UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CLOCK-MOUSE
Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old rabbit gentleman, sat in an
easy chair in his hollow-stump bungalow. He had just eaten a nice
lunch, which Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper,
had put on the table for him, and he was feeling a bit sleepy.
"Are you going out this afternoon?" asked Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy, as she
cleared away the dishes.
"Hum! Ho! Well, I hardly know," Uncle Wiggily answered, in a sleepy
voice. "I may, after I have a little nap."
"Your new red, white and blue striped rheumatism crutch is ready for
you," went on Nurse Jane. "I gnawed it for you out of a fine large
corn-stalk."
Uncle Wiggily had broken his other crutch, if you will kindly
remember, when he slipped as he was coming back from the store,
where he went for Mrs. Wagtail, the goat lady. And it was so
slippery that the rabbit gentleman never would have gotten home,
only he rode on a Jack horse with the lady, who had rings on her
fingers and bells on her toes, as I told you in the story before
this one.
"Thank you for making me a new crutch, Nurse Jane," spoke the bunny
uncle. "If I go out I'll take it."
Then he went to sleep in his easy chair, but he was suddenly
awakened by hearing the bungalow clock strike one. Then, as he sat
up and rubbed his eyes with his paws, Uncle Wiggily heard a thumping
noise on the hall floor and a little voice squeaked out:
"Ouch! I've hurt my leg! Oh, dear!"
"My! I wonder what that can be? It seemed to come out of my clock,"
spoke Mr. Longears.
"I did come out of your clock," said some one.
"You did? Who are you, if you please?" asked the bunny uncle,
looking all around. "I can't see you."
"That's because I'm so small," was the answer. "But here I am, right
by the table. I can't walk as my leg is hurt."
Uncle Wiggily looked, and saw a little mouse, who was holding his
left hind leg in his right front paw.
"Who are you?" asked the bunny uncle.
"I am Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse," was the answer. "And I am a
clock-mouse."
"A clock-mouse!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, in surprise. "I never
heard of such a thing."
"Oh, don't you remember me? I'm in Mother Goose's book. This is how
it goes:
"'Hickory Dickory Dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
And down he come,
Hickory Dickory Dock!'"
"Oh, now I remember you," said Uncle Wiggily. "And so you are a
clock-mouse."
"Yes, I ran up your clock, and then when the clock struck one, down
I had to come. But I ran down so fast that I tripped over the
pendulum. The clock reached down its hands and tried to catch me,
but it had no eyes in its face to see me, so I slipped, anyhow, and
I hurt my leg."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," said Uncle Wiggily. "Perhaps I can fix
it for you. Nurse Jane, bring me some salve for Hickory Dickory
Dock, the clock-mouse," he called.
The muskrat lady brought some salve, and, with a rag, Uncle Wiggily
bound up the leg of the clock-mouse so it did not hurt so much.
"And I'll lend you a piece of my old crutch, so you can hobble along
on it," said Uncle Wiggily.
"Thank you," spoke Hickory Dickory Dock, the clock-mouse. "You have
been very kind to me, and some day, I hope, I may do you a favor. If
I can I will."
"Thank you," Uncle Wiggily said. Then Hickory Dickory Dock limped
away, but in a few days he was better, and he could run up more
clocks, and run down when they struck one.
It was about a week after this that Uncle Wiggily went walking
through the woods on his way to see Grandfather Goosey Gander. And
just before he reached his friend's house he met Mother Goose.
"Oh, Uncle Wiggily," she said, swinging her cobweb broom up and
down, "I want to thank you for being so kind to Hickory Dickory
Dock, the clock-mouse."
"It was a pleasure to be kind to him," said Uncle Wiggily. "Is he
all better now?"
"Yes, he is all well again," replied Mother Goose. "He is coming to
run up and down your clock again soon."
"I'll be glad to see him," said Uncle Wiggily. Then he went to call
on Grandpa Goosey, and he told about Hickory Dickory Dock, falling
down from out the clock.
On his way back to his hollow-stump bungalow, Uncle Wiggily took a
short cut through the woods. And, as he was passing along, his paw
slipped and he became all tangled up in a wild grape vine, which was
like a lot of ropes, all twisted together into hard knots.
"Oh, dear!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "I'm caught!" The more he tried to
untangle himself the tighter he was held fast, until it seemed he
would never get out.
"Oh!" cried the rabbit gentleman. "This is terrible. Will no one
come to get me out? Help! Help! Will some one please help me?"
"Yes, I will help you, Uncle Wiggily," answered a kind, little
squeaking voice.
"Who are you?" asked the rabbit gentleman, moving a piece of the
grape vine away from his nose, so he could speak plainly.
"I am Hickory Dickory Dock, the clock-mouse," was the answer, "and
with my sharp teeth I will gnaw the grape vine in many pieces so you
will be free."
"That will be very kind of you," said Uncle Wiggily, who was quite
tired out with his struggles to get loose.
So Hickory Dickory Dock, with his sharp teeth, gnawed the grape
vine, and, in a little while, Uncle Wiggily was loose and all right
again.
"Thank you," said the bunny uncle to the clock-mouse, as he hopped
off, and Hickory Dickory Dock went with him, for his leg was all
better now. "Thank you very much, nice little clock-mouse."
"You did me a favor," said Hickory Dickory Dock, "and now I have
done you one, so we are even." And that's a good way to be in this
world. So, if the ink bottle doesn't turn pale when it sees the
fountain pen jump in the goldfish bowl and swim I'll tell you next
about Uncle Wiggily and the late scholar.