Right down through the cellar door fell poor Flop, and down the
cellar steps into a tub of water. Into that he went ker-splash! For,
you see, the cellar door had broken with him and let him right
through, almost half way to China, it seemed.
Into the tub of water went Flop, getting wet all over. But he
managed to crawl out after a while, and as he stood there,
shivering, in the cellar, looking up at the broken door through
which he had fallen, a nice little old rat lady came out of the
house, and, looking at Flop, said:
"Dear me! What a terrible accident. Too bad! Did you hurt yourself,
little piggie?"
"N-no-not much," answered Flop. "But I--I'm all wet."
"So I see," said the rat lady. "But I thought there was a sign on
the door, telling no one to slide down."
"So there was," admitted Flop, "but I didn't see why it was there,
so I slid anyhow."
"I put the sign there because the door was so rotten that I knew the
first one who slid down it would fall through," said the rat lady.
"And to think, some one did fall!"
"Yes'm," said Flop, "I fell."
"Well, don't do it again," said the rat lady, "and tomorrow I'll
have a new cellar door made. Now let me dry you off."
So she kindly did, but Flop was late for school. And--well, I
suppose it couldn't be helped, even if he had to stay in. But on the
next page, in case the mousetrap doesn't catch the cheese by the
tail and make it squeal, I'll tell you about Mr. Twistytail's lost
hat.
STORY XVII
MR. TWISTYTAIL'S LOST HAT
"Hey, Curly can you be out?" called Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow, the
puppy dogs, as they stood in front of the piggie boys' house one
morning when there was no school. I forget whether it was Saturday
or because the owl lady school teacher had to go and take her music
lesson.
Anyhow, there was no school, and as Peetie and Jackie stood in front
of the pig house and called:
"Hey, Curly! Hey, Flop! Come on out!"
"Of course we will!" cried Curly. "What are you going to do?" and he
and his brother hurried with their breakfast and ran out in the
yard.
"Let's play football game," suggested Jackie, "like we did the other
day."
"No, let's go off in the woods and play camping out," suggested
Curly.
"Yes, that will be more fun," added Flop, and then the two puppy dog
boys thought the same thing, so off to the woods they started.
"I wish I could go," said Baby Pinky, as she their chums.
"Never mind, Pinky," said Mrs. Twistytail. "I'm going to bake pies,
and I'll make a specially little one just for you."
"Oh, goodie!" cried Pinky, and then she went out in the yard to play
in her go-cart. Pretty soon along came Jennie Chipmunk and she
played with Pinky, so the little pig girl didn't mind so much, after
all, that her brothers had gone away.
But now let us see what happened to Curly and Flop, to say nothing
of Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow. On and on they went through the woods,
and pretty soon Jackie found a nice juicy bone, and Peetie found a
bit of meat, while Flop found an ear of corn and his brother picked
up a big turnip.
"Oh, joyfulness!" exclaimed Flop. "Now we can have a lunch in the
woods, just like real camping out!" And so they did. Under a tree,
on the soft leaves that floated down from the branches above, with a
flat stone for a table, and sticks for knives and forks, the piggie
boys and their chums ate their lunch and had lots of fun. Then Curly
said:
"Now let's play soldier," and so they did, with sticks for guns, and
when the boy animals called out: "Boom! Boom!" and "Bang! Bang!" it
sounded as real as anything.
Well, they were running around in the woods, shouting and laughing
and making believe they were soldiers at war, when all at once, just
as Curly passed in front of a hole that seemed to go away under
ground, he saw something roll out. It was something round and black
and hollow, and at first the little piggie boy thought it was a big
black stone. But, when he looked a little closer, he saw that it was
a hat--a man-pig's hat--just the kind they always wear.
"Oh, Flop! Oh, fellows! Come here!" called Curly. "See what rolled
out of the hole under this old tree."
Of course, they all came running up at that, and stopped playing
soldier, and they gathered around the hat.
"Whose is it?" asked Jackie Bow Wow.
