"Ha!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "I wonder if Jollie or Jillie Longtail, themouse children, dropped that out of their trap? I'll take it to them, Iguess."
He picked up the bit of cheese, thinking how glad the mousie boy andgirl would be to have it back, when, all at once, he heard behind him avoice asking:
"Oh, did you find it? I'm so glad, thank you!" and from under a bush outstepped a cat wearing a large smile on the front of its face. The catstretched out its claw and took the bit of cheese from Uncle Wiggily.
"Oh! Is that yours?" asked the bunny gentleman, in surprise.
"It's Cheshire cheese; isn't it?" asked the cat.
"I--I believe so," answered the bunny. "Yes," he added as he looked andmade sure, "it is Cheshire cheese."
"Then, as I'm the Cheshire cat it's mine. Cheshire cat meet your cheese!Cheese, meet your cat! How do you do? So glad to see you!" and the catshook paws with the cheese just as if Uncle Wiggily had introducedthem.
"I dare say it's all right," went on the bunny uncle.
"Of course it is!" laughed the cat, smiling more than ever. "I'm so gladyou found my cheese. I was afraid the March Hare had taken it for thatsilly 5 o'clock tea party. But I'm glad he didn't. At first I took youfor the March Hare. You look like him, being a rabbit."
"My birthday is not in March, it is in April," said Uncle Wiggily,bowing.
"That's better," spoke the Cheshire cat. "You have done me a great favorby finding my cheese, and I hope to be able to do you one some day."
"Pray do not mention it," spoke the bunny uncle, modest like and shy, ashe always was. He was just going to ask about Alice in Wonderland whenthe cat ran away with the cheese.
"Never mind," thought Uncle Wiggily. "That was the beginning of anadventure, anyhow. I wonder what the next part will be?" He did not havelong to wait.
All of a sudden, as he was walking along through the woods, sort ofleaning on his red, white and blue striped barber pole rheumatismcrutch, there was a rustling in the bushes and out popped a whole lot ofhungry rats.
"Ah, there IT is!" cried one rat, seizing hold of Uncle Wiggily by hisears.
"Yes, and just in time, too!" cried another, grabbing the bunny by hispaws. "Into our den with IT before the mouse trap comes along and takesIT away from us!"
With that the rats, of which there were about five hundred and sixteen,began hustling Uncle Wiggily down a hole in the ground, and the first heknew they had him inside a wooden room in an underground house and theylocked the door, taking the key out.
"What does this mean?" cried the bunny uncle. "Why do you treat me thisway?"
"Why, IT can speak!" cried several of the rats, in surprise.
"Of course I can!" cried Uncle Wiggily, his pink nose twinkling. "Butwhy do you call me IT?"
"Because you are a piece of cheese," said one rat, "and we always callcheese IT."
"Cheese? I, cheese?" asked astonished Uncle Wiggily.
"Of course," cried the biggest rat of all. "You're Cheshire cheese. Why,you perfume the whole room! We're so hungry for you. We thought thegrocer had forgotten to send you. But it's all right now. Oh, what adelightful meal we shall have. We love Cheshire cheese," and the rats inthe room with Mr. Longears looked very hungrily at the bunny uncle--veryhungrily indeed.
"Oh, what shall I do?" thought Uncle Wiggily. "I see what has happened.When I picked up the Cheshire cat's piece of Cheshire cheese some of theperfume from it must have stuck to my paws. The rats smelled that andthink I'm it. IT!" murmured the bunny gentleman. "As if I were a game oftag! IT!"
The rats in the locked room were very busy, getting out their cheeseknives and plates, and poor Uncle Wiggily hardly knew what to do withthis most unpleasant adventure happening to him, when, all of a sudden,right in the middle of the room, there appeared a big, smiling mouth,with a cheerful grin spread all over it. Just a smile it was, andnothing more.
"Oh!" cried Uncle Wiggily in surprise. "Oh!"
With that all the rats looked up and, seeing the smile, one exclaimed:
"I smell a cat! Oh, woe is me! I smell a cat!"
Then, all of a sudden the smile grew larger and larger. Then a noseseemed to grow out of nothing, then some whiskers, then a pair ofblazing eyes, and then ears--a head, legs, claws and a body, and finallythere stood the Cheshire cat in the midst of the rats.
