E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, and the Project Gutenberg
Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
file which includes the original lovely illustrations.
See 23213-h.htm or 23213-h.zip:
(https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/2/1/23213/23213-h/23213-h.htm)
or
(https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/2/1/23213/23213-h.zip)
[Cover Illustration]
UNCLE WIGGILY AND OLD MOTHER HUBBARD
[Illustration]
UNCLE WIGGILY AND OLD MOTHER HUBBARD
Adventures of the Rabbit Gentleman with the
Mother Goose Characters
by
HOWARD R. GARIS
Author of "Uncle Wiggily Bedtime Stories," "Uncle
Wiggily Animal Stories," "Uncle Wiggily's Story
Book," "The Daddy Series," Etc.
Illustrated by Edward Bloomfield & Lansing Campbell
A. L. Burt Company
Publishers
New York
CHILDREN'S BOOKS by Howard R. Garis
UNCLE WIGGILY BEDTIME STORIES
UNCLE WIGGILY'S ADVENTURES
UNCLE WIGGILY'S TRAVELS
UNCLE WIGGILY'S FORTUNE
UNCLE WIGGILY'S AUTOMOBILE
UNCLE WIGGILY AT THE SEASHORE
UNCLE WIGGILY'S AIRSHIP
UNCLE WIGGILY IN THE COUNTRY
UNCLE WIGGILY IN THE WOODS
UNCLE WIGGILY ON THE FARM
UNCLE WIGGILY'S JOURNEY
UNCLE WIGGILY'S RHEUMATISM
UNCLE WIGGILY AND BABY BUNTY
UNCLE WIGGILY IN WONDERLAND
UNCLE WIGGILY IN FAIRYLAND
UNCLE WIGGILY AND MOTHER HUBBARD
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BIRDS
UNCLE WIGGILY ANIMAL STORIES
SAMMIE AND SUSIE LITTLETAIL
JOHNNIE AND BILLIE BUSHYTAIL
LULU, ALICE AND JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE
JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW-WOW
BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES PIGG
JOIE, TOMMIE AND KITTIE KAT
CHARLIE AND ARABELLA CHICK
NEDDIE AND BECKIE STUBTAIL
BULLY AND BAWLY NO-TAIL
NANNIE AND BILLIE WAGTAIL
JOLLIE AND JILLIE LONGTAIL
JACKO AND JUMPO KINKYTAIL
CURLY AND FLOPPY TWISTYTAIL
TOODLE AND NOODLE FLATTAIL
DOTTIE AND WILLIE FLUFFTAIL
DICKIE ANP NELLIE FLIPTAIL
WOODIE AND WADDIE CHUCK
BOBBY AND BETTY RINGTAIL
SOMETHING NEW!
UNCLE WIGGILY'S STORY BOOK
and
UNCLE WIGGILY'S PICTURE BOOK
Copyright, 1922, by R. F. FENNO & COMPANY
UNCLE WIGGILY AND OLD MOTHER HUBBARD
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose
II. Uncle Wiggily and the First Pig
III. Uncle Wiggily and the Second Pig
IV. Uncle Wiggily and the Third Pig
V. Uncle Wiggily and Little Boy Blue
VI. Uncle Wiggily and Higgledee Piggledee
VII. Uncle Wiggily and Little Bo-Peep
VIII. Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tucker
IX. Uncle Wiggily and Pussy Cat Mole
X. Uncle Wiggily and Jack and Jill
XI. Uncle Wiggily and Jack Horner
XII. Uncle Wiggily and Mr. Pop-Goes
XIII. Uncle Wiggily and Simple Simon
XIV. Uncle Wiggily and the Crumpled-Horn Cow
XV. Uncle Wiggily and Old Mother Hubbard
XVI. Uncle Wiggily and Miss Muffet
XVII. Uncle Wiggily and the First Kitten
XVIII. Uncle Wiggily and the Second Kitten
XIX. Uncle Wiggily and the Third Kitten
XX. Uncle Wiggily and the Jack Horse
XXI. Uncle Wiggily and the Clock-Mouse
XXII. Uncle Wiggily and the Late Scholar
XXIII. Uncle Wiggily and Baa-Baa Black Sheep
XXIV. Uncle Wiggily and Polly Flinders
XXV. Uncle Wiggily and the Garden Maid
XXVI. Uncle Wiggily and the King
Uncle Wiggily and Old Mother Hubbard
CHAPTER I
UNCLE WIGGILY AND MOTHER GOOSE
There once lived in the woods an old rabbit gentleman named Uncle
Wiggily Longears, and in the hollow-stump bungalow where he had his
home there also lived Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, a muskrat lady
housekeeper. Near Uncle Wiggily there were, in hollow trees, or in
nests or in burrows under the ground, many animal friends of
his--rabbits, squirrels, puppy dogs, pussy cats, frogs, ducks,
chickens and others, so that Uncle Wiggily and Nurse Jane were never
lonesome.
