And, of course, after that they didn't feel like hurting Uncle Wiggily orPercival. And just then the big alligator came along and chased the wolvesaway, so the rabbit and dog had no one to bother them except thealligator, and, as he had just had his supper, he wasn't hungry, so hedidn't eat them.
So Uncle Wiggily and Percival went to sleep, and so must you, and if thevegetable man brings me a pumpkin Jack o' Lantern, with a pink ribbon onthe end of the stem, I'll tell you in the next story about Uncle Wiggilyin a well.
STORY XVII
UNCLE WIGGILY IN A WELL
Well, I didn't get the pumpkin Jack o' Lantern with the pink ribbon on,but some one mailed me an ice cream cone, so it's just as well. That is, Isuppose it was an ice cream cone when it started on its journey, but whenI got it there was only the cone part left. Maybe the postman took out theice cream, with which to stick a stamp on the letter.
But there, I must tell you what happened to Uncle Wiggily after he andPercival did those tricks, and made the wolves laugh so hard. The rabbitand the circus dog stayed in the woods all that night, and nothingbothered them.
"Now, Percival, you make the coffee, and I'll spread the bread and butterfor breakfast," said Uncle Wiggily the next morning.
"Where are you going to get the bread and butter?" asked the dog.
"Oh, I have it in my satchel," spoke the old rabbit, and, surely enough,he did have several large, fine slices. So he and Percival ate theirbreakfast, and then they started off again.
They hadn't gone very far before they met a grasshopper, who was limpingalong on top of a fence rail, and looking quite sad--I mean thegrasshopper was looking sad, not the fence rail.
"What is the matter?" asked Uncle Wiggily, kindly. "Are you sad andlonesome because you can't have some cherry pie, or some bread and butter;or because you can't see any funny tricks? If you are, don't worry, Mr.Grasshopper, for Percival and I can give you something to eat, and also dosome tricks to make you laugh."
"No, I am not sad about any of those things," replied the grasshopper,"but you see I gave a big jump over a large stone a little while ago, andI sprained my left hind leg. Now I can't jump any more, and here it isSummer, and, of course, we grasshoppers have to hop, or we don't make anymoney."
"Oh, don't let a little thing like that worry you," spoke Uncle Wiggily."I have some very nice salve, that a gentleman and his boy gave me whentheir automobile ran over me, and it cured my sore toe, so I think it willcure your left hind leg."
Then he put some salve on the grasshopper's leg, and in a little while itwas much better.
"Now we must travel on again, to seek our fortune," said Uncle Wiggily."Come, Percival."
"I will just do one little trick, to make the grasshopper feel betterbefore we leave," said the circus dog, so he stood up on the end of histail, and went around and around, and winked first one eye and then theother, it was too funny for anything, really it was.
Well, the alligator laughed at that--oh there I go again--I mean thegrasshopper laughed, and then Uncle Wiggily and Percival went offtogether, very glad indeed that they had had a chance to do a kindness,even to a grasshopper.
Pretty soon they came to a place where there were two roads branching off,one to the right hand and the other to the left, like the letter "Y."
"I'll tell you what we'll do," said Percival, "you go to the right, UncleWiggily, and I'll go to the left, and, later on, we'll meet by the millpond, and perhaps each of us may have found his fortune by that time."
"Good!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "We'll do it!"
So he went off one way, and the circus dog took the other path through thewoods, and now I must tell you what happened to the old gentleman rabbit.
Uncle Wiggily went along for some time, and just as he got to a placewhere there was a large stone, all of a sudden out popped a big fat toad.And it wasn't a nice toad, either, but a bad toad.
"Hello, Uncle Wiggily," said the squatty-watty toad. "I haven't seen youin some time. I guess you must be getting pretty old. You can't jump asgood as you once could, can you?"
"Of course, I can," exclaimed the rabbit, a bit pettish-like, for hedidn't care to have even a toad think he couldn't jump as well as ever hecould.
"I'd like to see you," went on the toad. "See if you jump from here overon that pile of leaves," and he pointed to them with his warty toes.