"Scat, rats," meaouwed the Cheshire cat. "Scat!"
"How did you get in here?" asked one rat.
"Yes, tell us!" ordered another. "How did you get in past the lockeddoor?"
"Through the keyhole," said the Cheshire cat. "I sent my smile in first,and then it was easy for my body to follow. Now you scat and leaveUncle Wiggily alone!" and with that the cat grinned larger than ever,showing such sharp teeth that the rats quickly unlocked the door and ranaway, leaving the bunny uncle quite safe.
"Alice in Wonderland, most magically knew of the trouble you were in,"said the Cheshire cat, "so she sent me to help you, which I was glad todo, as you had helped me. My Cheshire cheese, that you found for me whenI had lost it, was very good!"
Then Uncle Wiggily hopped back to his bungalow, and the cat went to seeAlice; and if the paper cutter doesn't slice the bread board all up intopieces of cake for the puppy dog's party, I'll tell you next about UncleWiggily and the Dormouse.
CHAPTER IV
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE DORMOUSE
"Tap! Tap! Tap!" came a knock on the door of the hollow stump bungalowone morning. Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman who lived inthe woods, called out:
"Please come in!"
In hopped Dickie Chip-Chip, the sparrow boy postchap, with a letter forthe bunny gentleman.
"Ha! That's nice!" explained Uncle Wiggily as he took the envelope. "Ihope it's a valentine!"
"A valentine this time of year!" laughed Dickie. "This is June, UncleWiggily!"
"Oh, so it is. However, I'll read it." And when Dickie flew on todeliver the rest of his letters Uncle Wiggily read his own. It was veryshort, and said:
"If you want a new hat, come to the green meadow as soon as you read this."
"Ha! If I want a new hat!" thought the bunny uncle. "Well, I do needone. But who knew that I did? This is very strange and mysterious. Ha! Ihave it! This must be from Alice in Wonderland. She is giving me alittle surprise."
So, telling Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, his muskrat lady housekeeper, thathe was going out to get a new hat, away hopped Uncle Wiggily, over thefields and through the woods until he came to the green meadow.
In the middle of the meadow was a little grove of trees, and half waythere Uncle Wiggily heard a sad little voice saying:
"Oh, dear! What trouble I'm in!"
"Trouble!" cried the bunny gentleman twinkling his pink nose. "Ha! Thatsounds like old times! Let me help some one. But who is it?"
"It is I. The little Dormouse," was the answer, and, looking down, UncleWiggily saw the tiny creature who had been at the queer tea party whenthe Mad March Hare smashed the Hatter's 5 o'clock watch.
The tail of the poor little Dormouse was caught fast in between twostones and she could not move, but Uncle Wiggily quickly loosened it forher and she was very thankful to get out.
"I was afraid I'd be late," said the Dormouse. "I have to hurry on tohelp the Queen of Hearts put sugared cheese on the blackberry tarts forthe King's birthday. I'll see you again, Uncle Wiggily."
"I hope so," spoke the bunny uncle, as he hurried away to get his newhat, all the while wondering whether or not he would see Alice fromWonderland.
Uncle Wiggily reached the green meadow trees, but no one else was there.He looked up and down, and all around, but there was not even an old hatin sight, to say nothing of a new one.
"I wonder if this letter is an April fool joke?" thought the bunnyuncle, taking from his pocket the envelope Dickie had given him. "No, ifit's the month of June it can't be April Fool's Day, any more than itcan be time for valentines," said the bunny. "But I wonder where my hatis?"
Hardly had Un
cle Wiggily said this, out loud, than, all of a sudden, avoice cried:
"Here's your hat!"
With that something seemed to drop down from the clouds, or maybe it wasfrom one of the trees. But whatever it was it completely covered UncleWiggily out of sight. It was just as if you took a large bowl and turnedit upside down over a grasshopper, only, of course, Uncle Wiggily wasnot a grasshopper, though he did jump around a lot.
And, at first, in the sudden darkness, the rabbit gentleman thought itwas a bowl that, perhaps, the circus elephant's little boy had turnedover on him just for fun.
