"It is very nice here, and I like it very much, but I must travel along, Is'pose, and see if I can't find my fortune. Are you coming, Mr. Elephant?"
"Why, certainly. I will go along with you," said the big chap. "Perhapsthe dog will come also."
"No, thank you," said the dog. "I am going to meet a friend of mine, namedPercival, and we are going to call on Lulu and Alice and JimmieWibblewobble, the duck children."
"Is that so?" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "Why, Percival and theWibblewobbles are friends of mine. Kindly give them my love and say thatI hope soon to get back home with my fortune."
So the dog said he would, and he started off to meet Percival, who used towork in the same circus where the elephant came from. And the rabbit andthe elephant hurried off together down the road.
"Are you ever going back to the circus?" asked Uncle Wiggily of theelephant as they went along.
"Not unless they catch me and make me go," he answered. "I like this sortof life much better, and besides, no one gave me ice cream cones in thecircus."
Well, pretty soon the rabbit and the elephant came to a place where therewas a high mountain.
"Oh, we'll never get up that," said Uncle Wiggily.
"Yes, we will," said the elephant, "I'll make a hole through it with mytusks, and we can walk under it instead of climbing over."
So with his long, sharp tusks he made a tunnel right through the mountain,and, though it was a bit darkish, he and the rabbit went through it aseasily as a mouse can nibble a bit of cheese.
Then, a little later they came to a place where there was a big riverto cross, and there was no bridge.
"Oh, we can never get over that," said Uncle Wiggily.
"Yes, we can," said the elephant.
"Are you going to drink it up as you did the lake?" asked the rabbit.
"No," said the elephant, "but I will make a bridge to go over the river."So he found a great big tree that the wind had blown down, and, takingthis in his strong trunk, the elephant laid it across the river, and thenhe laid another tree and another, and pretty soon he had as good a bridgeas one could wish, and he and Uncle Wiggily crossed over on it.
Well, they hadn't gone on very far, before, all of a sudden the elephantfell down, and he was so heavy that he shook the ground just like when alocomotive choo-choo engine rushes past.
"Oh, whatever is the matter?" asked Uncle Wiggily. "Did you hurtyourself?"
"No," said the elephant, sad-like, "I am not hurt, but I am sick. I guessI drank too much ice water, which is a bad thing to do in hot weather. Oh,how ill I am! You had better go for a doctor."
Well, that poor elephant was so ill that he had to lie down on the ground,and he cried and groaned, and the big tears rolled down his trunk, andmade quite a mud puddle on the earth. For when an elephant is ill he isvery ill, indeed, as there is so much of him.
"I'll cover you with leaves so you won't get sunburned," said UncleWiggily, "and then I'll hop off for a doctor." Well, it takes a greatnumber of leaves to cover up an elephant, but finally the rabbit did it,and then away he started.
He looked everywhere for an elephant doctor, but he couldn't seem to findany. There were dog doctors and horse doctors and cat doctors and evendoctors for boys and girls, but none for the elephant.
"Oh, what shall I do?" thought the rabbit. "My poor, dear elephant maydie."
Just then he heard some one singing in the woods like this:
"Peanuts, they are good to eat, Mine are most especially neat, I am going to make them hot So that you will eat a lot."
"Oh, are you an elephant doctor?" cried Uncle Wiggily.
"No, I am a hot-peanut-man," said the voice, and then the peanut roasterbegan to whistle like a tea-kettle. "But, perhaps I can cure a sickelephant," said the peanut man. So he and Uncle Wiggily hurried offthrough the woods to where the elephant was groaning, and, would youbelieve it? as soon as the big chap heard the whistle of the hot-peanutwagon and smelled the nuts roasting he got well all of a sudden and he atea bushel of the nuts and Uncle Wiggily had some also. So that's how theelephant got well, and he and the rabbit traveled on the next day.
They had quite an adventure, too, as I shall have the pleasure of tellingyou in the next story which will be about Uncle Wiggily and the crawlysnake--that is if the baby doesn't drop his bread and butter down thestovepipe and make the rice pudding laugh.
STORY XV.
