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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..261a013 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #69458 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69458) diff --git a/old/69458-0.txt b/old/69458-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d5b3fca..0000000 --- a/old/69458-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8945 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose, by -Howard R. Garis - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose - Complete in two parts; fifty-two stories--one for each week of - the year - -Author: Howard R. Garis - -Illustrator: Edward Bloomfield - -Release Date: December 2, 2022 [eBook #69458] - -Language: English - -Produced by: David Edwards, Barry Abrahamsen, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was - produced from images made available by the HathiTrust - Digital Library.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNCLE WIGGILY AND MOTHER -GOOSE *** - - - - - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose - - - COMPLETE IN TWO PARTS - - - FIFTY-TWO STORIES—ONE FOR EACH WEEK IN THE YEAR - - - - - BY - HOWARD R. GARIS - - Author of - “Sammie and Susie Littletail,” “Johnnie and Billie Bushytail,” “Uncle - Wiggily Longears,” “Uncle Wiggily at the Seashore,” “Uncle - Wiggily in the Country,” “The Daddy Series,” etc. - - - - - Illustrated by - EDWARD BLOOMFIELD - - - - - R. F. FENNO & COMPANY - 18 East 17 Street, New York - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - - - CHILDREN’S BOOKS - By HOWARD R. GARIS - - ------- - - UNCLE WIGGILY’S BIG BOOKS - - _Price, $1.50 each_ - - UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS - UNCLE WIGGILY AND MOTHER GOOSE - UNCLE WIGGILY AND HIS FRIENDS - -Large cloth volumes, decorated cover and eight colored illustrations -each - - ------- - - THE DADDY SERIES - - DADDY TAKES US CAMPING - DADDY TAKES US FISHING - DADDY TAKES US TO THE COUNTRY - DADDY TAKES US COASTING - DADDY TAKES US SKATING - DADDY TAKES US HUNTING FLOWERS - DADDY TAKES US HUNTING BIRDS - DADDY TAKES US TO THE WOODS - - ------- - - Small boards, decorated cover and illustrated - - _Price, per volume, 40 cents_ - - ------- - -Stories of Daddy and the two children who learned much of nature-lore -and the great outdoors. - - ------- - - CIRCUS ANIMAL STORIES - -Tales of wild animals of desert and jungle, telling how they are caught -and trained to do circus tricks. - - ------- - - SNARLIE, THE TIGER - WOO-UFF, THE LION - HUMPO, THE CAMEL - UMBOO, THE ELEPHANT - - Copyright 1916 by - R. F. FENNO & COMPANY - - ------- - - _UNCLE WIGGILY AND MOTHER GOOSE_ - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND - MOTHER GOOSE - - PART I - - - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CONTENTS - - ------- - - PART I. - - CHAPTER PAGE - I. Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose 9 - II. Uncle Wiggily and the First Pig 19 - III. Uncle Wiggily and the Second Pig 25 - IV. Uncle Wiggily and the Third Pig 31 - V. Uncle Wiggily and Little Boy Blue 38 - VI. Uncle Wiggily and Higgledee Piggledee 45 - VII. Uncle Wiggily and Little Bo Peep 52 - VIII. Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tucker 58 - IX. Uncle Wiggily and Pussy Cat Mole 65 - X. Uncle Wiggily and Jack and Jill 71 - XI. Uncle Wiggily and Jack Horner 77 - XII. Uncle Wiggily and Mr. Pop-Goes 84 - XIII. Uncle Wiggily and Simple Simon 90 - XIV. Uncle Wiggily and the Crumpled-Horn Cow 96 - XV. Uncle Wiggily and Old Mother Hubbard 103 - XVI. Uncle Wiggily and Miss Muffet 109 - XVII. Uncle Wiggily and the First Kitten 115 - XVIII. Uncle Wiggily and the Second Kitten 121 - XIX. Uncle Wiggily and the Third Kitten 127 - XX. Uncle Wiggily and the Jack Horse 133 - XXI. Uncle Wiggily and the Clock-Mouse 140 - XXII. Uncle Wiggily and the Late Scholar 146 - XXIII. Uncle Wiggily and Baa-Baa Black Sheep 152 - XXIV. Uncle Wiggily and Polly Flinders 158 - XXV. Uncle Wiggily and the Garden Maid 164 - XXVI. Uncle Wiggily and the King 171 - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose - - - ------- - - - - - CHAPTER I - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND MOTHER GOOSE - - -THERE once lived in the woods an old rabbit gentleman named Uncle -Wiggily Longears, and in the hollow-stump bungalow where he had his home -there also lived Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, a muskrat lady housekeeper. -Near Uncle Wiggily there were, in hollow trees, or in nests or in -burrows under the ground, many animal friends of his—rabbits, squirrels, -puppy dogs, pussy cats, frogs, ducks, chickens and others, so that Uncle -Wiggily and Nurse Jane were never lonesome. - -Often Sammie or Susie Littletail, a small boy and girl rabbit, would hop -over to the hollow-stump bungalow, and call: - -“Uncle Wiggily! Uncle Wiggily! Can’t you come out and play with us?” - -Then the old rabbit gentleman, who was as fond of fun as a kitten, would -put on his tall silk hat, take his red, white and blue-striped -barber-pole rheumatism crutch, that Nurse Jane had gnawed for him out of -a corn-stalk, and he would go out to play with the rabbit children, -about whom I have told you in other books. - -Or perhaps Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrel boys, might ask -Uncle Wiggily to go after hickory nuts with them, or maybe Lulu, Alice -or Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck children, would want their bunny uncle -to see them go swimming. - -So, altogether, Uncle Wiggily had a good time in his hollow-stump -bungalow which was built in the woods. When he had nothing else to do -Mr. Longears would go for a ride in his airship. This was made of a -clothes-basket, with toy circus balloons on it to make it rise up above -the trees. Or Uncle Wiggily might take a trip in his automobile, which -had big bologna sausages on the wheels for tires. And whenever the -rabbit gentleman wanted the automobile wheels to go around faster he -sprinkled pepper on the sausages. - -One day Uncle Wiggily said to Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy: - -“I think I will go for a ride in my airship. Is there anything I can -bring from the store for you?” - -“Why, you might bring a loaf of bread and a pound of sugar,” answered -the muskrat lady. - -“Very good,” answered Uncle Wiggily, and then he took some soft cushions -out to put in the clothes-basket part of his airship, so, in case the -air popped out of the balloons, and he fell, he would land easy like, -and soft. - -Soon the rabbit gentleman was sailing off through the air, over the tree -tops, his paws in nice, warm red mittens that Nurse Jane had knitted for -him. For it was winter, you see, and Uncle Wiggily’s paws would have -been cold steering his airship, by the baby carriage wheel which guided -it, had it not been for the mittens. - -It did not take the bunny uncle long to go to the store in his airship, -and soon, with the loaf of bread and pound of sugar under the seat, away -he started for his hollow-stump bungalow again. - -And, as he sailed on and over the tree tops, Uncle Wiggily looked far -off, and he saw some black smoke rising in the air. - -“Ha! That smoke seems to be near my hollow-stump bungalow,” he said to -himself. “I guess Nurse Jane is starting a fire in the kitchen stove to -get dinner. I must hurry home.” - -Uncle Wiggily made his airship go faster, and then he saw, coming toward -him, a big bird, with large wings. - -“Why, that looks just like my old friend, Grandfather Goosey Gander,” -Uncle Wiggily thought to himself. “I wonder why he is flying so high? He -hardly ever goes up so near the clouds.” - -“And he seems to have some one on his back,” spoke Uncle Wiggily out -loud this time, sort of talking to the loaf of bread and the pound of -sugar. “A lady, too,” went on the bunny uncle. “A lady with a tall hat -on, something like mine, only hers comes to a point on top. And she has -a broom with her. I wonder who it can be?” - -And when the big white bird came nearer to the airship Uncle Wiggily saw -that it was not Grandfather Goosey Gander at all, but another big -gander, almost like his friend, whom he often went to see. And then the -bunny uncle saw who it was on the bird’s back. - -“Why, it’s Mother Goose!” cried Uncle Wiggily Longears. “It’s Mother -Goose! She looks just like her pictures in the book, too.” - -“Yes, I am Mother Goose,” said the lady who was riding on the back of -the big, white gander, spoke Mr. Longears. - -“I am glad to meet you, Mother Goose, I have often heard about you. I -can see, over the tree tops, that Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, my muskrat -lady housekeeper, is getting dinner ready. I can tell by the smoke. Will -you not ride home with me? I will make my airship go slowly, so as not -to get ahead of you and your fine gander-goose.” - -“Alas, Uncle Wiggily,” said Mother Goose, scratching her chin with the -end of the broom handle, “I cannot come home to dinner with you much as -I would like it. Alas! Alas!” - -“Why not?” asked the bunny uncle. - -“Because I have bad news for you,” said Mother Goose. “That smoke, which -you saw over the tree tops, was not smoke from your chimney as Nurse -Jane was getting dinner.” - -“What was it then?” asked Uncle Wiggily, and a cold shiver sort of ran -up and down between his ears, even if he did have warm, red mittens on -his paws. “What was that smoke?” - -“The smoke from your burning bungalow,” went on Mother Goose. “It caught -fire, when Nurse Jane was getting dinner, and now——” - -“Oh! Don’t tell me Nurse Jane is burned!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “Don’t -say that!” - -“I was not going to,” spoke Mother Goose, kindly. “But I must tell you -that your hollow-stump bungalow is burned to the ground. There is -nothing left but some ashes,” and she made the gander, on whose back she -was riding, fly close alongside of Uncle Wiggily’s airship. - -“My nice bungalow burned!” exclaimed the rabbit gentleman. “Well, I am -very, very sorry for that. But still it might be worse. Nurse Jane might -have been hurt, and that would have been quite too bad. I dare say I can -get another bungalow.” - -“That is what I came to tell you about,” said Mother Goose. “I was -riding past when I saw your Woodland hollow-stump house on fire, and I -went down to see if I could help. It was too late to save the bungalow, -but I said I would find a place for you and Nurse Jane to stay to-night, -or as long as you like, until you can build a new home.” - -“That is very kind of you,” said Uncle Wiggily. “I hardly know what to -do.” - -“I have many friends,” went on Mother Goose. “You may have read about -them in the book which tells of me. Any of my friends would be glad to -have you come and live with them. There is the Old Woman Who Lives in a -Shoe, for instance.” - -“But hasn’t she so many children she doesn’t know what to do?” asked -Uncle Wiggily, as he remembered the story in the book. - -“Yes,” answered Mother Goose, “she has. I suppose you would not like it -there.” - -“Oh, I like children,” said Uncle Wiggily. “But if there are so many -that the dear Old Lady doesn’t know what to do, she wouldn’t know what -to do with Nurse Jane and me.” - -“Well, you might go stay with my friend Old Mother Hubbard,” said Mother -Goose. - -“But if I went there, would not the cupboard be bare?” asked Uncle -Wiggily, “and what would Nurse Jane and I do for something to eat?” - -“That’s so,” spoke Mother Goose, as she reached up quite high and -brushed a cobweb off the sky with her broom. “That will not do, either. -I must see about getting Mother Hubbard and her dog something to eat. -You can stay with her later. Oh, I have it!” suddenly cried the lady who -was riding on the back of the white gander, “you can go stay with Old -King Cole! He’s a jolly old soul!” - -Uncle Wiggily shook his head. - -“Thank you very much, Mother Goose,” he said, slowly. “But Old King Cole -might send for his fiddlers three, and I do not believe I would like to -listen to jolly music to-day when my nice bungalow has just burned -down.” - -“No, perhaps not,” agreed Mother Goose. “Well, if you can find no other -place to stay to-night come with me. I have a big house, and with me -live Little Bo Peep, Little Boy Blue, who is getting to be quite a big -chap now, Little Tommie Tucker and Jack Sprat and his wife. Oh, I have -many other friends living with me, and surely we can find room for you.” - -“Thank you,” answered Uncle Wiggily. “I will think about it.” - -Then he flew down in his airship to the place where the hollow-stump -bungalow had been, but it was not there now. Mother Goose flew down with -her gander after Uncle Wiggily. They saw a pile of blackened and smoking -wood, and near it stood Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady, and -many other animals who lived in Woodland with Uncle Wiggily. - -“Oh, I am so sorry!” cried Nurse Jane. “It is my fault. I was baking a -pudding in the oven, Uncle Wiggily. I left it a minute while I ran over -to the pen of Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady, to ask her about making -a new kind of carrot sauce for the pudding, and when I came home the -pudding had burned, and the bungalow was on fire.” - -“Never mind,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, kindly, “as long as you were not -burned yourself, Nurse Jane.” - -“But where will you sleep to-night?” asked the muskrat lady, -sorrowfully. - -“Oh,” began Uncle Wiggily, “I guess I can——” - -“Come stay with us!” cried Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbit -children. - -“Or with us!” invited Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels. - -“And why not with us?” asked Nannie and Billie Wagtail, the goat -children. - -“We’d ask you to come with us,” said Jollie and Jillie Longtail, the -mouse children, “only our house is so small.” - -Many of Uncle Wiggily’s friends, who had hurried up to see the -hollow-stump bungalow burn, while he was at the store, now, in turn, -invited him to stay with them. - -“I, myself, have asked him to come with me,” said Mother Goose, “or with -any of my friends. We all would be glad to have him.” - -“It is very kind of you,” said the rabbit gentleman. “And this is what I -will do, until I can build me a new bungalow. I will take turns staying -at your different hollow-tree homes, your nests or your burrows -underground. And I will come and visit you also, Mother Goose, and all -of your friends; at least such of them as have room for me. - -“Yes, that is what I’ll do. I’ll visit around now that my hollow-stump -home is burned. I thank you all. Come, Nurse Jane, we will pay our first -visit to Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbits.” - -And while the other animals hopped, skipped or flew away through the -woods, and as Mother Goose sailed off on the back of her gander, to -sweep more cobwebs out of the sky, Uncle Wiggily and Nurse Jane went to -the Littletail burrow, or underground house. - -“Good-bye, Uncle Wiggily!” called Mother Goose. “I’ll see you again, -soon, sometime. And if ever you meet with any of my friends, Little Jack -Horner, Bo Peep, or the three little pigs, about whom you may have read -in my book, be kind to them.” - -“I will,” promised Uncle Wiggily. - -And he did, as you may read in the next chapter, when, if the sugar -spoon doesn’t tickle the carving knife and make it dance on the bread -board, the story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the first little pig. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER II - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE FIRST PIG - - -UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS, the nice old gentleman rabbit, came out of the -underground burrow house of the Littletail family, where he was visiting -a while with the bunny children, Sammie and Susie, because his own -hollow-stump bungalow had burned down. - -“Where are you going, Uncle Wiggily?” asked Sammie Littletail, the -rabbit boy, as he strapped his cabbage leaf books together, ready to go -to school. - -“Oh, I am just going for a little walk,” answered Uncle Wiggily. “Nurse -Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, asked me to get her some -court plaster from the five and six-cent store, and on my way there I -may have an adventure. Who knows?” - -“We are going to school,” said Susie. “Will you walk part of the way -with us, Uncle Wiggily?” - -“To be sure I will!” crowed the old gentleman rabbit, making believe he -was Mr. Cock A. Doodle, the rooster. - -So Uncle Wiggily, with Sammie and Susie, started off across the -snow-covered fields and through the woods. Pretty soon they came to the -path the rabbit children must take to go to the hollow-stump school, -where the lady mouse teacher would hear their carrot and turnip gnawing -lessons. - -“Good-by, Uncle Wiggily!” called Sammie and Susie. “We hope you have a -nice adventure.” - -“Good-by. Thank you, I hope I do,” he answered. - -Then the rabbit gentleman walked on, while Sammie and Susie hurried to -school, and pretty soon Mr. Longears heard a queer grunting noise behind -some bushes near him. - -“Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!” came the sound. - -“Hello! Who is there?” asked Uncle Wiggily. - -“Why, if you please, I am here, and I am the first little pig,” came the -answer, and out from behind the bush stepped a cute little piggie boy, -with a bundle of straw under his paw. - -“So you are the first little pig, eh?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “How many of -you are there altogether?” - -“Three, if you please,” grunted the first little pig. “I have two -brothers, and they are the second and third little pigs. Don’t you -remember reading about us in the Mother Goose book?” - -“Oh, of course I do!” cried Uncle Wiggily, twinkling his nose. “And so -you are the first little pig. But what are you going to do with that -bundle of straw?” - -“I’m going to build me a house, Uncle Wiggily, of course,” grunted the -piggie boy. “Don’t you remember what it says in the book? ‘Once upon a -time there were three little pigs, named Grunter, Squeaker and -Twisty-Tail.’ Well, I’m Grunter, and I met a man with a load of straw, -and I asked him for a bundle to make me a house. He very kindly gave it -to me, and now, I’m off to build it.” - -“May I come?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “I’ll help you put up your house.” - -“Of course you may come—glad to have you,” answered the first little -pig. “Only you know what happens to me; don’t you?” - -“No! What?” asked the rabbit gentleman. “I guess I have forgotten the -story.” - -“Well, after I build my house of straw, just as it says in the Mother -Goose story book, along comes a bad old wolf, and he blows it down,” -said the first little pig. - -“Oh, how dreadful!” cried Uncle Wiggily, “but maybe he won’t come -to-day.” - -“Oh, yes, he will,” said the first little pig. “It’s that way in the -book, and the wolf has to come.” - -“Well, if he does,” said Uncle Wiggily, “maybe I can save you from him.” - -“Oh, I hope you can!” grunted Grunter. “It is no fun to be chased by a -wolf.” - -So the rabbit gentleman and the piggie boy went on and on, until they -came to the place where Grunter was to build his house of straw. Uncle -Wiggily helped, and soon it was finished. - -“Why, it is real nice and cozy in here,” said Uncle Wiggily, when he had -made a big pile of snow back of the straw house to keep off the north -wind, and had gone in with the little piggie boy. - -“Yes, it is cozy enough,” spoke Grunter, “but wait until the bad wolf -comes. Oh, dear!” - -“Maybe he won’t come,” said the rabbit, hopeful like. - -“Yes, he will!” cried Grunter. “Here he comes now.” - -And, surely enough, looking out of the window, the piggie boy and Uncle -Wiggily saw a bad wolf running over the snow toward them. The wolf -knocked on the door of the straw house and cried: - -“Little pig! Little pig! Let me come in.” - -“No! No! By the hair of my chinny-chin-chin. I will not let you in!” -answered Grunter, just like in the book. - -“Then I’ll puff and I’ll blow, and I’ll blow your house in!” howled the -wolf. Then he puffed and he blew, and, all of a sudden, over went the -straw house. But, just as it was falling down, Uncle Wiggily cried: - -“Quick, Grunter, come with me! I’ll dig a hole for us in the pile of -snow that I made back of your house and in there we’ll hide where the -wolf can’t find us!” Then the rabbit gentleman, with his strong paws, -just made for digging, burrowed a hole in the snow-bank, and as the -straw house toppled down, into this hole he crawled with Grunter. - -“Now I’ve got you!” cried the wolf, as he blew down the first little -pig’s straw house. But when the wolf looked he couldn’t see Grunter or -Uncle Wiggily at all, because they were hiding in the snow-bank. - -“Well, well!” howled the wolf. “This isn’t like the book at all! Where -is that little pig?” - -But the wolf could not find Grunter, and soon the bad creature went -away, fearing to catch cold in his eyes. Then Uncle Wiggily and Grunter -came out of the snow-bank and were safe, and Uncle Wiggily took Grunter -home to the rabbit house to stay until Mother Goose came, some time -afterward, to get the first little pig boy. - -“Thank you very much, Uncle Wiggily,” said Mother Goose, “for being kind -to one of my friends.” - -“Pray don’t mention it. I had a fine adventure, besides saving a little -pig,” said the rabbit gentleman. “I wonder what will happen to me -to-morrow?” - -And we shall soon see for, if the snowball doesn’t wrap itself up in the -parlor rug to hide away from the jam tart, when it comes home from the -moving pictures, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the second -little pig. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER III - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SECOND PIG - - -“THERE! It’s all done!” exclaimed Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the nice -muskrat lady housekeeper, who, with Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit -gentleman, was staying in the Littletail rabbit house, since the -hollow-stump bungalow had burned down. - -“What’s all done?” asked Uncle Wiggily, looking over the tops of his -spectacles. - -“These jam tarts I baked for Billie and Nannie Wagtail, the goat -children,” said Nurse Jane. “Will you take them with you when you go out -for a walk, Uncle Wiggily, and leave them at the goat house?” - -“I most certainly will,” said the rabbit gentleman, very politely. “Is -there anything else I can do for you, Nurse Jane?” - -But the muskrat lady wanted nothing more, and, wrapping up the jam tarts -in a napkin so they would not catch cold, she gave them to Mr. Longears -to take to the two goat children. - -Uncle Wiggily was walking along, wondering what sort of an adventure he -would have that day, or whether he would meet Mother Goose again, when -all at once he heard a voice speaking from behind some bushes. - -“Yes, I think I will build my house here,” the voice said. “The wolf is -sure to find me anyhow, and I might as well have it over with. I’ll make -my house here.” - -Uncle Wiggily looked over the bushes, and there he saw a funny little -animal boy, with some pieces of wood on his shoulder. - -“Hello!” cried Uncle Wiggily, making his nose twinkle in a most -jilly-jolly way. “Who are you, and what are you going to do?” - -“Why, I am Squeaker, the second little pig, and I am going to make a -house of wood,” was the answer. “Don’t you remember how it reads in the -Mother Goose book? ‘Once upon a time there were three little pigs, named -Grunter, Squeaker and——’” - -“Oh, yes, I remember!” Uncle Wiggily said. “I met your brother Grunter -yesterday, and helped him build his straw house.” - -“That was kind of you,” spoke Squeaker. “I suppose the bad old wolf got -him, though. Too bad! Well, it can’t be helped, as it is that way in the -book.” - -Uncle Wiggily didn’t say anything about having saved Grunter, for he -wanted to surprise Squeaker, so the rabbit gentleman just twinkled his -nose again and asked: - -“May I have the pleasure of helping you build your house of wood?” - -“Indeed you may, thank you,” said Squeaker. “I suppose the old wolf will -be along soon, so we had better hurry to get the house finished.” - -Then the second little pig and Uncle Wiggily built the wooden house. -When it was almost finished Uncle Wiggily went out near the back door, -and began piling up some cakes of ice to make a sort of box. - -“What are you doing?” asked Squeaker. - -“Oh, I’m just making a place where I can put these jam tarts I have for -Nannie and Billie Wagtail,” the rabbit gentleman answered. “I don’t want -the wolf to get them when he blows down your house.” - -“Oh, dear!” sighed Squeaker. “I rather wish, now, he didn’t have to blow -over my nice wooden house, and get me. But he has to, I s’pose, ’cause -it’s in the book.” - -Still, Uncle Wiggily didn’t say anything, but he just sort of blinked -his eyes and twinkled his pink nose, until, all of a sudden, Squeaker -looked across the snowy fields, and he cried: - -“Here comes the bad old wolf now!” - -And, surely enough, along came the growling, howling creature. He ran up -to the second little pig’s wooden house, and, rapping on the door with -his paw, cried: - -“Little pig! Little pig! Let me come in!” - -“No, no! By the hair on my chinny-chin-chin I will not let you in,” said -the second little pig, bravely. - -“Then I’ll puff and I’ll blow, and I’ll puff and I’ll blow, and blow -your house in!” howled the wolf. - -Then he puffed out his cheeks, and he took a long breath and he blew -with all his might and main and suddenly: - -“Cracko!” - -Down went the wooden house of the second little piggie, and only that -Uncle Wiggily and Squeaker jumped to one side they would have been -squashed as flat as a pancake, or even two pancakes. - -“Quick!” cried the rabbit gentleman in the piggie boy’s ear. “This way! -Come with me!” - -“Where are we going?” asked Squeaker, as he followed the rabbit -gentleman over the cracked and broken boards, which were all that was -left of the house. - -“We are going to the little cabin that I made out of cakes of ice, -behind your wooden house,” said Uncle Wiggily. “I put the jam tarts in -it, but there is also room for us, and we can hide there until the bad -wolf goes off.” - -“Well, that isn’t the way it is in the book,” said the second little -pig. “But——” - -“No matter!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “Hurry!” So he and Squeaker hid in the -ice cabin back of the blown-down house, and when the bad wolf came -poking along among the broken boards, to get the little pig, he couldn’t -find him. For Uncle Wiggily had closed the door of the ice place, and as -it was partly covered with snow the wolf could not see through. - -“Oh, dear!” howled the wolf. “That’s twice I’ve been fooled by those -pigs! It isn’t like the book at all. I wonder where he can have gone?” - -But he could not find Squeaker or Uncle Wiggily either, and finally the -wolf’s nose became so cold from sniffing the ice that he had to go home -to warm it, and so Uncle Wiggily and Squeaker were safe. - -“Oh, I don’t know how to thank you,” said the second little piggie boy -as the rabbit gentleman took him home to Mother Goose, after having left -the jam tarts at the home of the Wagtail goats. - -“Pray do not mention it,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, modest like, and shy. “It -was just an adventure for me.” - -He had another adventure the following day, Uncle Wiggily did. And if -the dusting brush doesn’t go swimming in the soap dish, and get all -lather so that it looks like a marshmallow cocoanut cake, I’ll tell you -next about Uncle Wiggily and the third little pig. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE THIRD PIG - - -UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS sat in the burrow, or house under the ground, -where he and Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady, lived with the -Littletail family of rabbits since the hollow-stump bungalow had burned. - -“Oh, dear!” sounded a grunting, woofing sort of voice over near one -window. - -“Oh, dear!” squealed another voice from under the table. - -“Well, well! What is the matter with you two piggie boys?” asked Uncle -Wiggily, as he took down from the sideboard his red, white and blue -barber-pole striped rheumatism crutch that Nurse Jane had gnawed for him -out of a corn-stalk. - -“What’s the trouble, Grunter and Squeaker?” asked the rabbit gentleman. - -“We are lonesome for our brother,” said the two little piggie boys No. 1 -and No. 2. “We want to see Twisty-Tail.” - -For the first and second little pigs, after having been saved by Uncle -Wiggily, and taken home to Mother Goose, had come back to pay a visit to -the bunny gentleman. - -“Well, perhaps I may meet Twisty-Tail when I go walking to-day,” spoke -Uncle Wiggily. “If I do I’ll bring him home with me.” - -“Oh, goodie!” cried Grunter and Squeaker. For they were the first and -second little pigs, you see. Uncle Wiggily had saved Grunter from the -bad wolf when the growling creature blew down Grunter’s straw house. -And, in almost the same way, the bunny uncle had saved Squeaker, when -his wooden house was blown over by the wolf. But Twisty-Tail, the third -little pig, Uncle Wiggily had not yet helped. - -“I’ll look for Twisty-Tail to-day,” said the rabbit gentleman as he -started off for his adventure walk, which he took every afternoon and -morning. - -On and on went Uncle Wiggily Longears over the snow-covered fields and -through the wood, until just as he was turning around the corner near an -old red stump, the rabbit gentleman heard a clinkity-clankity sort of a -noise, and the sound of whistling. - -“Ha! Some one is happy!” thought the bunny uncle. “That’s a good -sign—whistling. I wonder who it is?” - -He looked around the stump corner and he saw a little animal chap, with -blue rompers on, and a fur cap stuck back of his left ear, and this -little animal chap was whistling away as merrily as a butterfly eating -butterscotch candy. - -“Why, that must be the third little pig!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. -“Hello!” called the rabbit gentleman. “Are you Twisty-Tail?” - -“That’s my name,” answered the little pig, “and, as you see, I am -building my house of bricks, just as it tells about in the Mother Goose -book.” - -And, surely enough, Twisty-Tail was building a little house of red -bricks, and it was the tap-tap-tapping of his trowel, or mortar-shovel, -that made the clinkity-clankity noise. - -“Do you know me, Uncle Wiggily?” asked the piggie boy. “You see I am in -a book. ‘Once upon a time there were three little pigs, and——’” - -“I know all about you,” interrupted Uncle Wiggily. “I have met Mother -Goose, and also your two brothers.” - -“They didn’t know how to build the right kind of houses, and so the wolf -got them,” said Twisty-Tail. “I am sorry, but it had to happen that way, -just as it is in the book.” - -Uncle Wiggily smiled, but said nothing. - -“I met a man with a load of bricks, and I begged some of them to build -my house,” said Twisty-Tail. “No wolf can get me. No, sir-ee! I’ll build -my house very strong, not weak like my brothers’. No, indeed!” - -“I’ll help you build your house,” offered Uncle Wiggily, kindly, and -just as he and Twisty-Tail finished the brick house and put on the roof -it began to rain and freeze. - -“We are through just in time,” said Twisty-Tail, as he and the rabbit -gentleman hurried inside. “I don’t believe the wolf will come out in -such weather.” - -But just as he said that and looked from the window, the little piggie -boy gave a cry, and said: - -“Oh, here comes the bad animal now! But he can’t get in my house, or -blow it over, ’cause the book says he didn’t.” - -The wolf came up through the freezing rain and knocking on the third -piggie boy’s brick house, said: - -“Little pig! Little pig! Let me come in!” - -“No! No! By the hair of my chinny-chin-chin, I will not let you in!” -grunted Twisty-Tail. - -“Then I’ll puff and I’ll blow, and I’ll blow your house in!” howled the -wolf. - -“You can’t! The book says so!” laughed the little pig. “My house is a -strong, brick one. You can’t get me!” - -“Just you wait!” growled the wolf. So he puffed out his cheeks, and he -blew and he blew, but he could not blow down the brick house, because it -was so strong. - -“Well, I’m in no hurry,” the wolf said. “I’ll sit down and wait for you -to come out.” - -So the wolf sat down on his tail to wait outside the brick house. After -a while Twisty-Tail began to get hungry. - -“Did you bring anything to eat, Uncle Wiggily?” he asked. - -“No, I didn’t,” answered the rabbit gentleman. “But if the old wolf -would go away I’d take you where your two brothers are visiting with me -in the Littletail family rabbit house and you could have all you want to -eat.” - -But the wolf would not go away, even when Uncle Wiggily asked him to, -most politely, making a bow and twinkling his nose. - -“I’m going to stay here all night,” the wolf growled. “I am not going -away. I am going to get that third little pig!” - -“Are you? Well, we’ll see about that!” cried the rabbit gentleman. Then -he took a rib out of his umbrella, and with a piece of his shoe lace -(that he didn’t need) for a string he made a bow like the Indians used -to have. - -“If I only had an arrow now I could shoot it from my umbrella-bow, hit -the wolf on the nose and make him go away,” said Uncle Wiggily. Then he -looked out of the window and saw where the rain, dripping from the roof, -had frozen into long, sharp icicles. - -“Ha!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “An icicle will make the best kind of an -arrow! Now I’ll shoot the wolf, not hard enough to hurt him, but just -hard enough to make him run away.” - -Reaching out the window Uncle Wiggily broke off a sharp icicle. He put -this ice arrow in his bow and, pulling back the shoe string, “twang!” he -shot the wolf on the nose. - -“Oh, wow! Oh, double-wow! Oh, custard cake!” howled the wolf. “This -isn’t in the Mother Goose book at all. Not a single pig did I get! Oh, -my nose! Ouch!” - -Then he ran away, and Uncle Wiggily and Twisty-Tail could come safely -out of the brick house, which they did, hurrying home to the bunny house -where Grunter and Squeaker were, to get something to eat. So everything -came out right, you see, and Uncle Wiggily saved the three little pigs, -one after the other. - -And if the canary bird doesn’t go swimming in the rice pudding, and eat -out all the raisin seeds, so none is left for the parrot, I’ll tell you -next of Uncle Wiggily and Little Boy Blue. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER V - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND LITTLE BOY BLUE - - -“UNCLE WIGGILY, are you very busy to-day?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, -the muskrat lady housekeeper, who, with the old rabbit gentleman, was on -a visit to the Bushytail family of squirrels in their hollow-tree home. - -After staying a while with the Littletail rabbits, when his hollow-stump -bungalow had burned down, the bunny uncle went to visit Johnnie and -Billie Bushytail. - -“Are you very busy, Uncle Wiggily?” asked the muskrat lady. - -“Why, no, Nurse Jane, not so very,” answered the bunny uncle. “Is there -something you would like me to do for you?” he asked, with a polite bow. - -[Illustration] - -“Well, Mrs. Bushytail and I have just baked some pies,” said the muskrat -lady, “and we thought perhaps you might like to take one to your friend, -Grandfather Goosey Gander.” “Fine!” cried Uncle Wiggily, making his nose -twinkle like a star on a Christmas tree in the dark. “Grandpa Goosey -will be glad to get a pie. I’ll take him one.” - -“We have it all ready for you,” said Mrs. Bushytail, the squirrel mother -of Johnnie and Billie, as she came in the sitting-room. “It’s a nice hot -pie, and it will keep your paws warm, Uncle Wiggily, as you go over the -ice and snow through the woods and across the fields.” - -“Fine!” cried the bunny uncle again. “I’ll get ready and go at once.” - -Uncle Wiggily put on his warm fur coat, fastened his tall silk hat on -his head, with his ears sticking up through holes cut in the brim, so it -would not blow off, and then, taking his red, white and blue-striped -rheumatism crutch, that Nurse Jane had gnawed for him out of a -corn-stalk, away he started. He carried the hot apple pie in a basket -over his paw. - -“Grandpa Goosey will surely like this pie,” said Uncle Wiggily to -himself, as he lifted the napkin that was over it to take a little -sniff. “It makes me hungry myself. And how nice and warm it is,” he went -on, as he put one cold paw in the basket to warm it; warm his paw I -mean, not the basket. - -Over the fields and through the woods hopped the bunny uncle. It began -to snow a little, but Uncle Wiggily did not mind that, for he was well -wrapped up. - -When he was about halfway to Grandpa Goosey’s house Uncle Wiggily heard, -from behind a pile of snow, a sad sort of crying voice. - -“Hello!” exclaimed the bunny uncle, “that sounds like some one in -trouble. I must see if I can help them.” - -Uncle Wiggily looked over the top of the pile of snow, and, sitting on -the ground, in front of a big icicle, was a boy all dressed in blue. -Even his eyes were blue, but you could not very well see them, as they -were filled with tears. - -“Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “This is quite too -bad! What is the matter, little fellow; and who are you?” - -“I am Little Boy Blue, from the home of Mother Goose,” was the answer, -“and the matter is that it’s lost!” - -“What is lost?” asked Uncle. “If it’s a penny I will help you find it.” - -“It isn’t a penny,” answered Boy Blue. “It’s the hay stack which I have -to sleep under. I can’t find it, and I must see where it is or else -things won’t be as they are in the Mother Goose book. Don’t you know -what it says?” - -And he sang: - - “Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn, - There are sheep in the meadow and cows in the corn. - Where’s Little Boy Blue, who looks after the sheep? - Why he’s under the hay stack, fast asleep. - -“Only I can’t go to sleep under the hay stack, Uncle Wiggily, because I -can’t find it. And, oh, dear! I don’t know what to do!” and Little Boy -Blue cried harder than ever, so that some of his tears froze into little -round marbles of ice, like hail stones. - -“There, there, now!” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “Of course you can’t -find a hay stack in the winter. They are all covered with snow.” - -“Are they?” asked Boy Blue, real surprised like. - -“Of course, they are!” cried Uncle Wiggily, in his most jolly voice. -“Besides, you wouldn’t want to sleep under a hay stack, even if there -was one here, in the winter. You would catch cold and have the -sniffle-snuffles.” - -“That’s so, I might,” Boy Blue said, and he did not cry so hard now. -“But that isn’t all, Uncle Wiggily,” he went on, nodding at the rabbit -gentleman. “It isn’t all my trouble.” - -“What else is the matter?” asked the bunny uncle. - -“It’s my horn,” spoke the little boy who looked after the cows and -sheep. “I can’t make any music tunes on my horn. And I really have to -blow my horn, you know, for it says in the Mother Goose book that I -must. See, I can’t blow it a bit.” And Boy Blue put his horn to his -lips, puffed out his cheeks and blew as hard as he could, but no sound -came out. - -“Let me try,” said Uncle Wiggily. The rabbit gentleman took the horn and -he, also, tried to blow. He blew so hard he almost blew off his tall -silk hat, but no sound came from the horn. - -“Ah, I see what the trouble is!” cried the bunny uncle with a jolly -laugh, looking down inside the “toot-tooter.” “It is so cold that the -tunes are all frozen solid in your horn. But I have a hot apple pie here -in my basket that I was taking to Grandpa Goosey Gander. I’ll hold the -cold horn on the hot pie and the tunes will thaw out.” - -“Oh, have you a pie in there?” asked Little Boy Blue. “Is it the -Christmas pie into which Little Jack Horner put in his thumb and pulled -out a plum?” - -“Not quite, but nearly the same,” laughed Uncle Wiggily. “Now to thaw -out the frozen horn.” - -The bunny uncle put Little Boy Blue’s horn in the basket with the hot -apple pie. Soon the ice was melted out of the horn, and Uncle Wiggily -could blow on it, and play tunes, and so could Boy Blue. -Tootity-toot-toot tunes they both played. - -“Now you are all right!” cried the bunny uncle. “Come along with me and -you may have a piece of this pie for yourself. And you may stay with -Grandpa Goosey Gander until summer comes, and then blow your horn for -the sheep in the meadow and the cows in the corn. There is no need, now, -for you to stay out in the cold and look for a haystack under which to -sleep.” - -“No, I guess not,” said Boy Blue. “I’ll come with you, Uncle Wiggily. -And thank you, so much, for helping me. I don’t know what would have -happened only for you.” - -“Pray do not mention it,” politely said Uncle Wiggily with a laugh. Then -he and little Boy Blue hurried on through the snow, and soon they were -at Grandpa Goosey’s house with the warm apple pie, and oh! how good it -tasted! Oh, yum-yum! - -And if the church steeple doesn’t drop the ding-dong bell down in the -pulpit and scare the organ, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and -Higgledee Piggledee. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND HIGGLEDEE PIGGLEDEE - - -ONE day Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old gentleman rabbit, was -sitting in an easy chair in the hollow-stump house of the Bushytail -squirrel family, where he was paying a visit to Johnnie and Billie -Bushytail, the two squirrel boys. - -There came a knock on the door, but the bunny uncle did not pay much -attention to it, as he was sort of taking a little sleep after his -dinner of cabbage soup with carrot ice cream on top. - -Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, went out in the -hall, and when she came back, with her tail all tied up in a pink -ribbon, (for she was sweeping) she said: - -“Uncle Wiggily, a friend of yours has come to see you.” - -“A friend of mine!” cried Uncle Wiggily, awakening so suddenly that his -nose stopped twinkling. “I hope it isn’t the bad old fox from the Orange -Mountains.” - -“No,” answered Nurse Jane with a smile, “it is a lady.” - -“A lady?” exclaimed the old rabbit gentleman, getting up quickly, and -looking in the glass to see that his ears were not criss-crossed. “Who -can it be?” - -“It is Mother Goose,” went on Nurse Jane. “She says you were so kind as -to help Little Boy Blue the other day, when his horn was frozen, and you -thawed it on the warm pie, that perhaps you will now help her. She is in -trouble.” - -“In trouble, eh?” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, sort of smoothing down his -vest, fastidious like and stylish. “I didn’t know she blew a horn.” - -“She doesn’t,” said Nurse Jane. “But I’ll bring her in and she can tell -you, herself, what she wants.” - -“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” cried Mother Goose, as she set her broom down in -one corner, for she never went out unless she carried it with her. She -said she never could tell when she might have to sweep the cobwebs out -of the sky. “Oh, Uncle Wiggily, I am in such a lot of trouble!” - -“Well, I will be very glad to help you if I can,” said the bunny uncle. -“What is it?” - -“It’s about Higgledee Piggledee,” answered Mother Goose. - -“Higgledee Piggledee!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, “why that sounds like——” - -“She’s my black hen,” went on Mother Goose. “You know how the verse goes -in the book about me and my friends.” - -And, taking off her tall peaked hat, which she wore when she rode on the -back of the old gander, Mother Goose sang: - - “Higgledee Piggledee, my black hen, - She lays eggs for gentlemen. - Sometimes nine and sometimes ten. - Higgledee Piggledee, my black hen. - Gentlemen come every day, - To see what my black hen doth lay.” - -“Well,” asked Uncle Wiggily, “what is the trouble? Has Higgledee -Piggledee stopped laying? If she has I am afraid I can’t help you, for -hens don’t lay many eggs in winter, you know.” - -“Oh, it isn’t that!” said Mother Goose, quickly. “Higgledee Piggledee -lays as many eggs as ever for gentlemen—sometimes nine and sometimes -ten. But the trouble is the gentlemen don’t get them.” - -“Don’t they come for them?” asked Uncle Wiggily, sort of puzzled like -and wondering. - -“Oh, yes, they come every day,” said Mother Goose, “but there are no -eggs for them. Some one else is getting the eggs Higgledee Piggledee -lays.” - -“Do you s’pose she eats them herself?” asked the old rabbit gentleman, -in a whisper. “Hens sometimes do, you know.” - -“Not Higgledee Piggledee,” quickly spoke Mother Goose. “She is too good -to do that. She and I are both worried about the missing eggs, and as -you have been so kind I thought perhaps you could help us.” - -“I’ll try,” Uncle Wiggily said. - -“Then come right along to Higgledee Piggledee’s coop,” invited Mother -Goose. “Maybe you can find out where her eggs go to. She lays them in -her nest, comes off, once in a while, to get something to eat, but when -she goes back to lay more eggs the first ones are gone.” - -Uncle Wiggily twinkled his nose, tied his ears in a hard knot, as he -always did when he was thinking, and then, putting on his fur coat and -taking his rheumatism crutch with him, he went out with Mother Goose. - -Uncle Wiggily rode in his airship, made of a clothes-basket, with toy -circus balloons on top, and Mother Goose rode on the back of a big -gander, who was a brother to Grandfather Goosey Gander. Soon they were -at the hen coop where Higgledee Piggledee lived. - -“Oh, Uncle Wiggily, I am so glad you came!” cackled the black hen. “Did -Mother Goose tell you about the egg trouble?” - -“She did, Higgledee Piggledee, and I will see if I can stop it. Now, you -go on the nest and lay some eggs and then we will see what happens,” -spoke Uncle Wiggily. - -So Higgledee Piggledee, the black hen, laid some eggs for gentlemen, and -then she went out in the yard to get some corn to eat, just as she -always did. And, while she was gone, Uncle Wiggily hid himself in some -straw in the hen coop. Pretty soon the old gentleman heard a gnawing, -rustling sound and up out of a hole in the ground popped two big rats, -with red eyes. - -“Did Higgledee Piggledee lay any eggs to-day?” asked one rat, in a -whisper. - -“Yes,” spoke the other, “she did.” - -“Then we will take them,” said the first rat. “Hurray! More eggs for us! -No gentlemen will get these eggs because we’ll take them ourselves. -Hurray!” - -He got down on his back, with his paws sticking up in the air. Then the -other rat rolled one of the black hen’s eggs over so the first rat could -hold it in among his four legs. Next, the second rat took hold of the -first rat’s tail and began pulling him along, egg and all, just as if he -were a sled on a slippery hill, the rat sliding on his back over the -smooth straw. And the eggs rode on the rat-sled as nicely as you please. - -“Ha!” cried Uncle Wiggily, jumping suddenly out of his hiding-place. “So -this is where Higgledee Piggledee’s eggs have been going, eh? You rats -have been taking them. Scatt! Shoo! Boo! Skedaddle! Scoot!” - -And the rats were so scared that they skedaddled away and shooed -themselves and did everything else Mr. Longears told them to do, and -they took no eggs that day. Then Uncle Wiggily showed Mother Goose the -rat hole, and it was stopped up with stones so the rats could not come -in the coop again. And ever after that Higgledee Piggledee, the black -hen, could lay eggs for gentlemen, sometimes nine and sometimes ten, and -there was no more trouble as there had been before Uncle Wiggily caught -the rats and made them skedaddle. - -So Mother Goose and the black hen thanked Uncle Wiggily very much. And -if the stylish lady who lives next door doesn’t take our feather bed to -wear on her hat when she goes to the moving pictures, I’ll tell you next -about Uncle Wiggily and Little Bo Peep. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND LITTLE BO PEEP - - -“WHAT are you going to do, Nurse Jane?” asked Uncle Wiggily Longears, -the rabbit gentleman, as he saw the muskrat lady housekeeper going out -in the kitchen one morning, with an apron on, and a dab of white flour -on the end of her nose. - -“I am going to make a chocolate cake with carrot icing on top,” replied -Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy. - -“Oh, good!” cried Uncle Wiggily, and almost before he knew it he started -to clap his paws, just as Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbit -children, might have done, and as they often did do when they were -pleased about anything. “I just love chocolate cake!” cried the bunny -uncle, who was almost like a boy-bunny himself. - -“Do you?” asked Nurse Jane. “Then I am glad I am going to make one,” -and, going into the kitchen of the hollow-stump bungalow, she began -rattling away among the pots, pans and kettles. - -For now Nurse Jane and Uncle Wiggily were living together once more in -their own hollow-stump bungalow. It had burned down, you remember, but -Uncle Wiggily had had it built up again, and now he did not have to -visit around among his animal friends, though he still called on them -every now and then. - -“Oh, dear!” suddenly cried Nurse Jane from the kitchen. “Oh, dear!” - -“What is the matter, Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy?” asked the bunny uncle. “Did you -drop a pan on your paw?” - -“No, Uncle Wiggily,” answered the muskrat lady. “It is worse than that. -I can’t make the chocolate cake after all, I am sorry to say.” - -“Oh, dear! That is too bad! Why not?” asked the bunny uncle, in a sad -and sorrowful voice. - -“Because there is no chocolate,” went on Nurse Jane. “Since we came to -our new hollow-stump bungalow I have not made any cakes, and to-day I -forgot to order the chocolate from the store for this one.” - -“Never mind,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “I’ll go to the store and get -the chocolate for you. In fact, I would go to two stores and part of -another one for the sake of having a chocolate cake.” - -“All right,” spoke Nurse Jane. “If you get me the chocolate I’ll make -one.” - -Putting on his overcoat, with his tall silk hat tied down over his ears -so they would not blow away—I mean so his hat would not blow off—and -with his rheumatism crutch under his paw, off started the old gentleman -rabbit, across the fields and through the woods to the chocolate store. - -After buying what he wanted for Nurse Jane’s cake, the old gentleman -rabbit started back for the hollow-stump bungalow. On the way, he passed -a toy store, and he stopped to look in the window at the pop-guns, the -spinning-tops, the dolls, the Noah’s Arks, with the animals marching out -of them, and all things like that. - -“It makes me young again to look at toys,” said the bunny uncle. Then he -went on a little farther until, all at once, as he was passing a bush, -he heard from behind it the sound of crying. - -“Ha! Some one in trouble again,” said Uncle Wiggily. “I wonder if it can -be Little Boy Blue?” He looked, but, instead of seeing the sheep-boy, -whom he had once helped, Uncle Wiggily saw a little girl. - -“Ha! Who are you?” the bunny uncle asked, “and what is the matter?” - -“I am Little Bo Peep,” was the answer, “and I have lost my sheep, and -don’t know where to find them.” - -“Why, let them alone, and they’ll come home, wagging their tails behind -them,” said Uncle Wiggily quickly, and he laughed jolly like and happy, -because he had made a rhyme to go with what Bo Peep said. - -“Yes, I know that’s the way it is in the Mother Goose book,” said Little -Bo Peep, “but I’ve waited and waited, and let them alone ever so long, -but they haven’t come home. And now I’m afraid they’ll freeze.” - -“Ha! That’s so. It _is_ pretty cold for sheep to be out,” said Uncle -Wiggily, as he looked across the snow-covered field, and toward the -woods where there were icicles hanging down from the trees. - -“Look here, Little Bo Peep,” went on the bunny uncle. “I think your -sheep must have gone home long ago, wagging their tails behind them. And -you, too, had better run home to Mother Goose. Tell her you met me and -that I sent you home. And, if I find your sheep, I’ll send them along, -too. So don’t worry.” - -“Oh, but I don’t like to go home without my sheep,” said Bo Peep, and -tears came into her eyes. “I ought to bring them with me. But to-day I -went skating on Crystal Lake, up in the Lemon-Orange Mountains, and I -forgot all about my sheep. Now I am afraid to go home without them. Oh, -dear!” - -Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute, then he said: - -“Ha! I have it! I know where I can get you some sheep to take home with -you. Then Mother Goose will say it is all right. Come with me.” - -“Where are you going?” asked Bo Peep. - -“To get you some sheep.” And Uncle Wiggily led the little shepherdess -girl back to the toy store, in the window of which he had stopped to -look a while ago. - -“Give Bo Peep some of your toy woolly sheep, if you please,” said Uncle -Wiggily to the toy-store man. “She can take them home with her, while -her own sheep are safe in some warm place, I’m sure. But now she must -have some sort of sheep to take home with her in place of the lost ones, -so it will come out all right, as it is in the book. And these toy -woolly sheep will do as well as any; won’t they, Little Bo Peep?” - -“Oh, yes, they will; thank you very much, Uncle Wiggily,” answered Bo -Peep, making a pretty little bow. Then the rabbit gentleman bought her -ten little toy, woolly sheep, each one with a tail which Bo Peep could -wag for them, and one toy lamb went: “Baa! Baa! Baa!” as real as -anything, having a little phonograph talking machine inside him. - -“Now I can go home to Mother Goose and make believe these are my lost -sheep,” said Bo Peep, “and it will be all right.” - -“And here is a piece of chocolate for you to eat,” said Uncle Wiggily. -Then Bo Peep hurried home with her fleecy toy sheep, and, later on, she -found her real ones, all nice and warm, in the barn where the Cow with -the Crumpled Horn lived. Mother Goose laughed in her jolliest way when -she saw the toy sheep Uncle Wiggily had bought Bo Peep. - -“It’s just like him!” said Mother Goose. - -And if the goldfish doesn’t climb out of his tank and hide in the -sardine tin, where the stuffed olives can’t find him, I’ll tell you next -about Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tucker. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND TOMMIE TUCKER - - -“OH, Uncle Wiggily!” called Susie Littletail, the rabbit girl, one day, -as she went over to see her bunny uncle in his hollow-stump bungalow. -“Oh, Uncle Wiggily! Isn’t it too bad?” - -“Isn’t what too bad?” asked the old gentleman rabbit, as he scratched -his nose with his left ear, and put his glasses in his pocket, for he -was tired of reading the paper, and felt like going out for a walk. - -“Too bad about my talking and singing doll, that I got for Christmas,” -said Susie. “She won’t sing any more. Something inside her is broken.” - -“Broken? That’s too bad!” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “Let me see. -What’s her name?” - -“Sallieann Peachbasket Shortcake,” answered Susie. - -“What a funny name,” laughed the bunny uncle. - -Uncle Wiggily took Susie’s doll, which had been given her at Christmas, -and looked at it. Inside the doll was a sort of phonograph, or talking -machine—a very small one, you know—and when you pushed on a little -button in back of the doll’s dress she would laugh and talk. But, best -of all, when she was in working order, she would sing a verse, which -went something like this: - - “I hope you’ll like my little song, - I will not sing it very long. - I have two shoes upon my feet, - And when I’m hungry, then I eat.” - -Uncle Wiggily wound up the spring in the doll’s side, and then he -pressed the button—like a shoe button—in her back. But this time Susie’s -doll did not talk, she did not laugh, and, instead of singing, she only -made a scratchy noise like a phonograph when it doesn’t want to play, or -like Bully No-Tail, the frog boy, when he has a cold in his head. - -“Oh, dear! This is quite too bad!” said Uncle Wiggily. “Quite indeed.” - -“Isn’t it!” exclaimed Susie. “Do you think you can fix her, Uncle?” - -Mr. Longears turned the doll upside down and shook her. Things rattled -inside her, but even then she did not sing. - -“Oh, dear!” cried Susie, her little pink nose going twinkle-inkle, just -as did Uncle Wiggily’s. “What can we do?” - -“You leave it to me, Susie,” spoke the old rabbit gentleman. “I’ll take -the doll to the toy shop, where I bought Little Bo Peep’s sheep, and -have her mended.” - -“Oh, goodie!” cried Susie, clasping her paws. “Now I know it will be all -right,” and she kissed Uncle Wiggily right between his ears. - -“Well, I’m sure I _hope_ it will be all right after _that_,” said the -bunny uncle, laughing, and feeling sort of tickled inside. - -Off hopped Uncle Wiggily to the toy shop, and there he found the same -monkey-doodle gentleman who had sold him the toy woolly sheep for Little -Bo Peep. - -“Here is more trouble,” said Uncle Wiggily. “Can you fix Susie’s doll so -she will sing, for the doll is a little girl one, just like Susie, and -her name is Sallieann Peachbasket Shortcake.” - -The monkey-doodle man in the toy store looked at the doll. - -“I can fix her,” he said. Going in his backroom workshop, where there -were rocking-horses that needed new legs, wooden soldiers who had lost -their guns, and steamboats that had forgotten their whistles, the toy -man soon had Susie’s doll mended again as well as ever. So that she -said: “Papa! Mama! I love you! I am hungry!” And she laughed: “Ha! Ha! -Ho! Ho!” and she sang: - - “I am a little dollie, - ’Bout one year old. - Please take me where it’s warm, for I - Am feeling rather cold. - If you’re not in a hurry, - It won’t take me very long, - To whistle or to sing for you - My pretty little song.” - -“Hurray!” cried Uncle Wiggily when he heard this. “Susie’s dolly is all -right again. Thank you, Mr. Monkey-Doodle, I’ll take her to Susie.” Then -Uncle Wiggily paid the toy-store keeper and hurried off with Susie’s -doll. - -Uncle Wiggily had not gone very far before, all at once from around the -corner of a snow-bank he heard a sad, little voice crying: - -“Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” - -“My goodness!” said the bunny uncle. “Some one else is in trouble. I -wonder who it can be this time?” - -He looked, and saw a little boy standing in the snow. - -“Hello!” cried Uncle Wiggily, in his jolly voice. “Who are you, and -what’s the matter?” - -“I am Little Tommie Tucker,” was the answer. “And the matter is I’m -hungry.” - -“Hungry, eh?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “Well, why don’t you eat?” - -“I guess you forgot about me and the Mother Goose book,” spoke the boy. -“I’m in that book, and it says about me: - - “‘Little Tommie Tucker, - Must sing for his supper. - What shall he eat? - Jam and bread and butter.’” - -“Well?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “Why don’t you sing?” - -“I—I can’t!” answered Tommie. “That’s the trouble. I have caught such a -cold that I can’t sing. And if I don’t sing Mother Goose won’t know it -is I, and she won’t give me any supper. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! And I am so -hungry!” - -“There now, there! Don’t cry,” kindly said the bunny uncle, patting -Tommie Tucker on the head. “I’ll soon have you singing for your supper.” - -“But how can you when I have such a cold?” asked the little boy. -“Listen. I am as hoarse as a crow.” - -And, truly, he could no more sing than a rusty gate, or a last year’s -door-knob. - -“Ah, I can soon fix that!” said Uncle Wiggily. “See, here I have Susie -Littletail’s talking and singing doll, which I have just had mended. Now -you take the doll in your pocket, go to Mother Goose, and when she asks -you to sing for your supper, just push the button in the doll’s back. -Then the doll will sing and Mother Goose will think it is you, and give -you bread and jam.” - -“Oh, how fine!” cried Tommie Tucker. “I’ll do it!” - -“But afterward,” said Uncle Wiggily, slowly shaking his paw at Tommie, -“afterward you must tell Mother Goose all about the little joke you -played, or it would not be fair. Tell her the doll sang and not you.” - -“I will,” said Tommie. He and Uncle Wiggily went to Mother Goose’s -house, and when Tommie had to sing for his supper the doll did it for -him. And when Mother Goose heard about it she said it was a fine trick, -and that Uncle Wiggily was very good to think of it. - -Then the bunny uncle took Susie’s mended doll to her, and the next day -Tommie’s cold was all better and he could sing for his supper himself, -just as the book tells about. - -And if the little mouse doesn’t go to sleep in the cat’s cradle and -scare the milk bottle so it rolls off the back stoop, I’ll tell you next -about Uncle Wiggily and Pussy Cat Mole. - - -[Illustration] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND PUSSY CAT MOLE - - -“OH, dear! I don’t believe he’s ever coming!” said Nurse Jane Fuzzy -Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, as she stood at the window of the -hollow-stump bungalow one day, and looked down through the woods. - -“For whom are you looking, Nurse Jane?” asked Uncle Wiggily Longears, -the rabbit gentleman. “If it’s for the letter-man, I think he went past -some time ago.” - -“No, I wasn’t looking for the letter-man,” said the muskrat lady. “I am -expecting a messenger-boy cat to bring home my new dress from the -dressmaker’s, but I don’t see him.” - -“A new dress, eh?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “Pray, what is going on?” - -“My dress is going on me, as soon as it comes home, Uncle Wiggily,” the -muskrat lady answered, laughingly. “And then I am going on over to the -house of Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady. She and I are going to have a -little tea party together, if you don’t mind.” - -“Mind? Certainly not! I’m glad to have you go out and enjoy yourself,” -said Uncle Wiggily, jolly like and also laughing. - -“But I can’t go if my new dress doesn’t come,” went on Nurse Jane. “That -is, I don’t want to.” - -“Look here!” said the bunny uncle, “I’ll tell you what I’ll do, Nurse -Jane, I’ll go for your dress myself and bring it home. I have nothing to -do. I’ll go get your dress at the dressmaker’s.” - -“Will you, really?” cried the muskrat lady. “That will be fine! Then I -can curl my whiskers and tie a new pink bow for my tail. You are very -good, Uncle Wiggily.” - -“Oh, not at all! Not at all!” the rabbit gentleman said, modest like and -shy. Then he hopped out of the hollow-stump bungalow and across the -fields and through the woods to where Nurse Jane’s dressmaker made -dresses. - -“Oh, yes, Nurse Jane’s dress!” exclaimed Mrs. Spin-Spider, who wove silk -for all the dresses worn by the lady animals of Woodland. “Yes, I have -just finished it. I was about to call a messenger-boy cat and send it -home, but now you are here you may take it. And here is some cloth I had -left over. Nurse Jane might want it if ever she tears a hole in her -dress.” - -Uncle Wiggily put the extra pieces of cloth in his pocket, and then Mrs. -Spin-Spider wrapped Nurse Jane’s dress up nicely for him in tissue -paper, as fine as the web which she had spun for the silk, and the -rabbit gentleman started back to the hollow-stump bungalow. - -Mrs. Spin-Spider lived on Second Mountain, and, as Uncle Wiggily’s -bungalow was on First Mountain, he had quite a way to go to get home. -And when he was about half way there he passed a little house near a -gray rock that looked like an eagle, and in the house he heard a voice -saying: - -“Oh, dear! Oh, isn’t it too bad? Now I can’t go!” - -“Ha! I wonder who that can be?” thought the rabbit gentleman. “It sounds -like some one in trouble. I will ask if I can do anything to help.” - -The rabbit gentleman knocked on the door of the little house, and a -voice said: - -“Come in!” - -Uncle Wiggily entered, and there in the middle of the room he saw a -pussy cat lady holding up a dress with a big hole burned in it. - -“I beg your pardon, but who are you and what is the matter?” politely -asked the bunny uncle, making a low bow. - -“My name is Pussy Cat Mole,” was the answer, “and you can see the -trouble for yourself. I am Pussy Cat Mole; I jumped over a coal, and——” - -“In your best petticoat burned a great hole,” finished Uncle Wiggily. “I -know you, now. You are from Mother Goose’s book and I met you at a party -in Belleville, where they have a bluebell flower on the school to call -the animal children to their lessons.” - -“That’s it!” meowed Pussy Cat Mole. “I am glad you remember me, Uncle -Wiggily. It was at a party I met you, and now I am going to another. Or, -rather, I was going until I jumped over a coal, and in my best petticoat -burned a great hole. Now I can’t go,” and she held up the burned dress, -sorrowful like and sad. - -“How did you happen to jump over the coal?” asked Uncle Wiggily. - -“Oh, it fell out of my stove,” said Pussy Cat Mole, “and I jumped over -it in a hurry to get the fire shovel to take it up. That’s how I burned -my dress. And now I can’t go to the party, for it was my best petticoat, -and Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady, asked me to be there early, too; -and now—Oh, dear!” and Pussy Cat Mole felt very badly, indeed. - -“Mrs. Wibblewobble’s!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “Why, Nurse Jane is going -there to a little tea party, too! This is her new dress I am taking -home.” - -“Has she burned a hole in it?” asked the pussy cat lady. - -“No, she has not, I am glad to say,” the bunny uncle replied. “She -hasn’t had it on, yet.” - -“Then she can go to the party, but I can’t,” said Pussy Cat Mole, -sorrowfully. “Oh, dear!” - -“Yes, you can go!” suddenly cried Uncle Wiggily. “See here! I have some -extra pieces of cloth, left over when Mrs. Spin-Spider made Nurse Jane’s -dress. Now you can take these pieces of cloth and mend the hole burned -by the coal in your best petticoat. Then you can go to the party.” - -“Oh, so I can,” meowed the pussy cat. So, with a needle and thread, and -the cloth she mended her best petticoat. - -All around the edges and over the top of the burned hole the pussy cat -lady sewed the left-over pieces of Nurse Jane’s dress which was almost -the same color. Then, when the mended place was pressed with a warm -flat-iron, Uncle Wiggily cried: - -“You would never know there had been a burned hole!” - -“That’s fine!” meowed Pussy Cat Mole. “Thank you so much, Uncle Wiggily, -for helping me!” - -“Pray do not mention it,” said the rabbit gentleman, bashful like and -casual. Then he hurried to the hollow-stump bungalow with Nurse Jane’s -dress, and the muskrat lady said he had done just right to help mend -Pussy Cat Mole’s dress with the left-over pieces. So she and Nurse Jane -both went to Mrs. Wibblewobble’s little tea party, and had a good time. - -And so, you see, it came out just as it did in the book: Pussy Cat Mole -jumped over a coal, and in her best petticoat burned a great hole. But -the hole it was mended, and my story is ended. Only never before was it -known how the hole was mended. Uncle Wiggily did it. - -And, if the apple doesn’t jump out of the peach dumpling and hide in the -lemon pie when the knife and fork try to play tag with it, I’ll tell you -next about Uncle Wiggily and Jack and Jill, and it will be a Valentine -story. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER X - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND JACK AND JILL - - -UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS, the nice old gentleman rabbit, was asleep in an -easy chair in his hollow-stump bungalow one morning when he heard some -one calling: - -“Hi, Jack! Ho, Jill! Where are you? Come at once, if you please!” - -“Ha! What’s that? Some one calling me?” asked the bunny uncle, sitting -up so suddenly that he knocked over his red, white and blue striped -barber-pole rheumatism crutch that Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat -lady housekeeper, had gnawed for him out of a corn-stalk. “Is any one -calling me?” asked Mr. Longears. - -“No,” answered Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy. “That’s Mother Goose calling Jack and -Jill to get a pail of water.” - -“Oh! is that all?” asked the rabbit gentleman, rubbing his pink eyes and -making his nose twinkle like the sharp end of an ice cream cone. “Just -Mother Goose calling Jack and Jill; eh? Well, I’ll go out and see if I -can find them for her.” - -Uncle Wiggily was always that way, you know, wanting to help some one. -This time it was Mother Goose. His new hollow-stump bungalow was built -right near where Mother Goose lived, with all her big family; -Peter-Peter Pumpkin-Eater, Little Jack Horner, Bo Peep and many others. - -“Ho, Jack! Hi, Jill! Where are you?” called Mother Goose, as Uncle -Wiggily came out of his hollow stump. - -“Can’t you find those two children?” asked the rabbit gentleman, making -a polite good morning bow. - -“I am sorry to say I cannot,” answered Mother Goose. “They were over to -see the Old Woman Who Lives in a Shoe, a while ago, but where they are -now I can’t guess, and I need a pail of water for Simple Simon to go -fishing in, for to catch a whale.” - -“Oh, I’ll get the water for you,” said Uncle Wiggily, taking the pail. -“Perhaps Jack and Jill are off playing somewhere, and they have -forgotten all about getting the water.” - -“And I suppose they’ll forget about tumbling down hill, too,” went on -Mother Goose, sort of nervous like. “But they must not. If they don’t -fall down, so Jack can break his crown, it won’t be like the story in my -book, and everything will be upside down.” - -“So Jack has to break his crown; eh?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “That’s too -bad. I hope he won’t hurt himself too much.” - -“Oh, he’s used to it by this time,” Mother Goose said. “He doesn’t mind -falling, nor does Jill mind tumbling down after.” - -“Very well, then, I’ll get the pail of water for you,” spoke the bunny -uncle, “and Jack and Jill can do the tumbling-down-hill part.” - -Uncle Wiggily took the water pail and started for the hill, on top of -which was the well owned by Mother Goose. As the bunny uncle was walking -along he suddenly heard a voice calling to him from behind a bush. - -“Oh, Uncle Wiggily, will you do me a favor?” - -“I certainly will,” said Mr. Longears, “but who are you, and where are -you?” - -“Here I am, over here,” the voice went on. “I’m Jack, and will you -please give this to Jill when you see her?” - -Out from behind the bush stepped Jack, the little Mother Goose boy. In -his hand he held a piece of white birch bark, prettily colored red, -green and pink, and on it was a little verse which read: - - “Can you tell me, pretty maid, - Tell me and not be afraid, - Who’s the sweetest girl, and true?— - I can; for she’s surely you!” - -“What’s this? What’s this?” asked Uncle Wiggily, in surprise. “What’s -this?” - -“It’s a valentine for Jill,” said Jack. “To-day is Valentine’s Day, you -see, but I don’t want Jill to know I sent it, so I went off here and hid -until I could see you to ask you to take it to her.” - -“All right, I’ll do it,” Uncle Wiggily said, laughing. “I’ll take your -valentine to Jill for you. So that’s why you weren’t ’round to get the -pail of water; is it?” - -“Yes,” answered Jack. “I wanted to finish making my valentine. As soon -as you give it to Jill I’ll get the water.” - -“Oh, never mind that,” said the bunny uncle. “I’ll get the water, just -you do the falling-down-hill part. I’m too old for that.” - -“I will,” promised Jack. Then Uncle Wiggily went on up the hill, and -pretty soon he heard some one else calling him, and, all of a sudden, -out from behind a stump stepped Jill, the little Mother Goose girl. - -“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” said Jill, bashfully holding out a pretty red leaf, -shaped like a heart, “will you please give this to Jack. I don’t want -him to know I sent it.” - -“Of course, I’ll give it to him,” promised the rabbit gentleman. “It’s a -valentine, I suppose, and here is something for you,” and while Jill was -reading the valentine Jack had sent her, Uncle Wiggily looked at the red -heart-shaped leaf. On it Jill had written in blue ink: - - “One day when I went to school, - Teacher taught to me this rule: - Eight and one add up to nine; - So I’ll be your valentine.” - -“My, that’s nice!” said Uncle Wiggily, laughing. “So that’s why you’re -hiding off here for, Jill, to make a valentine for Jack?” - -“That’s it,” Jill answered, blushing sort of pink, like the frosting on -a strawberry cake. “But I don’t want Jack to know it.” - -“I’ll never tell him,” said Uncle Wiggily. - -So he went on up the hill to get a pail of water for Mother Goose. And -on his way back he gave Jill’s valentine to Jack, who liked it very -much. - -“And now, since you got the water, Jill and I will go tumble down hill,” -said Jack, as he found the little girl, where she was reading his -valentine again. Up the hill they went, near the well of water, and Jack -fell down, and broke his crown, while Jill came tumbling after, while -Uncle Wiggily looked on and laughed. So it all happened just as it did -in the book, you see. - -Mother Goose was very glad Uncle Wiggily had brought the water for -Simple Simon to go fishing in, and that afternoon she gave a valentine -party for Sammie and Susie Littletail, the Bushytail squirrel brothers, -Nannie and Billie Wagtail, the goats, and all the other animal friends -of Uncle Wiggily. And every one had a fine time. - -And if the cup doesn’t jump out of the saucer and hide in the -spoonholder, where the coffee cake can’t find it, I’ll tell you next -about Uncle Wiggily and little Jack Horner. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND JACK HORNER - - -“WELL, I think I’ll go for a walk,” said Uncle Wiggily Longears, the -rabbit gentleman, one afternoon, when he was sitting out on the front -porch of his hollow-stump bungalow. He had just eaten a nice dinner that -Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, had gotten ready -for him. - -“Go for a walk!” exclaimed Nurse Jane. “Why, Mr. Longears, excuse me for -saying so, but you went walking this morning.” - -“I know I did,” answered the bunny uncle, “but no adventure happened to -me then. I don’t really count it a good day unless I have had an -adventure. So I’ll go walking again, and perhaps I may find one. If I -do, I’ll come home and tell you all about it.” - -“All right,” said Nurse Jane. “You are a funny rabbit, to be sure! Going -off in the woods, looking for adventures when you might sit quietly here -on the bungalow front porch.” - -“That’s just it!” laughed Uncle Wiggily. “I don’t like to be too quiet. -Off I go!” - -“I hope you have a nice adventure!” Nurse Jane called after him. - -“Thank you,” answered Uncle Wiggily, politely. - -Away over the fields and through the woods went the bunny uncle, looking -on all sides for an adventure, when, all of a sudden he heard behind him -a sound that went: - -“Honk! Honk! Honkity-honk-honk!” - -“Ha! That must be a wild goose!” thought the rabbit gentleman. - -So he looked up in the air, over his head, where the wild geese always -fly, but, instead of seeing any of the big birds, Uncle Wiggily felt -something whizz past him, and again he heard the loud “Honk-honk!” -noise, and then he sneezed, for a lot of dust from the road flew up his -nose. - -“My!” he heard some one cry. “We nearly ran over a rabbit! Did you see?” - -And a big automobile, with real people in it, shot past. It was the horn -of the auto that Uncle Wiggily had heard, and not a wild goose. - -“Ha! That came pretty close to me,” thought Uncle Wiggily, as the auto -went on down the road. “I never ride my automobile as fast as that, even -when I sprinkle pepper on the bologna sausage tires. I don’t like to -scare any one.” - -Perhaps the people in the auto did not mean to so nearly run over Uncle -Wiggily. Let us hope so. - -The old gentleman rabbit hopped on down the road, that was between the -woods and the fields, and, pretty soon, he saw something bright and -shining in the dust, near where the auto had passed. - -“Oh, maybe that’s a diamond,” he said, as he stooped over to pick it up. -But it was only a shiny button-hook, and not a diamond at all. Some one -in the automobile had dropped it. - -“Well, I’ll put it in my pocket,” said Uncle Wiggily to himself. “It may -come in useful to button Nurse Jane’s shoes, or mine.” - -The bunny gentleman went on a little farther, and, pretty soon, he came -to a tiny house, with a red chimney sticking up out of the roof. - -“Ha! I wonder who lives there?” said Uncle Wiggily. - -He stood still for a moment, looking through his glasses at the house -and then, all of a sudden, he saw a little lady, with a tall, peaked hat -on, run out and look up and down the road. Her hat was just like an ice -cream cone turned upside down. Only don’t turn your ice cream cone -upside down if it has any cream in it, for you might spill your treat. - -“Help! Help! Help!” cried the lady, who had come out of the house with -the red chimney. - -“Ha! That sounds like trouble!” said Uncle Wiggily. “I think I had -better hurry over there and see what it is all about.” - -He hopped over toward the little house, and, when he reached it he saw -that the little lady who was calling for help was Mother Goose herself. - -“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” exclaimed Mother Goose. “I am so glad to see you! -Will you please go for help for me?” - -“Why, certainly I will,” answered the bunny gentleman. “But what kind of -help do you want; help for the kitchen, or a wash-lady help or——” - -“Neither of those,” said Mother Goose. “I want help so Little Jack -Horner can get his thumb out of the pie.” - -“Get his thumb out of the pie!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “What in the world -do you mean?” - -“Why, you see it’s this way,” went on Mother Goose. “Jack Horner lives -here. You must have heard about him. He is in my book. His verse goes -like this: - - “Little Jack Horner - Sat in a corner, - Eating a Christmas pie. - He put in his thumb, - And pulled out a plum, - And said what a great boy am I.” - -“That’s the boy I mean,” cried Mother Goose. “But the trouble is that -Jack can’t get his thumb out. He put it in the pie, to pull out the -plum, but it won’t come out—neither the plum nor the thumb. They are -stuck fast for some reason or other. I wish you’d go for Dr. Possum, so -he can help us.” - -“I will,” said Uncle Wiggily. “But is Jack Horner sitting in a corner, -as it says in the book?” - -“Oh, he’s doing that all right,” answered Mother Goose. “But, corner or -no corner, he can’t pull out his thumb.” - -“I’ll get the doctor at once,” promised the bunny uncle. He hurried over -to Dr. Possum’s house, but could not find him, as Dr. Possum was, just -then, called to see Jillie Longtail, who had the mouse-trap fever. - -“Dr. Possum not in!” cried Mother Goose, when Uncle Wiggily had hopped -back and told her. “That’s too bad! Oh, we must do something for Jack. -He’s crying and going on terribly because he can’t get his thumb out.” - -Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute. Then, putting his paw in his pocket, -he felt the button-hook which had dropped from the automobile that -nearly ran over him. - -“Ha! I know what to do!” cried the bunny uncle, suddenly. - -“What?” asked Mother Goose. - -“I’ll pull out Jack’s thumb myself, with this button-hook,” said Mr. -Longears. “I’ll make him all right without waiting for Dr. Possum.” - -Into the room, where, in the corner, Jack was sitting, went the bunny -gentleman. There he saw the Christmas-pie boy, with his thumb away down -deep under the top crust. - -“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” cried Jack. “I’m in such trouble. Oh, dear! I can’t -get my thumb out. It must be caught on the edge of the pan, or -something!” - -“Don’t cry,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “I’ll get it out for you.” - -So he put the button-hook through the hole in the top pie crust, close -to Jack’s thumb. Then, getting the hook on the plum, Uncle Wiggily, with -his strong paws, pulled and pulled and pulled, and—— - -All of a sudden out came the plum and Jack Horner’s thumb, and they -weren’t stuck fast any more. - -“Oh, thank you, so much!” said Jack, as he got up out of his corner. - -“Pray don’t mention it,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, politely. “I am glad I -could help you, and it also makes an adventure for me.” - -Then Jack Horner, went back to his corner and ate the plum that stuck to -his thumb. And Uncle Wiggily, putting the button-hook back in his -pocket, went on to his hollow-stump bungalow. He had had his adventure. - -So everything came out all right, you see, and if the snow-shovel -doesn’t go off by itself, sliding down hill with the ash can, when it -ought to be boiling the cups and saucers for supper, I’ll tell you next -about Uncle Wiggily and Mr. Pop-Goes. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND MR. POP-GOES - - -“UNCLE WIGGILY,” said Mrs. Littletail, the rabbit lady, one morning, as -she came in the dining-room where Mr. Longears was reading the cabbage -leaf paper after breakfast, “Uncle Wiggily, I don’t like you to go out -in such a storm as this, but I do need some things from the store, and I -have no one to send.” - -“Why, I’ll be only too glad to go,” cried the bunny uncle, who was -spending a few days visiting the Littletail family in their underground -burrow-house. “It isn’t snowing very hard,” and he looked out through -the window, which was up a little way above ground to make the burrow -light. “What do you want, Mrs. Littletail?” he asked. - -“Oh, I want a loaf of bread and some sugar,” said the bunny mother of -Sammie and Susie Littletail. - -“And you shall certainly have what you want!” cried Uncle Wiggily, as he -got ready to go to the store. Soon he was on his way, wearing his fur -coat, and hopping along on his corn-stalk rheumatism crutch, while his -pink nose was twinkling in the frosty air like a red lantern on the back -of an automobile. - -“A loaf of home-made bread and three and a half pounds of granulated -sugar,” said Uncle Wiggily to the monkey-doodle gentleman who kept the -grocery store. “And the best that you have, if you please, as it’s for -Mrs. Littletail.” - -“You shall certainly have the best!” cried the monkey-doodle gentleman, -with a jolly laugh. And while he was wrapping up the things for Uncle -Wiggily to carry home, all at once there sounded in the store a loud: - -“Pop!” - -“My! What’s that?” asked Uncle Wiggily, surprised like and excited. “I -heard a bang like a gun. Are there any hunter-men, with their dogs -about? If there are I must be careful.” - -“No, that wasn’t a gun,” said the monkey-doodle gentleman. “That was -only one of the toy balloons in my window. I had some left over from -last year, so I blew them up and put them in my window to make it look -pretty. Now and then one of them bursts.” And just then, surely enough, -“Pop! Bang!” went another toy balloon, bursting and shriveling all up. - -Uncle Wiggily looked in the front window of the store and saw some -blown-up balloons that had not burst. - -“I’ll take two of those,” he said to the monkey-doodle gentleman. -“Sammie and Susie Littletail will like to play with them.” - -“Better take two or three,” said the monkey-doodle gentleman. “I’ll let -you have them cheap, as they are old balloons, and they will burst -easily.” - -So he let the air out of four balloons and gave them to Uncle Wiggily to -take home to the bunny children. - -The rabbit gentleman started off through the snow-storm toward the -underground house, but he had not gone very far before, just as he was -coming out from behind a big stump, he heard voices talking. - -“Now, I’ll tell you how we can get those rabbits,” Uncle Wiggily heard -one voice say. “I’ll crawl down in the burrow, and as soon as they see -me they’ll be scared and run out—Uncle Wiggily, Mrs. Littletail, the two -children, Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy and all. Then you can grab them, Mr. -Bigtail! I am glad I happened to meet you!” - -“Ah, ha!” thought Uncle Wiggily. “Mr. Bigtail! I ought to know that -name. It’s the fox, and he and some one else seem to be after us -rabbits. But I thought the fox promised to be good and let me alone. He -must have changed his mind.” - -Uncle Wiggily peeked cautiously around the stump, taking care to make no -noise, and there he saw a fox and another animal talking. And the rabbit -gentleman saw that it was not the fox who had promised to be good, but -another one, of the same name, who was bad. - -“Yes, I’ll go down the hole and drive out the rabbits and you can grab -them,” said the queer animal. - -“That’s good,” growled the fox, “but to whom have I the honor of -speaking?” That was his way of asking the name of the other animal, you -see. - -“Oh, I’m called Mr. Pop-Goes,” said the other. - -“Mr. Pop-Goes! What a queer name,” said the fox, and all the while Uncle -Wiggily was listening with his big ears, and wondering what it all -meant. - -“Oh, Pop-Goes isn’t all my name,” said the queer animal. “Don’t you know -the story in the book? The monkey chased the cobbler’s wife all around -the steeple. That’s the way the money goes, Pop! goes the weasel. I’m -Mr. Pop-Goes, the weasel, you see. I’m ’specially good at chasing -rabbits.” - -“Oh, I see!” barked Mr. Bigtail, the fox. “Well, I’ll be glad if you can -help me get those rabbits. I’ve been over to that Uncle Wiggily’s -hollow-stump bungalow, but he isn’t around.” - -“No, he’s visiting the Littletail rabbits,” said Mr. Pop-Goes, the -weasel. “But we’ll drive him out.” - -Then Uncle Wiggily felt very badly, indeed, for he knew that a weasel is -the worst animal a rabbit can have after him. Weasels are very fond of -rabbits. They love them so much they want to eat them, and Uncle Wiggily -did not want to be eaten, even by Mr. Pop-Goes. - -“Oh, dear!” he thought. “What can I do to scare away the bad fox and Mr. -Pop-Goes, the weasel? Oh, dear!” Then he thought of the toy balloons, -that made a noise like a gun when they were blown up and burst. “The -very thing!” thought the rabbit gentleman. - -Carefully, as he hid behind the stump, Uncle Wiggily took out one of the -toy balloons. Carefully he blew it up, bigger and bigger and bigger, -until, all at once: - -“Bang!” exploded the toy balloon, even making Uncle Wiggily jump. And as -for the fox and Mr. Pop-Goes, the weasel, why they were so kerslostrated -(if you will kindly excuse me for using such a word) that they turned a -somersault, jumped up in the air, came down, turned a peppersault, and -started to run. - -“Did you hear that noise?” asked the weasel. “That was a pop, and -whenever I hear a pop I have to go! And I’m going fast!” - -“So am I!” barked the fox. “That was a hunter with a gun after us, I -guess. We’ll get those rabbits some other time.” - -“Maybe you will, and maybe not!” laughed Uncle Wiggily, as he hurried on -to the burrow with the bread, sugar and the rest of the toy balloons, -with which Sammie and Susie had lots of fun. - -So you see Mr. Pop-Goes, the weasel, didn’t get Uncle Wiggily after all, -and if the pepper caster doesn’t throw dust in the potato’s eyes, and -make it sneeze at the rag doll, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily -and Simple Simon. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND SIMPLE SIMON - - -“THERE!” exclaimed Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, -who, with Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, was visiting at -the Littletail rabbit burrow one day. “There they are, Uncle Wiggily, -all nicely wrapped up for you to carry.” - -“What’s nicely wrapped up?” asked the bunny uncle. “And what do you want -me to carry?” And he looked over the tops of his spectacles at the -muskrat lady, sort of surprised and wondering. - -“I want you to carry the jam tarts, and they are all nicely wrapped up,” -went on Nurse Jane. “Don’t you remember, I said I was going to make some -for you to take over to Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady?” - -“Oh, of course!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “The jam tarts are for Lulu, Alice -and Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck children. I remember now. I’ll take -them right over.” - -“They are all nicely wrapped up in a clean napkin,” went on the muskrat -lady, “so be careful not to squash them and squeeze out the jam, as they -are very fresh.” - -“I’ll be careful,” promised the old rabbit gentleman, as he put on his -fur coat and took down off the parlor mantle his red, white and blue -striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch, made of a corn-stalk. - -“Oh, wait a minute, Uncle Wiggily! Wait a minute!” cried Mrs. -Littletail, the bunny mother of Sammie and Susie, the rabbit children, -as Mr. Longears started out. “Where are you going?” - -“Over to Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady’s house, with some jam tarts -for Lulu, Alice and Jimmie,” answered Uncle Wiggily. - -“Then would you mind carrying, also, this little rubber plant over to -her?” asked Mrs. Littletail. “I told Mrs. Wibblewobble I would send one -to her the first chance I had.” - -“Right gladly will I take it,” said Uncle Wiggily. So Mrs. Littletail, -the rabbit lady, wrapped the pot of the little rubber plant, with its -thick, shiny green leaves, in a piece of paper, and Uncle Wiggily, -tucking it under one paw, while with the other he leaned on his crutch, -started off over the fields and through the woods, with the jam tarts in -his pocket. Over toward the home of the Wibblewobble duck family he -hopped. - -Mr. Longears, the nice old rabbit gentleman, had not gone very far -before, all at once, from behind a snow-covered stump, he heard a voice -saying: - -“Oh, dear! I know I’ll never find him! I’ve looked all over and I can’t -see him anywhere. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What shall I do?” - -“My! That sounds like some one in trouble,” Uncle Wiggily said to -himself. “I wonder if that is any of my little animal friends? I must -look.” - -So the rabbit gentleman peeked over the top of the stump, and there he -saw a queer-looking boy, with a funny smile on his face, which was as -round and shiny as the bottom of a new dish pan. And the boy looked so -kind that Uncle Wiggily knew he would not hurt even a lollypop, much -less a rabbit gentleman. - -“Oh, hello!” cried the boy, as soon as he saw Uncle Wiggily. “Who are -you?” - -“I am Mr. Longears,” replied the bunny uncle. “And who are you?” - -“Why, I’m Simple Simon,” was the answer. “I’m in the Mother Goose book, -you know.” - -“Oh, yes, I remember,” said Uncle Wiggily. “But you seem to be _out_ of -the book, just now.” - -“I am,” said Simple Simon. “The page with my picture on it fell out of -the book, and so I ran away. But I can’t find him anywhere and I don’t -know what to do.” - -“Who is it you can’t find?” asked the rabbit. - -“The pie-man,” answered the funny, round-faced boy. “Don’t you remember, -it says in the book, ‘Simple Simon met a pie-man going to the fair?’” - -“Oh, yes, I remember,” Uncle Wiggily answered. “What’s next?” - -“Well, I can’t find him anywhere,” said Simple Simon. “I guess the -pie-man didn’t fall out of the book when I did.” - -“That’s too bad,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, kindly. - -“It is,” said Simple Simon. “For you know he ought to ask me for my -penny, when I want to taste of his pies, and indeed, I haven’t any -penny—not any, and I’m so hungry for a piece of pie!” And Simple Simon -began to cry. - -“Oh, don’t cry,” said Uncle Wiggily. “See, in my pocket I have some jam -tarts. They are for Lulu, Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble, the ducks, but -there are enough to let you have one.” - -“Why, you are a regular pie-man yourself; aren’t you?” laughed Simple -Simon, as he ate one of Nurse Jane’s nice jam tarts. - -“Well, you might call me that,” said the bunny uncle. “Though I s’pose a -tart-man would be nearer right.” - -“But there’s something else,” went on Simple Simon. “You know in the -Mother Goose book I have to go for water, in my mother’s sieve. But soon -it all ran through.” And then, cried Simple Simon, “Oh, dear, what shall -I do?” And he held out a sieve, just like a coffee strainer, full of -little holes. “How can I ever get water in that?” he asked. “I’ve tried -and tried, but I can’t. No one can! It all runs through!” - -Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute. Then he cried: - -“I have it! I’ll pull some leaves off the rubber plant I am taking to -Mrs. Wibblewobble. We’ll put the leaves in the bottom of the sieve, and, -being of rubber, water can’t get through them. Then the sieve will hold -water, or milk either, and you can bring it to your mother.” - -“Oh, fine!” cried Simple Simon, licking the sticky squeegee jam off his -fingers. So Uncle Wiggily put some rubber plant leaves in the bottom of -the sieve, and Simple Simon, filling it full of water, carried it home -to his mother, and not a drop ran through, which, of course, wasn’t at -all like the story in the book. - -“But that isn’t my fault,” said Uncle Wiggily, as he took the rest of -the jam tarts to the Wibblewobble children. “I just had to help Simple -Simon.” Which was very kind of Uncle Wiggily, I think; don’t you? It -didn’t matter if, just once, something happened that wasn’t in the book. - -And Mrs. Wibblewobble didn’t at all mind some of the leaves being off -her rubber plant. So you see we should always be kind when we can; and -if the canary bird doesn’t go to sleep in the bowl with the goldfish, -and forget to whistle like an alarm clock in the morning, I’ll tell you -next about Uncle Wiggily and the crumple-horn cow. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CRUMPLE-HORN COW - - -“WHERE are you going, Uncle Wiggily?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the -muskrat lady housekeeper, as she saw the rabbit gentleman starting out -from his hollow-stump bungalow one day. He was back again from his visit -to Sammie and Susie Littletail. - -“Oh, I’m just going for a walk,” answered Mr. Longears. “I have not had -an exciting adventure since I carried the valentines for Jack and Jill, -before they tumbled down hill, and perhaps to-day I may find something -else to make me lively, and happy and skippy like.” - -“Too much hopping and skipping is not good for you,” the muskrat lady -said. - -“Yes, I think it is, if you will excuse me for saying so,” spoke Uncle -Wiggily politely. “It keeps my rheumatism from getting too painful.” - -Then, taking his red, white and blue-striped rheumatism crutch from -inside the talking machine horn, Uncle Wiggily started off. - -Over the fields and through the woods went the rabbit gentleman, until, -pretty soon, as he was walking along, wondering what would happen to him -that day, he heard a voice saying: - -“Moo! Moo! Moo-o-o-o-o!” - -“Ah! That sounds rather sad and unhappy like,” spoke the rabbit -gentleman to himself. “I wonder if it can be any one in trouble?” - -So he peeked through the bushes and there he saw a nice cow, who was -standing with one foot in the hollow of a big stump. - -“Moo! Moo!” cried the cow. “Oh, dear, will no one help me?” - -“Why, of course, I’ll help you,” kindly said Uncle Wiggily. “What is the -matter, and who are you?” - -“Why, I am the Mother Goose cow with the crumpled horn,” was the answer, -“and my foot is caught so tightly in the hole of this stump that I -cannot get it out.” - -“Why, I’ll help you, Mrs. Crumpled-horn Cow,” said Uncle Wiggily, -kindly. Then, with his rheumatism crutch, the rabbit gentleman pushed -loose the cow’s hoof from where it was caught in the stump, and she was -all right again. - -“Oh, thank you so much, Uncle Wiggily,” spoke the crumpled-horn cow. “If -ever I can do you a favor I will.” - -“Thank you,” said the rabbit gentleman, politely. “I’m sure you will. -But how did you happen to get your hoof caught in that stump?” - -“Oh, I was standing on it, trying to see if I could jump over the moon,” -was the answer. - -“Jump over the moon!” cried the rabbit gentleman. “You surprise me! Why -in the world——” - -“It’s this way, you see,” spoke the crumpled-horn lady cow. “In the -Mother Goose book it says: ‘Hi-diddle-diddle, the cat’s in the fiddle, -the cow jumped over the moon.’ Well, if one cow did that, I don’t see -why another one can’t. I got up on the stump, to try and jump over the -moon, but my foot slipped and I was caught fast. - -“I suppose I should not have tried it, for I am the cow with the -crumpled horn. You have heard of me, I dare say. I’m the cow with the -crumpled horn, that little Boy Blue drove out of the corn. I tossed the -dog that worried that cat that caught the rat that ate the malt that lay -in the house that Jack built.” - -“Oh, I remember you now,” said Uncle Wiggily. - -“And this is my crumpled horn,” went on the cow, and she showed the -rabbit gentleman how one of her horns was all crumpled and crooked and -twisted, just like a corkscrew that is used to pull hard corks out of -bottles. - -“Well, thank you again for pulling out my foot,” said the cow, as she -turned away. “Now I must go toss that dog once more, for he’s always -worrying the cat.” - -So the cow went away, and Uncle Wiggily hopped on through the woods and -over the fields. He had had an adventure, you see, helping the cow, and -later on he had another one, for he met Jimmie Wibblewobble, the boy -duck, who had lost his penny going to the store for a corn-meal-flavored -lollypop. Uncle Wiggily found the penny in the snow, and Jimmie was -happy once more. - -The next day when Uncle Wiggily awakened in his hollow-stump bungalow, -and tried to get out of bed, he was so lame and stiff that he could -hardly move. - -“Oh, dear!” cried the rabbit gentleman. “Ouch! Oh, what a pain!” - -“What is it?” asked Nurse Jane. “What’s the matter?” - -“My rheumatism,” answered Uncle Wiggily. “Please send to Dr. Possum and -get some medicine. Ouch! Oh, my!” - -“I’ll go for the medicine myself,” Nurse Jane said, and, tying her tail -up in a double bow-knot, so she would not step on it, and trip, as she -hurried along, over to Dr. Possum’s she went. - -The doctor was just starting out to go to see Nannie Wagtail, the little -goat girl, who had the hornache, but before going there Dr. Possum ran -back into his office, got a big bottle of medicine, which he gave to -Nurse Jane, saying: - -“When you get back to the hollow-stump bungalow pull out the cork and -rub some on Uncle Wiggily’s pain.” - -“Rub the cork on?” asked Nurse Jane, sort of surprised like. - -“No, rub on some of the medicine from the bottle,” answered Dr. Possum, -laughing as he hurried off. - -Uncle Wiggily had a bad pain when Nurse Jane got back. - -“I’ll soon fix you,” said the muskrat lady. “Wait until I get the cork -out of this bottle.” But that was more easily said than done. Nurse Jane -tried with all her might to pull out the cork with her paws and even -with her teeth. Then she used a hair pin, but it only bent and twisted -itself all up in a knot. - -“Oh, hurry with the medicine!” begged Uncle Wiggily. “Hurry, please!” - -“I can’t get the cork out,” said Nurse Jane. “The cork is stuck in the -bottle.” - -“Let me try,” spoke the bunny uncle. But he could not get the cork out, -either, and his pain was getting worse all the while. - -Just then came a knock on the bungalow door, and a voice said: - -“I am the cow with the crumpled horn. I just met Dr. Possum, and he told -me Uncle Wiggily had the rheumatism. Is there anything I can do for him? -I’d like to do him a favor as he did me one.” - -“Yes, you can help me,” said the rabbit gentleman. “Can you pull a tight -cork out of a bottle?” - -“Indeed I can!” mooed the cow. “Just watch me!” She put her crooked, -crumpled horn, which was just like a corkscrew, in the cork, and, with -one twist, out it came from the bottle as easily as anything. Then Nurse -Jane could rub some medicine on Uncle Wiggily’s rheumatism, which soon -felt much better. - -So you see Mother Goose’s crumpled-horn cow can do other things besides -tossing cat-worrying dogs. And if the fried egg doesn’t go to sleep in -the dish pan, so the knives and forks can’t play tag there, I’ll tell -you next of Uncle Wiggily and Old Mother Hubbard. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XV - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND OLD MOTHER HUBBARD - - -“UNCLE WIGGILY, have you anything special to do this morning?” asked -Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper for the rabbit -gentleman, as she saw him get up from the breakfast table in his -hollow-stump bungalow. - -“Anything special? Why, no, I guess not,” answered the bunny uncle. “I -was going out for a walk, and perhaps I may meet with an adventure on -the way, or I may help some friends of Mother Goose, as I sometimes do.” - -“You are always being kind to some one,” said Nurse Jane, “and that is -what I want you to do now. I have just made an orange cake, and——” - -“An orange cake?” cried Uncle Wiggily, his pink nose twinkling. “How -nice! Where did you get the oranges?” - -“Up on the Orange Mountains, to be sure,” answered the muskrat lady, -with a laugh. “I have made two orange cakes, to tell the exact truth, -which I always do. There is one for us and I wanted to send one to Dr. -Possum, who was so good to cure you of the rheumatism, when the cow with -the crumpled horn pulled the hard cork out of the medicine bottle for -us.” - -“Send an orange cake to Dr. Possum? The very thing! Oh, fine!” cried the -bunny uncle. “I’ll take it right over to him. Put it in a basket, so it -will not take cold, Nurse Jane.” - -The muskrat lady wrapped the orange cake in a clean napkin, and then put -it in the basket for Uncle Wiggily to carry to Dr. Possum. - -Off started the old rabbit gentleman, over the woods and through the -fields—oh, excuse me just a minute. He did not go over the woods this -time. He only did that when he had his airship, which he was not using -to-day, for fear of spilling the oranges out of the cake. So he went -over the fields and through the woods to Dr. Possum’s office. - -“Well, I wonder if I will have any adventure to-day?” thought the old -rabbit gentleman, as he hopped along. “I hope I do, for——” - -And then he suddenly stopped thinking and listened, for he heard a dog -barking, and a voice was sadly saying: - -“Oh, dear! It’s too bad, I know it is, but I can’t help it. It’s that -way in the book, so you’ll have to go hungry.” - -Then the dog barked again and Uncle Wiggily said: - -“More trouble for some one. I hope it isn’t the bad dog who used to -bother me. I wonder if I can help any one?” - -He looked around, and, nearby, he saw a little wooden house on the top -of a hill. The barking and talking was coming from that house. - -“I’ll go up and see what is the matter,” said the rabbit gentleman. -“Perhaps I can help.” - -He looked through a window of the house before going in, and he saw a -lady, somewhat like Mother Goose, wearing a tall, peaked hat, like an -ice cream cone turned upside down. And with her was a big dog, who was -looking in an open cupboard and barking. And the lady was singing: - - “Old Mother Hubbard - Went to the cupboard - To get her poor dog a bone. - But, when she got there, - The cupboard was bare, - And so the poor dog had none.” - -“And isn’t there anything else in the house to eat, except a bone, -Mother Hubbard?” the dog asked. “I’m so hungry!” - -“There isn’t, I’m sorry to say,” she answered. “But I’ll go to the -baker’s to get you some bread——” - -“And when you come back you will think I am dead,” said the dog, -quickly. “I’ll look so, anyhow,” he went on, “for I am so hungry. Isn’t -there any way of getting me anything to eat without going to the -baker’s? I don’t care much for bread, anyhow.” - -“How would you like a piece of orange cake?” asked Uncle Wiggily, all of -a sudden, as he walked in Mother Hubbard’s house. “Excuse me,” said the -bunny uncle, “but I could not help hearing what your dog said. I know -how hard it is to be hungry, and I have an orange cake in my basket. It -is for Dr. Possum, but I am sure he would be glad to let your dog have -some.” - -“That is very kind of you,” said Mother Hubbard. - -“And I certainly would like orange cake,” spoke the dog, making a bow -and wagging his nose—I mean his tail. - -“Then you shall have it,” said Uncle Wiggily, opening the basket. He set -the orange cake on the table, and the dog began to eat it, and Mother -Hubbard also ate some, for she was hungry, too, and, what do you think? -Before Uncle Wiggily, or any one else knew it, the orange cake was all -gone—eaten up—and there was none for Dr. Possum. - -“Oh, see what we have done!” cried Mother Hubbard, sadly. “We have eaten -all your cake, Uncle Wiggily. I’m sure we did not mean to, but with a -hungry dog——” - -“Pray do not mention it,” said the rabbit gentleman, politely. “I know -just how it is. I have another orange cake of my own at home. I’ll go -get that for Dr. Possum. He won’t mind which one he has.” - -“No. I can’t let you do that,” spoke Mother Hubbard. “You were too kind -to be put to all that trouble. Next door to me lives Paddy Kake, the -baker-man. I’ll have him bake you a cake as fast as he can, and you can -take that to Dr. Possum. How will that do?” - -“Why, that will be just fine!” said Uncle Wiggily, twinkling his pink -nose at the dog, who was licking up the last of the cake crumbs with his -red tongue. - -So Mother Hubbard went next door, where lived Paddy Kake, the baker. And -she said to him: - - “Paddy Kake, Paddy Kake, baker-man, - Bake me a cake as fast as you can. - Into it please put a raisin and plum, - And mark it with D. P. for Dr. Possum.” - -“I will,” said Paddy Kake. “I’ll do it right away.” - -And he did, and as soon as the cake was baked Uncle Wiggily put it in -the basket where the orange one had been, and took it to Dr. Possum, who -was very glad to get it. For the raisin and plum cake was as good as the -orange one Mother Hubbard and her dog had eaten. - -So you see everything came out all right after all, and if the cork -doesn’t pop out of the ink bottle and go to sleep in the middle of the -white bedspread, like our black cat, I’ll tell you next about Uncle -Wiggily and Little Miss Muffet. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND MISS MUFFET - - -“RAT-A-TAT-TAT!” came a knock on the door of the hollow-stump bungalow, -where Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, lived with Nurse -Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper. “Rat-a-tat-tat!” - -“Come in,” called Nurse Jane, who was sitting by a window, mending a -pair of Uncle Wiggily’s socks, which had holes in them. - -The door opened, and into the bungalow stepped a little girl. Oh, she -was such a tiny thing that she was not much larger than a doll. - -“How do you do, Nurse Jane,” said the little girl, making a low bow, and -shaking her curly hair. - -“Why, I am very well, thank you,” the muskrat lady said. “How are you?” - -“Oh, I’m very well, too, Nurse Jane.” - -“Ha! You seem to know me, but I am not so sure I know you,” said Uncle -Wiggily’s housekeeper. “Are you Little Bo Peep?” - -“No, Nurse Jane,” answered the little girl, with a smile. - -“Are you Mistress Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?” -Nurse Jane wanted to know. - -“I am not Mistress Mary,” answered the little girl. - -“Then who are you?” Nurse Jane asked. - -“I am little Miss Muffet, if you please, and I have come to sit on a -tuffet, and eat some curds and whey. I want to see Uncle Wiggily, too, -before I go away.” - -“All right,” spoke Nurse Jane. “I’ll get you the tuffet and the curds -and whey,” and she went out to the kitchen. The muskrat lady noticed -that Miss Muffet said nothing about the spider frightening her away. - -“Perhaps she doesn’t like to talk about it,” thought Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy, -“though it’s in the Mother Goose book. Well, I’ll not say anything, -either.” - -So she got the tuffet for little Miss Muffet; a tuffet being a sort of -baby footstool. And, indeed, the little girl had to sit on something -quite small, for her legs were very short. - -“And here are your curds and whey,” went on Nurse Jane, bringing in a -bowl. Curds and whey are very good to eat. They are made from milk, -sweetened, and are something like a custard in a cup. - -So little Miss Muffet, sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey, just -as she ought to have done. - -“And,” said Nurse Jane to herself, “I do hope no spider will come sit -beside her to frighten Miss Muffet away, before Uncle Wiggily sees her, -for she is a dear little child.” - -Pretty soon some one was heard hopping up the front steps of the -bungalow, and Nurse Jane said: - -“There is Uncle Wiggily now, I think.” - -“Oh, I’m glad!” exclaimed little Miss Muffet, as she handed the muskrat -lady the empty bowl of curds and whey. “I want to see him very -specially.” - -In came hopping the nice old rabbit gentleman, and he knew Little Miss -Muffet right away, and was very glad to see her. - -“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” cried the little girl. “I have been waiting to see -you. I want you to do me a very special extra favor; will you?” - -“Why, of course, if I can,” answered the bunny uncle, with a polite bow. -“I am always glad to do favors.” - -“You can easily do this one,” said Little Miss Muffet. “I want you to -come——” - -And just then Uncle Wiggily saw a big spider crawling over the floor -toward the little girl, who was still on her tuffet, having finished her -curds and whey. - -“And if she sees that spider, sit down beside her, it surely will -frighten her away,” thought Uncle Wiggily, “and I will not be able to -find out what she wants me to do for her. Let me see, she hasn’t yet -noticed the spider. I wonder if I could get her out of the room while I -asked the spider to kindly not to do any frightening, at least for a -while?” - -So Uncle Wiggily, who was quite worried, sort of waved his paw sideways -at the spider, and twinkled his pink nose and said “Ahem!” which meant -that the spider was to keep on crawling, and not go near Miss Muffet. -Uncle Wiggily himself was not afraid of spiders. - -“Yes, Uncle Wiggily,” went on little Miss Muffet, who had not yet seen -the spider. “I want you to come to——” and then she saw the rabbit -gentleman making funny noses behind her back, and waving his paw at -something, and Miss Muffet cried: - -“Why, what in the world is the matter, Uncle Wiggily? Have you hurt -yourself?” - -“No, no,” the rabbit gentleman quickly exclaimed. “It’s the spider. -She’s crawling toward you, and I don’t want her to sit down beside you, -and frighten you away.” - -Little Miss Muffet laughed a jolly laugh. - -“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” she cried. “I’m not at all afraid of spiders! I’d -let a dozen of them sit beside me if they wanted to, for I know they -will not harm me, if I do not harm them. And besides, I knew this spider -was coming all the while.” - -“You did?” cried Nurse Jane, surprised like. - -“To be sure I did. She is Mrs. Spin-Spider, and she has come to measure -me for a new cobweb silk dress; haven’t you, Mrs. Spin-Spider?” - -“Yes, child, I have,” answered the lady spider. “No one need be afraid -of me.” - -“I’m not,” Uncle Wiggily said, “only I did not want you to frighten Miss -Muffet away before she had her curds and whey.” - -“Oh, I had them,” the little girl said. “Nurse Jane gave them to me -before you came in, Uncle Wiggily. But now let me tell you what I came -for, and then Mrs. Spin-Spider can measure me for a new dress. I came to -ask if you would do me the favor to come to my birthday party next week. -Will you?” - -“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 little girl away, but, -instead, measured her for a new dress. - -So from this we may learn that cobwebs are good for something else than -catching flies, and in the next chapter, if the piano doesn’t come -upstairs to lie down on the brass bed so the pillow has to go down in -the coal bin to sleep, I’ll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and the first -little kitten. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE FIRST KITTEN - - -UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS, the nice old rabbit gentleman, was asleep in his -easy chair by the fire which burned brightly on the hearth in his -hollow-stump bungalow. Mr. Longears was dreaming that he had just eaten -a piece of cherry pie for lunch, and that the cherry pits were dropping -on the floor with a “rat-a-tat-tat!” when he suddenly awakened and heard -some one knocking on the front door. - -“Ha! Who is there? Come in!” cried the rabbit gentleman, hardly awake -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 on Uncle -Wiggily’s door. It was Mrs. Purr, the nice cat lady, and when the rabbit -gentleman had let her in she looked so sad and sorrowful that he said: - -“What is the matter, Mrs. Purr? Has anything happened?” - -“Indeed there has, Mr. Longears,” the cat lady answered. “You know my -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 they have -run away, and I came to see if you would help me get them back.” - -“Run away! Your dear little kittens!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “You don’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 rabbit -gentleman. “It must be nice to have new mittens.” - -“My little kittens thought so,” went on Mrs. Purr. “Their grandmother, -Pussy Cat Mole, knitted them.” - -“I have met Pussy Cat Mole,” said Uncle Wiggily. “After she jumped over -a coal, and in her best petticoat burned a great hole, I helped her mend -it so she could go to the party.” - -“I heard about that; it was very good of you,” mewed Mrs. Purr. “But -about my little kittens, when they got their mittens, what do you think -they did?” - -“Why, I suppose they went out and played in the snow,” Uncle Wiggily -said. “I know that is what I would have done, when I was a little -rabbit, 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 over their new -mittens, and when they saw it they became afraid I would scold them, and -they ran away. I was not home when they ate the pie and soiled their -mittens, but the cat lady who lives next door told me. - -“Now I want to know if you will try to find my three little kittens for -me; Fuzzo, Wuzzo and Muzzo? I want them to come home so badly!” - -“I’ll go look for them,” promised the old rabbit gentleman. So taking -his red, white and blue rheumatism crutch, off he started over the -fields and through the woods. Mrs. Purr went back home to get 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 and -through the middle for any signs of the lost kittens, but he saw none -for quite a while. Then, all at once, he heard a mewing sound over in -the bushes, and he said: - -“Ha! There is the first little kitten!” And there, surely enough she -was—Fuzzo! - -“Oh, dear!” Fuzzo was saying, “I don’t believe I’ll ever get them -clean!” - -“What’s the matter now?” asked the rabbit gentleman, though he knew -quite well what it was, and only pretended he did not. “Who are you and -what is the matter?” he asked. - -“Oh, I’m in such trouble,” said the first little kitten. “My sisters and -I ate some pie in our new mittens. We soiled them badly with the red -pie-juice. Weren’t we naughty kittens?” - -“Well, perhaps just a little bit naughty,” Uncle Wiggily said. “But you -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 seem to do -it.” - -“How did you try?” Uncle Wiggily wanted to know. - -“I am rubbing my mittens up and down on the rough bark of trees and on -stones,” answered Fuzzo. “I thought that would take the pie stains out, -but it doesn’t.” - -“Of course not!” laughed Uncle Wiggily. “Now you come with me. I am -going 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 scold me -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 rabbit gentleman, -when they reached his hollow-stump bungalow. “I want you to make some -nice, hot, soapy suds and water, and wash this first little kitten’s -mittens. Then they will be clean, and she can take them home with her.” - -So the muskrat lady made some nice, hot, soap-bubbily suds and in them -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. “I wouldn’t -have scolded you, Fuzzo, for soiling your mittens. You must not be -afraid any more.” - -“I won’t,” promised the first little kitten, showing her nice, clean -mittens. - -And then Uncle Wiggily said he would go find the other two lost baby -cats. 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 next about -Uncle Wiggily and the second kittie. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SECOND KITTEN - - -“WELL, where are you going now, Uncle Wiggily?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy -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 soiled their mittens. - -“I am going to look for the second little lost kitten,” replied the -bunny uncle, “though where she may be I don’t know. Her name is Muzzo.” - -“Why, her name is almost like mine, isn’t it?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy -Wuzzy. - -“A little like it,” said Uncle Wiggily. “Poor little Muzzo! She and the -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 rabbit gentleman. -“Well, good-by. I’ll see if I can’t find the second kitten now.” - -Away started the rabbit gentleman, over the fields and through the -woods, looking on all sides for the second lost kitten, whose name was -Muzzo. - -“Where are you, kittie?” called Uncle Wiggily. “Where are you, Muzzo? -Come to me! Never mind if your mittens are soiled by cherry-pie-juice. -I’ll find a way to clean them.” - -But no Muzzo answered. Uncle Wiggily looked everywhere, under bushes and -in the tree tops; for sometimes kitty cats climb trees, you know; but no -Muzzo could he find. Then Uncle Wiggily walked a little farther, and he -saw Billie Wagtail, the goat boy, butting his head in a snow-bank. - -“What are you doing, Billie?” asked the rabbit gentleman. - -“Oh, just having some fun,” answered Billie, standing up on his hind -legs. - -“You haven’t seen a little lost kitten, with cherry-pie-juice on her new -mittens, have you?” asked the rabbit gentleman. - -“No, I am sorry to say I have not,” said Billie, politely. “Did you lose -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 Uncle -Wiggily 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 walking along -they heard a little mewing cry behind a pile of snow, and Uncle 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 get them -clean! What shall I do? I can’t go home with my mittens all soiled, 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?” asked Uncle -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,” said -Muzzo. “Only the pie-juice will not come out.” - -“Of course not,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, with a laugh. “It needs hot soap -suds and water to clean them. You come home to my bungalow and we will -get some.” - -“Oh, I am so cold and tired I can’t go another step,” said the second -little kitten, who had run away from home after she soiled her mittens. -“I just can’t.” - -“Well, then, I don’t know how you are going to get your mittens washed, -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 is -one, for I was eating the paper off it, to get the paste, just before -you came along.” - -Goats like to eat paper off tomato cans, you know, because the paper is -stuck on with sweet paste, and that is as good to goat children as 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 on Billie. -“I have a cake of soap in my pocket, that I just bought at the 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 empty tomato -tin and I’ll make the fire. You needn’t try to wash your soiled mittens -in the snow any more, Muzzo,” he said to the second lost kittie. “We -will do it for you, in soapy water, which is better.” - -Soon Uncle Wiggily made a fire. Back came Billie Wagtail with the tomato -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 hot Uncle Wiggily -made a soapy suds as Nurse Jane had done. - -“Now I can wash my mittens!” cried Muzzo, and she did. And when they -were nice and clean she went home with them, and oh! how glad her mother -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 of -cheese, and forget to come back to dinner, I’ll tell you next about -Uncle Wiggily and the third little kitten. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE THIRD KITTEN - - -UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS, the nice old gentleman rabbit, came walking -slowly up the front path that led to his hollow-stump bungalow. He was -limping a little on his red, white and blue-striped barber-pole -rheumatism crutch that Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady -housekeeper, had gnawed for him out of a corn-stalk. - -“Well, I’m glad to be home again,” said the rabbit uncle, sitting down -on the front porch to rest a minute. And just then the door in the -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 you find -her?” - -“Find who?” asked the rabbit gentleman. “I was not looking for any one. -I have just been down to Lincoln Park to see some squirrels who live in -a hollow tree. They are second cousins to Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, -the squirrels who live in our woods. I had a nice visit with 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 great surprise. -“I thought she had come home.” - -“No, she hasn’t,” said Mrs. Purr. “You know you found my other kittens, -Fuzzo and Muzzo, for me, but Wuzzo, the third little kitten, is still -lost. She has been away all night, and I came over here the first thing -this morning to see if you would not kindly go look for her. But you had -already left and I have been waiting here ever since for you to come -back.” - -“Yes, I stayed longer with the park squirrels than I meant to,” said -Uncle Wiggily. “But now I am back I will start off and try to find -Wuzzo. It’s too bad your three little kittens ran away.” - -They had, you know, as I told you in the two stories before this one. -The three little kittens ate cherry pie with their new mittens on. And -they soiled their mittens. Then they were so afraid their mother, Mrs. -Purr, would scold them that they all ran away. - -But Mrs. Purr was a kind cat, and would not have scolded at all. And -when she found her little kittens were gone she asked Uncle Wiggily to -find them. - -“And you did find the first two, Fuzzo and Muzzo,” said the cat lady. -“So I am sure you can find the third one, Wuzzo.” - -“I hope I can,” Uncle Wiggily said. “I remember now I started off to -find her, but my rheumatism hurt me so I had to come back to my -bungalow. Then I forgot all about Wuzzo. But I’m all right now, and I’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 two -others he had helped them wash the pie-juice off their mittens, so they -were nice and clean. And then the kittens were not afraid to go home. - -Uncle Wiggily looked all over for the third little kitten, under bushes, -up in trees (for cats climb trees, you know), and even behind big rocks -Uncle Wiggily looked. But no Wuzzo could he find. - -At last, when the rabbit gentleman came to a big hollow log that was -lying on the ground, he sat down on it to rest, and, all of a sudden, he -heard a voice inside the log speaking. And the voice asked: - -“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, and -this time it was a little pussy cat kitten speaking, Uncle Wiggily was -certain. - -The old rabbit gentleman looked in one end of the hollow log, and there -surely enough, he saw Wuzzo, the third lost kitten. - -And besides Wuzzo, Uncle Wiggily saw Neddie Stubtail, the little bear -boy, who always slept in a hollow log all Winter. But this time Neddie -was awake, for it was near Spring. - -“Wuzzo, Wuzzo! Is that you? What are you doing there?” asked Uncle -Wiggily. “Don’t you know your poor mother is looking all over for you, -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, and -Neddie, the boy bear also crawled out, saying: - -“Hello, Uncle Wiggily!” - -“How do you do, Neddie,” spoke the bunny uncle. “How long has Wuzzo been -staying with you?” - -“She just ran in my hollow log,” said the little bear chap, “and her -tail, brushing against my nose, tickled me so that I sneezed and -awakened from my Winter sleep.” - -“Where have you been all night, since you ran away, Wuzzo?” asked Uncle -Wiggily. - -“Well,” answered the third little kitten. “After Fuzzo, Muzzo and I -soiled our mittens with cherry pie we all ran away.” - -“Yes, I know that part,” spoke the bunny uncle. “It was not right to do, -but I have found the two other lost kitties. I couldn’t find you, -though. Why was that?” - -“Because I met Mother Goose,” said Wuzzo, “and she asked me to go to -London to see the Queen. She took me through the air on the back of her -big gander, and we flew as quickly as you could have gone in your -airship.” - -“You went to London to see the Queen!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, in -surprise. “Well, well! What did you do there?” - -“I frightened a little mouse under her chair, just as Mother Goose -wanted me to do,” said Wuzzo. “Then the big gander flew with me to these -woods and went back to get Mother Goose, who stayed to talk with 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 first we -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 sweet cherry-pie-juice, which I -liked very much. So, now the mittens are clean.” - -“Good!” cried the bunny uncle. “Now we will go to your mother, Wuzzo. -She will be glad to know that you frightened a little mouse under the -Queen’s chair.” - -So Uncle Wiggily took the third little kitten home, and thus they were -all found. And if the cat on our roof doesn’t jump down the chimney, and -scare the lemon pie so it turns into an apple dumpling, I’ll tell you -next about Uncle Wiggily and the Jack horse. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XX - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE JACK HORSE - - -“WELL, where are you going to-day, Uncle Wiggily?” asked Nurse Jane -Fuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, as she saw the rabbit gentleman -putting on his tall silk hat, and taking his red, white and blue-striped -rheumatism crutch down off the mantel. - -“I am going over to see Nannie and Billy Wagtail, the goat children,” -answered the bunny uncle. “I have not seen them in a long while.” - -“But they’ll be at school,” said Nurse Jane. - -“I’ll wait until they come home, then,” said Uncle Wiggily. “And while -I’m waiting I’ll talk to Uncle Butter, the nice old gentleman goat.” - -So off started Uncle Wiggily over the fields and through the woods. - -Pretty soon he came to the house where the family of Wagtail goats -lived. They were given that name because they wagged their little short -tails so very fast, sometimes up and down, and again sideways. - -“Why, how do you do, Uncle Wiggily?” asked Mrs. Wagtail, as she opened -the door for the rabbit gentleman. “Come and sit down.” - -“Thank you,” he answered. “I called to see Nannie and Billie. But I -suppose they are at school.” - -“Yes, they are studying their lessons.” - -“Well, I’ll come in then, and talk to Uncle Butter, for I suppose you -are busy.” - -“Yes, I am, but not too busy to talk to you, Mr. Longears,” said the -goat lady. “Uncle Butter is away, pasting up some circus posters on the -billboard, and I wish he’d come back, for I want him to go to the store -for me.” - -“Couldn’t I go?” asked Uncle Wiggily, politely. “I have nothing special -to do, and I often go to the store for Nurse Jane. I’d like to go for -you.” - -“Very well, you may,” said Mrs. Wagtail. “I want for supper some papers -off a tomato can, and a few more off a can of corn, and here is a basket -to put them in. And you might bring a bit of brown paper, so I can make -soup of it.” - -“I will,” said Uncle Wiggily, starting off with the basket on his paw. -Goats, you know, like the papers that come off cans, as the papers have -sweet paste on them. And they also like brown grocery paper itself, for -it has straw in it, and goats like straw. Of course, goats eat other -things besides paper, though. - -Uncle Wiggily was going carefully along, for there was ice and snow on -the ground, and it was slippery, and he did not want to fall. Soon he -was at the paper store, where he bought what Mrs. Wagtail wanted. - -And on the way back to the goat lady’s house something happened to the -old rabbit gentleman. As he stepped over a big icicle he put his foot -down on a slippery snowball some little animal chap had left on the -path, and, all of a sudden, bango! down went Uncle Wiggily, basket of -paper, rheumatism crutch and all. - -“Ouch!” cried the rabbit gentleman, “I fear something is broken,” for he -heard a cracking sound as he fell. - -He looked at his paws and legs and felt of his big ears. They seemed all -right. Then he looked at the basket of paper. That was crumpled up, but -not broken, and the bunny uncle’s tall silk hat, while it had a few -dents in, was not smashed. - -“Oh, dear! It’s my rheumatism crutch,” cried Uncle Wiggily. “It’s broken -in two, and how am I ever going to walk without it this slippery day I -don’t see. Oh, my goodness me sakes alive and some bang-bang tooth -powder!” - -Carefully the rabbit gentleman arose, but as he had no red, white and -blue-striped crutch to lean on, he nearly fell again. - -“I guess I’d better stay sitting down,” thought Uncle Wiggily. “Perhaps -some one may come along, and I can ask them go get Nurse Jane to gnaw -for me another rheumatism crutch out of a corn-stalk. I’ll wait here -until help comes.” - -Uncle Wiggily waited quite a while, but no one passed by. - -“It will soon be time for Billie and Nannie Wagtail to pass by on their -way from school,” thought the bunny uncle. “I could send them for -another crutch, I suppose.” - -So he waited a little longer, and then, as no one came, he tried to walk -with his broken crutch. But he could not. Then Uncle Wiggily cried: - -“Help! Help! Help!” but still no one came. “Oh, dear!” said the rabbit -gentleman, “if only Mother Goose would fly past, riding on the back of -her gander, she might take me home.” He looked up, but Mother Goose was -not sweeping cobwebs out of the sky that day, so he did not see her. - -Then, all of a sudden, as the rabbit gentleman sat there, wondering how -he was going to walk on the slippery ice and snow without his crutch to -help him, he heard a jolly voice singing: - - “Ride a Jack horse to Banbury Cross, - To see an old lady jump on a white horse. - With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, - She shall have music wherever she goes.” - -And with that along through the woods came riding a nice, old lady on a -rocking-horse. And on the side of the rocking-horse was painted in red -ink the name: - - =JACK= - -“Why, hello, Uncle Wiggily!” called the nice old lady, shaking her toes -and making the bells jingle a pretty tune. “What is the matter with -you?” she asked. - -“Oh, I am in such trouble,” replied the bunny uncle. “I fell down on a -slippery snowball, and broke my crutch. Without it I cannot walk, and I -want to take these papers to Mrs. Wagtail, the goat lady, to eat.” - -“Ha! If that is all your trouble I can soon fix matters!” cried the -jolly old lady. “Here, get up beside me on my Jack horse, and I’ll ride -you to Mrs. Wagtail’s, and then take you home to your hollow-stump -bungalow.” - -“Oh, will you? How kind!” said Uncle Wiggily. “Thank you! But have you -the time?” - -“Lots of time,” laughed the old lady. “It doesn’t really matter when I -get to Banbury Cross. Come on!” - -Uncle Wiggily got up on the back of the Jack horse, behind the old lady. -She tinkled the rings on her fingers and jingled the bells on her toes, -and so, of course, she’ll have music wherever she goes. - -“Just as the Mother Goose books says,” spoke the bunny uncle. “Oh, I’m -glad you came along.” - -“So am I,” said the nice old lady. Then she took Uncle Wiggily to the -Wagtail house, where he left the basket of papers, and next he rode on -the Jack horse to his bungalow, and, after the bunny uncle had thanked -the old lady, she, herself, rode on to Banbury Cross, to see another old -lady jump on a white horse. And very nicely she did it too, let me tell -you. - -So everything came out all right, and in the next chapter, if the apple -pie doesn’t turn a somersault and crack its crust so the juice runs out, -I’ll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and the clock-mouse. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXI - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CLOCK-MOUSE - - -UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS, the nice old rabbit gentleman, sat in an easy -chair in his hollow-stump bungalow. He had just eaten a nice lunch, -which Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, had put on -the table for him, and he was feeling a bit sleepy. - -“Are you going out this afternoon?” asked Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy, as she -cleared away the dishes. - -“Hum! Ho! Well, I hardly know,” Uncle Wiggily answered, in a sleepy -voice. “I may, after I have a little nap.” - -“Your new red, white and blue-striped rheumatism crutch is ready for -you,” went on Nurse Jane. “I gnawed it for you out of a fine large -corn-stalk.” - -Uncle Wiggily had broken his other crutch, if you will kindly remember, -when he slipped as he was coming back from the store, where he went for -Mrs. Wagtail, the goat lady. And it was so slippery that the rabbit -gentleman never would have gotten home, only he rode on a Jack horse -with the lady, who had rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, as I -told you in the story before this one. - -“Thank you for making me a new crutch, Nurse Jane,” spoke the bunny -uncle. “If I go out I’ll take it.” - -Then he went to sleep in his easy chair, but he was suddenly awakened by -hearing the bungalow clock strike one. Then, as he sat up and rubbed his -eyes with his paws, Uncle Wiggily heard a thumping noise on the hall -floor and a little voice squeaked out: - -“Ouch! I’ve hurt my leg! Oh, dear!” - -“My! I wonder what that can be? It seemed to come out of my clock,” -spoke Mr. Longears. - -“I did come out of your clock,” said some one. - -“You did? Who are you, if you please?” asked the bunny uncle, looking -all around. “I can’t see you.” - -“That’s because I’m so small,” was the answer. “But here I am, right by -the table. I can’t walk as my leg is hurt.” - -Uncle Wiggily looked, and saw a little mouse, who was holding his left -hind leg in his right front paw. - -“Who are you?” asked the bunny uncle. - -“I am Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse,” was the answer. “And I am a -clock-mouse.” - -“A clock-mouse!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, in surprise. “I never heard of -such a thing.” - -“Oh, don’t you remember me? I’m in Mother Goose’s book. This is how it -goes: - - “‘Hickory Dickory Dock, - The mouse ran up the clock. - The clock struck one, - And down he come, - Hickory Dickory Dock!’” - -“Oh, now I remember you,” said Uncle Wiggily. “And so you are a -clock-mouse.” - -“Yes, I ran up your clock, and then when the clock struck one, down I -had to come. But I ran down so fast that I tripped over the pendulum. -The clock reached down its hands and tried to catch me, but it had no -eyes in its face to see me, so I slipped, anyhow, and I hurt my leg.” - -“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” said Uncle Wiggily. “Perhaps I can fix it -for you. Nurse Jane, bring me some salve for Hickory Dickory Dock, the -clock-mouse,” he called. - -The muskrat lady brought some salve, and, with a rag, Uncle Wiggily -bound up the leg of the clock-mouse so it did not hurt so much. - -“And I’ll lend you a piece of my old crutch, so you can hobble along on -it,” said Uncle Wiggily. - -“Thank you,” spoke Hickory Dickory Dock, the clock-mouse. “You have been -very kind to me, and some day, I hope, I may do you a favor. If I can I -will.” - -“Thank you,” Uncle Wiggily said. Then Hickory Dickory Dock limped away, -but in a few days he was better, and he could run up more clocks, and -run down when they struck one. - -It was about a week after this that Uncle Wiggily went walking through -the woods on his way to see Grandfather Goosey Gander. And just before -he reached his friend’s house he met Mother Goose. - -“Oh, Uncle Wiggily,” she said, swinging her cobweb broom up and down, “I -want to thank you for being so kind to Hickory Dickory Dock, the -clock-mouse.” - -“It was a pleasure to be kind to him,” said Uncle Wiggily. “Is he all -better now?” - -“Yes, he is all well again,” replied Mother Goose. “He is coming to run -up and down your clock again soon.” - -“I’ll be glad to see him,” said Uncle Wiggily. Then he went to call on -Grandpa Goosey, and he told about Hickory Dickory Dock, falling down -from out the clock. - -On his way back to his hollow-stump bungalow, Uncle Wiggily took a short -cut through the woods. And, as he was passing along, his paw slipped and -he became all tangled up in a wild grape vine, which was like a lot of -ropes, all twisted together into hard knots. - -“Oh, dear!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “I’m caught!” The more he tried to -untangle himself the tighter he was held fast, until it seemed he would -never get out. - -“Oh!” cried the rabbit gentleman. “This is terrible. Will no one come to -get me out? Help! Help! Will some one please help me?” - -“Yes, I will help you, Uncle Wiggily,” answered a kind, little squeaking -voice. - -“Who are you?” asked the rabbit gentleman, moving a piece of the grape -vine away from his nose, so he could speak plainly. - -“I am Hickory Dickory Dock, the clock-mouse,” was the answer, “and with -my sharp teeth I will gnaw the grape vine in many pieces so you will be -free.” - -“That will be very kind of you,” said Uncle Wiggily, who was quite tired -out with his struggles to get loose. - -So Hickory Dickory Dock, with his sharp teeth, gnawed the grape vine, -and, in a little while, Uncle Wiggily was loose and all right again. - -“Thank you,” said the bunny uncle to the clock-mouse, as he hopped off, -and Hickory Dickory Dock went with him, for his leg was all better now. -“Thank you very much, nice little clock-mouse.” - -“You did me a favor,” said Hickory Dickory Dock, “and now I have done -you one, so we are even.” And that’s a good way to be in this world. So, -if the ink bottle doesn’t turn pale when it sees the fountain pen jump -in the goldfish bowl and swim I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and -the late scholar. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXII - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LATE SCHOLAR - - -“HEIGH-HO!” cried Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice rabbit gentleman, one -morning, as he hopped from bed and went to the window of his -hollow-stump bungalow to look out. “Heigh-ho! It will soon be Spring, I -hope, for I am tired of Winter.” - -Then he went down-stairs, where Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady -housekeeper, had his breakfast ready on the table. - -Uncle Wiggily ate some cabbage pancakes with carrot maple sugar -sprinkled over them, and then as he wiped his whiskers on his red -tongue, which he used for a napkin, and as he twinkled his pink nose to -see if it was all right, Nurse Jane said: - -“Yesterday, Uncle Wiggily, you told me you would like me to make some -lettuce cakes to-day; did you not?” - -[Illustration] - -“I did,” answered Uncle Wiggily, sort of slow and solemn like. “But what -is the matter, Nurse Jane? I hope you are not going to tell me that you -cannot, or will not, make those lettuce cakes.” - -“Oh, I’ll make them, all right enough, Wiggy,” the muskrat lady -answered, “only I have no lettuce. You will have to go to the store for -me.” - -“And right gladly will I go!” exclaimed the bunny uncle, speaking like -some one in an old-fashioned story book. “I’ll get my automobile out and -go at once.” - -Uncle Wiggily had not used his machine often that Winter, as there had -been so much snow and ice. But now it was getting close to Spring and -the weather was very nice. There was no snow in the woods and fields, -though, of course, some might fall later. - -“It will do my auto good to have me ride in it,” said the bunny uncle. -He blew some hot air in the bologna sausage tires, put some talcum -powder on the steering-wheel so it would not catch cold, and then, -having tickled the whizzicum-whazzicum with a goose feather, away he -started for the lettuce store. - -It did not take him long to get there, and, having bought a nice head of -the green stuff, the bunny uncle started back again for his hollow-stump -bungalow. - -“Nurse Jane will make some fine lettuce cakes, with clover ice cream -cones on top,” he said to himself, as he hurried along in his -automobile. - -He had not gone very far, and he was about halfway home, when from -behind a bush he heard the sound of crying. Now, whenever Uncle Wiggily -heard any one crying he knew some one was in trouble, and as he always -tried to help those in trouble, he did it this time. Stopping his -automobile, he called: - -“Who are you, and what is the matter? Perhaps I can help you.” - -Out from behind the bush came a boy, a nice sort of boy, except that he -was crying. - -“Oh, are you Simple Simon?” asked Uncle Wiggily, “and are you crying -because you cannot catch a whale in your mother’s water pail?” - -“No; I am not Simple Simon,” was the answer of the boy. - -“Well, you cannot be Jack Horner, because you have no pie with you, and -you’re not Little Boy Blue, because I see you wear a red necktie,” went -on the bunny uncle. “Do you belong to Mother Goose at all?” - -“Yes,” answered the boy. “I do. You must have heard about me. I am -Diller-a-Dollar, a ten o’clock scholar, why do you come so soon? I used -to come at ten o’clock, but now I’ll come at noon. Don’t you know me?” - -“Ha! Why, of course, I know you!” cried Uncle Wiggily, in his jolly -voice, as he put some lollypop oil on the doodle-oodleum of his auto. -“But, why are you crying?” - -“Because I’m going to be late at school again,” said the boy. “You see -of late I have been late a good many mornings, but this morning I got up -early, and was sure I would get there before noon.” - -“And so you will, if you hurry,” Uncle Wiggily said, looking at his -watch, that was a cousin to the clock, up which, and down which, ran -Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse. “It isn’t anywhere near noon yet,” went -on the rabbit gentleman. “You can almost get to school on time this -morning.” - -“I suppose I could,” said the boy, “and I got up early on purpose to do -that. But now I have lost my way, and I don’t know where the school is. -Oh, dear! Boo hoo! I’ll never get to school this week, I fear.” - -“Oh, yes, you will!” said Uncle Wiggily, still more kindly. “I’ll tell -you what to do. Hop up in the automobile here with me, and I’ll take you -to the school. I know just where it is. Sammie and Susie Littletail, my -rabbit friends, and Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels, as well -as Nannie and Billie Wagtail, the goats, go there. Hop in!” - -So Diller-a-Dollar, the late scholar, hopped in the auto, and he and -Uncle Wiggily started off together. - -“You’ll not be late this morning,” said the bunny uncle. “I’ll get you -there just about nine o’clock.” - -Well, Uncle Wiggily meant to do it, and he might have, only for what -happened. First a hungry dog bit a piece out of one of the bologna -sausage tires on the auto wheels, and they had to go slower. Then a -hungry cat took another piece and they had to go still more slowly. - -A little farther on the tinkerum-tankerum of the automobile, which -drinks gasolene, grew thirsty and Uncle Wiggily had to give it a glass -of lemonade. This took more time. - -And finally when the machine went over a bump the cork came out of the -box of talcum powder and it flew in the face of Uncle Wiggily and the -late scholar and they both sneezed so hard that the auto stopped. - -“See! I told you we’d never get to school,” sadly said the boy. “Oh, -dear! And I thought this time teacher would not laugh, and ask me why I -came so soon, when I was really late.” - -“It’s too bad!” Uncle Wiggily said. “I did hope I could get you there on -time. But wait a minute. Let me think. Ha! I have it! We are close to my -bungalow. We’ll run there and get in my airship. That goes ever so much -faster than my auto, and I’ll have you to school in no time.” - -No sooner said than done! In the airship the late scholar and Uncle -Wiggily reached school just as the nine o’clock bell was ringing, and so -Diller-a-Dollar was on time this time after all. And the teacher said: - -“Oh, Diller-a-Dollar, my ten o’clock scholar, you may stand up in line. -You used to come in very late, but now you come at nine.” - -So the late scholar was not late after all, thanks to Uncle Wiggily, and -if the egg beater doesn’t go to sleep in the rice pudding, where it -can’t get out to go sleigh-riding with the potato masher, I’ll tell you -next about Uncle Wiggily and Baa-Baa, the black sheep. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND BAA-BAA BLACK SHEEP - - -“MY goodness! But it’s cold to-day!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily Longears, -the nice rabbit gentleman, as he came down to breakfast in his -hollow-stump bungalow one morning. “It is very cold.” - -“Indeed it is,” said Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady -housekeeper, as she put the hot buttered cabbage cakes on the table. “If -you go out you had better wear your fur coat.” - -“I shall,” spoke the bunny uncle. “And I probably shall call on Mother -Goose. She asked me to stop in the next time I went past.” - -“What for?” Nurse Jane wanted to know. - -“Oh, Little Jack Horner hurt his thumb the last time he pulled a plum -out of his Christmas pie, and Mother Goose wanted me to look at it, and -see if she had better call in Dr. Possum. So I’ll stop and have a look.” - -“Well, give her my love,” said Nurse Jane, and Uncle Wiggily promised -that he would. - -A little later he started off across the fields and through the woods to -the place where Mother Goose lived, not far from his own hollow-stump -bungalow. Uncle Wiggily had on his fur overcoat, for it was cold. It had -been warm the day before, when he had taken Diller-a-Dollar, the ten -o’clock scholar, to school, but now the weather had turned cold again. - -“Come in!” called Mother Goose, when Uncle Wiggily had tapped with his -paw on her door. “Come in!” - -The bunny uncle went in, and looked at the thumb of Little Jack Horner, -who was playing marbles with Little Boy Blue. - -“Does your thumb hurt you much, Jack?” asked Uncle Wiggily. - -“Yes, I am sorry to say it does. I’m not going to pull any more plums -out of Christmas pies. I’m going to eat cake instead,” said Jack Horner. - -“Well, I’ll go get Dr. Possum for you,” offered Uncle Wiggily. “I think -that will be best,” he remarked to Mother Goose. - -Wrapped in his warm fur overcoat, Uncle Wiggily once more started off -over the fields and through the woods. He had not gone very far before -he heard a queer sort of crying noise, like: - -“Baa! Baa! Baa!” - -“Ha! That sounds like a little lost lamb,” said the bunny uncle, “only -there are no little lambs out this time of year. I’ll take a look. It -may be some one in trouble, whom I can help.” - -Uncle Wiggily looked around the corner of a stone fence, and there he -saw a sheep shivering in the cold, for most of his warm, fleecy wool had -been sheared off. Oh! how the sheep shivered in the cold. - -“Why, what is the matter with you?” asked Uncle Wiggily, kindly. - -“I am c-c-c-c-cold,” said the sheep, shiveringly. - -“What makes you cold?” the bunny uncle wanted to know. - -“Because they cut off so much of my wool. You know how it is with me, -for I am in the Mother Goose book. Listen! - - “‘Baa-baa, black sheep, have you any wool? - Yes, sir; yes, sir; three bags full. - One for the master, one for the man, - And one for the little boy who lives in the lane.’ - -“That’s the way I answered when they asked me if I had any wool,” said -Baa-baa. - -“And what did they do?” asked the bunny uncle. - -“Why they sheared off my fleece, three bags of it. I didn’t mind them -taking the first bag full, for I had plenty and it was so warm I thought -Spring was coming. And it doesn’t hurt to cut off my fleecy wool, any -more than it hurts to cut a boy’s hair. And after they took the first -bag full of wool for the master they took a second bag for the man. I -didn’t mind that, either. But when they took the third——” - -“Then they really did take three?” asked Uncle Wiggily, in surprise. - -“Oh, yes, to be sure. Why it’s that way in the book of Mother Goose, you -know, and they had to do just as the book says.” - -“I suppose so,” agreed Uncle Wiggily, sadly like. - -“Well, after they took the third bag of wool off my back the weather -grew colder, and I began to shiver. Oh! how cold I was; and how I -shivered and shook. Of course if the master and the man, and the little -boy who lives in the lane, had known I was going to shiver so, they -would not have taken the last bag of wool. Especially the little boy, as -he is very kind to me. - -“But now it is done, and it will be a long while before my wool grows -out again. And as long as it is cold weather I will shiver, I suppose,” -said Baa-baa, the black sheep. - -“No, you shall not shiver!” cried Uncle Wiggily. - -“How can you stop me?” asked the black sheep. - -“By wrapping my old fur coat around you,” said the rabbit gentleman. “I -have two fur overcoats, a new one and an old one. I am wearing the new -one. The old one is at my hollow-stump bungalow. You go there and tell -Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy to give it to you. Tell her I said so. Or you can -go there and wait for me, as I am going to get Dr. Possum to fix the -thumb of Little Jack Horner, who sat in a corner, eating a Christmas -pie.” - -“You are very kind,” said Baa-baa. “I’ll go to your bungalow and wait -there for you.” - -So he did, shaking and shivering all the way, but he soon became warm -when he sat by Nurse Jane’s fire. And when Uncle Wiggily came back from -having sent Dr. Possum to Little Jack Horner, the rabbit gentleman -wrapped his old fur coat around Baa-baa, the black sheep, who was soon -as warm as toast. - -And Baa-baa wore Uncle Wiggily’s old fur coat until warm weather came, -when the sheep’s wool grew out long again. So everything was all right, -you see. - -And now, having learned the lesson that if you cut your hair too short -you may have to wear a fur cap to stop yourself from getting cold, we -will wait for the next story, which, if the pencil box doesn’t jump into -the ink well and get a pail of glue to make the lollypop stick fast to -the roller-skates, will be about Uncle Wiggily and Polly Flinders. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND POLLY FLINDERS - - -“THERE!” cried Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, who -took care of the hollow-stump bungalow for Uncle Wiggily Longears, the -rabbit gentleman. “There, it is all finished at last!” - -“What’s all finished?” asked the bunny uncle, who was reading the paper -in his easy chair near the fire, for the weather was still cold. “I hope -you don’t mean you have finished living with me, Nurse Jane? For I would -be very lonesome if you were to go away.” - -“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll not leave you, Wiggy,” she said. “What I meant -was that I had finished making the new dress for Susie Littletail, the -rabbit girl.” - -“Good!” cried the bunny uncle. “A new dress for my little niece Susie. -That’s fine! If you like, Nurse Jane, I’ll take it to her.” - -“I wish you would,” spoke the muskrat lady. “I have not time myself. -Just be careful of it. Don’t let the bad fox or the skillery-scalery -alligator with humps on his ears bite holes in it.” - -“I won’t,” promised Uncle Wiggily. So taking the dress, which Nurse Jane -had sewed for Susie, over his paw, and with his tall silk hat over his -ears, and carrying his red, white and blue-striped barber-pole -rheumatism crutch, off Uncle Wiggily started for the Littletail home. - -“Susie will surely like her dress,” thought the rabbit gentleman. “It -has such pretty colors.” For it had, being pink and blue and red and -yellow and purple and lavender and strawberry and lemon and Orange -Mountain colors. There may have been other colors in it, but I can think -of no more right away. - -Uncle Wiggily was going along past Old Mother Hubbard’s house, and past -the place where Mother Goose lived, when, coming to a place near a big -tree, Uncle Wiggily saw another house. And from inside the house came a -crying sound. - -“Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What shall I do?” sobbed a voice. - -“Ah, ha! More trouble!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “I seem to be finding lots -of people in trouble lately. Well, now to see who this is!” - -Going up to the house, and peering in a window, Uncle Wiggily saw a -little girl sitting before a fireplace. And this little girl was crying. - -“Hello!” called Uncle Wiggily, in his jolly voice, as he opened the -window. “What is the matter? Are you Little Bo Peep, and are you crying -because you have lost your sheep?” - -“No, Uncle Wiggily,” answered the little girl. “I am crying because I -have spoiled my nice new dress, and when my mother comes home and finds -it out she will whip me.” - -“Oh, no!” cried the bunny uncle. “Your mother will never do that. But -who are you?” - -“Why, don’t you know? I am little Polly Flinders, I sat among the -cinders, warming my pretty little toes. ‘And her mother came and caught -her, and she whipped her little daughter, for spoiling her nice new -clothes.’ - -“That’s what it says in the Mother Goose book,” said Polly Flinders, -“and, of course, that’s what will happen to me. Oh, dear! I don’t want -to be whipped. And I didn’t really spoil quite all my nice new clothes. -It’s only my dress, and some hot ashes got on that.” - -“Well, that isn’t so bad,” said Uncle Wiggily. “It may be that I can -clean it for you.” But when he looked at Polly’s dress he saw that it -could not be fixed, for, like Pussy Cat Mole’s best petticoat, Polly’s -dress had been burned through with hot coals, so that it was full of -holes. - -“No, that can’t be fixed, I’m sorry to say,” said Uncle Wiggily. - -“Oh, dear!” sobbed Polly Flinders, as she sat among the cinders. “What -shall I do? I don’t want to be whipped by my mother.” - -“And you shall not be,” said the bunny uncle. “Not that I think she -would whip you, but we will not give her a chance. See here, I have a -new dress that I was taking to Susie Littletail. Nurse Jane can easily -make my little rabbit niece another. - -“So you take this one, and give me your old one. And when your mother -comes she will not see the holes in your dress. Only you must tell her -what happened, or it would not be fair. Always tell mothers and fathers -everything that happens to you.” - -“I will,” promised Polly Flinders. - -She soon took off her old dress and put on the new one intended for -Susie, and it just fitted her. - -“Oh, how lovely!” cried Polly Flinders, looking at her toes. - -“And now,” said Uncle Wiggily, “you must sit no more among the cinders.” - -“I’ll not,” Polly promised, and she went and sat down in front of the -looking-glass, where she could look proudly at the new dress—not too -proudly, you understand, but just proud enough. - -Polly thanked Uncle Wiggily, who took the old soiled and burned dress to -Susie’s house. When the rabbit girl saw the bunny uncle coming she ran -to meet him, crying: - -“Oh! did Nurse Jane send you with my new dress?” - -“She did,” answered Uncle Wiggily, “but see what happened to it on the -way,” and he showed Susie the burned holes and all. - -“Oh, dear!” cried the little rabbit girl, sadly. “Oh, dear!” - -“Never mind,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, kindly, and he told all that had -happened. It was a sort of adventure, you see. - -“Oh, I’m glad you gave Polly my dress!” said Susie, clapping her paws. - -“Nurse Jane shall make you another dress,” promised Uncle Wiggily, and -the muskrat lady did. And when the mother of Polly Flinders came home -she thought the new dress was just fine, and she did not whip her little -daughter. In fact, she said she would not have done so anyhow. So that -part of the Mother Goose book is wrong. - -And thus everything came out all right, and if the shaving brush doesn’t -whitewash the blackboard, so the chalk can’t dance on it with the pencil -sharpener, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the garden maid. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXV - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE GARDEN MAID - - -“HEY, ho, hum!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, -as he stretched up his twinkling, pink nose, and reached his paws around -his back to scratch an itchy place. “Ho, hum! I wonder what will happen -to me to-day?” - -“Are you going out again?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat -lady housekeeper. “It seems to me that you go out a great deal, Mr. -Longears.” - -“Well, yes; perhaps I do,” admitted the bunny uncle. “But more things -happen to me when I go out than when I stay in the house.” - -“And do you like to have things happen to you?” asked Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy. - -“When they are adventures I do,” answered the rabbit gentleman. “So here -I go off for an adventure.” - -Off started the nice, old, bunny uncle, carrying his red, white and -blue-striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch—over his shoulder this time. -For his pain did not hurt him much, as the sun was shining, so he did -not have to limp on the crutch, which Nurse Jane had gnawed for him out -of a corn-stalk. - -Uncle Wiggily had not gone very far toward the fields and woods before -he heard Nurse Jane calling to him. - -“Oh, Wiggy! Wiggy, I say! Wait a moment!” - -“Yes, what is it?” asked the rabbit gentleman, turning around and -looking over his shoulder. “Have I forgotten anything?” - -“No, it was I who forgot,” said the muskrat lady housekeeper. “I forgot -to tell you to bring me a bottle of perfume. Mine is all gone.” - -“All right, I’ll bring you some,” promised Mr. Longears. “It will give -me something to do—to go to the perfume store. Perhaps an adventure may -happen to me there.” - -Once more he was on his way, and soon he reached the perfume store, kept -by a nice buzzing bee lady, who gathered sweet smelling perfume, as well -as honey, from the flowers in Summer and put it carefully away for the -Winter. - -“Some perfume for Nurse Jane, eh?” said the bee lady, as the rabbit -gentleman knocked on her hollow-tree house. “There you are, Uncle -Wiggily,” and she gave him a bottle of the nice scent made from a number -of flowers. - -“My! That smells lovely!