thought real hard.
"I have it!" he cried. "You shall get on the board boat, and all the
while you must keep looking up at the sky. Then you will not see the
water, and you'll think you're flying and you won't be afraid."
"The very thing!" cried Edna, the little afraid mousie girl. So
Curly Tail got a nice, big board for a boat, and pushed it into the
water. Then he got a pole to shove himself and the mousie girl
across the river, and they both got on the boat.
"Now mind!" exclaimed Curly Tail. "Keep looking up, and you won't be
afraid."
Off they started, and Edna wasn't much afraid. When they were about
halfway across, and she felt real glad that she would soon see her
grandmother, she said:
"Oh, I guess I'm brave enough to look at the water now. I think I'm
not afraid with you, Curly Tail."
"All right," spoke the little piggie boy, and he was just going to
tell the mousie girl to look down if she wanted to, when, all at
once, after the boat, with his big jaws open, and his tongue going
over his teeth like a nutmeg grater, came the bad skillery-scalery
old alligator, with a double hump on his tail.
"Oh, my!" thought Curly Tail. "If she looks down now, and sees that
alligator, she'll surely be so afraid that she'll faint, and maybe
fall into the water, and then I'll have to jump in to save her, and
the alligator will get us both. What shall I do?"
Well, the mousie girl was just going to look down, and she would
surely have seen the 'gator, when Curly Tail cried:
"Don't look! Don't look! Oh, lobster salad! don't look!"
"Why not?" asked the mousie girl.
"Because--because it's--it's a surprise!" was all Curly could think
of to say.
"Oh, if it's a surprise I must surely look!" said the mousie girl.
"I just love surprises!"
"I guess she won't like this kind!" thought Curly Tail, but what he
said was:
"Quick! Tie your handkerchief over your eyes, and make believe you
are playing blind man's bluff. Then you can't look until it's time.
Quick!"
So the mousie girl, whose name was Edna, did as Curly Tail told her.
She blinded her eyes, and then, the piggie boy knew she would not
see the 'gator. On came the ferocious creature, ready to swallow the
boat, Curly Tail and little afraid girl all at once. But Curly Tail
just stuck the push pole down the alligator's throat, and that made
the 'gator so angry that he lashed out with his tail, made a big
wave, and that washed the boat and the piggie boy and the mousie
girl safely up on shore. And then they were all right, for on dry
land they could run faster than the 'gator could.
"Where's the surprise?" asked Edna, as she took off the
handkerchief.
"There he goes," said Curly Tail, showing her the alligator, who was
swimming away, and Edna was glad she had not seen it when on the
boat or she knew she surely would have fainted. Then she went on to
her grandmother's, after thanking Curly Tail, and the little piggie
boy went back to the bungalow.
And on the next page, if the boys don't take my cocoanut cake for a
football and roll it up hill, I'll tell you about the piggies and
the dinner party.
STORY XXV
THE PIGGIES AT THE PARTY
One day a nice lady stopped in front of the house where lived Curly
and Floppy Twistytail, the two piggie boys, and called to them as
they were playing football in the yard.
"Is your mamma in?" asked the lady, as she looked to see if her
earrings were dingle-dangling.
"Yes," replied Curly Tail, "she is. Would you like to see her?"
"Indeed, I would!" exclaimed the lady, as she blinked her two eyes
and laughed in a jolly fashion.
"But she is lying down," explained Flop Ear, "so if you want to sell
her some new kind of soap to make our faces clean or some baking
powder that will puff a cake up like a balloon, I don't believe she
wants any."
"Bless your dear little pink noses!" exclaimed the lady. "I'm not
selling anything. I just came to ask your mamma if you could come to
my party."
"A party?" cried Curly Tail. "Are you getting up a party for us?"
"For all the animal children," explained the lady, whose name was
Sadie. "I want you all to come to my dinner party and have a good
time. It's going to be away up in Montclair."
"Oh, I guess we can come," spoke Flop Ear. "Are you going to have
ice cream?"
"Yes, ice cream," replied the Sadie lady, "and all sorts of good
things. Uncle Wiggily will be there, and all your friends, so I
wanted to ask your mamma if you could come."
"Of course we can!" cried Curly Tail. "We'll be there!"
"Very good," replied the lady whose name was Sadie. "Then I shall
expect you," and off she hurried to invite some other animal
children, her long earrings going dingle-dangle as she walked along,
and the rose in her hair falling over sideways.
You see, Curly Tail and Flop Ear had come back from Raccoon Island
at Lake Hopatcong, where they went to visit Uncle Wiggily Longears,
the old gentleman rabbit, while a new roof was being put on their
school in place of the one that had blown off. The piggie boys had
now been back for some little time, and in a few days school would
open again.