Often Sammie or Susie Littletail, a small boy and girl rabbit, would
hop over to the hollow-stump bungalow, and call:
"Uncle Wiggily! Uncle Wiggily! Can't you come out and play with us?"
Then the old rabbit gentleman, who was as fond of fun as a kitten,
would put on his tall silk hat, take his red, white and blue striped
barber-pole rheumatism crutch, that Nurse Jane had gnawed for him
out of a corn-stalk, and he would go out to play with the rabbit
children, about whom I have told you in other books.
Or perhaps Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrel boys, might
ask Uncle Wiggily to go after hickory nuts with them, or maybe Lulu,
Alice or Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck children, would want their
bunny uncle to see them go swimming.
So, altogether, Uncle Wiggily had a good time in his hollow-stump
bungalow which was built in the woods. When he had nothing else to
do Mr. Longears would go for a ride in his airship. This was made of
a clothes-basket, with toy circus balloons on it to make it rise up
above the trees. Or Uncle Wiggily might take a trip in his
automobile, which had big bologna sausages on the wheels for tires.
And whenever the rabbit gentleman wanted the automobile wheels to go
around faster he sprinkled pepper on the sausages.
One day Uncle Wiggily said to Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy:
"I think I will go for a ride in my airship. Is there anything I can
bring from the store for you?"
"Why, you might bring a loaf of bread and a pound of sugar,"
answered the muskrat lady.
"Very good," answered Uncle Wiggily, and then he took some soft
cushions out to put in the clothes-basket part of his airship, so,
in case the air popped out of the balloons, and he fell, he would
land easy like, and soft.
Soon the rabbit gentleman was sailing off through the air, over the
tree tops, his paws in nice, warm red mittens that Nurse Jane had
knitted for him. For it was winter, you see, and Uncle Wiggily's
paws would have been cold steering his airship, by the baby carriage
wheel which guided it, had it not been for the mittens.
It did not take the bunny uncle long to go to the store in his
airship, and soon, with the loaf of bread and pound of sugar under
the seat, away he started for his hollow-stump bungalow again.
And, as he sailed on and over the tree tops, Uncle Wiggily looked
far off, and he saw some black smoke rising in the air.
"Ha! That smoke seems to be near my hollow-stump bungalow," he said
to himself. "I guess Nurse Jane is starting a fire in the kitchen
stove to get dinner. I must hurry home."
Uncle Wiggily made his airship go faster, and then he saw, coming
toward him, a big bird, with large wings.
"Why, that looks just like my old friend, Grandfather Goosey
Gander," Uncle Wiggily thought to himself. "I wonder why he is
flying so high? He hardly ever goes up so near the clouds.
"And he seems to have some one on his back," spoke Uncle Wiggily out
loud this time, sort of talking to the loaf of bread and the pound
of sugar. "A lady, too," went on the bunny uncle. "A lady with a
tall hat on, something like mine, only hers comes to a point on top.
And she has a broom with her. I wonder who it can be?"
And when the big white bird came nearer to the airship Uncle Wiggily
saw that it was not Grandfather Goosey Gander at all, but another
big gander, almost like his friend, whom he often went to see. And
then the bunny uncle saw who it was on the bird's back.
"Why, it's Mother Goose!" cried Uncle Wiggily Longears. "It's Mother
Goose! She looks just like her pictures in the book, too."
"Yes, I am Mother Goose," said the lady who was riding on the back
of the big, white gander.
"I am glad to meet you, Mother Goose," spoke Mr. Longears. "I have
often heard about you. I can see, over the tree tops, that Nurse
Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, my muskrat lady housekeeper, is getting dinner
ready. I can tell by the smoke. Will you not ride home with me? I
will make my airship go slowly, so as not to get ahead of you and
your fine gander-goose."
"Alas, Uncle Wiggily," said Mother Goose, scratching her chin with
the end of the broom handle, "I cannot come home to dinner with you
much as I would like it. Alas! Alas!"
"Why not?" asked the bunny uncle.
"Because I have bad news for you," said Mother Goose. "That smoke,
which you saw over the tree tops, was not smoke from your chimney as
Nurse Jane was getting dinner."
"What was it then?" asked Uncle Wiggily, and a cold shiver sort of
ran up and down between his ears, even if he did have warm, red
mittens on his paws. "What was that smoke?"
"The smoke from your burning bungalow," went on Mother Goose. "It
caught fire, when Nurse Jane was getting dinner, and now----"
"Oh! Don't tell me Nurse Jane is burned!" cried Uncle Wiggily.
"Don't say that!"
"I was not going to," spoke Mother Goose, kindly. "But I must tell
you that your hollow-stump bungalow is burned to the ground. There
is nothing left but some ashes," and she made the gander, on whose
back she was riding, fly close alongside of Uncle Wiggily's airship.