Then, making his pink nose twinkle very fast, so that it shone in thedark like a firefly lantern, Uncle Wiggily was able to see that he wasinside a large, tall, silk hat. When it had dropped over him it had shutout all the sunlight, making it quite dark inside where the bunny was.
"Yes, this is a hat!" said Uncle Wiggily to himself. "But what a funnyway to give it to me! And it's so large! Instead of my new hat goingoutside my head, my head is inside the hat. This will never do! I mustget out and see what the trouble is. This must be the elephant's hat,it's so large."
But when Uncle Wiggily tried to lift up one edge of the hat, to crawlout, he found he could not. Some one seemed to be sitting on top of thehat, which was shaped like the silk stovepipe one Uncle Wiggily alwayswore. And a voice cried:
"Hold it tight and he can't get out!"
"Oh, I'm holding it tight!" was the answer.
Then Uncle Wiggily knew what had happened. Some one had played a sadtrick on him. And it was two bad old skillery-scalery alligators. Theyhad borrowed the Wonderland Hatter's hat--which was very large. Nor hadthey told the Hatter what they wanted of it, for if they had he neverwould have let them borrow it to make trouble for Uncle Wiggily.
The alligators had climbed up the tree with the big hat, and, aftersending Uncle Wiggily the note, they had waited until he came to thefield. Then from the branches above they dropped the hat down over himand sat on it.
"And I can't get out!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "That's the worst of it! Ican't get out, and those bad alligators will reach under and grab meand--"
"No they won't!" cried a little squeaky voice down low on the ground,just outside the hat.
"Why not?" asked Uncle Wiggily, hopeful like.
"Because I am the Dormouse whom you helped," was the answer. "Now,listen! With my sharp teeth I am going to cut a door in the side of thehat where the alligators, sitting up on top, can't see it. Then you canget out."
So the Dormouse, being made for just such work, as you can tell by itsname, gnawed a door in the side of the Hatter's hat, and out crawled thebunny rabbit gentleman before the alligators could grab him. And thebunny and the Dormouse got safely away, Mr. Longears being verythankful, indeed, for having been helped by the little creature.
So the alligators had nothing for dinner but stewed pears, and if ourdog doesn't leave his tail on the wrong side of the fence, so the catcan use it for a dusting brush, I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggilyand the Gryphon.
CHAPTER V
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE GRYPHON
Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice rabbit gentleman, had just finishedshaving his whiskers in his hollow stump bungalow one morning when NurseJane Fuzzy Wuzzy, his muskrat lady housekeeper, came to his door,knocked gently by flapping her tail against it, and said:
"If you please, Mr. Longears, there's a young lady to see you."
"Of course I'm pleased," answered Uncle Wiggily. "I always like to seeyoung ladies, especially if they have light, fluffy hair. Has this onethat kind?"
"Very much so," answered Nurse Jane. "Here she is now," and with that incame a nice young lady, or, rather, a tall girl, with flaxen hair.
"I'm afraid you don't remember me," she said, as Uncle Wiggily wiped thesoap lather off the end of his pink, twinkling nose, where it hadsplashed by mistake, making it look like part of a frosted chocolatecake.
"Oh, yes, I do remember you!" cried the bunny gentleman, in his mostjolly voice. "You're Alice from Wonderland, and you were very kind tohelp me grow smaller that time the big mosquito got me into his cave andI swelled up from eating cake."
"Oh, I'm so glad you remember me!" laughed Alice, for it was indeed she."I've come to ask you to do me a bit of a favor. I have to go see theGryphon, and I thought maybe you'd come with me, for I'm afraid he'll bereal cross to me."
"You have to go see the Gryphon?" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "Who in theworld is he?"
"Oh, he's a funny animal who lives in the same story book with me,"explained Alice. "He's something between a dragon, a lion, an elephant,a flying fish and an alligator."
"Whew!" whistled Uncle Wiggily. "He must be a curious creature!"
"He is," Alice said. "And sometimes he's very cross, especially if thewind blows his veil up."
"If the wind blows his veil up?" asked Uncle Wiggily. "In the firstplace, why does he wear a veil, and in the second place, why should hebe angry if the wind blows it?"