"But, before it does, we'll go to the lady's dinner party," said
Curly Tail, as he combed out the bristles on his back to make them
look like a paint brush.
"Indeed we will!" exclaimed his brother, and then they heard their
mamma stirring about in the house, so they knew she was awake.
"Let's go ask her!" suggested Curly Tail, and in they ran to tell
about the Sadie lady asking them to the party.
Their mamma said they might go, and they felt so happy that they
even let their little sister, Baby Pinky, play football with them.
And it would have been all right, except that when Flop Ear kicked
the ball to Pinky, she couldn't get hold of it in time, and it flew
up and broke Grandpa Squealer's window. But he said he didn't mind.
Well, in a few nights, it was time for the dinner party, and Curly
Tail and Flop Ear dressed in their best, with their velvet hats on
their heads, started for the high part of Montclair where the Sadie
lady lived.
And Oh! How nice the house looked when they got there. It was all
lighted up, and there were paper roses on the piano, for it was too
late for real ones, and the table was all set with nice dishes and
things to eat, and all of the piggie boys' friends were there, from
Sammie and Susie Littletail, to Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit
gentleman.
Then they began to eat, for this Sadie lady was one who loved animal
children, and was always giving dinner parties, and affairs like
that for them. Oh! Such good things as there were to eat, and when
it was all over, and the candy and nuts were served, the Sadie lady
read some poetry about a funny little lake, all made of sweet ice
cream, and every time you fell in it you had a funny dream.
Then, after supper, they all sat about the fire on the hearth--Uncle
Wiggily and Grandpa Goosey Gander and all the animal children, and
the Sadie lady and Uncle Wiggily told ghost stories, and all sorts
of other tales.
And, all of a sudden, just at the most scary part, where the big
giant falls down stairs, jumps over the cot bed and scares Cora
Janet's doll and Pocahontas and Ethel Rose--all of a sudden, I say,
just as Uncle Wiggily got to that part, there was a noise out on the
porch, and a voice cried:
"I want to come in! I must come in!"
"Oh, dear!" gasped Flop Ear.
"Who can that be?" asked Curly Tail, and he shivered so that you
would have thought he was eating cold ice cream again, only he
wasn't, for he was chewing on hot marshmallows.
"Let me in! Let me in!" cried the voice again.
"Oh, it's the bad skillery sealery alligator!" cried Flop Ear. "I
know it is."
"Or else the fuzzy fox!" spoke Curly Tail, and just then there was a
noise at the window, and they all looked up, and there stood a big
black bear, tapping his paws on the glass.
"Oh, wow!" cried Uncle Wiggily.
"Sour milk and maple sugar pancakes!" yelled Grandpa Squealer, and
everyone was so frightened that no one knew what to do. But the
Sadie lady cried out:
"Ha! I'm not going to have a bad bear break up my dinner party in
this way!" so she caught up a box of marshmallows, opened the
window, and tossed the white sugar coated candies right in the
bear's face.
All over him they flew, and he was so surprised that he thought it
was snowing big white flakes.
"Oh, wow!" the bear cried. "Winter is here, and I must hurry back to
my den before I get snowed in. I thought I was going to have a good
supper, but I guess I was mistaken. Oh, woe is me! It's snowing!
It's snowing!"
Then he ran down off the porch as fast as he could, and the Sadie
lady called up the policeman dog on the telephone, and she hollered
like anything because she was so excited.
But there was no need for the police, for the bear was so
kerslostrated by the marshmallows and the powdered sugar snow flying
all over him that he went and hid in his den for a week and a day,
and didn't bother anyone for sometime.
Then Ethel Rose, one of the real pretty girls at the party, and
Pocahontas, the Indian maid, and Cora Janet's doll and everybody
else had more ice cream, and then they went home; and so did Curly
Tail and Flop Ear, and the Sadie lady's dinner party was over, but
every one said it was just fine, and they wanted to know when she
was going to have another.
So that is all now, if you please, but on the next page, in case the
sewing machine doesn't pull all the threads out of my little dog's
hair ribbon, I'll tell you about Floppy and the bon fire.
STORY XXVI
FLOPPY AND THE BONFIRE
One night, after an election in Woodland, where the Twistytail
family of pigs lived, Curly, one of the piggie boys, asked his
brother Floppy if they couldn't have some fun.
"I guess so," spoke the other little piggie. "I have a big pile of
leaves, so why can't we make a bonfire?"
"The very thing!" cried Curly Tail. "There are always bonfires after
election, and we'll have ours now."
