"Of course I will!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "I'll be delighted."
"Good!" laughed Little Miss Muffet. Then along came Mrs.Spin-Spider, and sat down beside her and did not frighten the littlegirl away, but, instead, measured her for a new dress.
So from this we may learn that cobwebs are good for something elsethan catching flies, and in the next chapter, if the piano doesn'tcome upstairs to lie down on the brass bed so the pillow has to godown in the coal bin to sleep, I'll tell you about Uncle Wiggily andthe first little kitten.
CHAPTER XVII
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE FIRST KITTEN
Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old rabbit gentleman, was asleep inhis easy chair by the fire which burned brightly on the hearth inhis hollow-stump bungalow. Mr. Longears was dreaming that he hadjust eaten a piece of cherry pie for lunch, and that the cherry pitswere dropping on the floor with a "rat-a-tat-tat!" when he suddenlyawakened and heard some one knocking on the front door.
"Ha! Who is there? Come in!" cried the rabbit gentleman, hardlyawake yet. Then he happened to think:
"I hope it isn't the bad fox, or the skillery-scalery alligator,whom I have invited in. I ought not to have been so quick."
But it was none of these unpleasant creatures who had knocked onUncle Wiggily's door. It was Mrs. Purr, the nice cat lady, and whenthe rabbit gentleman had let her in she looked so sad and sorrowfulthat he said:
"What is the matter, Mrs. Purr? Has anything happened?"
"Indeed there has, Mr. Longears," the cat lady answered. "You knowmy three little kittens, don't you?"
"Why, yes, I know them," replied the bunny uncle. "They are Fuzzo,Muzzo and Wuzzo. I hope they are not ill?"
"No, they are not ill," said the cat lady, mewing sadly, "but theyhave run away, and I came to see if you would help me get themback."
"Run away! Your dear little kittens!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "Youdon't mean it! How did it happen?"
"Well, you know my little kittens had each a new pair of mittens,"said Mrs. Purr.
"Yes, I read about that in the Mother Goose book," said the rabbitgentleman. "It must be nice to have new mittens."
"My little kittens thought so," went on Mrs. Purr. "Theirgrandmother, Pussy Cat Mole, knitted them."
"I have met Pussy Cat Mole," said Uncle Wiggily. "After she jumpedover a coal, and in her best petticoat burned a great hole, I helpedher mend it so she could go to the party."
"I heard about that; it was very good of you," mewed Mrs. Purr. "Butabout my little kittens, when they got their mittens, what do youthink they did?"
"Why, I suppose they went out and played in the snow," Uncle Wiggilysaid. "I know that is what I would have done, when I was a littlerabbit, if I had had a new pair of mittens."
"I only wish they had done that," Mrs. Purr said. "But, instead,they went and ate some cherry pie. The red pie-juice got all overtheir new mittens, and when they saw it they became afraid I wouldscold them, and they ran away. I was not home when they ate the pieand soiled their mittens, but the cat lady who lives next door toldme.
"Now I want to know if you will try to find my three little kittensfor me; Fuzzo, Wuzzo and Muzzo? I want them to come home so badly!"
"I'll go look for them," promised the old rabbit gentleman. Sotaking his red, white and blue rheumatism crutch, off he startedover the fields and through the woods. Mrs. Purr went back home toget supper, in case her kittens, with their pie-soiled mittens,should come back by themselves before Uncle Wiggily found them.
On and on went the old rabbit gentleman. He looked on all sides andthrough the middle for any signs of the lost kittens, but he sawnone for quite a while. Then, all at once, he heard a mewing soundover in the bushes, and he said:
"Ha! There is the first little kitten!" And there, surely enough shewas--Fuzzo!
"Oh, dear!" Fuzzo was saying, "I don't believe I'll ever get themclean!"
"What's the matter now?" asked the rabbit gentleman, though he knewquite well what it was, and only pretended he did not. "Who are youand what is the matter?" he asked.
"Oh, I'm in such trouble," said the first little kitten. "My sistersand I ate some pie in our new mittens. We soiled them badly with thered pie-juice. Weren't we naughty kittens?"
"Well, perhaps just a little bit naughty," Uncle Wiggily said. "Butyou should not have run away from your mamma. She feels very badly.Where are Muzzo and Wuzzo?"
