this time just like a canary trilling when it swings at the top of
its cage in the sunshine. Curly laughed, too, and then the lady went
to the oven to take out the pie.
And, would you ever believe it if I didn't tell you? No, I'm sure
you wouldn't. But, anyhow, all of a sudden, out from the bushes came
a bad, fuzzy old wolf, and he stood in front of the bungalow,
crying:
"I smell apple pies! I smell apple pies! Also a little piggie boy!
Oh, what a fine lunch I am going to have!"
Well, Flop was so frightened that he couldn't even walk, much less
run, and all he could do was to squeal, "Oh dear!"
The pie lady heard him, and came running to the door of the
bungalow.
"What is the matter?" she asked, and then she saw the wolf.
"Oh, my!" she exclaimed. "What shall I do?"
"Nothing!" exclaimed the wolf, sticking out his red tongue. "I'll do
all that's necessary. But first I'll eat the apple pie, and then
I'll carry you and Flop off to my den!"
Well, when Flop heard that--heard that the wolf was going to eat the
lovely pie--he became real brave, that little piggie boy did.
"You shan't have that pie!" he cried.
Then the wolf, with a big jump, started for the bungalow to get the
pie and the pie lady, but what do you think Flop did? He just
grabbed up the pan of apple peelings--long, curling peelings they
were--and he threw them at the wolf! Right at the bad creature's
legs he threw them, and the apple peelings tangled up in the wolf's
fur and in his tail, and his legs and paws, and head-over-heels he
went, falling down on the ground and bumping his nose on a hard
stone.
"Oh, wow! Oh, woe is me! Oh too-badness!" growled the wolf, and he
ran away to his den to get some salve to put on his bumped nose, and
so he didn't get the pie lady, nor the pie, nor Flop, either, at
least not that day.
Then the apple pie was done, and the pie lady whistled a nicer song
than ever, and Curly and Uncle Wiggily came to the bungalow and they
all ate pie and were as happy as happy could be. But, as for the
wolf, the less said about him the better.
So on the next page, in case the door-knob doesn't tickle the dining
room bread-board and make the sawdust come out of the breakfast
oatmeal, I'll tell you about the piggie boys and the jelly.
STORY XXI
THE PIGGIES AND THE JELLY
One day, when Curly and Flop, the two piggie boys, had been at Uncle
Wiggly's bungalow on Raccoon Island for some days, the old gentleman
rabbit said to them:
"Now, boys, I have to go down to the store, kept by Pop Goes the
Weasle, to see about some butter and things for supper. Will you be
afraid to stay here alone?"
"Indeed we will not!" exclaimed Curly.
"Not even if the bad fuzzy wolf comes out of his den after more
apple pies?" asked the rabbit gentleman.
"Not even then!" exclaimed Flop. "If he does, I'll throw more apple
peelings at him, and trip him up so that he bumps his nose again."
"Good!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, as he limped off on his red, white
and blue rheumatism crutch. "And if the apple pie lady comes
whistling along again, get her to make us a prune pudding," he said.
"We will," promised the piggie boys, and then they began to play
games in front of the Lake Hopatcong bungalow, while Uncle Wiggily
went to see Pop Goes the Weasle, who kept the grocery store.
"Well, I guess she isn't coming," said Flop, after a while.
"Who?" asked Curly.
"The pie lady. I do wish she would, for I am hungry," and he looked
at the bushes, and, all of a sudden, they began to rustle, and the
piggie boys didn't know whether to run away or stay there.
"Maybe it's the pie lady," said Curly.
"Yes, and maybe it's the bad black bear," suggested Flop. "I'm going
to run into the bungalow!"
Well, he was just going to run, and Curly was going to follow, when,
all at once, a sweet gentle voice said:
"Oh, dear, I'm sure I'll never find any! Oh, and I want it so much!
I wonder where I could get any?"
The two piggie boys looked, and there they saw an Indian maiden
coming out of the bushes. They knew she was an Indian maiden because
her hair was in two long braids, hanging down in front of her, and
she had a brown dress on, and she was very beautiful, just like a
picture.
