to spell some words?”
“I should be delighted,” went on the rabbit gentleman. Then, looking
straight at Sammie Littletail, the rabbit boy, Uncle Wiggily said:
“Spell me the word carrot!”
“C-a-r-r-o-t,” spelled Sammie. He knew that word very well, you see,
because he ate carrots every day.
“Good!” cried Uncle Wiggily. Then he looked at Billie Bushytail, the
squirrel, and said:
“Spell me the word peanut!”
“P-e-a-n-u-t,” spelled Billie the first time.
“Good!” cried Uncle Wiggily. Then he looked at Charlie, the chicken
boy, and said:
“Spell me the word corn!”
But before Charlie had a chance to do this, all of a sudden into the
school jumped a bad old Flippity-flop. A Flippity-flop is an animal,
something like a mouse-trap, only it walks on its head instead of on
its toes, and it has no tail.
“Wow!” cried the bad Flippity-flop. “Here’s where I have some fun!”
And that unpleasant creature began to throw pieces of chalk and the
blackboard erasers around the room, and he upset the ink bottle on
the floor and tickled the lady mouse teacher with a lead pencil
point. Oh, the Flippity-flop was very bad, and for no reason at all,
except just because he wanted to be so. Flippity-flops are always
like that.
“Oh, what shall we do?” cried the lady mouse, for the children were
all excited. “Call a policeman dog for me, Uncle Wiggily, to take
away the bad Flippity-flop!”
“Ha! I will make the Flippity-flop go away myself!” cried Uncle
Wiggily very bravely.
“No you cannot!” shouted the Flippity-flop, as he made a face at the
rabbit gentleman. “You cannot make me go away!”
“Yes, I can!” said Uncle Wiggily in a very loud voice. “You spell me
the word cheese! quick now! Spell me cheese!”
“Oh, wow!” cried the Flippity-flop, and then, as quick as a wink, he
turned a somersault and hopped out the window, and ran off to the
woods to hide. For if there is one thing more than another that a
Flippity-flop is afraid of it is cheese, especially rabbit cheese.
And he could no more spell the word than he could fly, and that’s why
he ran away, and every one was glad. And I guess you are, too.
“Thank you, very much, Uncle Wiggily,” said the lady mouse teacher
“for driving away the bad Flippity-flop!” Then the examination went
on, and all the animal children passed, and Uncle Wiggily bought some
pickled bananas and went on home to Nurse Jane.
And next, if the dogwood tree doesn’t bark at the pussy willow and
make its tail fluff up, I’ll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and Nurse
Jane.
STORY XXIX
UNCLE WIGGILY AND NURSE JANE
“Well, are you all ready?” asked Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit
gentleman, of Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper,
as he came hurrying into the hollow stump bungalow one afternoon.
“Are you all ready, Nurse Jane?”
“Ready? Ready for what?” she cried, as she sat down backwards in the
dishpan full of soap bubbles, she was so excited.
“Why, ready to go to the country, of course,” replied the old
gentleman rabbit. “We are going to spend a few days in the woods, and
amid the green fields. I thought I told you about it. But perhaps I
forgot it. However, no matter. Come, pack your trunk, and we will go
off to the country in my airship.”
“My goodness me sakes alive, and some molasses lollypops!” cried
Nurse Jane. “This is a great surprise to me!”
“Is it?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “Well, I am sorry I forgot to tell you
about it. But never mind. Pack your trunk and mine, and we will start
in the morning.”
Then such goings-on as there were in the hollow stump bungalow!
Nurse Jane had so much to do to get ready that all Uncle Wiggily
had for his supper was some of the hollow rings from the inside
of the crullers, and a few of the holes in Swiss cheese, fried in
marshmallow sauce.
“But I don’t mind,” the rabbit gentleman said. “We will have plenty
to eat when we get to the country, Nurse Jane.”
“I hope so,” answered the muskrat lady, as she tied her tail up in
curl papers to make it nice and frizzy for morning.
As soon as the sun had gotten up out of bed next day, and washed its
face, Uncle Wiggily and Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy started off for the country
in the clothes basket airship, with the red, white and blue toy
circus balloons lifting it high above the tree tops.