"Where did it come from?" inquired Peetie, making his tail go round
like a pin wheel.
"It's our papa's hat!" suddenly cried Flop. "I can tell because it's
got his initials inside," and, surely enough there were the letters
"A.T." inside the hat, standing for "Archibald Twistytail."
"Our papa's hat!" exclaimed Curly. "Is it possible?"
"Of course, it is," said Floppy, as he picked it up. "Papa has lost
his hat."
"But it rolled out of that hole," said Curly, "and it isn't lost,
for we have found it."
"Then if papa's hat came out of that hole, our papa must be in
there," said Flop.
"Why, of course," agreed Jackie Bow Wow.
"But what is he doing in there?" asked Curly, "and what sort of a
place is it? I can't see him," he added, as he stooped down and
tried to look into the hole.
"I don't know what he's doing in there," said Flop, "but I know what
sort of a place that hole is. It's a wolf's den, and the wolf has
our papa, Most likely he's eating him now, and he threw the hat out
because he couldn't chew it--the wolf, I mean."
"Oh!" cried Curly, jumping up and down, he felt so badly.
"Oh; oh!" barked Jackie Bow Wow.
"Oh! oh! Double Oh!" growled Peetie Bow Wow. "What shall we do?"
"We must get him out of there!" exclaimed Flop as quickly as a
rubber band can play the "Annie Laurie" song. "There are four of us
here, and we have our wooden guns. I guess we are a match for one
wolf. We must save our papa."
"Of course!" agreed Curly, bravely.
"But how?" asked Jackie Bow Wow.
"Listen," said Flop, just like a telephone girl.
"A wolf always have two doors to his den--a back one and a front
one. This is the front one--where our papa's hat rolled out. Now,
Jackie, you and Curly go to the back door, and make a noise like a
soup bone. The wolf will think some company has come to supper with
him, and he'll run to the back door. As soon as he gets there,
Jackie, you bark like anything, and, Curly, you fire off your wooden
gun."
"But what will you do?" asked Curly of his brother.
"Peetie and I will stay at the front door," said Flop. "As soon as
we hear you making the noise we'll rush in the den by the front door
and get papa and help him out. Then we'll all run away."
Well, every one thought that was a fine plan, and they did just as
Flop said. The wolf came rushing to his back door when he heard the
noise there, and maybe he wasn't surprised to see Curly and the
puppy dog! Then Flop and Peetie rushed in the front door, and there,
inside the den, they found poor Mr. Twistytail tied to the table
leg.
"Quick!" cried Flop. "Bite the ropes, Peetie." And the puppy dog
did, and Mr. Twistytail was free. "Now, come with us!" cried Flop,
and he and his papa and Peetie ran out of the wolf's den just in
time, for the bad creature, seeing he had been fooled at his back
door, rushed up to bite the pig gentleman.
But he was too late, that wolf was, for the piggie boys and their
papa and the puppy dog boys got safely away, and the wolf didn't
dare follow because he was afraid of the wooden guns. Then when they
were all safe home, including the hat, Mr. Twistytail told how the
wolf caught him as he was coming back from work, and how his hat
accidently rolled out of the den. And if it hadn't been for the hat
maybe Mr. Twistytail would not have been saved.
Anyway, he was not hurt a bit, and in the next story, in case the
bicycle doesn't roll over the egg basket and make an omelet out of
the pin cushion, I'll tell you about Mamma Twistytail's new bonnet.
STORY XVIII
MOTHER TWISTYTAIL'S NEW BONNET
"Archibald," said Mrs. Twistytail, the lady pig, to her husband at
the breakfast table one morning, "I think I shall have to have some
money today."
"Money? What for?" he asked. "Do the children need new shoes, or
have we no more coal left?"
"No, I want the money for myself," said the pig lady. "I need a new
bonnet, and I am going down town this morning and get it at the five
and ten dollar store."
"Very well," said Mr. Twistytail, good-naturedly, so he put his foot
in his pocket and took out a lot of money, which he gave to his
wife. Then he kissed Baby Pinky, and Curly and Flop good-by and went
to work in the phonograph factory where he put the squeaks in the
wheels.