"And we'll invite all the other animal boys to help us," suggested
Curly Tail. "Sammie Littletail will want to come, I know, and so
will the squirrel boys, and Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck, and the
Bow Wow puppy boys."
So, as it was after school, and they had done their home work
lessons, the piggie boys could run out and play. In a vacant lot,
not far from their house, Flop Ear had collected a big pile of
leaves, ready for the fire, and he said to Curly Tail:
"Now, if you go get the other fellows, I'll find some more leaves,
and some old boxes and barrels and we'll have a fine big fire."
"All right, I will," agreed Curly Tail. So off he ran over the
fields and through the woods to call all his friends to the bonfire
which Flop Ear was going to make.
"Now for a surprise!" exclaimed the little piggie boy who was left
near the pile of leaves. "I'll look for some potatoes and I'll put
them to roast in the bonfire and when it is all over we'll eat them,
and sit about the blaze, telling stories about the election."
So he crawled through a fence into a field near by, where there were
some late potatoes, and soon, with his strong, rubbery nose, he was
rooting them up. The field belonged to Grandfather Goosey Gander,
and Flop knew the old gentleman goose would not mind if the boy
animals took a few potatoes.
"Now to make the fire and roast them," spoke the little piggie boy,
and when he had shoved the leaves all up in a heap with his nose he
lit them with a match.
"Won't Curly Tail and the others be surprised when they come up, and
see the fire already going?" thought Flop Ear. "And they'll be more
surprised when I pull out the roast potatoes for them. Oh! I almost
forgot! I must get some salt to eat on them."
Into the house he ran, with his queer little kinky tail twisting
around like a piece of strawberry shortcake, and Floppy got the
salt. His mamma was busy getting supper, and she did not see him,
and as his sister, Baby Pinky, was practising her piano lesson on
the tin dishpan, she made so much noise Mrs. Twistytail did not hear
the piggie boy, so no one stopped Flop Ear.
Maybe if mamma had known that he had a bonfire she would not have
liked it, and I want you children--especially you little ones--to
promise Uncle Wiggily that you will never, never make a fire unless
some older person is there to watch you. Fires are very bad, you
know--and burns--Bur-r-r-r! How burns do hurt!
Well, anyhow, Flop Ear had his fire going, and the potatoes were
roasting in the hot leaves, and he had the salt all ready to eat on
them. As he came running back to the blaze, out of the shadows
stepped someone, and a voice said:
"Ah ha! Good evening! I was wondering who had made this good fire
for me."
"I--I did," said Flop Ear, "but I didn't make it for you. I made it
for us."
"Never mind, it will do very well for me," went on the voice. "It
will save me the trouble of kindling one to roast my pork sausage
and chops--I mean you!" exclaimed the voice.
Flop Ear gave a jump, and looked more closely at the figure in the
shadow by the fire. And then he saw that it was a big, bad old fox,
with a fuzzy tail.
"Oh! Oh!" gasped the little piggie boy. "You don't mean that, do
you; that you're going to roast me!"
"Exactly what I'm going to do," replied the fox, and he caught hold
of Flop Ear. "We will wait until the fire is a little hotter," he
said.
Oh, how poor Flop Ear did try to get loose, but he couldn't because
the fox held him too tightly. And the fire got hotter and hotter,
and the little piggie boy was hoping that Curly Tail and the other
animal boys would come back in time to save him, but he could
neither see nor hear anything of them.
"I guess I'm going to be roasted!" he cried. "Oh, if Uncle Wiggily
were only here. Or even Grandpa Squealer!"
"Ha! No one will come to save you!" snarled the bad fox, and just
then, what do you think? Out from the fire rolled some of the
potatoes Flop Ear was roasting for his friends. Out rolled two big
potatoes, and the fox, seeing them, exclaimed:
"Ha! What have we here? Something good to eat, I should say," and he
smelled the baked potato. "Oh Yum yum!" he cried, and he smacked his
lips. "That will go most excellently with roast pork. I think I will
eat one, and then I'll put you on the fire to cook," he said to Flop
Ear.
The little piggie boy didn't say anything, but he felt very bad. And
the fox, holding him with one paw, took up a roasted potato in the
other, and cracked it open with his teeth.
And then--!
Well, you know how hot roast potatoes are, just out of the oven, I
dare say. This one, from Flop Ear's bonfire, was even hotter. It was
just roasting hot, and the fox had bitten into it.
"Oh, wow!" cried the fuzzy creature. "Oh, double wow, and some ice
cream cones! Oh, pepper casters! Oh, mustard! Oh, my mouth, how it
burns! And my paws!"
