Uncle Wiggily's Travels

  STORY XXVIII

  UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BERRY BUSH

  "Well, children, I think I will soon have to be leaving you," said UncleWiggily Longears one morning to the three Wibblewobbles, when he hadstayed all night at their Aunt Lettie's house. That was after the oldgentleman rabbit had found the three ducks lost in the woods, youremember, and had taken them to where they were visiting the old ladygoat. "I must pack my valise and travel on," said Uncle Wiggily.

  "Oh, can't you stay a little longer?" asked Alice Wibblewobble, as shetied her sky-blue-pink hair ribbon in a flopsy-dub kind of a bow knot.

  "Yes, do stay!" urged Jimmie as he tossed up his ball, which Lulu, hissister, caught. "We'll have some fun together and you can play on my ballteam, Uncle Wiggily."

  "Oh! I am much too old for that," said the rabbit, "though I like to watchyou play. Besides, I have the rheumatism, and I have to keep on lookingfor my fortune. So I will travel forward once more."

  "Well, if you must go, I suppose you must," said Aunt Lettie, the old ladygoat. "But at least let me put you up a little lunch. Let me see, whatshall it be? I think a tomato can sandwich, and some brown paper cake withpaste frosting on would be nice. And then, too, I can give you some finewooden pie."

  "Oh, excuse me!" exclaimed the rabbit, "but while it is very kind of you,I cannot eat such things. I never could chew a tomato can, nor yet awooden, or even a sawdust pie."

  "No more you could," cried Aunt Lettie in confusion. "I was thinking ofwhat I liked to eat. Very well, I will give you some carrots and cabbageand a piece of cherry pie. I know you will like those."

  So she made Uncle Wiggily that kind of a lunch, and he put it in hisvalise, and after saying good-by to the old lady goat, and the threeWibblewobbles, off he started to seek his fortune once more.

  On and on he traveled up some hills, and down others and through thewoods, and pretty soon he came to a place where there was a big hole inthe ground.

  "Ah, ha!" exclaimed the rabbit, "perhaps this is a gold mine. I will getsome gold dollars out of it and then I will be rich." So he went close tothe hole and looked down it, but all of a sudden out popped a great bigrat, and she gnashed her teeth at Uncle Wiggily and tried to bite him.

  "What are you doing at my house?" she cried, real savagely. "Get away atonce before I eat you."

  "Indeed I will," said the rabbit, politely. "I thought your hole was agold mine. Excuse me, I'll get right along," so he hopped away as fast ashe could hop, very thankful that he had not gone down the hole.

  Well, the next place he came to was where a great big stone was stickingout of the side of a hill. And the stone glittered in the sunshine justlike diamonds or dewdrops.

  "Oh, how delightful!" cried the rabbit. "This surely is a gold stone. Iwill break off some pieces of it and take them home, and then I will havemy fortune."

  So, taking his crutch, Uncle Wiggily tried to break off pieces of theglittering stone. But, my goodness me, sakes alive and a chocolate icecream cone! that stone was very hard, and try as he did, Uncle Wiggilycouldn't break off a piece even as big as baby's tiny pink toe.

  "I'll just sing a little song, and then, perhaps, I can get some of thegold," he said. So he sang this song, which goes to the tune"Tiddily-um-tum-tum:"

  "My fortune I've found, On top of the ground, I'm lucky as lucky can be. But really this stone, Is hard as a bone, I wish that some one would help me."

  After singing, Uncle Wiggily hammered away at the stone with his crutchagain, but the song did no good. And then, all at once, before you couldshake your finger at a pink pussy cat, out from behind the glitteringstone there jumped the savage wushky-woshky, which is a very curious beastwith two tails and three heads and only one crinkly leg, so that it has togo hippity-hop, or else fall down ker thump!

  "What are you doing to my stone?" cried the wushky-woshky.

  "Oh, excuse me," said Uncle Wiggily politely. "I didn't know it was yourstone. I was only trying to break off a small piece for my fortune."

  "Wow! Oh, wow!" cried the wushky-woshky, as savage as savage could be, andhe gnashed the teeth in all three of his mouths, and he lashed his twotails on the ground. "I'm going to catch you!" he called to the rabbit.