"We needn't be afraid of her," whispered Curly to his brother.
"No indeed," agreed Flop. "I wonder what it is she is looking for?"
"Jelly," answered the Indian maiden, who heard what the piggie boy
asked. "I am looking for a jar of jelly. Oh, I just love jelly, and
I haven't had any in so long that I forget how it tastes! Since
early morning I have been traveling looking for jelly, but I can't
find any. Some wild bees offered me honey, but I would like jelly.
Have you any?" and she looked at the bungalow.
"Why, I think we have some," said Curly politely.
"I'll go look!" exclaimed Flop, for they were both anxious to do
some kindness for the Indian maiden, whom they liked as soon as they
saw her. She was not a wild Indian, you know, but the kind that
lives in Montclair, maybe; a tame one.
So Flop ran in the bungalow to look for the jelly and Curly picked a
nice bunch of flowers for the Indian maiden, and she put them in her
hair and looked prettier than ever.
"Here is the jelly!" cried Flop, coming out with as much as he could
carry. "I'm sure Uncle Wiggily would want you to have it," he said,
and then he gave the Indian maiden a spoon and she began to eat
jelly and was as happy as anything.
"Oh, that is very good!" she exclaimed. "I hope some time I can do
you piggie boys a favor for being so kind to me." So she ate all the
jelly up--that is, all that was good for her--and she was just going
away, having thanked Curly and Flop, when all at once, on a sudden,
out from behind a tree came the big black bear. He waved his paws in
the air, and, wrinkling up his black nose, he growled out:
"Ha! I smell jelly! I'm going to have some, too, to eat on my roast
pork!" and he looked hungrily at the two piggie boys. They were both
too frightened to move, but the Indian maiden was brave.
"Come! Come! Give me that jelly!" growled and grumbled the bear!
"Then I'll take you piggie boys off to my den and make the Indian
maiden cook you."
"Oh, but I'll not do it!" said the Indian maiden whose name was
Pocohontas. "I like Curly and Flop, for they were kind to me and
gave me jelly."
"Well, then, I want jelly, too!" growled the bear. He made a jump,
intending to take the jelly away from the Indian maiden, but Curly
and Flop cried out:
"No, you don't! Get away from here at once, you bad bear."
"Well, if I go, I'll take you with me!" said the bear. "If I can't
have jelly I'll have you piggie boys!" and he caught one of them
under each paw.
"Oh, help!" cried Curly, trying to get loose, but he could not.
"Save us! Save us!" begged Flop, making his tail spin like a
pinwheel.
"I will save you!" called the Indian maiden.
"Oh, if I only had a bow and arrow I would shoot the bear and rescue
the two piggie boys! I know what I'll do. I'll make a bow and find
an arrow."
So she took a bent branch of a tree for the bow and for the string
she used some strands of her long braids. But the needed an arrow,
and all the while the bear was carrying Curly and Flop off to his
den.
"I know!" cried the Indian maiden. "A hat pin! My very longest and
sharpest hat pin! That will do for an arrow!"
She ran to where she had left her hat in the bushes when she was
looking for the jelly, and quickly got a hat pin. This she shot at
the bear from her bow.
"Whizz!" it went through the air, hitting the bear on the end of his
soft and tender nose.
"Oh, wow!" he cried. "Oh, woe is me!" and his nose pained him so
that he dropped Curly and Flop and back to the bungalow ran the
piggie boys as fast as they could. And the bear went off to put some
cooling mud on his nose, where the hat pin had hit him.
So that's how the Indian maiden saved the piggie boys from the bear,
and they gave her more jelly and thanked her, and then, using a long
thorn instead of a hat pin, which the bear carried off in his nose,
Pocohontas went off looking for more jelly, and Curly and Flop went
to asleep.
And next, in case the horse radish doesn't jump over the oysters and
scare them so they fall into the clam chowder, I'll tell you about
Flop and the marshmallows.