"I'll do it," exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. So he laid aside his crutch and hisvalise, gave a little run and a big jump, and then he came down kerthumpon the pile of leaves.
But wait. Oh! I have something sad to tell you. That toad was only playinga trick on the rabbit, and those leaves were right over a big, deep, darkwell. And as soon as Uncle Wiggily landed on the leaves he fell through,for there were no boards under them to cover up the well, and down, down,down he went, and if there had been water in the well he would have beendrowned. But the well was dry, I'm glad to say. Still Uncle Wiggily had agreat fall--almost like the tumble of Humpty-Dumpty.
"Ah, ha!" exclaimed the mean, squatty-squirmy toad. "Now you are in thewell, and I'm going off, and tell the wolves, so they can come and getyou out, and eat you. Ah, ha!" Oh! but wasn't that toad a most unpleasantone? You see, he used to work for the wolves, doing all sorts of meanthings for them, and trapping all the animals he could for them.
So off the toad hopped, to call the wolves to come and get Uncle Wiggily,and the poor rabbit was left alone at the bottom of the well. He tried hisbest to get up, but he couldn't.
"I guess I'll have to stay here until the wolves come," he thought, sadly."But I'll call for help, and see what happens." So he called: "Help! Help!Help!" as loudly as he could.
And all of a sudden a voice answered and asked:
"Where are you?"
"In the well," shouted Uncle Wiggily, and he was afraid it was the wolvescoming to eat him. But it wasn't, it was the limpy grasshopper, and hetried to pull Uncle Wiggily out of the well, but, of course, he wasn'tstrong enough.
"But I'll get Percival, the circus dog, and he'll pull you out before thewolves come," said the grasshopper. "Now I have a chance to do you akindness for the one you did me." So he hopped off, as his leg was nearlyall better, and he found Percival on the left road and told him what hadhappened.
And, my! how that circus dog did rush back to help Uncle Wiggily. And hegot him out of the well in no time, by lowering a long rope to him, andpulling the rabbit gentleman up, and then the rabbit and dog ran away,before the toad could come back with the savage wolves, who didn't get anysupper out of the well, after all, and it served them right.
So that's all of this story, but I have some more, about the adventures ofUncle Wiggily, and next, in case the load of hay doesn't fall on mypuppy-dog, and break off his curly tail, I'll tell you about Uncle Wiggilyand Jennie Chipmunk.
STORY XVIII
UNCLE WIGGILY AND JENNIE CHIPMUNK
After Uncle Wiggily had been pulled up out of the well by Percival, theold circus dog, and they had run far enough off so that the wolvescouldn't get them, the rabbit and the grasshopper and Percival sat down onthe ground to rest. For you see Uncle Wiggily was tired from having fallendown the well, and the grasshopper was tired from having run so fast tocall back Percival, and of course Percival was tired from having pulled upthe old gentleman rabbit. So they were all pretty well tired out.
"I'm sure I can't thank you enough for what you did for me," said UncleWiggily to Percival, and the grasshopper. "And as a little treat I'm goingto give you some cherry pie that I made for the hedgehog."
So they ate some cherry pie, and then they felt better. And they were justgoing to travel on together again, when, all at once, there was a rustlingin the bushes, and out flew Dickie Chip-Chip, the sparrow boy.
"Oh, my" cried Uncle Wiggily, wrinkling up his nose. "At first I thoughtyou were a savage owl."
"Oh, no, I'm not an owl," said Dickie. "But I'm in a great hurry, andperhaps I made a noise like an owl. Percival, you must come back home tothe Bow Wow house right aw
ay."
"Why?" asked Percival, sticking up his two ears so that he could hearbetter.
"Because Peetie Bow Wow is very ill with the German measles, and he wantsto see you do some of your funny circus tricks," spoke Dickie. "He thinksthat will make him better."
"Ha! I've no doubt that it will!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "If I were nottraveling about, seeking my fortune, I'd go back with you, Percival. Ilove Peetie Bow Wow, and Jackie, too."
"Oh, I'll go," said the grasshopper. "I will play Peetie a funny fiddletune, on my left hind leg, and that may make him laugh."