  "Not if I know it you won't catch me," said Uncle Wiggily bravely, and offhe hopped down the hill.

  "Yes, I will catch you!" cried the wushky-woshky, and off he hopped on hisone crinkly leg after the rabbit. Faster and faster hopped Uncle Wiggily,but still faster and faster hopped the wushky-woshky.

  "Oh, he'll surely catch me!" thought the rabbit. "I wonder what I can do?I know. I'll open my valise, and I'll scatter on the ground my nice lunchthat Aunt Lettie put up for me, and the wushky-woshky will stop to eat thegood things, and then I can get away."

  So the rabbit did this. Out on the ground from the valise tumbled all thenice carrot and lettuce sandwiches. But the savage wushky-woshky gobbledthem up with three mouthfuls, and didn't stop hopping after Uncle Wiggilyon his one crinkly leg.

  "Oh, he'll surely catch me now!" cried the rabbit.

  "No, he won't! Jump up in the air, and come down inside of me!" cried avoice, and Uncle Wiggily saw a nice blackberry bush waving its long armsat him. "Jump down inside of me, where there are no thorns to scratchyou," said the berry bush, "but if the wushky-woshky tries to come afteryou I'll scratch his six eyes out. I'll save you. Jump down inside me!"

  "Thank you, I will," said the rabbit, and he gave a big spring and a hop,over the outer edge of the bush, and down he landed safely inside of it,not scratched a bit. Up came the three-headed, two-tailed and onecrinkly-legged wushky-woshky, but when he saw the prickly briar berry bushhe stopped short, for he did not want his six eyes scratched out.

  "Come out of there!" cried the wushky-woshky to the rabbit.

  "Indeed, I will not," said Uncle Wiggily, politely.

  "Then I'll stay here forever and you can't ever come out," said the savagecreature. "For if you come out I'll eat you!"

  "Don't let him scare you," said the briar berry bush to Uncle Wiggily,"I'll fix him," so the berry bush reached out a long arm all covered withstickers, and she stickered and prickered the wushky-woshky on his threeheads and two tails and one leg, so that the savage creature ran awayhowling, and Uncle Wiggily was safe, and not hurt a bit, I'm glad to say.

  So he stayed in the briar bush that night and had berries for breakfast,and the next day he had another adventure. What it was I will tell you onthe page after this one, when the bedtime story will be about UncleWiggily and the camp fire--that is, if the cat across the street doesn'tuntie the pink ribbon off our pussy's neck and put it on his ice creamcone.

  STORY XXIX

  UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CAMP FIRE

  "Well, how do you find yourself this morning?" asked the berry bush ofUncle Wiggily as the old gentleman rabbit peeped out to see if the badthree-headed wushky-woshky had come back. "Are you all right?"

  "Oh, yes, thank you kindly," spoke the rabbit, "but I was just wonderinghow I could get out of here to go on and seek my fortune without beingscratched all to pieces."

  "Can't you jump out just as you jumped in?" asked the bush, waving herprickly arms, but taking care not to so much as even tickle Uncle Wiggily.

  "No, there isn't room enough for me to get started to jump out," repliedthe rabbit. "I'm afraid I'll have to stay here a long time, and I reallyought to be going on."

  "Oh, I have a plan!" suddenly cried the bush. "You are a very good digger,so why can't you dig a tunnel right under me? Start it inside here andcurve it up so that it comes outside of my prickly branches, and then youwon't be scratched."

  "I'll do it!" cried Uncle Wiggily, so with his strong front feet he dug atunnel, just as you sometimes make in the sand, and soon he was safelyoutside the berry bush.

  "Take some of my berries with you," said the bush, "so you won't gethungry."

  "I will," answered the rabbit, and he filled his valise with nice, bigblackberries. He felt a little sad about t
he nice lunch the wushky-woshkyhad eaten, but there was no help for it--that lunch was gone completely.

  So Uncle Wiggily said good-by to the kind berry bush, and traveled on oncemore to seek his fortune.

  "Watch out for the wushky-woshky," called the bush to the rabbit, as shewaved her friendly stickery branches at him.

  "I will," he said, and then he passed up over the hill and out of sight.

