"Honk! Honk! Honkity-honk-honk!"
"Ha! That must be a wild goose!" thought the rabbit gentleman.
So he looked up in the air, over his head, where the wild geesealways fly, but, instead of seeing any of the big birds, UncleWiggily felt something whizz past him, and again he heard the loud"Honk-honk!" noise, and then he sneezed, for a lot of dust from theroad flew up his nose.
"My!" he heard some one cry. "We nearly ran over a rabbit! Did yousee?"
And a big automobile, with real people in it, shot past. It was thehorn of the auto that Uncle Wiggily had heard, and not a wild goose.
"Ha! That came pretty close to me," thought Uncle Wiggily, as theauto went on down the road. "I never ride my automobile as fast asthat, even when I sprinkle pepper on the bologna sausage tires. Idon't like to scare any one."
Perhaps the people in the auto did not mean to so nearly run overUncle Wiggily. Let us hope so.
The old gentleman rabbit hopped on down the road, that was betweenthe woods and the fields, and, pretty soon, he saw something brightand shining in the dust, near where the auto had passed.
"Oh, maybe that's a diamond," he said, as he stooped over to pick itup. But it was only a shiny button-hook, and not a diamond at all.Some one in the automobile had dropped it.
"Well, I'll put it in my pocket," said Uncle Wiggily to himself. "Itmay come in useful to button Nurse Jane's shoes, or mine."
The bunny gentleman went on a little farther, and, pretty soon, hecame to a tiny house, with a red chimney sticking up out of theroof.
"Ha! I wonder who lives there?" said Uncle Wiggily.
He stood still for a moment, looking through his glasses at thehouse and then, all of a sudden, he saw a little lady, with a tall,peaked hat on, run out and look up and down the road. Her hat wasjust like an ice cream cone turned upside down. Only don't turn yourice cream cone upside down if it has any cream in it, for you mightspill your treat.
"Help! Help! Help!" cried the lady, who had come out of the housewith the red chimney.
"Ha! That sounds like trouble!" said Uncle Wiggily. "I think I hadbetter hurry over there and see what it is all about."
He hopped over toward the little house, and, when he reached it hesaw that the little lady who was calling for help was Mother Gooseherself.
"Oh, Uncle Wiggily!" exclaimed Mother Goose. "I am so glad to seeyou! Will you please go for help for me?"
"Why, certainly I will," answered the bunny gentleman. "But whatkind of help do you want; help for the kitchen, or a wash-lady helpor----"
"Neither of those," said Mother Goose. "I want help so Little JackHorner can get his thumb out of the pie."
"Get his thumb out of the pie!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "What in theworld do you mean?"
"Why, you see it's this way," went on Mother Goose. "Jack Hornerlives here. You must have heard about him. He is in my book. Hisverse goes like this:
"Little Jack Horner Sat in a corner, Eating a Christmas pie. He put in his thumb, And pulled out a plum, And said what a great boy am I.
"That's the boy I mean," cried Mother Goose. "But the trouble isthat Jack can't get his thumb out. He put it in the pie, to pull outthe plum, but it won't come out--neither the plum nor the thumb.They are stuck fast for some reason or other. I wish you'd go forDr. Possum, so he can help us."
"I will," said Uncle Wiggily. "But is Jack Horner sitting in acorner, as it says in the book?"
"Oh, he's doing that all right," answered Mother Goose. "But, corneror no corner, he can't pull out his thumb."
"I'll get the doctor at once," promised the bunny uncle. He hurriedover to Dr. Possum's house, but could not find him, as Dr. Possumwas, just then, called to see Jillie Longtail, who had themouse-trap fever.
"Dr. Possum not in!" cried Mother Goose, when Uncle Wiggily hadhopped back and told her. "That's too bad! Oh, we must do somethingfor Jack. He's crying and going on terribly because he can't get histhumb out."
Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute. Then, putting his paw in hispocket, he felt the button-hook which had dropped from theautomobile that nearly ran over him.
"Ha! I know what to do!" cried the bunny uncle, suddenly.
"What?" asked Mother Goose.
"I'll pull out Jack's thumb myself, with this button-hook," said Mr.Longears. "I'll make him all right without waiting for Dr. Possum."
Into the room, where, in the corner, Jack was sitting, went thebunny gentleman. There he saw the Christmas-pie boy, with his thumbaway down deep under the top crust.
