UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE WHITE QUEEN
Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice rabbit gentleman, was hopping along
through the woods one day, wondering if he would have an adventure with
Alice of Wonderland or some of her friends, when, all of a sudden,
coming to a place where a rail fence ran along among the trees he saw,
caught in a crack of one of the rails by its legs, a white butterfly.
The poor butterfly was fluttering its wings, trying to pull out its
legs, but it had to pull very gently, for a butterfly's leg, you know,
is very tender and easily broken, like a piece of spider-web.
"Oh, my!" cried kind Uncle Wiggily, when he saw what was the matter.
"You are in trouble, aren't you? I'm glad I happened to come along."
"Why are you glad; to see me in trouble?" asked the white butterfly.
"No, indeed!" exclaimed the bunny uncle. "But I want to help you."
"Well, I wish you would," went on the fluttering creature. "I've tried
and tried again to get my poor leg loose, but I can't. And I'm on my
way--oh, but I forgot. That part is a secret!" quickly said the
butterfly.
"Well, then, don't tell me," spoke Uncle Wiggily with a laugh, "for I
might not be very good at keeping secrets. But I'll soon have your leg
loose."
With that he took the small end of his red, white and blue striped
rheumatism crutch that Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy had gnawed for him out of
a cornstalk and putting the little end of his crutch in the crack of the
rail fence, Uncle Wiggily gave a hard push, opened the crack wider, and
soon the butterfly's leg was loose and she could fly away.
"But first I must thank you, Uncle Wiggily," she said. "And as you did
me so great a favor I want to do you one in return. Not now, perhaps, as
I am in a hurry, but later. So if ever you find you want something you
can't get, just come to these woods and say a little verse. Then you
shall have your wish."
"What verse shall I say?" asked Uncle Wiggily.
"This," answered the butterfly. Then she recited:
"When the wind blows in the trees,
Making perfume for the breeze,
Will you grant to me this boon,
That my wish may come true soon?"
"And what then?" asked the bunny.
"Then," answered the butterfly, "you must whisper your wish to a green
leaf and--well, we'll see what happens next."
"Thank you," said Uncle Wiggily, and then he hopped on through the woods
while the butterfly fluttered away.
Uncle Wiggily had no adventure that day, but when he reached home to his
hollow stump bungalow he found his muskrat lady housekeeper in the
kitchen looking quite sad and blue.
"Well, Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy!" cried the jolly bunny uncle. "Whatever
is the matter?"
"Oh, I have broken my nice gold and diamond dishpan, and I can't do any
more kitchen work until it is mended. I can't wash the dishes nor get
you any supper."
"Oh, never mind about that," said Uncle Wiggily. "I'll take the diamond
dishpan down to the five and ten cent store and have them mend it for
you. Where is it?"
Nurse Jane gave it to him. The pan had a big crack right across the
middle. The muskrat lady said it had fallen to the floor and had broken
when she went to get Jackie Bow Wow, the little puppy dog boy a slice of
bread and jam.
"I'll soon have it fixed for you," said Uncle Wiggily. But it was more
easily said than done. The five and ten cent store was closed because
every one was on a picnic, and no one else could mend the dishpan.
"Never mind, I'll buy Nurse Jane a new one and say nothing about it,"
said Uncle Wiggily. "I'll surprise her."
But this, too, was more easily said than done. In all Woodland, where
Uncle Wiggily and the animal folk lived, there was not another gold and
diamond dishpan to be had. They were all sold.
"Oh, dear! What shall I do?" thought Uncle Wiggily. "Nurse Jane will be
so unhappy!" Then he happened to think of the white butterfly and what
she had told him. So, taking the dishpan, he went to the wood where he
had helped the fluttering creature and whispered to a leaf the little
verse:
"When the wind blows in the trees,
Making perfume for the breeze,
Will you grant to me this boon,
That my wish may come true soon?"
"Well, what is your wish?" asked a sudden voice.
"I wish Nurse Jane's gold and diamond dishpan to be mended," said Uncle
Wiggily.
Instantly something white came fluttering down out of a tree, and the
bunny saw it was the white butterfly. And then, all of a sudden, before
he could count up to sixteen thousand, the white butterfly seemed to
fade away and in its place was a beautiful White Queen, seated on a
golden throne with a diamond crown on her head.
"You shall have your wish, Uncle Wiggily," she said. "Give me the
dishpan."
"Why--why!" exclaimed the bunny. "You are--you are--"
"I am the White Queen from Alice in Wonderland," was the answer, "and I
will ask you a riddle. When you take the dishes out of the pan what
remains?"
"Nothing," answered the bunny.
"Wrong," answered the White Queen. "The water does. Now I'll mend this
for you." And she did, taking some gold from her throne and some
diamonds from her crown to mend the broken dishpan.
Soon Nurse Jane's pan was as good as ever and she could wash the dishes
in it.
"Thank you," said Uncle Wiggily. "But how is it you are a queen and a
butterfly, too?"
"Oh, we Queens lead a sort of butterfly existence," said the White
Queen. "But I must go now, for I have to find the tarts for the Queen of
Hearts who is always losing hers."
Then, changing herself into a white butterfly again, the Queen flew
away, and Uncle Wiggily, with the mended dishpan, hopped on to his
hollow stump bungalow, where he and Nurse Jane were soon having a nice
supper and were very happy.
And if the potato masher doesn't go to the moving pictures and step on
the toes of the egg beater I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and
the Red Queen.
[Illustration]