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CRAWLY SNAKE
"Do you feel all right to travel to-day?" asked Uncle Wiggily of theelephant the next morning, after the hot-peanut-man had cured the bigchap.
"Oh, yes, I feel very fine!" said the elephant. "We will travel alongtogether again, and perhaps we may find your fortune this time."
"Hadn't we better take some extra peanuts with us, in case you become illagain?" asked the rabbit, as he looked in the satchel to see if he had anysandwiches, in case he got hungry.
"Oh, to be sure, we must have peanuts!" exclaimed the elephant. "Take asmany as we can carry, for I just love 'em!"
So they hunted up the hot-peanut-man, and bought all the rest of hispeanuts, besides paying for those the elephant had eaten to make himselfget well.
"Good luck to you!" cried the peanut man, as he wheeled away his emptywagon, "I wish I had elephants for customers every day, then I would soonget rich," and away he went singing:
"I sell peanuts good and hot, Five cents buys you quite a lot. Get your money and come here, Buy my peanuts, children dear.
"My peanuts are hot and brown, Finest ones in all the town. Nice and juicy--good to chew, I have some for all of you."
"Well, come on," said the elephant to Uncle Wiggily, "put some peanuts inyour valise, and I will carry the rest."
"How; in your trunk?" asked the rabbit.
"No, I'm going to wrap them up in a bundle, and tie them on my back. Iwant my trunk to squirt water through when it gets hot, as I think the sunis going to be very scorchy to-day."
So he tied the bundle of peanuts on his back, and then the two friendsjourneyed on together. Well, it did get very hot, and it kept on gettinghotter, and there wasn't much shade.
"Oh my, I wish it would rain a little shower!" said Uncle Wiggily, as hewiped his ears with his handkerchief. "I am as hot as an oven."
"I can soon fix that part of it," said the elephant. And pretty soon hecame to a spring of cold water, and he sucked a lot of it up in his hollowtrunk, and then he squirted a nice cool, fine spray of it over the rabbit,just as if it came out of a hose with which papa waters the garden orlawn.
"My! That feels fine!" said the rabbit. Then the elephant squirted somewater on himself, and they went on, feeling much better.
But still they were warm again in a short time, and then the elephantsaid:
"I know what I am going to do. I am going to get some more ice creamcones. They will cool us off better than anything else. I'll go for themand bring back some big ones. You stay here in the shade, Uncle Wiggily,but don't walk on ahead, or you may tumble into the water again."
"I'll not," promised the rabbit. "I'll wait right here for you."
Off the elephant started to get the ice cream cones and pretty soon hecame to the store where the man sold them.
"I want two of your very coldest cones," said the elephant to the man, forsometimes, in stories, you know, elephants can talk to people. "I want abig strawberry cone for myself," the elephant went on, "and a smallerone for my friend, Uncle Wiggily, the rabbit."
"Very well," said the man, "but you will have to wait until I make a largecone for you."
So that man took seventeen thousand, six hundred and eighty-seven littlecones and made them into one big one for the elephant. Then he tookeighteen thousand, two hundred and ninety-one quarts of strawberry icecream, and an extra pint, and put it into the big cone. Then he made arabbit-sized ice cream cone for Uncle Wiggily and gave them both to theelephant, who carried them in his trunk so they wouldn't melt.
But
I must tell you what was happening to Uncle Wiggily all this while. Ashe sat there in the shade of the apple tree, thinking, about his fortuneand whether he would ever find it, all of a sudden he saw something roundand squirming sticking itself toward him through the bushes.
"Ha! the elephant has come back so quietly that I didn't hear him,"thought the rabbit. "That is his trunk he is sticking out at me. I guesshe thinks I don't see him, and he is going to tickle me. I hope he hasthose ice cream cones."
Well, the crawly, squirming, round thing, which was like the small end ofan elephant's trunk, kept coming closer and closer to the rabbit.
"Now, I'll play a trick on that elephant--I'll tickle his trunk for him,and he'll think it's a mosquito!" said Uncle Wiggily to himself.