"I don't know!" answered Fuzzo. "They ran one way and I ran another.I'm trying to get the pie-juice out of my mittens, but I can't seemto do it."
"How did you try?" Uncle Wiggily wanted to know.
"Weren't we naughty kittens?"]
"I am rubbing my mittens up and down on the rough bark of trees andon stones," answered Fuzzo. "I thought that would take the piestains out, but it doesn't."
"Of course not!" laughed Uncle Wiggily. "Now you come with me. I amgoing to take you home. Your mother sent me to look for you."
"Oh, but I'm afraid to go home," mewed Fuzzo. "My mother will scoldme for soiling my nice, new mittens. It says so in the book."
"No, she won't!" laughed Uncle Wiggily. "You just leave it to me.But first you come to my hollow-stump bungalow."
So Fuzzo, the first little kitten, put one paw in Uncle Wiggily's,and carrying her mittens in the other, along they went together.
"Where are you, Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy?" called the rabbitgentleman, when they reached his hollow-stump bungalow. "I want youto make some nice, hot, soapy suds and water, and wash this firstlittle kitten's mittens. Then they will be clean, and she can takethem home with her."
So the muskrat lady made some nice, hot, soap-bubbily suds and inthem she washed the kitten's mittens. Then, when they were dry,Uncle Wiggily took the mittens, and also Fuzzo to Mrs. Purr's house.
"Oh, how glad I am to have you back!" cried the cat mother. "Iwouldn't have scolded you, Fuzzo, for soiling your mittens. You mustnot be afraid any more."
"I won't," promised the first little kitten, showing her nice, cleanmittens.
And then Uncle Wiggily said he would go find the other two lost babycats. And so, if the milkman doesn't put goldfish in the ink bottle,to make the puppy dog laugh when he goes to bed, I'll tell you nextabout Uncle Wiggily and the second kittie.
CHAPTER XVIII
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SECOND KITTEN
"Well, where are you going now, Uncle Wiggily?" asked Nurse JaneFuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, of the rabbit gentleman,one day as she saw him starting out of his hollow-stump bungalow,after he had found the first of the little kittens who had soiledtheir mittens.
"I am going to look for the second little lost kitten," replied thebunny uncle, "though where she may be I don't know. Her name isMuzzo."
"Why, her name is almost like mine, isn't it?" asked Nurse JaneFuzzy Wuzzy.
"A little like it," said Uncle Wiggily. "Poor little Muzzo! She andthe other two kittens ran off after they had soiled their mittens,eating cherry pie when their mother, Mrs. Purr, was not at home."
"It is very good of you to go looking for them," said Nurse Jane.
"Oh, I just love to do things like that," spoke the rabbitgentleman. "Well, good-by. I'll see if I can't find the secondkitten now."
Away started the rabbit gentleman, over the fields and through thewoods, looking on all sides for the second lost kitten, whose namewas Muzzo.
"Where are you, kittie?" called Uncle Wiggily. "Where are you,Muzzo? Come to me! Never mind if your mittens are soiled bycherry-pie-juice. I'll find a way to clean them."
But no Muzzo answered. Uncle Wiggily looked everywhere, under bushesand in the tree tops; for sometimes kitty cats climb trees, youknow; but no Muzzo could he find. Then Uncle Wiggily walked a littlefarther, and he saw Billie Wagtail, the goat boy, butting his headin a snow-bank.
"What are you doing, Billie?" asked the rabbit gentleman.
"Oh, just having some fun," answered Billie, standing up on his hindlegs.
"You haven't seen a little lost kitten,
with cherry-pie-juice on hernew mittens, have you?" asked the rabbit gentleman.
"No, I am sorry to say I have not," said Billie, politely. "Did youlose one?"
"No, she lost herself," said Uncle Wiggily, and he told about Muzzo.
"I'll help you look for her," offered the goat boy, so he and UncleWiggily started off together to try to find poor little lost Muzzo,and bring her home to her mother, Mrs. Purr.
Pretty soon, as the rabbit gentleman and the goat boy were walkingalong they heard a little mewing cry behind a pile of snow, andUncle Wiggily said:
"That sounds like Muzzo now."