They took with them a trunk and a satchel, containing their clothes,
for they were to stay, perhaps, a week or more. And they also had
their toothbrushes, for Uncle Wiggily was very particular about
cleaning his teeth.
“Ah, there is the bungalow where we are to stay,” said the rabbit
gentleman, as he sailed above a pretty place in the woods. “See it
down there, Nurse Jane.”
He pointed to a little house made of bark. It was close to the edge
of a little brook, and all about it grew ferns and bluebell flowers.
“Oh, what a lovely place!” cried Nurse Jane. “I know I shall like it
there!”
Down went the airship as gently as a feather, and out jumped the
muskrat lady and Uncle Wiggily.
“Now,” said Uncle Wiggily, as he tied his airship fast to a
willow-whistle tree, so that it would not run away and play tag with
the clouds; “now, Nurse Jane, I’ll cut you some wood to make a fire,
and you can get dinner. Then we’ll take a walk in the forest.”
“Very well,” said the muskrat lady, and while Uncle Wiggily was
gnawing the firewood into little sticks with his strong teeth, Miss
Fuzzy Wuzzy opened the box of good things to eat, which they had
brought with them in the airship.
“I guess I’ll just take a little hop through the woods, while you are
getting dinner ready,” said Uncle Wiggily, after a bit. “I may find
an adventure.”
“Very well,” spoke Nurse Jane, as she put on a pocket handkerchief
apron so she would not spatter carrot juice on her shirtwaist.
Well, Uncle Wiggily had not gone very far before, all of a sudden, he
heard Nurse Jane crying out:
“Help! Help! Help! Oh, Uncle Wiggily, come here quickly!”
“My goodness me, sakes alive and some cinnamon ice cream!” cried the
rabbit gentleman. “Nurse Jane must be in trouble.”
He gave three hops and a skip through the woods, and soon he was at
the birch-bark bungalow, near the brook.
“What is the matter, Nurse Jane?” he asked, breathless like.
“Oh, I heard the most dreadful noise!” she said. “Listen!”
Then Uncle Wiggily heard:
“Baa! Baa! Baa!”
“Ha! Ha!” laughed the rabbit gentleman. “That is only a sheep
singing. You will find plenty of them in the country, Nurse Jane.”
“Oh! Only a sheep,” said the muskrat lady. “I thought maybe it was an
alligator. I am not afraid of a sheep.”
Then she went on getting dinner, and Uncle Wiggily went back in the
woods, looking for an adventure, and, pretty soon he heard Nurse Jane
cry again:
“Oh, Uncle Wiggily! Help! Help! Help! Come quickly!”
With three hops, and part of another one, the old rabbit gentleman
was back at the birch-bark bungalow.
“What is the matter now?” he asked.
“Listen,” spoke Nurse Jane, just like a telephone girl.
Then Uncle Wiggily heard a noise that went:
“Gobble-obble-obble! Gobble-obble-obble!”
“What terrible creature is that?” asked Nurse Jane, shivering.
“Only a Thanksgiving turkey gobbler,” laughed the old gentleman
rabbit. “They are always in the country. Don’t be afraid.”
He went back in the woods again, but pretty soon Nurse Jane cried
once more.
“Oh, Uncle Wiggily! Come here quickly.”
“I wonder what can be the matter this time?” thought the old rabbit
gentleman, as he gave a hop, skip and a jump back. “What is it, Miss
Fuzzy Wuzzy?” he asked, as he came to the birch-bark bungalow.
“Oh, we have no milk for dinner,” she said sorrowfully.
And, before Uncle Wiggily could answer, there echoed through the
woods a sound like:
“Moo! Moo! Moo!”
“Oh, what dreadful creature is that?” asked Nurse Jane, wiggling her
whiskers. “I am sure it must be a bear.”
“Ha!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “That is not a bear! It is our milk for
dinner. That is the moo-cow. You will find lots of them in the
country. You must not be so nervous, Nurse Jane.”