  The first place he came to was an old hollow stump, where an old owl hadonce lived. The rabbit looked down inside the stump, but there was nofortune there.

  The second place he came to was a curious little house built of bark,where an old dog, who was a friend to Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow, used tolive, but the old dog was away on his vacation at Ocean Grove, so hewasn't at home.

  "Perhaps there is a fortune in here," thought the rabbit, but there wasn'tany and he went on.

  Now the third place he came to was a little house, made out ofclothespins, where a pussy cat lived, and the pussy wasn't home, for shehad just gone to the store to get some milk.

  But the rabbit didn't know this, so he went inside the house to see ifthere was any fortune there. And the first thing he saw on the mantelpiecewas a tin bank, and when he shook it something inside of it rattled, andwhen he peeped in Uncle Wiggily saw a whole lot of pennies in the tinbank.

  "Oh fine!" he cried, "now I have my fortune at last. Some one has goneaway and left all this money, so I might as well take it."

  Well, he was just putting the bank full of pennies into his valise, whenthe pussy came back with the bottle of milk.

  "Oh! are you going to take my bank away from me?" she cried, very sadly."I have been saving up my pennies for a long time, and now you have them."

  "Oh, I wouldn't take them for the world!" cried the rabbit. "I didn't knowthey were yours, it's all a mistake," and he placed the bank right backon the mantel. "But perhaps you could tell me where to find my fortune,"said Uncle Wiggily, and he told the pussy all about his travels.

  "First we will have a drink of milk," said the pussy, and she poured outsome for the rabbit. "Then I will go into the woods a little way with youand help you look for your fortune."

  "Perhaps we had better take some lunch with us," said the rabbit, so hewent to the store and got a nice lunch, which he put up in his valise, andthen he and the pussy started off together to the woods.

  They looked here and there and everywhere and even around corners, but nofortune could they find, and pretty soon it began to get a little dark.And then suddenly it got all dark.

  "Oh, I can never find my way back home!" cried the pussy. "And I am afraidin these lonesome woods."

  "Oh! don't be frightened," said Uncle Wiggily, who was very brave. "I willbuild a camp fire and we can stay here all night. I will cook some supperand in the morning I will take you home."

  Then the pussy wasn't afraid any more. She helped the rabbit to gather upsome dry leaves and little sticks, and also some big sticks, and soonUncle Wiggily had a fine fire merrily blazing away in the woods, and itwas nice and light. Then he took some leafy branches and made a littlehouse for himself and the pussy and then they cooked supper, making somecoffee in an old empty tomato can they found near a wrinkly-crinkly stump.

  "Oh, this is real jolly!" cried the pussy, as she warmed her paws and hernose at the blaze. "It is much better than drinking milk out of a bottle."

  "I think so myself," said the rabbit. "Now, if I could only find myfortune I would be happy. But, perhaps, I shall to-morrow."

  Well, pretty soon Uncle Wiggily and the pussy became sleepy so theythought they would go to bed. They made their beds in the little greenbower-house on some soft, dried leaves.

  "And I must have plenty of wood to put on the camp fire," said the rabbit,"for in the night some bad animal might try to eat us, but when they seethe blaze they will be afraid and run away."

  So he gathered a big pile of wood, and then he and the pussy went tosleep. And in the middle of the night, as true as I'm telling you, yes,indeed, along came sneaking the wushky-woshky with his three heads andtwo tails and his one crinkly leg.

  "Now, I'll have a fine meal," thought the wushky-woshky as he saw therabbit and the pussy sleeping. "Which one shall I take first?"

  But all of a sudden his foot slipped on a stone and he made a noise, andUncle Wiggily awakened in an instant and cried out:

  "Some one is after us!" Then the brave rabbit threw some wood on the campfire, and it blazed up so quickly that it burned the whiskers of thewushky-woshky and he gave three howls, one with each of his mouths, andaway he hopped on his one leg, taking his two tails with him.

  "My!" cried the pussy, "it's a good thing we had the camp fire, or wewould have been eaten up."

  "Indeed it is," said the rabbit. "I'll keep it blazing all night." So hedid this, and no more wushky-woshkys came to bother them. And in themorning the pussy and the rabbit traveled on together and they had quitean adventure.