"Oh, if you are going shopping for a new bonnet, mamma!" exclaimed
Flop, "may I come with you?"
"Yes, and may I?" asked Curly, as he spun around on his front paws
like a top under a Christmas tree. "And if you have any money left,
mamma, after getting your bonnet, maybe you will buy us each a hot
ice cream soda."
"Oh you boys!" cried Mrs. Twistytail with a laugh. "No, I am afraid
I can't take you two with me, for it is Baby Pinky's turn. You boys
had a nice time the other day, playing in the woods, when you saved
your papa and his hat from the wolf's den, and so now it is Pinky's
turn to have some fun. I'll take her shopping with me."
"Oh goodie!" cried Baby Pinky, and she jumped into her go-cart and
out again, making the springs jounce up and down like anything.
"But I'll give you and Flop each a penny," said Mrs. Twistytail to
Curly, "and you can buy some corn candy with sour milk on top."
That pleased the boy piggies very much, and they ran off to school
with their pennies, while Mrs. Twistytail got ready to go shopping
after her bonnet with Baby Pinky. Pretty soon they went down town
and in the five and ten dollar bonnet store.
"Have you any bonnets?" asked Mrs. Twistytail.
"Indeed I have," said the nice lady frog who kept the store. "I have
all kinds of bonnets," and then she sang a little song that went
something like this, to the tune "High diddle-diddle:"
"I've bonnets of ribbon, and bonnets of paper,
I've bonnets both red, white and blue.
Some bonnets of leather, for cold stormy weather,
And bonnets of feathers and glue.
"I've bonnets becoming, and some that are stunning;
I've bonnets to wear upside down.
And if you will try one, I'm sure you will buy one,
To go with your new party gown."
"I'm sure I will, too," said Mrs. Twistytail, as the frog lady
finished and made a little bow to the looking-glass. "You may show
me the blue one," she went on, and frog lady did.
"Oh, mamma! That is lovely!" cried Baby Pinky. "But I think one with
more flowers on would be nicer."
"I think so, too," spoke the pig lady, and so she bought a bonnet
with a lot of flowers on it that looked as real as those which grow
in the woods and fields. Then Pinky and her mamma started for home,
Mrs. Twistytail wearing her new bonnet.
"We'll take the short cut through the woods," said the pig lady when
they had alighted from the trolley car on which a nice toad
gentleman was the conductor, because he could hop on and off so
quickly, and not step on any one's toes.
So through the woods went Mrs. Twistytail and Pinky, and they had
not gone very far when, just as they got to the wolf's hollow log
den out of which Mr. Twistytail's hat rolled that day, up sprang the
bad, impolite old animal himself and grabbed the pig lady and her
little daughter.
"Ah, ha! Now I have you!" cried the wolf. "Your husband got away
from me, Mrs. Twistytail, but I have you, and you can't get away,
and I have Pinky, too!" and he held them both tightly, in his paws.
"Oh, please let us go!" begged Pinky.
"No," growled the wolf, sticking out his red tongue because he was
so hungry.
"Oh, do!" pleaded Mrs. Twistytail. "I'll give you all the money I
have left from shopping if you'll let us go."
"No! No!" answered the wolf, more growlier than before. "You have
none left. Besides money is no good to me--I can't eat money!"
"Oh, mercy!" cried Pinky. "Are you going to eat us?"
"Indeed I am," said the wolf, smacking his jaws, and then Pinky and
her mamma tried as hard as they could to get away from the wolf, but
they could not. Holding them tightly in his paws, the wolf started
for his den, and, seeing Mrs. Twistytail's new bonnet, he took it
off her head, roughly like, and said:
"And I can't eat this! I guess I'll throw that away, as I did your
husband's hat. But no one will see it and come to rescue you as they
did him."
"Oh, my lovely new bonnet!" cried Mrs. Twistytail, and Pinky felt so
badly that she cried. But you just wait a minute and see what
happens to that bad old wolf.