“I’ll try not to be,” she answered, “but it is some time since I have
lived in the country. Where is the cow?”
Then along came a nice moo-cow with milk for Uncle Wiggily’s dinner,
and the rabbit and Nurse Jane had a fine time in the country-woods
bungalow, and they thanked the kind cow and Nurse Fuzzy Wuzzy said
she would not be afraid of any more funny noises. But you just wait!
Now, in the next story, if the circus lemonade doesn’t jump over the
elephant’s back, and color the clown’s white suit all over with pink
stripes, like a stick of peppermint candy, I’ll tell you about Uncle
Wiggily and the moo-cow.
STORY XXX
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE MOO-COW
“Hey, Uncle Wiggily!” suddenly exclaimed Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy in
the middle of the night.
“Yes, what is it?” asked the rabbit gentleman in a sleepy voice.
“Listen!” went on the muskrat lady.
So Uncle Wiggily listened, just as if a nice telephone girl had told
him to do so. He and Nurse Jane were spending a few days in the
country woods bungalow, as I told you in the story before this one.
It was their first night, and, about twelve o’clock, the muskrat lady
had all at once awakened the old gentleman rabbit by calling to him.
“Did you hear that?” asked Nurse Jane, after a bit.
Uncle Wiggily heard a sound that went something like:
“Chir-r-r-r-r-p! Chir-r-r-r-r-p! Chir-r-r-r-r-p!”
[Illustration: Cow in airship]
“Do you hear that?” asked Nurse Jane in a whisper.
“Surely I hear it,” answered Uncle Wiggily.
“That is a bad old fox, sawing the bolt off the front door with a
screw driver, so he can get in,” went on the muskrat lady.
“Nonsencicalness!” laughed Uncle Wiggily. “It is only a black
cricket. They always chirp that way, to make the country more
cheerful. There are many crickets in the country. Go to sleep, Nurse
Jane.”
So the muskrat lady went to sleep once more, rather sorry for having
awakened Uncle Wiggily. But pretty soon, when it was almost morning,
she called out again:
“Uncle Wiggily, did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” asked the rabbit gentleman, in a sleepy voice.
“Some one outside the bungalow is calling about a little girl named
Katy. Some one says she did do it, and some one else says she didn’t
do it. I’m sure something dreadful must have happened. Listen!”
Uncle Wiggily listened. He heard: “Katy-did! Katy-did! Katy-didn’t!
Katy-didn’t!”
“Hal Ha!” laughed the old rabbit gentleman. “That noise is made by a
little green bug, called a ‘Katy-did.’ There are two of them; the
other being called a ‘Katy-didn’t.’ And they are always disputing
that way. Go to sleep, Nurse Jane. There are many Katy-dids and
didn’ts in the country.”
“Then there isn’t any little girl Katy out in the woods?” asked the
muskrat lady, curious like.
“No, indeed,” answered Uncle Wiggily.
So everything was all right until the sun got up out of bed again,
and washed his face in the little pond near the birch bark bungalow
where Uncle Wiggily and Nurse Jane were staying for a while.
All of a sudden there was a rustling in the bushes near the pond, and
a voice cried:
“Moo! Moo! Moo!”
“Ha! I know what that is,” exclaimed Nurse Jane. “That is the Moo-Cow
coming with milk for our breakfast.”
“Of course,” spoke the rabbit gentleman.
“Here I am!” said the cow in a cheerful voice, and after she had
given Nurse Jane the morning milk, and the rabbit gentleman had had
his breakfast, the Moo-Cow asked:
“Uncle Wiggily, what is that funny thing over there? It looks like a
clothes basket, filled with sofa cushions, with an electric fan in
back, and toy circus balloons and a Japanese umbrella on top. What is
it?”
“That is my airship, if you please,” Uncle Wiggily replied, as he
tied his long ears in a hard knot so they would not be in his way.
“Perhaps you would like to take a ride with me, Moo-Cow.”
“I should like it, above all things!” answered the Moo-Cow.
“Come then, and I will take you—above all things!” laughed Uncle
Wiggily. “We will go even up above the church steeples.”