He was just about to do this, when suddenly the crawly thing made a sortof jump toward him, and before the rabbit could move he found himselfgrasped by a big, ugly snake, who wrapped himself around the rabbit justas ladies wrap their fur around their necks in the winter. It wasn't theelephant's trunk at all, but a bad snake.
"Now, I have you!" hissed the snake like a steam radiator in UncleWiggily's left ear. "I'm going to squeeze you to death and then eat you,"and he began to squeeze that poor rabbit just like the wash-lady squeezesclothes in the wringer.
"Oh, my breath! You are crushing all the breath out of me!" cried UncleWiggily. "Please let go of me!"
"No!" hissed the snake, and he squeezed harder than ever.
"Oh, this is the end of me!" gasped the rabbit, when all of a sudden heheard a great crashing in the bushes. Then a voice cried:
"Here, you bad snake, let go of Uncle Wiggily."
And bless my hat! If the elephant didn't rush up, just in time, and hegrabbed hold of that snake's tail in his trunk, and unwound the snake fromaround the rabbit, and then the elephant with a long swing of his trunkthrew the snake so high up in the air that I guess he hasn't yet comedown.
"I was just in time to save you!" said the elephant to Uncle Wiggily."Here, eat this ice cream cone and you'll feel better."
So the rabbit did this, and his breath came back and he was all rightagain, but he made up his mind never to try to tickle a crawly thing againuntil he was sure it wasn't a snake.
So that's all for the present, if you please, but in case my fur hatdoesn't sleep out in the hammock all night, and catch cold in the head sothat it sneezes and wakes up the alarm clock, I'll tell you next aboutUncle Wiggily and the water lilies.
STORY XVI
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE WATER LILIES
Uncle Wiggily was hopping along through the woods one day, and prettysoon, as he went past a cute little house, made out of corncobs, he heardsome one calling to him.
"Oh, Mr. Rabbit," a voice said, "have you seen anything of my littlegirl?" And there stood a nice mamma cat, looking anxiously about.
"I don't know," answered Uncle Wiggily, as he stopped in the shade of atree, and set down his valise. "Was your little girl named Sarah, Mrs.Cat?"
"Oh, indeed, my little girl is not named Sarah," said Mrs. Cat. "She iscalled Snowball, and she is just as cute as she can be. She is all white,like a ball of snow, and so we call her Snowball. But she is lost, and I'mafraid I'll never find her again," and the kittie's mamma began to cry,and she wiped her tears on her apron.
"Oh, don't worry. Never mind. I'll find her for you," said the kind oldgentleman rabbit.
"I can't find my fortune but I believe I can find Snowball. Now, tell mewhich way she went away, and I'll go search for her."
"I didn't see her go out of the house," said Mrs. Cat, "because I wasmaking a cherry pie, and I was very busy. Snowball was playing on thefloor, with a ball of soft yarn, and it rolled out of doors. She raced outafter it, and I thought she would soon be back. I put the cherry pie inthe oven and then when I went to look for her she was gone. Oh, dear! Ijust know some horrid dog has hurt her."
"Please don't worry," said Uncle Wiggily. "I'll find her for you. I'llstart right off, and if I can't find her I'll get a policeman, and he can,for the police always find lost children."
So Uncle Wiggily started off, leaving his valise with Mrs. Cat, but takinghis crutch with him, for he thought he might need it to beat off any baddogs if they chased after Snowball.
First the old gentleman rabbit looked carefully all along the road, but hecouldn't see anything of the lost pussy cat.
"Perhaps she may be up a tree," he said to himself. "If a dog chased hershe would climb up one, and perhaps she is afraid to come down."
So he looked up into all the trees, and he even shook some of them inorder to see up them better, but he did not discover the pussy cat. Thenhe called:
"Snowball! Snowball! Snowball! Where are you?"
But there was no answer.
"Oh, if there was only some bird who could call 'Snowball' I would getthem to call for the lost pussy," thought Uncle Wiggily.
Then he looked up and he saw a big black bird sitting on a tree.
"Can you call 'Snowball' for me?" asked the rabbit, politely. "She is lostand her mamma wants her very much. Just call 'Snowball' as loudly as youcan."