The wolf was just going to toss the bonnet, all covered with almost
real flowers as it was, away up in a tree and just about to carry
the pig lady and Pinky down into his den, when, all at once, there
was a buzzing sound in the air and a voice cried:
"Ah, ha! Here are some flowers. Now we can get some honey!"
"Indeed we can," said another voice up in the air. "It is rather
late for such blossoms, but I am glad we saw them in time. Come on,
now, everybody, get the honey!"
And with that a whole swarm of stingery honey bees flew down from
the sky toward Mrs. Twistytail's flowered bonnet that the wolf held
in his paw. You see, the bees thought the flowers were real and that
they could gather honey from them.
And then, just as Pinky saw the bees, she had an idea and she cried
out:
"Oh, dear little bees! That is my mamma's new bonnet, and the wolf
has caught us. Please sting him and make him let us go!"
"Don't you dare sting me!" growled the wolf. "Take the bonnet if you
wish, but don't touch me," and he threw the bonnet to one side.
Some of the bees alighted on the bonnet, and as soon as they found
that the flowers were not real they got quite angry. And they
thought the wolf had played a trick on them, so they flew at him,
and stung him on his nose and tail and eyes and lips and even on his
tongue, until he cried out with pain and fright. Then he let go of
Pinky and her mamma and ran down into his den, and the pig lady was
safe. The bees never stung them once, but were very kind to them,
and with their wings brushed the dirt off Mrs. Twistytail's bonnet
so that it was as good as new.
Then the bees flew away, Mrs. Twistytail and Pinkey went safely
home, and the wolf had to stay in his den for a week and put witch
hazel on his stings.
So that's all tonight, if you please, but next, in case the kitchen
stove doesn't go out on the porch and play hide-and-seek with the
hammock, I'll tell you about Curly and the sour milk.
STORY XIX
CURLY AND THE SOUR MILK
"Oh, mamma!" exclaimed Curly the little piggie boy, as he rushed
into the house one noon and nearly upset his little sister Pinky, in
her new go-cart. "What do you think? There isn't going to be any
school for two weeks!"
"Why not?" asked Mrs. Twistytail, who was just getting dinner.
"Because the schoolhouse roof blew off in the storm last night,"
said Flop, who was Curly's brother, "and it will take two weeks to
put a new one on. So the nice owl lady teacher said we could have a
vacation. Oh, I'm so glad!"
"My goodness me, sakes alive and some Montclair caramels!" cried
Mrs. Twistytail. "A school vacation this time of year--so near
winter. I never heard of such a thing."
"But it will be all the nicer," said Curly, "and we can go after
chestnuts every day. Hi-yi! Hurrah!" and he squealed and jumped
around the room, and so did Flop, and they were the two most
delighted little pigs you ever saw. Just then along came Uncle
Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman rabbit.
"What's this!" he cried. "What is going on here?"
"No school!" squealed Curly. "No school! We have a vacation!"
"The very thing!" suddenly said the old gentleman rabbit. "I was
just wishing it was summer time, so some of my animal friends could
come away with me. I am going on a little vacation trip myself, and
I thought I would have to go alone. But if there is no school, then
Curly and Flop can come with me."
"Where to?" asked Flop.
"To Raccoon Island in Lake Hopatcong," answered Uncle Wiggily.
"We'll go up to my bungalow, stay two weeks and have a good time."
"Oh, fine!" cried Curly.
"Oh, joyousness!" squealed Flop, as he spun about on one leg and
tickled Baby Pinky with the other.
Well, that afternoon, Mamma Twistytail got the two boys ready, and
off they went with Uncle Wiggily to Raccoon Island in Lake
Hopatcong, which is a very nice place. It was beginning to get dark
when they arrived, and, after they had eaten some candy, and Uncle
Wiggily had opened the bungalow, he looked around and said:
"Now, boys, you will have to go to the store for something for
supper."
"What shall we get?" asked Flop.