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, as he pulled out the -cork, and took a long sniff. “Nurse Jane will surely like that perfume!” - -With the sweet scented bottle in his paw, the rabbit gentleman started -back toward his hollow-stump bungalow. He had not gone very far before -he saw a nurse maid, out in the garden, back of a big house. There was a -basket in front of the maid, with some clothes in it, and stretched -across the garden was a line, with more clothes on it, flapping in the -wind. - -“Ha!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. “I wonder if that garden maid, hanging up -the clothes, wouldn’t like to smell Nurse Jane’s perfume? Nurse Jane -will not mind, and perhaps it will be doing that maid a kindness to let -her smell something sweet, after she has been smelling washing-soap-suds -all morning.” - -So the bunny uncle, who was always doing kind things, hopped over to the -garden maid, and politely asked: - -“Wouldn’t you like to smell this perfume?” and he held out the bottle he -had bought of the bee lady. - -The garden maid turned around, and said in a sad voice: - -“Thank you, Uncle Wiggily. It is very kind of you, I’m sure, and I would -like to smell your perfume. But I can’t.” - -“Why not?” asked the bunny uncle. “The cork is out of the bottle. See!” - -“That may very well be,” went on the garden maid, “but the truth of the -matter is that I cannot smell, because a blackbird has nipped off my -nose.” - -Uncle Wiggily, in great surprise, looked, and, surely enough, a -blackbird had nipped off the nose of the garden maid. - -“Bless my whiskers!” cried the bunny uncle. “What a thing for a -blackbird to do—nip off your nose! Why did he do such an impolite thing -as that?” - -“Why, he had to do it, because it’s that way in the Mother Goose book,” -said the maid. “Don’t you remember? It goes this way: - - “‘The King was in the parlor, - Counting out his money, - The Queen was in the kitchen, - Eating bread and honey. - The maid was in the garden, - Hanging out the clothes, - Along came a blackbird - And nipped off her nose.’ - -“That’s the way it was,” said the garden maid. - -“Oh, yes, I remember now,” spoke Uncle Wiggily. - -“Well, I’m the maid who was in the garden, hanging out the clothes,” -said she, “and, as you can see, along came a blackbird and nipped off my -nose. That is, you can’t see the blackbird, but you can see the place -where my nose ought to be.” - -“Yes,” answered Uncle Wiggily, “I can. It’s too bad. That blackbird -ought to have his feathers ruffled.” - -“Oh, he didn’t mean to be bad,” said the garden maid. “He had to do as -it says in the book, and he had to nip off my nose. So that’s why I -can’t smell Nurse Jane’s nice perfume.” - -Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute. Then he said: - -“Just you wait here. I think I can fix it so you can smell as well as -ever.” - -Then the bunny uncle hurried off through the woods until he found Jimmie -Caw-Caw, the big black crow boy. - -“Jimmie,” said the bunny uncle, “will you fly off, find the blackbird, -and ask him to give back the garden maid’s nose so she can smell -perfume?” - -“I will,” said Jimmie Caw-Caw, very politely. “I certainly will!” - -Away he flew, and, after a while, in the deep, dark part of the woods he -found the blackbird, sitting on a tree. - -“Please give me back the garden maid’s nose,” said Jimmie, politely. - -“Certainly,” answered the blackbird, also politely. “I only took it off -in fun. Here it is back. I’m sorry I bothered the garden maid, but I had -to, as it’s that way in the Mother Goose book.” - -Off to Uncle Wiggily flew Jimmie, the crow boy, with the young lady’s -nose, and soon Dr. Possum had fastened it back on the garden maid’s face -as good as ever. - -“Now you can smell the perfume,” said Uncle Wiggily, and when he held up -the bottle the maid said: - -“Oh, what a lovely smell!” - -So the bunny uncle left a little perfume in a bottle for the garden -maid, and then she went on hanging up the clothes, and she felt very -happy because she had a nose. So you see how kind Uncle Wiggily and -Jimmie were, and Nurse Jane, too, liked the perfume very much. - -So if the little girl’s roller-skates don’t run over the pussy’s tail -and ruffle it all up so she can’t go to the moving picture party, I’ll -tell you next of Uncle Wiggily and the King. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE KING - - -UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS, the nice old rabbit gentleman, was sitting in an -easy chair in his hollow-stump bungalow, one day, looking out of the -window at the blue sky, and he was feeling quite happy. And why should -he not be happy? - -Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, his muskrat lady housekeeper, had just given him -a nice breakfast of cabbage pancakes, with carrot maple sugar tied in a -bow-knot in the middle, and Uncle Wiggily had eaten nine. Nine cakes, I -mean, not nine bows. - -“And now,” said the bunny uncle to himself, “I think I shall go out and -take a walk. Perhaps I may have an adventure. Do you want any perfume, -or anything like that from the store?” asked Mr. Longears of Miss Fuzzy -Wuzzy. - -“No, thank you, I think not,” answered the muskrat lady. “Just bring -yourself home, and that will be all.” - -“Oh, I’ll do that all right,” promised the bunny gentleman. So away he -hopped, over the fields and through the woods, humming to himself a -little song which went something like this: - - “I’m feeling happy now and gay, - Why shouldn’t I, this lovely day? - ’Tis time enough to be quite sad, - When wind and rain make weather bad. - But, even then, one ought to try - To think that soon it will be dry. - So then, no matter what the weather, - Smile, as though tickled by a feather.” - -Uncle Wiggily felt happier than ever when he had sung this song, but, as -he went along a little further, he came, all at once, to a very nice -house indeed, out of which floated the sound of a sad voice. - -Uncle Wiggily was surprised to hear this, for the house was such a nice -one that it seemed no one ought to be unhappy who lived there. - -The house was made of gold and silver, with diamond windows, and the -chimney was made of a red ruby stone, which, as every one knows, is very -expensive. But with all that the sad voice came sailing out of one of -the opened diamond windows, and the voice said: - -“Oh, dear! It’s gone! I can’t find it! I dropped it and it rolled down a -crack in the floor. Now I’ll never get it again. Oh, dear!” - -“Well, that sounds like some one in trouble,” said the bunny uncle. “I -must see if I cannot help them,” for Uncle Wiggily helped real folk, who -lived in fine houses, as well as woodland animals, who lived in hollow -trees. - -Uncle Wiggily hopped up to the open diamond window of the gold and -silver house, with the red ruby chimney, and, poking his nose inside, -the rabbit gentleman asked: - -“Is there some one here in trouble whom I may have the pleasure of -helping?” - -“Yes,” answered a voice. “I’m here, and I’m surely in trouble.” - -“Who are you, and what is the trouble, if I may ask?” politely went on -Uncle Wiggily. - -“I am the king,” was the answer. “This is my palace, but, with all that, -I am in trouble. Come in.” - -In hopped Uncle Wiggily, and there, surely enough, was the king, but he -was in the kitchen, down on his hands and knees, looking with one eye -through a crack in the floor, which is something kings hardly ever do. - -“It’s down there,” he said. “And I can’t get it. I’m too fat to go -through the crack.” - -“What’s down there?” Uncle Wiggily wanted to know. - -“My money,” answered the king. “You may have heard about me,” and he -recited this little verse: - - “The king was in the kitchen, - Counting out his money; - The queen was in the parlor, - Eating bread and honey; - The maid was in the garden, - Hanging out the clothes, - Along came a blackbird, - Who nipped off her nose.” - -The fat man got up off the kitchen floor. - -“I’m the king,” he said, taking up his gold and diamond crown from a -kitchen chair, where he had put it as he kneeled down, so it would not -fall off and be dented. “From Mother Goose, you know; don’t you?” - -“Yes, I know,” answered Uncle Wiggily. - -“I dare say you’ll find the queen in the parlor eating bread and honey,” -went on the king. “At least I saw her start for there with a plate, -knife and fork as I was coming here. And, no doubt, the maid is in the -garden, where she’ll pretty soon have her nose nipped off by a -blackbird.” - -“That part happened yesterday,” said Uncle Wiggily. “I was there just -after it happened, and I got Jimmie Caw-Caw, the crow boy, to fly after -the blackbird and bring back the maid’s nose. She is as well as ever now -and can smell all kinds of perfume.” - -“Good!” cried the fat king. “You were very kind to help her. I only wish -you could help me. But I don’t see how you can. My money, which I was -counting, fell out of my hands and dropped down a crack in the floor. I -can see it lying down there in the dirt, but I can’t get at it unless I -move to one side my gold and silver palace, and I don’t want to do that. -I don’t suppose you can move a palace, can you?” And he looked askingly -at Uncle Wiggily. - -“No, I can’t do that,” said the bunny uncle. “But still I think I can -get your money without moving the palace.” - -“How?” asked the king. - -“Why, I can go outside,” said Mr. Longears, “and with my strong paws, -which are just made for digging, I can burrow, or dig, a place through -the dirt under your palace-house, crawl in and get what you dropped.” - -“Oh, please do!” cried the king. - -So Uncle Wiggily did. - -Down under the cellar wall of the palace, through the dirt, dug the -bunny gentleman, with his strong paws. Pretty soon he was right under -the kitchen, and there, just where they had dropped through the crack, -were the king’s gold and silver pennies and other pieces of money. Uncle -Wiggily picked them up, put them in his pocket and crawled out again. - -“There you are, king,” he said. “You have your money back.” - -“Oh, thank you ever so much!” cried the king. “I’ll have the cook give -you some carrots.” And he did, before he went on counting his money in -the kitchen. And this time he stuffed a dish-rag in the crack so no more -pennies would fall through. - -Thus we see how Uncle Wiggily helped the king, and in the next chapter, -if the condensed milk doesn’t jump out of the can and scare the -coffee-pot so it drinks tea, I’ll tell you of Uncle Wiggily and the -queen. - -But that story will have to go in the second part of this book, together -with some others, for now we are just halfway through, just as when you -cut an orange into two parts. - -So, if you are all ready, you may turn the page and get ready for what -comes next. - - - END OF PART I - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CONTENTS - - ------- - - PART II. - - CHAPTER PAGE - I. Uncle Wiggily and the Queen 9 - II. Uncle Wiggily and Ding-Dong Pussy 15 - III. Uncle Wiggily and the Shoe Lady 22 - IV. Uncle Wiggily and Jack-Be-Nimble 29 - V. Uncle Wiggily and Tommy Tinker’s Dog 35 - VI. Uncle Wiggily and Mary’s Lamb 41 - VII. Uncle Wiggily and Peter Piper 47 - VIII. Uncle Wiggily and the Moon-Man 53 - IX. Uncle Wiggily and Humpty Dumpty 59 - X. Uncle Wiggily and Old King Cole 65 - XI. Uncle Wiggily and Peter-Peter 72 - XII. Uncle Wiggily and the Butcher 78 - XIII. Uncle Wiggily and the Baker 84 - XIV. Uncle Wiggily and the Candlestick Maker 91 - XV. Uncle Wiggily and Tom-Tom 97 - XVI. Uncle Wiggily and the Crooked Man 103 - XVII. Uncle Wiggily and the Barber 110 - XVIII. Uncle Wiggily and the Blackbirds 116 - XIX. Uncle Wiggily and the Fat Man 123 - XX. Uncle Wiggily and the Tarts 129 - XXI. Uncle Wiggily and the Jumping Cow 136 - XXII. Uncle Wiggily and the Pussies 143 - XXIII. Uncle Wiggily and the Leaves 150 - XXIV. Uncle Wiggily and the Wise Man 156 - XXV. Uncle Wiggily and the Tailors 163 - XXVI. Uncle Wiggily and the Bat 169 - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose - - - ------- - - - - - CHAPTER I - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE QUEEN - - -UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS, the rabbit gentleman, was hopping along through -the woods one day, limping a little on his red, white and blue striped -barber-pole rheumatism crutch, for he had some pain, and he was -wondering if any adventures would happen to him when, all of a sudden, -there came a big puff of wind, and blew off his tall silk hat. - -“My goodness me sakes alive, and some rice pudding!” cried the bunny -uncle, giving a hop, skip and a jump after his hat. “I had forgotten -that this is the first of March, when the wind begins to blow Winter -away and blow Spring in its place. No wonder my hat went off!” - -He raced after his hat, which was bounding along through the woods, -rolling over and over like a boy’s hoop on the sidewalk. At last Uncle -Wiggily caught his hat, but, as he was putting it down hard over his -ears, along came another puff of wind, and this time blew away his red, -white and blue-striped crutch. - -“Oh, dear!” cried the bunny uncle. “What a lot of trouble I’m having -to-day! I don’t believe any one has as much trouble as I.” - -Uncle Wiggily hopped after his crutch, and caught it just as it was -about ready to be blown into a bramble briar bush. - -“It’s a good thing it didn’t go in there,” he said, “or I’d have been -all scratched up getting it out. Oh, dear! I wonder if I am going to -have any more trouble! No one has as much as I.” - -“Oh, yes they have,” said a little voice in the bramble briar bush. -“Yes, they have! I’m in trouble right now.” - -“Who are you and what is the trouble?” asked the bunny uncle. - -“I am the bee lady who keeps the honey and perfume store,” was the -answer. “I was on my way to take some perfume to Mrs. Wibblewobble, the -duck lady, and when I tried to fly through this bramble briar bush my -wings were caught, and I can’t get out. Isn’t that trouble enough?” - -“It certainly is,” answered Uncle Wiggily. “I am sorry you are in -trouble, for I know what it means. But I will help you out.” - -So he did, very gently loosening the stickery thorns of the bramble -briar bushes from the bee lady’s wings. - -“Oh, thank you,” she said. “Now, I can fly on with the perfume for Mrs. -Wibblewobble. If ever I can help you, or any friends of yours, I shall, -Uncle Wiggily.” - -“Thank you,” answered the rabbit gentleman. Then, having given the bunny -uncle a smell from the little bottle of perfume she carried, the bee -lady flew on. - -With his tall silk hat and crutch the rabbit gentleman now again went on -through the woods, until once more he came to the gold and silver -palace-house, with diamond windows, and a chimney made of a red ruby -stone. - -“Ha! That’s where the king lives, who was in the kitchen, counting out -his money,” thought Mr. Longears. “I helped him, and I wonder if there -is any one else in the palace who is in need of my help?” - -Just then, from one of the open parlor diamond windows, there came a -voice saying sadly: - -“Oh, dear! It’s all gone! There isn’t a bit left, and what I’m going to -do, I don’t know. Oh, dear!” - -“That sounds like trouble,” said the bunny uncle. “I’ll see what it is.” - -He went closer to the window, and there, in the parlor, he saw a -beautiful lady, all dressed in silk and satin and cloth-of-gold, with a -diamond crown on her head. In one hand she had a plate, and in the other -a knife and fork. - -“What is the matter?” asked Uncle Wiggily, politely. “What is gone—the -cook? And do you have to do the dishes yourself?” - -“No, thank you, the cook hasn’t gone,” said the lady. “I am the queen, -as you can see, and I ought to be in the parlor, eating bread and honey. -I’m in the parlor right enough, as you can tell by the piano being here. -And I have the bread, but there is no honey! There isn’t a bit of honey -in the palace for me to eat, so I don’t see how I can make things come -out right, as they do in the Mother Goose book. Oh, dear!” - -“Don’t worry,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “Perhaps I can mend matters -for you.” - -“I don’t see how you can,” said the queen. “You haven’t any honey in -your pocket; have you?” she asked. - -“No,” answered the bunny uncle. “I guess I would be all stuck up, like a -piece of fly paper, if I carried honey in my pocket.” - -“Then if you have no honey you can’t help me,” said the queen, sadly. -“You see the king is in the kitchen, counting out his money. I am in -here, and I ought to be eating honey. And the maid is in the garden, -hanging out the clothes——” - -“I know all about that, and all about her nose,” said Uncle Wiggily, -with a smile. “I helped the king get back his money, I helped the maid -get back her nose, and now I am going to help you get your honey.” - -“Oh, how good of you!” cried the queen, who felt like hugging Uncle -Wiggily, only queens do not do such things, you know. “And I really need -the honey, for I am hungry. But how can you get it?” the queen asked. - -“I’ll show you,” answered the rabbit gentleman. Then, going to the open -window, he made a noise like a flower, and called: - -“Mrs. Bee! Mrs. Bee! Will you do me a favor now? You promised you would, -and now is your chance. Will you do me a favor?” - -“Yes, I will,” answered a buzzing voice, and along flew the bee lady, -whom Uncle Wiggily had helped out of the briar bush. “What is it you -wish?” she buzzed. - -“Some honey for the queen to eat in the parlor,” spoke the bunny uncle. -“She hasn’t any, and she must have some to be like the story in the -Mother Goose book, or things will not come out right. The queen needs -honey.” - -“She shall have some at once,” buzzed Mrs. Bee. Away she flew and pretty -soon she came back with a lot of honey. - -“Oh, thank you, and you, too, Uncle Wiggily,” cried the queen, as she -sat in the parlor and ate the sweet stuff. “Now everything is all -right.” - -And so it was, Uncle Wiggily having made it so. And if the clothes line -doesn’t twist itself in and out among the pickets of the fence like a -carpenter’s shaving and try to play hop-scotch with the rose bush, I’ll -tell you next about the bunny gentleman and the ding-dong-bell pussy. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER II - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND DING-DONG PUSSY - - -MOTHER GOOSE, the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe and Old Mother Hubbard -hurried one day across the field and through the woods, to the -hollow-stump bungalow of Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman. -Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, looking out of the -hollow-stump window, saw them. - -“My goodness, Uncle Wiggily!” cried Nurse Jane. “Oh! Look who’s coming -this way. Company! Oh, my! And my shoes not buttoned! Oh, dear!” - -The bunny uncle stepped to the window beside the muskrat lady. - -“They’re coming here,” said Mr. Longears. “Mother Goose, Mrs. Hubbard -and the Shoe Lady. You aren’t giving a surprise party, are you, Nurse -Jane, that they are coming to?” - -“No, indeed,” answered Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy. “Though to see the three of -them coming this way is a surprise to me. Something must be the matter. -See how worried they look.” - -“Trouble, I suppose,” said Uncle Wiggily. “Well, if they are in trouble -it will give me pleasure to help them out. Open the door, Nurse Jane.” - -“Why, they can’t get in here,” said Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy. “Our little -hollow-stump bungalow is too small for Mother Hubbard, Mother Goose and -the Shoe Lady, or even one of them.” - -“So it is,” agreed Uncle Wiggily. “I’ll have to go outside to talk to -them,” and he did, politely hopping through the hollow-stump window. - -“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” cried Old Mother Hubbard. “Oh, dear!” - -“Such trouble!” exclaimed the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, but who I -shall call the Shoe Lady, for short, “Oh, such trouble!” - -“It’s Pussy!” said Mother Goose. “She’s gone!” - -“Gone?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “Gone? Who is Pussy?” - -“Why, you know,” said Mother Goose. “Pussy is a cousin to Fuzzo, Wuzzo -and Muzzo, the three little kittens, who lost their mittens.” - -“Oh, yes, to be sure,” said Uncle Wiggily. “I remember! So Pussy has -gone; has she? What happened to her?” - -“That’s what we don’t know, and what we came to you to have you find -out,” said Mother Goose. “You see, Pussy—that’s her first name, her last -one is Mew—Pussy Mew came on a little visit to Mrs. Purr, who is her -aunt, and the mother of the three little kittens who lost their -mittens.” - -“Oh, yes, I remember!” said Uncle Wiggily. - -“Well, Pussy is lost,” spoke the Shoe Lady. “She went out to the store -for Mrs. Purr while Fuzzo, Wuzzo and Muzzo were taking their -tail-chasing lesson, and Pussy did not come back.” - -“What did she go to the store after?” Uncle Wiggily wanted to know. - -“A yeast cake,” answered Mother Hubbard. “But the yeast cake didn’t come -back, either.” - -“Not having any legs, I don’t see how it could,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“But what is it you want me to do, ladies?” he asked, making a polite -bow. - -“Find Pussy Mew,” said Mother Goose. “You were so clever at helping the -king and queen and the maid in the garden hanging out the clothes, when -along came a blackbird that nipped off her nose, that I’m sure you can -find Pussy for us. We’re really worried about her. Please find her.” - -“I’ll try,” promised Uncle Wiggily. So in a little while off he started, -limping along on his red, white and blue tall silk hat, with his -barber-pole rheumatism crutch on his head. Oh, no! excuse me, if you -please—I mean he had his crutch under his paw and his hat on his head. - -Over the fields and through the woods went Uncle Wiggily until, pretty -soon, he came to the hollow-stump school where the lady mouse taught the -animal children their lessons. The bell was ringing, for it was time for -the children to run out to play at recess. - -“Ha! I wonder if Pussy Mew could have gone to school, forgetting to come -home with the yeast cake,” said Uncle Wiggily. “I’ll inquire.” - -He asked the lady mouse teacher, but she said that Pussy was not in -school, so Uncle Wiggily hurried on, looking all through the woods and -over the fields. But no Pussy did he find until, all at once, as he came -near a well, he felt thirsty for a drink of water. - -“Oh, how I wish I had a drink!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “I wonder if I -could get one.” - -He went to the edge of the well, but it was an old one, and there was no -rope or bucket by which water could be pulled up. Then the old rabbit -gentleman saw something shining brightly down at the bottom of the well, -and he called out: - -“Is any one down there who could give me a drink of water?” - -“Yes, I am down here,” was the answer, “but I cannot give you a drink of -water for I cannot get up myself.” - -“Who are you?” asked Uncle Wiggily, surprised like. - -Just then the school bell rang again, and a voice said: - - “Ding-dong bell, Pussy’s in the well. - Who put her in? Little Johnnie Green. - Who pulled her out? Big Johnnie Stout. - -“Only that last part isn’t right,” the voice went on, “for Big Johnnie -Stout hasn’t come to pull me out. But I’m in the well, as you can tell -by the ding-dong bell. Oh, dear! I don’t know what to do. I want so much -to get out.” - -“I’ll help you out, Pussy,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “I have been -looking all over for you. But if you are in the well how is it that you -did not sink to the bottom?” - -“Because I have with me a yeast cake that I went to the store to get,” -was the answer. “The yeast cake makes bread light, so it will rise, and -it made me light, so I could rise to the top of the water.” - -“Good!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “It was the shiny tinfoil of the yeast cake -I saw at the bottom of the well. I’ll soon have you out now, Pussy.” - -He gave a jump over to a wild grape vine, gnawed off a piece with his -strong teeth, and then, using the grape vine as a rope, he lowered it -down into the well. Pussy took hold of it with her claws and paws, -putting the yeast cake in one ear, and Uncle Wiggily easily pulled her -out. She was wet, but not hurt at all. - -“Oh, thank you, Uncle Wiggily,” Pussy Mew said. “So it was you, and not -Johnnie Stout, who pulled me out?” - -“Of that there is no doubt,” laughed Uncle Wiggily. “But did Johnnie -Green push you in?” - -“No, I stumbled and fell in,” answered Pussy. “Everything about me in -the Mother Goose story is wrong except the part like ‘ding-dong bell, -Pussy’s in the well.’ I really was in.” - -Then Pussy hurried on to her aunt’s house with the yeast cake, and all -was well. And Mother Goose was very thankful to Uncle Wiggily for having -helped the little cat, who, ever after that was called the -“ding-dong-bell pussy.” - -So in the next chapter, if the piano music doesn’t go to sleep in the -bread box, where the phonograph can’t find it to play with, I’ll tell -you about Uncle Wiggily and the Shoe Lady. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER III - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SHOE LADY - - -“WHERE are you going, Uncle Wiggily?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the -muskrat lady, who kept house for Mr. Longears, the rabbit gentleman. -“Where are you going this fine day?” - -“To the store,” answered the bunny uncle. - -“To the store? Why, I don’t want anything,” spoke Nurse Jane. “You are -always so kind, going to the store whenever I need anything, but nothing -is needed for the hollow-stump bungalow to-day.” - -“I am going to the store for myself,” Uncle Wiggily said. “I am going to -buy a new pair of shoes.” - -So off he hopped, leaning on his red, white and blue-striped barber-pole -rheumatism crutch, over the fields and through the woods until he came -to the shoe store. - -“A pair of shoes? Certainly,” said the monkey-doodle gentleman who kept -the store. “Will you have high shoes or low shoes?” - -“Well, as it is near Spring I’ll get low shoes,” Uncle Wiggily said. -“They will be cooler if I should happen to go down to the Asbury Park -ocean board walk.” - -“Ties, we call them, instead of low shoes, but it is all the same,” went -on the monkey-doodle. “Here you are.” - -He brought out a pair of low shoes, or ties, but, when Uncle Wiggily -tried to get them on, his feet would not go into them. - -“I see—too tight,” said the monkey-doodle. “I will put a little talcum -powder in the shoes and your foot will then easily slip in.” - -But, even with the talcum powder, Uncle Wiggily’s paws would not slip -in. - -“I must use a shoe-horn,” said the monkey. - -“Is a shoe-horn something to play on?” asked Uncle Wiggily. - -“No, it is something to make a shoe slip on easily,” said the -monkey-doodle. He brought out a smooth, shiny piece of tin, like a big -tablespoon without a handle. Holding this against his heel, Uncle -Wiggily could easily slip his foot into his new shoe. Soon he had them -both on, and they fitted him well. - -“Are they too tight?” asked the monkey-doodle, as the bunny gentleman -stepped around the store, practicing. - -“No, they’re just right,” said Uncle Wiggily. “They go on a bit hard, -but once I have put them on with the shoe-where the shoe-horn they are -very nice. I’ll take them.” - -“And you may have some talcum powder and the shoe-horn to take with you, -to put your shoes on easily whenever you wish,” said the monkey. For you -know Uncle Wiggily pulled the shoe-horn out of his shoe, once he had his -foot in. They couldn’t both be there at the same time, you see. - -Away hopped the rabbit gentleman in his new shoes and with the shoe-horn -and the slippery-sliding talcum powder in his pocket. - -“Well, now I have my new shoes I wonder if I will meet with an adventure -to-day?” thought Uncle Wiggily, as he hopped on. And he did. I’ll tell -you about it. - -Pretty soon he came to a great, big shoe, standing in the middle of the -woods. The shoe had a roof over it, with a chimney sticking out of the -top. There was a door to the shoe, and windows. In fact, it was a house, -made out of a great, big shoe which a giant used to wear. - -“Ha! This is where the Old Woman lives,” said Uncle Wiggily. “The Shoe -Lady. I wonder if she is at home?” - -He was going to knock on the door and ask how all the children were, -when, from inside the shoe there came the sound of crying; children -crying; many of them. - -“Ha! I wonder if that means trouble?” asked Uncle Wiggily of himself. “I -had better see if I can do anything to help.” - -He knocked on the door, and the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, or Shoe -Lady, as I call her for short, opened it. - -“Is anything the matter?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “I heard crying.” - -“Of course,” spoke the Shoe Lady, “the children always cry when I whip -them. Don’t you know how it is in the Mother Goose book: - - “‘There was an old woman - Who lived in a shoe, - She had so many children - She didn’t know what to do. - She gave them some broth, - Without any bread; - She whipped them all soundly - And sent them to bed.’ - -“That’s what happened,” said the Shoe Lady. - -“Well, er—excuse me—but, that is, do you think it just right to whip -them ALL?” asked Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “Might not at least _one_ of -them have been good?” - -“Oh, bless your tall hat!” exclaimed the Shoe Lady, with a laugh. “I -don’t _really_ whip them, you know. That part of the verse is wrong. I -only make believe to whip them—pretend, you know, so as to make it as -near like the book as I can.” - -“But I heard crying,” said Uncle Wiggily. - -“Yes, but it was only make-believe crying, just like the pretended -whipping,” laughed the Shoe Lady. “I wouldn’t for the world hurt one of -the children, even though I have so many I don’t know what to do.” - -Uncle Wiggily was glad to hear that, and he was just hopping on, when up -came running a little boy. - -“Oh, take me in! Take me in!” he cried. “I want my make-believe -whipping. I want to make-believe cry, have my broth, without any bread, -and go to bed.” - -“Why, Toodles!” exclaimed the Shoe Lady, looking at him in surprise. “I -did not know you were out. You stayed too late at your play. There are -so many children here now I don’t believe there is room to get you in. -After the children eat their supper they swell up, and the shoe house is -hardly large enough for them,” she said to Uncle Wiggily. - -“Oh, I must get in,” cried Toodles. “I must!” - -“Well, I’ll try,” said the Shoe Lady. She and Uncle Wiggily tried, but -the shoe was so full of children that not another one could get in. They -pushed and pulled and shoved and hauled, but poor Toodles could not get -in. - -“Oh, dear! I don’t know what to do,” said the lady, who lived in a shoe. -“I guess Toodles will have to sleep out in the woods to-night.” - -“No! Wait! I have it!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “When my foot would not go -in my new tight shoe the monkey put talcum powder in it and used a -shoe-horn. I’ll do that to Toodles.” And so he did. And when the little -boy was sprinkled with sweet smelling talcum powder, and when the shiny, -slippery shoe-horn was slipped into the top of the crowded shoe, in on -that slid Toodles as nicely as you please, and everything was all right. -There’s always room for one more, even in a shoe, you know. - -“Thank you, Uncle Wiggily,” said the Shoe Lady, and then she gave -Toodles his make-believe whipping, he made believe cry, he ate his real -broth and went to his real bed. And that’s where you must go if it’s -time. - -But if the butter doesn’t slide off the slice of bread, and go coasting -down the cake plate hill with a bun that ought to be sitting beside the -custard, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and Jack-be-Nimble. - - -[Illustration] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND JACK-BE-NIMBLE - - -“UNCLE WIGGILY! Uncle Wiggily!” called Sammie Littletail, the little -rabbit boy, one Saturday morning, as he hopped up to the hollow-stump -bungalow, where the nice, old bunny uncle lived. “Come on out and play, -Uncle Wiggily. Please do!” - -“Oh, hop away, Sammie!” called Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady -housekeeper, looking out of the kitchen window. “Here, take this cabbage -jam tart and run away. Uncle Wiggily can’t bother to play with you -to-day.” - -“I haven’t any one else to play with,” said Sammie. “Johnnie and Billie -Bushytail, the squirrels, are taking their nut-gnawing lesson, and -Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow, the puppies, are taking their bone-gnawing -lessons.” - -“Haven’t you any lessons?” asked Nurse Jane. - -“No. I’ve done mine. I had to practice jumping a little. But there’s no -school, as it’s Saturday, and I do want some one to play with. My sister -Susie has gone off with Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble, the ducks, and -anyhow I don’t want to play with girl animals. Won’t Uncle Wiggily come -out?” - -“No, Sammie. Here, take this carrot cookie and hop along,” said Nurse -Jane. - -“Wait a minute,” spoke another voice, and Uncle Wiggily himself went out -on the back stoop. “What is it you want, Sammie?” - -“He wants you to come out and play with him!” cried Nurse Jane. “The -idea!” - -“Oh, I’ll come,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “I haven’t much to do, and -perhaps we may have an adventure together. Come on, Sammie, we’ll go off -in the woods, and we’ll play.” - -So the old gentleman rabbit and his little bunny nephew hopped off in -the woods together, and soon were having a fine time, scurrying in among -the dried leaves, and hiding behind old logs and stumps. - -“I wonder if there is any new cabbage growing around here?” said Sammie, -after a bit. “I’m hungry.” - -“It is too soon for cabbage yet,” answered Uncle Wiggily. “It will not -be Spring for several weeks. Nor are there any new carrots to be had. -But pretty soon we’ll pass a lollypop store, and you may have a lettuce -flavored one.” - -“That will be nice—thank you,” said Sammie. - -“Did you do your jumping lesson to-day?” asked the old gentleman rabbit, -after a bit. - -“Yes,” said Sammie. “I practiced half an hour.” - -“Let me see how well you can jump,” spoke the bunny uncle. “I used to be -a pretty good jumper when I was young.” - -So Sammie jumped from one stump, far over a log, to another. - -“Fine!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “That’s better than I can do, but I’ll -try.” - -He did try, and, though he could not leap as far as Sammie had done, Mr. -Longears did very well. If it had not been for his rheumatism he could -have done better. - -He and Sammie jumped about for some time, and all at once they were -surprised to hear a voice saying: - -“Oh, dear! I wish I could jump as far as that. But I don’t believe I -shall ever be able to. Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” - -“Ha! That sounds like trouble,” said Uncle Wiggily. “Who are you and -where are you?” - -“I’m Jack, and I’m behind this big stone,” was the answer, and out -stepped a boy. - -“Ha! I thought at first it might be Jackie Bow Wow,” spoke Uncle -Wiggily. - -“No; I am another Jack,” said the boy. “I’m one of Mother Goose’s -friends.” - -“Are you Jack Sprat?” Sammie wanted to know, “who could eat no fat?” - -But still the boy did not look like that Jack. - -“I’ll tell you who I am,” the boy said. “I’m Jack-be-Nimble, -Jack-be-Quick, Jack jump over the candlestick.” - -“Oh, now I remember,” spoke Uncle Wiggily. “How do you do, -Jack-be-Nimble?” - -“But the trouble is I _can’t_ do it,” went on Jack. - -“Can’t do what?” asked Sammie Littletail. - -“I can’t be nimble and jump over the candlestick,” was the answer. “I’ve -tried and tried. But it seems of no use. Every time I jump I either hit -the candle, and put it out, or I come down ker-flunk! in it, and get my -shoes all grease. Mother Goose says I ought to be ashamed of myself. If -I can’t jump over the candlestick, I can’t be in her book, she says, and -Oh, dear! I don’t want to be put out of the nice book.” - -“That’s too bad,” said Uncle Wiggily. “Now, Jack, I’ll tell you what to -do. You watch Sammie and me jump, and perhaps that will teach you how. -Watch us. Come on, Sammie, we must jump some more to teach Jack.” - -So the old rabbit gentleman and the little rabbit boy jumped about on -the soft, dried leaves in the wood. Jack watched them, and then he -tried. Of course, having only two legs, he could not leap as far as -could the rabbits, with four. But still Jack did very well. - -“Now, come here every day to the woods,” said Uncle Wiggily, “and we -will give you a jumping lesson. Don’t say anything to Mother Goose about -it, and you will soon give her a nice surprise by jumping over the -candlestick easily some day. I once took dancing lessons from a waltzing -mouse lady without saying anything to Nurse Jane about it, and my! how -surprised she was when I did the fox trot.” - -“I’ll come,” promised Jack-be-Nimble. And he did. Every day for a week, -he took jumping lessons secretly in the woods, of Uncle Wiggily and -Sammie, until finally Jack was a very good jumper, indeed. Then one day -Old Mother Goose said: - -“Well, Jack, I fear it is of no use. You can’t jump over the -candlestick, as you ought to do to be in my book, so you’ll have to go -out. I’ll get the cow, who leaped over the moon, to jump for me.” - -“Oh, please give me one more chance!” begged Jack. “Please!” - -Mother Goose kindly did so, and lo! and behold! when next he tried, -Jack-be-Nimble jumped over the candlestick as easily as anything. Away -over it he jumped and came down on the other side. - -“Why, Jack! Where did you learn to jump so well?” asked Mother Goose, in -great surprise. - -“Uncle Wiggily and Sammie taught me,” he answered. And ever after that -nimble Jack had no trouble. - -And if the apple pie doesn’t go out skating with the jam tart, and -forget to come in to supper, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and -Tommie Tinker’s dog. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER V - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND TOMMIE TINKER’S DOG - - -“UNCLE WIGGILY, here’s a letter for you,” called Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, -the muskrat lady housekeeper, to the rabbit gentleman, one morning, as -he sat in the easy chair in his hollow-stump bungalow. “The postman bird -just left it as he flew past.” - -“A letter for me!” exclaimed the bunny uncle, as he opened and read it. -“That’s nice. It’s from Grandfather Goosey Gander. He wants me to come -over and play checkers with him. He’s so lonesome.” - -“But you can’t go!” cried Nurse Jane, tying her tail up in a knot, for -she was going to sweep and dust, and she did not want to step on -herself. “You can’t go, because you said your rheumatism hurt you so.” - -“Oh, I guess I can manage to get over to see Grandpa by limping on the -nice red, white and blue-striped rheumatism crutch, which you so kindly -gnawed for me out of a corn-stalk,” spoke Uncle Wiggily. “I’ll try, -anyhow, for I haven’t seen Grandpa Goosey in nearly a week. I dare say I -can get over there all right. It’s a nice day.” - -“Well, I wish you wouldn’t go,” said Nurse Jane, slowly, making her -whiskers dance up and down. “I’m sure something will happen.” - -“Oh, nonsensicalness!” laughed Uncle Wiggily, as he went out of the -bungalow. Over the fields and through the woods he roamed, and he had to -rest several times on his crutch, for the rheumatism hurt him more than -he thought it would. - -“But I’ll get there all right,” he said. No sooner had he spoken, -however, than all at once his crutch slid on a piece of slippery-elm -bark, and Uncle Wiggily fell down. He did not hurt himself much, for he -sat down on a pile of soft, dried leaves. But when the bunny uncle -arose, and tried to walk on his crutch, he could not, as it was cracked -and splintered. - -“If I lean my weight on it the crutch will break,” said Uncle Wiggily, -sadly, “and I can’t walk without leaning on it. Oh, dear! What shall I -do?” - -Then, as he stood there in the woods, he heard a voice calling: - - “Umbrellas to mend! Umbrellas to mend, - If you’ve pans with holes in, for me you must send. - I’ll fix them up, quick as a wink—or a winker; - For I am a pot, pan and umbrella tinker.” - -Uncle Wiggily looked off among the trees, and, surely enough, along came -a traveling tinker, with a box over his shoulder and a little fire in a -tin pot in his hand. Beside him walked a little boy who had a little -dog. - -“Oh, daddy! Look at the rabbit gentleman!” cried the little boy. - -“I see him,” said the tinker. “He is Uncle Wiggily Longears, if I am not -mistaken. Are you not?” he asked, politely. - -“I am,” answered the bunny uncle. “And I am in great trouble. I have -splintered and cracked my crutch and I can’t limp along on it to get to -Grandpa Goosey’s house.” - -“Oh, I can easily fix that for you,” said the kind tinker, and he did, -fastening a strong piece of tin around the broken part of Uncle -Wiggily’s crutch so it was as good as ever. - -Then the rabbit gentleman thanked the nice tinker man and hopped on, and -the tinker and his little boy, whose name was Tommie, and the little -boy’s dog, whose name was Bow-Wow-Wow, went on their way, the tinker -singing his funny song. - -Uncle Wiggily reached Grandpa Goosey’s house all right, and he and the -goose gentleman had fun playing checkers. And when it was time for Uncle -Wiggily to hop back to his hollow-stump bungalow Grandpa Goosey gave him -a fine, large bone, with nice meat on it. - -“Give that to Mrs. Bow Wow for her little puppy dog boys, Jackie and -Peetie,” said the goose gentleman. - -“I will, thank you,” said Uncle Wiggily. - -The rabbit gentleman was hopping along through the woods on his way home -when, all at once, he heard some one crying. - -“Ha! That sounds like trouble,” he said. “I was in trouble a little -while ago about my crutch and the tinker helped me. Now, I must try to -help some one in my turn. That’s only fair.” - -Uncle Wiggily looked around the corner of a stump and saw the tinker’s -little boy, Tommie, sitting on a log and crying very hard. - -“Why, Tommie! What’s the matter?” asked the bunny uncle. - -“Oh, dear! Boo hoo!” cried Tommie. “My nice dog is lost, and I can’t -find him. And I must have him, you know, or else I can’t be in Mother -Goose’s book. My dog and I belong there, you see.” - -“I see,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “But how did your dog get lost?” - -“Oh, I was helping my father mend some umbrellas for Old King Cole,” -said Tommie, “and, when we weren’t looking, my dog ran off in the woods. -I guess he must be lost there, for he hasn’t come back. My father, Mr. -Tinker, went to look for him, and so did I, but I hurt my toe and I -can’t look any more; and—Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” - -“There, there! Don’t cry any more,” said the nice bunny uncle. “I’ll go -look for your pet dog for you. Just you wait here. Your father was kind -to me, so I want to be kind to you.” - -Uncle Wiggily went off through the woods, looking here, there and -everywhere and pretty soon he heard behind a tree some one saying: - -“Bow! Wow! Wow!” - -“Ha! Whose dog art thou?” asked Uncle Wiggily, quickly. - -“Little Tommie Tinker’s dog, Bow! Wow! Wow!” came the answer, and out -from under a berry bush ran the lost dog, wagging his tail. - -“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” he begged. “Can you take me to Tommie? I’ve been -looking everywhere for him, and just now I smelled the nice meat bone -you carry and I ran out of the bush to see who had it. Oh, I’m so glad I -found you!” - -“And I’m glad, too,” said the bunny uncle. “And Tommie will be glad when -he sees you. Come alone, doggie, I’ll take you to him. It’s a good thing -I had this bone, which you smelled, or I might never have found you.” - -Then Uncle Wiggily gave Little Tommie Tinker’s dog some meat from -Grandpa Goosey Gander’s bone, and took the little dog to Tommie and Mr. -Tinker, who had come back without having found Bow-Wow-Wow. You can just -imagine how glad every one was that everything had come out all right, -so Tommie could stay in the Mother Goose book, and the little dog was -glad also. - -Then Uncle Wiggily hopped along home, Tommie Tinker went on his way, and -in the next chapter, if our automobile doesn’t run off the sidewalk into -a candy store, chasing after a lollypop, I’ll tell you about Uncle -Wiggily and Mary’s little lamb. - - -[Illustration] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND MARY’S LAMB - - -ONE day Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady, was looking around the -hollow-stump bungalow, behind pictures, under the piano, in corners and -everywhere. - -“What is the matter?” asked Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit -gentleman, “have you lost something, Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy?” - -“No,” Nurse Jane answered. “I was just looking to see how much -house-cleaning I must do. It will soon be Spring, and the bungalow must -be made nice and clean, ready for Summer. There is quite a lot of dust -behind the pictures and under the piano.” - -“Bungalow-cleaning!” said Uncle Wiggily, sort of sad and solemn like. “I -know what that means. No meals on time. No place to sit down, no place -to hang your hat—nothing at all. I suppose I had better be out of the -way when you turn my bungalow upside down to clean it.” - -“I suppose you had,” agreed Nurse Jane. “Still, there is no hurry. I -won’t start cleaning until to-morrow, or next day. But if you are going -out now you might bring me something from the store.” - -“What?” asked Uncle Wiggily. - -“A scrubbing brush and a cake of soap,” answered the muskrat lady. “I’ll -need them to clean the floors.” - -“You shall have them,” promised Uncle Wiggily. Then off he started with -his tall silk hat and his red, white and blue-striped barber-pole -rheumatism crutch that Nurse Jane had gnawed for him out of a -corn-stalk, and which Tommie Tinker’s father had mended for him, as I -told you in the story before this one. - -“I wonder if I shall have any adventures to-day?” thought the bunny -uncle, as he hopped and skipped along through the woods. “I haven’t had -one since I found Tommie Tinker’s dog.” - -But Mr. Longears reached the store without anything having happened to -him, and, buying the cake of soap and the scrubbing brush, back he -started for his hollow-stump bungalow. - -“Nurse Jane said there was no hurry,” spoke the rabbit gentleman to -himself, “but I want to get the house-cleaning over with as soon as I -can. So I’ll hurry back with the soap and brush.” - -All of a sudden, and just as Mr. Longears was wondering if he would have -time to call on Nannie and Billie Wagtail, the goat children, he heard a -rustling in the bushes, and a voice said: - -“Oh, dear! However did it happen? Oh, how too bad it is! You’re nothing -at all like Mother Goose’s book says you should be. Oh, whatever am I to -do?” - -Uncle Wiggily looked around the corner of a tree, and there he saw a -little girl, and beside her stood a little lamb, as black as a coal, or -a barrel of tar. I don’t know which is blacker. - -“Ha! This looks like trouble,” whispered Uncle Wiggily. Then: “That -surely is Mary,” he said, out loud. - -“Yes, I’m Mary,” spoke the little girl, “and I know you. Jack Horner -told me about you, and how you helped him pull his thumb out of his plum -pie. I wish you could help me.” - -“What is the matter?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “I’ll help you if I can.” - -“It’s him,” said Mary, pointing to the little baby sheep. “You know how -it goes in the book: - - “‘Mary had a little lamb, - Its fleece was white as snow. - And everywhere that Mary went, - The lamb was sure to go.’” - -“Yes, I know that,” said Uncle Wiggily. “But this can’t be your lamb. -Instead of being white as snow, he’s black—as black as any crow.” - -“That’s just the trouble!” said Mary, with tears in her eyes. “Oh, -Lambie! How did you get your nice white coat so black?” she asked. “You -can’t follow me to school that way; you know you can’t.” - -“Ba-aa! No, I suppose I can’t,” spoke the lamb, sort of sad and lonesome -like. “I didn’t mean to do it, but I went past a place where some men -were cleaning out a chimney and the black soot blew from it all over me. -I’m as sorry about it as you are.” - -“It is too bad,” said Uncle Wiggily. “But nothing is so bad that it -might not be worse.” - -“This will be worse before it is better,” said Mary. “I suppose the only -thing to do now is to take my lamb to the barber’s, who shaves a pig, -and makes a wig. The barber can cut off the top part of the lamb’s -fleecy wool and get down to the nice, white part. But if I do that I’ll -be late for school. And the lamb must follow me there, you see, or it -won’t be like the book. Oh, Lambkin! why did you do it?” - -“I—I’m sorry,” said Mary’s little lamb. “But, please, don’t have my wool -cut off. It’s too cold this weather. I’d shiver.” - -“I must,” said Mary. “To make you white as snow, you know. I’ll have to -have your wool cut.” - -“No! you won’t have to do that!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “I know something -better than that. Soot is only black dirt. It will wash off with soap -and water. And, see here! I have some soap for Nurse Jane’s -bungalow-cleaning and a scrubbing brush. Come on, Mary. We’ll find some -water and give the lamb’s coat a good scrubbing with soap suds. We’ll -see what that will do.” - -“Oh, I’m afraid we’ll never get him clean,” sadly said Mary; “but it is -very good of you to think of it, Uncle Wiggily.” - -They found a nice little brook, and leading the lamb to it, Uncle -Wiggily rolled up his sleeves and with the soap and scrubbing brush -began to wash the black soot out of the fleecy wool of Mary’s little -lamb. - -Away and away scrubbed the bunny uncle, making a great suddsy lather. He -rubbed it well into the fluffy wool. Then, when the soap suds were -washed out, why, Mary’s lamb’s fleece was as white as snow! just as it -ought to be. - -“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” cried Mary. “How good you are! Now my little lamb -can follow me to school, no matter if it is against the rule. Thank -you!” - -Then away she ran, and the lamb followed after her, and Uncle Wiggily, -pleased that he had done a kindness, took the rest of the soap and the -scrubbing brush to Nurse Jane. - -And if the man painting our house doesn’t put red, green and purple -stripes around it to make it look like a moving picture going to the -circus, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and Peter Piper. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND PETER PIPER - - -UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS, the rabbit gentleman, was hopping along across a -green field. The field was not very green, but was just beginning to -show a little green grass and clover, for, as yet, Spring had not fully -arrived. - -“But still I may find a few green things growing that I can eat or take -to Sammie and Susie Littletail, the bunny children,” thought Mr. -Longears. So on and on he hopped. The sun was shining, it was not very -cold, and Uncle Wiggily felt happy because his rheumatism did not pain -him. - -“And when Summer comes it will not hurt me at all,” he said. - -The rabbit gentleman was wondering whether or not he would have an -adventure that day, when, all at once, he saw, climbing over the fence, -a boy dressed in a green suit, wearing a red cap and with blue shoes on -his feet. - -“Ha! He is a funny looking chap!” thought the bunny uncle. “I think he -must be one of Mother Goose’s friends. I’ll ask him.” And he did. - -“Oh, how do you do, Uncle Wiggily?” asked the queer boy. “Yes, indeed, -I’m one of the many children of Mother Goose, to whom you have been so -kind. I’m Peter Piper.” - -“Are you any relation to Tom-Tom, the Piper’s son?” asked Uncle Wiggily. - -“Yes, I’m his cousin. But I had nothing to do with taking the pig. -Tom-Tom did that himself. But, if you please, I have a riddle for you to -guess.” - -“A riddle? Come, that’s good! I like riddles. Tell it to me.” - -Then the queer boy stood up straight and recited this: - - “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. - A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. - If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, - Where is the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?” - -“Oh, my!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “That’s a hard one. Let me see now. ‘If -Peter Pepper pipped a pick of peckled Pipers——!’” - -“Oh, no! You have it wrong,” said Peter, smiling. “Try once more. Say it -after me: ‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.’” - -Uncle Wiggily tried again: - -“Pickled Peter pipped a pep of Piperd pikers——” - -“Oh, dear, no! Wrong again!” laughed Peter. “Now, once more. Say the -last part first and perhaps it will come easier to you.” - -So Uncle Wiggily said: - -“Where is the pop of pickered Peters picker Piper pepped?” - -“I—I’m afraid you can’t say it,” said Peter, gently. - -“I’m afraid so myself,” said Uncle Wiggily. “I shan’t try again. It -makes my tongue all twisted and hurts my funny bone. I give up. What’s -the answer? Where are the peppers?” - -“Here they are!” exclaimed Peter, and from behind his back he held out a -peck of pickled peppers. “That’s the only kind you can pick this time of -year,” he went on. “I’m taking them to Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady. -She mixes them with corn-meal and fries them.” - -“I’ll go with you,” spoke Uncle Wiggily. “I haven’t seen Alice and Lulu -and Jimmie Wibblewobble in some time.” - -So the bunny uncle and Peter Piper picked their way across the field -toward the duck lady’s house. More than once Uncle Wiggily tried to say -the riddle, but his tongue grew more and more twisted until he was -walking sideways instead of frontwards. So he gave it up. - -He and Peter Piper had not gone very far before Peter’s shoe lace came -loose and he stooped down behind a big stone to tie it—tie the lace, I -mean, not the stone. And while he was doing this along came the bad old -fox, who had not bothered Uncle Wiggily in some time. - -“Ah, ha!” cried the fox, showing his teeth. “This is the time I have -you, Mr. Longears! I was just wondering what I would eat for dinner, but -now I know. It shall be you!” - -“Me?” asked Uncle Wiggily, curious like and wondering. - -“Yes, you. Get ready for dinner! My dinner!” snarled the fox. - -Uncle Wiggily thought quickly. He did not want to be a dinner for the -fox, so he said: - -“Before you eat would you not like to guess a riddle?” - -“Yes,” said the fox, “I would. What is it?” - -“And do you promise not to eat me until you guess it?” asked Uncle -Wiggily. - -“I do,” said the fox. “But that will not save you, for I can guess any -riddle that ever was,” and he fluffed up his tail, proud like and saucy. - -“Then guess this,” said Uncle Wiggily, and now he had no trouble saying -Peter Piper picked the peck of pickled peppers. “Where is the peck of -pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?” suddenly asked Uncle Wiggily of the -fox. The bad animal thought for a second and then he said: - -“If Peter pickled pecked a pick of pipered pickles. A pick of Petered -Pipers——” - -“Oh, no!” laughed Uncle Wiggily. “You’re a bit twisted. Try again.” The -fox did so. - -“If Papper Peter pecked a pit of piddled poppers——” - -“Worse than ever,” said the bunny uncle. “I think you will not find it -as easy as you thought. Once more, please, and try it a bit slower.” - -The fox growled, and said: - -“A pick of peppered Peters did peckle pickle—— Oh, I can’t guess your -old riddle!” snarled the fox. “I’m going to eat you anyhow! What do I -care about the peckled pickers?” and he made a jump for Uncle Wiggily to -grab the bunny uncle. - -“Eat him? You going to eat Uncle Wiggily? Oh, no! No, you’re not!” cried -Peter Piper, jumping out from behind the rock. “Mother Goose doesn’t -want Uncle Wiggily hurt. Be off with you!” - -And with that Peter threw a pickled pepper at the fox. It struck him on -the nose, and made him sneeze and turn a somersault, and before he could -get straightened out Uncle Wiggily and Peter Piper had run away to the -duck house. - -So Mrs. Wibblewobble got the pickled peppers; that is, all but the one -Peter threw at the fox, and Uncle Wiggily at last learned how to say the -hard riddle-verse without tying himself in a knot. And if you can recite -it, fast, without wrinkling your nose, you are doing well. - -And if the candlestick doesn’t try to beat the carpet, and get dust in -the eyes of the potatoes when they dance in the frying pan, I’ll tell -you next about Uncle Wiggily and the moon-man. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE MOON-MAN - - -“DID you hear the news, Uncle Wiggily?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, -the muskrat lady housekeeper, as she sat down one evening in the -dining-room of the hollow-stump bungalow, where the rabbit gentleman was -eating his supper of lettuce salad, with carrot sauce sprinkled on. - -“News! What news?” asked the bunny uncle, reaching for a slice of carrot -bread. “Is some one going to have a surprise party and invite us to -dance?” - -“That’s partly it,” Nurse Jane answered. “Nannie Wagtail, the little -goat girl, was going to have a party, but she is ill, and the party will -not be given.” - -“Nannie ill? That’s too bad,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “I’ll go over -to see her after I have my supper. She may need cheering up a bit. Yes, -I’ll go see her.” - -So after he had finished eating Uncle Wiggily put on his tall silk hat -that was like a piece of the stovepipe and away he went, over the fields -and through the woods, to the house where the little goat girl lived -with her brother Billie and her Uncle Butter, who posted circus pictures -on barns and fences. - -It was getting dark, but Uncle Wiggily was not afraid, for he knew the -moon would soon rise above the tree tops and make a good light. - -And on his way to Nannie’s the bunny uncle passed a candy store. - -“I’ll just stop in and buy Nannie an ice cream cone,” said Uncle -Wiggily. “Winter is nearly over and ice cream cones are in season again. -I’ll take two or three, for Billie might like one.” - -The bunny uncle bought a bag full of the ice cream cones, and he was -walking on again, hoping that Nannie would not be ill long, when, all at -once, there was a crash in the bushes beside the rabbit gentleman as if -some one had fallen down. - -“My goodness me sakes alive and some apple dumplings!” cried Uncle -Wiggily, jumping to one side. “Who it is?” He hoped it would not prove -to be the bad old fox. “Who is it?” he asked, for it was too dark to -see. - -“It is I—the moon-man,” was the answer. “I hope I did not scare you?” - -“Well, you did, a little,” said Uncle Wiggily. “But what are you doing -down on the earth? You ought to be up in the sky.” - -“I know I ought,” said the other, “but you know how Mother Goose has it: - - “‘The man in the moon came tumbling down, - To inquire the way to Norwich. - He went to the South, - And burned his mouth, - Eating some cold bean porridge.’ - -“That’s how it was,” said the moon-man. “I had to come tumbling down, -you see, for that’s the way it is in the book. But, oh, dear! I am so -sorry I burned my mouth! How it hurts!” - -“Did you really burn your mouth, in the South, eating cold bean -porridge?” asked Uncle Wiggily. - -“I did,” said the moon-man. “Only it was hot when I ate it. It’s cold -enough now, though. Oh, how I burn! I wish you could help me.” - -“I can!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “See, I have here some cold ice cream -cones. Eat one of them, and your mouth will stop burning.” - -“Oh, thank you!” cried the moon-man, and, surely enough, when he had -eaten the ice cream cone, his mouth was as cool as a refrigerator, and -he had no more pain. - -“You are very kind,” said the moon-man to Uncle Wiggily. “If ever I can -do you a favor I will. But now I must jump back to my place in the -moon.” - -The rabbit gentleman did not see how the moon-man was going to do any -one any favors, if he had to jump away up in the moon, high above the -earth. But still Uncle Wiggily was too polite to say so. - -“Here I go! Good-by!” cried the man, and, giving a big hop, up to the -moon he jumped. If you look closely you can see his face there on -moonlight nights. He is smiling. - -“Good-by!” called Uncle Wiggily, and on he went to the Wagtail goats’ -house to see Nannie. She was very glad to have her bunny uncle call, and -more pleased still when he gave her an ice cream cone, and also one to -her brother Billie. - -Uncle Wiggily stayed for quite some time, talking to the goats, and -Uncle Butter told a funny story about a circus picture of a dog, which -was so natural that a cat ran away when she saw it. - -“Well, I’ll be getting back to my bungalow,” said Uncle Wiggily, after a -bit. “Nurse Jane will be worrying about me if I stay too late.” - -“Oh, how dark it is!” said Billie, looking out the door. “Aren’t you -afraid, Uncle Wiggily?” - -“Oh, no,” answered the rabbit uncle. But, when the door of the goats’ -house was shut, and the pleasant lamplight no longer streamed out, it -was very black and dark indeed. “I wish it were time for the lightning -bugs,” thought Mr. Longears. “With them brightly flashing I could easily -see my way.” - -Uncle Wiggily went on as best he could, but pretty soon he bumped into a -tree, and hurt his pink, twinkling nose. Next he stumbled against a big -rock, and hurt his paw. - -“Oh, dear!” he cried. “This is no fun! I wish it were light so I could -see where I am going.” - -Then he tripped over a log and came down ker-plunk! hurting his -rheumatism, and he felt very badly, indeed. - -“Oh, I wish some one would help me find my way to my bungalow!” he -cried. - -“I’ll help you,” said a kind voice, and then the woods were suddenly -made almost as bright as day, for the moon rose over the trees, and -shone down, so Uncle Wiggily could see the path, and stumbled no more. - -“How is that?” asked the moon-man, beaming down on Uncle Wiggily. “Do I -make it light enough for you?” - -“Yes, indeed! Fine,” said the bunny uncle. “I can see all right now. -Thank you.” - -So the moon-man, whose mouth no longer burned, thanks to the ice cream -cone, shone brightly until Uncle Wiggily safely reached his bungalow. - -And, if the trolley car doesn’t go roller-skating with the apple pie and -upset the goldfish, so they spill into the canary’s cage, I’ll tell you -next about Uncle Wiggily and Humpty Dumpty. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND HUMPTY DUMPTY - - -“UNCLE WIGGILY, would you mind bringing me some glue when you come home -from your walk this afternoon?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the -muskrat lady housekeeper, as she saw the rabbit gentleman leaving his -hollow-stump bungalow one day. - -“Glue?” asked Uncle Wiggily, curious like. “I hope you are not going to -put it in my chair, so when I sit down I will stick fast, and not be -able to get up again.” - -“Oh, no!” laughed Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy, “though if you keep on going out so -often, the way you do, I’ll need a bit of sticky fly paper, or something -like that, to keep you at home.” - -“Oh! I have to go off to have adventures now and then,” said the bunny -uncle, smiling so that his nose twinkled like a moonbeam shining in the -water. “But I’ll bring you the glue all right, Nurse Jane. What is it -you want to stick together?” - -“A broken teacup,” answered the muskrat lady. “I knocked a breakfast -teacup off the table, and it broke. But I can stick the pieces together -with glue, and it will be almost as good as new.” - -“Good!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “That’s the way to do it!” Then he set off -over the fields and through the woods to get the glue. - -He found some in the doll doctor’s toy shop, where the monkey-doodle -toy-mender used it to fasten together all the playthings the animal boys -and girls broke. - -“That’s just the glue for Nurse Jane’s cup,” said the doll doctor. “It -will mend anything.” - -“That’s what we want,” said Uncle Wiggily. - -Well, the old gentleman rabbit was going along, hoping he would meet -with an adventure before he reached his hollow-stump bungalow, when, all -at once, he heard a sort of crowing noise and a clucking, and then a sad -voice said: - -“Oh, dear, I might have known it would happen! I should never have let -you sit on top of the wall, Humpty. Now look what you’ve done! Oh, what -will my mother say?” - -“Ha! That sounds like Charlie Chick, the little rooster chap,” said -Uncle Wiggily. “I wonder what has happened to him, and who Humpty can -be? I guess I’ll look and see.” - -The bunny uncle went on a little farther and, coming to a stone wall, he -saw, on one side of it, Charlie Chick; and the little rooster chap’s -tail feathers were all squeezed sideways and crooked, as though he were -in great trouble, indeed. - -“Why, Charlie!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “What’s the matter? Is Arabella, -your sister, lost?” - -“Oh, no, Uncle Wiggily!” answered Charlie. “But I had Humpty Dumpty with -me, and he sat up on the wall, just as he did when he was out with -Mother Goose. But he fell off and now he’s broken, and oh, dear! I fear -he never will be himself again.” - -“My! My! What’s all this?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “I never heard of Humpty -Dumpty, or his fall from the wall. And why can’t he be himself again? If -it’s anything that is broken I can mend it, for I have some glue to mend -Nurse Jane’s broken cup, and I can mend Humpty Dumpty.” - -“Oh, it’s very kind of you, I’m sure,” said Charlie, politely, “but it -can’t be done. You see Humpty Dumpty is an egg. My mother, Mrs. -Cluck-Cluck, sent me to take him to Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady. -But on the way I stopped here to rest and I let Humpty sit upon the -wall.” - -“Well, what happened then?” asked Uncle Wiggily, as Charlie stopped, to -give a little crow, and flap his wings. - -“It happened just as it tells about in the Mother Goose book,” went on -Charlie. “This is the way it was: - - “‘Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall, - Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. - All the king’s horses and all the king’s men, - Cannot put Humpty together again.’” - -“Why can’t they put him together again?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “Where is -Humpty? Let me have a look at him. If his shell is only cracked I can -mend it with glue. Where is he?” - -“On the other side of the stone wall,” answered Charlie. “He fell over -or rolled backward, and he must be all broken up by now.” - -“Let us hope for the best,” said the rabbit gentleman. “He may be only -cracked, Humpty Dumpty may be, and if the glue I have for Nurse Jane -will mend a cracked cup, it will mend a cracked egg. I must have a -look.” - -Up on top of the wall jumped the rabbit gentleman. Then he hopped down -on the other side. He looked around for Humpty Dumpty. - -Uncle Wiggily saw some broken egg shells. Then he looked some more and -rubbed his eyes. - -“This is queer,” he said. “If the egg broke, the white and yellow inside -ought to have run out on the ground. But I don’t see any. That must have -been a hollow egg.” - -Just then the rabbit gentleman heard: - -“Peep! Peep! Peepity-peep-cheep-cheep!” - -“My goodness me sakes alive and some corn-meal pudding!” cried the bunny -uncle. “Who is that?” - -“It is I, Humpty Dumpty,” was the answer, and out from under a bush ran -a cute, little, fluffy, downy chicken. - -“Are you Humpty Dumpty?” cried Uncle Wiggily. - -“Of course,” peeped the little chicken. “I was inside the eggshell all -the while, just waiting to come out. And when Charlie set me on the wall -I rolled off, cracked my shell and here I am. I popped out! - -“Of course, it isn’t just like in the book,” said the baby chick, “but -it’s better. For though I sat on the wall and had a great fall, I don’t -need all the king’s horses and all the king’s men to put Humpty together -again.” - -“No, and you don’t need any of my glue,” said Uncle Wiggily, with a -laugh. “There is no use mending a broken eggshell out of which has come -a chicken. Oh, I say, Charlie!” cried the bunny uncle. “Fly over the -wall. It’s all right. Humpty is here, only he is different from what you -thought you would find him. Here he is; a new, little chicken brother -for you.” - -And wasn’t Charlie surprised? Well, I guess yes! But he loved Humpty -Dumpty very much and Humpty loved him. So this time, once more, -everything came out all right, just as Mother Goose would have it. - -And if the collar button doesn’t go to a necktie party all by itself and -leave the comb to play tag with the brush, I’ll tell you next about -Uncle Wiggily and Old King Cole. - - -[Illustration] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER X - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND OLD KING COLE - - -“WELL, Uncle Wiggily Longears, you are getting very stylish, indeed, it -seems,” spoke Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, -after the postman bird had paid a visit to the hollow-stump bungalow one -day, and had left a letter. “Very stylish. Look here!” - -“Why, what’s the matter?” asked the bunny uncle. “Do you call it stylish -just to get a letter? You often get them, and so do I. This is, very -likely, from Grandpa Goosey Gander, asking me to come over and play -checkers with him.” - -“Indeed, it is nothing of the sort!” exclaimed the muskrat lady. “That -is, if you will excuse me for saying so. This is a very stylish letter, -indeed. It comes from the king’s palace, as you can see, by the royal -stamp on it in gold and red and blue and green. I wonder what it can -be?” - -“I’ll open it and find out; then I’ll tell you,” said Uncle Wiggily, -politely. “I guess it’s from the gold and silver palace of the king, who -was in the kitchen counting out his money, while the queen was in the -parlor eating bread and honey. The maid was in the garden hanging out -the clothes, when along came a blackbird and nipped off her nose. - -“I helped the king and queen and the maid, you know, and perhaps they -are in more trouble, and need more help.” - -But when the bunny uncle opened the letter he found it was not from that -king, but another—this letter was from Old King Cole. - -“Read me the letter,” said Nurse Jane. - -So Uncle Wiggily read: - - “Old King Cole is a merry old soul, - A merry old soul is he. - He called for his pipe, he called for his bowl, - And he called for his fiddlers three. - - “Every fiddler had a fine fiddle, - A very fine fiddle had he, - And Uncle Wiggily is asked to come - To list to the music with me.” - -At the bottom of the letter was Old King Cole’s name, in big letters. - -“Well, well!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. “I don’t understand. What’s it -all about, I wonder?” - -“Don’t you see!” cried Nurse Jane. “This is a royal invitation from Old -King Cole for you to come to his palace, and listen to his fiddlers -three making music on their fine fiddles. You must get ready to go. Put -on your best suit and look nice.” - -“Must I really go?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “I had much rather stay here -with you. I don’t know Old King Cole at all well. Must I go?” - -“Of course you must go!” Nurse Jane said. “Whenever a king invites you, -why, you have to go, even if you must stand on your head. I’ll help you -get ready.” - -“Very well,” Uncle Wiggily said. “But I had much rather stay home with -my slippers on, eating carrot sandwiches. I know it will be too fine and -grand for me up at the king’s palace. I’ll be sure to get my napkin on -backward, or tickle some one with the wrong fork. But if I must go, I -must. I wonder how he came to invite me?” - -“Oh, I guess he heard how kind you were to the king who was in the -kitchen, counting out his money, and how you dug it up for him when it -rolled under the floor,” said Nurse Jane. - -So she helped Uncle Wiggily get ready, shaving the back of his neck for -him, where he couldn’t himself reach with his razor. And she tied his -tie for him, and saw that he was all scrumptious like, and proper. - -Finally the rabbit gentleman set off for the palace of the king. He was -about halfway there when he heard some little squeaking voices down -beside the woodland path, and there he saw Jollie and Jillie Longtail, -the mouse children, and their cousin, Squeaky-Eeky. - -“Where are you going, Uncle Wiggily?” asked Jollie, the boy mouse. - -“To Old King Cole’s to hear some fiddle music,” answered Uncle Wiggily. - -“Oh, do please take us with you!” begged Jillie. “We just love fiddle -music and we can’t ever go to hear any.” - -“Why?” asked the bunny uncle. - -“Because,” explained Squeaky-Eeky, the little cousin mouse. “You know -what it says in Mother Goose. - -“‘Hi-Diddle-Diddle. The cat’s in the fiddle.’ Now we couldn’t go to hear -music when a cat was in the fiddle, could we?” - -“Of course not,” answered Uncle Wiggily. “I never thought of that. Cats -and mice don’t go well together. But how can I take you to King Cole? He -may not like mice.” - -“Put us in your pockets,” said Jillie. “We are not very big, and we can -easily hide when you go in the palace. No one will see us in your -pockets.” - -Well, Uncle Wiggily put them in—Jollie, Jillie and Squeaky-Eeky -Longtail. But the rabbit gentleman was afraid lest the king might not -like it. However, let us see what happened, as they say in story books. - -“Glad to see you, Uncle Wiggily!” cried Old King Cole, as the bunny -uncle came in the grand palace. “Make yourself right at home!” and the -king clapped his hands. Then some one sang: - - “Old King Cole is a merry old soul, - A merry old soul is he. - He called for his pipe, - He called for his bowl, - And he called for his fiddlers three.” - -In came the fiddlers, playing tweedle-dweele-dee, making nice music, -until, all at once: - -“Snap! Snap! Snap!” went something. “Snap!” - -“My goodness me sakes alive and some orange lemonade!” cried Uncle -Wiggily. “What was that?” - -“Our fiddle strings have broken!” cried one of the fiddlers. “Now we can -make no more music until we have new strings.” - -“Oh, dear!” cried King Cole. “That’s too bad. I must have music from my -fiddlers three, or from some one, or Mother Goose won’t like it. How can -I get squeaky fiddle music for Uncle Wiggily? How can I?” - -Just then Jollie Longtail popped his head out from Uncle Wiggily’s -pocket. - -“If you please, Old King Cole,” he said, “Jillie, Squeaky-Eeky and I, -with our squeaky voices, will make music for you if you like.” - -“I do like,” said the king. “Make some music, if you please!” - -So the mice, who have very squeaky voices, sang nice music, almost like -the fiddles, and Old King Cole was a more merry soul than ever. - -“I’m glad you came, Uncle Wiggily,” he said. “And I’m glad you brought -the nice Longtail mice children with you. Give them all some cheese!” -And he laughed most jolly-jilly like. - -So the mice sang for the king until the fiddlers’ fiddle strings were -fixed, and every one had a good time and plenty to eat. - -And if the jam tart doesn’t get inside the huckleberry pie, where the -egg beater can’t find it to dance with, I’ll tell you next about Uncle -Wiggily and Peter-Peter. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND PETER-PETER - - -“UNCLE WIGGILY, don’t you think you’d better take an umbrella with you?” -asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, as the -rabbit gentleman, Mr. Longears, started out from his hollow-stump -bungalow one morning. - -“An umbrella, Nurse Jane? Why should I take one with me? I have my red, -white and blue-striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch, that you gnawed -for me out of a corn-stalk.” - -“That wouldn’t be much good in a rain-storm,” said the muskrat lady, -with a laugh. “It wouldn’t keep off many of the drops.” - -“No, I s’pose not,” said the bunny uncle, sort of rubbing his pink, -twinkling nose, thoughtful like, with the brim of his tall silk hat. “So -you think it is going to rain, do you?” - -“Or snow,” said the muskrat lady, looking to see if the hair ribbon had -come off the end of her tail, but it had not, I’m glad to say. - -“Well, I guess I’ll be back before it storms,” went on Uncle Wiggily. -“I’m only going over to Grandfather Goosey Gander’s pen house to see if -he wants to play checkers with grains of corn. I won’t be very long,” -and with that Uncle Wiggily hopped away. - -Over the fields and through the woods hopped the bunny uncle to the -house, or pen, of the old gentleman goose. Uncle Wiggily was thinking -what a nice visit he would have when, all of a sudden, he heard from -behind a scratchy briar bush a sad voice saying: - -“Oh, dear! They’re all spilled! I’ll never be able to pick them up; -never! There are too many of them! Oh, dear!” - -“Ha! That is funny talk. It sounds as though some one were in trouble,” -said Uncle Wiggily to himself. “I wonder if I can help them? I’ll just -take a peek first, for it might be the skillery-scalery alligator, with -humps on his tail, or the bad fox or wolf, and they would help -themselves to catch me rather than have me help them. I’ll take a peek -first.” - -So Uncle Wiggily peeked out and there, on the other side of the bush he -saw a little man, bending down and picking something up off the ground. - -Now, as a rule, the bunny uncle didn’t like men, for most of them were -hunters, with dogs and bang-bang guns, who came after the animal people. -But this man was so little, and so kind-looking and, withal, Uncle -Wiggily could see he had no gun, so Mr. Longears knew it would be all -right. - -“Excuse me,” said Uncle Wiggily, speaking a language that animals and -little men can understand. “But can I help you?” - -“Oh, hello, Uncle Wiggily,” exclaimed the small chap. “Why, maybe you -can help me. You see, I am Peter-Peter, and——” - -“What, not Peter-Peter, the Pumpkin-Eater?” asked the rabbit gentleman, -surprised like. - -“The very same,” was the answer. “I’m that Peter-Peter.” - -“Then you must be a friend of Mother Goose,” said the bunny uncle, -smiling down one side of his pink twinkling nose. - -“I am,” answered Peter-Peter. - -“Then I am more than ever anxious to help you,” spoke Mr. Longears. “I -always help the friends of Mother Goose. What is the trouble?” - -“I have spilled all my pumpkin seeds,” was the answer of Peter-Peter. -“You see I was scooping out my pumpkin shell, making it hollow to keep -my wife in, as it says in the Mother Goose book. When I had the seeds -all scooped out my wife said it would be a good thing to take them over -to Mrs. Bushytail, the squirrel lady, as she and her two boys, Johnnie -and Billie, could eat them.” - -“I guess they would be glad to get them,” said Uncle Wiggily. “In fact, -I like roasted pumpkin seeds myself.” - -“But the trouble is,” said Peter-Peter, “that when I had put the seeds -in a bag, and was on my way to the Bushytail home with them, I came -through these woods. The prickly briar bush caught my bag, tore holes in -it, and out fell the pumpkin seeds. They are scattered all over the -ground here, and, oh, dear! I’ll never be able to pick them up.” - -“Oh, yes, you will,” said Uncle Wiggily, with a jolly laugh. “I’ll help -you, and I’ll get my friends, Dickie and Nellie Chip-Chip, the sparrows, -to help. They are great at picking up seeds.” - -So Uncle Wiggily whistled for Dickie and Nellie Chip-Chip, and when the -sparrow boy and girl came, with their sharp bills, they soon picked up -most of the pumpkin seeds; Uncle Wiggily and Peter-Peter helping, of -course. - -And when they were all picked up Uncle Wiggily pasted some postage -stamps over the holes in Peter-Peter’s bag, so it was as good as ever. -Then the little man started off with it over his shoulder to the -Bushytail squirrel house. - -“Thank you, very much, Uncle Wiggily,” said Peter-Peter. “And you, too, -Dickie and Nellie. If ever I can do you a favor I will.” - -So he went on, and, when Dickie and Nellie had flown home, Uncle Wiggily -hopped along to Grandpa Goosey Gander’s house. There the old rabbit -gentleman had a nice time playing checkers with grains of corn, but on -his way home, when he was in the middle of the woods, all of a sudden it -began to rain very hard. - -“Oh, dear!” cried the bunny uncle. “Nurse Jane was right. It is raining, -and I have no umbrella! I will get all wet, and my rheumatism will be -worse than ever. Oh, dear! I wish I had some place to go in!” - -And just then Uncle Wiggily heard a voice singing. - - “Peter-Peter, Pumpkin-Eater, - Had a wife and could not keep her. - He put her in a pumpkin shell, - And there he kept her very well.” - -Uncle Wiggily looked through the bushes, and there he saw a cute little -house, made from a pumpkin, with a hollowed-out corn-cob for a chimney. -And in the door of the house stood the little man, Peter-Peter himself. - -“Hello, Uncle Wiggily!” called Peter-Peter. “Come in out of the rain.” - -“Is there room in there with you and your wife?” asked the bunny uncle. - -“Plenty of room,” answered Peter-Peter. “This is an extra big -Thanksgiving pumpkin. Come in!” - -In went Uncle Wiggily out of the rain, and he stayed in Peter-Peter’s -pumpkin-shell house until the storm was over, and he could go home -without getting wet. So you see it was a good thing Uncle Wiggily helped -Peter-Peter pick up the pumpkin seeds. - -And if the rain-drop doesn’t fall down-stairs and splash all over the -pancake turner when it goes out to shovel the snow, I’ll tell you next -about Uncle Wiggily and the butcher. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BUTCHER - - -IT was raining in animal land, where Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice -rabbit gentleman, lived. It had been raining for several days; in fact, -ever since the bunny uncle had helped Peter-Peter pick up the pumpkin -seeds. - -Uncle Wiggily had been caught out in the rain then, and had gone in the -pumpkin shell, where Peter-Peter kept his wife very well. That rain was -only a shower, which was soon over, but the storm began again and had -lasted ever since. It was very wet in animal land. - -“My!” exclaimed Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper. -“If it doesn’t stop soon I’ll never get the clothes dry.” - -“Worse than that,” said Uncle Wiggily. “If it doesn’t stop soon there -will be a flood, and our hollow-stump bungalow will be full of water. In -fact, I think there is a little water in it now.” - -Well, it kept on raining, and there was a flood, so much so that Uncle -Wiggily’s cellar was full of water, almost up to the floor, and all -about, outside the hollow-stump bungalow, there were little lakes and -puddles and rivers of rain water in the woods. - -“Will it ever stop raining?” asked Nurse Jane, as she stood at the -window, looking out. “If it doesn’t, I don’t know what we shall do. I -need some things from the store.” - -“I’ll get them for you,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. - -“But how can you, in all this rain?” - -“Oh, very easily,” answered the bunny uncle, twinkling his pink nose to -make himself bright and cheerful like. “I’ll put on my rubber boots, my -raincoat, take an umbrella and go to the store.” - -“Well, I’m sure it’s very brave of you to go out in this storm,” said -Nurse Jane, “and I hope your rheumatism doesn’t catch cold. But we need -some bread, sugar, salt and other things.” - -“I’ll get them,” said Uncle Wiggily, and off he started through the -storm, well wrapped up so he would get no wetter than could be helped. - -The rabbit uncle finally got to the store, and the monkey-doodle -gentleman who kept it put in a basket the things Nurse Jane wanted. - -He wrapped them in heavy paper, putting some over the top of the basket -so in case Uncle Wiggily’s umbrella blew wrong side out the groceries -would not get wet. - -“Well, I guess everything is going to be all right,” thought Uncle -Wiggily to himself, as he hopped along through the rain on his way back -to the hollow-stump bungalow. “I don’t believe I’m even going to have an -adventure (except now and then splashing into a puddle) for all my -coming out in the storm. And I haven’t had an adventure in some time. I -really wish something would happen!” - -Uncle Wiggily had no sooner thought this than, all of a sudden, -something did happen. He slipped into a big puddle with his rubber -boots. The water came nearly to the top of them, but that did not so -much matter as did something else. For when the bunny uncle tried to -pull his feet up out of the puddle he couldn’t do it. No, sir, he could -no more pull his feet up than you could get loose from sticky fly paper -in case you happened to sit down in it, which, I hope, you never do; -though our cat did once. And such a time! - -“My! This is quite too bad!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “I wonder what could -have happened? My feet are caught fast!” He squirmed about a bit with -his feet in the rubber boots. Then he said: - -“I know what has happened. My feet are held tight in the crooked, -twisted old root of a tree that is down under the puddle. I’m caught as -badly as if I were in a trap. Oh, dear! This is an adventure, all right, -but not the kind I like. I wonder how I can get loose?” - -And well might the bunny uncle wonder. His feet were caught fast in the -root, away down under water and he could not reach down with his paws to -loosen them, for he had his umbrella in one paw and the basket of -groceries on the other, for there was water all around him. - -“Oh, dear!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “I s’pose I could pull my feet out of -the rubber boots and just leave them caught in the puddle, but if I did -that I’d have to go home bare-pawed, and I’d catch my rheumatism worse -than ever. Oh, dear! What shall I do?” - -Just then, through the woods Uncle Wiggily heard the sound of a drum. -“Dub-dub! Dubbity-dubbity-dub!” - -“Ha! I wonder if that can be Sammie Littletail, the bunny boy, coming -along with his Christmas drum? If it is he can help me,” said Mr. -Longears. - -Uncle Wiggily, still caught fast, looked through the trees, and he saw -some one sailing along in a washtub. And it was the butcher man, in his -white apron and cap, with a big knife in his hand, who was drumming, -with the knife handle, on the sides of the tub. And the butcher sang -this song: - - “Rub-a-dub-dub! Three men in a tub; - The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker; - They all jumped over a hard baked potato.” - -“Why, that’s in Mother Goose!” cried Uncle Wiggily, joyful like. “This -butcher must be a friend of hers. I wonder if he could help me.” - -Just then the butcher saw Uncle Wiggily caught fast in the puddle, and, -stopping his washtub ship, he asked: - -“Are you in trouble?” - -“Trouble? I should say I was!” cried the bunny uncle. “My feet are -caught fast in a tree root down under the water, and I can’t get loose. -Can you help me?” - -“I can and will,” replied the butcher. Then, with his long, sharp knife, -he reached down under the puddle and cut the tree root that was holding -Uncle Wiggily’s feet fast, taking care not to cut the bunny uncle’s -rubber boots. - -“There you are!” cried the butcher. “Now you’re loose.” - -“Oh, thank you so much,” said Uncle Wiggily, hopping out of the puddle. -“But, excuse me, I thought there were three of you rub-a-dub-dub men in -a tub. You are only one.” - -“Well, there were three of us,” said the butcher. “But since Mother -Goose wrote that verse about us, after we jumped out of the baked -potato, we grew so large that three of us had hard work to fit in one -tub. So now we each have a tub to ourselves. Now I must sail on. The -baker and candlestick maker and I are having a tub-boat-race. I hope I -win. Good-by!” - -And on he sailed in his tub, while Uncle Wiggily, his feet no longer -caught fast, went safely on to his hollow-stump bungalow through the -rain with the groceries. - -So the bunny uncle was saved by the butcher, you see, and, if the gas -lamp doesn’t go down cellar in the dark and stumble over the fire shovel -when it’s playing in the ashes, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily -and the baker. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BAKER - - -IT was still raining in Woodland, where the animal folk lived. All -around the hollow-stump bungalow, where Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the -muskrat lady, kept house for Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit -gentleman, there were puddles of water; little lakes and rivers, too. - -“I think it is getting colder,” said Uncle Wiggily, as he came in from -having been up to the Orange Mountain, to get a dozen of lemons so Nurse -Jane could bake a cherry pie. - -“If it gets colder, perhaps it will stop raining,” Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy -remarked, “and goodness knows we have had enough of water.” - -“Yes, a little snow for a change would seem nice,” spoke the bunny -uncle, looking out of the window at the rain-drops still splashing down. - -“Was it raining on the Orange Mountain?” Nurse Jane wanted to know. - -“Yes, just as hard as it is down here in the valley. But the water runs -off the sides of the mountain, so there are not so many puddles to step -in, as I stepped in one the other day, and got my foot caught in a tree -root, when the butcher, in his rub-a-dub-dub tub, cut me loose.” - -“That was quite an adventure,” said Nurse Jane. “You haven’t seen the -other friends of Mother Goose—the baker and the candlestick maker—have -you?” - -“No,” Uncle Wiggily answered. “But I understand that the butcher’s two -friends, the baker and the candlestick maker, are having a race with -him, each one in a tub. They may sail along any day now. I guess I’ll go -out and look for them.” - -“What! In all this rain?” cried Nurse Jane, in surprise. “You’ll catch -cold in your rheumatism, I’m sure.” - -“Oh, no, I’ll wrap up well in my rubber coat, and put on my rubber boots -as I did before,” said the bunny uncle, making his nose twinkle like a -gold tooth in the wax doll. - -Off started the old rabbit gentleman, carrying a big umbrella so that -too many rain-drops would not get on his tall silk hat. He walked along -through the woods, down from the trees of which the rain-drops dripped. -There were many puddles, but Uncle Wiggily kept as much out of them as -he could. - -“It is getting quite some colder,” he said to himself, as he put one paw -in his pocket to warm it—warm his paw, I mean, not his pocket, for that -was warm already. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see it snow.” - -And, in a little while, a few flakes of snow did begin to fall, dodging -their way in between the rain-drops, and sort of playing tag with one -another. - -“How pretty the flakes look,” said Uncle Wiggily, coming to a stop to -watch them. “I think I’ll sit down a minute and look at them.” He found -a fallen log, which, being under a Christmas tree, was not as wet as it -might otherwise have been, and down Uncle Wiggily sat on that. - -More snowflakes fell, and they looked so pretty that Uncle Wiggily -stayed longer than he meant to, sitting on the log. It kept on getting -colder and colder, and finally the bunny uncle said: - -“Well, I mustn’t sit here any longer. I’ll get up and go back to my -nice, warm, cozy hollow-stump bungalow. Yes, I’ll get up and——” - -But Uncle Wiggily did not get up. He couldn’t! He had frozen fast to the -log, which had some water on it. The cold air had made the water freeze, -and Uncle Wiggily was held as fast there as if he had sat down in sticky -fly paper—even more tightly, I believe. - -“Oh, dear!” he cried. “This is quite too bad! In fact, it is terrible. -What shall I do!” - -He tried to get up, but he could not, and he did not want to take off -his rubber coat, and so free himself, for fear he might catch cold -without his coat. - -“Oh, dear! I don’t know what to do!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “Help! Help! -Will no one help me to get loose?” - -Then, through the woods he suddenly heard a rub-a-dub-dub drumming -sound. - -“Ha! I wonder if that can be my friend, the butcher?” thought the bunny -uncle. But when he looked he saw a baker coming along, dressed in a -spotless white apron and cap. The baker had a loaf of bread in his hand, -and with a large spoon he was pushing himself along in his tub through -the puddles of water, which had not yet solidly frozen over, though -there were chunks of ice in them. And the baker was singing: - - “Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub; - The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker; - But I am the one with the hot baked potato.” - -Then the baker, seeing Uncle Wiggily sitting on the log, called to the -bunny uncle as he stopped his tub boat: - -“Would you like to buy a loaf of bread?” asked the baker. - -“Well, yes, I might, for I heard Nurse Jane say we needed some,” -answered the bunny uncle. - -“Then please come and get it,” said the baker. “For I am riding a -boat-tub race with the butcher and the candlestick maker, and I don’t -want to stop. They might get in ahead of me. You see, we are doing a -little different from what it says in the Mother Goose book,” went on -the baker, shaking some rain-drops off his white cap. “We each have a -tub to ourselves.” - -“I see,” said Uncle Wiggily. “I heard about it. In fact, I met the -butcher sailing along in his tub the other day.” - -“Oh, did you? Then I must hurry,” cried the baker, “or he will win the -race. Come and get your loaf of bread and I’ll paddle along.” - -“I can’t come and get it,” said Uncle Wiggily. “I am sorry, but I really -can’t.” - -“Why not?” asked the baker. - -“Because I am frozen fast to this log,” said the bunny uncle, “and I -really can’t get up, much as I would like to. I was calling for help, -and, when you came along, I hoped——” - -“Ha! Say no more!” cried the baker, in a jolly voice. “Of course I’ll -help you. Never mind about the race. I’ll get you loose!” - -“How?” asked Uncle Wiggily. - -“I’ll show you!” cried the baker. He stopped his tub, which had started -off by itself, put on his rubbers, and stepped out into a little puddle. -In his hands he carried the hot loaf of bread, and the hot baked potato. -Putting these down on the log, one on each side of Uncle Wiggily, the -heat of them soon melted the ice, and the rabbit gentleman was unfrozen, -and could get up and go on his way as well as ever. - -“Oh, thank you!” he called to the baker. “Thank you!” - -“You are welcome,” was the answer, “and take the hot bread and potato -with you,” and with that the baker jumped back in his tub and went on -sailing, hoping to catch up to the butcher. - -So Uncle Wiggily went to his hollow-stump bungalow, not being frozen any -more, and all was well. And if the soft boiled egg doesn’t go sliding on -the ice and fall down so it breaks all to pieces and has to be put in a -pudding, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the candlestick -maker. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CANDLESTICK MAKER - - -AFTER supper, one night, Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, -put on his tall silk hat, his fur-lined overcoat, and, taking his red, -white and blue-striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch down off the piano, -he started for the door. - -“What! You are not going out to-night, are you?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy -Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, in surprise. - -“Why, yes, for a little while,” answered the bunny uncle. “It has -stopped raining, you know, and the ground has dried up. It is cold, but -I have my fur coat, so I shall be nice and warm.” - -“Where are you going?” asked Nurse Jane. - -“To call on Mr. Longtail, the mouse gentleman. He likes night visits -better than day ones, so that’s why I go in the evening. He’s like an -owl that way.” - -“Well, don’t stay too late,” said Nurse Jane, and Uncle Wiggily promised -that he would not. Out into the night he went, but it was not very dark, -for there was a moon shining. And as the rabbit uncle was hopping along -through the woods he suddenly stepped upon something round, which rolled -from under his paw and almost threw him down. - -“Ha! I wonder what that can be?” Uncle Wiggily said. He looked and saw a -brass candlestick on the ground. “This is queer,” went on the bunny -uncle. “I did not know that candlesticks grew in the woods. Some one -must have dropped it. I’ll take it with me, and perhaps Mr. Longtail -will know whose it is.” - -With the candlestick in one paw and his rheumatism crutch in the other, -Uncle Wiggily once more hopped on. Pretty soon he saw a little light -flickering through the trees. - -“Why, that looks just like a lightning bug,” said the bunny uncle, “only -they are not out this time of the year. I wonder what that can be?” - -Then he heard a tummity-tum-tum, drumming sound, and a voice sang: - - “Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub; - The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, - And the baker has taken the hot baked potato.” - -“Why, that must be the last of the three, queer Mother Goose men, who -went sailing a race in washtubs, when the weather was rainy,” said Uncle -Wiggily. “And this one must be the candlestick maker, for I have met the -other two. - -“But if this is the candlestick maker I don’t see how he can be sailing -in his tub when the rain has stopped, and there are no little rivers, -lakes or even puddles in the woods,” went on the rabbit gentleman. -“Everything is frozen over. I don’t see how he can.” - -Then the singing voice stopped, and Uncle Wiggily heard some one crying: - -“Oh, dear! Ouch, how it burns! Oh, where can it be? Where can it be?” - -The flickering light came nearer, and Uncle Wiggily, looking through the -trees, saw that it was not a lightning bug, or firefly, but a little -man, with a leather apron on, and a hammer and other tools hanging from -his belt. The tools jingled and rattled. Behind the man, who was pulling -it along as if it were a sled, with a rope through one the handles, was -the washtub. In one hand the man carried a lighted candle, and, all the -while, he kept on saying: - -“Oh, dear! Ouch! How it burns me! Oh, my!” - -“Excuse me,” said Uncle Wiggily, politely, “but you seem to be in -trouble. Perhaps I can help you. What burns you?” - -“This candle,” answered the man. “I ought to have a candlestick to hold -it, but I dropped my nice brass candlestick as I ran through the woods, -and now I have to hold the candle in my bare fingers. And it is so short -that it burns me. Ouch!” - -“Ha! Then this is what you want,” Uncle Wiggily said, and he handed over -the candlestick he had picked up. - -“The very thing!” cried the little man, in delight. “Thank you so much. -Now my fingers won’t burn any more.” - -He stuck the end of the lighted candle in the stick and spoke again. - -“I’m the candlestick maker, as you can see; I make candlesticks, but -just now I am not making any, as I am on a race with the butcher and -baker to see who first will get to Mother Goose’s house. We started out -in a dreadful rain-storm, when we could float in our tubs like boats, -but the butcher and baker seem to have gotten ahead of me.” - -“They have,” said Uncle Wiggily. “I met them two days ago.” - -“Then there isn’t much use in my keeping on,” said the candlestick -maker. “But it has gotten colder. It may snow, and if I come to a hill I -can coast down it in my tub, which I made into a sled when I found the -ground frozen and all the water gone. If I can slide down hill in my -tub-sled I may yet get ahead of the butcher and baker and win the prize -of a hot baked potato.” - -“Perhaps you may,” said Uncle Wiggily, as he told how the baker had -kindly thawed him off the frozen log with the hot baked potato and a hot -loaf of bread. - -“Well, I’ll be getting on,” said the candlestick maker, after a bit. -“Thank you for being kind to me. If ever I can do you a favor I will. My -fingers no longer burn.” Then he hurried off through the woods, dragging -his tub-sled after him. - -Uncle Wiggily had a nice visit with Mr. Longtail, the mouse gentleman, -but when the bunny uncle started home the moon had gone down and it was -very dark. Soon Uncle Wiggily was lost in the woods. He could not tell -which way to go, and he hopped around, stubbing his paws and bunking -into trees, until he was all sore and lame. - -“Oh, I wish I had a light!” he cried. And, no sooner had he spoken than -he heard a drumming sound, and along came the candlestick maker with the -lighted candle. - -“Here you are! Here’s your light, Uncle Wiggily!” the candlestick maker -cried. “I’ll light you all the way to your hollow-stump bungalow.” - -“Good!” cried the bunny uncle. “But I don’t want to take your time and -delay you. I thought you were racing.” - -“I gave it up. The baker won and got there first. I just met Old Mother -Hubbard and she told me. So I’m going to take you home.” And he did, -making the woods light with his candle, all the way to the bunny uncle’s -hollow-stump bungalow. - -So the rabbit gentleman was all right again, you see, and if the piece -of cheese doesn’t run away from the slice of apple pie, and get lost in -the rice pudding, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and Tom-Tom. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XV - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND TOM-TOM - - -UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS, the nice rabbit gentleman, was going along -through the woods one day, wondering what sort of an adventure he would -have, when he met Mother Goose, who, as I have told you before, had -come, with her large family of funny folk, to live in the forest near -the hollow-stump bungalow of the bunny uncle. - -“How do you do, Mother Goose?” asked Mr. Longears, as he made a polite -bow, taking off his tall silk hat. - -“I am very well, thank you,” she said. “You look well yourself. I wonder -if you have seen him anywhere, as you have been walking along?” - -“Seen whom?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “If you mean the butcher, the baker, -and the candlestick maker, I have. I met them the other day——” - -“No, thank you, I don’t mean them,” said Mother Goose. “They have come -safely home again with their rub-a-dub-dub-tubs, and they are happily -living together once more. No, it’s another of my friends who is lost. -You may have seen him. He is——” - -But just then Old Mother Hubbard came to the door of her house, after -having given her dog a bone, and she called across the woodland path: - -“Oh, Mother Goose! Little Tommie Tucker is crying for his supper. What -shall I give him, white bread and butter?” - -“Wait a minute. I’ll be right there,” answered Mother Goose. “I want to -put a little molasses on Tommie’s bread. You walk on,” she said to Uncle -Wiggily. “I’ll come back to you in a minute and tell you who is lost.” - -But Mother Goose must have had to give Tommie Tucker a bigger supper -than usual, or else some of her other friends wanted something, for -Uncle Wiggily hopped on and on, and the nice old goose lady did not come -to speak to him. - -“It’s funny,” said the bunny uncle, “but I wonder who it is that is -lost? I can’t very well look for him—or her—until I know. It may be -Little Bo Peep, or Jack Horner. Well, I’ll keep on, and I may meet with -the lost one, whoever he or she is; or I may have an adventure. Who -knows?” - -Well, the bunny uncle had not gone on much farther before, all at once, -he heard some one running through the bushes, and the sound of loud -squeals. - -“Ha! Something is happening,” said Uncle Wiggily. “Perhaps this is the -adventure I am expecting.” - -Then, all of a sudden, through the bushes came running a boy with a -squealing pig under his arm. - -“Squee! Squee! Squee!” cried the pig. - -“Hold on! Stop! Wait a minute!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “Who are you?” - -“I am Tom-Tom, the piper’s son,” was the answer. - -“Oh, you’re from Mother Goose, aren’t you?” - -“Yes, but I’m running away from her now,” answered Tom-Tom. “You know -how it goes in the book: - - “‘Tom-Tom, the piper’s son, - Took a pig and away he run. - The pig was eat, and Tom was beat, - And he went roaring down the street.’ - -“That’s how it is in the book,” went on Tom-Tom. “Only it isn’t exactly -right. I didn’t do any roaring, though I may when I get the beating. -It’s the pig who is doing the roaring.” - -“It sounds more like squealing,” said Uncle Wiggily. - -“Yes, you could call it that,” said Tom-Tom, as he looked at the pig -under his arm, which cried louder than before. I mean the pig squealed, -not Tom-Tom’s arm. - -“But look here,” said Uncle Wiggily. “You should not have taken this -pig. That’s quite wrong you know, Tom-Tom. Besides, Mother Goose is -after you. I just met her, and she started to tell me about some of her -friends being lost. She asked me to help look for him—or her—but before -she could tell me who it was, she was called away. It must have been you -she meant.” - -“It was,” said Tom-Tom. “I had to run after I took the pig, but the -funny part of it is I can’t find any street to run down, as the book -says I did. It’s all woods around here; no streets at all. I’d run with -the pig down the street, fast enough, if I could find one.” - -“No, no! You mustn’t do that,” said Uncle Wiggily. “You only go down the -street after the pig was eat, or eaten, to be more correct. Besides, you -ought not to take the pig at all.” - -“What shall I do?” asked Tom-Tom. “I have the pig now, you see. What -must I do with it?” - -“I’ll take him with me,” said Uncle Wiggily. “I can lead him back home, -and then you must go tell Mother Goose you’re sorry, and I don’t believe -she’ll whip you or beat you.” - -“All right,” said Tom-Tom, the piper’s son. “I’ll do as you say.” - -He gave Uncle Wiggily the pig, which was a baby one, and the bunny -gentleman led it along by a string, while Tom-Tom hurried off to tell -Mother Goose he was sorry that he had been a little bad. And Mother -Goose forgave him, and did not whip him, so Tom-Tom did not have to go -roaring down the street after all. - -“Well, what have you there, Uncle Wiggily?” asked Nurse Jane, when she -saw the bunny gentleman coming along leading a pig. - -“This is the pig Tom-Tom had,” said Mr. Longears, and then, all at once, -before he could say anything more, the pig began to squeal with all his -might and so loudly that Nurse Jane could not hear the bunny uncle’s -voice. - -“Mercy,” cried the muskrat lady. “What a noise!” and she put her paws -over her ears. “Take him away, Wiggy, do. That’s a dear! Take him away!” - -“Squee! Squee! Squee!” yelled the baby pig. And then along came Mother -Hubbard’s dog. - -“Ha! So here’s where you are, eh?” asked the dog. “Well, you come right -back to your pen!” - -“I will, and right gladly,” squealed the pig, “and don’t let Tom-Tom -take me again. Thank you, Uncle Wiggily, for bringing me this far.” - -Then the dog led the pig home by the ear, piggie squealing all the way, -but he stopped when Mother Goose gave him something to eat. And Tom-Tom -never took the pig again, so the little boy did not have to run roaring -down the street, I’m glad to say. - -And, if the sugar spoon doesn’t whisper to the butter knife and have to -stay on the table after the rest of the dishes go to the sink to be -washed, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the crooked man. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CROOKED MAN - - -“HEIGH-HO! Away I go!” sang Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit -gentleman, one day, as he looked in the glass to see if his whiskers -were on straight, and his nose twinkling just right. - -“What? Away again?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady -housekeeper of the hollow-stump bungalow, as she finished drying the -dinner dishes. “You seem to me to go out a great deal, Mr. Longears. - -“Far be it from me,” she went on, “to say anything about it, but I -should think you would get tired of going around so much.” - -“Oh, no,” Uncle Wiggily laughed. “I like it. I have a new adventure -nearly every day, and I think it is good for my rheumatism. So, -heigh-ho! Away I go!” - -Off through the woods went Uncle Wiggily. It would soon be Spring now, -and already the pussy willows were just beginning to learn how to mew a -little bit, like baby cats. - -As the rabbit gentleman went along he saw, lying on the path in front of -him, a piece of money. But it was a very queer bit of money, indeed. It -was all bent and twisted and crooked, as though a trolley car had -stepped on it by mistake, and on one side was a figure six. - -“Well, maybe this will bring me good luck,” said Uncle Wiggily. “It -doesn’t seem to be good for much else—such crooked money. A six-cent -piece, I guess it was once. I’ll just put it in my pocket.” - -So he did, and he walked along a little farther, until, coming to a -place where a great, big tree had fallen to the ground, Uncle Wiggily -heard some one sitting on it saying: - -“Oh, dear! I’ve lost it! I can’t find it anywhere, and without it I -don’t see how I can do what it says in the Mother Goose book I must do. -It’s lost—gone!” - -Uncle Wiggily looked and saw, sitting on the fallen tree, a very funny, -but nice, old man. And the man was very crooked. He was bent and twisted -until there was not a straight place on him, not even his nose, which -was wobbled and bent over to one side, and his ears were folded together -like pieces of paper. - -“Well, well,” said Uncle Wiggily, feeling sorry for so crooked a man, -“this is too bad. I wonder what happened to him to make him so bent, and -I wonder what he has lost?” for the crooked, twisted man was turning his -pockets inside out, and even his pockets were curled around like a -corkscrew. - -“Oh, such trouble as I am in!” cried the man. “Oh, dear!” - -“Ha, trouble! That means here is a chance for me to help,” said the -bunny uncle. “Excuse me,” he said, “but who are you, and can I do -anything to help you?” - -“Ha! Uncle Wiggily Longears! I know you by your pictures!” said the man. -“Don’t you know me? I’m in the book that Mother Goose wrote. It says -about me that once - - “‘There was a crooked man, - Who walked a crooked mile, - And found a crooked sixpence - Against a crooked stile. - He bought a crooked cat, - Which caught a crooked mouse, - And they all lived together - In a little crooked house.’ - -“That’s who I am,” said the man. “But now I’ll never be able to buy the -crooked cat to catch the crooked mouse, and live with me forever in my -little crooked house.” - -“Why not?” asked Uncle Wiggily, sort of wondering like. - -“Because I lost the crooked sixpence,” said the crooked man. “I found it -against the crooked stile all right, after I’d walked the crooked mile. -The road did twist and turn like a carpenter’s shaving, so it was -crooked all right. And when I came to the stile, which is a pair of -steps to get over a fence—a pair on each side—they were so crooked I -could hardly get over them. And there was the crooked sixpence. But I -must have lost it out of my pocket, for I haven’t it now.” - -“Is this it?” asked Uncle Wiggily, as he took the crooked piece of money -out of his ear, which he sometimes used as a pocket. - -“Oh, that’s just it!” cried the crooked man, in delight. “How ever did -you find it?” - -“It was lying on the path in the woods,” said the bunny uncle, “and I -picked it up. You may have it back.” - -“Oh, now I am all right!” laughed the crooked man. “I can buy the -crooked cat, and it will catch a crooked mouse, and then we’ll walk -along and find our little, crooked house.” - -“But please don’t let your crooked cat catch my little mice friends, -Jollie or Jillie Longtail, or Squeaky-Eeky, the cousin mouse?” begged -Uncle Wiggily. - -“Oh, indeed not!” promised the crooked man. “My crooked cat will only -catch a crooked candy mouse. Perhaps you would like to come with me and -see me buy the crooked cat.” - -“I would,” spoke Uncle Wiggily. “I’ll come.” - -The crooked man started off, twisting this way and that as he walked -along the crooked mile, and Uncle Wiggily, who was sort of curious and -inquisitive, asked: - -“What made you get all twisted up this way?” - -“Rheumatism,” was the crooked man’s answer. “But I don’t mind now, for I -have no pain. In fact, I think it’s quite jolly to be crooked and live -in a crooked house. It’s so different from other people.” - -“Yes,” said Uncle Wiggily, “it is certainly different. But it is nice -that you are so happy about it. Some folks would be sad. I’m glad you -are jolly.” - -Pretty soon the two friends came to where crooked cats were sold for -crooked money. By this time Uncle Wiggily was so tired, from having to -jump back and forth to follow the crooked man walking a crooked mile, -that the bunny uncle thought he would go back to his hollow-stump -bungalow and rest. - -But the crooked man, after he had bought the crooked cat, still went -along with Uncle Wiggily, and it was a good thing he did. For, when -Uncle Wiggily was about halfway home, out from behind a stump a bad old -fox jumped at him. Zip! - -“Ah, ha!” cried the fox. “Now I have you!” And then he saw the crooked -man and crooked cat, the fox did, and he rubbed his eyes with his paws, -once or twice, and cried out: - -“Oh! What does this mean? I must be asleep and dreaming, for never can -there really be such strange, crooked things in this world as that -crooked man and cat. I must be dreaming, and pretty soon I’ll wake up in -my den. I’ll just lie quietly and not move, or I might have a worse -dream.” - -And, thinking it was all a dream, the fox lay down in the woods to -sleep, and so he didn’t get Uncle Wiggily after all, thanks to the -crooked man and cat. The bunny uncle hurried away from the sleeping fox, -and the twisted chap, with the doubled-up pussy, soon reached their own -crooked house, where they lived happily for many crooked years, catching -crooked candy mousies that cried crooked candy tears. - -So no more at present, if you please. But in the next chapter, if the -olive oil and the vinegar speak nicely to each other when they meet at -the party in the lettuce salad, I’ll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and -the barber. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BARBER - - -UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS, the nice old rabbit gentleman, walked across the -sitting-room of his hollow-stump bungalow, to where a looking-glass hung -on the wall. He looked in the glass, and rubbed his paw, thoughtful -like, up and down his chin. - -“What is the matter?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady -housekeeper. “Did something bite you?” - -“No,” answered Uncle Wiggily, “but I think I need to shave off some of -my whiskers. They are getting too long. Also I need a hair cut.” - -“Gracious goodness me sakes alive, and some corn-meal muffin lollypops!” -exclaimed Nurse Jane. “What for? A shave! A hair cut!” - -“Well, you see,” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, “Spring is nearly here now, -and, though I let my hair and whiskers grow long in the cold weather, to -keep me warm, I don’t need them so long now, as it is getting warmer. So -I shall go to the barber’s.” - -“Why don’t you shave yourself?” asked Nurse Jane. - -“I could do that,” the bunny uncle said. “Only I can’t very well cut my -own hair. So I might as well have both done by the barber.” - -The old gentleman rabbit, taking his red, white and blue-striped -barber-pole rheumatism crutch down off the bathtub, started out through -the woods and across the fields for the barber’s. - -Mr. Longears had not gone very far before he came to the house where -Mother Goose lived. She was up bright and early, shaking out her feather -beds; and, seeing the old rabbit gentleman, she asked: - -“Where are you going?” - -“To the monkey-doodle barber’s to get shaved,” replied Uncle Wiggily. - -“Oh, would you just as soon go to my barber’s?” asked Mother Goose. - -“Your barber’s? I didn’t know you had one,” said Uncle Wiggily, sort of -laughing. “I didn’t know you ladies had your hair cut.” - -“We don’t,” spoke Mother Goose. “But this barber is one of the friends -in my story book, you know, and I’d like to give him something to do. -You must have heard of him. - - “‘Barber, barber, shave a pig. - How many hairs will make a wig? - Four-and-twenty, that’s enough. - Give the barber a pinch of snuff.’” - -“Oh, I’ve often heard of him!” said Uncle Wiggily. “But I haven’t a -pinch of snuff to give him, and besides I don’t need a wig.” - -“Oh, well, you don’t have to take a wig,” said Mother Goose. “As for the -snuff, tell him I’ll send little Tommie Tucker down with it later.” - -“Another thing,” spoke Uncle Wiggily. “If that barber of yours is -shaving a pig I don’t believe he’ll have time to shave me.” - -“Oh, that will be all right,” said Mother Goose, laughing. “He doesn’t -really shave a pig. I just put ‘pig’ in to make it rhyme with ‘wig.’ Hop -along now, and get shaved. The barber lives down the lane, with the -little boy who was given the bag of wool from Baa-Baa, the black sheep.” - -“Very good,” answered Uncle Wiggily, politely. So along he hopped, to -the barber shop, which he soon reached. Out in front was a red, white -and blue-striped pole, like the rabbit gentleman’s rheumatism crutch, -and inside the shop was the barber man, a little chap, not much larger -than the bunny uncle himself. - -“Shave? Hair cut? Shampoo? Massage? Manicure?” asked the barber, -clicking his scissors. - -“Just a shave and hair cut,” answered Uncle Wiggily, getting in the -chair, while the barber tucked an apron under the bunny’s chin. - -“Fine weather we’re having,” said the barber, as he began to cut Uncle -Wiggily’s hairy fur. - -“Very,” said Uncle Wiggily. “To-morrow is the first day of Spring, and -that’s why I’m getting a hair cut, to be ready for warmer weather.” - -“Good!” said the barber. Then, when he had Uncle Wiggily’s hair half -cut, the barber stopped and began to mix up some soap suds lather in a -cup. - -“What are you doing?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “Why don’t you finish cutting -my hair before you shave me?” - -“Because my scissors are too dull. They would pull. I’ll send them to -the scissors-to-grind man to be sharpened, and, while I’m waiting for -them to come back I’ll shave you.” - -So he began to shave the bunny uncle’s whiskers, talking all the while -about the weather and what a hard Winter it had been, and how much -carrots cost and all of that. - -Then, all of a sudden, when Uncle Wiggily was half shaved, there was a -whistling sound out in front of the barber shop, and a voice sang: - - “Barber, barber, shave a pig, - How many hairs will make a wig? - Four-and-twenty, that’s enough. - Give the barber a pinch of snuff!” - -Into the shop came little Tommie Tucker. He had a paper package in his -hand, and he tossed it across the room to the barber, saying: - -“Here’s your pinch of snuff. Mother Goose sent me with it. How is Uncle -Wiggily’s shave and hair cut coming off?” - -“It is coming off all—aker-choo! Kersnitzio! -Aker-ker-foozilum-goozilum—choo-chee!” sneezed the barber, wiping some -tears out his eyes. - -“Oh, my!” laughed Tommie Tucker. “What kind of a shave and hair cut is a -ker-choo! Oh-er—Snitzio! Whoo-ee-whoop-gizzium!” and Tommie himself was -sneezing, too. - -“What’s all this?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “Why don’t you finish -my—ker-choo! Goo-zoo! Gizzium! Whush! Oh-ker-skee-zicks!” And he sneezed -so hard that he sneezed himself right out of the barber’s chair into the -middle of the room. Then they were all sneezing, the barber, Uncle -Wiggily and Tommie Tucker. For you see when Tommie tossed the barber the -paper of snuff Mother Goose had sent the paper burst open and the snuff -scattered all about the place. All over the shop floated the sneezy -stuff. - -“Ker-choo!” sneezed the barber. - -“A-ker-choo-choo!” sneezed Tommie. - -“A-ker-choo-choo-choo! Toot-toot! All aboard!” and Uncle Wiggily sneezed -like a railroad train going through a tunnel. - -“Oh, I’m so sorry,” said Tommie Tucker. “I should not have been so -careless.” But soon all the snuff blew out of the window, the sneezes -stopped, and the barber finished shaving and hair cutting Uncle Wiggily, -and that’s the end of this story. - -But if the man beating our carpets doesn’t stop to play marbles with the -moth balls, and make the roller-skates feel lonesome for a lollypop, -I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the blackbirds. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BLACKBIRDS - - -UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS, the rabbit gentleman, came out of his -hollow-stump bungalow to take a walk in the woods one day. - -“I hope I may meet with an adventure,” he said to himself, as he limped -along on his red, white and blue crutch, that Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, -the muskrat lady, had gnawed for him out of a corn-stalk. - -An adventure, you know, as I have told you before, is something that -happens to you. If you find a stick of lollypop candy, that’s a nice -adventure. But, if you lose your penny down a crack in the board walk, -that’s an unpleasant adventure; though it may turn out all right in the -end. - -“Yes,” went on Uncle Wiggily, sort of twinkling his pink nose, -thoughtful like, “I hope I have a nice adventure, or, perhaps, even a -funny one, like sneezing, as, when Tommie Tucker gave the barber the -pinch of snuff.” - -That’s the story I told you last night, if you will kindly remember. - -So Uncle Wiggily hopped along, over the fields and through the woods, -and pretty soon he came to where Mother Goose lived, not far from his -own hollow-stump bungalow. Mother Goose was looking up at the sky. - -“Good morning! What are you looking for?” asked the bunny uncle. “Are -you looking for signs of rain, or snow in the clouds?” - -“No, indeed,” laughed Mother Goose. “But you know this is the first day -of Spring, and the little birds should begin to sing. I am looking to -see if the blackbirds are flying up from down South, where they went to -spend the Winter. They always come back in the Spring, you know.” - -“Yes,” said Uncle Wiggily. “But I do not see any blackbirds coming,” and -he, too, looked up at the sky. It was blue—very blue and pretty—like -babies’ eyes. And there were little white clouds in the sky, floating -along like fairy ships. But there were no blackbirds to be seen. - -“I hope nothing has happened to them,” said Mother Goose, sort of -anxious like. “They should be here now.” - -“I, too, hope they are all right,” Uncle Wiggily said. “I am going for a -walk, and if I see the blackbirds, I will tell them to hurry, as you are -looking for them.” - -“I’ll be very glad if you do that,” spoke Mother Goose, and then she had -to go next door to see if Little Bo Peep had found her lost sheep. - -Once more Uncle Wiggily hopped along. He looked on all sides of him, and -up in the air, hoping he might see the blackbirds, for then, surely, it -would be Spring, and Winter had lasted all too long for the animal folk. - -But no birds could the bunny uncle see. On and on he went, until, after -a while, he came to the palace where lived Old King Cole, the jolly old -soul. And, as Mr. Longears was wondering whether or not to go in, and -pay King Cole a visit, he heard some one humming a verse that went like -this: - - “Sing a song of sixpence, - A pocket full of rye. - Four-and-twenty blackbirds, - Baked within a pie. - When the pie was opened, - The birds began to sing. - Wasn’t that a dainty dish - To set before the King?” - -Uncle Wiggily stood still. He thought for a moment. - -“I wonder,” he said. “I wonder—four-and-twenty—blackbirds? Mother Goose -didn’t say how many she was expecting, and these may be the very same -ones. I guess I’ll go in and see about this.” - -Into the palace of Old King Cole went the bunny uncle. He knew his way -about very well, for he had been there before. From the kitchen came all -sorts of the most delicious smells, just like a pie baking. - -“Why, hello, Uncle Wiggily!” cried jolly Old King Cole, as he saw the -bunny uncle hopping along. “Come in and sit down! How are you?” - -“Fine!” cried the bunny uncle. “Very fine, indeed. And yourself?” he -asked, politely. - -“I never felt better in my life. I am just going to have a bit of lunch. -Won’t you sit down and help me enjoy it?” asked Old King Cole, also -politely. “You may have some carrots with lettuce sauce on, or a bit of -boiled lollypops with ice cream cones sprinkled on the top. Anything you -wish!” - -“That is very good of you,” said Uncle Wiggily. “But don’t go to any -trouble on my account. I’ll have whatever you are going to have.” - -“Then it will be pie!” cried Old King Cole. “I told the cook to have pie -to-day, and I think it is ready. I’ll ring the bell for it.” - -“Ding-dong!” rang the bell. In came the cook with a big pie on a dish. -And the cook began to hum: - - “Sing a song of sixpence, - A pocket full of rye. - Four-and-twenty blackbirds, - Baked within a pie.” - -“What’s that?” cried Old King Cole. “Twenty-four blackbirds baked in my -pie! Why, how did that happen?” - -“It was this way,” said the cook. “You told me to give you pie to-day. -Well, I made all ready for it, but, at the last minute, I had nothing to -put in the pie—no apples, no cherries, no peaches—nothing at all. I did -not know what to do, but, all of a sudden, I looked out of the window, -and I saw two dozen blackbirds flying along. ‘The very thing!’ said I to -myself. ‘They’ll do for Old King Cole’s pie!’ I asked them if they would -mind getting in between the upper and lower pie crusts, and they said -no.” - -“And did they?” asked the king, putting his crown on sideways. - -“They did,” answered the cook. “Look!” and he sang: - - “When the pie was opened, - The birds began to sing. - Wasn’t that a dainty dish - To set before the king?” - -Then, taking care not to hurt the feathered singers, the cook cut open -the pie. Surely enough, out flew the blackbirds, singing as sweetly as -one could wish. Around and around the palace they flew, singing, and -Uncle Wiggily cried: - -“Why, these must be the blackbirds Mother Goose is looking for! Did you -come up from the South to tell us that Spring has come?” he asked them. - -“Yes,” answered the birds, “we did. But first we wanted to snuggle up in -the pie for the king.” - -“Ha! Well, you did it all right!” laughed Old King Cole. “But, now, I -don’t need you in my pie any longer, so fly away to Mother Goose. Uncle -Wiggily and I will eat cake, instead of pie, to-day, since there is -nothing between the crusts to chew on.” - -So they ate cake, and the blackbirds, which had only been put in the pie -just after it came from the oven, flew all about animal land, singing: -“Spring is here! Spring is here!” - -So the bunny gentleman had his adventure after all, you see, and if the -cake of soap doesn’t slide over the bathroom floor, and bunk into the -wash rag, when it is cleaning its teeth, I’ll tell you next about Uncle -Wiggily and the fat man. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE FAT MAN - - -“A LETTER for you, Uncle Wiggily,” said Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the -muskrat lady housekeeper, as she went to the door of the hollow-stump -bungalow, when the bird postman gave a whistle, and a tap of his bill, -to let them know that he had some mail. - -“A letter for me! Thats’s nice!” said the bunny uncle. “Why, it’s an -invitation to a party—for you and me,” he went on to Nurse Jane. “It’s -from Jollie and Jillie Longtail, the mice children. They want us to come -to their house,” and he read the invitation. - -“Shall you go?” asked Nurse Jane. - -“I shall,” answered Uncle Wiggily. “And before I go I must practice that -new ice cream cone dance, where you stand on one ear and eat a lollypop. -You’ll go, of course, Nurse Jane.” - -“Well, I don’t know. I need a new dress, and——” - -“Say no more about it!” cried Uncle Wiggily, with a jolly laugh. “Here -is some money. Go down to the five and ten cent store and buy the finest -gold and diamond silk dress you can find. I want you to look nice.” - -So Nurse Jane bought the new dress, which had rows and rows of double -plaited insertion with fried egg tassels down the side, and Uncle -Wiggily practiced dancing for the party the Longtail mice children were -to have. - -At last the evening for the party came. Off started Uncle Wiggily and -Nurse Jane, talking of the good times they were going to have, when, all -at once, the bunny gentleman cried: - -“Oh, dear! I’ve forgotten my dancing shoes! I’ll run back to the -bungalow after them. You keep on, Nurse Jane, and I’ll soon catch up to -you.” - -Uncle Wiggily turned back, taking a shortcut to the hollow-stump -bungalow, where he lived, and he was almost there when, all at once, he -heard some one crying sadly: - -“Oh, dear! It’s gone! Oh, what shall I do? I’d go after him if I could, -but I can’t. Oh, what trouble I’m in!” - -“Ha! Trouble!” cried the bunny uncle. “Some one is in trouble! That’s -what I like to hear! I mean I like to hear it because I like to help -people out of trouble. I must see who this is.” - -He looked through the bushes and there, sitting on a stump, in the -moonlight, Uncle Wiggily saw a very big man, with a turban—a white -cloth, like a twisted towel—around his head. The man was sort of -chocolate-colored. - -“Well, what is your trouble?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “Perhaps I can help -you. Who are you?” - -“Surely you must have heard of me,” said the big man, puffing out his -chest. “I am in Mother Goose’s book.” - -“I don’t seem to remember you,” said Uncle Wiggily, sort of thoughtful -like, scratching his pink, twinkling nose with his ear. “If you would -kindly tell me——” - -Then the troubled one sang: - - “I am the fat man from Bombay, - I was smoking my pipe one fine day. - When a bird, called a snipe, - Flew away with my pipe. - Which vexed the fat man of Bombay.” - -“Oh, now I remember you,” said Uncle Wiggily. - -“I’m glad you do,” spoke the fat man. “So you see how it is. I’m really -quite vexed, which means just a little angry, and I’m in trouble, for -the snipe bird did fly away with my pipe, and I can’t smoke, and I must -do that, or it won’t be the way it is in the Mother Goose book. Do you -think you can help me?” - -“Well, I’ll try,” said Uncle Wiggily. “You just wait here until I run to -my hollow-stump bungalow for my dancing slippers, and, when I come back -I’ll see what I can do.” - -Uncle Wiggily hurried on through the woods, found his dancing shoes, and -was hurrying back, when, all of a sudden, he slipped and fell head over -heels with his slippers, and a big sliver was stuck in his paw. - -“Oh, dear!” cried the bunny uncle. “That sliver hurts very much! What -shall I do? Now I am in trouble, for I can’t dance and I can’t help the -fat man of Bombay. Oh, dear, what can I do?” - -Uncle Wiggily couldn’t hop on with that sliver in his paw, and he -couldn’t pull it out, try as he did. - -“Help! Help!” he called, as loudly as he could. “Will no one help me, -and the fat man of Bombay?” - -“Ha! Who is that calling?” asked a voice. “And who knows about the fat -man of Bombay?” - -“I do,” answered the bunny uncle. “I am calling, and I know the Bombay -fat man. He is in trouble, too.” - -Then through the bushes came flying a bird called a snipe, and in his -bill he carried a pipe. - -“Oh, you have it!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “Why don’t you give it back to -him so he won’t be sad and vexed any more? Why don’t you give back the -pipe to the fat man of Bombay?” - -“I would, if I could find him,” answered the snipe. “You see, I only -took his pipe in fun. He looked so funny sitting there smoking, that I -thought I’d play a trick on him. So I flew away with his pipe, that’s -because I’m a snipe. But I’ll give it back to him now. Is there -something the matter with you?” - -“Yes,” answered Uncle Wiggily, sadly, “I have run a big wooden splinter -in my paw, and I can’t get it out, and I want to go to the Longtail -dance and I can’t——” - -“Of course you can!” cried the snipe bird, in a jolly voice. “With my -sharp bill I can easily pull the splinter out of your paw. Let me get -hold of it.” - -Laying down the fat man’s pipe, the snipe soon pulled the splinter out -of Uncle Wiggily’s paw. - -“Now I can go to the dance!” cried the bunny uncle. - -“And if you will show me where the fat man of Bombay is, I’ll take him -back his pipe,” said the snipe. - -“This way!” cried Uncle Wiggily. He showed the bird where the sad, fat -man was sitting, and the snipe gave back the pipe. - -“Oh, how good you are!” cried the fat man, striking a match, but only in -fun, of course. “Now my troubles are over.” - -“And so are mine—the sliver-trouble!” said the bunny uncle. Then the fat -man of Bombay, which is in India, smoked his pipe, the snipe flew away -and Uncle Wiggily and Nurse Jane went on to the dance and had a fine -time. - -And if the top of the stairs doesn’t go sit at the bottom, so the wax -doll can’t get up to sleep in the cat’s cradle, I’ll tell you next about -Uncle Wiggily and the tarts. - - -[Illustration] - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XX - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE TARTS - - -“WHERE are you going, Uncle Wiggily?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the -muskrat lady, as she saw the rabbit gentleman starting out of the -hollow-stump bungalow one morning. - -“Oh, just for a walk, over the fields and through the woods,” he -answered. “This is the Spring of the year, now, you know, since the -four-and-twenty blackbirds jumped out of Old King Cole’s pie, and I want -to see if the grass and flowers have begun to spring up.” - -“I think it is a little early for them,” spoke Nurse Jane. - -“Well, I’ll go for a walk, anyhow,” said Uncle Wiggily. - -So the bunny uncle hopped on and on, sometimes leaning on his red, white -and blue-striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch, that Nurse Jane had -gnawed for him out of a corn-stalk, and again he would carry it under -his paw. - -Pretty soon Uncle Wiggily came to the palace where Old King Cole lived. -He was thinking of going inside, and perhaps playing a game of checkers, -as he used to do with Grandfather Goosey Gander, when, all at once, the -bunny uncle saw a lady looking at him from the kitchen window. - -The lady had on a silk dress, all spangled over with red hearts, like a -valentine. And on her head was a cap, and that had blue hearts on, so -she looked very pretty indeed. - -“How do you do?” asked the lady of Uncle Wiggily. - -“Very well,” he answered. “And how are you?” - -“Oh, not well at all,” was the answer, and the lady sighed sadly. “Oh, -there is so much trouble here!” - -“Trouble? Trouble?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “Why, then I came to just the -right place.” - -“How is that?” asked the lady, sort of surprised like. - -“Because I always try to help trouble, or those who are in it. Let me -see now, I don’t believe I have the pleasure of knowing you,” and Uncle -Wiggily sort of made his nose twinkle inquisitive like. - -“Oh, you must have heard about me,” said the lady, with a smile. “I’m in -Mother Goose’s book, you know. Listen to this: - - “‘The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, - All on a summer’s day. - The Jack of Hearts, he took those tarts, - And with them ran away.’ - -“I am the Queen of Hearts,” said the lady, bowing politely. - -“Pleased to meet you,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, also with a low bow. “So -that is the trouble, eh? The Jack of Hearts has taken the tarts away?” - -“Well, no, not exactly,” answered the Heart Queen. “You see, I haven’t -yet made the tarts. But, when I do, I suppose the Jack will take them, -and then there’ll be trouble, for Old King Cole specially wants them.” - -“Why haven’t you yet made them?” asked the bunny uncle. “If it says in -the Mother Goose book that you must make the tarts, why don’t you make -them?” - -“Because, in the first place,” answered the Queen of Hearts, sort of -shivering like, “this isn’t a Summer day. And, in the second place, I -don’t know how to make the tarts—that’s the trouble.” - -“Well, that is easily mended,” spoke the bunny uncle. “I can’t make a -Summer day out of a Spring one, but I can show you how to make tarts.” - -“Oh, can you—and will you?” asked the Queen of Hearts, clapping her -hands in delight. - -“I can and will,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “I have often watched -Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, my muskrat lady bungalow-keeper, make them, so I -ought to know how.” - -“Tell me,” said the Queen, “and we’ll do it.” - -“You take flour and water and milk and sugar and a yeast cake and spices -and make a pie crust,” said the bunny uncle. “Then you bake it in the -oven after you have cut it out in little round pieces, some with three -holes in, and some just plain.” - -“Oh, how lovely that sounds!” cried the Queen, clapping her hands again. -“I have all the things you need. Let’s make the tarts.” - -“And when the crust is baked in the oven,” went on Mr. Longears, “you -take out two pieces of tarts, put jam in between them, press them -together, and—there you are.” - -“Lovelier and more lovely!” cried the Queen. “Oh, I am so glad you -happened to come along. Now we’ll begin.” - -So she and Uncle Wiggily mixed up the sugar and spice, and other things -nice, making the pie crust, out of which they cut round, flat pieces, -some with three holes in, and some plain. - -“Oh, what lovely tarts they’ll be!” laughed the Queen. “Isn’t it a shame -that the Jack of Hearts must take them away?” - -“Well, if it’s that way in the Mother Goose book, it can’t be helped,” -said Uncle Wiggily. “But when he takes these tarts we’ll make some -more.” - -So the tarts were made and set aside to cool. - -“Now we’ll hide behind the kitchen door,” said the Queen of Hearts, “and -watch the Jack as he comes in to get them. I hope he doesn’t take them -all.” - -“Maybe he won’t,” said Uncle Wiggily. - -Pretty soon, as the bunny gentleman and the Queen of Hearts were hiding, -into the kitchen came the Jack of Hearts. He was a funny chap, with -little candy hearts all over his clothes and cap. - -“Ah, ha!” said the Jack, smacking his lips. “This is tart day. Here is -where I have a fine feast! I’ll get the tarts of the Queen of Hearts.” - -Laughing to himself, the Jack went up to the shelf where the tarts were -cooling. He lifted one down, and took a big bite from it, saying: - -“I’ll taste them before I take them away.” - -But, no sooner had he tasted it than the Jack of Hearts he dropped that -tart and, all excited like, he cried: - -“Oh me! Oh my! Oh ice water and lemonade! Oh, how my mouth burns! I -don’t want any of those tarts! Oh, no,” and away he ran, not taking one. - -“Why, that’s queer,” said the queen. “He should have taken those hearts. -That’s the way it is in the book.” - -The bunny uncle looked at the tarts he and the Queen had made. He took a -little taste of one, and then Uncle Wiggily said: - -“No wonder the Jack didn’t want them. By mistake we have put red pepper -in the tarts instead of red raspberry jam! They’re as hot as a stove. Oh -dear!” - -“Never mind,” said the Queen, sweetly. “We’ll make some more tarts, and -this time we’ll do it right and put in the jam. Anyhow I’m glad, for now -the Jack won’t want to take the new tarts I make.” And the Jack did not. -He had had enough. - -So the tarts were made over again by Uncle Wiggily and the Queen—right, -this time, with real jam—and King Cole ate them and said they were fine. -And if the paper boy doesn’t turn into a bottle of ink, and make the -fountain pen go swimming with the goldfish, I’ll tell you next about -Uncle Wiggily and the jumping cow. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXI - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE JUMPING COW - - -UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS, the nice, old gentleman rabbit, started out from -his hollow-stump bungalow one day, to take a walk. He hopped over the -fields and through the woods, wondering whether or not he might meet -with an adventure, when, after a little while, he came to the House that -Jack Built. - -And there, nicely wrapped up in a bag, the bunny uncle saw the malt that -lay in the House that Jack Built. Malt, you know, is a sort of flour, -out of which they make buckwheat cakes. - -“My goodness!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, as he scratched his pink, -twinkling nose, “I did not think I had come this far.” - -He stood in front of the House that Jack Built, wondering whether or not -he ought not go in and say “howdy do,” when he saw coming out of the -house the rat that ate the malt, and the cat that caught the rat, and -the dog that worried the cat that caught the rat that ate the malt that -lay in the House that Jack Built. - -“Well, this is very strange,” said Uncle Wiggily to himself. “They all -seem to be running away!” And indeed they were. For the cat was chasing -the rat and the dog was chasing the cat and the rat was chasing after -its own shadow, so as to get away from the cat, and then, all of a -sudden, out came Mother Goose herself. - -“Oh, have you seen her, Uncle Wiggily?” asked Mother Goose. “I am so -worried about her!” - -“Seen whom? About whom are you worried?” asked the rabbit gentleman, -politely. - -“The jumping cow,” answered Mother Goose. “She’s gone!” - -“I guess you mean the cow with the crumpled horn, don’t you?” asked the -bunny uncle. “She’s the one, you know, that tossed the dog that worried -the cat that caught the rat that ate the malt that lay in the House that -Jack Built.” - -“No, I don’t mean that cow,” answered Mother Goose. “I mean the jumping -cow. She’s the worst cow for jumping you ever saw. She jumps over all -the fences and stone walls and when we want her to give some milk for -Little Tommie Tucker’s supper she isn’t to be found. I’ve looked -everywhere for her, but I can’t find her. Oh, dear! Such trouble! I -thought she might be here, in the House that Jack Built, with the -Crumpled-Horn Cow. But she isn’t.” - -“Ha! Just you leave it to me, if you please,” said Uncle Wiggily, -kindly. “I’ll find the jumping cow for you. I can start off in my -automobile, with the bologna sausage tires, that go faster when you -sprinkle pepper on them or in my clothes-basket airship, with toy circus -balloons on the handles.” - -“You had better take your airship,” said Mother Goose. “A jumping cow -would be found up in the air, I think.” - -“I think so myself,” said Uncle Wiggily. So he hurried back to the -hollow-stump bungalow and got out his airship. In that he sailed over -the woods and fields, looking for the jumping cow. - -“Do, please, ask her to hurry back,” said Mother Goose. “For she has all -the milk for supper, and Tommie Tucker and the Children of the Old Woman -who Lives in a Shoe, are so hungry they don’t know what to do.” - -“I’ll get her,” promised Uncle Wiggily. - -On and on he sailed in his airship. But he could not see the jumping -cow. Up high he sailed and down low, and finally, when he came close to -the ground, near the place where Sammie Littletail, the boy rabbit, -lived with his sister Susie and his father and mother, Uncle Wiggily -heard Jollie Longtail, the mouse boy, singing a song that went like -this: - - “Hi-diddle-diddle! - The cat’s in the fiddle! - The cow jumped over the moon, - The little dog laughed - To see so much sport, - And the dish ran away with the spoon.” - -“Hello, what’s that!” cried Uncle Wiggily, bringing his airship to a -sudden stop and sailing down to earth. “What cow is that Jollie, that -jumped over the moon?” - -“Oh, Mother Goose’s cow,” answered the little mouse boy. “You see, Joie -Kat, the little kitten boy, crawled inside the fiddle, having a game of -tag with Tommie, his brother. And when Jack Sprat tried to play music on -the fiddle it made such a funny noise that the cow, who was waiting for -Little Boy Blue to blow his horn, gave a big jump, and away up over the -moon she went. That’s the way it was,” said Jollie Longtail. - -“I see,” answered Uncle Wiggily. “Well, in that case, I suppose I must -go sailing up to the moon to find the jumping cow. She is needed to -bring home the milk for Little Tommie Tucker’s supper.” - -Just then along came Mother Goose once more. - -“Oh, look!” she cried, pointing her broom up to the sky. “There’s my -nice jumping cow now. She’s falling down from her jump over the moon. -Oh, she’ll break her horns, surely. Oh, dear! What shall I do?” - -“Do? Do nothing,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “I will do it myself. See, -I have my airship. I’ll sail up and catch the jumping cow before she has -time to fall. Then everything will be all right.” - -“Oh, please do!” begged Mother Goose. - -Up in his clothes-basket airship went Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit -gentleman. - - up. - and - up - and - up - The cow was falling - down - and - down - and - down. - -“Oh, dear!” cried Mother Goose, on the earth below. “That cow should -have known better than to jump over the moon!” - -“I think so myself,” said the Man in the Moon. “I tried to stop her, but -I couldn’t.” - -“Never mind,” said Uncle Wiggily. “It will be all right, I’m sure.” - -Then he steered his airship right under the falling cow, who was no -longer jumping. Instead, she was sailing toward the earth, with a piece -of green cheese on one horn. She really had jumped over the moon, but -she slipped, and that’s how the green cheese got on the tip of her horn. - -“Here you are!” cried Uncle Wiggily, in his jolly voice, just like a -trolley car conductor. “Plenty of room up in front.” - -Then the jumping cow landed gently in the rabbit gentleman’s airship, -and he brought her down to earth as lightly as a feather, and the cow -was just in time with the milk for Little Tommie Tucker’s supper. - -So this teaches you that Uncle Wiggily can do many things besides eating -carrots and having the rheumatism, and if the egg beater doesn’t skip -out to whip the rag doll’s carpets, to earn five cents for the moving -pictures, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the pussies. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXII - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE PUSSIES - - -UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS, the kind old rabbit gentleman, was hopping along -in the woods in front of his hollow-stump bungalow one morning, and, -every now and then, he would stoop over and look at the ground. - -“What are you doing, Wiggy, if I may ask?” inquired Nurse Jane Fuzzy -Wuzzy, the muskrat lady, who kept the bungalow nice and neat for the -bunny uncle. - -“You may ask, and I will tell you,” politely answered Mr. Longears. “I -am looking to see if any flowers are growing in the woods.” - -“What! Flowers growing this time of year?” cried Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy. “It -is much too early!” - -“Why, it was the first of Spring, the other day!” said Uncle Wiggily. “I -should think the flowers would be waking up now, and putting their heads -out from beneath the brown earth-blankets, under which they slept all -winter.” - -“Oh, no!” laughed Nurse Jane. “First we must have some April showers to -bring May flowers.” - -“Well, I am going to keep on looking,” said Uncle Wiggily. “I may find a -flower in the woods, or, if I do not, I’ll have an adventure. Either one -would be nice.” - -So away hopped the bunny uncle, leaning on his red, white and blue -barber-pole striped rheumatism crutch, which Nurse Jane had nicely -speckled with pink candy for him on account of Spring coming. - -And, all of a sudden, as Mr. Longears went along, he slipped in a little -puddle of water, and—presto-chango! Off flew his glasses and they were -broken all to pieces. - -“Oh, dear!” cried Uncle Wiggily, picking up the bits. “That’s too bad. -Now I can hardly see to get along. I must take these glasses to the -blacksmith shop to have them mended. I hope I don’t lose my way, for, -without my glasses, I am almost as blind as a bat or an owl in daylight. -But I will do the best I can.” - -With the pieces of his broken glasses in his pocket, Uncle Wiggily went -along through the woods. He peered this way and that, for the sun hurt -his eyes when he had no glasses, but still he could see a little bit. -Then, all at once, Uncle Wiggily, looking through the trees, said: - -“Why, here comes Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady, I do declare!” - -Uncle Wiggily made his necktie tidy and smooth, and pulled down his -vest, for he wanted to look nice. Then he made a low bow and said: - -“How do you do, Mrs. Wibblewobble? I am glad to meet you in the woods.” - -But there was no answer, and Uncle Wiggily said: - -“Why, I wonder if she heard me? I hope Mrs. Wibblewobble isn’t getting -deaf! I must speak louder.” - -He looked again where he thought he had seen the duck lady, going a -little nearer, and, lo! it was only a stump that looked like Mrs. -Wibblewobble. - -“Well, well!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “I can’t see at all well without my -glasses. What a mistake to make!” - -He laughed and walked on, and, pretty soon he thought he saw Mrs. -Stubtail, the lady bear, mother to Neddie and Beckie Stubtail. - -“Why, how do you——” began Uncle Wiggily, and then he saw it was only a -big black stone on the woodland path. - -“Ha! Another mistake!” cried the bunny uncle, with a laugh. “I am making -lots of them to-day. It comes of having such poor eye-sight!” - -So he went on toward the blacksmith shop to have his glasses mended. A -little later he thought a fallen log was Grandfather Goosey Gander, and, -not long after that, he saw a pile of dried leaves and thought they were -Uncle Butter, the goat gentleman. He was just going to shake paws with -the leaves, when he came closer he saw that he had made another mistake. - -“Well, well!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “It certainly is too bad not to have -your glasses once you start wearing them.” - -On he went, a little farther, and he came soon to a place where some -bushes were growing. Up in the bushes a little way from the ground, -Uncle Wiggily saw some soft, furry, fuzzy things perched on the -branches. - -“Oh, the dear little pussies!” cried the rabbit gentleman. “Some dog -must have come along here and chased them up in the bushes. I’ll get -them down. Don’t be afraid, little ones,” he said. “I won’t let anybody -harm you. Come to your Uncle Wiggily!” - -The bunny uncle hopped up and held out his paw to the fuzzy things. They -did not speak to him. - -“But that’s all right,” he said. “They are too frightened even to mew. -I’ll take them to Mother Goose and she will give them some warm milk. -Come along, Pussies!” said the rabbit gentleman. - -But, though he went close to the bush, and called very gently, the -pussies did not jump into his paws. - -“I guess they are too frightened,” said the bunny uncle. “I’ll just -break off the branch with the pussies on,” thought Mr. Longears, “and -carry them home that way. Poor little pussies! Did a bad bow-wow dog -scare you? Well, just come with your Uncle Wiggily, and it will be all -right!” - -So the bunny gentleman broke off the branch with the soft, fuzzy pussies -on it, and away he walked through the woods. - -“I’ll take them to Mother Goose,” he said, “and then I’ll go to the -blacksmith shop and have my glasses mended.” - -Uncle Wiggily soon was at the house of the lady who swept cobwebs out of -the sky. - -“Mother Goose! Mother Goose!” he cried. “I’ve brought you some little -pussies on the branch of a bush. A dog chased and scared them up there, -and they were afraid to come down. Please get them some warm milk with -carrot sauce in.” - -Mother Goose came running to the door. She looked at the fuzzy things -Uncle Wiggily held out. Then she laughed. - -“What’s the matter?” asked the bunny uncle. “Why don’t you take care of -the poor pussies?” - -“Pussies? Pussies?” laughed dear old Mother Goose, harder than before. -“Those are pussy willows.” - -“Pussy willows” said Uncle Wiggily, surprised like. - -“Yes, they are the soft, fuzzy blossoms of the willow bush. They are -plants and not an animal at all.” - -“Well, well!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “That shows what it is to be without -glasses. I certainly thought they were real pussies. I must hurry to the -blacksmith’s to have my glasses fixed.” - -So he did, and his glasses were soon mended; while Mother Goose put the -pussy willows in water where they would blossom out into big cat-posies. - -And if the stepladder doesn’t walk off with the cake of soap and have a -birthday party for the broom and dust pan on the back stoop, I’ll tell -you next about Uncle Wiggily and the leaves. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LEAVES - - -UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS, the rabbit gentleman, stood out in front of his -hollow-stump bungalow in the woods, one day, and looked carefully -around. Then he glanced up at the blue sky. - -“What is the matter?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady -bungalow-keeper. “Are you looking for some one?” - -“Well, no, not exactly,” replied the bunny uncle, slowly. “I was just -thinking that perhaps I had better begin to do some Spring cleaning -around my bungalow.” - -“Spring cleaning! Do you mean inside or outside?” asked the muskrat -lady, as she carefully wiped a bit of flour off the end of her nose with -her tail, for she had been baking a cake. - -“Oh, I mean outside, of course,” replied Uncle Wiggily. “I’ll leave you -to look after the bungalow, inside, while I clean up outside. You see -there are so many last year’s dried leaves about, here in the woods, -that if they were to catch fire our bungalow might burn.” - -“Mercy!” cried Nurse Jane. “I wouldn’t want that to happen. Oh, my!” - -“No, indeed,” Uncle Wiggily said. “Once was enough. The last time we had -a fire you and I had to board around with our friends. Still, it was not -so bad as it might have been, for I met Mother Goose, and did some -favors for her and her friends.” - -“What were you thinking of doing to the leaves?” asked Nurse Jane, -curious like and inquisitive. - -“Why, I thought I’d rake them up in a pile and make a soft place, so if -Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbit children, came along on their -way home from school, they could jump on the leaves as they sometimes do -in the hay.” - -“Very good,” Nurse Jane said. “You rake up the leaves and I’ll wash the -dishes.” - -So Uncle Wiggily began. For a rake he used the dried branch from a tree. -It had many little ends to it, almost like the teeth of a rake, that -branch had. - -“I wonder if a rake ever gets the toothache?” thought Uncle Wiggily, as -he pulled and poked the leaves into piles. “If it does, it must hurt -very much because there are so many teeth.” - -But the bunny uncle did not have a real rake, only a tree branch, which -he used as one, and that had no teeth to ache, I’m glad to say. - -“It will be good to get the layers of dead, dried leaves off the -ground,” said Uncle Wiggily, “for soon the April showers will bring the -May flowers, and they find it easier to spring up if there is no blanket -of leaves over them to hold them down.” - -The bunny uncle soon had many piles of soft, dried leaves, and in a -little while along came Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbit -children, and into the leaves they jumped, off a stump, bouncing up and -down like rubber balls. - -Pretty soon Uncle Wiggily heard a voice saying: - -“Oh, dear, isn’t it too bad? Yes, it’s even three, four, five, six, -seven bad! That’s what it is!” - -“Ha! Some one in trouble!” said Uncle Wiggily, dropping his tree-branch -rake and running back to the pile of leaves. “I suppose either Sammie or -Susie has fallen down, and bumped one of their noses. I must help them -up!” - -But when Uncle Wiggily got there the cupboard was bare—oh, no, excuse -me, if you please. That’s in another story. I mean when the bunny uncle -reached the pile of leaves where Sammie and Susie had been playing -neither one of the rabbit children was in sight. - -“Oh, my!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “They must be all covered up with the -leaves! I’ll have to dig them out! No wonder it’s two, six, seven bad! -Poor rabbits under the leaves.” - -With his paws he began digging at the piles of leaves, scattering them -all over, after his hard work of raking them up. But as he went deeper -and deeper he could see no signs of the bunny children. And then, from -somewhere behind him, Uncle Wiggily heard the sad voice again saying: - -“Oh, dear! It’s too bad! Yes, it’s two, three and even sixteen-eleven -bad. Oh, dear!” - -Turning quickly, Uncle Wiggily saw Jimmie Wibblewobble, the boy duck, -with an empty bag over his wing shoulder. - -“Why, Jimmie! Is that you?” asked the bunny uncle, in surprise. “I -thought it was Sammie and Susie Littletail. They were playing in these -dried leaves a while ago, but now I can’t find them, and I fear they may -be covered up so far down that I can never get them out.” - -“Oh, don’t worry about that, Uncle Wiggily,” said Jimmie, the boy duck. -“Sammie and Susie are all right. I met them running down a woodland path -a little while ago, as I came along, and they were talking of what fun -they had had in the leaves. They got tired and ran away when you weren’t -looking. That’s why you can’t find them under the leaves. But, oh, dear! -Two, sixteen-eleven bad!” - -“Why, what’s the matter with _you_?” asked Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “Are -_you_ in trouble, Jimmie?” - -“I am, Uncle Wiggily.” - -“What kind of trouble, Jimmie, my duck boy?” - -“Feather-trouble,” answered the Wibblewobble chap. - -“Feather-trouble?” repeated Uncle Wiggily, sort of surprised like and -astonished. “Feather-trouble?” - -“Yes. You see my mother sent me with a bag of our best duck feathers for -Mother Goose to make a feather bed from. Well, all at once, some strong -March wind came dancing by, turned the bag inside out and blew away -every feather! And, what to do I don’t know, for there are no more -feathers at our coop. And if Mother Goose doesn’t have feathers for her -bed she will feel badly. Oh, dear! Such trouble!” - -Uncle Wiggily thought for a moment. Then he said: - -“Ho, Jimmie! I see a way out of your trouble. Fill your bag with some of -these soft, dried leaves. They will be nearly as good as feathers for -Mother Goose, and, at the same time, you will be doing me a favor by -taking away the leaves, so the flowers can grow.” - -“Oh, fine!” cried Jimmie. So he took a big bag of the leaves, which -Mother Goose said were as good to sleep on as feathers, and thus -everything came out just right, you see, and Sammie and Susie weren’t -lost under the leaves after all, for which Uncle Wiggily was very glad. - -And if the fried egg doesn’t try to hide in the apple dumpling and make -the peach stone jump over the shortcake, when we have company for -supper, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the wise man. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE WISE MAN - - -“RAT-A-TAT-TAT!” came a knock on the door of the hollow-stump bungalow, -where Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, lived. - -“I’ll see who it is,” he called to Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy and the -muskrat lady housekeeper was glad of that, for her paws were in the -dishwater up to her elbows, and you know how it is yourself; you don’t -like to answer the bell with your hands all soap bubbles, like a pipe. - -So Uncle Wiggily went to the door, and, standing there, he saw Nannie -Wagtail, the little goat girl. And there were tears in Nannie’s eyes, -and she was trying to wipe them away with the tips of her horns. But -when she did this she only tickled herself and she had to laugh. - -But she didn’t want to laugh; she wanted to cry, for she was sad. And -you know how it is yourself—you can’t laugh and cry at the same time; -can you? - -“Why, Nannie! What is the matter?” asked Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “Come in -and tell me all your troubles!” - -“Oh, dear! Boo hoo! Hoo boo! I have lots of troubles!” said the little -goat girl. “My best doll, Priscilla Spicecake Orangejuice, is gone.” - -“Gone!” cried Uncle Wiggily. - -“Taken!” exclaimed Nannie. “I was out in front of our house a while ago -playing dolls with Beckie Stubtail, the little girl bear. Beckie had her -doll, Esmeralda Pancake Eggturner, with her, and we were having a lovely -time. - -“But I laid my doll down to go in the house to get some cookies, and -when I came out my doll was gone, and Beckie was crying.” - -“Why, what happened?” asked Uncle Wiggily, surprised like. - -“Beckie said a man came running along, grabbed up my doll, and before -she could stop him he hurried off into the woods with my dear Priscilla -Spicecake Orangejuice!” - -“Oh, that’s too bad!” said the bunny uncle. “Now don’t you cry any more. -You just tell me what sort of a man he was who took your doll and I’ll -go after him and make him give it back, even if I have to get the circus -elephant to squirt water on him from the lemonade barrel. Tell me what -sort of a man he was.” - -“He was a man who wore glasses,” said Nannie. - -“Say no more!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “I think I know exactly who he is! -I’ll go after him at once.” - -So the bunny uncle, telling Nurse Jane not to wait lunch for him, -started off over the fields and through the woods to look for Nannie’s -doll. On the way he met Mother Goose, and he asked that old lady: - -“Are any of your friends the kind of a man who wears glasses, and would -take a little goat girl’s doll?” - -“Well, yes,” said Mother Goose, slowly, “the Wise Man might. You see he -spoiled his eyes, reading so much to make him wise, that he has to wear -glasses. But he is really very kind. I think he only took Nannie’s doll -for a joke, or perhaps he wants to get her another just like it and took -that along for a sample.” - -“Perhaps,” said Uncle Wiggily. “But, anyhow, I’ll find him and ask him -about it.” - -So he walked and hopped on and on through the woods to where the Wise -Man used to live, and pretty soon, from behind a big bush, the bunny -uncle heard some one singing this song: - - “There was a man in our town, - And he was wondrous wise. - He jumped into a berry bush, - And scratched out both his eyes. - But when he saw his eyes were out, - With all his might and main, - He jumped into another bush - And scratched them in again.” - -“Ha!” said Uncle Wiggily softly. “I thought so! The wise man! I have -found him! Now to see if he has Nannie’s doll!” - -Uncle Wiggily peeked through the bush, which was a blackberry one, only -there were no berries on it now. On the other side, sitting on the -ground, was the Wise Man, wearing glasses, and he had Nannie’s doll in -his hands. He was talking to the doll, something like this: - -“Now, little doll, don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. I’m just going to -toss you into the berry bush, and scratch out both your eyes. But that -won’t hurt, for as soon as I see your eyes are out, with all my might -and main, I’ll toss you in another bush and scratch them in again. There -you go!” - -Before Uncle Wiggily could stop him, the Wise Man had tossed Nannie’s -doll, Priscilla Spicecake Orangejuice, into the berry bush. Then the man -cried: - -“Yes, your eyes are scratched out, all right, dollie! Now to scratch -them in again!” And, before Uncle Wiggily could hop any closer to stop -him, the Wise Man tossed again into the bush, the poor doll. And when -she fell down the Wise Man carefully picked her up, and, looking at her, -said: - -“Alas! Alack a-day! Woe is me! The eyes aren’t scratched in again at -all! Oh, dear, what shall I do? I’ll have to get the little goat girl -another doll.” - -Uncle Wiggily jumped out from behind the berry bush. - -“What do you mean?” asked the bunny uncle. “Why do you treat a poor doll -so? Look, her hair has come off, and her eyes have fallen out! Oh, my!” -and from the ground he picked up the doll’s hair-wig and eyes, which -were of glass, fastened together with wire. - -“I’m sorry,” said the Wise Man. “I’m very sorry this has happened. But I -read about the Wise Man in the Mother Goose book, who jumped into a -berry bush and got a new pair of eyes. I thought I could do the same as -he, for I’m tired of glasses. - -“But I thought I’d try it on a doll first, to see if it were true. So, -not having any doll of my own I took Nannie’s, meaning no harm. But see -what I have done!” he said, sadly. “I have scratched out her eyes and -her wig is off, and I can’t put the eyes back again, nor yet the wig. -It’s a good thing I didn’t jump into the scratchy bush myself. It is -better to wear glasses than have no eyes at all.” - -“Yes, indeed,” said Uncle Wiggily, and he felt sorry for the poor Wise -Man. “But never mind,” went on the bunny uncle. “I know a monkey-doodle -gentleman, who mends broken dolls. I’ll take Priscilla Spicecake -Orangejuice to him, and he can fasten her eyes in again and glue on her -wig.” - -“Will you? Then please do!” said the Wise Man. “I’ll pay the -monkey-doodle, and here is five cents extra for little Nannie. Tell her -I’m sorry I borrowed her doll and I’ll never do it again.” - -“All right,” cheerfully said Uncle Wiggily, “and don’t you try to -scratch your eyes out, and in again.” - -“I won’t,” promised the Wise Man. “Glasses are good enough for me.” - -The monkey-doodle gentleman soon fixed Nannie’s doll as good as ever, so -the eyes opened and shut, and the little goat girl was happy once more, -when Uncle Wiggily brought back Priscilla Spicecake Orangejuice. Thus, -you see, everything came out all right, as I generally try to make it. - -And if the crazy quilt doesn’t jump into the rag bag and get lost so the -pillow case has no place to sleep, when it comes home from the moving -pictures, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the tailors. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXV - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE TAILORS - - -“WELL, where are you going this morning, Uncle Wiggily?” asked Nurse -Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady, of the rabbit gentleman, as he -lifted his red, white and blue-striped rheumatism crutch down off the -hat rack, and opened the front door. - -“Oh, I’m just going out for a hop through the woods,” replied the bunny -uncle. “Mother Goose said that Grandfather Goosey Gander was coming to -pay her a visit to-day, and, as I haven’t seen him in some time, I -thought I’d go over myself and have a little talk.” - -“Very well,” went on Nurse Jane, “and on your way back I wish you would -bring me a spool of thread.” - -“A spool of thread? Why, certainly,” promised Uncle Wiggily, and off he -hopped through the woods until he came to where Mother Goose lived. Her -house was next door to the shoe, in which lived the Old Woman Who Had So -Many Children She Didn’t Know What To Do. - -“Good morning, Mother Goose,” said Uncle Wiggily, politely. “I hope I -see you well. Has Grandpa Goosey Gander come yet?” - -“Not yet. I am expecting him every minute. Sit down and make yourself at -home,” and Mother Goose dusted a chair. - -Uncle Wiggily sat down, and he and Mother Goose were talking about the -best way to give the most bread and jam to animal children, when along -came Grandpa Goosey. - -“I’m sorry I’m late,” he said, all sort of flustered like, “but I lost a -button off my coat. I stopped in a tailor’s to have it sewed on, but, -would you believe me? There isn’t a tailor to be found in Woodland—not -one in this whole forest!” - -“Nonsense!” cried Mother Goose. “Why, there are four-and-twenty tailors -here—just as many as there were blackbirds baked in the pie that was set -before the king. No tailors to be found out of all those -four-and-twenty? Nonsense! There must be!” and she swept cobwebs down -out of the sky just for fun. - -“Not a tailor!” said Grandpa Goosey. “I looked all over for one. Their -shops were open, but the tailors were gone, and so I had to come without -a button on my coat.” - -“Never mind,” said Mother Goose. “I’ll sew it on for you,” and she did. - -“That reminds me,” said Uncle Wiggily, after they had talked a bit. -“Speaking of tailors, I’m to bring Nurse Jane a spool of thread. I think -I’ll be hopping along. If I can’t find any tailor in his shop, where I -can buy the thread, I’ll have to go to the five and ten cent store.” - -So he said good-by to Mother Goose and Grandpa Gander, and away hopped -the bunny uncle gentleman over the fields and through the woods. - -“I wonder if I could find those four-and-twenty tailors?” thought Uncle -Wiggily. “Four-and-twenty—that’s just two dozen—quite a number. I wonder -why they all left their shops? I wonder——?” - -And just then from behind some bushes he heard some voices saying: - -“You go up and jab her!” - -“No, you do it!” - -“I’m afraid!” - -“Well, so am I. Hi there, who has a yardstick? Let whoever has a -yardstick go up and jab her!” - -“And let some one tickle her with a needle.” - -“You do it!” - -“No, you. I’m afraid.” - -“Well, so am I! Boo!” - -“Goodness me gracious sakes alive and some hooks and eyes!” cried Uncle -Wiggily. “What does all this mean? Who’s afraid?” He peeked through the -bushes and there he saw, on the woodland path, a lot of men with -needles, pins, spools of thread, tape measures, yardsticks, thimbles, -scissors, linings, pockets, buttonholes and all things like that. - -“Who are you?” asked Uncle Wiggily, in surprise. - -“I’ll tell you who we are,” answered one of the twenty-four, (for there -were just two dozen of them) as the rabbit gentleman could count. Then -some one sang this song: - - “We four-and-twenty tailors went to catch a snail, - The best man among us dared not touch her tail; - She put out her horns like a little Kylow cow, - So run, tailors! Run! Or she’ll bite us all just now!” - -And as the tailor said that he turned and ran through the woods as fast -as ever he could run, all the other twenty-three running after him. - -“Oh, my! Oh, me! Oh, dear! This is too funny!” cried Uncle Wiggily. -“Four-and-twenty tailors afraid of a snail, even if she did put out her -horns like a Kylow cow. I say, tailors! Come back! Come back!” cried -Uncle Wiggily. “Mother Goose is worried about you. Come back!” - -“We’re afraid of the snail!” said one, who had sung the song. - -“Nonsense!” laughed Uncle Wiggily. “She wouldn’t hurt a lightning bug! -Come here, I’ll show you how to make her pull in her horns!” - -Slowly and carefully the four-and-twenty tailors came back on their -tippy-tiptoes. - -“What did you want to catch a snail for, anyhow?” asked the bunny uncle. - -“Make her put in her horns so she won’t look so much like a cow and -scare us, and we’ll tell you,” said the singing tailor. - -Uncle Wiggily laughed and suddenly cried: - - “Snail, snail, pull in your horn, - Here’s Jimmie, the duck boy, - Looking for corn!” - -Then the snail quickly pulled in her horns and crawled away and she -didn’t hurt the tailors any, and they didn’t tickle her with a needle, -thimble or even a spool of hooks and eyes. - -“We just wanted to see if we could catch a snail,” said the singing -tailor. “We didn’t mean to hurt her, but it says in Mother Goose’s book -that four-and-twenty tailors went out to catch a snail, and, as we were -not very busy this morning, we went out. But, oh! how fierce she did -look with her horns! I’m not going snail-hunting any more.” - -“Nor I,” cried the other twenty-three tailors in a chorus. Then they -thanked Uncle Wiggily for having driven the snail away, as he did, by -making believe Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck boy, was coming after her -(since ducks like snails very much). And the tailors each gave Uncle -Wiggily a spool of thread, so Nurse Jane had all she wanted, and Grandpa -Goosey’s button was sewed on. - -And if the basket of soap bubbles doesn’t fall down-stairs and spill ink -on the white table cloth just as it is going to the dance, I’ll tell you -next about Uncle Wiggily and the bat. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI - - UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BAT - - -UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS, the nice little boy bear—Oh, please be so kind -as to excuse me, as the telephone girl says when she rings the dinner -bell at supper time. I mean Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old rabbit -gentleman, put on his red, white and blue-striped rheumatism tall silk -hat and—— - -Eh? What’s that? Something else wrong? Oh, yes; to be sure. I meant to -say he took his red, white and blue-striped rheumatism crutch, and put -his tall silk hat on over his ears, and then he started out of his -hollow-stump bungalow for a walk. - -I don’t know what’s the matter with me in this story—making so many -mistakes—unless it was that I danced the fox-trot backward the other -night, and it turned out to be a goose-walk. Anyhow, I’ll try to be more -careful after this. - -Out stepped Uncle Wiggily, starting off toward the woods, but he had not -gone very far before Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady, called to -him. - -“Where are you going, Uncle Wiggily? Don’t you know that it is after -supper, and will soon be dark? Then why do you go to the woods?” - -“I want an adventure,” answered the bunny uncle. “I haven’t had one -to-day. And, as for the dark, the moon will soon be up, and give me good -light. Have no fear, Nurse Jane, I will soon be back safely.” - -So Nurse Jane had no fear and Uncle Wiggily hopped on and on, over the -fields and through the woods. All of a sudden he passed the house where -Susie Littletail, the little rabbit girl, lived. - -“Oh, Uncle Wiggily,” called Mrs. Littletail, the bunny mother. “If you -see Susie, will you please tell her to come home at once? Her supper is -quite cold, though I will warm up the carrot gravy for her.” - -“I’ll tell her,” promised the bunny uncle. “Where is she?” - -“She went over to play with Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble, the two duck -girls,” was the answer, “and she must be having a fine time, for she’s -been there ever so long.” - -“I wonder what sort of an adventure I shall have this evening,” thought -the bunny uncle. “Yesterday I drove away the snail that was scaring the -four-and-twenty tailors, but no tailors would be out now, after dark. -However, the moon will soon be up, and then I will have light enough to -see an adventure if one happens along.” - -Going a little farther, Uncle Wiggily came to where Lulu and Alice -Wibblewobble, the duck girls, lived in a nice pen, with their father and -mother and their brother Jimmie. - -“Is Susie Littletail in there?” asked Uncle Wiggily, looking over the -fence. “Her mother said she came over here to play, but hasn’t come home -yet. Is she there?” - -“No, Uncle Wiggily,” answered Lulu, wagging her tail wobbily like. -“Susie left here some time ago. She said she was going to run home to -supper.” - -“It’s queer I didn’t meet her,” said the bunny uncle. “But, perhaps, she -might have gone home by another path. I daresay she is all right. I’ll -walk along a little farther, and then if I don’t see her I’ll go back.” - -Well, Uncle Wiggily was going on and on, when, all at once from behind -an old stump, he heard a sad little voice crying, and saying: - -“Oh, dear! Oh, dear! I’m afraid to go home, and I’m afraid to stay here. -I don’t know what to do!” - -“My! That sounds like trouble of the very worst kind!” spoke Uncle -Wiggily, in his jolly voice. “I must see who it is, and if I can help -them.” - -Uncle Wiggily started for the stump, and then he happened to think: - -“Ah, perhaps that might be the skillery-scalery alligator with the humps -on his tail, making believe to be in trouble just to get me near enough -so he can catch me. I had better be careful.” - -So Uncle Wiggily carefully peeked around the corner before going any -closer to the stump, and there, sitting down on a stone behind it in the -moonlight, was Susie Littletail, the rabbit girl, herself. - -“Why, Susie!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “What are you doing here? Your mother -is looking for you, and so am I. Why don’t you go home?” - -“’Cause I’m afraid, Uncle Wiggily,” and Susie cried a few tears. - -“What are you afraid of?” asked the bunny uncle. “Surely not the dark. -That can’t hurt you, and besides it will soon be moonlight.” - -“No, I’m not afraid of the dark, Uncle Wiggily,” said Susie, “but I’m -afraid of the bat.” - -“The bat?” cried the bunny uncle, astonished like. - -“Yes; he’s a big bird with wings, but he has ears and looks like a rat. -I’m afraid he’ll get tangled in my fur, or else that he’ll bite me. Oh, -there he is now!” and Susie pointed to something black, like a bird, -flying to and fro in the darkness. - -“Yes, that is a bat,” said Uncle Wiggily, “but it will not hurt you. It -is only flying around to catch mosquitoes and other bugs that come out -mostly at night. A bat, like an owl, can see in the dark. He won’t hurt -you.” - -“Oh, but I’m afraid,” said Susie. “I started from the Wibblewobble house -a long time ago, to go home, but I saw the bat flying around and I hid. -I dassen’t go home.” - -“Nonsense!” laughed Uncle Wiggily. “I’ll fix it for you. I’ll play a -little joke on the bat and get him out of the way until I can lead you -home.” - -So Uncle Wiggily recited this little verse from Mother Goose: - - “Bat, bat! Come under my hat, - And I’ll give you a slice of bacon. - And when I bake, - I’ll give you a cake. - If I am not mistaken.” - -Uncle Wiggily put his tall silk hat on the ground, and, surely enough, -the bat crawled under it to see if there were any bacon there. And, -before he could come out Uncle Wiggily hurried home with Susie, who -wasn’t afraid any more, not with the bunny uncle to hold her paw. - -Then Uncle Wiggily, not being mistaken, got a cake from Nurse Jane and -took it back to the bat, also getting his tall silk hat. And the bat was -very much obliged, for the cake, and he said he never would have tangled -himself in Susie’s fur anyhow, so she need not have been afraid. - -“But I’m glad she’s safely home,” said the bat. - -“So am I,” said Uncle Wiggily. - -And I guess Susie was also. - -But if the button-hook doesn’t get tangled up in the dog’s tail, and -ride out to where the shoe-horn is playing tunes for the rubber heels to -dance the lame duck, I’ll tell you next—— - -Oh, but hold on, if you please. I’m not going to tell you any more -stories in this book, for it is already quite well filled, as you can -see for yourself. So if I write any more tales they will have to go in -another big volume like this. - -That’s what I’ll do, if you like, and the next book will be called, -“Uncle Wiggily and His Friends,” and will tell of the different things -that happened to the bunny uncle when he went calling on all the animal -folk that live in Woodland. So, while I am getting that book ready, I -will say good-bye. - - - THE END - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - CHILDREN’S BOOKS - By HOWARD R. GARIS - - ------- - - BEDTIME STORIES - - ------- - - CLOTH, FINELY DECORATED COVER, EIGHT COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS - _Price, per volume 75 cents, postpaid_ - - ------- - - Each book contains a story for every day in the month - - SAMMIE AND SUSIE LITTLETAIL - 31 Rabbit Stories - - JOHNNIE AND BILLIE BUSHYTAIL - 31 Squirrel Stories - - LULU, ALICE AND JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE - 31 Duck Stories - - UNCLE WIGGILY’S ADVENTURES - 31 Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories - - JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW WOW - 31 Doggie Stories - - UNCLE WIGGILY’S TRAVELS - 31 more Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories - - BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES PIGG - 31 Guinea Pig Stories - - UNCLE WIGGILY’S FORTUNE - 31 queer Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories - - JOIE, TOMMIE AND KITTIE KAT - 31 Kitten Stories - - CHARLIE AND ARABELLA CHICK - 31 Chicken Stories - - UNCLE WIGGILY’S AUTOMOBILE - 31 surprising Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories - - NEDDIE AND BECKIE STUBTAIL - 31 Nice Bear Stories - - BULLY AND BAWLY NO-TAIL - 31 Frog Stories - - UNCLE WIGGILY AT THE SEASHORE - 31 different Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories - - NANNIE AND BILLIE WAGTAIL - 31 Goat Stories - - ------- - - SOMETHING NEW - - ------- - - THE DADDY SERIES - Colored cover and frontispiece, and three drawings in black and white - _Price 40 cents per volume, postpaid_ - Fun, adventure, amusement, with some nature and - out-door instruction for Little Folk. - - ------- - - DADDY TAKES US CAMPING - DADDY TAKES US FISHING - DADDY TAKES US TO THE CIRCUS - DADDY TAKES US SKATING - DADDY TAKES US COASTING - (_Other books in preparation_) - - All about a little boy and a little girl and their dear Daddy. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW WOW - -“Come on, Jackie!” called Peetie Bow Wow, the boy doggie, one morning. -“Come on!” - -“Where are you going?” asked Jackie of Peetie. - -“Let’s run off and join the circus,” suggested Peetie, as he tried to -stand up on the end of his tail and turn a somersault. “We can earn a -lot of money.” - -“How?” asked Jackie, scratching his nose with his ear. - -“Why, we can make money by doing tricks in the circus,” went on Peetie. -“We can jump over the backs of elephants, climb up to the top of the -tent, and do lots of things like that. A circus is fun!” - -You have read how Daddy Blake took Hal and Mab to the circus, and you -will like to read about Jackie and Peetie. They are in a book called -“Bedtime Stories: Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow,” by Howard R. Garis, who -also wrote the Daddy books. - -Send to R. F. Fenno & Company, 18 East 17th Street, New York City, and -they will mail the book on receipt of price, if you can not get it in -your book store. The book has colored pictures. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - UNCLE WIGGILY’S FORTUNE - -“Oh, dear!” cried Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, as he -got to the top of a big hill and looked down. “Oh, dear!” - -“Why, what has happened?” asked Sammie Littletail, the boy rabbit, -hopping up. - -“Why, I have traveled all over, just as Dr. Possum told me to,” replied -Uncle Wiggily, “and I have not yet found my fortune. It is very sad!” - -“Sad!” cried Sammie. “Not a bit of it! I know where your fortune is. You -are the richest rabbit in the whole world!” - -“My goodness me, sakes alive, and some ice cream radishes!” Uncle -Wiggily exclaimed. - -And then Sammie showed the rabbit gentleman his fortune. You may read -all about how he found it in the book entitled “Bedtime Stories: Uncle -Wiggily’s Fortune.” And you should see the colored pictures Mr. Wisa -made for it! - -Howard R. Garis, who wrote the Daddy books, wrote this one about Uncle -Wiggily. R. F. Fenno & Company, of 18 East 17th Street, New York City, -publish it. They will send it to you if your own store does not have it. -Write and ask them. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - DADDY TAKES US TO THE CIRCUS - -“Oh, Mab!” cried Hal Blake, as he came running into the house one -morning. “Daddy is going to take us to the circus!” - -“Are you, Daddy?” asked the little girl. - -“Yes,” said Mr. Blake. “Here are the tickets.” - -“Oh, what fun we’ll have!” shouted Hal. - -“Won’t we!” added his sister. - -How Daddy Blake took the children to the show in the big tent, and how -Hal and Mab went to sleep in one of the red wagons, and were carried -off—all that you may read in the book called “Daddy Takes Us to the -Circus.” It is written by Howard R. Garis, who also wrote the Bedtime -book you have just read. It contains fine pictures, and has a decorated -cover. You read, and liked, the Bedtimes, so surely you will like the -Daddy books. - -If your dealer does not keep them, please send to the publishers, R. F. -Fenno & Company, 18 East 17th Street, New York City, who will forward -any volume on receipt of price. - -Daddy Blake, on his trips with Hal and Mab, told them things about -nature and out-door life. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - ● Transcriber’s Notes: - ○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected. - ○ Typographical errors were silently corrected. - ○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only - when a predominant form was found in this book. - ○ Text that: - was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_); - was in bold by is enclosed by “equal” signs (=bold=). - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNCLE WIGGILY AND MOTHER -GOOSE *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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Garis</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>Complete in two parts; fifty-two stories--one for each week of the year</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Howard R. Garis</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Edward Bloomfield</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: December 2, 2022 [eBook #69458]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: David Edwards, Barry Abrahamsen, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNCLE WIGGILY AND MOTHER GOOSE ***</div> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/endpaper1.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/endpaper2.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/frontis.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div> - <h1 class='c002'>Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose</h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div><span class='c004'>COMPLETE IN TWO PARTS</span></div> - <div class='c003'>FIFTY-TWO STORIES—ONE FOR EACH WEEK IN THE YEAR</div> - <div class='c001'>BY</div> - <div><span class='c004'>HOWARD R. GARIS</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='c005'>Author of</span></div> - <div><span class='c005'>“Sammie and Susie Littletail,” “Johnnie and Billie Bushytail,” “Uncle</span></div> - <div><span class='c005'>Wiggily Longears,” “Uncle Wiggily at the Seashore,” “Uncle</span></div> - <div><span class='c005'>Wiggily in the Country,” “The Daddy Series,” etc.</span></div> - <div class='c001'>Illustrated by</div> - <div><span class='c006'>EDWARD BLOOMFIELD</span></div> - <div class='c001'><span class='c004'>R. F. FENNO & COMPANY</span></div> - <div>18 East 17 Street, New York</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<p class='c007'> </p> -<div class='box1'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='c008'><span class="sans">CHILDREN’S BOOKS</span></span></div> - <div><span class='c004'>By HOWARD R. GARIS</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c009' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>UNCLE WIGGILY’S BIG BOOKS</div> - <div class='c000'><span class='c005'><i>Price, $1.50 each</i></span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>UNCLE WIGGILY LONGEARS</div> - <div class='line'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND MOTHER GOOSE</div> - <div class='line'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND HIS FRIENDS</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'>Large cloth volumes, decorated cover and eight colored -illustrations each</p> -<hr class='c009' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>THE DADDY SERIES</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>DADDY TAKES US CAMPING</div> - <div class='line'>DADDY TAKES US FISHING</div> - <div class='line'>DADDY TAKES US TO THE COUNTRY</div> - <div class='line'>DADDY TAKES US COASTING</div> - <div class='line'>DADDY TAKES US SKATING</div> - <div class='line'>DADDY TAKES US HUNTING FLOWERS</div> - <div class='line'>DADDY TAKES US HUNTING BIRDS</div> - <div class='line'>DADDY TAKES US TO THE WOODS</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c009' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>Small boards, decorated cover and illustrated</div> - <div class='c000'><i>Price, per volume, 40 cents</i></div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c009' /> -<p class='c011'>Stories of Daddy and the two children who learned much -of nature-lore and the great outdoors.</p> -<hr class='c009' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>CIRCUS ANIMAL STORIES</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>Tales of wild animals of desert and jungle, telling how -they are caught and trained to do circus tricks.</p> -<hr class='c009' /> -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>SNARLIE, THE TIGER</div> - <div class='line'>WOO-UFF, THE LION</div> - <div class='line'>HUMPO, THE CAMEL</div> - <div class='line'>UMBOO, THE ELEPHANT</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>Copyright 1916 by</div> - <div>R. F. FENNO & COMPANY</div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c009' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><i>UNCLE WIGGILY AND MOTHER GOOSE</i></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c012'> - <div><span class='c008'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND</span></div> - <div><span class='c008'>MOTHER GOOSE</span></div> - <div class='c000'><span class='c008'>PART I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c012' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c013'>CONTENTS</h2> -</div> -<hr class='c014' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='c004'>PART I.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='17%' /> -<col width='71%' /> -<col width='10%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c015'><span class='small'>CHAPTER</span></td> - <td class='c016'> </td> - <td class='c017'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>I.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-I'>9</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>II.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the First Pig</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-II'>19</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>III.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Second Pig</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-III'>25</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>IV.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Third Pig</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-IV'>31</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>V.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Little Boy Blue</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-V'>38</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>VI.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Higgledee Piggledee</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-VI'>45</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>VII.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Little Bo Peep</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-VII'>52</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>VIII.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tucker</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-VIII'>58</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>IX.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Pussy Cat Mole</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-IX'>65</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>X.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Jack and Jill</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-X'>71</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XI.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Jack Horner</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-XI'>77</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XII.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Mr. Pop-Goes</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-XII'>84</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XIII.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Simple Simon</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-XIII'>90</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XIV.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Crumpled-Horn Cow</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-XIV'>96</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XV.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Old Mother Hubbard</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-XV'>103</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XVI.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Miss Muffet</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-XVI'>109</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XVII.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the First Kitten</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-XVII'>115</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XVIII.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Second Kitten</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-XVIII'>121</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XIX.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Third Kitten</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-XIX'>127</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XX.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Jack Horse</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-XX'>133</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XXI.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Clock-Mouse</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-XXI'>140</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XXII.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Late Scholar</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-XXII'>146</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XXIII.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Baa-Baa Black Sheep</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-XXIII'>152</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XXIV.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Polly Flinders</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-XXIV'>158</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XXV.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Garden Maid</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-XXV'>164</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XXVI.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the King</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#Ch-XXVI'>171</a></td> - </tr> -</table> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div><span class='c008'>Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c014' /> -<div class='txt-size'> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-I' class='c013'>CHAPTER I<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND MOTHER GOOSE</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>There</span> once lived in the woods an old rabbit -gentleman named Uncle Wiggily Longears, and -in the hollow-stump bungalow where he had his -home there also lived Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, -a muskrat lady housekeeper. Near Uncle Wiggily -there were, in hollow trees, or in nests or in -burrows under the ground, many animal friends -of his—rabbits, squirrels, puppy dogs, pussy -cats, frogs, ducks, chickens and others, so that -Uncle Wiggily and Nurse Jane were never -lonesome.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Often Sammie or Susie Littletail, a small boy -and girl rabbit, would hop over to the hollow-stump -bungalow, and call:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Uncle Wiggily! Uncle Wiggily! Can’t -you come out and play with us?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then the old rabbit gentleman, who was as -fond of fun as a kitten, would put on his tall silk -hat, take his red, white and blue-striped barber-pole -rheumatism crutch, that Nurse Jane had -gnawed for him out of a corn-stalk, and he -would go out to play with the rabbit children, -about whom I have told you in other books.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Or perhaps Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the -squirrel boys, might ask Uncle Wiggily to go -after hickory nuts with them, or maybe Lulu, -Alice or Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck children, -would want their bunny uncle to see them -go swimming.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So, altogether, Uncle Wiggily had a good -time in his hollow-stump bungalow which was -built in the woods. When he had nothing else -to do Mr. Longears would go for a ride in his -airship. This was made of a clothes-basket, with -toy circus balloons on it to make it rise up above -the trees. Or Uncle Wiggily might take a trip -in his automobile, which had big bologna sausages -on the wheels for tires. And whenever the -rabbit gentleman wanted the automobile wheels -to go around faster he sprinkled pepper on the -sausages.</p> - -<p class='c011'>One day Uncle Wiggily said to Nurse Jane -Fuzzy Wuzzy:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I think I will go for a ride in my airship. -Is there anything I can bring from the store -for you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, you might bring a loaf of bread and -a pound of sugar,” answered the muskrat lady.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Very good,” answered Uncle Wiggily, and -then he took some soft cushions out to put in -the clothes-basket part of his airship, so, in case -the air popped out of the balloons, and he fell, -he would land easy like, and soft.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Soon the rabbit gentleman was sailing off -through the air, over the tree tops, his paws in -nice, warm red mittens that Nurse Jane had -knitted for him. For it was winter, you see, and -Uncle Wiggily’s paws would have been cold -steering his airship, by the baby carriage wheel -which guided it, had it not been for the mittens.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It did not take the bunny uncle long to go to -the store in his airship, and soon, with the loaf -of bread and pound of sugar under the seat, -away he started for his hollow-stump bungalow -again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And, as he sailed on and over the tree tops, -Uncle Wiggily looked far off, and he saw some -black smoke rising in the air.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! That smoke seems to be near my hollow-stump -bungalow,” he said to himself. “I -guess Nurse Jane is starting a fire in the kitchen -stove to get dinner. I must hurry home.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily made his airship go faster, and -then he saw, coming toward him, a big bird, -with large wings.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, that looks just like my old friend, -Grandfather Goosey Gander,” Uncle Wiggily -thought to himself. “I wonder why he is flying -so high? He hardly ever goes up so near the -clouds.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And he seems to have some one on his back,” -spoke Uncle Wiggily out loud this time, sort of -talking to the loaf of bread and the pound of -sugar. “A lady, too,” went on the bunny uncle. -“A lady with a tall hat on, something like mine, -only hers comes to a point on top. And she has -a broom with her. I wonder who it can be?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And when the big white bird came nearer to -the airship Uncle Wiggily saw that it was not -Grandfather Goosey Gander at all, but another -big gander, almost like his friend, whom he -often went to see. And then the bunny uncle -saw who it was on the bird’s back.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, it’s Mother Goose!” cried Uncle -Wiggily Longears. “It’s Mother Goose! She -looks just like her pictures in the book, too.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I am Mother Goose,” said the lady who -was riding on the back of the big, white gander, -spoke Mr. Longears.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am glad to meet you, Mother Goose, I have often heard -about you. I can see, over the tree tops, that -Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, my muskrat lady -housekeeper, is getting dinner ready. I can tell -by the smoke. Will you not ride home with me? -I will make my airship go slowly, so as not -to get ahead of you and your fine gander-goose.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Alas, Uncle Wiggily,” said Mother Goose, -scratching her chin with the end of the broom -handle, “I cannot come home to dinner with -you much as I would like it. Alas! Alas!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why not?” asked the bunny uncle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Because I have bad news for you,” said -Mother Goose. “That smoke, which you saw -over the tree tops, was not smoke from your -chimney as Nurse Jane was getting dinner.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What was it then?” asked Uncle Wiggily, -and a cold shiver sort of ran up and down between -his ears, even if he did have warm, red -mittens on his paws. “What was that smoke?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The smoke from your burning bungalow,” -went on Mother Goose. “It caught fire, when -Nurse Jane was getting dinner, and now——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh! Don’t tell me Nurse Jane is burned!” -cried Uncle Wiggily. “Don’t say that!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I was not going to,” spoke Mother Goose, -kindly. “But I must tell you that your hollow-stump -bungalow is burned to the ground. -There is nothing left but some ashes,” and she -made the gander, on whose back she was riding, -fly close alongside of Uncle Wiggily’s airship.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My nice bungalow burned!” exclaimed the -rabbit gentleman. “Well, I am very, very sorry -for that. But still it might be worse. Nurse -Jane might have been hurt, and that would have -been quite too bad. I dare say I can get another -bungalow.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That is what I came to tell you about,” said -Mother Goose. “I was riding past when I saw -your Woodland hollow-stump house on fire, and -I went down to see if I could help. It was too -late to save the bungalow, but I said I would find -a place for you and Nurse Jane to stay to-night, -or as long as you like, until you can build a new -home.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That is very kind of you,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“I hardly know what to do.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I have many friends,” went on Mother -Goose. “You may have read about them in -the book which tells of me. Any of my friends -would be glad to have you come and live with -them. There is the Old Woman Who Lives in -a Shoe, for instance.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But hasn’t she so many children she doesn’t -know what to do?” asked Uncle Wiggily, as he -remembered the story in the book.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” answered Mother Goose, “she has. I -suppose you would not like it there.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I like children,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“But if there are so many that the dear Old Lady -doesn’t know what to do, she wouldn’t know -what to do with Nurse Jane and me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, you might go stay with my friend Old -Mother Hubbard,” said Mother Goose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But if I went there, would not the cupboard -be bare?” asked Uncle Wiggily, “and what -would Nurse Jane and I do for something to -eat?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s so,” spoke Mother Goose, as she -reached up quite high and brushed a cobweb off -the sky with her broom. “That will not do, -either. I must see about getting Mother Hubbard -and her dog something to eat. You can -stay with her later. Oh, I have it!” suddenly -cried the lady who was riding on the back of the -white gander, “you can go stay with Old King -Cole! He’s a jolly old soul!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily shook his head.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Thank you very much, Mother Goose,” he -said, slowly. “But Old King Cole might send -for his fiddlers three, and I do not believe I -would like to listen to jolly music to-day when -my nice bungalow has just burned down.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, perhaps not,” agreed Mother Goose. -“Well, if you can find no other place to stay to-night -come with me. I have a big house, and -with me live Little Bo Peep, Little Boy Blue, -who is getting to be quite a big chap now, Little -Tommie Tucker and Jack Sprat and his wife. -Oh, I have many other friends living with me, -and surely we can find room for you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Thank you,” answered Uncle Wiggily. “I -will think about it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then he flew down in his airship to the place -where the hollow-stump bungalow had been, but -it was not there now. Mother Goose flew down -with her gander after Uncle Wiggily. They -saw a pile of blackened and smoking wood, and -near it stood Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the -muskrat lady, and many other animals who lived -in Woodland with Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I am so sorry!” cried Nurse Jane. “It -is my fault. I was baking a pudding in the oven, -Uncle Wiggily. I left it a minute while I ran -over to the pen of Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck -lady, to ask her about making a new kind of carrot -sauce for the pudding, and when I came -home the pudding had burned, and the bungalow -was on fire.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Never mind,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, kindly, -“as long as you were not burned yourself, Nurse -Jane.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But where will you sleep to-night?” asked -the muskrat lady, sorrowfully.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh,” began Uncle Wiggily, “I guess I -can——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Come stay with us!” cried Sammie and -Susie Littletail, the rabbit children.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Or with us!” invited Johnnie and Billie -Bushytail, the squirrels.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And why not with us?” asked Nannie and -Billie Wagtail, the goat children.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We’d ask you to come with us,” said Jollie -and Jillie Longtail, the mouse children, “only -our house is so small.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Many of Uncle Wiggily’s friends, who had -hurried up to see the hollow-stump bungalow -burn, while he was at the store, now, in turn, invited -him to stay with them.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I, myself, have asked him to come with me,” -said Mother Goose, “or with any of my friends. -We all would be glad to have him.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is very kind of you,” said the rabbit gentleman. -“And this is what I will do, until I can -build me a new bungalow. I will take turns -staying at your different hollow-tree homes, your -nests or your burrows underground. And I will -come and visit you also, Mother Goose, and all -of your friends; at least such of them as have -room for me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, that is what I’ll do. I’ll visit around -now that my hollow-stump home is burned. I -thank you all. Come, Nurse Jane, we will pay -our first visit to Sammie and Susie Littletail, the -rabbits.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And while the other animals hopped, skipped -or flew away through the woods, and as Mother -Goose sailed off on the back of her gander, to -sweep more cobwebs out of the sky, Uncle Wiggily -and Nurse Jane went to the Littletail burrow, -or underground house.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Good-bye, Uncle Wiggily!” called Mother -Goose. “I’ll see you again, soon, sometime. -And if ever you meet with any of my friends, -Little Jack Horner, Bo Peep, or the three little -pigs, about whom you may have read in my -book, be kind to them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I will,” promised Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And he did, as you may read in the next chapter, -when, if the sugar spoon doesn’t tickle the -carving knife and make it dance on the bread -board, the story will be about Uncle Wiggily -and the first little pig.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-II' class='c013'>CHAPTER II<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE FIRST PIG</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily Longears</span>, the nice old gentleman -rabbit, came out of the underground -burrow house of the Littletail family, where he -was visiting a while with the bunny children, -Sammie and Susie, because his own hollow-stump -bungalow had burned down.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where are you going, Uncle Wiggily?” -asked Sammie Littletail, the rabbit boy, as he -strapped his cabbage leaf books together, ready -to go to school.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I am just going for a little walk,” answered -Uncle Wiggily. “Nurse Jane Fuzzy -Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, asked -me to get her some court plaster from the five -and six-cent store, and on my way there I may -have an adventure. Who knows?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We are going to school,” said Susie. “Will -you walk part of the way with us, Uncle Wiggily?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“To be sure I will!” crowed the old gentleman -rabbit, making believe he was Mr. Cock -A. Doodle, the rooster.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Uncle Wiggily, with Sammie and Susie, -started off across the snow-covered fields and -through the woods. Pretty soon they came to -the path the rabbit children must take to go to -the hollow-stump school, where the lady mouse -teacher would hear their carrot and turnip -gnawing lessons.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Good-by, Uncle Wiggily!” called Sammie -and Susie. “We hope you have a nice adventure.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Good-by. Thank you, I hope I do,” he answered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then the rabbit gentleman walked on, while -Sammie and Susie hurried to school, and pretty -soon Mr. Longears heard a queer grunting noise -behind some bushes near him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!” came the sound.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hello! Who is there?” asked Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, if you please, I am here, and I am the -first little pig,” came the answer, and out from -behind the bush stepped a cute little piggie boy, -with a bundle of straw under his paw.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“So you are the first little pig, eh?” asked -Uncle Wiggily. “How many of you are there -altogether?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Three, if you please,” grunted the first little -pig. “I have two brothers, and they are the -second and third little pigs. Don’t you remember -reading about us in the Mother Goose -book?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, of course I do!” cried Uncle Wiggily, -twinkling his nose. “And so you are the first -little pig. But what are you going to do with -that bundle of straw?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’m going to build me a house, Uncle Wiggily, -of course,” grunted the piggie boy. -“Don’t you remember what it says in the book? -‘Once upon a time there were three little pigs, -named Grunter, Squeaker and Twisty-Tail.’ -Well, I’m Grunter, and I met a man with a load -of straw, and I asked him for a bundle to make -me a house. He very kindly gave it to me, and -now, I’m off to build it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“May I come?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “I’ll -help you put up your house.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Of course you may come—glad to have -you,” answered the first little pig. “Only you -know what happens to me; don’t you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No! What?” asked the rabbit gentleman. -“I guess I have forgotten the story.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, after I build my house of straw, just -as it says in the Mother Goose story book, along -comes a bad old wolf, and he blows it down,” -said the first little pig.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, how dreadful!” cried Uncle Wiggily, -“but maybe he won’t come to-day.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes, he will,” said the first little pig. -“It’s that way in the book, and the wolf has to -come.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, if he does,” said Uncle Wiggily, -“maybe I can save you from him.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I hope you can!” grunted Grunter. -“It is no fun to be chased by a wolf.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the rabbit gentleman and the piggie boy -went on and on, until they came to the place -where Grunter was to build his house of straw. -Uncle Wiggily helped, and soon it was finished.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, it is real nice and cozy in here,” said -Uncle Wiggily, when he had made a big pile -of snow back of the straw house to keep off the -north wind, and had gone in with the little piggie -boy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, it is cozy enough,” spoke Grunter, -“but wait until the bad wolf comes. Oh, dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Maybe he won’t come,” said the rabbit, -hopeful like.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, he will!” cried Grunter. “Here he -comes now.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And, surely enough, looking out of the window, -the piggie boy and Uncle Wiggily saw a -bad wolf running over the snow toward them. -The wolf knocked on the door of the straw -house and cried:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Little pig! Little pig! Let me come in.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No! No! By the hair of my chinny-chin-chin. -I will not let you in!” answered Grunter, -just like in the book.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then I’ll puff and I’ll blow, and I’ll blow -your house in!” howled the wolf. Then he -puffed and he blew, and, all of a sudden, over -went the straw house. But, just as it was falling -down, Uncle Wiggily cried:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Quick, Grunter, come with me! I’ll dig -a hole for us in the pile of snow that I made back -of your house and in there we’ll hide where the -wolf can’t find us!” Then the rabbit gentleman, -with his strong paws, just made for digging, burrowed -a hole in the snow-bank, and as the straw -house toppled down, into this hole he crawled -with Grunter.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now I’ve got you!” cried the wolf, as he -blew down the first little pig’s straw house. But -when the wolf looked he couldn’t see Grunter -or Uncle Wiggily at all, because they were hiding -in the snow-bank.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, well!” howled the wolf. “This isn’t -like the book at all! Where is that little pig?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But the wolf could not find Grunter, and soon -the bad creature went away, fearing to catch -cold in his eyes. Then Uncle Wiggily and -Grunter came out of the snow-bank and were -safe, and Uncle Wiggily took Grunter home to -the rabbit house to stay until Mother Goose -came, some time afterward, to get the first little -pig boy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Thank you very much, Uncle Wiggily,” -said Mother Goose, “for being kind to one of -my friends.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Pray don’t mention it. I had a fine adventure, -besides saving a little pig,” said the rabbit -gentleman. “I wonder what will happen to -me to-morrow?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And we shall soon see for, if the snowball -doesn’t wrap itself up in the parlor rug to hide -away from the jam tart, when it comes home -from the moving pictures, I’ll tell you next about -Uncle Wiggily and the second little pig.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-III' class='c013'>CHAPTER III<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SECOND PIG</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>There</span>! It’s all done!” exclaimed Nurse -Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the nice muskrat lady -housekeeper, who, with Uncle Wiggily Longears, -the rabbit gentleman, was staying in the -Littletail rabbit house, since the hollow-stump -bungalow had burned down.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What’s all done?” asked Uncle Wiggily, -looking over the tops of his spectacles.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“These jam tarts I baked for Billie and Nannie -Wagtail, the goat children,” said Nurse Jane. -“Will you take them with you when you go -out for a walk, Uncle Wiggily, and leave them -at the goat house?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I most certainly will,” said the rabbit gentleman, -very politely. “Is there anything else I can -do for you, Nurse Jane?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But the muskrat lady wanted nothing more, -and, wrapping up the jam tarts in a napkin so -they would not catch cold, she gave them to Mr. -Longears to take to the two goat children.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily was walking along, wondering -what sort of an adventure he would have that -day, or whether he would meet Mother Goose -again, when all at once he heard a voice speaking -from behind some bushes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I think I will build my house here,” the -voice said. “The wolf is sure to find me anyhow, -and I might as well have it over with. I’ll -make my house here.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily looked over the bushes, and -there he saw a funny little animal boy, with some -pieces of wood on his shoulder.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hello!” cried Uncle Wiggily, making his -nose twinkle in a most jilly-jolly way. “Who -are you, and what are you going to do?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, I am Squeaker, the second little pig, -and I am going to make a house of wood,” was -the answer. “Don’t you remember how it reads -in the Mother Goose book? ‘Once upon a time -there were three little pigs, named Grunter, -Squeaker and——’”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes, I remember!” Uncle Wiggily said. -“I met your brother Grunter yesterday, and -helped him build his straw house.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That was kind of you,” spoke Squeaker. “I -suppose the bad old wolf got him, though. Too -bad! Well, it can’t be helped, as it is that way -in the book.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily didn’t say anything about -having saved Grunter, for he wanted to surprise -Squeaker, so the rabbit gentleman just twinkled -his nose again and asked:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“May I have the pleasure of helping you -build your house of wood?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Indeed you may, thank you,” said Squeaker. -“I suppose the old wolf will be along soon, so -we had better hurry to get the house finished.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then the second little pig and Uncle Wiggily -built the wooden house. When it was almost -finished Uncle Wiggily went out near the back -door, and began piling up some cakes of ice to -make a sort of box.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What are you doing?” asked Squeaker.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I’m just making a place where I can put -these jam tarts I have for Nannie and Billie -Wagtail,” the rabbit gentleman answered. “I -don’t want the wolf to get them when he blows -down your house.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” sighed Squeaker. “I rather -wish, now, he didn’t have to blow over my nice -wooden house, and get me. But he has to, I -s’pose, ’cause it’s in the book.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Still, Uncle Wiggily didn’t say anything, but -he just sort of blinked his eyes and twinkled his -pink nose, until, all of a sudden, Squeaker looked -across the snowy fields, and he cried:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Here comes the bad old wolf now!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And, surely enough, along came the growling, -howling creature. He ran up to the second -little pig’s wooden house, and, rapping on the -door with his paw, cried:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Little pig! Little pig! Let me come in!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, no! By the hair on my chinny-chin-chin -I will not let you in,” said the second little -pig, bravely.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then I’ll puff and I’ll blow, and I’ll puff -and I’ll blow, and blow your house in!” howled -the wolf.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then he puffed out his cheeks, and he took a -long breath and he blew with all his might and -main and suddenly:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Cracko!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Down went the wooden house of the second -little piggie, and only that Uncle Wiggily and -Squeaker jumped to one side they would have -been squashed as flat as a pancake, or even two -pancakes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Quick!” cried the rabbit gentleman in the -piggie boy’s ear. “This way! Come with me!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where are we going?” asked Squeaker, as -he followed the rabbit gentleman over the -cracked and broken boards, which were all that -was left of the house.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We are going to the little cabin that I made -out of cakes of ice, behind your wooden house,” -said Uncle Wiggily. “I put the jam tarts in it, -but there is also room for us, and we can hide -there until the bad wolf goes off.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, that isn’t the way it is in the book,” said -the second little pig. “But——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No matter!” cried Uncle Wiggily. -“Hurry!” So he and Squeaker hid in the ice -cabin back of the blown-down house, and when -the bad wolf came poking along among the -broken boards, to get the little pig, he couldn’t -find him. For Uncle Wiggily had closed the -door of the ice place, and as it was partly covered -with snow the wolf could not see through.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” howled the wolf. “That’s twice -I’ve been fooled by those pigs! It isn’t like the -book at all. I wonder where he can have -gone?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But he could not find Squeaker or Uncle Wiggily -either, and finally the wolf’s nose became so -cold from sniffing the ice that he had to go home -to warm it, and so Uncle Wiggily and Squeaker -were safe.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I don’t know how to thank you,” said -the second little piggie boy as the rabbit gentleman -took him home to Mother Goose, after having -left the jam tarts at the home of the Wagtail -goats.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Pray do not mention it,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, -modest like, and shy. “It was just an adventure -for me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He had another adventure the following day, -Uncle Wiggily did. And if the dusting brush -doesn’t go swimming in the soap dish, and get -all lather so that it looks like a marshmallow -cocoanut cake, I’ll tell you next about Uncle -Wiggily and the third little pig.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-IV' class='c013'>CHAPTER IV<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE THIRD PIG</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily Longears</span> sat in the burrow, -or house under the ground, where he and Nurse -Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady, lived with -the Littletail family of rabbits since the hollow-stump -bungalow had burned.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” sounded a grunting, woofing -sort of voice over near one window.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” squealed another voice from under -the table.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, well! What is the matter with you -two piggie boys?” asked Uncle Wiggily, as he -took down from the sideboard his red, white and -blue barber-pole striped rheumatism crutch that -Nurse Jane had gnawed for him out of a corn-stalk.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What’s the trouble, Grunter and Squeaker?” -asked the rabbit gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We are lonesome for our brother,” said the -two little piggie boys No. 1 and No. 2. “We -want to see Twisty-Tail.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>For the first and second little pigs, after having -been saved by Uncle Wiggily, and taken -home to Mother Goose, had come back to pay a -visit to the bunny gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, perhaps I may meet Twisty-Tail when -I go walking to-day,” spoke Uncle Wiggily. -“If I do I’ll bring him home with me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, goodie!” cried Grunter and Squeaker. -For they were the first and second little pigs, you -see. Uncle Wiggily had saved Grunter from -the bad wolf when the growling creature blew -down Grunter’s straw house. And, in almost -the same way, the bunny uncle had saved -Squeaker, when his wooden house was blown -over by the wolf. But Twisty-Tail, the third -little pig, Uncle Wiggily had not yet helped.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll look for Twisty-Tail to-day,” said the -rabbit gentleman as he started off for his adventure -walk, which he took every afternoon and -morning.</p> - -<p class='c011'>On and on went Uncle Wiggily Longears -over the snow-covered fields and through the -wood, until just as he was turning around the -corner near an old red stump, the rabbit gentleman -heard a clinkity-clankity sort of a noise, and -the sound of whistling.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! Some one is happy!” thought the -bunny uncle. “That’s a good sign—whistling. -I wonder who it is?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He looked around the stump corner and he -saw a little animal chap, with blue rompers on, -and a fur cap stuck back of his left ear, and this -little animal chap was whistling away as merrily -as a butterfly eating butterscotch candy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, that must be the third little pig!” exclaimed -Uncle Wiggily. “Hello!” called the -rabbit gentleman. “Are you Twisty-Tail?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s my name,” answered the little pig, -“and, as you see, I am building my house of -bricks, just as it tells about in the Mother Goose -book.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And, surely enough, Twisty-Tail was building -a little house of red bricks, and it was the tap-tap-tapping -of his trowel, or mortar-shovel, that -made the clinkity-clankity noise.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Do you know me, Uncle Wiggily?” asked -the piggie boy. “You see I am in a book. -‘Once upon a time there were three little pigs, -and——’”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I know all about you,” interrupted Uncle -Wiggily. “I have met Mother Goose, and also -your two brothers.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“They didn’t know how to build the right -kind of houses, and so the wolf got them,” said -Twisty-Tail. “I am sorry, but it had to happen -that way, just as it is in the book.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily smiled, but said nothing.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I met a man with a load of bricks, and I -begged some of them to build my house,” said -Twisty-Tail. “No wolf can get me. No, -sir-ee! I’ll build my house very strong, not weak -like my brothers’. No, indeed!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll help you build your house,” offered -Uncle Wiggily, kindly, and just as he and -Twisty-Tail finished the brick house and put -on the roof it began to rain and freeze.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We are through just in time,” said Twisty-Tail, -as he and the rabbit gentleman hurried inside. -“I don’t believe the wolf will come out in -such weather.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But just as he said that and looked from the -window, the little piggie boy gave a cry, and -said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, here comes the bad animal now! But -he can’t get in my house, or blow it over, ’cause -the book says he didn’t.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The wolf came up through the freezing rain -and knocking on the third piggie boy’s brick -house, said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Little pig! Little pig! Let me come in!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No! No! By the hair of my chinny-chin-chin, -I will not let you in!” grunted Twisty-Tail.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then I’ll puff and I’ll blow, and I’ll blow -your house in!” howled the wolf.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You can’t! The book says so!” laughed the -little pig. “My house is a strong, brick one. -You can’t get me!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Just you wait!” growled the wolf. So he -puffed out his cheeks, and he blew and he blew, -but he could not blow down the brick house, because -it was so strong.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I’m in no hurry,” the wolf said. “I’ll -sit down and wait for you to come out.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the wolf sat down on his tail to wait outside -the brick house. After a while Twisty-Tail began -to get hungry.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Did you bring anything to eat, Uncle Wiggily?” -he asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, I didn’t,” answered the rabbit gentleman. -“But if the old wolf would go away I’d -take you where your two brothers are visiting -with me in the Littletail family rabbit house and -you could have all you want to eat.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But the wolf would not go away, even when -Uncle Wiggily asked him to, most politely, making -a bow and twinkling his nose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’m going to stay here all night,” the wolf -growled. “I am not going away. I am going -to get that third little pig!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are you? Well, we’ll see about that!” cried -the rabbit gentleman. Then he took a rib out of -his umbrella, and with a piece of his shoe lace -(that he didn’t need) for a string he made a bow -like the Indians used to have.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“If I only had an arrow now I could shoot it -from my umbrella-bow, hit the wolf on the nose -and make him go away,” said Uncle Wiggily. -Then he looked out of the window and saw -where the rain, dripping from the roof, had -frozen into long, sharp icicles.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “An icicle -will make the best kind of an arrow! Now I’ll -shoot the wolf, not hard enough to hurt him, but -just hard enough to make him run away.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Reaching out the window Uncle Wiggily -broke off a sharp icicle. He put this ice arrow -in his bow and, pulling back the shoe string, -“twang!” he shot the wolf on the nose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, wow! Oh, double-wow! Oh, custard -cake!” howled the wolf. “This isn’t in the -Mother Goose book at all. Not a single pig did -I get! Oh, my nose! Ouch!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then he ran away, and Uncle Wiggily and -Twisty-Tail could come safely out of the brick -house, which they did, hurrying home to the -bunny house where Grunter and Squeaker were, -to get something to eat. So everything came out -right, you see, and Uncle Wiggily saved the -three little pigs, one after the other.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the canary bird doesn’t go swimming -in the rice pudding, and eat out all the raisin -seeds, so none is left for the parrot, I’ll tell you -next of Uncle Wiggily and Little Boy Blue.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-V' class='c013'>CHAPTER V<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND LITTLE BOY BLUE</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily</span>, are you very busy to-day?” -asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat -lady housekeeper, who, with the old rabbit gentleman, -was on a visit to the Bushytail family of -squirrels in their hollow-tree home.</p> - -<p class='c011'>After staying a while with the Littletail rabbits, -when his hollow-stump bungalow had -burned down, the bunny uncle went to visit -Johnnie and Billie Bushytail.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are you very busy, Uncle Wiggily?” asked -the muskrat lady.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, no, Nurse Jane, not so very,” answered -the bunny uncle. “Is there something -you would like me to do for you?” he asked, -with a polite bow.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/p038.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, Mrs. Bushytail and I have just baked -some pies,” said the muskrat lady, “and we -thought perhaps you might like to take one to -your friend, Grandfather Goosey Gander.” -“Fine!” cried Uncle Wiggily, making his -nose twinkle like a star on a Christmas tree -in the dark. “Grandpa Goosey will be glad -to get a pie. I’ll take him one.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We have it all ready for you,” said Mrs. -Bushytail, the squirrel mother of Johnnie and -Billie, as she came in the sitting-room. “It’s a -nice hot pie, and it will keep your paws warm, -Uncle Wiggily, as you go over the ice and snow -through the woods and across the fields.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Fine!” cried the bunny uncle again. “I’ll -get ready and go at once.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily put on his warm fur coat, fastened -his tall silk hat on his head, with his ears -sticking up through holes cut in the brim, so it -would not blow off, and then, taking his red, -white and blue-striped rheumatism crutch, that -Nurse Jane had gnawed for him out of a corn-stalk, -away he started. He carried the hot apple -pie in a basket over his paw.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Grandpa Goosey will surely like this pie,” -said Uncle Wiggily to himself, as he lifted the -napkin that was over it to take a little sniff. “It -makes me hungry myself. And how nice and -warm it is,” he went on, as he put one cold paw -in the basket to warm it; warm his paw I mean, -not the basket.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Over the fields and through the woods hopped -the bunny uncle. It began to snow a little, but -Uncle Wiggily did not mind that, for he was -well wrapped up.</p> - -<p class='c011'>When he was about halfway to Grandpa -Goosey’s house Uncle Wiggily heard, from behind -a pile of snow, a sad sort of crying voice.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hello!” exclaimed the bunny uncle, “that -sounds like some one in trouble. I must see if -I can help them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily looked over the top of the pile -of snow, and, sitting on the ground, in front of -a big icicle, was a boy all dressed in blue. Even -his eyes were blue, but you could not very well -see them, as they were filled with tears.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” said Uncle Wiggily, -kindly. “This is quite too bad! What is the -matter, little fellow; and who are you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am Little Boy Blue, from the home of -Mother Goose,” was the answer, “and the matter -is that it’s lost!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What is lost?” asked Uncle. “If it’s a -penny I will help you find it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It isn’t a penny,” answered Boy Blue. “It’s -the hay stack which I have to sleep under. I -can’t find it, and I must see where it is or else -things won’t be as they are in the Mother Goose -book. Don’t you know what it says?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And he sang:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn,</div> - <div class='line in1'>There are sheep in the meadow and cows in the corn.</div> - <div class='line in1'>Where’s Little Boy Blue, who looks after the sheep?</div> - <div class='line in1'>Why he’s under the hay stack, fast asleep.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“Only I can’t go to sleep under the hay stack, -Uncle Wiggily, because I can’t find it. And, oh, -dear! I don’t know what to do!” and Little Boy -Blue cried harder than ever, so that some of his -tears froze into little round marbles of ice, like -hail stones.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“There, there, now!” said Uncle Wiggily, -kindly. “Of course you can’t find a hay stack -in the winter. They are all covered with snow.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are they?” asked Boy Blue, real surprised -like.