"Oh, Uncle Wiggily!" cried Jack. "I'm in such trouble. Oh, dear! Ican't get my thumb out. It must be caught on the edge of the pan, orsomething!"
"Don't cry," said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. "I'll get it out for you."
"I wish you'd go for Dr. Possum."]
So he put the button-hook through the hole in the top pie crust,close to Jack's thumb. Then, getting the hook on the plum, UncleWiggily, with his strong paws, pulled and pulled and pulled, and----
All of a sudden out came the plum and Jack Homer's thumb, and theyweren't stuck fast any more.
"Oh, thank you, so much!" said Jack, as he got up out of his corner.
"Pray don't mention it," spoke Uncle Wiggily, politely. "I am glad Icould help you, and it also makes an adventure for me."
Then Jack Horner, went back to his corner and ate the plum thatstuck to his thumb. And Uncle Wiggily, putting the button-hook backin his pocket, went on to his hollow-stump bungalow. He had had hisadventure.
So everything came out all right, you see, and if the snow-shoveldoesn't go off by itself, sliding down hill with the ash can, whenit ought to be boiling the cups and saucers for supper, I'll tellyou next about Uncle Wiggily and Mr. Pop-Goes.
CHAPTER XII
UNCLE WIGGILY AND MR. POP-GOES
"Uncle Wiggily," said Mrs. Littletail, the rabbit lady, one morning,as she came in the dining-room where Mr. Longears was reading thecabbage leaf paper after breakfast, "Uncle Wiggily, I don't like youto go out in such a storm as this, but I do need some things fromthe store, and I have no one to send."
"Why, I'll be only too glad to go," cried the bunny uncle, who wasspending a few days visiting the Littletail family in theirunderground burrow-house. "It isn't snowing very hard," and helooked out through the window, which was up a little way aboveground to make the burrow light. "What do you want, Mrs.Littletail?" he asked.
"Oh, I want a loaf of bread and some sugar," said the bunny motherof Sammie and Susie Littletail.
"And you shall certainly have what you want!" cried Uncle Wiggily,as he got ready to go to the store. Soon he was on his way, wearinghis fur coat, and hopping along on his corn-stalk rheumatism crutch,while his pink nose was twinkling in the frosty air like a redlantern on the back of an automobile.
"A loaf of home-made bread and three and a half pounds of granulatedsugar," said Uncle Wiggily to the monkey-doodle gentleman who keptthe grocery store. "And the best that you have, if you please, asit's for Mrs. Littletail."
"You shall certainly have the best!" cried the monkey-doodlegentleman, with a jolly laugh. And while he was wrapping up thethings for Uncle Wiggily to carry home, all at once there sounded inthe store a loud:
"Pop!"
"My! What's that?" asked Uncle Wiggily, surprised like and excited."I heard a bang like a gun. Are there any hunter-men, with theirdogs about? If there are I must be careful."
"No, that wasn't a gun," said the monkey-doodle gentleman. "That wasonly one of the toy balloons in my window. I had some left over fromlast year, so I blew them up and put them in my window to make itlook pretty. Now and then one of them bursts." And just then, surelyenough, "Pop! Bang!" went another toy balloon, bursting andshriveling all up.
Uncle Wiggily looked in the front window of the store and saw someblown-up balloons that had not burst.
"I'll take two of those," he said to the monkey-doodle gentleman."Sammie and Susie Littletail will like to play with them."
"Better take two
or three," said the monkey-doodle gentleman. "I'lllet you have them cheap, as they are old balloons, and they willburst easily."
So he let the air out of four balloons and gave them to UncleWiggily to take home to the bunny children.
The rabbit gentleman started off through the snow-storm toward theunderground house, but he had not gone very far before, just as hewas coming out from behind a big stump, he heard voices talking.
"Now, I'll tell you how we can get those rabbits," Uncle Wiggilyheard one voice say. "I'll crawl down in the burrow, and as soon asthey see me they'll be scared and run out--Uncle Wiggily, Mrs.Littletail, the two children, Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy and all. Thenyou can grab them, Mr. Bigtail! I am glad I happened to meet you!"
"Ah, ha!" thought Uncle Wiggily. "Mr. Bigtail! I ought to know thatname. It's the fox, and he and some one else seem to be after usrabbits. But I thought the fox promised to be good and let me alone.He must have changed his mind."