STORY XXII
FLOP AND THE MARSHMALLOWS
"Boys," said Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman rabbit, to
Curly and Flop, the piggie chaps, one morning. "Boys, do you think
you can get along by yourselves this afternoon?"
"Why, I guess so," answered Curly, as he looked off across the beach
at Raccoon Island in Lake Hopatcong. "But where are you going, Uncle
Wiggily?"
"Oh, Pop Goes the Weasel wanted me to come down to his store and
have a game of Scotch checkers after dinner," said the old gentleman
rabbit. "He says he is lonesome since all the summer folk went
away."
"Of course, we can get along all right," spoke Flop. "We'll have our
lunch and, we'll do the dishes, so you can go and play Scotch
checkers with Pop Goes the Weasel."
"But what are Scotch checkers?" asked Curly.
"Oh, when you play that game," said Uncle Wiggily, "you have a nice
Scotchman standing near you all the while to cook Scotch scones over
a hot fire. And scones are good to eat; something like pancakes,
with maple syrup on, only different. It is fun to play Scotch
checkers."
"I should think so," said Flop. "And could you bring us a few
scones, Uncle Wiggily!"
"I'll try," said the old gentleman rabbit, "though Pop Goes the
Weasel and I are very fond of eating them when we play checkers."
So in the afternoon Uncle Wiggily went to visit his friend at the
store on Raccoon Island, and the two piggie boys stayed home to keep
house. And, when they had washed the dishes, Curly said:
"Now, Flop suppose we go looking for adventures. I'll go one way and
you can go the other, and we'll see who can find an adventure
first."
"All right," said the other little piggie boy. So they started away
from the bungalow. But as Curly fell asleep before he had gone much
farther than the Sylvan Way (which is a nice little rustic bench on
the island) no adventure happened to him. But wait until I tell you
what happened to Flop.
Off he started, and he had not gone very far before he heard some
one crying out:
"Oh, what shall I do with them? Oh, so many as there are! I never
can eat them all!"
"My!" exclaimed Flop, "I wonder if that is a bad bear who has caught
a whole lot of piggie or rabbit children? Who ever it is can't eat
them all, so it must be something extra good. I wonder what it is?"
So he hid behind a stump, and after a bit he peeked out and there he
saw his old friend, little Cora Janet, of Montclair, walking around
in the woods with a big box in her arms. And on the box was a sign
which read:
CANDY
"My gracious sakes alive and some lollypops!" exclaimed Flop. "She
has so much candy she doesn't know what to do with it! I wonder if I
can help her?"
So Flop jumped out from behind a bush, made a low bow, and said,
most politely:
"Can I help you, Cora Janet?"
"Oh, yes, you can!" she exclaimed. "You see I came up here looking
for the Indian Maiden who likes jelly so much. I thought I would
give her some of my marshmallows, as I have a whole box full-many
more than I can eat. But I can't find the Indian Maiden--Pocohontas--and
now I shall have to eat all the marshmallows myself."
"Why?" asked Flop, curious like.
"Because," answered Cora Janet, "because there is a big bear chasing
after me. He smells the sweet candy and he is so hungry that he will
want to eat the marshmallows and me, too. But if I could only get
rid of the candies he might let me alone. Oh, what shall I do? I've
toasted them, and roasted them and eaten them just as they are out
of the box, and put them in a cake and everything, but still the
bear chases after me!"
"Of course I do!" suddenly growled a voice in the bushes and just
then out popped the bear. The hat pin which the Indian maiden had
shot in his nose was out now, and that bear was as angry as
anything. He wanted to grab Cora Janet and take her off to his den I
guess. Anyhow he growled as angry as could be!
"Oh, what shall I do!" called the little girl. "How can I get rid of
all these marshmallows, for if the bear takes them it will only make
him the more hungry and then he will want to eat me, and you too,
Flop."
"That must never be!" exclaimed the little piggie boy. "Ha! I have
it!" he cried. "We will throw the marshmallows at the bear, and make
him so stuck up that he won't want ever to eat anything again except
pepper-hash!"
"Good!" cried Cora Janet. So she and Flop opened the box of
marshmallows. Just then the bear made a rush for them, intending to
grab them both in his big, long claws and carry them off to his den.
But Flop threw a sticky marshmallow candy, and it landed in one of
the bear's eyes and stayed there.
"Oh, wow!" cried the shaggy creature, and he could only see out of
one eye. Then Cora Janet threw another marshmallow and it closed up
the bear's other eye. Then he couldn't see at all.
"Oh, wow again! Double wow!" cried the bear. Then, as fast as they
could throw them, Flop and Cora Janet tossed the sticky marshmallow
candies. They stuck up the bear's nose so he couldn't hear, and got
in his ears so he couldn't smell. Oh! just listen to me, would you!
I'm so excited that I got that part wrong. But, anyhow, the bear
couldn't see, nor smell, nor hear. And then more marshmallows got in
his mouth, and they were like sponges, and he couldn't even bite any
one, for they stuck on his teeth like gum. Then Flop said:
"We are safe now, Cora Janet, and we have enough marshmallows left
to roast at the camp fire tonight."
And so they had. And that bear was so stuck up with the soft
marshmallow candies--in his eyes and nose and mouth and ears and
paws and tail and fur--that he had to go to sleep in the lake for a
week and a day to get them washed off.
So he didn't bother Cora Janet nor Flop any more, and pretty soon
Curly awakened and came back to the bungalow to hear about his
brother's adventure. And Uncle Wiggily came back from playing Scotch
checkers with Pop Goes The Weasel, and everybody was happy, even
Cora Janet, and they had roast marshmallows for supper.
And on the next page, in case the little boy across the street
doesn't slide down the front steps and scare the milkman's horse so
that it drinks up all the ice cream, I'll tell you about the piggie
boys and the big fish, and it will be a Hallowe'en story.
STORY XXIII
THE PIGGIES AND THE FISH
On the morning of the day when it was to be Hallowe'en, Curly Tail,
and Flop Ear, the two piggie boys, awakened in Uncle Wiggily's
bungalow, on Raccoon Island in Lake Hopatcong, and Curly Tail
whispered:
"What are you going to dress up like, Flop Ear?"
"Oh, I guess I'll make believe I'm a loaf of bread. What are you
going to be?"
"An apple pie," said the other little piggie boy, "I'll stick apples
all over myself, and some bits of pie crust, and when we get through
playing Hallowe'en we can eat them."
"Fine!" cried Curly Tail. "I wish I was going dressed up like an ice
cream cone, but then I'd melt so fast I wouldn't have any fun. So I
guess I'll be a loaf of bread."
"And we'll fool Uncle Wiggily, won't we?" said Flop Ear.
"We surely will," declared his brother. But if they could have
looked into the next room, and have seen Uncle Wiggily laughing to
himself, and winking his eyes, and rubbing his leg that had
rheumatism in it--well, maybe those piggie boys wouldn't have felt
so funny.
"Fool me, eh? Will they?" whispered Uncle Wiggily. "We'll see about
it," and then he hopped about on his crutch to help the boys get
breakfast.
"We must have all the good times we can," said the old gentleman
rabbit, "for soon the new roof will be on your school and you will
have to begin studying your lessons again. Be happy while you're
here, for soon the snow will fly and the ice will come, and we will
have to go away from the lake."
"Oh, we're going to have a good time, Uncle Wiggily," said Curly
Tail, or Curly, as I often call him for short, and then he looked at
his brother, and they both laughed and pretended it wasn't anything
at all. But Uncle Wiggily knew better.
"Well," said the old gentleman rabbit, after breakfast, "I guess
I'll go down and play Scotch checkers with Pop Goes the Weasel. You
boys can stay here, but if the bad alligator or the fuzzy fox tries
to get you, just call for me."