“But don’t fall on any of them, for they are very sharp,” said Nurse
Jane. “They are even sharper than the horns of the Moo-Cow.”
“We’ll be careful,” promised Uncle Wiggily.
So he and the Moo-Cow took their places in the clothes basket of the
airship. Uncle Wiggily blew up the balloons with hot air, and then,
starting the electric fan, that went around whizzie-izzie, off they
sailed over the tree-tops.
“Ha! This is fine!” cried the Moo-Cow.
“Were you never airshipping before?” inquired Uncle Wiggily, politely.
“Never,” answered the Moo-Cow, as she carefully braided the tufted
end of her tail, so it would not tickle Uncle Wiggily. “It is very
kind of you to ask me for a ride,” she went on.
“Pray do not mention such a little thing as that,” spoke the rabbit
gentleman still more politely. “I am glad you like it.”
Well, Uncle Wiggily and the Moo-Cow rode on and on in the airship,
and Mr. Longears was afraid he was not going to have an adventure
that day, when, all of a sudden there came a strong puff of wind.
It blew the red, white and blue toy balloons down upon the sharp
points of the Moo-Cow’s horns, and, all at once, there was a hiss,
like that of a radiator on a cold day, and all the air rushed out of
the balloons, leaving them flat like cocoanut cakes. Down went the
airship; down—down!
“Oh, we are falling!” cried the Moo-Cow. “I am going to jump over the
moon! That is the only way I can save myself!”
“Stop! Sit still!” cried Uncle Wiggily like a policeman life-saver
dog at Asbury Park. “Do not jump over the moon, or anywhere else.”
“But we are falling down!” cried the cow. “We shall be hurt when we
hit the ground. I must jump before it is too late.”
“Stay right in!” said Uncle Wiggily, as he steered the falling
airship out of the way of a church steeple. “The soft sofa cushions,
filled with Wibblewobble duck feathers, will not let us be hurt. We
will fall on them!” cried the rabbit gentleman. “Don’t be in the
least afraid. We shall fall on the cushions!”
And, surely enough they did. Down they came on the hard ground, but
with the sofa cushions under them it was like falling on a feather
bed, so neither the rabbit gentleman nor the Moo-Cow was hurt in the
least. The cow was sorry her sharp horns had burst the balloons, but
Uncle Wiggily politely said that did not in the least matter.
“I can easily mend them again,” he declared. “And maybe I shall have
another adventure to-morrow.”
He did, and what it was I shall have the pleasure of telling you
in the next story—that is if the lawn mower doesn’t run out in the
street and cut the wheels off the automobile so the rag doll has to
ride in the express wagon. The story will be about Uncle Wiggily and
the sheep.
STORY XXXI
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SHEEP
Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady, was sweeping and dusting
the birch-bark bungalow, in the country woods, where she and Uncle
Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, were spending a few days’
vacation.
“It is very nice here,” thought Nurse Jane, as she put some flowers
in the dishpan to make the kitchen table look decorated. “I am glad
we came.”
And she looked out of the window to see what Mr. Longears was doing.
He was pumping some hot air into the red, white and blue circus
balloons of his airship. He had mended them after the Moo-Cow’s horns
had accidentally punctured holes in them, as I told you last night,
if you will kindly remember.
“Well, I guess Uncle Wiggily is going for a ride,” said Nurse Jane.
“I must ask him to stop at the store for a pound of sugar.”
And then the muskrat lady began singing:
Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, sir! Yes, sir!
Three bags full.
One for the master,
One for the man,
And one for the little boy
Who lives in the lane.
“Ha! Are you singing about me?” asked a voice near a
Jack-in-the-pulpit flower which grew at the side porch of the
bungalow. “Are you singing about me, Nurse Jane?”
“Why, I suppose I was, if you are Baa-Baa Black Sheep,” replied the
muskrat lady, while she polished the potatoes for dinner.
“Well, I am a white sheep, but my name is Baa-Baa, just the same,”
went on the voice, and around the corner came the same sheep that
had accidentally frightened Nurse Jane the first night she and Uncle
Wiggily had come to the bungalow.