"Perhaps it is. Let's look," said Billie Wagtail.
He and the bunny uncle looked over the pile of snow, and there,surely enough, they saw a little white pussy cat sitting on a stone,looking at her mittens, which were all covered with red pie-juice.
"Oh, dear!" the little pussy was saying. "I don't know how to getthem clean! What shall I do? I can't go home with my mittens allsoiled, or my mamma will whip me."
Of course, Mrs. Purr, the cat lady, would not do anything like that,but Muzzo thought she would.
"What are you trying to do to clean your mittens, Muzzo?" askedUncle Wiggily.
"Oh, how you surprised me!" exclaimed the second little lost kitten."I did not know you were here."
"Billie Wagtail and I came to look for you," said Uncle Wiggily."But what about your mittens?"
"Oh, I have been dipping them in snow, trying to clean them," saidMuzzo. "Only the pie-juice will not come out."
"Of course not," spoke Uncle Wiggily, with a laugh. "It needs hotsoap-suds and water to clean them. You come home to my bungalow andwe will get some."
"Oh, I am so cold and tired I can't go another step," said thesecond little kitten, who had run away from home after she soiledher mittens. "I just can't."
"Well, then, I don't know how you are going to get your mittenswashed, out here in the cold and snow," said the rabbit gentleman.
"Ha! I know a way!" said Billie Wagtail, the goat boy.
"How?" asked Uncle Wiggily.
"I'll get an empty tomato can," spoke Billie. "I know where there isone, for I was eating the paper off it, to get the paste, justbefore you came along."
Goats like to eat paper off tomato cans, you know, because the paperis stuck on with sweet paste, and that is as good to goat childrenas candy is to you.
"I'll go get the tomato can," said Billie, "and you can make a fire,Uncle Wiggily."
"And then what?" asked the rabbit gentleman.
"Then we will melt some snow, and make some hot water," went onBillie. "I have a cake of soap in my pocket, that I just bought atthe store for my mother.
"With the hot water in the can, and the soap, we can make a suds,and wash Muzzo's mittens out here as well as at your bungalow."
"So we can, Billie!" cried the bunny uncle. "You go get the emptytomato tin and I'll make the fire. You needn't try to wash yoursoiled mittens in the snow any more, Muzzo," he said to the secondlost kittie. "We will do it for you, in soapy water, which isbetter."
Soon Uncle Wiggily made a fire. Back came Billie Wagtail with thetomato can. Some snow was put in it, and it was set over the blaze.Soon the snow melted into water, and then when the water was hotUncle Wiggily made a soapy suds as Nurse Jane had done.
"Now I can wash my mittens!" cried Muzzo, and she did. And when theywere nice and clean she went home with them, and oh! how glad hermother was to see her!
"Never run away again, Muzzo," said the cat lady.
"I won't," promised the kitten. "But where is Wuzzo?"
"She is still lost," said Mrs. Purr.
"But I will go find her, too," said Uncle Wiggily.
And if the apple pie doesn't go out snowballing with the piece ofcheese, and forget to come back to dinner, I'll tell you next aboutUncle Wiggily and the third little kitten.
CHAPTER XIX
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE THIRD KITTEN
Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old gentleman rabbit, came walkingslowly up the front path that led to his hollow-stump bungalow. Hewas limping a little on his red, white and blue striped barber-polerheumatism crutch that Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat ladyhousekeeper, had gnawed for him out of a corn-stalk.
"Well, I'm glad to be home again," said the rabbit uncle, sittingdown on the front porch to rest a minute. And just then the door inthe hollow stump opened, and Nurse Jane, looking out, said:
"Oh, here he is now, Mrs. Purr."
With that a cat lady came to the door and she said:
"Oh, Uncle Wiggily! I thought you never would come back. Did youfind her?"
"Find who?" asked the rabbit gentleman. "I was not looking for anyone. I have just been down to Lincoln Park to see some squirrels wholive in a hollow tree. They are second cousins to Johnnie and BillieBushytail, the squirrels who live in our woods. I had a nice visitwith them."
"Then you didn't find Wuzzo, my third little lost kitten, did you?"asked Mrs. Purr, the cat mother.