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Of course, they are!” cried Uncle Wiggily, -in his most jolly voice. “Besides, you wouldn’t -want to sleep under a hay stack, even if there was -one here, in the winter. You would catch cold -and have the sniffle-snuffles.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s so, I might,” Boy Blue said, and he -did not cry so hard now. “But that isn’t all, -Uncle Wiggily,” he went on, nodding at the -rabbit gentleman. “It isn’t all my trouble.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What else is the matter?” asked the bunny -uncle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It’s my horn,” spoke the little boy who -looked after the cows and sheep. “I can’t make -any music tunes on my horn. And I really have -to blow my horn, you know, for it says in the -Mother Goose book that I must. See, I can’t -blow it a bit.” And Boy Blue put his horn to his -lips, puffed out his cheeks and blew as hard as -he could, but no sound came out.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Let me try,” said Uncle Wiggily. The rabbit -gentleman took the horn and he, also, tried to -blow. He blew so hard he almost blew off his -tall silk hat, but no sound came from the horn.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ah, I see what the trouble is!” cried the -bunny uncle with a jolly laugh, looking down -inside the “toot-tooter.” “It is so cold that the -tunes are all frozen solid in your horn. But I -have a hot apple pie here in my basket that I was -taking to Grandpa Goosey Gander. I’ll hold -the cold horn on the hot pie and the tunes will -thaw out.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, have you a pie in there?” asked Little -Boy Blue. “Is it the Christmas pie into which -Little Jack Horner put in his thumb and pulled -out a plum?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Not quite, but nearly the same,” laughed -Uncle Wiggily. “Now to thaw out the frozen -horn.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The bunny uncle put Little Boy Blue’s horn -in the basket with the hot apple pie. Soon the -ice was melted out of the horn, and Uncle Wiggily -could blow on it, and play tunes, and so -could Boy Blue. Tootity-toot-toot tunes they -both played.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now you are all right!” cried the bunny -uncle. “Come along with me and you may -have a piece of this pie for yourself. And you -may stay with Grandpa Goosey Gander until -summer comes, and then blow your horn for the -sheep in the meadow and the cows in the corn. -There is no need, now, for you to stay out in the -cold and look for a haystack under which to -sleep.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, I guess not,” said Boy Blue. “I’ll come -with you, Uncle Wiggily. And thank you, so -much, for helping me. I don’t know what -would have happened only for you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Pray do not mention it,” politely said Uncle -Wiggily with a laugh. Then he and little Boy -Blue hurried on through the snow, and soon they -were at Grandpa Goosey’s house with the warm -apple pie, and oh! how good it tasted! Oh, -yum-yum!</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the church steeple doesn’t drop the -ding-dong bell down in the pulpit and scare the -organ, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily -and Higgledee Piggledee.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-VI' class='c013'>CHAPTER VI<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND HIGGLEDEE PIGGLEDEE</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>One</span> day Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice -old gentleman rabbit, was sitting in an easy chair -in the hollow-stump house of the Bushytail -squirrel family, where he was paying a visit to -Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the two squirrel -boys.</p> - -<p class='c011'>There came a knock on the door, but the -bunny uncle did not pay much attention to it, -as he was sort of taking a little sleep after his -dinner of cabbage soup with carrot ice cream -on top.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady -housekeeper, went out in the hall, and when she -came back, with her tail all tied up in a pink ribbon, -(for she was sweeping) she said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Uncle Wiggily, a friend of yours has come -to see you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A friend of mine!” cried Uncle Wiggily, -awakening so suddenly that his nose stopped -twinkling. “I hope it isn’t the bad old fox from -the Orange Mountains.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No,” answered Nurse Jane with a smile, -“it is a lady.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A lady?” exclaimed the old rabbit gentleman, -getting up quickly, and looking in the -glass to see that his ears were not criss-crossed. -“Who can it be?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is Mother Goose,” went on Nurse Jane. -“She says you were so kind as to help Little Boy -Blue the other day, when his horn was frozen, -and you thawed it on the warm pie, that perhaps -you will now help her. She is in trouble.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“In trouble, eh?” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, -sort of smoothing down his vest, fastidious like -and stylish. “I didn’t know she blew a horn.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“She doesn’t,” said Nurse Jane. “But I’ll -bring her in and she can tell you, herself, what -she wants.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” cried Mother Goose, -as she set her broom down in one corner, for she -never went out unless she carried it with her. -She said she never could tell when she might -have to sweep the cobwebs out of the sky. “Oh, -Uncle Wiggily, I am in such a lot of trouble!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I will be very glad to help you if I -can,” said the bunny uncle. “What is it?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It’s about Higgledee Piggledee,” answered -Mother Goose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Higgledee Piggledee!” exclaimed Uncle -Wiggily, “why that sounds like——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“She’s my black hen,” went on Mother Goose. -“You know how the verse goes in the book -about me and my friends.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And, taking off her tall peaked hat, which she -wore when she rode on the back of the old gander, -Mother Goose sang:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Higgledee Piggledee, my black hen,</div> - <div class='line in1'>She lays eggs for gentlemen.</div> - <div class='line in1'>Sometimes nine and sometimes ten.</div> - <div class='line in1'>Higgledee Piggledee, my black hen.</div> - <div class='line in1'>Gentlemen come every day,</div> - <div class='line in1'>To see what my black hen doth lay.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“Well,” asked Uncle Wiggily, “what is the -trouble? Has Higgledee Piggledee stopped -laying? If she has I am afraid I can’t help you, -for hens don’t lay many eggs in winter, you -know.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, it isn’t that!” said Mother Goose, -quickly. “Higgledee Piggledee lays as many -eggs as ever for gentlemen—sometimes nine and -sometimes ten. But the trouble is the gentlemen -don’t get them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Don’t they come for them?” asked Uncle -Wiggily, sort of puzzled like and wondering.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes, they come every day,” said Mother -Goose, “but there are no eggs for them. Some -one else is getting the eggs Higgledee Piggledee -lays.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Do you s’pose she eats them herself?” asked -the old rabbit gentleman, in a whisper. “Hens -sometimes do, you know.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Not Higgledee Piggledee,” quickly spoke -Mother Goose. “She is too good to do that. -She and I are both worried about the missing -eggs, and as you have been so kind I thought -perhaps you could help us.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll try,” Uncle Wiggily said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then come right along to Higgledee Piggledee’s -coop,” invited Mother Goose. “Maybe -you can find out where her eggs go to. She lays -them in her nest, comes off, once in a while, to -get something to eat, but when she goes back to -lay more eggs the first ones are gone.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily twinkled his nose, tied his ears -in a hard knot, as he always did when he was -thinking, and then, putting on his fur coat and -taking his rheumatism crutch with him, he went -out with Mother Goose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily rode in his airship, made of -a clothes-basket, with toy circus balloons on top, -and Mother Goose rode on the back of a big -gander, who was a brother to Grandfather -Goosey Gander. Soon they were at the hen coop -where Higgledee Piggledee lived.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Uncle Wiggily, I am so glad you -came!” cackled the black hen. “Did Mother -Goose tell you about the egg trouble?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“She did, Higgledee Piggledee, and I will -see if I can stop it. Now, you go on the nest and -lay some eggs and then we will see what happens,” -spoke Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Higgledee Piggledee, the black hen, laid -some eggs for gentlemen, and then she went out -in the yard to get some corn to eat, just as she -always did. And, while she was gone, Uncle -Wiggily hid himself in some straw in the hen -coop. Pretty soon the old gentleman heard a -gnawing, rustling sound and up out of a hole in -the ground popped two big rats, with red eyes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Did Higgledee Piggledee lay any eggs to-day?” -asked one rat, in a whisper.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” spoke the other, “she did.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then we will take them,” said the first rat. -“Hurray! More eggs for us! No gentlemen -will get these eggs because we’ll take them ourselves. -Hurray!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He got down on his back, with his paws sticking -up in the air. Then the other rat rolled one -of the black hen’s eggs over so the first rat could -hold it in among his four legs. Next, the second -rat took hold of the first rat’s tail and began pulling -him along, egg and all, just as if he were a -sled on a slippery hill, the rat sliding on his back -over the smooth straw. And the eggs rode on -the rat-sled as nicely as you please.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha!” cried Uncle Wiggily, jumping suddenly -out of his hiding-place. “So this is where -Higgledee Piggledee’s eggs have been going, -eh? You rats have been taking them. Scatt! -Shoo! Boo! Skedaddle! Scoot!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And the rats were so scared that they skedaddled -away and shooed themselves and did everything -else Mr. Longears told them to do, and -they took no eggs that day. Then Uncle Wiggily -showed Mother Goose the rat hole, and it -was stopped up with stones so the rats could not -come in the coop again. And ever after that -Higgledee Piggledee, the black hen, could lay -eggs for gentlemen, sometimes nine and sometimes -ten, and there was no more trouble as there -had been before Uncle Wiggily caught the rats -and made them skedaddle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Mother Goose and the black hen thanked -Uncle Wiggily very much. And if the stylish -lady who lives next door doesn’t take our feather -bed to wear on her hat when she goes to the moving -pictures, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily -and Little Bo Peep.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-VII' class='c013'>CHAPTER VII<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND LITTLE BO PEEP</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>What</span> are you going to do, Nurse Jane?” -asked Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, -as he saw the muskrat lady housekeeper -going out in the kitchen one morning, with an -apron on, and a dab of white flour on the end of -her nose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am going to make a chocolate cake with -carrot icing on top,” replied Miss Fuzzy -Wuzzy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, good!” cried Uncle Wiggily, and almost -before he knew it he started to clap his -paws, just as Sammie and Susie Littletail, the -rabbit children, might have done, and as they -often did do when they were pleased about anything. -“I just love chocolate cake!” cried the -bunny uncle, who was almost like a boy-bunny -himself.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Do you?” asked Nurse Jane. “Then I am -glad I am going to make one,” and, going into -the kitchen of the hollow-stump bungalow, she -began rattling away among the pots, pans and -kettles.</p> - -<p class='c011'>For now Nurse Jane and Uncle Wiggily were -living together once more in their own hollow-stump -bungalow. It had burned down, you remember, -but Uncle Wiggily had had it built up -again, and now he did not have to visit around -among his animal friends, though he still called -on them every now and then.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” suddenly cried Nurse Jane from -the kitchen. “Oh, dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What is the matter, Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy?” -asked the bunny uncle. “Did you drop a pan -on your paw?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, Uncle Wiggily,” answered the muskrat -lady. “It is worse than that. I can’t make the -chocolate cake after all, I am sorry to say.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! That is too bad! Why not?” -asked the bunny uncle, in a sad and sorrowful -voice.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Because there is no chocolate,” went on -Nurse Jane. “Since we came to our new hollow-stump -bungalow I have not made any cakes, -and to-day I forgot to order the chocolate from -the store for this one.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Never mind,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. -“I’ll go to the store and get the chocolate for -you. In fact, I would go to two stores and part -of another one for the sake of having a chocolate -cake.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“All right,” spoke Nurse Jane. “If you get -me the chocolate I’ll make one.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Putting on his overcoat, with his tall silk hat -tied down over his ears so they would not blow -away—I mean so his hat would not blow off—and -with his rheumatism crutch under his paw, -off started the old gentleman rabbit, across the -fields and through the woods to the chocolate -store.</p> - -<p class='c011'>After buying what he wanted for Nurse Jane’s -cake, the old gentleman rabbit started back for -the hollow-stump bungalow. On the way, he -passed a toy store, and he stopped to look in the -window at the pop-guns, the spinning-tops, the -dolls, the Noah’s Arks, with the animals marching -out of them, and all things like that.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It makes me young again to look at toys,” -said the bunny uncle. Then he went on a little -farther until, all at once, as he was passing a -bush, he heard from behind it the sound of crying.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! Some one in trouble again,” said -Uncle Wiggily. “I wonder if it can be Little -Boy Blue?” He looked, but, instead of seeing -the sheep-boy, whom he had once helped, Uncle -Wiggily saw a little girl.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! Who are you?” the bunny uncle -asked, “and what is the matter?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am Little Bo Peep,” was the answer, “and -I have lost my sheep, and don’t know where to -find them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, let them alone, and they’ll come home, -wagging their tails behind them,” said Uncle -Wiggily quickly, and he laughed jolly like and -happy, because he had made a rhyme to go with -what Bo Peep said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I know that’s the way it is in the Mother -Goose book,” said Little Bo Peep, “but I’ve -waited and waited, and let them alone ever so -long, but they haven’t come home. And now -I’m afraid they’ll freeze.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! That’s so. It <i>is</i> pretty cold for sheep -to be out,” said Uncle Wiggily, as he looked -across the snow-covered field, and toward the -woods where there were icicles hanging down -from the trees.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Look here, Little Bo Peep,” went on the -bunny uncle. “I think your sheep must have -gone home long ago, wagging their tails behind -them. And you, too, had better run home to -Mother Goose. Tell her you met me and that -I sent you home. And, if I find your sheep, I’ll -send them along, too. So don’t worry.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, but I don’t like to go home without my -sheep,” said Bo Peep, and tears came into her -eyes. “I ought to bring them with me. But to-day -I went skating on Crystal Lake, up in the -Lemon-Orange Mountains, and I forgot all -about my sheep. Now I am afraid to go home -without them. Oh, dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute, then he -said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! I have it! I know where I can get -you some sheep to take home with you. Then -Mother Goose will say it is all right. Come -with me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where are you going?” asked Bo Peep.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“To get you some sheep.” And Uncle Wiggily -led the little shepherdess girl back to the toy -store, in the window of which he had stopped to -look a while ago.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Give Bo Peep some of your toy woolly -sheep, if you please,” said Uncle Wiggily to the -toy-store man. “She can take them home with -her, while her own sheep are safe in some warm -place, I’m sure. But now she must have some -sort of sheep to take home with her in place of -the lost ones, so it will come out all right, as it is -in the book. And these toy woolly sheep will -do as well as any; won’t they, Little Bo Peep?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes, they will; thank you very much, -Uncle Wiggily,” answered Bo Peep, making a -pretty little bow. Then the rabbit gentleman -bought her ten little toy, woolly sheep, each one -with a tail which Bo Peep could wag for them, -and one toy lamb went: “Baa! Baa! Baa!” as -real as anything, having a little phonograph -talking machine inside him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now I can go home to Mother Goose and -make believe these are my lost sheep,” said Bo -Peep, “and it will be all right.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And here is a piece of chocolate for you to -eat,” said Uncle Wiggily. Then Bo Peep hurried -home with her fleecy toy sheep, and, later -on, she found her real ones, all nice and warm, in -the barn where the Cow with the Crumpled -Horn lived. Mother Goose laughed in her jolliest -way when she saw the toy sheep Uncle Wiggily -had bought Bo Peep.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It’s just like him!” said Mother Goose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the goldfish doesn’t climb out of his -tank and hide in the sardine tin, where the stuffed -olives can’t find him, I’ll tell you next about -Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tucker.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-VIII' class='c013'>CHAPTER VIII<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND TOMMIE TUCKER</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Oh</span>, Uncle Wiggily!” called Susie Littletail, -the rabbit girl, one day, as she went over to -see her bunny uncle in his hollow-stump bungalow. -“Oh, Uncle Wiggily! Isn’t it too bad?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Isn’t what too bad?” asked the old gentleman -rabbit, as he scratched his nose with his left -ear, and put his glasses in his pocket, for he was -tired of reading the paper, and felt like going out -for a walk.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Too bad about my talking and singing doll, -that I got for Christmas,” said Susie. “She -won’t sing any more. Something inside her is -broken.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Broken? That’s too bad!” said Uncle Wiggily, -kindly. “Let me see. What’s her name?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Sallieann Peachbasket Shortcake,” answered -Susie.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What a funny name,” laughed the bunny -uncle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily took Susie’s doll, which had -been given her at Christmas, and looked at it. -Inside the doll was a sort of phonograph, or talking -machine—a very small one, you know—and -when you pushed on a little button in back of -the doll’s dress she would laugh and talk. But, -best of all, when she was in working order, she -would sing a verse, which went something like -this:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“I hope you’ll like my little song,</div> - <div class='line in1'>I will not sing it very long.</div> - <div class='line in1'>I have two shoes upon my feet,</div> - <div class='line in1'>And when I’m hungry, then I eat.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>Uncle Wiggily wound up the spring in the -doll’s side, and then he pressed the button—like -a shoe button—in her back. But this time Susie’s -doll did not talk, she did not laugh, and, instead -of singing, she only made a scratchy noise like a -phonograph when it doesn’t want to play, or like -Bully No-Tail, the frog boy, when he has a cold -in his head.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! This is quite too bad!” said -Uncle Wiggily. “Quite indeed.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Isn’t it!” exclaimed Susie. “Do you think -you can fix her, Uncle?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Mr. Longears turned the doll upside down -and shook her. Things rattled inside her, but -even then she did not sing.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” cried Susie, her little pink nose -going twinkle-inkle, just as did Uncle Wiggily’s. -“What can we do?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You leave it to me, Susie,” spoke the old rabbit -gentleman. “I’ll take the doll to the toy shop, -where I bought Little Bo Peep’s sheep, and have -her mended.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, goodie!” cried Susie, clasping her -paws. “Now I know it will be all right,” and -she kissed Uncle Wiggily right between his ears.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I’m sure I <i>hope</i> it will be all right after -<i>that</i>,” said the bunny uncle, laughing, and feeling -sort of tickled inside.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Off hopped Uncle Wiggily to the toy shop, -and there he found the same monkey-doodle gentleman -who had sold him the toy woolly sheep -for Little Bo Peep.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Here is more trouble,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“Can you fix Susie’s doll so she will sing, for -the doll is a little girl one, just like Susie, and -her name is Sallieann Peachbasket Shortcake.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The monkey-doodle man in the toy store -looked at the doll.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I can fix her,” he said. Going in his backroom -workshop, where there were rocking-horses -that needed new legs, wooden soldiers -who had lost their guns, and steamboats that had -forgotten their whistles, the toy man soon had -Susie’s doll mended again as well as ever. So -that she said: “Papa! Mama! I love you! I -am hungry!” And she laughed: “Ha! Ha! -Ho! Ho!” and she sang:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“I am a little dollie,</div> - <div class='line in1'>’Bout one year old.</div> - <div class='line in1'>Please take me where it’s warm, for I</div> - <div class='line in1'>Am feeling rather cold.</div> - <div class='line in1'>If you’re not in a hurry,</div> - <div class='line in1'>It won’t take me very long,</div> - <div class='line in1'>To whistle or to sing for you</div> - <div class='line in1'>My pretty little song.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“Hurray!” cried Uncle Wiggily when he -heard this. “Susie’s dolly is all right again. -Thank you, Mr. Monkey-Doodle, I’ll take her -to Susie.” Then Uncle Wiggily paid the toy-store -keeper and hurried off with Susie’s doll.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily had not gone very far before, -all at once from around the corner of a snow-bank -he heard a sad, little voice crying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Oh, dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My goodness!” said the bunny uncle. -“Some one else is in trouble. I wonder who it -can be this time?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He looked, and saw a little boy standing in -the snow.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hello!” cried Uncle Wiggily, in his jolly -voice. “Who are you, and what’s the matter?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am Little Tommie Tucker,” was the answer. -“And the matter is I’m hungry.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hungry, eh?” asked Uncle Wiggily. -“Well, why don’t you eat?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I guess you forgot about me and the Mother -Goose book,” spoke the boy. “I’m in that book, -and it says about me:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘Little Tommie Tucker,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Must sing for his supper.</div> - <div class='line in2'>What shall he eat?</div> - <div class='line in2'>Jam and bread and butter.’”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“Well?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “Why -don’t you sing?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I—I can’t!” answered Tommie. “That’s -the trouble. I have caught such a cold that I -can’t sing. And if I don’t sing Mother Goose -won’t know it is I, and she won’t give me any -supper. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! And I am so -hungry!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“There now, there! Don’t cry,” kindly said -the bunny uncle, patting Tommie Tucker on the -head. “I’ll soon have you singing for your supper.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But how can you when I have such a cold?” -asked the little boy. “Listen. I am as hoarse -as a crow.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And, truly, he could no more sing than a -rusty gate, or a last year’s door-knob.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ah, I can soon fix that!” said Uncle Wiggily. -“See, here I have Susie Littletail’s talking -and singing doll, which I have just had mended. -Now you take the doll in your pocket, go to -Mother Goose, and when she asks you to sing -for your supper, just push the button in the doll’s -back. Then the doll will sing and Mother Goose -will think it is you, and give you bread and jam.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, how fine!” cried Tommie Tucker. -“I’ll do it!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But afterward,” said Uncle Wiggily, slowly -shaking his paw at Tommie, “afterward you -must tell Mother Goose all about the little joke -you played, or it would not be fair. Tell her the -doll sang and not you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I will,” said Tommie. He and Uncle Wiggily -went to Mother Goose’s house, and when -Tommie had to sing for his supper the doll did -it for him. And when Mother Goose heard -about it she said it was a fine trick, and that -Uncle Wiggily was very good to think of it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then the bunny uncle took Susie’s mended -doll to her, and the next day Tommie’s cold was -all better and he could sing for his supper himself, -just as the book tells about.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the little mouse doesn’t go to sleep in -the cat’s cradle and scare the milk bottle so it -rolls off the back stoop, I’ll tell you next about -Uncle Wiggily and Pussy Cat Mole.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/p064.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-IX' class='c013'>CHAPTER IX<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND PUSSY CAT MOLE</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Oh</span>, dear! I don’t believe he’s ever coming!” -said Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat -lady housekeeper, as she stood at the window -of the hollow-stump bungalow one day, and -looked down through the woods.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“For whom are you looking, Nurse Jane?” -asked Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman. -“If it’s for the letter-man, I think he -went past some time ago.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, I wasn’t looking for the letter-man,” -said the muskrat lady. “I am expecting a messenger-boy -cat to bring home my new dress from -the dressmaker’s, but I don’t see him.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A new dress, eh?” asked Uncle Wiggily. -“Pray, what is going on?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My dress is going on me, as soon as it comes -home, Uncle Wiggily,” the muskrat lady answered, -laughingly. “And then I am going -on over to the house of Mrs. Wibblewobble, the -duck lady. She and I are going to have a little -tea party together, if you don’t mind.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Mind? Certainly not! I’m glad to have -you go out and enjoy yourself,” said Uncle Wiggily, -jolly like and also laughing.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But I can’t go if my new dress doesn’t come,” -went on Nurse Jane. “That is, I don’t want to.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Look here!” said the bunny uncle, “I’ll -tell you what I’ll do, Nurse Jane, I’ll go for your -dress myself and bring it home. I have nothing -to do. I’ll go get your dress at the dressmaker’s.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Will you, really?” cried the muskrat lady. -“That will be fine! Then I can curl my whiskers -and tie a new pink bow for my tail. You -are very good, Uncle Wiggily.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, not at all! Not at all!” the rabbit gentleman -said, modest like and shy. Then he -hopped out of the hollow-stump bungalow and -across the fields and through the woods to where -Nurse Jane’s dressmaker made dresses.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes, Nurse Jane’s dress!” exclaimed -Mrs. Spin-Spider, who wove silk for all the -dresses worn by the lady animals of Woodland. -“Yes, I have just finished it. I was about to call -a messenger-boy cat and send it home, but now -you are here you may take it. And here is some -cloth I had left over. Nurse Jane might want it -if ever she tears a hole in her dress.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily put the extra pieces of cloth -in his pocket, and then Mrs. Spin-Spider -wrapped Nurse Jane’s dress up nicely for him -in tissue paper, as fine as the web which she had -spun for the silk, and the rabbit gentleman -started back to the hollow-stump bungalow.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Mrs. Spin-Spider lived on Second Mountain, -and, as Uncle Wiggily’s bungalow was on First -Mountain, he had quite a way to go to get home. -And when he was about half way there he passed -a little house near a gray rock that looked like -an eagle, and in the house he heard a voice saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! Oh, isn’t it too bad? Now I -can’t go!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! I wonder who that can be?” thought -the rabbit gentleman. “It sounds like some one -in trouble. I will ask if I can do anything to -help.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The rabbit gentleman knocked on the door -of the little house, and a voice said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Come in!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily entered, and there in the -middle of the room he saw a pussy cat lady holding -up a dress with a big hole burned in it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I beg your pardon, but who are you and -what is the matter?” politely asked the bunny -uncle, making a low bow.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My name is Pussy Cat Mole,” was the answer, -“and you can see the trouble for yourself. -I am Pussy Cat Mole; I jumped over a coal, -and——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“In your best petticoat burned a great hole,” -finished Uncle Wiggily. “I know you, now. -You are from Mother Goose’s book and I met -you at a party in Belleville, where they have a -bluebell flower on the school to call the animal -children to their lessons.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s it!” meowed Pussy Cat Mole. “I -am glad you remember me, Uncle Wiggily. It -was at a party I met you, and now I am going -to another. Or, rather, I was going until I -jumped over a coal, and in my best petticoat -burned a great hole. Now I can’t go,” and she -held up the burned dress, sorrowful like and sad.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How did you happen to jump over the -coal?” asked Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, it fell out of my stove,” said Pussy Cat -Mole, “and I jumped over it in a hurry to get -the fire shovel to take it up. That’s how I burned -my dress. And now I can’t go to the party, for -it was my best petticoat, and Mrs. Wibblewobble, -the duck lady, asked me to be there early, -too; and now—Oh, dear!” and Pussy Cat Mole -felt very badly, indeed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Mrs. Wibblewobble’s!” cried Uncle Wiggily. -“Why, Nurse Jane is going there to a -little tea party, too! This is her new dress I am -taking home.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Has she burned a hole in it?” asked the -pussy cat lady.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, she has not, I am glad to say,” the bunny -uncle replied. “She hasn’t had it on, yet.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then she can go to the party, but I can’t,” -said Pussy Cat Mole, sorrowfully. “Oh, dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, you can go!” suddenly cried Uncle -Wiggily. “See here! I have some extra pieces -of cloth, left over when Mrs. Spin-Spider made -Nurse Jane’s dress. Now you can take these -pieces of cloth and mend the hole burned by -the coal in your best petticoat. Then you can -go to the party.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, so I can,” meowed the pussy cat. So, -with a needle and thread, and the cloth she -mended her best petticoat.</p> - -<p class='c011'>All around the edges and over the top of the -burned hole the pussy cat lady sewed the left-over -pieces of Nurse Jane’s dress which was almost -the same color. Then, when the mended -place was pressed with a warm flat-iron, Uncle -Wiggily cried:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You would never know there had been a -burned hole!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s fine!” meowed Pussy Cat Mole. -“Thank you so much, Uncle Wiggily, for helping -me!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Pray do not mention it,” said the rabbit gentleman, -bashful like and casual. Then he hurried -to the hollow-stump bungalow with Nurse -Jane’s dress, and the muskrat lady said he had -done just right to help mend Pussy Cat Mole’s -dress with the left-over pieces. So she and -Nurse Jane both went to Mrs. Wibblewobble’s -little tea party, and had a good time.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And so, you see, it came out just as it did in -the book: Pussy Cat Mole jumped over a coal, -and in her best petticoat burned a great hole. -But the hole it was mended, and my story is -ended. Only never before was it known how the -hole was mended. Uncle Wiggily did it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And, if the apple doesn’t jump out of the -peach dumpling and hide in the lemon pie when -the knife and fork try to play tag with it, I’ll tell -you next about Uncle Wiggily and Jack and -Jill, and it will be a Valentine story.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-X' class='c013'>CHAPTER X<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND JACK AND JILL</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily Longears</span>, the nice old gentleman -rabbit, was asleep in an easy chair in -his hollow-stump bungalow one morning when -he heard some one calling:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hi, Jack! Ho, Jill! Where are you? Come -at once, if you please!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! What’s that? Some one calling me?” -asked the bunny uncle, sitting up so suddenly -that he knocked over his red, white and blue -striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch that -Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady -housekeeper, had gnawed for him out of a corn-stalk. -“Is any one calling me?” asked Mr. -Longears.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No,” answered Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy. -“That’s Mother Goose calling Jack and Jill to -get a pail of water.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh! is that all?” asked the rabbit gentleman, -rubbing his pink eyes and making his nose -twinkle like the sharp end of an ice cream cone. -“Just Mother Goose calling Jack and Jill; eh? -Well, I’ll go out and see if I can find them for -her.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily was always that way, you -know, wanting to help some one. This time it -was Mother Goose. His new hollow-stump -bungalow was built right near where Mother -Goose lived, with all her big family; Peter-Peter -Pumpkin-Eater, Little Jack Horner, Bo Peep -and many others.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ho, Jack! Hi, Jill! Where are you?” -called Mother Goose, as Uncle Wiggily came -out of his hollow stump.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Can’t you find those two children?” asked -the rabbit gentleman, making a polite good -morning bow.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am sorry to say I cannot,” answered -Mother Goose. “They were over to see the Old -Woman Who Lives in a Shoe, a while ago, but -where they are now I can’t guess, and I need a -pail of water for Simple Simon to go fishing in, -for to catch a whale.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I’ll get the water for you,” said Uncle -Wiggily, taking the pail. “Perhaps Jack and -Jill are off playing somewhere, and they have -forgotten all about getting the water.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And I suppose they’ll forget about tumbling -down hill, too,” went on Mother Goose, sort of -nervous like. “But they must not. If they don’t -fall down, so Jack can break his crown, it won’t -be like the story in my book, and everything will -be upside down.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“So Jack has to break his crown; eh?” asked -Uncle Wiggily. “That’s too bad. I hope he -won’t hurt himself too much.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, he’s used to it by this time,” Mother -Goose said. “He doesn’t mind falling, nor does -Jill mind tumbling down after.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Very well, then, I’ll get the pail of water -for you,” spoke the bunny uncle, “and Jack and -Jill can do the tumbling-down-hill part.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily took the water pail and started -for the hill, on top of which was the well owned -by Mother Goose. As the bunny uncle was -walking along he suddenly heard a voice calling -to him from behind a bush.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Uncle Wiggily, will you do me a -favor?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I certainly will,” said Mr. Longears, “but -who are you, and where are you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Here I am, over here,” the voice went on. -“I’m Jack, and will you please give this to Jill -when you see her?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Out from behind the bush stepped Jack, the -little Mother Goose boy. In his hand he held a -piece of white birch bark, prettily colored red, -green and pink, and on it was a little verse which -read:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Can you tell me, pretty maid,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Tell me and not be afraid,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Who’s the sweetest girl, and true?—</div> - <div class='line in1'>I can; for she’s surely you!”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“What’s this? What’s this?” asked Uncle -Wiggily, in surprise. “What’s this?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It’s a valentine for Jill,” said Jack. “To-day -is Valentine’s Day, you see, but I don’t want -Jill to know I sent it, so I went off here and hid -until I could see you to ask you to take it to her.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“All right, I’ll do it,” Uncle Wiggily said, -laughing. “I’ll take your valentine to Jill for -you. So that’s why you weren’t ’round to get -the pail of water; is it?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” answered Jack. “I wanted to finish -making my valentine. As soon as you give it -to Jill I’ll get the water.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, never mind that,” said the bunny uncle. -“I’ll get the water, just you do the falling-down-hill -part. I’m too old for that.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I will,” promised Jack. Then Uncle Wiggily -went on up the hill, and pretty soon he -heard some one else calling him, and, all of a -sudden, out from behind a stump stepped Jill, -the little Mother Goose girl.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” said Jill, bashfully -holding out a pretty red leaf, shaped like a heart, -“will you please give this to Jack. I don’t want -him to know I sent it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Of course, I’ll give it to him,” promised the -rabbit gentleman. “It’s a valentine, I suppose, -and here is something for you,” and while Jill -was reading the valentine Jack had sent her, -Uncle Wiggily looked at the red heart-shaped -leaf. On it Jill had written in blue ink:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“One day when I went to school,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Teacher taught to me this rule:</div> - <div class='line in1'>Eight and one add up to nine;</div> - <div class='line in1'>So I’ll be your valentine.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“My, that’s nice!” said Uncle Wiggily, -laughing. “So that’s why you’re hiding off here -for, Jill, to make a valentine for Jack?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s it,” Jill answered, blushing sort of -pink, like the frosting on a strawberry cake. -“But I don’t want Jack to know it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll never tell him,” said Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So he went on up the hill to get a pail of water -for Mother Goose. And on his way back he -gave Jill’s valentine to Jack, who liked it very -much.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And now, since you got the water, Jill -and I will go tumble down hill,” said Jack, as -he found the little girl, where she was reading -his valentine again. Up the hill they went, near -the well of water, and Jack fell down, and broke -his crown, while Jill came tumbling after, while -Uncle Wiggily looked on and laughed. So it -all happened just as it did in the book, you see.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Mother Goose was very glad Uncle Wiggily -had brought the water for Simple Simon to go -fishing in, and that afternoon she gave a valentine -party for Sammie and Susie Littletail, the -Bushytail squirrel brothers, Nannie and Billie -Wagtail, the goats, and all the other animal -friends of Uncle Wiggily. And every one had -a fine time.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the cup doesn’t jump out of the saucer -and hide in the spoonholder, where the coffee -cake can’t find it, I’ll tell you next about Uncle -Wiggily and little Jack Horner.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-XI' class='c013'>CHAPTER XI<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND JACK HORNER</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Well</span>, I think I’ll go for a walk,” said Uncle -Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, one -afternoon, when he was sitting out on the front -porch of his hollow-stump bungalow. He had -just eaten a nice dinner that Nurse Jane Fuzzy -Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, had gotten -ready for him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Go for a walk!” exclaimed Nurse Jane. -“Why, Mr. Longears, excuse me for saying so, -but you went walking this morning.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I know I did,” answered the bunny uncle, -“but no adventure happened to me then. I -don’t really count it a good day unless I have had -an adventure. So I’ll go walking again, and -perhaps I may find one. If I do, I’ll come home -and tell you all about it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“All right,” said Nurse Jane. “You are a -funny rabbit, to be sure! Going off in the woods, -looking for adventures when you might sit -quietly here on the bungalow front porch.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s just it!” laughed Uncle Wiggily. -“I don’t like to be too quiet. Off I go!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I hope you have a nice adventure!” Nurse -Jane called after him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Thank you,” answered Uncle Wiggily, politely.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Away over the fields and through the woods -went the bunny uncle, looking on all sides for -an adventure, when, all of a sudden he heard behind -him a sound that went:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Honk! Honk! Honkity-honk-honk!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! That must be a wild goose!” thought -the rabbit gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So he looked up in the air, over his head, where -the wild geese always fly, but, instead of seeing -any of the big birds, Uncle Wiggily felt something -whizz past him, and again he heard the -loud “Honk-honk!” noise, and then he sneezed, -for a lot of dust from the road flew up his nose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My!” he heard some one cry. “We nearly -ran over a rabbit! Did you see?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And a big automobile, with real people in it, -shot past. It was the horn of the auto that Uncle -Wiggily had heard, and not a wild goose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! That came pretty close to me,” thought -Uncle Wiggily, as the auto went on down the -road. “I never ride my automobile as fast as -that, even when I sprinkle pepper on the bologna -sausage tires. I don’t like to scare any -one.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Perhaps the people in the auto did not mean -to so nearly run over Uncle Wiggily. Let us -hope so.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The old gentleman rabbit hopped on down -the road, that was between the woods and the -fields, and, pretty soon, he saw something bright -and shining in the dust, near where the auto had -passed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, maybe that’s a diamond,” he said, as he -stooped over to pick it up. But it was only a -shiny button-hook, and not a diamond at all. -Some one in the automobile had dropped it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I’ll put it in my pocket,” said Uncle -Wiggily to himself. “It may come in useful to -button Nurse Jane’s shoes, or mine.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The bunny gentleman went on a little farther, -and, pretty soon, he came to a tiny house, with -a red chimney sticking up out of the roof.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! I wonder who lives there?” said -Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He stood still for a moment, looking through -his glasses at the house and then, all of a sudden, -he saw a little lady, with a tall, peaked hat -on, run out and look up and down the road. Her -hat was just like an ice cream cone turned upside -down. Only don’t turn your ice cream cone -upside down if it has any cream in it, for you -might spill your treat.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Help! Help! Help!” cried the lady, who -had come out of the house with the red chimney.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! That sounds like trouble!” said Uncle -Wiggily. “I think I had better hurry over there -and see what it is all about.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He hopped over toward the little house, and, -when he reached it he saw that the little lady -who was calling for help was Mother Goose herself.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” exclaimed Mother -Goose. “I am so glad to see you! Will you -please go for help for me?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, certainly I will,” answered the bunny -gentleman. “But what kind of help do you -want; help for the kitchen, or a wash-lady help -or——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Neither of those,” said Mother Goose. “I -want help so Little Jack Horner can get his -thumb out of the pie.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Get his thumb out of the pie!” cried Uncle -Wiggily. “What in the world do you mean?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, you see it’s this way,” went on Mother -Goose. “Jack Horner lives here. You must -have heard about him. He is in my book. His -verse goes like this:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Little Jack Horner</div> - <div class='line in1'>Sat in a corner,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Eating a Christmas pie.</div> - <div class='line in1'>He put in his thumb,</div> - <div class='line in1'>And pulled out a plum,</div> - <div class='line in1'>And said what a great boy am I.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“That’s the boy I mean,” cried Mother Goose. -“But the trouble is that Jack can’t get his thumb -out. He put it in the pie, to pull out the plum, -but it won’t come out—neither the plum nor the -thumb. They are stuck fast for some reason or -other. I wish you’d go for Dr. Possum, so he -can help us.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I will,” said Uncle Wiggily. “But is Jack -Horner sitting in a corner, as it says in the -book?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, he’s doing that all right,” answered -Mother Goose. “But, corner or no corner, he -can’t pull out his thumb.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll get the doctor at once,” promised the -bunny uncle. He hurried over to Dr. Possum’s -house, but could not find him, as Dr. Possum -was, just then, called to see Jillie Longtail, who -had the mouse-trap fever.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Dr. Possum not in!” cried Mother Goose, -when Uncle Wiggily had hopped back and told -her. “That’s too bad! Oh, we must do something -for Jack. He’s crying and going on terribly -because he can’t get his thumb out.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute. Then, -putting his paw in his pocket, he felt the button-hook -which had dropped from the automobile -that nearly ran over him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! I know what to do!” cried the bunny -uncle, suddenly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What?” asked Mother Goose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll pull out Jack’s thumb myself, with this -button-hook,” said Mr. Longears. “I’ll make -him all right without waiting for Dr. Possum.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Into the room, where, in the corner, Jack was -sitting, went the bunny gentleman. There he -saw the Christmas-pie boy, with his thumb away -down deep under the top crust.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” cried Jack. “I’m in -such trouble. Oh, dear! I can’t get my thumb -out. It must be caught on the edge of the pan, -or something!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Don’t cry,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. -“I’ll get it out for you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So he put the button-hook through the hole -in the top pie crust, close to Jack’s thumb. Then, -getting the hook on the plum, Uncle Wiggily, -with his strong paws, pulled and pulled and -pulled, and——</p> - -<p class='c011'>All of a sudden out came the plum and Jack -Horner’s thumb, and they weren’t stuck fast any -more.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, thank you, so much!” said Jack, as he -got up out of his corner.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Pray don’t mention it,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, -politely. “I am glad I could help you, and -it also makes an adventure for me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then Jack Horner, went back to his corner -and ate the plum that stuck to his thumb. And -Uncle Wiggily, putting the button-hook back -in his pocket, went on to his hollow-stump bungalow. -He had had his adventure.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So everything came out all right, you see, and -if the snow-shovel doesn’t go off by itself, sliding -down hill with the ash can, when it ought -to be boiling the cups and saucers for supper, -I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and Mr. -Pop-Goes.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-XII' class='c013'>CHAPTER XII<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND MR. POP-GOES</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily</span>,” said Mrs. Littletail, the -rabbit lady, one morning, as she came in the -dining-room where Mr. Longears was reading -the cabbage leaf paper after breakfast, “Uncle -Wiggily, I don’t like you to go out in such a -storm as this, but I do need some things from the -store, and I have no one to send.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, I’ll be only too glad to go,” cried the -bunny uncle, who was spending a few days visiting -the Littletail family in their underground -burrow-house. “It isn’t snowing very hard,” -and he looked out through the window, which -was up a little way above ground to make the -burrow light. “What do you want, Mrs. Littletail?” -he asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I want a loaf of bread and some sugar,” -said the bunny mother of Sammie and Susie Littletail.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And you shall certainly have what you -want!” cried Uncle Wiggily, as he got ready -to go to the store. Soon he was on his way, wearing -his fur coat, and hopping along on his corn-stalk -rheumatism crutch, while his pink nose -was twinkling in the frosty air like a red lantern -on the back of an automobile.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A loaf of home-made bread and three and a -half pounds of granulated sugar,” said Uncle -Wiggily to the monkey-doodle gentleman who -kept the grocery store. “And the best that you -have, if you please, as it’s for Mrs. Littletail.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You shall certainly have the best!” cried the -monkey-doodle gentleman, with a jolly laugh. -And while he was wrapping up the things for -Uncle Wiggily to carry home, all at once there -sounded in the store a loud:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Pop!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My! What’s that?” asked Uncle Wiggily, -surprised like and excited. “I heard a bang like -a gun. Are there any hunter-men, with their -dogs about? If there are I must be careful.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, that wasn’t a gun,” said the monkey-doodle -gentleman. “That was only one of the -toy balloons in my window. I had some left -over from last year, so I blew them up and put -them in my window to make it look pretty. Now -and then one of them bursts.” And just then, -surely enough, “Pop! Bang!” went another -toy balloon, bursting and shriveling all up.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily looked in the front window of -the store and saw some blown-up balloons that -had not burst.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll take two of those,” he said to the monkey-doodle -gentleman. “Sammie and Susie Littletail -will like to play with them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Better take two or three,” said the monkey-doodle -gentleman. “I’ll let you have them -cheap, as they are old balloons, and they will -burst easily.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So he let the air out of four balloons and gave -them to Uncle Wiggily to take home to the -bunny children.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The rabbit gentleman started off through the -snow-storm toward the underground house, but -he had not gone very far before, just as he was -coming out from behind a big stump, he heard -voices talking.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now, I’ll tell you how we can get those rabbits,” -Uncle Wiggily heard one voice say. “I’ll -crawl down in the burrow, and as soon as they -see me they’ll be scared and run out—Uncle -Wiggily, Mrs. Littletail, the two children, Nurse -Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy and all. Then you can grab -them, Mr. Bigtail! I am glad I happened to -meet you!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ah, ha!” thought Uncle Wiggily. “Mr. -Bigtail! I ought to know that name. It’s the -fox, and he and some one else seem to be after -us rabbits. But I thought the fox promised to be -good and let me alone. He must have changed -his mind.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily peeked cautiously around the -stump, taking care to make no noise, and there -he saw a fox and another animal talking. And -the rabbit gentleman saw that it was not the fox -who had promised to be good, but another one, -of the same name, who was bad.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I’ll go down the hole and drive out the -rabbits and you can grab them,” said the queer -animal.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s good,” growled the fox, “but to -whom have I the honor of speaking?” That -was his way of asking the name of the other animal, -you see.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I’m called Mr. Pop-Goes,” said the -other.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Mr. Pop-Goes! What a queer name,” said -the fox, and all the while Uncle Wiggily was -listening with his big ears, and wondering what -it all meant.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Pop-Goes isn’t all my name,” said the -queer animal. “Don’t you know the story in -the book? The monkey chased the cobbler’s -wife all around the steeple. That’s the way the -money goes, Pop! goes the weasel. I’m Mr. -Pop-Goes, the weasel, you see. I’m ’specially -good at chasing rabbits.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I see!” barked Mr. Bigtail, the fox. -“Well, I’ll be glad if you can help me get those -rabbits. I’ve been over to that Uncle Wiggily’s -hollow-stump bungalow, but he isn’t around.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, he’s visiting the Littletail rabbits,” said -Mr. Pop-Goes, the weasel. “But we’ll drive -him out.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then Uncle Wiggily felt very badly, indeed, -for he knew that a weasel is the worst animal a -rabbit can have after him. Weasels are very -fond of rabbits. They love them so much they -want to eat them, and Uncle Wiggily did not -want to be eaten, even by Mr. Pop-Goes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” he thought. “What can I do -to scare away the bad fox and Mr. Pop-Goes, the -weasel? Oh, dear!” Then he thought of the -toy balloons, that made a noise like a gun when -they were blown up and burst. “The very -thing!” thought the rabbit gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Carefully, as he hid behind the stump, Uncle -Wiggily took out one of the toy balloons. Carefully -he blew it up, bigger and bigger and -bigger, until, all at once:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Bang!” exploded the toy balloon, even making -Uncle Wiggily jump. And as for the fox -and Mr. Pop-Goes, the weasel, why they were -so kerslostrated (if you will kindly excuse me for -using such a word) that they turned a somersault, -jumped up in the air, came down, turned -a peppersault, and started to run.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Did you hear that noise?” asked the weasel. -“That was a pop, and whenever I hear a pop I -have to go! And I’m going fast!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“So am I!” barked the fox. “That was a -hunter with a gun after us, I guess. We’ll get -those rabbits some other time.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Maybe you will, and maybe not!” laughed -Uncle Wiggily, as he hurried on to the burrow -with the bread, sugar and the rest of the toy balloons, -with which Sammie and Susie had lots -of fun.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So you see Mr. Pop-Goes, the weasel, didn’t -get Uncle Wiggily after all, and if the pepper -caster doesn’t throw dust in the potato’s eyes, -and make it sneeze at the rag doll, I’ll tell you -next about Uncle Wiggily and Simple Simon.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-XIII' class='c013'>CHAPTER XIII<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND SIMPLE SIMON</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>There</span>!” exclaimed Nurse Jane Fuzzy -Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, who, -with Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, -was visiting at the Littletail rabbit burrow -one day. “There they are, Uncle Wiggily, -all nicely wrapped up for you to carry.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What’s nicely wrapped up?” asked the -bunny uncle. “And what do you want me to -carry?” And he looked over the tops of his -spectacles at the muskrat lady, sort of surprised -and wondering.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I want you to carry the jam tarts, and they -are all nicely wrapped up,” went on Nurse Jane. -“Don’t you remember, I said I was going to -make some for you to take over to Mrs. Wibblewobble, -the duck lady?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, of course!” cried Uncle Wiggily. -“The jam tarts are for Lulu, Alice and Jimmie -Wibblewobble, the duck children. I remember -now. I’ll take them right over.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“They are all nicely wrapped up in a clean -napkin,” went on the muskrat lady, “so be careful -not to squash them and squeeze out the jam, -as they are very fresh.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll be careful,” promised the old rabbit gentleman, -as he put on his fur coat and took down -off the parlor mantle his red, white and blue -striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch, made of -a corn-stalk.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, wait a minute, Uncle Wiggily! Wait -a minute!” cried Mrs. Littletail, the bunny -mother of Sammie and Susie, the rabbit children, -as Mr. Longears started out. “Where are -you going?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Over to Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady’s -house, with some jam tarts for Lulu, Alice and -Jimmie,” answered Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then would you mind carrying, also, this -little rubber plant over to her?” asked Mrs. Littletail. -“I told Mrs. Wibblewobble I would -send one to her the first chance I had.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Right gladly will I take it,” said Uncle Wiggily. -So Mrs. Littletail, the rabbit lady, wrapped -the pot of the little rubber plant, with its thick, -shiny green leaves, in a piece of paper, and Uncle -Wiggily, tucking it under one paw, while with -the other he leaned on his crutch, started off -over the fields and through the woods, with the -jam tarts in his pocket. Over toward the home -of the Wibblewobble duck family he hopped.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Mr. Longears, the nice old rabbit gentleman, -had not gone very far before, all at once, from -behind a snow-covered stump, he heard a voice -saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! I know I’ll never find him! I’ve -looked all over and I can’t see him anywhere. -Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What shall I do?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My! That sounds like some one in trouble,” -Uncle Wiggily said to himself. “I wonder if -that is any of my little animal friends? I must -look.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the rabbit gentleman peeked over the top -of the stump, and there he saw a queer-looking -boy, with a funny smile on his face, which was -as round and shiny as the bottom of a new dish -pan. And the boy looked so kind that Uncle -Wiggily knew he would not hurt even a lollypop, -much less a rabbit gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, hello!” cried the boy, as soon as he saw -Uncle Wiggily. “Who are you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am Mr. Longears,” replied the bunny -uncle. “And who are you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, I’m Simple Simon,” was the answer. -“I’m in the Mother Goose book, you know.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes, I remember,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“But you seem to be <i>out</i> of the book, just now.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am,” said Simple Simon. “The page with -my picture on it fell out of the book, and so I ran -away. But I can’t find him anywhere and I -don’t know what to do.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Who is it you can’t find?” asked the rabbit.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The pie-man,” answered the funny, round-faced -boy. “Don’t you remember, it says in -the book, ‘Simple Simon met a pie-man going -to the fair?’”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes, I remember,” Uncle Wiggily answered. -“What’s next?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I can’t find him anywhere,” said -Simple Simon. “I guess the pie-man didn’t fall -out of the book when I did.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s too bad,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, -kindly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is,” said Simple Simon. “For you know -he ought to ask me for my penny, when I want -to taste of his pies, and indeed, I haven’t any -penny—not any, and I’m so hungry for a piece -of pie!” And Simple Simon began to cry.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, don’t cry,” said Uncle Wiggily. “See, -in my pocket I have some jam tarts. They are -for Lulu, Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble, the -ducks, but there are enough to let you have one.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, you are a regular pie-man yourself; -aren’t you?” laughed Simple Simon, as he ate -one of Nurse Jane’s nice jam tarts.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, you might call me that,” said the -bunny uncle. “Though I s’pose a tart-man -would be nearer right.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But there’s something else,” went on Simple -Simon. “You know in the Mother Goose book -I have to go for water, in my mother’s sieve. But -soon it all ran through.” And then, cried -Simple Simon, “Oh, dear, what shall I do?” -And he held out a sieve, just like a coffee -strainer, full of little holes. “How can I ever -get water in that?” he asked. “I’ve tried and -tried, but I can’t. No one can! It all runs -through!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute. Then -he cried:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I have it! I’ll pull some leaves off the rubber -plant I am taking to Mrs. Wibblewobble. -We’ll put the leaves in the bottom of the sieve, -and, being of rubber, water can’t get through -them. Then the sieve will hold water, or milk -either, and you can bring it to your mother.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, fine!” cried Simple Simon, licking the -sticky squeegee jam off his fingers. So Uncle -Wiggily put some rubber plant leaves in the -bottom of the sieve, and Simple Simon, filling it -full of water, carried it home to his mother, and -not a drop ran through, which, of course, wasn’t -at all like the story in the book.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But that isn’t my fault,” said Uncle Wiggily, -as he took the rest of the jam tarts to the -Wibblewobble children. “I just had to help -Simple Simon.” Which was very kind of Uncle -Wiggily, I think; don’t you? It didn’t matter if, -just once, something happened that wasn’t in the -book.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And Mrs. Wibblewobble didn’t at all mind -some of the leaves being off her rubber plant. -So you see we should always be kind when we -can; and if the canary bird doesn’t go to sleep -in the bowl with the goldfish, and forget to -whistle like an alarm clock in the morning, I’ll -tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the -crumple-horn cow.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-XIV' class='c013'>CHAPTER XIV<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CRUMPLE-HORN COW</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Where</span> are you going, Uncle Wiggily?” -asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat -lady housekeeper, as she saw the rabbit gentleman -starting out from his hollow-stump bungalow -one day. He was back again from his visit -to Sammie and Susie Littletail.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I’m just going for a walk,” answered -Mr. Longears. “I have not had an exciting adventure -since I carried the valentines for Jack -and Jill, before they tumbled down hill, and -perhaps to-day I may find something else to -make me lively, and happy and skippy like.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Too much hopping and skipping is not -good for you,” the muskrat lady said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I think it is, if you will excuse me for -saying so,” spoke Uncle Wiggily politely. “It -keeps my rheumatism from getting too painful.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then, taking his red, white and blue-striped -rheumatism crutch from inside the talking machine -horn, Uncle Wiggily started off.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Over the fields and through the woods went -the rabbit gentleman, until, pretty soon, as he -was walking along, wondering what would happen -to him that day, he heard a voice saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Moo! Moo! Moo-o-o-o-o!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ah! That sounds rather sad and unhappy -like,” spoke the rabbit gentleman to himself. -“I wonder if it can be any one in trouble?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So he peeked through the bushes and there he -saw a nice cow, who was standing with one foot -in the hollow of a big stump.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Moo! Moo!” cried the cow. “Oh, dear, -will no one help me?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, of course, I’ll help you,” kindly said -Uncle Wiggily. “What is the matter, and who -are you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, I am the Mother Goose cow with the -crumpled horn,” was the answer, “and my foot -is caught so tightly in the hole of this stump that -I cannot get it out.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, I’ll help you, Mrs. Crumpled-horn -Cow,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. Then, with -his rheumatism crutch, the rabbit gentleman -pushed loose the cow’s hoof from where it was -caught in the stump, and she was all right again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, thank you so much, Uncle Wiggily,” -spoke the crumpled-horn cow. “If ever I can -do you a favor I will.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Thank you,” said the rabbit gentleman, politely. -“I’m sure you will. But how did you -happen to get your hoof caught in that stump?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I was standing on it, trying to see if I -could jump over the moon,” was the answer.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Jump over the moon!” cried the rabbit gentleman. -“You surprise me! Why in the -world——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It’s this way, you see,” spoke the crumpled-horn -lady cow. “In the Mother Goose book it -says: ‘Hi-diddle-diddle, the cat’s in the fiddle, -the cow jumped over the moon.’ Well, if one -cow did that, I don’t see why another one can’t. -I got up on the stump, to try and jump over the -moon, but my foot slipped and I was caught fast.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I suppose I should not have tried it, for I -am the cow with the crumpled horn. You have -heard of me, I dare say. I’m the cow with the -crumpled horn, that little Boy Blue drove out -of the corn. I tossed the dog that worried that -cat that caught the rat that ate the malt that lay -in the house that Jack built.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I remember you now,” said Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And this is my crumpled horn,” went on the -cow, and she showed the rabbit gentleman how -one of her horns was all crumpled and crooked -and twisted, just like a corkscrew that is used -to pull hard corks out of bottles.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, thank you again for pulling out my -foot,” said the cow, as she turned away. “Now -I must go toss that dog once more, for he’s always -worrying the cat.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the cow went away, and Uncle Wiggily -hopped on through the woods and over the -fields. He had had an adventure, you see, helping -the cow, and later on he had another one, -for he met Jimmie Wibblewobble, the boy duck, -who had lost his penny going to the store for a -corn-meal-flavored lollypop. Uncle Wiggily -found the penny in the snow, and Jimmie was -happy once more.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The next day when Uncle Wiggily awakened -in his hollow-stump bungalow, and tried to get -out of bed, he was so lame and stiff that he could -hardly move.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” cried the rabbit gentleman. -“Ouch! Oh, what a pain!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What is it?” asked Nurse Jane. “What’s -the matter?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My rheumatism,” answered Uncle Wiggily. -“Please send to Dr. Possum and get some -medicine. Ouch! Oh, my!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll go for the medicine myself,” Nurse Jane -said, and, tying her tail up in a double bow-knot, -so she would not step on it, and trip, as she hurried -along, over to Dr. Possum’s she went.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The doctor was just starting out to go to see -Nannie Wagtail, the little goat girl, who had -the hornache, but before going there Dr. Possum -ran back into his office, got a big bottle of -medicine, which he gave to Nurse Jane, saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“When you get back to the hollow-stump -bungalow pull out the cork and rub some on -Uncle Wiggily’s pain.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Rub the cork on?” asked Nurse Jane, sort -of surprised like.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, rub on some of the medicine from the -bottle,” answered Dr. Possum, laughing as he -hurried off.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily had a bad pain when Nurse -Jane got back.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll soon fix you,” said the muskrat lady. -“Wait until I get the cork out of this bottle.” -But that was more easily said than done. Nurse -Jane tried with all her might to pull out the cork -with her paws and even with her teeth. Then -she used a hair pin, but it only bent and twisted -itself all up in a knot.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, hurry with the medicine!” begged -Uncle Wiggily. “Hurry, please!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I can’t get the cork out,” said Nurse Jane. -“The cork is stuck in the bottle.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Let me try,” spoke the bunny uncle. But -he could not get the cork out, either, and his pain -was getting worse all the while.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Just then came a knock on the bungalow -door, and a voice said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am the cow with the crumpled horn. I -just met Dr. Possum, and he told me Uncle Wiggily -had the rheumatism. Is there anything I -can do for him? I’d like to do him a favor as -he did me one.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, you can help me,” said the rabbit gentleman. -“Can you pull a tight cork out of a -bottle?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Indeed I can!” mooed the cow. “Just -watch me!” She put her crooked, crumpled -horn, which was just like a corkscrew, in the -cork, and, with one twist, out it came from the -bottle as easily as anything. Then Nurse Jane -could rub some medicine on Uncle Wiggily’s -rheumatism, which soon felt much better.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So you see Mother Goose’s crumpled-horn -cow can do other things besides tossing cat-worrying -dogs. And if the fried egg doesn’t go -to sleep in the dish pan, so the knives and forks -can’t play tag there, I’ll tell you next of Uncle -Wiggily and Old Mother Hubbard.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-XV' class='c013'>CHAPTER XV<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND OLD MOTHER HUBBARD</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily</span>, have you anything special -to do this morning?