Uncle Wiggily peeked cautiously around the stump, taking care tomake no noise, and there he saw a fox and another animal talking.And the rabbit gentleman saw that it was not the fox who hadpromised to be good, but another one, of the same name, who was bad.
"Yes, I'll go down the hole and drive out the rabbits and you cangrab them," said the queer animal.
"That's good," growled the fox, "but to whom have I the honor ofspeaking?" That was his way of asking the name of the other animal,you see.
"Oh, I'm called Mr. Pop-Goes," said the other.
"Mr. Pop-Goes! What a queer name," said the fox, and all the whileUncle Wiggily was listening with his big ears, and wondering what itall meant.
"Oh, Pop-Goes isn't all my name," said the queer animal. "Don't youknow the story in the book? The monkey chased the cobbler's wife allaround the steeple. That's the way the money goes, Pop! goes theweasel. I'm Mr. Pop-Goes, the weasel, you see. I'm 'specially goodat chasing rabbits."
"Oh, I see!" barked Mr. Bigtail, the fox. "Well, I'll be glad if youcan help me get those rabbits. I've been over to that UncleWiggily's hollow-stump bungalow, but he isn't around."
"No, he's visiting the Littletail rabbits," said Mr. Pop-Goes, theweasel. "But we'll drive him out."
Then Uncle Wiggily felt very badly, indeed, for he knew that aweasel is the worst animal a rabbit can have after him. Weasels arevery fond of rabbits. They love them so much they want to eat them,and Uncle Wiggily did not want to be eaten, even by Mr. Pop-Goes.
"Oh, dear!" he thought. "What can I do to scare away the bad fox andMr. Pop-Goes, the weasel? Oh, dear!" Then he thought of the toyballoons, that made a noise like a gun when they were blown up andburst. "The very thing!" thought the rabbit gentleman.
Carefully, as he hid behind the stump, Uncle Wiggily took out one ofthe toy balloons. Carefully he blew it up, bigger and bigger andbigger, until, all at once:
"Bang!" exploded the toy balloon, even making Uncle Wiggily jump.And as for the fox and Mr. Pop-Goes, the weasel, why they were sokerslostrated (if you will kindly excuse me for using such a word)that they turned a somersault, jumped up in the air, came down,turned a peppersault, and started to run.
"Did you hear that noise?" asked the weasel. "That was a pop, andwhenever I hear a pop I have to go! And I'm going fast!"
"So am I!" barked the fox. "That was a hunter with a gun after us, Iguess. We'll get those rabbits some other time."
"Maybe you will, and maybe not!" laughed Uncle Wiggily, as hehurried on to the burrow with the bread, sugar and the rest of thetoy balloons, with which Sammie and Susie had lots of fun.
So you see Mr. Pop-Goes, the weasel, didn't get Uncle Wiggily afterall, and if the pepper caster doesn't throw dust in the potato'seyes, and make it sneeze at the rag doll, I'll tell you next aboutUncle Wiggily and Simple Simon.
CHAPTER XIII
UNCLE WIGGILY AND SIMPLE SIMON
"There!" exclaimed Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat ladyhousekeeper, who, with Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman,was visiting at the Littletail rabbit burrow one day. "There theyare, Uncle Wiggily, all nicely wrapped up for you to carry."
"What's nicely wrapped up?" asked the bunny uncle. "And what do youwant me to carry?" And he looked over the tops of his spectacles atthe muskrat lady, sort of surprised and wondering.
"I want you to carry the jam tarts, and they are all nicely wrappedup," went on Nurse Jane. "Don't you remember, I said I was going tomake some for you to take over to Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady?"
"Oh, of course!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "The jam tarts are for Lulu,Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck children. I remember now.I'll take them right over."
"They are all nicely wrapped up in a clean napkin," went on themuskrat lady, "so be careful not to squash them and squeeze out thejam, as they are very fresh."
"I'll be careful," promised the old rabbit gentleman, as he put onhis fur coat and took down off the parlor mantle his red, white andblue striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch, made of a corn-stalk.
"Oh, wait a minute, Uncle Wiggily! Wait a minute!" cried Mrs.Littletail, the bunny mother of Sammie and Susie, the rabbitchildren, as Mr. Longears started out. "Where are you going?"