"And Nellie and I will sail through the air, and go off to find somepretty flowers for him," said Dickie.
So the sparrow boy, the grasshopper and old Percival, the circus dog,started off together to see poor sick Peetie Bow Wow, leaving UncleWiggily there on the grass.
"Give my love to Peetie!" called the old gentleman rabbit after them,"and tell him that I'll come and see him as soon as I find my fortune."
Uncle Wiggily felt a little bit sad and lonely when his friends were gone,but he ate another piece of cherry pie, taking care to get none of thejuice, on his blue necktie, and then he was a little happier.
"Now to start off once more," he said. "I wonder what will happen next?But I know one thing, I'm never going to do any jumping for any squattyold toads any more."
So Uncle Wiggily traveled on and on, and when it came night he didn't haveany place to sleep. But as it happened he met a kind old water snake, whohad a nice house in an old pile of wood, and there the rabbit stayed untilmorning, when the water snake got him a nice breakfast of pond lilies,with crinkly eel-grass sauce on.
Pretty soon it was nearly noon that day, and Uncle Wiggily was about tosit down on a nice green mossy bank in the woods--not a toy bank withmoney in it, you understand, but a dirt-bank, with moss on it like acarpet. That's where he was going to sit.
"I think I'll eat my dinner," said the old gentleman rabbit as he openedhis valise, and just then he heard a voice in the woods singing. And thiswas the song:
"Oh dear! I'm lost, I know I am, I don't know what to do. I had a big red ribbon, and I had one colored blue.
But now I haven't got a one Because a savage bear Took both of them, and tied a string Around my curly hair.
I wish I had a penny bright, To buy a trolley car. I'd ride home then, because, you see, To walk it is too far."
"I guess that's some one in trouble, all right," said Uncle Wiggily, as hecautiously peeped through the bushes. "Though, perhaps, it is a littlewolf boy, or a fox." But when he looked, whom should he see but littleJennie Chipmunk, and she was crying as hard as she could cry, so shecouldn't sing any more.
"Why, Jennie, what is the matter?" kindly asked Uncle Wiggily.
"Oh, I came out in the woods to gather acorns in a little basket forsupper," she said, "and I guess I must have come too far. The first thingI knew a big bear jumped out of the bushes at me, and he took off both mynice, new hair ribbons and put on this old string."
And, sure enough, there was only just an old black shoestring on Jennie'snice hair.
"Where is that bear?" asked Uncle Wiggily, quite savage like. "Just tellme where he is, and I'll make him give you back those ribbons, and thenI'll show you the way home."
"Oh, the bear ran off after he scared me," said the little chipmunk girl."Please don't look for him, Uncle Wiggily, or he might eat you all up."
"Pooh!" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit. "I'm not afraid of a bear. Ihave traveled around a great deal of late, and I have had many adventures.It takes more than a bear to scare me!"
"Oh, it does; does it?" suddenly cried a growly-scowly voice, and, wouldyou believe me? right out from the bushes jumped that savage bear! And hehad Jennie's blue ribbon tied on his left ear, and the red one tied on hisright ear, and he looked too queer for anything. "I can't scare you; eh?"he cried to the rabbit. "Well, I'm just going to eat you, and thatchipmunk girl all up, and maybe that will scare you!"
So he made a jump for Uncle Wiggily, but do you s'pose the rabbitgentleman was afraid? Not a bit of it. He knew what he was going to do.
"Quick, Jennie!" called Uncle Wiggily. "Get in front of me. I'll fix thisbear all right." So Jennie got in front, and the rabbit turned his back onthe bear, and, then Uncle Wiggily began scratching in the dirt with hissharp claws. My! how he did make the dirt fly. It was just like a regularrain-shower of sand and gravel.
And the dirt flew all over that bear; in his eyes and nose and mouth andears, it went, and he sneezed, and he couldn't see out of his eyes, and hefairly howled. And by that time Uncle Wiggily had dug a big hole in theground with his feet, and he and Jennie hid there until the bear ran offto get some water to wash the dirt off his face, and then the rabbit andthe chipmunk girl came out safely.