"Well, see if you can get a cabbage or a turnip for me," spoke the
old gentleman rabbit, "and for yourselves whatever you like. Here is
the money."
"I want some sour milk," spoke Curly, for you know piggie boys like
sour milk as well as you do sweet.
"And I want a corncob cake," went on Flop.
"Very well, go down to Pop Goes the Weasel's store and get it," said
Uncle Wiggily, and the two boys started off to the other end of the
island, where Pop Goes the Weasel kept a grocery store. Flop got his
corncob cakes first, and as Curly had to wait for the milk to get
sour he said to his brother:
"Now, Flop, you hurry back with Uncle Wiggily's cabbage and carrots,
and I'll soon come with my sour milk."
"Won't you be afraid?" asked Flop, for the woods were now quite
dark.
"Afraid! Nonsensicalness no!" exclaimed Curly, "and a bouquet of wild
flowers besides. Run along."
So Flop ran back toward the bungalow, and pretty soon Pop Goes the
Weasel said the milk was sour enough, and he gave it to Curly in a
pail.
Through the dark woods went the little piggie boy, and he had not
gone very far before he heard some one crying, and a voice saying:
"Oh, dear! I'm lost! I can't find my bungalow, and I can't find my
motorboat, and I'm afraid--dreadfully afraid!"
"Ha! I wonder who that can be?" thought Curly Tail. "Perhaps it may
be the bad alligator trying to scare Cora Janet. No, that can't be,"
he went on, "for Cora Janet is down in Montclair, making funny music
tunes on the piano."
Then he heard the gentle little crying voice again, and he knew it
was somebody in trouble, Curly did, and he called out:
"Who is there?"
"I am," sobbed a voice.
"And who are you?"
"My name is Ethel Rose," went on the voice, "and I am lost. Oh,
please help me. I'm so afraid!"
"Of course, I'll help you," spoke Curly bravely. "But why is your
name Ethel Rose?--that is two names."
"I don't know," answered the little girl, and then she stepped out
from the bushes where she had been crying, and the moon shone down
on her face and her ear-rings and dark hair, and Curly said:
"Now I know why they call you Ethel Rose."
"Why?" she asked.
"Because you are as pretty as a rose," and at that Ethel laughed.
"But come," went on Curly, "I'll show you the way to our bungalow,
and then Uncle Wiggily will take care of you."
"Oh, will he?" cried Ethel Rose, and so she walked along beside
Curly, who was carrying his pail of sour milk. And, all of a sudden,
when they were near the bungalow, there was a rustling in the
bushes, and out jumped a big black bear.
"Ah, ha!" the bear cried. "Now I have you Curly, and you, too, Ethel
Rose! Oh, how nice! You come with me and I will tell your fortune!"
"But I know my fortune already," said Ethel Rose, and she was just
ready to cry again, for she did not like bears.
"Never mind, come along to my den, anyhow!" growled the bear. "I am
going to have roast pork for supper!" and he made a grab for Curly
and Ethel Rose, and caught them in his big claws.
And then, all at once, he saw the pail Curly was carrying--that bear
did--and he growled out:
"Ha! Ha! What have we here? Something good, I'll venture. Well, I'll
take that first!" And before Curly could stop him the bear tipped up
the pail and drank every drop of sour milk at one mouthful! And
then! Oh, dear!
"Wow! Woof! Snickery-snee! Bur-r-r! Lemons! Vinegar! Sourgrass!"
cried the bear. And his mouth was puckered up so from the sour
milk--just as when you eat lemons if you have the mumps--that the bear
couldn't open his jaws to take even one bite. And Curly knew this,
so he cried:
"Come on, Ethel Rose, we can get away now! Uncle Wiggily will save
us!" So Curly Tail helped Ethel Rose to run away and the bear's
mouth was so puckered up from the sour milk that he had to run down
to the lake to get a drink of water, and so Curly Tail and pretty
Ethel Rose got safely to the bungalow and away from the bear. And
that's all there is tonight, if you please.