"All right," said Curly Tail, and when his uncle was out of sight he
and his brother began to dress up for Hollowe'en, which is the night
everyone puts on false faces you know.
One of the piggie boys made a lot of flour paste, colored with brown
sugar, and that was to fix him so he would look like a loaf of
bread. And Flop Ear made himself look like an apple pie.
"Now, we'll just practice, ready for tonight, when we're going to
fool Uncle Wiggily," said Curly Tail, and they did, having lots of
fun.
Just before supper Uncle Wiggily came home from having played Scotch
checkers with Pop Goes the Weasel. The old gentleman had something
under his coat, but when Curly Tail and Flop Ear asked him what it
was he only laughed and said:
"Oh, you'll soon see!"
Well, it got pretty dark, and Curly Tail and his brother thought it
was time for them to dress up and play a trick on their uncle. So
they took their false faces, one like a lump of buttered bread and
the other like a piece of cheese, and went out in the woods to
dress. They intended to come and knock on the bungalow door and see
what Uncle Wiggily would do and say when he saw them.
Pretty soon they were both ready, and, really, if I do say it
myself, Curly Tail looked just like a ten-cent loaf, with flour in
his buttonhole and all that, only he didn't have any real butter on,
as that was so greasy. And Flop Ear, or Flop, or Floppy, for short,
looked too cute for anything--just exactly like an apple pie, and
he even carried a bit of cheese to go with it, and a toasting fork.
"Now, we'll fool Uncle Wiggily," they said, as they started for the
bungalow. But they didn't know what had happened to the rabbit
gentleman. They hadn't gone very far before, out in a boat on the
lake, not far from shore, they heard a voice calling:
"Oh, help! Help! He's such a big one that I can't get him in, and
Percival has fallen overboard! Help! Help!"
"My goodness! What's that?" asked Curly Tail, in surprise.
"Some one must be in trouble," said Flop Ear. "Let's see who it is."
"But it might be the bad skillery-scalery alligator, with the lumps
on his tail," said the other piggie boy. Then Flop Ear looked out on
the lake, where it was all lighted by the moon and he said:
"I see a lady in a boat. Surely she would not harm us. And she spoke
of Percival--she must mean the old circus dog! I am going to see
what is the matter!"
"Better not! Maybe it's a trick to catch us!" said Curly Tail.
But just then a lady on the lake called again: "Oh help! He is such
a big one that I can't get him into the boat, and Percival has
fallen overboard!"
Then there was a great splashing, and a rustling in the bushes and
Flop Ear called:
"We're coming to help you, lady! What have you got that is so big?"
"A fish," she answered. "My husband, Percival, is a great fisherman
and he caught the biggest fish in all the lake, but it pulled him
out of the boat. However, I have hold of the pole and line, and the
fish is still fast to the hook. Oh, help me to catch him!"
So the piggie boys said they would, and they ran down to the shore,
and the lady in the boat passed them the pole. Then Curly and Flop
pulled as hard as they could, and old circus dog Percival scrambled
out of the water, and he helped pull, too, and, all of a sudden,
from the bushes along the edge of the lake--on dry land, but not in
the water--there suddenly flopped the biggest fish any one had ever
seen.
"Oh, what long ears the fish has!" cried Curly Tail, when the moon
shone on the fish. "I never saw a fish with ears!"
"I'm not a fish," said a voice. "Oh, please let me go. The hook is
caught in my collar. Please let me go!"
"Who are you?" asked Percival, in wonder.
"I'm Uncle Wiggily Longears," was the answer. "I dressed up like a
Hallowe'en fish to fool Curly Tail and Flop Ear. I was walking along
the shore in the dark, thinking I could catch the piggie boys, when,
all of a sudden, something caught in my coat collar, and I was
dragged through the bushes. I was choked so I could hardly speak,
and I didn't know what had happened to me."
"Oh, that's too bad," said Percival. "I guess I happened to catch
you on my fishhook by mistake, when I was tossing it around. But why
are you all dressed up?" he asked Curly Tail and Flop Ear and Uncle
Wiggily.