Then Uncle Wiggily gave Jennie some pennies to buy two new hair ribbons,and he showed her the way home with her basket of acorns, and he himselfwent on with his travels. And he had another adventure the next day. Nowin case a cowboy doesn't come along, and take my little pussy cat off tothe wild west show I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the paperlantern.
STORY XIX
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LANTERN
After Uncle Wiggily had taken Jennie Chipmunk home, so that the bearcouldn't get her, as I told you about in the story before this one, theold gentleman rabbit walked on over the fields and through the woods,seeking his fortune. He looked everywhere for it; down in hollow stumps,behind big stones, and even in an old well, but you may be sure he didn'tjump down any more wells. No, I guess not!
"Ha! Here is a little brook!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, after a while, ashe came to a small stream of water flowing over green, mossy stones, witha nice gurgling sound like an ice cream soda, "perhaps I may find myfortune here."
But he looked and he looked in the water without seeing anything but agoldfish.
"I might sell the goldfish for money," thought the fortune-hunting rabbit,"but it wouldn't be kind to take him out of the brook, so I won't. I'lllook a little farther, on the other side."
Then, taking up his crutch and his valise, Uncle Wiggily gave a big jump,and leaped safely across the water. Then, once more, he traveled on.Pretty soon he came to a place where there was a tree, and on one branchof this tree there hung a funny round ball, that looked as if it was madeof gray-colored paper. And there was a funny buzzing sound coming from it.
"Ha! Do you see that?" asked a big, fat hop-toad, as he suddenly bobbed upout of the grass. It was the same toad who had made the rabbit jump downin the leaf-covered well. "Do you see that?" asked the toad.
"Well, if you want to find your fortune, take a stick and hit that ball."
"Indeed I will not!" cried the old gentleman rabbit. "I know you and yourtricks! That is a hornets' nest, and if I struck it they would fly out,and sting me. Oh, no! You can't catch me again. Now you go away, or I'lltell a policeman dog to arrest you."
So the toad knew it was of no use to try to fool Uncle Wiggily again, andhe hopped away, scratching his warty back on a sharp stone.
Well, the old gentleman rabbit traveled on and on, and when it came nighthe wondered where he was going to stay, for he hadn't yet found hisfortune and the weather looked as if it was going to rain. Then, all of asudden, he heard voices calling like this:
"Come on, Nannie, you've got to blind your eyes now, and I'll go hide."
"All right, Billie," was the answer. "And after that we'll get UncleButter to tell us a story."
"I guess I know who those children are," thought Uncle Wiggily, though hehad not yet seen them. "That's Billie and Nannie Goat talking," and surelyenough it was, and, most unexpectedly the rabbit had come right up to thehouse where they lived, on the edge of the woods.
Well, you can just imagine how glad Billie and Nannie were to see UncleWiggily.
They danced all around him, and held him by the paws, and kissed himbetween his long ears, and Billie carried
his satchel for him.
"Oh, we're so glad you are here!" they cried. "Mamma! Papa! Uncle Butter!Here is Uncle Wiggily!"
Well, the whole goat family was glad to see the rabbit-traveler, and aftersupper he told them of his adventures, and how he was out seeking hisfortune.
And Billie and Nannie told what they had been doing, and Nannie showed howshe could cut things out of paper, like the children do in thekindergarten class in school. She could make little houses, with smokecoming out of the chimney, and paper lanterns, and boxes, and, oh! ever somany things. The lanterns she made were especially fine, just like Chineseones.
Then it came time to go to bed, and in the night a very strange thinghappened, and I'm going to tell you all about it.
Along about 12 o'clock, when all was still and quiet, and when the littlemice were beginning to think it was time for them to creep, creep out oftheir holes, and hunt for bread and cheese; about this time there soundeda queer noise down at the front door of the goat-house.
"Ha! What is that?" asked Mrs. Goat.
"I guess it was the cats," said Mr. Goat, getting ready to go to sleepagain.
"No, I'm sure it was a burglar-fox!" said the lady goat. "Please get upand look."
Well, of course, Mr. Goat had to do so, after his wife asked him likethat. So he poked his head out of the upstairs window, over the frontdoor, and he called out: