UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LORY
Once upon a time the skillery-scalery alligator was out walking in the
fields near the muddy river where he lived, and he happened to meet a
big spider.
"Good morning, Mr. Alligator," said Mr. Spider. "Have you caught that
Uncle Wiggily Longears bunny yet?"
"I have not, I am sorry to say," answered the alligator chap. "I've
tried every way I know how, but something always happens so that he gets
away. Either he is helped by that funny book-girl, Alice from
Wonderland, or by some of her friends. I'm afraid I'll never catch Uncle
Wiggily."
"Oh, yes, you will," said Mr. Spider. "I'll help you."
"How?" asked the 'gator, which was his short name, though he was rather
long.
"I'll crawl through the woods and over the fields until I find him
asleep," said Mr. Spider. "And, when I do, I'll spin a strong web
around and over him so he cannot get loose. Then I'll come and tell you
and you can get him."
"Very good," spoke Mr. Alligator. "Please do it."
So the alligator went back to sleep in the mud to wait until Mr. Spider
should bring him word that Uncle Wiggily was held fast in the web.
And now let us see what happens to the bunny gentleman. As he always
did, he started out from his hollow stump bungalow one morning to look
for an adventure. There had been a little accident at breakfast time.
Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, had boiled the
eggs too long and they were as hard as bullets.
"You can't eat them," she said to Uncle Wiggily. "I'll boil you some
fresh ones."
"All right," laughed the bunny. "I don't want to get indyspepsia by
eating hard bullet eggs. But I'll take them with me and give them to
Johnnie or Billie Bushytail, the squirrel boys. They can crack hard nuts
so they must be able to crack hard boiled eggs."
So it was that Uncle Wiggily, after having eaten the newly boiled soft
eggs, started from his hollow stump bungalow with the hard boiled eggs
in his pocket.
He had not traveled very far before he heard from behind a big log a
voice crying:
"Oh, dear! It isn't hard enough! It isn't half hard enough!"
"What isn't?" asked Uncle Wiggily, as he saw a funny looking bird with a
very large bill like a parrot's. "What isn't hard enough?"
"This log of wood," was the answer. "I need something hard to bite on to
sharpen my beak, but this wood is too soft."
"You are a funny bird," laughed the bunny gentleman. "Who might you be?"
"I am the Lory bird," was the answer. "I belong in the book with Alice
of Wonderland, but I'm out for a day's pleasure, and, as I can't tell
what I might have to eat, I thought I'd sharpen my bill. But I can't
find anything hard enough to use as a grindstone."
"Suppose you try these," said Uncle Wiggily, taking the hard boiled
eggs out of his pocket.
"The very thing!" cried the Lory. "These will be fine for my bill!" With
that he champed his beak down on the hard eggs and he had all he could
do to bite them. "Now I'll get my beak good and sharp," said Lory. "You
have done me a great favor, Uncle Wiggily, and I hope some day to do you
one."
"Pray, do not mention it," said the bunny rabbit, modest-like and shy.
Then, having found a good use for the hard boiled eggs, even if he
didn't give them to the Bushytail squirrel boys, Uncle Wiggily hopped
along, and the Lory kept on biting the shells for practice.
Now, it was a warm day, and, as Uncle Wiggily felt tired, he sat down in
a shady place in the fields, and soon fell fast asleep. And, no sooner
was he in Dreamland than along came Mr. Spider.
"Ah, ha!" said the spider. "Now's my chance to catch this bunny for the
alligator. I'll spin a strong web around him, so strong that he cannot
break loose. Then I'll go get my friend, the 'gator."
So while Uncle Wiggily slept, Mr. Spider spun a strong web about the
bunny--a very extra strong web, with such big strands that Uncle Wiggily
never could have broken them himself. And when the web was all finished,
and the bunny was helpless, he awakened just as Mr. Spider was going off
to call Mr. Alligator.
"Oh, what has happened to me?" cried the bunny, as he found he could not
move his paws or even twinkle his pink nose. "Oh, what is it? Let me
go!"
"No, you can't go!" said the spider. "You are going to stay there until
I bring Mr. Alligator," and away he crawled. Uncle Wiggily tried to get
loose, but he could not.
"Oh, if only some one would come who's good and strong, and would cut
this web, then I would be free!" said the bunny.
And then, all of a sudden, out from behind the bush came the Four and
Twenty Tailors, from Mother Goose. They had their big scissors with
them, and they were led by Alice of Wonderland.
"I told these silly tailors I'd help them hunt the snail, because they
are so timid that they even fear her tail," laughed Alice, "but we'll
stop and help you first, dear Uncle Wiggily!"
Then the Four and Twenty Tailors, with their shears, sniped and snapped
the strong spider's web until it was all in pieces and the bunny could
easily get loose. And when the alligator, fetched by the spider, came to
get the bunny he wasn't there.
But the strong-billed Lory bird was there. He had heard about Uncle
Wiggily's trouble from the Do-do bird, and had come, with his strong
bill, to bite the spider web into little pieces.
"But I am too late, I see," said the Lory. "The Mother Goose Tailors got
here first. However, as I want to bite something hard and mean I'll bite
the alligator." And he did and the alligator said "Ouch!" and I'm glad
of it.
And if the telephone bell doesn't ring at the front door and make
believe it's the milkman looking for old rags, I'll tell you next about
Uncle Wiggily and the puppy.