But the next story, in case the marshmallow doesn't stick on Ethel
Rose's hair ribbon, and make a pin cushion of it, will be about Flop
and the pie lady.
STORY XX
FLOP AND THE PIE LADY
Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old gentleman rabbit, and the two
piggie boys, Flop Ear and Curly Tail, were sitting on the porch at
the bungalow at Raccoon Island, Lake Hopatcong, wondering what they
could do next for their autumn vacation fun. Curly was trying to
take some snapshot photographs of a little red squirrel, who was
jumping down across the cot beds, all in a row like soldiers, and
Flop was wondering whether he could catch any fish.
"Well, we must do something," said Uncle Wiggily. "It isn't every
day you boys get a vacation after the regular summer one, so you
must enjoy it."
"We wouldn't have gotten it if the roof hadn't blown off our
school," said Flop, "and, as long as we're here, I say let's go off
in the woods and look for chestnuts."
"All right," said Curly, and they were just going to leave the
bungalow, when, all at once, there was a rustling in the bushes and
out came--no, not a bear or a wolf, or even a bad skillery-scalery
alligator, this time. No, it was a nice lady, with real soft, brown
hair, and the jolliest whistle you ever heard!
What's that? You didn't know ladies could whistle? Well, this one
could, and play the piano at the same time. Out she came from the
bushes, and she said:
"Oh, Uncle Wiggily, I'm so glad to see you and the two little piggie
boys."
"Well, we are glad to see you, too," said Uncle Wiggily, politely
making his best bow, "but I'm afraid I don't know you."
"Oh, yes, you do," said the lady. "I make pies, and if you like I'll
make one now."
"Will you, really?" cried Flop. "Oh, I would dearly love an apple
pie, with a bit of sour milk cheese."
"Then you shall have it," said the lady, as she trilled out a little
tune by whistling until it sounded like a bird in the lilac bush.
"Have you any apples?" she asked, puckering up her lips.
"Yes!" exclaimed Flop. "Here they are!" and he brought out a
basketful. The lady said they would make a lovely pie, so she rolled
up her sleeves, and spoke, saying:
"Now, I am sorry, but I would like you all to leave the bungalow.
You, Uncle Wiggily, and you, also, Flop and Curly. For when I make
apple pies I get all kerslostrated--which means fussed--if any one
is around. So kindly run away, and when you come back the pie will
be ready for you."
"All right; we'll go," said Uncle Wiggily. "I'll go pull my
motorboat up on dry land, so it won't get caught in the ice when the
lake freezes this winter, and you boys can help me."
So Curly and Flop went off to help Uncle Wiggily, and the pie lady--for
such they called her--started her baking. She peeled the apples
and cut them up, and then she got the piecrust mixed. Uncle Wiggily
had already built a fire so she did not have to do that. And all the
while she whistled and whistled, until it made you feel glad and
happy just to hear her. And when you smelled that apple pie baking--well,
say! I mustn't write any more about that, or I'll want to put
my typewriter down cellar, and go out hunting for the lady myself.
Pretty soon Flop, who was helping Uncle Wiggily with the motorboat,
sniffed the air, grunted once or twice, and said:
"I smell something good! I guess I'll go see what it is."
"All right," said Curly, who was quite tired from having assisted
his rabbit uncle to haul up the boat. "I'll stay here, Flop, and
when you find the good thing that you smell, bring me some."
So Flop promised, and he kept sniffling away, and the lovely smell
grew plainer and plainer as he moved toward the bungalow, until he
exclaimed:
"Ah, I know what it is! The pie lady! Oh, I wonder if the pie is
done?"
Nearer and nearer he went to the bungalow, and he heard a whistle,
and then he saw the pie lady bustling around with a long apron on,
and Flop asked:
"Is the pie done?"
"Almost, little piggie boy," she answered.
"You may wait for it to come out of the oven. How old are you?"
"Seven," said Flop, and then he asked the lady.
"What is your name?"
"Margaret," she answered. "Margaret More."
"More what?" asked Flop.