"There isn't any first or second place about it," spoke Alice, "for younever can tell in which place the Gryphon will be found. But he wears aveil because he is so ugly that every one runs away when one sees him,and he doesn't like that. And, of course, he doesn't like the wind toblow up his veil so folks can see how he really looks."
"Ah, ha! I understand," remarked the bunny. "But if he is so cross whydo you want to go to see him?"
"I don't want to," replied Alice, "but I have to, because it's that wayin the book. You see, to make everything come out right, the Gryphontakes me to the Mock Turtle, who tells me a funny story, and so now I'vecome to see if you'll take me to the Gryphon?"
"I will," promised Uncle Wiggily, washing the soap lather out of hisears. "But where shall we find him?"
"Oh, that's the question!" laughed Alice, just as though Uncle Wiggilyhad asked a riddle. "You have three guesses," she went on.
The bunny gentleman twinkled his pink nose, so that he might thinkbetter, and then he said:
"I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll go for a walk, and make believe I'mlooking for an adventure. Then I may find the Gryphon for you."
"Fine!" cried Alice, and, Uncle Wiggily having finished shaving, he andAlice set out together over the fields and through the wood, her handholding the bunny's paw.
"Now we must keep a sharp watch for the Gryphon," said Alice, who hadhad so many adventures in Wonderland that it took a whole book to tellof them. "You never know whether he'll appear like an elephant, adragon, a lion or a big bird, for he has wings," she said.
"Has he, indeed?" asked Uncle Wiggily. "Then I think I hear him comingnow," he went on. "Listen, do you hear the buzzing?" And, surely enough,the air seemed filled with the buzzing and fluttering of wings. And thenthe sun appeared to be hidden by a cloud.
"That must be the Gryphon," said Uncle Wiggily.
Alice looked, and then she cried:
"Oh, no! It's a big cloud of bad, biting mosquitoes. It is the buzzingof their wings we hear! Oh, Uncle Wiggily, you haven't your talcumpowder bean-shooter gun with you, and here come a billion-millionmosquitoes!"
"That's right!" cried the bunny uncle, as he, too, saw them. "We musthide or they will bite even our shoes off!"
So he and Alice looked for a place to hide, but there was none, and thebuzzing mosquitoes cried:
"Ah, ha! Now we have that Uncle Wiggily Longears rabbit. He can't getaway now, for he isn't a soldier today! And we'll get Alice fromWonderland, too!"
Well, the mosquitoes were just going to grab the bunny gentleman, andthe nice little young lady girl, with the fluffy flaxen hair, when avoice out of the air cried:
"Oh, ho! No you're not going to get them, either!"
"Who says we are not?" asked the captain mosquito.
"I do!"
"And who are you?"
"I am the Gryphon!" was the answer. "And I have on my mosquito net veil.I'll catch all you bad biting bugs in my net, just as a professorcatches butterflies. Whoop! Swoop! Here I come!" r />
And with that the Gryphon, raising his veil, which hung down from hisbig ears as from around a lady's big hat, made a net of it and, flyingaround, soon caught all the mosquitoes that would have bitten UncleWiggily and Alice.
And the mosquitoes that were not caught were so frightened at the fiercelook on the Gryphon's face that they fainted, and couldn't bite even asmuch as a spoonful of mustard.
So the Gryphon drove the mosquitoes away and then he took Alice to seethe Mock Turtle, while Uncle Wiggily hopped on home to his bungalow. Andif the rubber doll doesn't bounce off the clothes horse when she ridesto the candy store for some cornstarch pudding, I'll tell you next aboutUncle Wiggily and the blue caterpillar.
CHAPTER VI
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CATERPILLAR
"Uncle Wiggily! Oh, Uncle Wiggily!" called Alice from Wonderland as shestood one day just outside the hollow stump bungalow where the rabbitgentleman had just finished his breakfast of carrot oatmeal with parsnipsauce sprinkled over the top.
"Do you want to come for another walk with me?" asked Alice as she ranup the bungalow front steps.
"Are you going to have the Gryphon take you to the Mock Turtle again?"the bunny gentleman wanted to know. "If you are, I'll bring my talcumpowder gun along this time, to keep away the mosquitoes."
"No. I don't have to see the Gryphon today," replied Wonderland Alicewith a laugh. "But the Duchess has sent me to find the BlueCaterpillar."