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy -Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper for the -rabbit gentleman, as she saw him get up from -the breakfast table in his hollow-stump bungalow.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Anything special? Why, no, I guess not,” -answered the bunny uncle. “I was going out -for a walk, and perhaps I may meet with an adventure -on the way, or I may help some friends -of Mother Goose, as I sometimes do.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You are always being kind to some one,” -said Nurse Jane, “and that is what I want you -to do now. I have just made an orange cake, -and——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“An orange cake?” cried Uncle Wiggily, -his pink nose twinkling. “How nice! Where -did you get the oranges?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Up on the Orange Mountains, to be sure,” -answered the muskrat lady, with a laugh. “I -have made two orange cakes, to tell the exact -truth, which I always do. There is one for us -and I wanted to send one to Dr. Possum, who -was so good to cure you of the rheumatism, -when the cow with the crumpled horn pulled the -hard cork out of the medicine bottle for us.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Send an orange cake to Dr. Possum? The -very thing! Oh, fine!” cried the bunny uncle. -“I’ll take it right over to him. Put it in a basket, -so it will not take cold, Nurse Jane.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The muskrat lady wrapped the orange cake -in a clean napkin, and then put it in the basket -for Uncle Wiggily to carry to Dr. Possum.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Off started the old rabbit gentleman, over the -woods and through the fields—oh, excuse me -just a minute. He did not go over the woods -this time. He only did that when he had his -airship, which he was not using to-day, for fear -of spilling the oranges out of the cake. So he -went over the fields and through the woods to -Dr. Possum’s office.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I wonder if I will have any adventure -to-day?” thought the old rabbit gentleman, as -he hopped along. “I hope I do, for——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And then he suddenly stopped thinking and -listened, for he heard a dog barking, and a -voice was sadly saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! It’s too bad, I know it is, but I -can’t help it. It’s that way in the book, so you’ll -have to go hungry.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then the dog barked again and Uncle Wiggily -said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“More trouble for some one. I hope it isn’t -the bad dog who used to bother me. I wonder -if I can help any one?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He looked around, and, nearby, he saw a -little wooden house on the top of a hill. The -barking and talking was coming from that -house.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll go up and see what is the matter,” said -the rabbit gentleman. “Perhaps I can help.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He looked through a window of the house -before going in, and he saw a lady, somewhat -like Mother Goose, wearing a tall, peaked hat, -like an ice cream cone turned upside down. -And with her was a big dog, who was looking -in an open cupboard and barking. And the -lady was singing:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Old Mother Hubbard</div> - <div class='line in1'>Went to the cupboard</div> - <div class='line in2'>To get her poor dog a bone.</div> - <div class='line in1'>But, when she got there,</div> - <div class='line in1'>The cupboard was bare,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And so the poor dog had none.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“And isn’t there anything else in the house -to eat, except a bone, Mother Hubbard?” the -dog asked. “I’m so hungry!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“There isn’t, I’m sorry to say,” she answered. -“But I’ll go to the baker’s to get you some -bread——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And when you come back you will think I -am dead,” said the dog, quickly. “I’ll look so, -anyhow,” he went on, “for I am so hungry. -Isn’t there any way of getting me anything to -eat without going to the baker’s? I don’t care -much for bread, anyhow.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How would you like a piece of orange -cake?” asked Uncle Wiggily, all of a sudden, -as he walked in Mother Hubbard’s house. “Excuse -me,” said the bunny uncle, “but I could -not help hearing what your dog said. I know -how hard it is to be hungry, and I have an -orange cake in my basket. It is for Dr. Possum, -but I am sure he would be glad to let your dog -have some.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That is very kind of you,” said Mother -Hubbard.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And I certainly would like orange cake,” -spoke the dog, making a bow and wagging his -nose—I mean his tail.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then you shall have it,” said Uncle Wiggily, -opening the basket. He set the orange -cake on the table, and the dog began to eat it, -and Mother Hubbard also ate some, for she was -hungry, too, and, what do you think? Before -Uncle Wiggily, or any one else knew it, the -orange cake was all gone—eaten up—and there -was none for Dr. Possum.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, see what we have done!” cried Mother -Hubbard, sadly. “We have eaten all your -cake, Uncle Wiggily. I’m sure we did not mean -to, but with a hungry dog——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Pray do not mention it,” said the rabbit gentleman, -politely. “I know just how it is. I have -another orange cake of my own at home. I’ll -go get that for Dr. Possum. He won’t mind -which one he has.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No. I can’t let you do that,” spoke Mother -Hubbard. “You were too kind to be put to all -that trouble. Next door to me lives Paddy -Kake, the baker-man. I’ll have him bake you -a cake as fast as he can, and you can take that -to Dr. Possum. How will that do?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, that will be just fine!” said Uncle -Wiggily, twinkling his pink nose at the dog, who -was licking up the last of the cake crumbs with -his red tongue.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Mother Hubbard went next door, where -lived Paddy Kake, the baker. And she said to -him:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Paddy Kake, Paddy Kake, baker-man,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Bake me a cake as fast as you can.</div> - <div class='line in1'>Into it please put a raisin and plum,</div> - <div class='line in1'>And mark it with D. P. for Dr. Possum.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“I will,” said Paddy Kake. “I’ll do it right -away.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And he did, and as soon as the cake was -baked Uncle Wiggily put it in the basket where -the orange one had been, and took it to Dr. Possum, -who was very glad to get it. For the raisin -and plum cake was as good as the orange one -Mother Hubbard and her dog had eaten.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So you see everything came out all right after -all, and if the cork doesn’t pop out of the ink -bottle and go to sleep in the middle of the white -bedspread, like our black cat, I’ll tell you next -about Uncle Wiggily and Little Miss Muffet.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-XVI' class='c013'>CHAPTER XVI<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND MISS MUFFET</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Rat-a-tat-tat</span>!” came a knock on the door -of the hollow-stump bungalow, where Uncle -Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, lived -with Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat -lady housekeeper. “Rat-a-tat-tat!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Come in,” called Nurse Jane, who was sitting -by a window, mending a pair of Uncle -Wiggily’s socks, which had holes in them.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The door opened, and into the bungalow -stepped a little girl. Oh, she was such a tiny -thing that she was not much larger than a doll.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How do you do, Nurse Jane,” said the little -girl, making a low bow, and shaking her curly -hair.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, I am very well, thank you,” the muskrat -lady said. “How are you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I’m very well, too, Nurse Jane.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! You seem to know me, but I am not -so sure I know you,” said Uncle Wiggily’s -housekeeper. “Are you Little Bo Peep?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, Nurse Jane,” answered the little girl, -with a smile.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are you Mistress Mary, quite contrary, how -does your garden grow?” Nurse Jane wanted -to know.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am not Mistress Mary,” answered the little -girl.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then who are you?” Nurse Jane asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am little Miss Muffet, if you please, and I -have come to sit on a tuffet, and eat some curds -and whey. I want to see Uncle Wiggily, too, before -I go away.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“All right,” spoke Nurse Jane. “I’ll get you -the tuffet and the curds and whey,” and she went -out to the kitchen. The muskrat lady noticed -that Miss Muffet said nothing about the spider -frightening her away.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Perhaps she doesn’t like to talk about it,” -thought Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy, “though it’s in the -Mother Goose book. Well, I’ll not say anything, -either.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So she got the tuffet for little Miss Muffet; a -tuffet being a sort of baby footstool. And, indeed, -the little girl had to sit on something quite -small, for her legs were very short.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And here are your curds and whey,” went -on Nurse Jane, bringing in a bowl. Curds and -whey are very good to eat. They are made from -milk, sweetened, and are something like a custard -in a cup.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So little Miss Muffet, sat on a tuffet, eating -her curds and whey, just as she ought to have -done.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And,” said Nurse Jane to herself, “I do -hope no spider will come sit beside her to -frighten Miss Muffet away, before Uncle Wiggily -sees her, for she is a dear little child.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Pretty soon some one was heard hopping up -the front steps of the bungalow, and Nurse Jane -said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“There is Uncle Wiggily now, I think.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I’m glad!” exclaimed little Miss Muffet, -as she handed the muskrat lady the empty -bowl of curds and whey. “I want to see him -very specially.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>In came hopping the nice old rabbit gentleman, -and he knew Little Miss Muffet right -away, and was very glad to see her.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” cried the little girl. -“I have been waiting to see you. I want you to -do me a very special extra favor; will you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, of course, if I can,” answered the -bunny uncle, with a polite bow. “I am always -glad to do favors.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You can easily do this one,” said Little Miss -Muffet. “I want you to come——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And just then Uncle Wiggily saw a big spider -crawling over the floor toward the little girl, who -was still on her tuffet, having finished her curds -and whey.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And if she sees that spider, sit down beside -her, it surely will frighten her away,” thought -Uncle Wiggily, “and I will not be able to find -out what she wants me to do for her. Let me -see, she hasn’t yet noticed the spider. I wonder -if I could get her out of the room while I asked -the spider to kindly not to do any frightening, -at least for a while?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Uncle Wiggily, who was quite worried, -sort of waved his paw sideways at the spider, and -twinkled his pink nose and said “Ahem!” -which meant that the spider was to keep on -crawling, and not go near Miss Muffet. Uncle -Wiggily himself was not afraid of spiders.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, Uncle Wiggily,” went on little Miss -Muffet, who had not yet seen the spider. “I -want you to come to——” and then she saw the -rabbit gentleman making funny noses behind -her back, and waving his paw at something, and -Miss Muffet cried:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, what in the world is the matter, Uncle -Wiggily? Have you hurt yourself?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, no,” the rabbit gentleman quickly exclaimed. -“It’s the spider. She’s crawling toward -you, and I don’t want her to sit down beside -you, and frighten you away.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Little Miss Muffet laughed a jolly laugh.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” she cried. “I’m not -at all afraid of spiders! I’d let a dozen of them -sit beside me if they wanted to, for I know they -will not harm me, if I do not harm them. And -besides, I knew this spider was coming all the -while.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You did?” cried Nurse Jane, surprised like.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“To be sure I did. She is Mrs. Spin-Spider, -and she has come to measure me for a new cobweb -silk dress; haven’t you, Mrs. Spin-Spider?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, child, I have,” answered the lady spider. -“No one need be afraid of me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’m not,” Uncle Wiggily said, “only I did -not want you to frighten Miss Muffet away before -she had her curds and whey.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I had them,” the little girl said. “Nurse -Jane gave them to me before you came in, Uncle -Wiggily. But now let me tell you what I came -for, and then Mrs. Spin-Spider can measure me -for a new dress. I came to ask if you would do -me the favor to come to my birthday party next -week. Will you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Of course I will!” cried Uncle Wiggily. -“I’ll be delighted.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Good!” laughed Little Miss Muffet. Then -along came Mrs. Spin-Spider, and sat down beside -her and did not frighten the little girl away, -but, instead, measured her for a new dress.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So from this we may learn that cobwebs are -good for something else than catching flies, and -in the next chapter, if the piano doesn’t come upstairs -to lie down on the brass bed so the pillow -has to go down in the coal bin to sleep, I’ll tell -you about Uncle Wiggily and the first little kitten.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-XVII' class='c013'>CHAPTER XVII<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE FIRST KITTEN</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily Longears</span>, the nice old rabbit -gentleman, was asleep in his easy chair by -the fire which burned brightly on the hearth in -his hollow-stump bungalow. Mr. Longears -was dreaming that he had just eaten a piece of -cherry pie for lunch, and that the cherry pits -were dropping on the floor with a “rat-a-tat-tat!” -when he suddenly awakened and heard -some one knocking on the front door.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! Who is there? Come in!” cried the -rabbit gentleman, hardly awake yet. Then he -happened to think:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“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.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But it was none of these unpleasant creatures -who had knocked on Uncle Wiggily’s door. It -was Mrs. Purr, the nice cat lady, and when the -rabbit gentleman had let her in she looked so sad -and sorrowful that he said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What is the matter, Mrs. Purr? Has anything -happened?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Indeed there has, Mr. Longears,” the cat -lady answered. “You know my three little kittens, -don’t you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, yes, I know them,” replied the bunny -uncle. “They are Fuzzo, Muzzo and Wuzzo. -I hope they are not ill?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, they are not ill,” said the cat lady, mewing -sadly, “but they have run away, and I came -to see if you would help me get them back.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Run away! Your dear little kittens!” cried -Uncle Wiggily. “You don’t mean it! How -did it happen?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, you know my little kittens had each a -new pair of mittens,” said Mrs. Purr.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I read about that in the Mother Goose -book,” said the rabbit gentleman. “It must be -nice to have new mittens.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My little kittens thought so,” went on Mrs. -Purr. “Their grandmother, Pussy Cat Mole, -knitted them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I have met Pussy Cat Mole,” said Uncle -Wiggily. “After she jumped over a coal, and -in her best petticoat burned a great hole, I helped -her mend it so she could go to the party.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I heard about that; it was very good of you,” -mewed Mrs. Purr. “But about my little kittens, -when they got their mittens, what do you think -they did?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, I suppose they went out and played in -the snow,” Uncle Wiggily said. “I know that -is what I would have done, when I was a little -rabbit, if I had had a new pair of mittens.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“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 over their -new mittens, and when they saw it they became -afraid I would scold them, and they ran away. -I was not home when they ate the pie and soiled -their mittens, but the cat lady who lives next door -told me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now I want to know if you will try to find -my three little kittens for me; Fuzzo, Wuzzo -and Muzzo? I want them to come home so -badly!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll go look for them,” promised the old rabbit -gentleman. So taking his red, white and blue -rheumatism crutch, off he started over the fields -and through the woods. Mrs. Purr went back -home to get supper, in case her kittens, with -their pie-soiled mittens, should come back by -themselves before Uncle Wiggily found them.</p> - -<p class='c011'>On and on went the old rabbit gentleman. -He looked on all sides and through the middle -for any signs of the lost kittens, but he saw none -for quite a while. Then, all at once, he heard a -mewing sound over in the bushes, and he said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! There is the first little kitten!” And -there, surely enough she was—Fuzzo!</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” Fuzzo was saying, “I don’t believe -I’ll ever get them clean!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What’s the matter now?” asked the rabbit -gentleman, though he knew quite well what it -was, and only pretended he did not. “Who are -you and what is the matter?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I’m in such trouble,” said the first little -kitten. “My sisters and I ate some pie in our -new mittens. We soiled them badly with the -red pie-juice. Weren’t we naughty kittens?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, perhaps just a little bit naughty,” -Uncle Wiggily said. “But you should not have -run away from your mamma. She feels very -badly. Where are Muzzo and Wuzzo?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“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 -seem to do it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How did you try?” Uncle Wiggily wanted -to know.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am rubbing my mittens up and down on -the rough bark of trees and on stones,” answered -Fuzzo. “I thought that would take the pie -stains out, but it doesn’t.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Of course not!” laughed Uncle Wiggily. -“Now you come with me. I am going to take -you home. Your mother sent me to look for -you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, but I’m afraid to go home,” mewed -Fuzzo. “My mother will scold me for soiling -my nice, new mittens. It says so in the book.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, she won’t!” laughed Uncle Wiggily. -“You just leave it to me. But first you come -to my hollow-stump bungalow.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Fuzzo, the first little kitten, put one paw -in Uncle Wiggily’s, and carrying her mittens -in the other, along they went together.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where are you, Nurse Jane Fuzzy -Wuzzy?” called the rabbit gentleman, when -they reached his hollow-stump bungalow. “I -want you to make some nice, hot, soapy suds and -water, and wash this first little kitten’s mittens. -Then they will be clean, and she can take them -home with her.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the muskrat lady made some nice, hot, soap-bubbily -suds and in them she washed the kitten’s -mittens. Then, when they were dry, Uncle Wiggily -took the mittens, and also Fuzzo to Mrs. -Purr’s house.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, how glad I am to have you back!” cried -the cat mother. “I wouldn’t have scolded you, -Fuzzo, for soiling your mittens. You must not -be afraid any more.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I won’t,” promised the first little kitten, -showing her nice, clean mittens.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And then Uncle Wiggily said he would go -find the other two lost baby cats. 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 next about Uncle Wiggily and -the second kittie.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-XVIII' class='c013'>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SECOND KITTEN</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Well</span>, where are you going now, Uncle -Wiggily?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy 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 soiled their -mittens.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am going to look for the second little lost -kitten,” replied the bunny uncle, “though where -she may be I don’t know. Her name is Muzzo.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, her name is almost like mine, isn’t it?” -asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A little like it,” said Uncle Wiggily. “Poor -little Muzzo! She and the other two kittens ran -off after they had soiled their mittens, eating -cherry pie when their mother, Mrs. Purr, was -not at home.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is very good of you to go looking for -them,” said Nurse Jane.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I just love to do things like that,” spoke -the rabbit gentleman. “Well, good-by. I’ll see -if I can’t find the second kitten now.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Away started the rabbit gentleman, over the -fields and through the woods, looking on all -sides for the second lost kitten, whose name was -Muzzo.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where are you, kittie?” called Uncle Wiggily. -“Where are you, Muzzo? Come to me! -Never mind if your mittens are soiled by cherry-pie-juice. -I’ll find a way to clean them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But no Muzzo answered. Uncle Wiggily -looked everywhere, under bushes and in the tree -tops; for sometimes kitty cats climb trees, you -know; but no Muzzo could he find. Then -Uncle Wiggily walked a little farther, and he -saw Billie Wagtail, the goat boy, butting his -head in a snow-bank.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What are you doing, Billie?” asked the rabbit -gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, just having some fun,” answered Billie, -standing up on his hind legs.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You haven’t seen a little lost kitten, with -cherry-pie-juice on her new mittens, have you?” -asked the rabbit gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, I am sorry to say I have not,” said Billie, -politely. “Did you lose one?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, she lost herself,” said Uncle Wiggily, -and he told about Muzzo.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll help you look for her,” offered the goat -boy, so he and Uncle Wiggily started off together -to try to find poor little lost Muzzo, and -bring her home to her mother, Mrs. Purr.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Pretty soon, as the rabbit gentleman and the -goat boy were walking along they heard a little -mewing cry behind a pile of snow, and Uncle -Wiggily said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That sounds like Muzzo now.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Perhaps it is. Let’s look,” said Billie Wagtail.</p> - -<p class='c011'>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.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” the little pussy was saying. -“I don’t know how to get them clean! What -shall I do? I can’t go home with my mittens all -soiled, or my mamma will whip me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Of course, Mrs. Purr, the cat lady, would not -do anything like that, but Muzzo thought she -would.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What are you trying to do to clean your -mittens, Muzzo?” asked Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, how you surprised me!” exclaimed the -second little lost kitten. “I did not know you -were here.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Billie Wagtail and I came to look for you,” -said Uncle Wiggily. “But what about your -mittens?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I have been dipping them in snow, trying -to clean them,” said Muzzo. “Only the -pie-juice will not come out.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Of course not,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, with -a laugh. “It needs hot soap suds and water to -clean them. You come home to my bungalow -and we will get some.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I am so cold and tired I can’t go another -step,” said the second little kitten, who had run -away from home after she soiled her mittens. -“I just can’t.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, then, I don’t know how you are going -to get your mittens washed, out here in the cold -and snow,” said the rabbit gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! I know a way!” said Billie Wagtail, -the goat boy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How?” asked Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll get an empty tomato can,” spoke Billie. -“I know where there is one, for I was eating -the paper off it, to get the paste, just before you -came along.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Goats like to eat paper off tomato cans, you -know, because the paper is stuck on with sweet -paste, and that is as good to goat children as -candy is to you.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll go get the tomato can,” said Billie, “and -you can make a fire, Uncle Wiggily.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And then what?” asked the rabbit gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then we will melt some snow, and make -some hot water,” went on Billie. “I have a cake -of soap in my pocket, that I just bought at the -store for my mother.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“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.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“So we can, Billie!” cried the bunny uncle. -“You go get the empty tomato tin and I’ll make -the fire. You needn’t try to wash your soiled -mittens in the snow any more, Muzzo,” he said -to the second lost kittie. “We will do it for you, -in soapy water, which is better.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Soon Uncle Wiggily made a fire. Back came -Billie Wagtail with the tomato 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 hot Uncle Wiggily made a soapy suds -as Nurse Jane had done.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now I can wash my mittens!” cried Muzzo, -and she did. And when they were nice and -clean she went home with them, and oh! how -glad her mother was to see her!</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Never run away again, Muzzo,” said the -cat lady.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I won’t,” promised the kitten. “But where -is Wuzzo?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“She is still lost,” said Mrs. Purr.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But I will go find her, too,” said Uncle -Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the apple pie doesn’t go out snowballing -with the piece of cheese, and forget to come -back to dinner, I’ll tell you next about Uncle -Wiggily and the third little kitten.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-XIX' class='c013'>CHAPTER XIX<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE THIRD KITTEN</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily Longears</span>, the nice old -gentleman rabbit, came walking slowly up the -front path that led to his hollow-stump bungalow. -He was limping a little on his red, white -and blue-striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch -that Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat -lady housekeeper, had gnawed for him out of a -corn-stalk.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I’m glad to be home again,” said the -rabbit uncle, sitting down on the front porch to -rest a minute. And just then the door in the -hollow stump opened, and Nurse Jane, looking -out, said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, here he is now, Mrs. Purr.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>With that a cat lady came to the door and she -said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Uncle Wiggily! I thought you never -would come back. Did you find her?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Find who?” asked the rabbit gentleman. -“I was not looking for any one. I have just -been down to Lincoln Park to see some squirrels -who live in a hollow tree. They are second -cousins to Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the -squirrels who live in our woods. I had a nice -visit with them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then you didn’t find Wuzzo, my third little -lost kitten, did you?” asked Mrs. Purr, the cat -mother.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What! Is Wuzzo still lost?” asked the -bunny uncle, in great surprise. “I thought she -had come home.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, she hasn’t,” said Mrs. Purr. “You -know you found my other kittens, Fuzzo -and Muzzo, for me, but Wuzzo, the third little -kitten, is still lost. She has been away all night, -and I came over here the first thing this morning -to see if you would not kindly go look for her. -But you had already left and I have been waiting -here ever since for you to come back.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I stayed longer with the park squirrels -than I meant to,” said Uncle Wiggily. “But -now I am back I will start off and try to find -Wuzzo. It’s too bad your three little kittens ran -away.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>They had, you know, as I told you in the two -stories before this one. The three little kittens -ate cherry pie with their new mittens on. And -they soiled their mittens. Then they were so -afraid their mother, Mrs. Purr, would scold -them that they all ran away.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But Mrs. Purr was a kind cat, and would not -have scolded at all. And when she found her -little kittens were gone she asked Uncle Wiggily -to find them.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And you did find the first two, Fuzzo and -Muzzo,” said the cat lady. “So I am sure you -can find the third one, Wuzzo.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I hope I can,” Uncle Wiggily said. “I remember -now I started off to find her, but my -rheumatism hurt me so I had to come back to -my bungalow. Then I forgot all about Wuzzo. -But I’m all right now, and I’ll start off.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So away over the fields and through the woods -went Uncle Wiggily, looking for the third little -lost kitten. When he had found the two others -he had helped them wash the pie-juice off their -mittens, so they were nice and clean. And then -the kittens were not afraid to go home.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily looked all over for the third -little kitten, under bushes, up in trees (for cats -climb trees, you know), and even behind big -rocks Uncle Wiggily looked. But no Wuzzo -could he find.</p> - -<p class='c011'>At last, when the rabbit gentleman came to a -big hollow log that was lying on the ground, he -sat down on it to rest, and, all of a sudden, he -heard a voice inside the log speaking. And the -voice asked:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ve been to London to see the Queen,” answered -another voice.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you do -there?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I frightened a little mouse, under her chair,” -came the answer, and this time it was a little -pussy cat kitten speaking, Uncle Wiggily was -certain.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The old rabbit gentleman looked in one end -of the hollow log, and there surely enough, he -saw Wuzzo, the third lost kitten.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And besides Wuzzo, Uncle Wiggily saw -Neddie Stubtail, the little bear boy, who always -slept in a hollow log all Winter. But this time -Neddie was awake, for it was near Spring.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Wuzzo, Wuzzo! Is that you? What are -you doing there?” asked Uncle Wiggily. -“Don’t you know your poor mother is looking -all over for you, and that she has sent me to -find you? Why don’t you come home?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I—I’m afraid to,” said Wuzzo, crawling -out of the hollow log, and Neddie, the boy bear -also crawled out, saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hello, Uncle Wiggily!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How do you do, Neddie,” spoke the bunny -uncle. “How long has Wuzzo been staying -with you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“She just ran in my hollow log,” said the little -bear chap, “and her tail, brushing against my -nose, tickled me so that I sneezed and awakened -from my Winter sleep.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where have you been all night, since you -ran away, Wuzzo?” asked Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well,” answered the third little kitten. -“After Fuzzo, Muzzo and I soiled our mittens -with cherry pie we all ran away.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I know that part,” spoke the bunny -uncle. “It was not right to do, but I have found -the two other lost kitties. I couldn’t find you, -though. Why was that?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Because I met Mother Goose,” said Wuzzo, -“and she asked me to go to London to see the -Queen. She took me through the air on the -back of her big gander, and we flew as quickly -as you could have gone in your airship.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You went to London to see the Queen!” exclaimed -Uncle Wiggily, in surprise. “Well, -well! What did you do there?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I frightened a little mouse under her chair, -just as Mother Goose wanted me to do,” said -Wuzzo. “Then the big gander flew with me to -these woods and went back to get Mother Goose, -who stayed to talk with the Queen. So here I -am, but I don’t know the way home.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I’ll take you home all right,” said Uncle -Wiggily. “But first we must wash your mittens.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I did that for her, in the log,” said Neddie -Stubtail, laughing. “With my red tongue -I licked off all the sweet cherry-pie-juice, which -I liked very much. So, now the mittens are -clean.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Good!” cried the bunny uncle. “Now we -will go to your mother, Wuzzo. She will be -glad to know that you frightened a little mouse -under the Queen’s chair.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Uncle Wiggily took the third little kitten -home, and thus they were all found. And if the -cat on our roof doesn’t jump down the chimney, -and scare the lemon pie so it turns into an apple -dumpling, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily -and the Jack horse.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-XX' class='c013'>CHAPTER XX<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE JACK HORSE</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Well</span>, where are you going to-day, Uncle -Wiggily?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy, the muskrat -lady housekeeper, as she saw the rabbit -gentleman putting on his tall silk hat, and taking -his red, white and blue-striped rheumatism -crutch down off the mantel.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am going over to see Nannie and Billy -Wagtail, the goat children,” answered the bunny -uncle. “I have not seen them in a long while.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But they’ll be at school,” said Nurse Jane.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll wait until they come home, then,” said -Uncle Wiggily. “And while I’m waiting I’ll -talk to Uncle Butter, the nice old gentleman -goat.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So off started Uncle Wiggily over the fields -and through the woods.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Pretty soon he came to the house where the -family of Wagtail goats lived. They were given -that name because they wagged their little short -tails so very fast, sometimes up and down, and -again sideways.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, how do you do, Uncle Wiggily?” -asked Mrs. Wagtail, as she opened the door for -the rabbit gentleman. “Come and sit down.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Thank you,” he answered. “I called to see -Nannie and Billie. But I suppose they are at -school.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, they are studying their lessons.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I’ll come in then, and talk to Uncle -Butter, for I suppose you are busy.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I am, but not too busy to talk to you, -Mr. Longears,” said the goat lady. “Uncle -Butter is away, pasting up some circus posters -on the billboard, and I wish he’d come back, for -I want him to go to the store for me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Couldn’t I go?” asked Uncle Wiggily, politely. -“I have nothing special to do, and I often -go to the store for Nurse Jane. I’d like to go -for you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Very well, you may,” said Mrs. Wagtail. -“I want for supper some papers off a tomato -can, and a few more off a can of corn, and here -is a basket to put them in. And you might bring -a bit of brown paper, so I can make soup of it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I will,” said Uncle Wiggily, starting off -with the basket on his paw. Goats, you know, -like the papers that come off cans, as the papers -have sweet paste on them. And they also like -brown grocery paper itself, for it has straw in -it, and goats like straw. Of course, goats eat -other things besides paper, though.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily was going carefully along, -for there was ice and snow on the ground, and -it was slippery, and he did not want to fall. Soon -he was at the paper store, where he bought what -Mrs. Wagtail wanted.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And on the way back to the goat lady’s house -something happened to the old rabbit gentleman. -As he stepped over a big icicle he put his foot -down on a slippery snowball some little animal -chap had left on the path, and, all of a sudden, -bango! down went Uncle Wiggily, basket of -paper, rheumatism crutch and all.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ouch!” cried the rabbit gentleman, “I fear -something is broken,” for he heard a cracking -sound as he fell.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He looked at his paws and legs and felt of -his big ears. They seemed all right. Then he -looked at the basket of paper. That was -crumpled up, but not broken, and the bunny -uncle’s tall silk hat, while it had a few dents in, -was not smashed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! It’s my rheumatism crutch,” -cried Uncle Wiggily. “It’s broken in two, -and how am I ever going to walk without it -this slippery day I don’t see. Oh, my goodness -me sakes alive and some bang-bang tooth powder!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Carefully the rabbit gentleman arose, but as -he had no red, white and blue-striped crutch to -lean on, he nearly fell again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I guess I’d better stay sitting down,” thought -Uncle Wiggily. “Perhaps some one may come -along, and I can ask them go get Nurse Jane -to gnaw for me another rheumatism crutch out -of a corn-stalk. I’ll wait here until help comes.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily waited quite a while, but no -one passed by.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It will soon be time for Billie and Nannie -Wagtail to pass by on their way from school,” -thought the bunny uncle. “I could send them -for another crutch, I suppose.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So he waited a little longer, and then, as no one -came, he tried to walk with his broken crutch. -But he could not. Then Uncle Wiggily cried:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Help! Help! Help!” but still no one -came. “Oh, dear!” said the rabbit gentleman, -“if only Mother Goose would fly past, riding -on the back of her gander, she might take me -home.” He looked up, but Mother Goose was -not sweeping cobwebs out of the sky that day, -so he did not see her.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then, all of a sudden, as the rabbit gentleman -sat there, wondering how he was going to -walk on the slippery ice and snow without his -crutch to help him, he heard a jolly voice singing:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Ride a Jack horse to Banbury Cross,</div> - <div class='line in1'>To see an old lady jump on a white horse.</div> - <div class='line in1'>With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,</div> - <div class='line in1'>She shall have music wherever she goes.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>And with that along through the woods came -riding a nice, old lady on a rocking-horse. And -on the side of the rocking-horse was painted in -red ink the name:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><b>JACK</b></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, hello, Uncle Wiggily!” called the -nice old lady, shaking her toes and making the -bells jingle a pretty tune. “What is the matter -with you?” she asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I am in such trouble,” replied the bunny -uncle. “I fell down on a slippery snowball, and -broke my crutch. Without it I cannot walk, -and I want to take these papers to Mrs. Wagtail, -the goat lady, to eat.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! If that is all your trouble I can soon -fix matters!” cried the jolly old lady. “Here, -get up beside me on my Jack horse, and I’ll ride -you to Mrs. Wagtail’s, and then take you home -to your hollow-stump bungalow.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, will you? How kind!” said Uncle -Wiggily. “Thank you! But have you the -time?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Lots of time,” laughed the old lady. “It -doesn’t really matter when I get to Banbury -Cross. Come on!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily got up on the back of the -Jack horse, behind the old lady. She tinkled -the rings on her fingers and jingled the bells on -her toes, and so, of course, she’ll have music -wherever she goes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Just as the Mother Goose books says,” spoke -the bunny uncle. “Oh, I’m glad you came -along.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“So am I,” said the nice old lady. Then she -took Uncle Wiggily to the Wagtail house, -where he left the basket of papers, and next he -rode on the Jack horse to his bungalow, and, -after the bunny uncle had thanked the old lady, -she, herself, rode on to Banbury Cross, to see -another old lady jump on a white horse. And -very nicely she did it too, let me tell you.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So everything came out all right, and in the -next chapter, if the apple pie doesn’t turn a -somersault and crack its crust so the juice runs -out, I’ll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and the -clock-mouse.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-XXI' class='c013'>CHAPTER XXI<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CLOCK-MOUSE</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily Longears</span>, the nice old rabbit -gentleman, sat in an easy chair in his hollow-stump -bungalow. He had just eaten a nice -lunch, which Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the -muskrat lady housekeeper, had put on the table -for him, and he was feeling a bit sleepy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are you going out this afternoon?” asked -Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy, as she cleared away the -dishes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hum! Ho! Well, I hardly know,” Uncle -Wiggily answered, in a sleepy voice. “I may, -after I have a little nap.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Your new red, white and blue-striped -rheumatism crutch is ready for you,” went on -Nurse Jane. “I gnawed it for you out of a fine -large corn-stalk.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily had broken his other crutch, -if you will kindly remember, when he slipped -as he was coming back from the store, where -he went for Mrs. Wagtail, the goat lady. And -it was so slippery that the rabbit gentleman -never would have gotten home, only he rode -on a Jack horse with the lady, who had rings -on her fingers and bells on her toes, as I told you -in the story before this one.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Thank you for making me a new crutch, -Nurse Jane,” spoke the bunny uncle. “If I go -out I’ll take it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then he went to sleep in his easy chair, but -he was suddenly awakened by hearing the -bungalow clock strike one. Then, as he sat up -and rubbed his eyes with his paws, Uncle Wiggily -heard a thumping noise on the hall floor -and a little voice squeaked out:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ouch! I’ve hurt my leg! Oh, dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My! I wonder what that can be? It -seemed to come out of my clock,” spoke Mr. -Longears.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I did come out of your clock,” said some -one.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You did? Who are you, if you please?” -asked the bunny uncle, looking all around. “I -can’t see you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s because I’m so small,” was the answer. -“But here I am, right by the table. I -can’t walk as my leg is hurt.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily looked, and saw a little mouse, -who was holding his left hind leg in his right -front paw.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Who are you?” asked the bunny uncle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse,” -was the answer. “And I am a clock-mouse.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A clock-mouse!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, -in surprise. “I never heard of such a -thing.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, don’t you remember me? I’m in -Mother Goose’s book. This is how it goes:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘Hickory Dickory Dock,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The mouse ran up the clock.</div> - <div class='line in2'>The clock struck one,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And down he come,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Hickory Dickory Dock!’”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“Oh, now I remember you,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“And so you are a clock-mouse.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I ran up your clock, and then when the -clock struck one, down I had to come. But I -ran down so fast that I tripped over the pendulum. -The clock reached down its hands and -tried to catch me, but it had no eyes in its face -to see me, so I slipped, anyhow, and I hurt my -leg.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“Perhaps I can fix it for you. Nurse -Jane, bring me some salve for Hickory Dickory -Dock, the clock-mouse,” he called.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The muskrat lady brought some salve, and, -with a rag, Uncle Wiggily bound up the leg of -the clock-mouse so it did not hurt so much.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And I’ll lend you a piece of my old crutch, -so you can hobble along on it,” said Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Thank you,” spoke Hickory Dickory Dock, -the clock-mouse. “You have been very kind -to me, and some day, I hope, I may do you a -favor. If I can I will.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Thank you,” Uncle Wiggily said. Then -Hickory Dickory Dock limped away, but in a -few days he was better, and he could run up -more clocks, and run down when they struck -one.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was about a week after this that Uncle Wiggily -went walking through the woods on his -way to see Grandfather Goosey Gander. And -just before he reached his friend’s house he met -Mother Goose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Uncle Wiggily,” she said, swinging -her cobweb broom up and down, “I want to -thank you for being so kind to Hickory Dickory -Dock, the clock-mouse.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It was a pleasure to be kind to him,” said -Uncle Wiggily. “Is he all better now?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, he is all well again,” replied Mother -Goose. “He is coming to run up and down -your clock again soon.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll be glad to see him,” said Uncle Wiggily. -Then he went to call on Grandpa Goosey, -and he told about Hickory Dickory Dock, falling -down from out the clock.</p> - -<p class='c011'>On his way back to his hollow-stump bungalow, -Uncle Wiggily took a short cut through -the woods. And, as he was passing along, his -paw slipped and he became all tangled up in a -wild grape vine, which was like a lot of ropes, all -twisted together into hard knots.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “I’m -caught!” The more he tried to untangle himself -the tighter he was held fast, until it seemed -he would never get out.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh!” cried the rabbit gentleman. “This -is terrible. Will no one come to get me out? -Help! Help! Will some one please help me?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I will help you, Uncle Wiggily,” answered -a kind, little squeaking voice.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Who are you?” asked the rabbit gentleman, -moving a piece of the grape vine away from his -nose, so he could speak plainly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am Hickory Dickory Dock, the clock-mouse,” -was the answer, “and with my sharp -teeth I will gnaw the grape vine in many pieces -so you will be free.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That will be very kind of you,” said Uncle -Wiggily, who was quite tired out with his struggles -to get loose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Hickory Dickory Dock, with his sharp -teeth, gnawed the grape vine, and, in a little -while, Uncle Wiggily was loose and all right -again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Thank you,” said the bunny uncle to the -clock-mouse, as he hopped off, and Hickory -Dickory Dock went with him, for his leg was -all better now. “Thank you very much, nice -little clock-mouse.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You did me a favor,” said Hickory Dickory -Dock, “and now I have done you one, so we are -even.” And that’s a good way to be in this -world. So, if the ink bottle doesn’t turn pale -when it sees the fountain pen jump in the goldfish -bowl and swim I’ll tell you next about Uncle -Wiggily and the late scholar.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-XXII' class='c013'>CHAPTER XXII<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LATE SCHOLAR</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Heigh-ho</span>!” cried Uncle Wiggily Longears, -the nice rabbit gentleman, one morning, -as he hopped from bed and went to the window -of his hollow-stump bungalow to look out. -“Heigh-ho! It will soon be Spring, I hope, for -I am tired of Winter.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then he went down-stairs, where Nurse Jane -Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, -had his breakfast ready on the table.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily ate some cabbage pancakes -with carrot maple sugar sprinkled over them, -and then as he wiped his whiskers on his red -tongue, which he used for a napkin, and as he -twinkled his pink nose to see if it was all right, -Nurse Jane said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yesterday, Uncle Wiggily, you told me you -would like me to make some lettuce cakes to-day; -did you not?”</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/p146.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>“I did,” answered Uncle Wiggily, sort of -slow and solemn like. “But what is the matter, -Nurse Jane? I hope you are not going to tell -me that you cannot, or will not, make those lettuce -cakes.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I’ll make them, all right enough, -Wiggy,” the muskrat lady answered, “only I -have no lettuce. You will have to go to the store -for me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And right gladly will I go!” exclaimed the -bunny uncle, speaking like some one in an old-fashioned -story book. “I’ll get my automobile -out and go at once.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily had not used his machine -often that Winter, as there had been so much -snow and ice. But now it was getting close to -Spring and the weather was very nice. There -was no snow in the woods and fields, though, -of course, some might fall later.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It will do my auto good to have me ride in -it,” said the bunny uncle. He blew some hot air -in the bologna sausage tires, put some talcum -powder on the steering-wheel so it would not -catch cold, and then, having tickled the whizzicum-whazzicum -with a goose feather, away -he started for the lettuce store.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It did not take him long to get there, and, having -bought a nice head of the green stuff, the -bunny uncle started back again for his hollow-stump -bungalow.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Nurse Jane will make some fine lettuce -cakes, with clover ice cream cones on top,” he -said to himself, as he hurried along in his automobile.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He had not gone very far, and he was about -halfway home, when from behind a bush he -heard the sound of crying. Now, whenever -Uncle Wiggily heard any one crying he knew -some one was in trouble, and as he always tried -to help those in trouble, he did it this time. -Stopping his automobile, he called:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Who are you, and what is the matter? Perhaps -I can help you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Out from behind the bush came a boy, a nice -sort of boy, except that he was crying.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, are you Simple Simon?” asked Uncle -Wiggily, “and are you crying because you cannot -catch a whale in your mother’s water pail?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No; I am not Simple Simon,” was the answer -of the boy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, you cannot be Jack Horner, because -you have no pie with you, and you’re not Little -Boy Blue, because I see you wear a red necktie,” -went on the bunny uncle. “Do you belong to -Mother Goose at all?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” answered the boy. “I do. You must -have heard about me. I am Diller-a-Dollar, a -ten o’clock scholar, why do you come so soon? -I used to come at ten o’clock, but now I’ll come -at noon. Don’t you know me?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! Why, of course, I know you!” cried -Uncle Wiggily, in his jolly voice, as he put some -lollypop oil on the doodle-oodleum of his auto. -“But, why are you crying?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Because I’m going to be late at school -again,” said the boy. “You see of late I have -been late a good many mornings, but this morning -I got up early, and was sure I would get -there before noon.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And so you will, if you hurry,” Uncle Wiggily -said, looking at his watch, that was a cousin -to the clock, up which, and down which, ran -Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse. “It isn’t -anywhere near noon yet,” went on the rabbit -gentleman. “You can almost get to school on -time this morning.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I suppose I could,” said the boy, “and I -got up early on purpose to do that. But now -I have lost my way, and I don’t know where the -school is. Oh, dear! Boo hoo! I’ll never get -to school this week, I fear.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes, you will!” said Uncle Wiggily, -still more kindly. “I’ll tell you what to do. -Hop up in the automobile here with me, and I’ll -take you to the school. I know just where it is. -Sammie and Susie Littletail, my rabbit friends, -and Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels, -as well as Nannie and Billie Wagtail, the goats, -go there. Hop in!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Diller-a-Dollar, the late scholar, hopped in -the auto, and he and Uncle Wiggily started off -together.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You’ll not be late this morning,” said the -bunny uncle. “I’ll get you there just about nine -o’clock.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Well, Uncle Wiggily meant to do it, and he -might have, only for what happened. First a -hungry dog bit a piece out of one of the bologna -sausage tires on the auto wheels, and they had -to go slower. Then a hungry cat took another -piece and they had to go still more slowly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>A little farther on the tinkerum-tankerum of -the automobile, which drinks gasolene, grew -thirsty and Uncle Wiggily had to give it a glass -of lemonade. This took more time.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And finally when the machine went over a -bump the cork came out of the box of talcum -powder and it flew in the face of Uncle Wiggily -and the late scholar and they both sneezed -so hard that the auto stopped.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“See! I told you we’d never get to school,” -sadly said the boy. “Oh, dear! And I thought -this time teacher would not laugh, and ask me -why I came so soon, when I was really late.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It’s too bad!” Uncle Wiggily said. “I did -hope I could get you there on time. But wait a -minute. Let me think. Ha! I have it! We -are close to my bungalow. We’ll run there and -get in my airship. That goes ever so much faster -than my auto, and I’ll have you to school in no -time.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>No sooner said than done! In the airship the -late scholar and Uncle Wiggily reached school -just as the nine o’clock bell was ringing, and so -Diller-a-Dollar was on time this time after all. -And the teacher said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Diller-a-Dollar, my ten o’clock scholar, -you may stand up in line. You used to come in -very late, but now you come at nine.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the late scholar was not late after all, thanks -to Uncle Wiggily, and if the egg beater doesn’t -go to sleep in the rice pudding, where it can’t -get out to go sleigh-riding with the potato -masher, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily -and Baa-Baa, the black sheep.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-XXIII' class='c013'>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND BAA-BAA BLACK SHEEP</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>My</span> goodness! But it’s cold to-day!” exclaimed -Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice rabbit -gentleman, as he came down to breakfast in -his hollow-stump bungalow one morning. “It -is very cold.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Indeed it is,” said Nurse Jane Fuzzy -Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, as she -put the hot buttered cabbage cakes on the table. -“If you go out you had better wear your fur -coat.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I shall,” spoke the bunny uncle. “And I -probably shall call on Mother Goose. She asked -me to stop in the next time I went past.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What for?” Nurse Jane wanted to know.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Little Jack Horner hurt his thumb the -last time he pulled a plum out of his Christmas -pie, and Mother Goose wanted me to look at -it, and see if she had better call in Dr. Possum. -So I’ll stop and have a look.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, give her my love,” said Nurse Jane, -and Uncle Wiggily promised that he would.</p> - -<p class='c011'>A little later he started off across the fields and -through the woods to the place where Mother -Goose lived, not far from his own hollow-stump -bungalow. Uncle Wiggily had on his fur overcoat, -for it was cold. It had been warm the day -before, when he had taken Diller-a-Dollar, the -ten o’clock scholar, to school, but now the -weather had turned cold again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Come in!” called Mother Goose, when -Uncle Wiggily had tapped with his paw on her -door. “Come in!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The bunny uncle went in, and looked at the -thumb of Little Jack Horner, who was playing -marbles with Little Boy Blue.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Does your thumb hurt you much, Jack?” -asked Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I am sorry to say it does. I’m not going -to pull any more plums out of Christmas pies. -I’m going to eat cake instead,” said Jack Horner.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I’ll go get Dr. Possum for you,” offered -Uncle Wiggily. “I think that will be -best,” he remarked to Mother Goose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Wrapped in his warm fur overcoat, Uncle -Wiggily once more started off over the fields -and through the woods. He had not gone very -far before he heard a queer sort of crying noise, -like:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Baa! Baa! Baa!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! That sounds like a little lost lamb,” -said the bunny uncle, “only there are no little -lambs out this time of year. I’ll take a look. It -may be some one in trouble, whom I can help.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily looked around the corner of -a stone fence, and there he saw a sheep shivering -in the cold, for most of his warm, fleecy wool -had been sheared off. Oh! how the sheep shivered -in the cold.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, what is the matter with you?” asked -Uncle Wiggily, kindly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am c-c-c-c-cold,” said the sheep, shiveringly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What makes you cold?” the bunny uncle -wanted to know.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Because they cut off so much of my wool. -You know how it is with me, for I am in the -Mother Goose book. Listen!</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘Baa-baa, black sheep, have you any wool?</div> - <div class='line in2'>Yes, sir; yes, sir; three bags full.</div> - <div class='line in2'>One for the master, one for the man,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And one for the little boy who lives in the lane.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“That’s the way I answered when they asked -me if I had any wool,” said Baa-baa.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And what did they do?” asked the bunny -uncle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why they sheared off my fleece, three bags -of it. I didn’t mind them taking the first bag -full, for I had plenty and it was so warm I -thought Spring was coming. And it doesn’t -hurt to cut off my fleecy wool, any more than it -hurts to cut a boy’s hair. And after they took -the first bag full of wool for the master they took -a second bag for the man. I didn’t mind that, -either. But when they took the third——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then they really did take three?” asked -Uncle Wiggily, in surprise.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes, to be sure. Why it’s that way in -the book of Mother Goose, you know, and they -had to do just as the book says.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I suppose so,” agreed Uncle Wiggily, sadly -like.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, after they took the third bag of wool -off my back the weather grew colder, and I began -to shiver. Oh! how cold I was; and how -I shivered and shook. Of course if the master -and the man, and the little boy who lives in the -lane, had known I was going to shiver so, they -would not have taken the last bag of wool. -Especially the little boy, as he is very kind to -me.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But now it is done, and it will be a long -while before my wool grows out again. And as -long as it is cold weather I will shiver, I suppose,” -said Baa-baa, the black sheep.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, you shall not shiver!” cried Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How can you stop me?” asked the black -sheep.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“By wrapping my old fur coat around you,” -said the rabbit gentleman. “I have two fur -overcoats, a new one and an old one. I am wearing -the new one. The old one is at my hollow-stump -bungalow. You go there and tell Nurse -Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy to give it to you. Tell her I -said so. Or you can go there and wait for me, -as I am going to get Dr. Possum to fix the thumb -of Little Jack Horner, who sat in a corner, eating -a Christmas pie.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You are very kind,” said Baa-baa. “I’ll go -to your bungalow and wait there for you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So he did, shaking and shivering all the way, -but he soon became warm when he sat by Nurse -Jane’s fire. And when Uncle Wiggily came -back from having sent Dr. Possum to Little Jack -Horner, the rabbit gentleman wrapped his old -fur coat around Baa-baa, the black sheep, who -was soon as warm as toast.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And Baa-baa wore Uncle Wiggily’s old fur -coat until warm weather came, when the sheep’s -wool grew out long again. So everything was -all right, you see.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And now, having learned the lesson that if -you cut your hair too short you may have to wear -a fur cap to stop yourself from getting cold, we -will wait for the next story, which, if the pencil -box doesn’t jump into the ink well and get a pail -of glue to make the lollypop stick fast to the -roller-skates, will be about Uncle Wiggily and -Polly Flinders.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-XXIV' class='c013'>CHAPTER XXIV<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND POLLY FLINDERS</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>There</span>!” cried Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, -the muskrat lady housekeeper, who took care of -the hollow-stump bungalow for Uncle Wiggily -Longears, the rabbit gentleman. “There, it is -all finished at last!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What’s all finished?” asked the bunny -uncle, who was reading the paper in his easy -chair near the fire, for the weather was still cold. -“I hope you don’t mean you have finished living -with me, Nurse Jane? For I would be very -lonesome if you were to go away.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll not leave you, Wiggy,” -she said. “What I meant was that I had finished -making the new dress for Susie Littletail, -the rabbit girl.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Good!” cried the bunny uncle. “A new -dress for my little niece Susie. That’s fine! If -you like, Nurse Jane, I’ll take it to her.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I wish you would,” spoke the muskrat lady. -“I have not time myself. Just be careful of it. -Don’t let the bad fox or the skillery-scalery alligator -with humps on his ears bite holes in it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I won’t,” promised Uncle Wiggily. So -taking the dress, which Nurse Jane had sewed -for Susie, over his paw, and with his tall silk -hat over his ears, and carrying his red, white -and blue-striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch, -off Uncle Wiggily started for the Littletail -home.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Susie will surely like her dress,” thought the -rabbit gentleman. “It has such pretty colors.” -For it had, being pink and blue and red and yellow -and purple and lavender and strawberry -and lemon and Orange Mountain colors. There -may have been other colors in it, but I can think -of no more right away.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily was going along past Old -Mother Hubbard’s house, and past the place -where Mother Goose lived, when, coming to a -place near a big tree, Uncle Wiggily saw another -house. And from inside the house came -a crying sound.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What shall I do?” -sobbed a voice.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ah, ha! More trouble!” cried Uncle Wiggily. -“I seem to be finding lots of people in -trouble lately. Well, now to see who this is!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Going up to the house, and peering in a window, -Uncle Wiggily saw a little girl sitting before -a fireplace. And this little girl was crying.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hello!” called Uncle Wiggily, in his jolly -voice, as he opened the window. “What is the -matter? Are you Little Bo Peep, and are you -crying because you have lost your sheep?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, Uncle Wiggily,” answered the little -girl. “I am crying because I have spoiled my -nice new dress, and when my mother comes -home and finds it out she will whip me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, no!” cried the bunny uncle. “Your -mother will never do that. But who are you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, don’t you know? I am little Polly -Flinders, I sat among the cinders, warming my -pretty little toes. ‘And her mother came and -caught her, and she whipped her little daughter, -for spoiling her nice new clothes.’</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s what it says in the Mother Goose -book,” said Polly Flinders, “and, of course, -that’s what will happen to me. Oh, dear! I -don’t want to be whipped. And I didn’t really -spoil quite all my nice new clothes. It’s only my -dress, and some hot ashes got on that.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, that isn’t so bad,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“It may be that I can clean it for you.” -But when he looked at Polly’s dress he saw that -it could not be fixed, for, like Pussy Cat Mole’s -best petticoat, Polly’s dress had been burned -through with hot coals, so that it was full of -holes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, that can’t be fixed, I’m sorry to say,” -said Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” sobbed Polly Flinders, as she -sat among the cinders. “What shall I do? I -don’t want to be whipped by my mother.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And you shall not be,” said the bunny uncle. -“Not that I think she would whip you, but we -will not give her a chance. See here, I have a -new dress that I was taking to Susie Littletail. -Nurse Jane can easily make my little rabbit niece -another.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“So you take this one, and give me your old -one. And when your mother comes she will -not see the holes in your dress. Only you must -tell her what happened, or it would not be fair. -Always tell mothers and fathers everything that -happens to you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I will,” promised Polly Flinders.</p> - -<p class='c011'>She soon took off her old dress and put on the -new one intended for Susie, and it just fitted her.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, how lovely!” cried Polly Flinders, -looking at her toes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And now,” said Uncle Wiggily, “you must -sit no more among the cinders.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll not,” Polly promised, and she went and -sat down in front of the looking-glass, where -she could look proudly at the new dress—not -too proudly, you understand, but just proud -enough.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Polly thanked Uncle Wiggily, who took the -old soiled and burned dress to Susie’s house. -When the rabbit girl saw the bunny uncle coming -she ran to meet him, crying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh! did Nurse Jane send you with my new -dress?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“She did,” answered Uncle Wiggily, “but -see what happened to it on the way,” and he -showed Susie the burned holes and all.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” cried the little rabbit girl, sadly. -“Oh, dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Never mind,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, kindly, -and he told all that had happened. It was a sort -of adventure, you see.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I’m glad you gave Polly my dress!” -said Susie, clapping her paws.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Nurse Jane shall make you another dress,” -promised Uncle Wiggily, and the muskrat lady -did. And when the mother of Polly Flinders -came home she thought the new dress was just -fine, and she did not whip her little daughter. -In fact, she said she would not have done so -anyhow. So that part of the Mother Goose book -is wrong.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And thus everything came out all right, and -if the shaving brush doesn’t whitewash the -blackboard, so the chalk can’t dance on it with -the pencil sharpener, I’ll tell you next about -Uncle Wiggily and the garden maid.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-XXV' class='c013'>CHAPTER XXV<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE GARDEN MAID</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Hey</span>, ho, hum!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily -Longears, the rabbit gentleman, as he stretched -up his twinkling, pink nose, and reached his -paws around his back to scratch an itchy place. -“Ho, hum! I wonder what will happen to me -to-day?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are you going out again?” asked Nurse -Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper. -“It seems to me that you go out a great -deal, Mr. Longears.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, yes; perhaps I do,” admitted the -bunny uncle. “But more things happen to me -when I go out than when I stay in the house.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And do you like to have things happen to -you?” asked Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“When they are adventures I do,” answered -the rabbit gentleman. “So here I go off for an -adventure.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Off started the nice, old, bunny uncle, carrying -his red, white and blue-striped barber-pole -rheumatism crutch—over his shoulder this time. -For his pain did not hurt him much, as the sun -was shining, so he did not have to limp on the -crutch, which Nurse Jane had gnawed for him -out of a corn-stalk.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily had not gone very far toward -the fields and woods before he heard Nurse Jane -calling to him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Wiggy! Wiggy, I say! Wait a moment!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, what is it?” asked the rabbit gentleman, -turning around and looking over his -shoulder. “Have I forgotten anything?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, it was I who forgot,” said the muskrat -lady housekeeper. “I forgot to tell you to bring -me a bottle of perfume. Mine is all gone.