bushes, just as if some one was breaking them all to
pieces.
"My! What's that?" asked the porcupine, preparing to pull out some more of
his stickery-ickery quills.
"It sounds like the elephant," said the rabbit, as he looked around for a
safe place in which to hide in case it should happen to be the bear coming
after him.
"Oh, if it's the elephant, we don't have to worry. He is a friend of
ours," said the porcupine.
Well, the crashing in the bushes still kept up, and then before you could
tickle your pussy cat under the chin-chopper, there burst out of the
middle of a prickly briar bush a great big alligator--the same one who
once before had tried to catch Uncle Wiggily.
"Oh, look!" cried the porcupine. "He's after us."
"Indeed, I am!" exclaimed the 'gator. "I'll have a fine meal in about a
minute. I'll pull all your quills out, and eat you with strawberry sauce
on; prickly porcupine."