"I can't," said the big black bird. "All I can cry is 'Caw! Caw! Caw!' Iam a crow, you see."
"That is too bad," said the rabbit. "Then I will have to keep on searchingby myself," so he did, and the crow flew away to look for a cornfield thathad no scarecrow in it to frighten him.
Well, Uncle Wiggily looked in all the places he could think of, but stillthere was no pussy to be seen, and he was just thinking he had better gofor a policeman. But he thought he would try just one more place, so helooked down a hollow stump, but Snowball was not there.
"I'll have to get a policeman after all," said the rabbit, so he told apoliceman cat about the lost pussy, and the policeman cat searched forSnowball, but he couldn't find her, either.
"I guess she is gone," said the policeman. "You had better go back andtell her mamma that she hasn't any little pussy girl any more."
"Oh, how sad it will be to do that!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "I just can'tbear to."
But he started back to the corncob house to tell Mrs. Cat that he couldn'tfind her Snowball. And all the while he kept feeling more and more sad,until he was almost ready to cry.
"But I must be brave," said the old gentleman rabbit, and just then hecame to a pond where a whole lot of beautiful, white water lilies weregrowing. Oh, they are a lovely flower, with such a sweet, spicy smell. Assoon as Uncle Wiggily saw them he said:
"I'll pick some and take them home to Mrs. Cat. Perhaps they will make herfeel a little happy, even if her Snowball is gone forever."
So with his long crutch Uncle Wiggily pulled toward shore some of thewater lilies, until he could pick them on their slender stems. Some of theflowers were wide open, and some were closed, like rosebuds.
He took both kinds home to Mrs. Cat, and when he told her he couldn't findSnowball she was very sorrowful and she cried. But she loved the flowersvery much, and put them in a bowl of water.
"I'll stay here to-night," said the rabbit, "and in the morning I'll lookfor Snowball again. I'm sure I'll find her."
"Oh, you are very kind," said Mrs. Cat, as she wiped away her tears.
Well, the next morning Uncle Wiggily got up real early, and the firstthing he saw was the bowl of water lilies on the parlor table. They hadall closed up like buds in the night, but in the sunlight they all openedagain into beautiful flowers.
And, would you believe me, right in the middle of one of the flowerssomething white moved and wiggled. Then it gave a little "Mew!" and thenUncle Wiggily cried:
"Oh, Mrs. Cat, come here quickly! Here is Snowball! She was asleep insideof one of the water lilies!"
And, surely enough, there was the little lost kittie, just awakening inone of the flowers, and she was exactly the color of it. And, oh, how gladshe was to see her mamma again, and how her mamma did hug her!
"How did you get in that flower?" asked Uncle Wiggily.
"Oh, when
I went after my ball a big dog chased me," said Snowball, "so Ijumped into one of the lilies and I fell asleep, and the flower went shutand I stayed there. But now I'm home, and I'm glad of it," and she justkissed Uncle Wiggily on the tip end of his nose, that twinkled like a staron a frosty night.
So that's how Snowball was lost and found, and I'm going to tell you aboutUncle Wiggily and the sunflower, that is if the sunfish doesn't spread thebutter too thick on the baby's bread with his tail and make her slide outof her high chair.
STORY XVII
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SUNFLOWER
Mrs. Cat and her daughter Snowball liked Uncle Wiggily so much that theywanted him to stay with them a long time.
"You can build yourself a nice little corncob house next to ours," saidSnowball, "and live in it; and you can tell me a story every night."
"Oh, but rabbits live underground, and not in corncob houses, though suchhouses are very nice," said Uncle Wiggily. "I guess I'll have to betraveling on."
"If you stay, I'll bake you a cherry pie every day," said Mrs. Cat. "Andyou can help find Snowball when she gets lost again."
"Cherry pie is very good, and you are very kind," said the rabbitpolitely, "but I have my fortune to find."
"Well, if you can't stay you can't, I s'pose," said Snowball; "but I'mnever going to get lost again," and she put her little nose down deepinside a water lily and smelled it, and oh, how sweet and spicy itsmelled!