"What! Is Wuzzo still lost?" asked the bunny uncle, in greatsurprise. "I thought she had come home."
"No, she hasn't," said Mrs. Purr. "You know you found my otherkittens, Fuzzo and Muzzo, for me, but Wuzzo, the third littlekitten, is still lost. She has been away all night, and I came overhere the first thing this morning to see if you would not kindly golook for her. But you had already left and I have been waiting hereever since for you to come back."
"Yes, I stayed longer with the park squirrels than I meant to," saidUncle Wiggily. "But now I am back I will start off and try to findWuzzo. It's too bad your three little kittens ran away."
They had, you know, as I told you in the two stories before thisone. The three little kittens ate cherry pie with their new mittenson. And they soiled their mittens. Then they were so afraid theirmother, Mrs. Purr, would scold them that they all ran away.
But Mrs. Purr was a kind cat, and would not have scolded at all. Andwhen she found her little kittens were gone she asked Uncle Wiggilyto find them.
"And you did find the first two, Fuzzo and Muzzo," said the catlady. "So I am sure you can find the third one, Wuzzo."
"I hope I can," Uncle Wiggily said. "I remember now I started off tofind her, but my rheumatism hurt me so I had to come back to mybungalow. Then I forgot all about Wuzzo. But I'm all right now, andI'll start off."
So away over the fields and through the woods went Uncle Wiggily,looking for the third little lost kitten. When he had found the twoothers he had helped them wash the pie-juice off their mittens, sothey were nice and clean. And then the kittens were not afraid to gohome.
Uncle Wiggily looked all over for the third little kitten, underbushes, up in trees (for cats climb trees, you know), and evenbehind big rocks Uncle Wiggily looked. But no Wuzzo could he find.
At last, when the rabbit gentleman came to a big hollow log that waslying on the ground, he sat down on it to rest, and, all of asudden, he heard a voice inside the log speaking. And the voiceasked:
"Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?"
"I've been to London to see the Queen," answered another voice.
"Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you do there?"
"I frightened a little mouse, under her chair," came the answer, andthis time it was a little pussy cat kitten speaking, Uncle Wiggilywas certain.
The old rabbit gentleman looked in one end of the hollow log, andthere surely enough, he saw Wuzzo, the third lost kitten.
And besides Wuzzo, Uncle Wiggily saw Neddie Stubtail, the littlebear boy, who always slept in a hollow log all Winter. But this timeNeddie was awake, for it was near Spring.
"Wuzzo, Wuzzo! Is that you? What are you doing there?" asked UncleWiggily. "Don't you know your poor mother is looking all over foryou, and that she has sent me to find you? Why don't you come home?"
"I--I'm afraid to," said Wuzzo, crawling out of the hollow log, andNeddie, the boy bear also crawled out, saying:
"Hello, Uncle Wiggily!"
&n
bsp; "How do you do, Neddie," spoke the bunny uncle. "How long has Wuzzobeen staying with you?"
"She just ran in my hollow log," said the little bear chap, "and hertail, brushing against my nose, tickled me so that I sneezed andawakened from my Winter sleep."
"Where have you been all night, since you ran away, Wuzzo?" askedUncle Wiggily.
"Well," answered the third little kitten. "After Fuzzo, Muzzo and Isoiled our mittens with cherry pie we all ran away."
"Yes, I know that part," spoke the bunny uncle. "It was not right todo, but I have found the two other lost kitties. I couldn't findyou, though. Why was that?"
"Because I met Mother Goose," said Wuzzo, "and she asked me to go toLondon to see the Queen. She took me through the air on the back ofher big gander, and we flew as quickly as you could have gone inyour airship."
"You went to London to see the Queen!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, insurprise. "Well, well! What did you do there?"
"I frightened a little mouse under her chair, just as Mother Goosewanted me to do," said Wuzzo. "Then the big gander flew with me tothese woods and went back to get Mother Goose, who stayed to talkwith the Queen. So here I am, but I don't know the way home."
"Oh, I'll take you home all right," said Uncle Wiggily. "But firstwe must wash your mittens."
"Oh, I did that for her, in the log," said Neddie Stubtail,laughing. "With my red tongue I licked off all the sweetcherry-pie-juice, which I liked very much. So, now the mittens areclean."