  What it was I'll relate to you almost immediately, when, in case a littlegirl named Elizabeth learns how to swim by standing on one toe and holdinga red balloon under water, I'll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and thecowbird.

  STORY XXX

  UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE COWBIRD

  "Do you think you can help me find my way back home again?" asked thepussy of Uncle Wiggily as they awakened the next morning, after havingspent the night in the woods by the camp fire.

  "Oh, I'm sure I can," answered the rabbit. "As soon as we have ourbreakfast we'll start off to look for your clothespin house."

  Then Uncle Wiggily made up the camp fire again, putting on some more wood,and he boiled the coffee, in a tomato can, and fried some pieces of baconhe had in his valise. The way he cooked them was to take a sharp stick andput a piece of bacon on the end of it, and then he held the bacon up infront of the blaze, where it sizzled away, and got nice and curly andbrown, and oh! how good it did smell, and so did the coffee! Oh! it'sgreat to cook over a camp fire when the smoke doesn't get in your eyes andwhen it doesn't rain.

  "Now we must put out the fire," said the rabbit, as he and the pussy wereready to go look for the clothespin house.

  "Why must we do that, Uncle Wiggily?"

  "Oh, so that it will not set fire to the woods, and burn down the nicetrees after we are gone. Always put out your camp fire when you leave it,"said the rabbit, as he threw water on the blaze, making clouds of steam.

  Well, he and the pussy traveled on for some time longer together, butsomehow or other they couldn't seem to find the place where the pussylived, and the little cat was beginning to be sorry that she had gonecamping in the woods.

  "Oh, I know I'll never find my home again!" she cried.

  "Oh, yes, we will," said the rabbit kindly. "Don't worry."

  And just then they heard some one else crying, a little, tiny, sobbingvoice.

  "What's that?" exclaimed the pussy. "Perhaps it is one of theskillery-scalery alligator's children."

  "No, I do not think so," said the rabbit. "It sounds to me as if some oneelse were lost in the woods, and I may have to find their home, too. We'lltake a look."

  So they looked all around, but they couldn't seem to find any one, thoughthe crying was still to be heard.

  "That's queer," said the rabbit, "I'll call to them."

  So he called as loudly as he could like this:

  "Is any one lost? Do you want me to help you find your home?"

  "Oh, I'd be very glad to have you help me," said the crying voice, "but Iam not lost."

  "Then who are you, and what is the matter?" asked the rabbit.

  "Oh, I am a robin bird," was the answer, "and I am in this bush over yourheads."

  "Ha, no wonder we couldn't see you," said the rabbit, as he and the pussylooked up, and there, sure enough, was the nice mamma robin bird, and shewas crying, as she sat in the bush.

  "What is the matter?" asked the rabbit.

  "I will tell you," said the robin. "You know there is a bird called thecowbird o
r cuckoo, and that bird is too lazy to build a nest for itself.So what do you think it does?"

  "What?" asked the pussy.

  "Why it goes around, laying its eggs in the nests of other birds," saidthe robin. "Then we birds have to hatch out the cowbird's eggs, and whenher children come out they are so unpleasant that they shove our littlebirdies right out of the nest, and eat all the things we mamma birdsbring home to our little ones."

  "Ha! That is very unpleasant, to say the least," spoke the rabbit. "Andare there any cowbirds in your nest now, Mrs. Robin?"

  "Not yet, but there are three of the cowbird's eggs here, and they willsoon hatch out."

  "Why don't you toss out the cowbird's eggs?" asked the pussy. "Then youwon't have to hatch them."

  "I would," said the robin, "only I am not strong enough, for I have beenill, and my husband is out of work and he is looking for some. So I don'tknow what to do about it. Oh, dear!" and she cried again.

  "Ha! We must see what we can do," said Uncle Wiggily, who always liked tohelp people who were in trouble. "I think I have a plan."

  "What is it?" asked the robin.

  "Well, I can't climb up that bush, for my paws are not built for that sortof thing, but the pussy can climb very nicely, as she has sharp claws."

  "Indeed I can," said the pussy, "and I will, and I'll throw out thecowbird's eggs for you, so those bad birds won't bother your littlebirds."