And then he had to let go of Flop Ear, and run to the brook to get a
drink of cold water--that fox did--because the hot potato burned
his mouth so, but I guess it served him right.
Anyhow, Flop Ear was free, and the next minute along came Curly Tail
and all the other animal boys, and then of course the bad fox had to
run away and put cold cream on his tongue. Flop Ear told all that
had happened, and then the bonfire was made bigger than ever, and
when the roast potatoes were cool they all ate some, and had a fine
time.
So, that's all now, but in the next story, in case the pear doesn't
fall off the apple tree and hit the ragman on the nose, I'll tell
you about Flop Ear and the skate wagon.
STORY XXVII
FLOP AND THE SKATE WAGON
One morning Flop Ear, the little piggie boy, awakened in his bed of
straw, and said:
"I don't feel very well today."
"I wish I didn't, too," spoke Curly Tail.
"Why?" asked his brother in surprise. "I'm not fooling. Honestly, I
don't feel well. Do you want to be sick, too?"
"Just a little bit," answered Curly Tail. "Just sick enough so as
not to have to go to school."
"Oh, that's so!" exclaimed Flop Ear. "There is school today. I
thought it was Saturday, and I was sorry I didn't feel well, but
now---"
Well, as it happened it was Friday, instead of Saturday, and, of
course, there was school. But when Mrs. Twistytail heard that Flop
Ear did not feel well, she said:
"Perhaps you had better not go today. Just lie abed and maybe you
will be better by afternoon."
So Curly Tail had to go to school alone, and he felt rather
lonesome, and Flop Ear stayed at home, just like the little pig in
the story.
But pretty soon, oh, I guess about 10 o'clock, when it was too late
to go to school, Flop Ear got out of bed and said:
"I don't feel quite so badly now, mother. Maybe if I go out in the
air, I'll be all well."
"All right," she said, and there was a funny little twinkle in her
eyes. "But first you must take some castor oil, and then I will be
sure you will be better," she added.
Then Flop Ear wished he had gone to school, whether he felt well or
not, but there was no help for it; he had to take the castor oil.
After it was down--and it wasn't much fun swallowing it, let me tell
you--after it was down, Flop Ear walked out in the street sort of
slow and thoughtful-like, and wished he had someone to play with, or
something to do.
"It isn't so much fun staying home as I thought it would be," he
said. Just then, in an ash barrel, he saw one roller skate. It was
pretty well battered and worn, but the four wheels of it were good
yet, and Flop Ear, as he took it out and knocked the ashes from it,
said:
"Ha! One roller skate. Now if I had two I might have some fun, and
forget about the castor oil."
"You can have fun with one roller skate," said a voice behind the
little piggie boy, and turning, Flop Ear saw Uncle Butter, the goat
gentleman, just coming back from having delivered all his milk.
"How can you have fun with one roller skate?" asked Flop Ear.
"By making a skate wagon," said the goat gentleman. "I saw some boy
animals up in Roseville playing on them yesterday, and I'll tell you
how to make one. First, you have to have a box, a long, narrow
board, a stick and some nails and string."
"I can get all those!" exclaimed Flop Ear, and he did. Then Uncle
Butter took the roller skate apart at the place where it slid
together to be made smaller or larger. Right apart he took it, and
there were two wheels on one part and two on the other.
The goat gentleman used the string to fasten two wheels on one end
of the long narrow board and two wheels on the other end. Then he
nailed the box on the front end of the board, right over the front
wheels, and on top of the box he nailed the stick for a handle, just
as on a bicycle, only this handle was straight and not curved.
"There is your skate wagon," he said to Flop Ear. "You take it to
some street that runs down hill and you start at the top. Stand up
on the board, near the box, and lean against it so you won't fall
off. Take hold of the handles, and then push yourself off. Down the
hilly street you will roll on the skate wheels, just like a coaster
wagon."
"Fine!" cried Flop Ear, as he thanked Uncle Butter. Then he ran to
the top of a hilly, smooth street to try his skate wagon.
He stood up in the middle of the long narrow board, took hold of the
handles on top of the box, and steadied himself. Then, with one foot
he gave himself a good push, and down the hill he went as fast as
anything, making a noise just like a real roller skater boy only
louder.
"Oh, this is great!" he cried as he reached the bottom of the hill,
and ran back for another coast down it. Then Flop Ear forgot all
about being sick, and he had lots of fun riding on his skate wagon,
so you see that even one roller skate may be good for something.
Well Flop Ear was just going to coast down the hill for about the
forty-'leventh time when, all of a sudden, he heard a voice calling:
"Save me! Save me! Oh, help me!"