"Because it is Hallowe'en," said Flop Ear; "but I guess we have had
enough of it."
"Yes," said Uncle Wiggily, "come up into the bungalow and we will
duck for apples, eat marshmallows and have fun."
So Curly Tail took off his bread crumbs clothes, and Flop Ear his
apple pie suit, and Uncle Wiggily his fish scales, and they all took
off their false faces, and Percival and the lady whose name was
Gertrude, had a good time.
And in the next story in case the ash can doesn't roll off the roof
and fall on the dog house to scare the puppy cake I'll tell you
about Curly Tail and the little afraid girl.
STORY XXIV
CURLY AND THE AFRAID GIRL
One day, when Uncle Wiggily, the nice old gentleman rabbit, went
down to the store on Raccoon Island, in Lake Hopatcong, kept by Pop
Goes the Weasel, there was a letter there for Curly Tail and also
one for Flop Ear.
"I wonder who can be writing to the piggie boys," said the rabbit
gentleman. "I'll take the letters to them."
So he stopped to play just one game of Scotch checkers with Pop Goes
the Weasel, only they didn't quit finish it because Mr. Pop's cat
jumped on the middle of the board to catch a mosquito and scattered
the checkers all over.
"Scat!" cried Pop Goes the Weasel. "Why did you do that?"
"Never mind," said Uncle Wiggily. "She didn't mean to."
And really the cat didn't mean to, and the mosquito got away after
all, and Pop Goes the Weasel began picking up the checkers, but the
rabbit gentleman said:
"I'm afraid I can't stay to finish the game. I must get back with
the letters for Flop and Curly," calling them thus for short.
"Very well," said Pop, "and take them some sour milk chocolate candy
with my best wishes, for the letters may be from home, telling them
to come back to school."
And really, that is just what the letters said. They were from the
nice owl lady school teacher, saying that the roof was back on the
school now, and that in a few days all the animal children must
begin reciting their lessons again.
"Well, then, we must have all the fun we can the few remaining days
that we are to be on Raccoon Island," said Flop Ear.
"Correct," spoke Curly Tail. "Let's take a walk and see if we can
find an adventure."
So off they started from Uncle Wiggily's bungalow, and when they
came to a place where there were two paths through the woods, Curly
Tail said:
"Now, Flop Bar, you go one way and I'll go the other, and we will
see who first meets with an adventure."
"Very well," agreed Flop Ear, and off he went through the woods,
but, as nothing happened to him except that he fell down a well and
had trouble getting out again, I shall not tell his adventure.
Instead, I will relate what happened to Curly Tail.
On and on he went, and he was wondering what would happen to him,
when, all at once, as he came to a little river that flowed through
the island, he heard a voice saying:
"Oh, I shall never get across. I know I shan't. I'm so afraid of
water, and I know there are cat-tails and pussy willows and all
sorts of things like that around here. Oh! what shall I do? I want
to get across to see my grandmother, but how can I?"
"Hum! That is queer," thought Curly Tail. "I wonder who that can be?
I had better be careful, though, for it may be the fuzzy fox trying
to fool me."
So, carefully hiding himself behind a stone, he peered over the top,
and once more he heard the voice saying:
"Oh! isn't it dreadful to be afraid!"
"Why, it's a little mousie girl," exclaimed Curly Tail out loud.
"Of course, it is," said the little creature beside the river. "And
I'm afraid of the water, and the cat-tails and the pussy willows and
all that."
"There are no pussy willows out now, they only come in the spring,"
said Curly Tail. "Though there may be some cat-tails. But they are
not real cats, you know. They won't hurt you. Are you a little
afraid, mousie girl?"
"Yes, but that isn't my name," she said. "My name is Edna, and I'm
dreadfully afraid of the water. How shall I get across?"
"I'll get a big board and make believe it is a boat," said Curly
Tail. "Then you won't be afraid."
"Oh, yes, I will," she said. "Can't you think of some other way?"