"My nice bungalow burned!" exclaimed the rabbit gentleman. "Well, I
am very, very sorry for that. But still it might be worse. Nurse
Jane might have been hurt, and that would have been quite too bad. I
dare say I can get another bungalow."
"That is what I came to tell you about," said Mother Goose. "I was
riding past when I saw your Woodland hollow-stump house on fire, and
I went down to see if I could help. It was too late to save the
bungalow, but I said I would find a place for you and Nurse Jane to
stay to-night, or as long as you like, until you can build a new
home."
"That is very kind of you," said Uncle Wiggily. "I hardly know what
to do."
"I have many friends," went on Mother Goose. "You may have read
about them in the book which tells of me. Any of my friends would be
glad to have you come and live with them. There is the Old Woman Who
Lives in a Shoe, for instance."
"But hasn't she so many children she doesn't know what to do?" asked
Uncle Wiggily, as he remembered the story in the book.
"Yes," answered Mother Goose, "she has. I suppose you would not like
it there."
"Oh, I like children," said Uncle Wiggily. "But if there are so many
that the dear Old Lady doesn't know what to do, she wouldn't know
what to do with Nurse Jane and me."
"Well, you might go stay with my friend Old Mother Hubbard," said
Mother Goose.
"But if I went there, would not the cupboard be bare?" asked Uncle
Wiggily, "and what would Nurse Jane and I do for something to eat?"
"That's so," spoke Mother Goose, as she reached up quite high and
brushed a cobweb off the sky with her broom. "That will not do,
either. I must see about getting Mother Hubbard and her dog
something to eat. You can stay with her later. Oh, I have it!"
suddenly cried the lady who was riding on the back of the white
gander, "you can go stay with Old King Cole! He's a jolly old soul!"
Uncle Wiggily shook his head.
"Thank you very much, Mother Goose," he said, slowly. "But Old King
Cole might send for his fiddlers three, and I do not believe I would
like to listen to jolly music to-day when my nice bungalow has just
burned down."
"No, perhaps not," agreed Mother Goose. "Well, if you can find no
other place to stay to-night come with me. I have a big house, and
with me live Little Bo Peep, Little Boy Blue, who is getting to be
quite a big chap now, Little Tommie Tucker and Jack Sprat and his
wife. Oh, I have many other friends living with me, and surely we
can find room for you."
"Thank you," answered Uncle Wiggily. "I will think about it."
Then he flew down in his airship to the place where the hollow-stump
bungalow had been, but it was not there now. Mother Goose flew down
with her gander after Uncle Wiggily. They saw a pile of blackened
and smoking wood, and near it stood Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the
muskrat lady, and many other animals who lived in Woodland with
Uncle Wiggily.
"Oh, I am so sorry!" cried Nurse Jane. "It is my fault. I was baking
a pudding in the oven, Uncle Wiggily. I left it a minute while I ran
over to the pen of Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady, to ask her
about making a new kind of carrot sauce for the pudding, and when I
came home the pudding had burned, and the bungalow was on fire."
"Never mind," spoke Uncle Wiggily, kindly, "as long as you were not
burned yourself, Nurse Jane."
"But where will you sleep to-night?" asked the muskrat lady,
sorrowfully.
"Oh," began Uncle Wiggily, "I guess I can----"
"Come stay with us!" cried Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbit
children.
"Or with us!" invited Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels.
"And why not with us?" asked Nannie and Billie Wagtail, the goat
children.
"We'd ask you to come with us," said Jollie and Jillie Longtail, the
mouse children, "only our house is so small."
Many of Uncle Wiggily's friends, who had hurried up to see the
hollow-stump bungalow burn, while he was at the store, now, in turn,
invited him to stay with them.
"I, myself, have asked him to come with me," said Mother Goose, "or
with any of my friends. We all would be glad to have him."
"It is very kind of you," said the rabbit gentleman. "And this is
what I will do, until I can build me a new bungalow. I will take
turns staying at your different hollow-tree homes, your nests or
your burrows underground. And I will come and visit you also, Mother
Goose, and all of your friends; at least such of them as have room
for me.
"Yes, that is what I'll do. I'll visit around now that my
hollow-stump home is burned. I thank you all. Come, Nurse Jane, we
will pay our first visit to Sammie and Susie Littletail, the
rabbits."
And while the other animals hopped, skipped or flew away through the
woods, and as Mother Goose sailed off on the back of her gander, to
sweep more cobwebs out of the sky, Uncle Wiggily and Nurse Jane went
to the Littletail burrow, or underground house.
"Good-bye, Uncle Wiggily!" called Mother Goose. "I'll see you again,
soon, sometime. And if ever you meet with any of my friends, Little
Jack Horner, Bo Peep, or the three little pigs, about whom you may
have read in my book, be kind to them."
"I will," promised Uncle Wiggily.
And he did, as you may read in the next chapter, when, if the sugar
spoon doesn't tickle the carving knife and make it dance on the
bread board, the story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the first
little pig.