He looked around and there he saw a poor old lady cat being chased
by a bad dog that had once caught Uncle Butter to pull out his
horns. The lady cat was running as fast as she could with her tail
all swelled up like a bologna sausage.
"Save me from the bad dog!" she cried.
"Bow-wow! Woof! Woof! Bur-r-rr!" barked the dog. "I'll get you!"
"No you won't!" cried Flop Ear. "Get on my skate wagon!" he called
to the old lady cat, and with one jump she landed in the box. Flop
Ear gave a good push, jumped on the wagon himself, and down the hill
he went faster and faster, with the dog coming after him.
"Oh, he'll get us!" cried the lady cat.
"No he won't!" shouted Flop Ear. Faster and faster went the skate
wagon down the hill, and the bad dog tried so hard to catch up to it
that, all of a sudden, his legs got tied up in a hard knot--yes,
sir, just as hard a knot as if a sailor had made it. And, of course,
that dog turned a somersault, and went head over heels and he
couldn't run any more until one of his friends untied the knots in
his legs.
But by that time Flop Ear and the lady cat were safe at the bottom
of the hill on the skate wagon, and the dog could not get them. Then
the cat lady thanked the piggie boy very much, and gave him a penny,
and Flop Ear went to school that afternoon, and was all better, and
later he and Curly Tail had lots of fun on the queer wagon Uncle
Butter had told how to make.
And so in case the rose bush doesn't scratch the lilac leaves off
the pie plant and make the clothes line catch cold, I'll tell you
next about Baby Pinkie and the lemon.
STORY XXVIII
PINKY AND THE LEMON
One day, when Flop Ear and Curly Tail were at school, Mrs.
Twistytail, the pig lady, said to Baby Pinky, her little girl:
"Pinky, I am going to run across the street for a minute to ask Mrs.
Wibblewobble to lend me a spool of thread. It is so chilly out that
I don't want to take you along. So will you be afraid to stay here
alone, just a little while?"
"No, indeed, mamma," spoke Pinky. "Why, what is there to be afraid
of?" she asked with a laugh.
"Nothing in the least," replied her mother, "but sometimes little
girls, and boys, too, for that matter, are afraid to stay alone,
even when their mamma wants to go get a drink of water."
"Oh! I hope I'm not that kind, mamma," spoke Pinky.
"Then I'll just run across the street for a minute," went on Mrs.
Twistytail. "Everything is all right here. There is nothing on the
stove to boil over, but be careful not to go near the fire."
"No, I'll stay right here, mamma," said Pinky. "I'll look out of the
window, and watch the leaves dancing up and down in the breeze."
So Mrs. Twistytail went over to Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady's
house, and Pinky sat down to wait for her to come back. But you know
how it is sometimes, when ladies get talking together, they have so
many things to say, about how to make the loaf of bread last longer,
and how high the butter is--so high that they have to get on a step
ladder to reach it--and how boys wear out their shoes and trousers
so fast and the newest way to fix your hair, and what to do when
your best dress gets all spotted with ice cream, and how scarce coal
is, and what a long winter we're going to have--all things like that
ladies find to talk about, and it was that way with Mrs. Twistytail
and Mrs. Wibblewobble.
Well, do you know, the first thing Mrs. Twistytail knew she had
forgotten all about what she came after--let's see now, what was it--I
declare I've forgotten myself. Just excuse me while I look back
and see. Oh! I remember, it was a spool of thread.
Yes, Mrs. Twistytail got so interested talking to the duck lady
about a new way to make a tight dress loose that she forgot all
about the spool of thread.
"Well, mamma is staying quite a long time," said Baby Pinky after a
bit, as she sat by the window. "I hope nothing has happened to her."
She looked, but she could not see her mamma coming back, and then
Pinky said:
"I guess I'll just dust off the piano, to keep busy, and it won't
seem so long until mamma comes home."
So she began knocking the dust off the piano to the floor just as
Jennie Chipmunk did it with her tail brush, and Pinky made so much
noise that she did not hear the door open and some one come in. That
is she did not until she heard some one walking in the room behind
her, and then the little piggie girl turned around and exclaimed:
"Oh, mamma! How you frightened me."
But, oh my! when she saw who was in the room, poor Pinky was
frightened more than ever. For there, with his face all swollen,
stood a bad old baboon who had escaped from the monkey circus down
the street.
"Bur-r-f! Ah ha! Wow! Now I have you!" barked the baboon, for they
make a noise something like a dog with the chicken-pox.
"Why, why, what is the matter?" asked Pinky, never dreaming that
there would be trouble, for she was such a gentle little thing. "Why
is your face all swelled up?" she asked.