“Oh, how do you do?” asked Nurse Jane, for she was not frightened any
more, since she knew the sheep was a kind one.
“I am very well,” replied the sheep. “And I have brought you some
butter, made from yellow buttercup flowers,” and with that the kind
sheep took, from where it was tied to his horns, a nice package of
sweet butter, wrapped in cool, green leaves. “My wife made it,” said
the sheep. “She is a very good butter maker.”
“Oh, that is very kind of her, I am sure. Thank you!” exclaimed Nurse
Jane. “Uncle Wiggily,” she called, “see what Mr. Baa-Baa has brought
us—some lovely butter.”
“Well, I’m sure that is very nice,” spoke the rabbit gentleman, as he
finished making his airship ready for a trip. “Would you like to come
for a ride with me, Baa-Baa?” asked the rabbit gentleman.
“I would if I could be sure we would not fall,” said the sheep
gentleman.
“Well, even if we do fall we will not get hurt,” Uncle Wiggily
answered. “The Moo-Cow and I fell yesterday, but the soft sofa
cushions in the clothes basket kept us from getting hurt. However, I
do not believe we will fall. You see your horns are nicely rounded
and curved and are not sharp like the Moo-Cow’s, though really she
did not mean to poke holes in my balloons with them as she did. So,
perhaps, you would like to come airshipping with me.”
“I think I would,” the sheep gentleman replied, scratching his ear
with his left foot.
“Come along then,” invited the rabbit gentleman, as he led the way to
his airship.
“Oh, wait!” cried Nurse Jane. “I wish you would bring home some
sugar Wiggy, and also take these scissors. They are dull and need
sharpening. Have the grinder man fix them.”
“I will,” promised Uncle Wiggily. Then he and the sheep got into the
clothes basket of the airship, sat down on the soft sofa cushions
filled with the Wibblewobble duck feathers and away they sailed above
the tree tops.
“Oh, this is fine,” cried Mr. Baa-Baa, as he looked down at the earth
below. “I just love this airshipping!”
“I thought you would,” Uncle Wiggily said. “But there is the sugar
store just below us and also the scissor-grinder man. We will go
down.”
Down they went, landing as gently as a feather, for the toy circus
balloons were all right now. Uncle Wiggily bought the sugar, had
Nurse Jane’s scissors sharpened, and then he and the sheep started
off again, sailing above the tree-tops.
They had not gone very far before all of a sudden it began to get
dark.
“My! Is it going to be night so soon?” asked Uncle Wiggily.
“No, but I think there is going to be a thunder storm,” said Mr.
Baa-Baa. “See the clouds are over the sun. That is what makes it
dark. Yes, we are going to have a storm!”
And, surely enough, in a little while, it began to lighten and
thunder, and then it began to rain. Oh! So hard.
Then it got very cold, and it began to hail, though it was summer
time. Down came the big, round, frozen hail stones, pattering on the
Japanese umbrella of the airship.
“Oh, how cold I am!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “I am freezing! My paws are
so cold and stiff that I cannot steer the airship. You will have to
steer, Mr. Baa-Baa, for I cannot.”
“But I do not know how to steer an airship!” cried Mr. Baa-Baa.
“Then we are lost!” shouted Uncle Wiggily. “My paws are almost frozen
from the hail stones. I cannot hold the steering-wheel any more. Oh,
what shall we do?”
The airship was wabbling from side to side, and almost turning over,
for Uncle Wiggily’s cold paws could no longer steer it properly.
“Quick!” cried the sheep. “I know what to do! Take the sharp scissors
and cut off some of my warm wool. Wrap it about your paws, like
mittens. That will warm them, and then you can steer us safely to the
ground. Shear off my wool.”
“But won’t it hurt you?” asked poor, shivering Uncle Wiggily.
“Not a bit!” cried Mr. Baa-Baa. “Here, I will cut off some of my wool
myself, as your paws are too cold and stiff.” Then, with Nurse Jane’s
sharp scissors, the sheep cut off enough of his woolly fleece to make
Uncle Wiggily a pair of mittens. With them on, the rabbit’s paws were
soon warm enough so that he could steer his airship. And a little
later they were safely down on the ground out of the cold hail storm.