"Over to Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady's house, with some jamtarts for Lulu, Alice and Jimmie," answered Uncle Wiggily.
"Then would you mind carrying, also, this little rubber plant overto her?" asked Mrs. Littletail. "I told Mrs. Wibblewobble I wouldsend one to her the first chance I had."
"Right gladly will I take it," said Uncle Wiggily. So Mrs.Littletail, the rabbit lady, wrapped the pot of the little rubberplant, with its thick, shiny green leaves, in a piece of paper, andUncle Wiggily, tucking it under one paw, while with the other heleaned on his crutch, started off over the fields and through thewoods, with the jam tarts in his pocket. Over toward the home of theWibblewobble duck family he hopped.
Mr. Longears, the nice old rabbit gentleman, had not gone very farbefore, all at once, from behind a snow-covered stump, he heard avoice saying:
"Oh, dear! I know I'll never find him! I've looked all over and Ican't see him anywhere. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What shall I do?"
"My! That sounds like some one in trouble," Uncle Wiggily said tohimself. "I wonder if that is any of my little animal friends? Imust look."
So the rabbit gentleman peeked over the top of the stump, and therehe saw a queer-looking boy, with a funny smile on his face, whichwas as round and shiny as the bottom of a new dish pan. And the boylooked so kind that Uncle Wiggily knew he would not hurt even alollypop, much less a rabbit gentleman.
"Oh, hello!" cried the boy, as soon as he saw Uncle Wiggily. "Whoare you?"
"I am Mr. Longears," replied the bunny uncle. "And who are you?"
"Why, I'm Simple Simon," was the answer. "I'm in the Mother Goosebook, you know."
"Oh, yes, I remember," said Uncle Wiggily. "But you seem to be _out_of the book, just now."
"I am," said Simple Simon. "The page with my picture on it fell outof the book, and so I ran away. But I can't find him anywhere and Idon't know what to do."
"Who is it you can't find?" asked the rabbit.
"The pie-man," answered the funny, round-faced boy. "Don't youremember, it says in the book, 'Simple Simon met a pie-man going tothe fair?'"
"Oh, yes, I remember," Uncle Wiggily answered. "What's next?"
"Well, I can't find him anywhere," said Simple Simon. "I guess thepie-man didn't fall out of the book when I did."
"That's too bad," spoke Uncle Wiggily, kindly.
"It is," said Simple Simon. "For you know he ought to ask me for mypenny, when I want to taste of his pies, and indeed, I haven't anypenny--not any, and I'm _so_ hungry for a piece of pie!" And SimpleSimon began to cry.
"Oh, don't cry," said Uncle Wiggily. "See, in my pocket I have somejam tarts. They are for Lulu, Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble, theducks, but there are enough to let you have one."
"Why, you are a regular pie-man yourself; aren't you?" laughedSimple Simon, as he ate one
of Nurse Jane's nice jam tarts.
"Well, you might call me that," said the bunny uncle. "Though Is'pose a tart-man would be nearer right."
"But there's something else," went on Simple Simon. "You know in theMother Goose book I have to go for water, in my mother's sieve. Butsoon it all ran through." And then, cried Simple Simon, "Oh, dear,what shall I do?" And he held out a sieve, just like a coffeestrainer, full of little holes. "How can I ever get water in that?"he asked. "I've tried and tried, but I can't. No one can! It allruns through!"
Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute. Then he cried:
"I have it! I'll pull some leaves off the rubber plant I am takingto Mrs. Wibblewobble. We'll put the leaves in the bottom of thesieve, and, being of rubber, water can't get through them. Then thesieve will hold water, or milk either, and you can bring it to yourmother."
"Oh, fine!" cried Simple Simon, licking the sticky squeegee jam offhis fingers. So Uncle Wiggily put some rubber plant leaves in thebottom of the sieve, and Simple Simon, filling it full of water,carried it home to his mother, and not a drop ran through, which, ofcourse, wasn't at all like the story in the book.
"But that isn't my fault," said Uncle Wiggily, as he took the restof the jam tarts to the Wibblewobble children. "I just had to helpSimple Simon." Which was very kind of Uncle Wiggily, I think; don'tyou? It didn't matter if, just once, something happened that wasn'tin the book.