“My! It is a good thing I took you along in my airship, Mr. Baa-Baa!”
said Uncle Wiggily, as he gave Nurse Jane the sugar, and the muskrat
lady said the same thing. So you see you should always take a pair of
scissors and a woolly sheep along, when you go airshipping in a hail
storm.
“Well, what are you going to do now?” asked Uncle Wiggily of the
sheep gentleman, as Nurse Jane went in the hollow stump bungalow with
the sugar.
“Why, I think I’ll go back to the farm where I live,” the sheep
answered.
“Oh, don’t be in a hurry!” called Nurse Jane from the window. “I was
just going to give you and Uncle Wiggily a treat.”
“What sort of a treat?” asked the rabbit gentleman.
“Ice cream,” answered the muskrat lady.
“Ice cream!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. “How are you going to make ice
cream, if I may ask, Nurse Jane? You have no ice.”
“No, but I can use the ice-cold hail stones,” Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy
replied. “Scoop up a lot of them for me, Wiggy, that’s a dear, and
I’ll make the cream ready to freeze.”
So, with the sugar which Uncle Wiggily had brought from the store,
Nurse Jane made the cream. Uncle Wiggily and the sheep gentleman
scooped up a washtub full of the icy hail stones which had fallen
during the thunder storm, and soon the ice cream was frozen.
“Ah, this is certainly a lovely treat!” exclaimed the sheep gentleman
as he ate a second plate full of the ice cream.
“It is, indeed,” agreed Uncle Wiggily.
And then the sheep gentleman went back to the farm, and Uncle Wiggily
went to sleep while Nurse Jane washed the dishes.
Uncle Wiggily slept for a long, long time, and he had a funny dream
that he went on a funny trip in his airship. Oh, it was a very far,
long trip, away off to a beautiful land in the country, where the
fields were green, and all spotted with daisies and buttercups, and
where a little brook sang a song as it bubbled over the mossy stones.
And now, as this book is just as full of stories as it will hold I
will not put any more in it. But I will make a new book, and it will
be called “Uncle Wiggily in the Country.” In that you may read all
the funny things that happened to the rabbit gentleman when he rode
in his airship over the farm, and fell on a load of hay. And so,
until that book is ready, I will just say: “Good-bye!”
THE END
Uncle Wiggily’s Picture Book
By HOWARD R. GARIS
Author of “Uncle Wiggily’s Bedtime Stories,” “Bedtime Animal
Stories,” “Uncle Wiggily’s Story Book,” “The Daddy Series,” Etc.
Cloth Binding Price, $2.50 per Copy
32 illustrations in color, also 32 illustrations in black and white,
by LANSING CAMPBELL, the famous “Uncle Wiggily” artist.
Uncle Wiggily’s Picture Book is the latest volume by Howard R. Garis,
concerning the doings of Uncle Wiggily, the much-loved gentleman
rabbit. This volume is distinct and unique. No book like it was ever
before published. It contains “moving pictures,” that is, it contains
32 colored illustrations that may be moved about to any one of the 16
stories.
It is a book of which a child will never tire.
Uncle Wiggily’s Story Book
By HOWARD R. GARIS
Sixteen full-paged illustrations in color, twenty-nine in black
and white by LANSING CAMPBELL, the famous “Uncle Wiggily” artist.
Handsome Cloth Binding.
Price, $2.50 per Copy.
There are lessons for the children in contentment, happiness to
animals, bravery and self-sacrifice.
For sale by booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the
Publishers
A. L. BURT COMPANY
114-120 EAST 23rd ST., NEW YORK
Uncle Wiggily Bedtime Series
By HOWARD R. GARIS
Intended for reading aloud to the little folks each night. Each
volume contains colored illustrations and 31 stories, one for each
day of the month. Handsomely bound in cloth. Size 6½ inches × 8¼
inches.
Price 75 cents per volume, postpaid.
Bedtime Animal Stories