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“All right, I’ll bring you some,” promised -Mr. Longears. “It will give me something to -do—to go to the perfume store. Perhaps an adventure -may happen to me there.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Once more he was on his way, and soon he -reached the perfume store, kept by a nice buzzing -bee lady, who gathered sweet smelling perfume, -as well as honey, from the flowers in Summer -and put it carefully away for the Winter.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Some perfume for Nurse Jane, eh?” said -the bee lady, as the rabbit gentleman knocked -on her hollow-tree house. “There you are, -Uncle Wiggily,” and she gave him a bottle of -the nice scent made from a number of flowers.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My! That smells lovely!” exclaimed Uncle -Wiggily, as he pulled out the cork, and took a -long sniff. “Nurse Jane will surely like that -perfume!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>With the sweet scented bottle in his paw, the -rabbit gentleman started back toward his hollow-stump -bungalow. He had not gone very -far before he saw a nurse maid, out in the garden, -back of a big house. There was a basket -in front of the maid, with some clothes in it, and -stretched across the garden was a line, with more -clothes on it, flapping in the wind.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. “I wonder -if that garden maid, hanging up the clothes, -wouldn’t like to smell Nurse Jane’s perfume? -Nurse Jane will not mind, and perhaps it will be -doing that maid a kindness to let her smell something -sweet, after she has been smelling washing-soap-suds -all morning.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the bunny uncle, who was always doing -kind things, hopped over to the garden maid, -and politely asked:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Wouldn’t you like to smell this perfume?” -and he held out the bottle he had bought of the -bee lady.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The garden maid turned around, and said in -a sad voice:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Thank you, Uncle Wiggily. It is very kind -of you, I’m sure, and I would like to smell your -perfume. But I can’t.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why not?” asked the bunny uncle. “The -cork is out of the bottle. See!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That may very well be,” went on the garden -maid, “but the truth of the matter is that I cannot -smell, because a blackbird has nipped off -my nose.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily, in great surprise, looked, and, -surely enough, a blackbird had nipped off the -nose of the garden maid.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Bless my whiskers!” cried the bunny uncle. -“What a thing for a blackbird to do—nip off -your nose! Why did he do such an impolite -thing as that?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, he had to do it, because it’s that way -in the Mother Goose book,” said the maid. -“Don’t you remember? It goes this way:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘The King was in the parlor,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Counting out his money,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The Queen was in the kitchen,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Eating bread and honey.</div> - <div class='line in2'>The maid was in the garden,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Hanging out the clothes,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Along came a blackbird</div> - <div class='line in2'>And nipped off her nose.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“That’s the way it was,” said the garden -maid.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes, I remember now,” spoke Uncle -Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I’m the maid who was in the garden, -hanging out the clothes,” said she, “and, as -you can see, along came a blackbird and nipped -off my nose. That is, you can’t see the blackbird, -but you can see the place where my nose -ought to be.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” answered Uncle Wiggily, “I can. -It’s too bad. That blackbird ought to have his -feathers ruffled.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, he didn’t mean to be bad,” said the garden -maid. “He had to do as it says in the book, -and he had to nip off my nose. So that’s why I -can’t smell Nurse Jane’s nice perfume.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute. Then -he said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Just you wait here. I think I can fix it so -you can smell as well as ever.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then the bunny uncle hurried off through the -woods until he found Jimmie Caw-Caw, the big -black crow boy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Jimmie,” said the bunny uncle, “will you -fly off, find the blackbird, and ask him to give -back the garden maid’s nose so she can smell -perfume?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I will,” said Jimmie Caw-Caw, very politely. -“I certainly will!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Away he flew, and, after a while, in the deep, -dark part of the woods he found the blackbird, -sitting on a tree.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Please give me back the garden maid’s -nose,” said Jimmie, politely.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Certainly,” answered the blackbird, also politely. -“I only took it off in fun. Here it is -back. I’m sorry I bothered the garden maid, but -I had to, as it’s that way in the Mother Goose -book.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Off to Uncle Wiggily flew Jimmie, the crow -boy, with the young lady’s nose, and soon Dr. -Possum had fastened it back on the garden -maid’s face as good as ever.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now you can smell the perfume,” said -Uncle Wiggily, and when he held up the bottle -the maid said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, what a lovely smell!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the bunny uncle left a little perfume in a -bottle for the garden maid, and then she went -on hanging up the clothes, and she felt very -happy because she had a nose. So you see how -kind Uncle Wiggily and Jimmie were, and -Nurse Jane, too, liked the perfume very much.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So if the little girl’s roller-skates don’t run -over the pussy’s tail and ruffle it all up so she -can’t go to the moving picture party, I’ll tell -you next of Uncle Wiggily and the King.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='Ch-XXVI' class='c013'>CHAPTER XXVI<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE KING</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily Longears</span>, the nice old rabbit -gentleman, was sitting in an easy chair in his -hollow-stump bungalow, one day, looking out -of the window at the blue sky, and he was feeling -quite happy. And why should he not be happy?</p> - -<p class='c011'>Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, his muskrat lady -housekeeper, had just given him a nice breakfast -of cabbage pancakes, with carrot maple -sugar tied in a bow-knot in the middle, and -Uncle Wiggily had eaten nine. Nine cakes, I -mean, not nine bows.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And now,” said the bunny uncle to himself, -“I think I shall go out and take a walk. Perhaps -I may have an adventure. Do you want -any perfume, or anything like that from the -store?” asked Mr. Longears of Miss Fuzzy -Wuzzy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, thank you, I think not,” answered the -muskrat lady. “Just bring yourself home, and -that will be all.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I’ll do that all right,” promised the -bunny gentleman. So away he hopped, over the -fields and through the woods, humming to himself -a little song which went something like this:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“I’m feeling happy now and gay,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Why shouldn’t I, this lovely day?</div> - <div class='line in1'>’Tis time enough to be quite sad,</div> - <div class='line in1'>When wind and rain make weather bad.</div> - <div class='line in1'>But, even then, one ought to try</div> - <div class='line in1'>To think that soon it will be dry.</div> - <div class='line in1'>So then, no matter what the weather,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Smile, as though tickled by a feather.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>Uncle Wiggily felt happier than ever when -he had sung this song, but, as he went along a -little further, he came, all at once, to a very nice -house indeed, out of which floated the sound of -a sad voice.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily was surprised to hear this, for -the house was such a nice one that it seemed no -one ought to be unhappy who lived there.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The house was made of gold and silver, with -diamond windows, and the chimney was made -of a red ruby stone, which, as every one knows, -is very expensive. But with all that the sad -voice came sailing out of one of the opened diamond -windows, and the voice said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! It’s gone! I can’t find it! I -dropped it and it rolled down a crack in the -floor. Now I’ll never get it again. Oh, dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, that sounds like some one in trouble,” -said the bunny uncle. “I must see if I cannot -help them,” for Uncle Wiggily helped real folk, -who lived in fine houses, as well as woodland -animals, who lived in hollow trees.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily hopped up to the open diamond -window of the gold and silver house, with -the red ruby chimney, and, poking his nose inside, -the rabbit gentleman asked:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Is there some one here in trouble whom I -may have the pleasure of helping?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” answered a voice. “I’m here, and -I’m surely in trouble.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Who are you, and what is the trouble, if I -may ask?” politely went on Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am the king,” was the answer. “This is -my palace, but, with all that, I am in trouble. -Come in.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>In hopped Uncle Wiggily, and there, surely -enough, was the king, but he was in the kitchen, -down on his hands and knees, looking with one -eye through a crack in the floor, which is something -kings hardly ever do.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It’s down there,” he said. “And I can’t get -it. I’m too fat to go through the crack.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What’s down there?” Uncle Wiggily -wanted to know.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My money,” answered the king. “You -may have heard about me,” and he recited this -little verse:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“The king was in the kitchen,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Counting out his money;</div> - <div class='line in1'>The queen was in the parlor,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Eating bread and honey;</div> - <div class='line in1'>The maid was in the garden,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Hanging out the clothes,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Along came a blackbird,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Who nipped off her nose.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>The fat man got up off the kitchen floor.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’m the king,” he said, taking up his gold -and diamond crown from a kitchen chair, where -he had put it as he kneeled down, so it would not -fall off and be dented. “From Mother Goose, -you know; don’t you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I know,” answered Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I dare say you’ll find the queen in the parlor -eating bread and honey,” went on the king. -“At least I saw her start for there with a plate, -knife and fork as I was coming here. And, no -doubt, the maid is in the garden, where she’ll -pretty soon have her nose nipped off by a blackbird.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That part happened yesterday,” said Uncle -Wiggily. “I was there just after it happened, -and I got Jimmie Caw-Caw, the crow boy, to -fly after the blackbird and bring back the maid’s -nose. She is as well as ever now and can smell -all kinds of perfume.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Good!” cried the fat king. “You were -very kind to help her. I only wish you could -help me. But I don’t see how you can. My -money, which I was counting, fell out of my -hands and dropped down a crack in the floor. I -can see it lying down there in the dirt, but I can’t -get at it unless I move to one side my gold and -silver palace, and I don’t want to do that. I -don’t suppose you can move a palace, can you?” -And he looked askingly at Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, I can’t do that,” said the bunny uncle. -“But still I think I can get your money without -moving the palace.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How?” asked the king.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, I can go outside,” said Mr. Longears, -“and with my strong paws, which are just made -for digging, I can burrow, or dig, a place -through the dirt under your palace-house, crawl -in and get what you dropped.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, please do!” cried the king.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Uncle Wiggily did.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Down under the cellar wall of the palace, -through the dirt, dug the bunny gentleman, with -his strong paws. Pretty soon he was right under -the kitchen, and there, just where they had -dropped through the crack, were the king’s gold -and silver pennies and other pieces of money. -Uncle Wiggily picked them up, put them in his -pocket and crawled out again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“There you are, king,” he said. “You have -your money back.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, thank you ever so much!” cried the -king. “I’ll have the cook give you some carrots.” -And he did, before he went on counting -his money in the kitchen. And this time he -stuffed a dish-rag in the crack so no more pennies -would fall through.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Thus we see how Uncle Wiggily helped the -king, and in the next chapter, if the condensed -milk doesn’t jump out of the can and scare the -coffee-pot so it drinks tea, I’ll tell you of Uncle -Wiggily and the queen.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But that story will have to go in the second -part of this book, together with some others, for -now we are just halfway through, just as when -you cut an orange into two parts.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So, if you are all ready, you may turn the page -and get ready for what comes next.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div>END OF PART I</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c013'>CONTENTS</h2> -</div> -<hr class='c014' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>PART II.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='17%' /> -<col width='71%' /> -<col width='10%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c015'><span class='fss'>CHAPTER</span></td> - <td class='c016'> </td> - <td class='c017'><span class='fss'>PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>I.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Queen</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-I'>9</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>II.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Ding-Dong Pussy</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-II'>15</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>III.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Shoe Lady</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-III'>22</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>IV.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Jack-Be-Nimble</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-IV'>29</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>V.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Tommy Tinker’s Dog</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-V'>35</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>VI.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Mary’s Lamb</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-VI'>41</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>VII.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Peter Piper</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-VII'>47</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>VIII.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Moon-Man</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-VIII'>53</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>IX.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Humpty Dumpty</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-IX'>59</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>X.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Old King Cole</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-X'>65</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XI.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Peter-Peter</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-XI'>72</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XII.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Butcher</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-XII'>78</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XIII.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Baker</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-XIII'>84</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XIV.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Candlestick Maker</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-XIV'>91</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XV.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and Tom-Tom</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-XV'>97</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XVI.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Crooked Man</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-XVI'>103</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XVII.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Barber</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-XVII'>110</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XVIII.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Blackbirds</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-XVIII'>116</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XIX.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Fat Man</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-XIX'>123</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XX.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Tarts</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-XX'>129</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XXI.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Jumping Cow</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-XXI'>136</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XXII.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Pussies</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-XXII'>143</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XXIII.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Leaves</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-XXIII'>150</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XXIV.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Wise Man</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-XXIV'>156</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XXV.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Tailors</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-XXV'>163</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015'>XXVI.</td> - <td class='c016'>Uncle Wiggily and the Bat</td> - <td class='c017'><a href='#p2-Ch-XXVI'>169</a></td> - </tr> -</table> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div><span class='c008'>Uncle Wiggily and Mother Goose</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c014' /> -<div class='txt-size'> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-I' class='c013'>CHAPTER I<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE QUEEN</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily Longears</span>, the rabbit gentleman, -was hopping along through the woods one -day, limping a little on his red, white and blue -striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch, for he -had some pain, and he was wondering if any adventures -would happen to him when, all of a -sudden, there came a big puff of wind, and blew -off his tall silk hat.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My goodness me sakes alive, and some rice -pudding!” cried the bunny uncle, giving a hop, -skip and a jump after his hat. “I had forgotten -that this is the first of March, when the wind -begins to blow Winter away and blow Spring -in its place. No wonder my hat went off!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He raced after his hat, which was bounding -along through the woods, rolling over and over -like a boy’s hoop on the sidewalk. At last Uncle -Wiggily caught his hat, but, as he was putting -it down hard over his ears, along came another -puff of wind, and this time blew away his red, -white and blue-striped crutch.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” cried the bunny uncle. “What -a lot of trouble I’m having to-day! I don’t believe -any one has as much trouble as I.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily hopped after his crutch, and -caught it just as it was about ready to be blown -into a bramble briar bush.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It’s a good thing it didn’t go in there,” he -said, “or I’d have been all scratched up getting -it out. Oh, dear! I wonder if I am going to -have any more trouble! No one has as much -as I.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes they have,” said a little voice in the -bramble briar bush. “Yes, they have! I’m in -trouble right now.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Who are you and what is the trouble?” -asked the bunny uncle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am the bee lady who keeps the honey and -perfume store,” was the answer. “I was on my -way to take some perfume to Mrs. Wibblewobble, -the duck lady, and when I tried to fly -through this bramble briar bush my wings were -caught, and I can’t get out. Isn’t that trouble -enough?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It certainly is,” answered Uncle Wiggily. -“I am sorry you are in trouble, for I know what -it means. But I will help you out.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So he did, very gently loosening the stickery -thorns of the bramble briar bushes from the bee -lady’s wings.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, thank you,” she said. “Now, I can fly -on with the perfume for Mrs. Wibblewobble. -If ever I can help you, or any friends of yours, -I shall, Uncle Wiggily.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Thank you,” answered the rabbit gentleman. -Then, having given the bunny uncle a -smell from the little bottle of perfume she carried, -the bee lady flew on.</p> - -<p class='c011'>With his tall silk hat and crutch the rabbit -gentleman now again went on through the -woods, until once more he came to the gold and -silver palace-house, with diamond windows, and -a chimney made of a red ruby stone.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! That’s where the king lives, who was -in the kitchen, counting out his money,” thought -Mr. Longears. “I helped him, and I wonder -if there is any one else in the palace who is in -need of my help?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Just then, from one of the open parlor diamond -windows, there came a voice saying -sadly:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! It’s all gone! There isn’t a bit -left, and what I’m going to do, I don’t know. -Oh, dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That sounds like trouble,” said the bunny -uncle. “I’ll see what it is.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He went closer to the window, and there, in -the parlor, he saw a beautiful lady, all dressed -in silk and satin and cloth-of-gold, with a -diamond crown on her head. In one hand -she had a plate, and in the other a knife and -fork.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What is the matter?” asked Uncle Wiggily, -politely. “What is gone—the cook? And do -you have to do the dishes yourself?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, thank you, the cook hasn’t gone,” said -the lady. “I am the queen, as you can see, and -I ought to be in the parlor, eating bread and -honey. I’m in the parlor right enough, as you -can tell by the piano being here. And I have -the bread, but there is no honey! There isn’t a -bit of honey in the palace for me to eat, so I -don’t see how I can make things come out right, -as they do in the Mother Goose book. Oh, -dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Don’t worry,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. -“Perhaps I can mend matters for you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I don’t see how you can,” said the queen. -“You haven’t any honey in your pocket; have -you?” she asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No,” answered the bunny uncle. “I guess -I would be all stuck up, like a piece of fly paper, -if I carried honey in my pocket.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then if you have no honey you can’t help -me,” said the queen, sadly. “You see the king -is in the kitchen, counting out his money. I am -in here, and I ought to be eating honey. And -the maid is in the garden, hanging out the -clothes——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I know all about that, and all about her -nose,” said Uncle Wiggily, with a smile. “I -helped the king get back his money, I helped -the maid get back her nose, and now I am going -to help you get your honey.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, how good of you!” cried the queen, -who felt like hugging Uncle Wiggily, only -queens do not do such things, you know. “And -I really need the honey, for I am hungry. But -how can you get it?” the queen asked.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll show you,” answered the rabbit gentleman. -Then, going to the open window, he -made a noise like a flower, and called:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Mrs. Bee! Mrs. Bee! Will you do me a -favor now? You promised you would, and now -is your chance. Will you do me a favor?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I will,” answered a buzzing voice, and -along flew the bee lady, whom Uncle Wiggily -had helped out of the briar bush. “What is it -you wish?” she buzzed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Some honey for the queen to eat in the parlor,” -spoke the bunny uncle. “She hasn’t any, -and she must have some to be like the story in -the Mother Goose book, or things will not come -out right. The queen needs honey.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“She shall have some at once,” buzzed Mrs. -Bee. Away she flew and pretty soon she came -back with a lot of honey.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, thank you, and you, too, Uncle Wiggily,” -cried the queen, as she sat in the parlor -and ate the sweet stuff. “Now everything is all -right.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And so it was, Uncle Wiggily having made it -so. And if the clothes line doesn’t twist itself -in and out among the pickets of the fence like -a carpenter’s shaving and try to play hop-scotch -with the rose bush, I’ll tell you next about the -bunny gentleman and the ding-dong-bell pussy.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-II' class='c013'>CHAPTER II<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND DING-DONG PUSSY</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Mother Goose</span>, the Old Woman Who Lived -in a Shoe and Old Mother Hubbard hurried one -day across the field and through the woods, to -the hollow-stump bungalow of Uncle Wiggily -Longears, the rabbit gentleman. Nurse Jane -Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, -looking out of the hollow-stump window, saw -them.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My goodness, Uncle Wiggily!” cried -Nurse Jane. “Oh! Look who’s coming this -way. Company! Oh, my! And my shoes not -buttoned! Oh, dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The bunny uncle stepped to the window beside -the muskrat lady.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“They’re coming here,” said Mr. Longears. -“Mother Goose, Mrs. Hubbard and the Shoe -Lady. You aren’t giving a surprise party, are -you, Nurse Jane, that they are coming to?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, indeed,” answered Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy. -“Though to see the three of them coming this -way is a surprise to me. Something must be the -matter. See how worried they look.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Trouble, I suppose,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“Well, if they are in trouble it will give me -pleasure to help them out. Open the door, -Nurse Jane.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, they can’t get in here,” said Miss -Fuzzy Wuzzy. “Our little hollow-stump bungalow -is too small for Mother Hubbard, Mother -Goose and the Shoe Lady, or even one of them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“So it is,” agreed Uncle Wiggily. “I’ll have -to go outside to talk to them,” and he did, politely -hopping through the hollow-stump window.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” cried Old Mother -Hubbard. “Oh, dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Such trouble!” exclaimed the Old Woman -Who Lived in a Shoe, but who I shall call the -Shoe Lady, for short, “Oh, such trouble!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It’s Pussy!” said Mother Goose. “She’s -gone!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Gone?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “Gone? -Who is Pussy?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, you know,” said Mother Goose. -“Pussy is a cousin to Fuzzo, Wuzzo and -Muzzo, the three little kittens, who lost their -mittens.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes, to be sure,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“I remember! So Pussy has gone; has she? -What happened to her?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s what we don’t know, and what we -came to you to have you find out,” said Mother -Goose. “You see, Pussy—that’s her first name, -her last one is Mew—Pussy Mew came on a -little visit to Mrs. Purr, who is her aunt, and the -mother of the three little kittens who lost their -mittens.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes, I remember!” said Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, Pussy is lost,” spoke the Shoe Lady. -“She went out to the store for Mrs. Purr while -Fuzzo, Wuzzo and Muzzo were taking their -tail-chasing lesson, and Pussy did not come -back.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What did she go to the store after?” Uncle -Wiggily wanted to know.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A yeast cake,” answered Mother Hubbard. -“But the yeast cake didn’t come back, either.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Not having any legs, I don’t see how it -could,” said Uncle Wiggily. “But what is it -you want me to do, ladies?” he asked, making -a polite bow.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Find Pussy Mew,” said Mother Goose. -“You were so clever at helping the king and -queen and the maid in the garden hanging out -the clothes, when along came a blackbird that -nipped off her nose, that I’m sure you can find -Pussy for us. We’re really worried about her. -Please find her.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll try,” promised Uncle Wiggily. So in a -little while off he started, limping along on his -red, white and blue tall silk hat, with his barber-pole -rheumatism crutch on his head. Oh, no! -excuse me, if you please—I mean he had his -crutch under his paw and his hat on his head.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Over the fields and through the woods went -Uncle Wiggily until, pretty soon, he came to -the hollow-stump school where the lady mouse -taught the animal children their lessons. The -bell was ringing, for it was time for the children -to run out to play at recess.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! I wonder if Pussy Mew could have -gone to school, forgetting to come home with -the yeast cake,” said Uncle Wiggily. “I’ll inquire.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He asked the lady mouse teacher, but she said -that Pussy was not in school, so Uncle Wiggily -hurried on, looking all through the woods and -over the fields. But no Pussy did he find until, -all at once, as he came near a well, he felt thirsty -for a drink of water.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, how I wish I had a drink!” cried Uncle -Wiggily. “I wonder if I could get one.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He went to the edge of the well, but it was an -old one, and there was no rope or bucket by -which water could be pulled up. Then the old -rabbit gentleman saw something shining -brightly down at the bottom of the well, and he -called out:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Is any one down there who could give me -a drink of water?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I am down here,” was the answer, “but -I cannot give you a drink of water for I cannot -get up myself.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Who are you?” asked Uncle Wiggily, surprised -like.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Just then the school bell rang again, and a -voice said:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Ding-dong bell, Pussy’s in the well.</div> - <div class='line in1'>Who put her in? Little Johnnie Green.</div> - <div class='line in1'>Who pulled her out? Big Johnnie Stout.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“Only that last part isn’t right,” the voice -went on, “for Big Johnnie Stout hasn’t come to -pull me out. But I’m in the well, as you can -tell by the ding-dong bell. Oh, dear! I don’t -know what to do. I want so much to get out.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll help you out, Pussy,” said Uncle Wiggily, -kindly. “I have been looking all over -for you. But if you are in the well how is it that -you did not sink to the bottom?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Because I have with me a yeast cake that I -went to the store to get,” was the answer. “The -yeast cake makes bread light, so it will rise, and -it made me light, so I could rise to the top of -the water.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Good!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “It was the -shiny tinfoil of the yeast cake I saw at the bottom -of the well. I’ll soon have you out now, -Pussy.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He gave a jump over to a wild grape vine, -gnawed off a piece with his strong teeth, and -then, using the grape vine as a rope, he lowered -it down into the well. Pussy took hold of it with -her claws and paws, putting the yeast cake in -one ear, and Uncle Wiggily easily pulled her -out. She was wet, but not hurt at all.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, thank you, Uncle Wiggily,” Pussy -Mew said. “So it was you, and not Johnnie -Stout, who pulled me out?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Of that there is no doubt,” laughed Uncle -Wiggily. “But did Johnnie Green push you -in?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, I stumbled and fell in,” answered Pussy. -“Everything about me in the Mother Goose -story is wrong except the part like ‘ding-dong -bell, Pussy’s in the well.’ I really was in.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then Pussy hurried on to her aunt’s house -with the yeast cake, and all was well. And -Mother Goose was very thankful to Uncle Wiggily -for having helped the little cat, who, ever -after that was called the “ding-dong-bell pussy.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So in the next chapter, if the piano music -doesn’t go to sleep in the bread box, where the -phonograph can’t find it to play with, I’ll tell -you about Uncle Wiggily and the Shoe Lady.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-III' class='c013'>CHAPTER III<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SHOE LADY</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Where</span> are you going, Uncle Wiggily?” -asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat -lady, who kept house for Mr. Longears, the rabbit -gentleman. “Where are you going this fine -day?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“To the store,” answered the bunny uncle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“To the store? Why, I don’t want anything,” -spoke Nurse Jane. “You are always so kind, -going to the store whenever I need anything, but -nothing is needed for the hollow-stump bungalow -to-day.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am going to the store for myself,” Uncle -Wiggily said. “I am going to buy a new pair -of shoes.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So off he hopped, leaning on his red, white -and blue-striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch, -over the fields and through the woods until he -came to the shoe store.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A pair of shoes? Certainly,” said the -monkey-doodle gentleman who kept the store. -“Will you have high shoes or low shoes?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, as it is near Spring I’ll get low shoes,” -Uncle Wiggily said. “They will be cooler if -I should happen to go down to the Asbury Park -ocean board walk.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ties, we call them, instead of low shoes, but -it is all the same,” went on the monkey-doodle. -“Here you are.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He brought out a pair of low shoes, or ties, -but, when Uncle Wiggily tried to get them on, -his feet would not go into them.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I see—too tight,” said the monkey-doodle. -“I will put a little talcum powder in the shoes -and your foot will then easily slip in.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But, even with the talcum powder, Uncle -Wiggily’s paws would not slip in.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I must use a shoe-horn,” said the monkey.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Is a shoe-horn something to play on?” -asked Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, it is something to make a shoe slip on -easily,” said the monkey-doodle. He brought -out a smooth, shiny piece of tin, like a big tablespoon -without a handle. Holding this against -his heel, Uncle Wiggily could easily slip his foot -into his new shoe. Soon he had them both on, -and they fitted him well.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are they too tight?” asked the monkey-doodle, -as the bunny gentleman stepped around -the store, practicing.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, they’re just right,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“They go on a bit hard, but once I have put -them on with the shoe-where the shoe-horn they are very nice. -I’ll take them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And you may have some talcum powder and -the shoe-horn to take with you, to put your shoes -on easily whenever you wish,” said the monkey. -For you know Uncle Wiggily pulled the shoe-horn -out of his shoe, once he had his foot in. -They couldn’t both be there at the same time, -you see.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Away hopped the rabbit gentleman in his new -shoes and with the shoe-horn and the slippery-sliding -talcum powder in his pocket.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, now I have my new shoes I wonder -if I will meet with an adventure to-day?” -thought Uncle Wiggily, as he hopped on. And -he did. I’ll tell you about it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Pretty soon he came to a great, big shoe, standing -in the middle of the woods. The shoe had -a roof over it, with a chimney sticking out of -the top. There was a door to the shoe, and windows. -In fact, it was a house, made out of a -great, big shoe which a giant used to wear.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! This is where the Old Woman lives,” -said Uncle Wiggily. “The Shoe Lady. I wonder -if she is at home?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He was going to knock on the door and ask -how all the children were, when, from inside -the shoe there came the sound of crying; children -crying; many of them.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! I wonder if that means trouble?” -asked Uncle Wiggily of himself. “I had better -see if I can do anything to help.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He knocked on the door, and the Old Woman -Who Lived in a Shoe, or Shoe Lady, as I call her -for short, opened it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Is anything the matter?” asked Uncle Wiggily. -“I heard crying.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Of course,” spoke the Shoe Lady, “the children -always cry when I whip them. Don’t you -know how it is in the Mother Goose book:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘There was an old woman</div> - <div class='line in2'>Who lived in a shoe,</div> - <div class='line in2'>She had so many children</div> - <div class='line in2'>She didn’t know what to do.</div> - <div class='line in2'>She gave them some broth,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Without any bread;</div> - <div class='line in2'>She whipped them all soundly</div> - <div class='line in2'>And sent them to bed.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“That’s what happened,” said the Shoe Lady.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, er—excuse me—but, that is, do you -think it just right to whip them ALL?” asked -Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “Might not at least -<i>one</i> of them have been good?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, bless your tall hat!” exclaimed the Shoe -Lady, with a laugh. “I don’t <i>really</i> whip them, -you know. That part of the verse is wrong. I -only make believe to whip them—pretend, you -know, so as to make it as near like the book as -I can.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But I heard crying,” said Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, but it was only make-believe crying, -just like the pretended whipping,” laughed the -Shoe Lady. “I wouldn’t for the world hurt one -of the children, even though I have so many I -don’t know what to do.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily was glad to hear that, and he -was just hopping on, when up came running a -little boy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, take me in! Take me in!” he cried. -“I want my make-believe whipping. I want -to make-believe cry, have my broth, without any -bread, and go to bed.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, Toodles!” exclaimed the Shoe Lady, -looking at him in surprise. “I did not know -you were out. You stayed too late at your play. -There are so many children here now I don’t believe -there is room to get you in. After the children -eat their supper they swell up, and the shoe -house is hardly large enough for them,” she said -to Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I must get in,” cried Toodles. “I -must!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I’ll try,” said the Shoe Lady. She and -Uncle Wiggily tried, but the shoe was so full -of children that not another one could get in. -They pushed and pulled and shoved and hauled, -but poor Toodles could not get in.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! I don’t know what to do,” said -the lady, who lived in a shoe. “I guess Toodles -will have to sleep out in the woods to-night.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No! Wait! I have it!” cried Uncle Wiggily. -“When my foot would not go in my new -tight shoe the monkey put talcum powder in it -and used a shoe-horn. I’ll do that to Toodles.” -And so he did. And when the little boy was -sprinkled with sweet smelling talcum powder, -and when the shiny, slippery shoe-horn was -slipped into the top of the crowded shoe, in on -that slid Toodles as nicely as you please, and -everything was all right. There’s always room -for one more, even in a shoe, you know.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Thank you, Uncle Wiggily,” said the Shoe -Lady, and then she gave Toodles his make-believe -whipping, he made believe cry, he ate his -real broth and went to his real bed. And that’s -where you must go if it’s time.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But if the butter doesn’t slide off the slice of -bread, and go coasting down the cake plate hill -with a bun that ought to be sitting beside the custard, -I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and -Jack-be-Nimble.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/p208.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-IV' class='c013'>CHAPTER IV<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND JACK-BE-NIMBLE</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily</span>! Uncle Wiggily!” called -Sammie Littletail, the little rabbit boy, one Saturday -morning, as he hopped up to the hollow-stump -bungalow, where the nice, old bunny -uncle lived. “Come on out and play, Uncle -Wiggily. Please do!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, hop away, Sammie!” called Nurse Jane -Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, -looking out of the kitchen window. “Here, -take this cabbage jam tart and run away. Uncle -Wiggily can’t bother to play with you to-day.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I haven’t any one else to play with,” said -Sammie. “Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the -squirrels, are taking their nut-gnawing lesson, -and Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow, the puppies, -are taking their bone-gnawing lessons.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Haven’t you any lessons?” asked Nurse -Jane.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No. I’ve done mine. I had to practice -jumping a little. But there’s no school, as it’s -Saturday, and I do want some one to play with. -My sister Susie has gone off with Lulu and Alice -Wibblewobble, the ducks, and anyhow I don’t -want to play with girl animals. Won’t Uncle -Wiggily come out?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, Sammie. Here, take this carrot cookie -and hop along,” said Nurse Jane.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Wait a minute,” spoke another voice, and -Uncle Wiggily himself went out on the back -stoop. “What is it you want, Sammie?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“He wants you to come out and play with -him!” cried Nurse Jane. “The idea!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I’ll come,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. -“I haven’t much to do, and perhaps we may -have an adventure together. Come on, Sammie, -we’ll go off in the woods, and we’ll play.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the old gentleman rabbit and his little -bunny nephew hopped off in the woods together, -and soon were having a fine time, scurrying in -among the dried leaves, and hiding behind old -logs and stumps.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I wonder if there is any new cabbage growing -around here?” said Sammie, after a bit. -“I’m hungry.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is too soon for cabbage yet,” answered -Uncle Wiggily. “It will not be Spring for -several weeks. Nor are there any new carrots -to be had. But pretty soon we’ll pass a lollypop -store, and you may have a lettuce flavored -one.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That will be nice—thank you,” said Sammie.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Did you do your jumping lesson to-day?” -asked the old gentleman rabbit, after a bit.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” said Sammie. “I practiced half an -hour.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Let me see how well you can jump,” spoke -the bunny uncle. “I used to be a pretty good -jumper when I was young.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Sammie jumped from one stump, far over -a log, to another.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Fine!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “That’s better -than I can do, but I’ll try.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He did try, and, though he could not leap as -far as Sammie had done, Mr. Longears did very -well. If it had not been for his rheumatism he -could have done better.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He and Sammie jumped about for some time, -and all at once they were surprised to hear a -voice saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! I wish I could jump as far as -that. But I don’t believe I shall ever be able to. -Oh, dear! Oh, dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! That sounds like trouble,” said Uncle -Wiggily. “Who are you and where are you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’m Jack, and I’m behind this big stone,” -was the answer, and out stepped a boy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! I thought at first it might be Jackie -Bow Wow,” spoke Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No; I am another Jack,” said the boy. “I’m -one of Mother Goose’s friends.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are you Jack Sprat?” Sammie wanted to -know, “who could eat no fat?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But still the boy did not look like that Jack.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll tell you who I am,” the boy said. “I’m -Jack-be-Nimble, Jack-be-Quick, Jack jump -over the candlestick.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, now I remember,” spoke Uncle Wiggily. -“How do you do, Jack-be-Nimble?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But the trouble is I <i>can’t</i> do it,” went on -Jack.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Can’t do what?” asked Sammie Littletail.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I can’t be nimble and jump over the candlestick,” -was the answer. “I’ve tried and tried. -But it seems of no use. Every time I jump I -either hit the candle, and put it out, or I come -down ker-flunk! in it, and get my shoes all -grease. Mother Goose says I ought to be -ashamed of myself. If I can’t jump over the -candlestick, I can’t be in her book, she says, and -Oh, dear! I don’t want to be put out of the nice -book.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s too bad,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“Now, Jack, I’ll tell you what to do. You -watch Sammie and me jump, and perhaps that -will teach you how. Watch us. Come on, -Sammie, we must jump some more to teach -Jack.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the old rabbit gentleman and the little rabbit -boy jumped about on the soft, dried leaves -in the wood. Jack watched them, and then he -tried. Of course, having only two legs, he could -not leap as far as could the rabbits, with four. -But still Jack did very well.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now, come here every day to the woods,” -said Uncle Wiggily, “and we will give you a -jumping lesson. Don’t say anything to Mother -Goose about it, and you will soon give her a nice -surprise by jumping over the candlestick easily -some day. I once took dancing lessons from a -waltzing mouse lady without saying anything to -Nurse Jane about it, and my! how surprised she -was when I did the fox trot.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll come,” promised Jack-be-Nimble. And -he did. Every day for a week, he took jumping -lessons secretly in the woods, of Uncle Wiggily -and Sammie, until finally Jack was a very good -jumper, indeed. Then one day Old Mother -Goose said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, Jack, I fear it is of no use. You can’t -jump over the candlestick, as you ought to do -to be in my book, so you’ll have to go out. I’ll -get the cow, who leaped over the moon, to jump -for me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, please give me one more chance!” -begged Jack. “Please!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Mother Goose kindly did so, and lo! and behold! -when next he tried, Jack-be-Nimble -jumped over the candlestick as easily as anything. -Away over it he jumped and came down -on the other side.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, Jack! Where did you learn to jump -so well?” asked Mother Goose, in great surprise.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Uncle Wiggily and Sammie taught me,” he -answered. And ever after that nimble Jack had -no trouble.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the apple pie doesn’t go out skating -with the jam tart, and forget to come in to supper, -I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and -Tommie Tinker’s dog.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-V' class='c013'>CHAPTER V<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND TOMMIE TINKER’S DOG</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily</span>, here’s a letter for you,” -called Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat -lady housekeeper, to the rabbit gentleman, one -morning, as he sat in the easy chair in his hollow-stump -bungalow. “The postman bird just left -it as he flew past.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A letter for me!” exclaimed the bunny -uncle, as he opened and read it. “That’s nice. -It’s from Grandfather Goosey Gander. He -wants me to come over and play checkers with -him. He’s so lonesome.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But you can’t go!” cried Nurse Jane, tying -her tail up in a knot, for she was going to sweep -and dust, and she did not want to step on herself. -“You can’t go, because you said your -rheumatism hurt you so.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I guess I can manage to get over to see -Grandpa by limping on the nice red, white and -blue-striped rheumatism crutch, which you so -kindly gnawed for me out of a corn-stalk,” spoke -Uncle Wiggily. “I’ll try, anyhow, for I haven’t -seen Grandpa Goosey in nearly a week. I dare -say I can get over there all right. It’s a nice -day.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I wish you wouldn’t go,” said Nurse -Jane, slowly, making her whiskers dance up and -down. “I’m sure something will happen.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, nonsensicalness!” laughed Uncle Wiggily, -as he went out of the bungalow. Over the -fields and through the woods he roamed, and he -had to rest several times on his crutch, for the -rheumatism hurt him more than he thought it -would.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But I’ll get there all right,” he said. No -sooner had he spoken, however, than all at once -his crutch slid on a piece of slippery-elm bark, -and Uncle Wiggily fell down. He did not hurt -himself much, for he sat down on a pile of soft, -dried leaves. But when the bunny uncle arose, -and tried to walk on his crutch, he could not, -as it was cracked and splintered.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“If I lean my weight on it the crutch will -break,” said Uncle Wiggily, sadly, “and I can’t -walk without leaning on it. Oh, dear! What -shall I do?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then, as he stood there in the woods, he heard -a voice calling:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Umbrellas to mend! Umbrellas to mend,</div> - <div class='line in1'>If you’ve pans with holes in, for me you must send.</div> - <div class='line in1'>I’ll fix them up, quick as a wink—or a winker;</div> - <div class='line in1'>For I am a pot, pan and umbrella tinker.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>Uncle Wiggily looked off among the trees, -and, surely enough, along came a traveling -tinker, with a box over his shoulder and a little -fire in a tin pot in his hand. Beside him walked -a little boy who had a little dog.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, daddy! Look at the rabbit gentleman!” -cried the little boy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I see him,” said the tinker. “He is Uncle -Wiggily Longears, if I am not mistaken. Are -you not?” he asked, politely.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am,” answered the bunny uncle. “And I -am in great trouble. I have splintered and -cracked my crutch and I can’t limp along on it -to get to Grandpa Goosey’s house.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I can easily fix that for you,” said the -kind tinker, and he did, fastening a strong piece -of tin around the broken part of Uncle Wiggily’s -crutch so it was as good as ever.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then the rabbit gentleman thanked the nice -tinker man and hopped on, and the tinker and -his little boy, whose name was Tommie, and the -little boy’s dog, whose name was Bow-Wow-Wow, -went on their way, the tinker singing his -funny song.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily reached Grandpa Goosey’s -house all right, and he and the goose gentleman -had fun playing checkers. And when it was -time for Uncle Wiggily to hop back to his hollow-stump -bungalow Grandpa Goosey gave -him a fine, large bone, with nice meat on it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Give that to Mrs. Bow Wow for her little -puppy dog boys, Jackie and Peetie,” said the -goose gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I will, thank you,” said Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The rabbit gentleman was hopping along -through the woods on his way home when, all -at once, he heard some one crying.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! That sounds like trouble,” he said. -“I was in trouble a little while ago about my -crutch and the tinker helped me. Now, I must -try to help some one in my turn. That’s only -fair.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily looked around the corner of -a stump and saw the tinker’s little boy, Tommie, -sitting on a log and crying very hard.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, Tommie! What’s the matter?” asked -the bunny uncle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! Boo hoo!” cried Tommie. “My -nice dog is lost, and I can’t find him. And I -must have him, you know, or else I can’t be in -Mother Goose’s book. My dog and I belong -there, you see.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I see,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “But -how did your dog get lost?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I was helping my father mend some umbrellas -for Old King Cole,” said Tommie, “and, -when we weren’t looking, my dog ran off in the -woods. I guess he must be lost there, for he -hasn’t come back. My father, Mr. Tinker, went -to look for him, and so did I, but I hurt my toe -and I can’t look any more; and—Oh, dear! Oh, -dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“There, there! Don’t cry any more,” said the -nice bunny uncle. “I’ll go look for your pet -dog for you. Just you wait here. Your father -was kind to me, so I want to be kind to you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily went off through the woods, -looking here, there and everywhere and pretty -soon he heard behind a tree some one saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Bow! Wow! Wow!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! Whose dog art thou?” asked Uncle -Wiggily, quickly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Little Tommie Tinker’s dog, Bow! Wow! -Wow!” came the answer, and out from under -a berry bush ran the lost dog, wagging his tail.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” he begged. “Can -you take me to Tommie? I’ve been looking -everywhere for him, and just now I smelled the -nice meat bone you carry and I ran out of the -bush to see who had it. Oh, I’m so glad I found -you!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And I’m glad, too,” said the bunny uncle. -“And Tommie will be glad when he sees you. -Come alone, doggie, I’ll take you to him. It’s -a good thing I had this bone, which you smelled, -or I might never have found you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then Uncle Wiggily gave Little Tommie -Tinker’s dog some meat from Grandpa Goosey -Gander’s bone, and took the little dog to Tommie -and Mr. Tinker, who had come back without -having found Bow-Wow-Wow. You can -just imagine how glad every one was that everything -had come out all right, so Tommie could -stay in the Mother Goose book, and the little -dog was glad also.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then Uncle Wiggily hopped along home, -Tommie Tinker went on his way, and in the -next chapter, if our automobile doesn’t run off -the sidewalk into a candy store, chasing after a -lollypop, I’ll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and -Mary’s little lamb.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/p220.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-VI' class='c013'>CHAPTER VI<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND MARY’S LAMB</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>One</span> day Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the -muskrat lady, was looking around the hollow-stump -bungalow, behind pictures, under the -piano, in corners and everywhere.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What is the matter?” asked Uncle Wiggily -Longears, the rabbit gentleman, “have you lost -something, Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No,” Nurse Jane answered. “I was just -looking to see how much house-cleaning I must -do. It will soon be Spring, and the bungalow -must be made nice and clean, ready for Summer. -There is quite a lot of dust behind the pictures -and under the piano.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Bungalow-cleaning!” said Uncle Wiggily, -sort of sad and solemn like. “I know what that -means. No meals on time. No place to sit -down, no place to hang your hat—nothing at -all. I suppose I had better be out of the way -when you turn my bungalow upside down to -clean it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I suppose you had,” agreed Nurse Jane. -“Still, there is no hurry. I won’t start cleaning -until to-morrow, or next day. But if you are -going out now you might bring me something -from the store.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What?” asked Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A scrubbing brush and a cake of soap,” answered -the muskrat lady. “I’ll need them to -clean the floors.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You shall have them,” promised Uncle Wiggily. -Then off he started with his tall silk hat -and his red, white and blue-striped barber-pole -rheumatism crutch that Nurse Jane had gnawed -for him out of a corn-stalk, and which Tommie -Tinker’s father had mended for him, as I told -you in the story before this one.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I wonder if I shall have any adventures to-day?” -thought the bunny uncle, as he hopped -and skipped along through the woods. “I -haven’t had one since I found Tommie Tinker’s -dog.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But Mr. Longears reached the store without -anything having happened to him, and, buying -the cake of soap and the scrubbing brush, back -he started for his hollow-stump bungalow.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Nurse Jane said there was no hurry,” spoke -the rabbit gentleman to himself, “but I want to -get the house-cleaning over with as soon as I -can. So I’ll hurry back with the soap and -brush.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>All of a sudden, and just as Mr. Longears -was wondering if he would have time to call on -Nannie and Billie Wagtail, the goat children, -he heard a rustling in the bushes, and a voice -said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! However did it happen? Oh, -how too bad it is! You’re nothing at all like -Mother Goose’s book says you should be. Oh, -whatever am I to do?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily looked around the corner of a -tree, and there he saw a little girl, and beside her -stood a little lamb, as black as a coal, or a barrel -of tar. I don’t know which is blacker.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! This looks like trouble,” whispered -Uncle Wiggily. Then: “That surely is Mary,” -he said, out loud.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I’m Mary,” spoke the little girl, “and -I know you. Jack Horner told me about -you, and how you helped him pull his thumb -out of his plum pie. I wish you could help -me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What is the matter?” asked Uncle Wiggily. -“I’ll help you if I can.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It’s him,” said Mary, pointing to the little -baby sheep. “You know how it goes in the -book:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘Mary had a little lamb,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Its fleece was white as snow.</div> - <div class='line in2'>And everywhere that Mary went,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The lamb was sure to go.’”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“Yes, I know that,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“But this can’t be your lamb. Instead of being -white as snow, he’s black—as black as any -crow.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s just the trouble!” said Mary, with -tears in her eyes. “Oh, Lambie! How did you -get your nice white coat so black?” she asked. -“You can’t follow me to school that way; you -know you can’t.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ba-aa! No, I suppose I can’t,” spoke the -lamb, sort of sad and lonesome like. “I didn’t -mean to do it, but I went past a place where -some men were cleaning out a chimney and the -black soot blew from it all over me. I’m as sorry -about it as you are.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is too bad,” said Uncle Wiggily. “But -nothing is so bad that it might not be worse.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“This will be worse before it is better,” said -Mary. “I suppose the only thing to do now is -to take my lamb to the barber’s, who shaves a -pig, and makes a wig. The barber can cut off -the top part of the lamb’s fleecy wool and get -down to the nice, white part. But if I do that -I’ll be late for school. And the lamb must follow -me there, you see, or it won’t be like the -book. Oh, Lambkin! why did you do it?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I—I’m sorry,” said Mary’s little lamb. -“But, please, don’t have my wool cut off. It’s -too cold this weather. I’d shiver.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I must,” said Mary. “To make you white -as snow, you know. I’ll have to have your wool -cut.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No! you won’t have to do that!” cried Uncle -Wiggily. “I know something better than that. -Soot is only black dirt. It will wash off with -soap and water. And, see here! I have some -soap for Nurse Jane’s bungalow-cleaning and -a scrubbing brush. Come on, Mary. We’ll -find some water and give the lamb’s coat a good -scrubbing with soap suds. We’ll see what that -will do.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I’m afraid we’ll never get him clean,” -sadly said Mary; “but it is very good of you to -think of it, Uncle Wiggily.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>They found a nice little brook, and leading -the lamb to it, Uncle Wiggily rolled up his -sleeves and with the soap and scrubbing brush -began to wash the black soot out of the fleecy -wool of Mary’s little lamb.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Away and away scrubbed the bunny uncle, -making a great suddsy lather. He rubbed it -well into the fluffy wool. Then, when the soap -suds were washed out, why, Mary’s lamb’s fleece -was as white as snow! just as it ought to be.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” cried Mary. “How -good you are! Now my little lamb can follow -me to school, no matter if it is against the rule. -Thank you!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then away she ran, and the lamb followed -after her, and Uncle Wiggily, pleased that he -had done a kindness, took the rest of the soap -and the scrubbing brush to Nurse Jane.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the man painting our house doesn’t put -red, green and purple stripes around it to make -it look like a moving picture going to the circus, -I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and Peter -Piper.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-VII' class='c013'>CHAPTER VII<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND PETER PIPER</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily Longears</span>, the rabbit gentleman, -was hopping along across a green field. -The field was not very green, but was just beginning -to show a little green grass and clover, -for, as yet, Spring had not fully arrived.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But still I may find a few green things growing -that I can eat or take to Sammie and Susie -Littletail, the bunny children,” thought Mr. -Longears. So on and on he hopped. The sun -was shining, it was not very cold, and Uncle -Wiggily felt happy because his rheumatism did -not pain him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And when Summer comes it will not hurt -me at all,” he said.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The rabbit gentleman was wondering whether -or not he would have an adventure that day, -when, all at once, he saw, climbing over the -fence, a boy dressed in a green suit, wearing a -red cap and with blue shoes on his feet.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! He is a funny looking chap!” thought -the bunny uncle. “I think he must be one of -Mother Goose’s friends. I’ll ask him.” And he -did.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, how do you do, Uncle Wiggily?” -asked the queer boy. “Yes, indeed, I’m one of -the many children of Mother Goose, to whom -you have been so kind. I’m Peter Piper.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are you any relation to Tom-Tom, the -Piper’s son?” asked Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, I’m his cousin. But I had nothing to -do with taking the pig. Tom-Tom did that himself. -But, if you please, I have a riddle for you -to guess.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A riddle? Come, that’s good! I like riddles. -Tell it to me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then the queer boy stood up straight and recited -this:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.</div> - <div class='line in1'>A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.</div> - <div class='line in1'>If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Where is the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“Oh, my!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “That’s -a hard one. Let me see now. ‘If Peter Pepper -pipped a pick of peckled Pipers——!’”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, no! You have it wrong,” said Peter, -smiling. “Try once more. Say it after me: -‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.’”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily tried again:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Pickled Peter pipped a pep of Piperd -pikers——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear, no! Wrong again!” laughed -Peter. “Now, once more. Say the last part -first and perhaps it will come easier to you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Uncle Wiggily said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where is the pop of pickered Peters picker -Piper pepped?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I—I’m afraid you can’t say it,” said Peter, -gently.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’m afraid so myself,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“I shan’t try again. It makes my tongue all -twisted and hurts my funny bone. I give up. -What’s the answer? Where are the peppers?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Here they are!” exclaimed Peter, and from -behind his back he held out a peck of pickled -peppers. “That’s the only kind you can pick -this time of year,” he went on. “I’m taking -them to Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady. -She mixes them with corn-meal and fries them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll go with you,” spoke Uncle Wiggily. “I -haven’t seen Alice and Lulu and Jimmie -Wibblewobble in some time.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the bunny uncle and Peter Piper picked -their way across the field toward the duck lady’s -house. More than once Uncle Wiggily tried to -say the riddle, but his tongue grew more and -more twisted until he was walking sideways instead -of frontwards. So he gave it up.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He and Peter Piper had not gone very far before -Peter’s shoe lace came loose and he stooped -down behind a big stone to tie it—tie the lace, I -mean, not the stone. And while he was doing -this along came the bad old fox, who had not -bothered Uncle Wiggily in some time.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ah, ha!” cried the fox, showing his teeth. -“This is the time I have you, Mr. Longears! I -was just wondering what I would eat for dinner, -but now I know. It shall be you!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Me?” asked Uncle Wiggily, curious like -and wondering.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, you. Get ready for dinner! My dinner!” -snarled the fox.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily thought quickly. He did not -want to be a dinner for the fox, so he said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Before you eat would you not like to guess -a riddle?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” said the fox, “I would. What is it?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And do you promise not to eat me until you -guess it?” asked Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I do,” said the fox. “But that will not save -you, for I can guess any riddle that ever was,” -and he fluffed up his tail, proud like and saucy.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then guess this,” said Uncle Wiggily, and -now he had no trouble saying Peter Piper picked -the peck of pickled peppers. “Where is the -peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?” -suddenly asked Uncle Wiggily of the fox. The -bad animal thought for a second and then he -said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“If Peter pickled pecked a pick of pipered -pickles. A pick of Petered Pipers——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, no!” laughed Uncle Wiggily. “You’re -a bit twisted. Try again.” The fox did so.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“If Papper Peter pecked a pit of piddled -poppers——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Worse than ever,” said the bunny uncle. “I -think you will not find it as easy as you thought. -Once more, please, and try it a bit slower.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The fox growled, and said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A pick of peppered Peters did peckle -pickle—— Oh, I can’t guess your old riddle!” -snarled the fox. “I’m going to eat you anyhow! -What do I care about the peckled pickers?” and -he made a jump for Uncle Wiggily to grab the -bunny uncle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Eat him? You going to eat Uncle Wiggily? -Oh, no! No, you’re not!” cried Peter -Piper, jumping out from behind the rock. -“Mother Goose doesn’t want Uncle Wiggily -hurt. Be off with you!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And with that Peter threw a pickled pepper -at the fox. It struck him on the nose, and made -him sneeze and turn a somersault, and before he -could get straightened out Uncle Wiggily and -Peter Piper had run away to the duck house.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Mrs. Wibblewobble got the pickled peppers; -that is, all but the one Peter threw at the -fox, and Uncle Wiggily at last learned how to -say the hard riddle-verse without tying himself -in a knot. And if you can recite it, fast, without -wrinkling your nose, you are doing well.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the candlestick doesn’t try to beat the -carpet, and get dust in the eyes of the potatoes -when they dance in the frying pan, I’ll tell you -next about Uncle Wiggily and the moon-man.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-VIII' class='c013'>CHAPTER VIII<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE MOON-MAN</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Did</span> you hear the news, Uncle Wiggily?” -asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat -lady housekeeper, as she sat down one evening -in the dining-room of the hollow-stump bungalow, -where the rabbit gentleman was eating his -supper of lettuce salad, with carrot sauce -sprinkled on.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“News! What news?” asked the bunny -uncle, reaching for a slice of carrot bread. “Is -some one going to have a surprise party and invite -us to dance?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s partly it,” Nurse Jane answered. -“Nannie Wagtail, the little goat girl, was going -to have a party, but she is ill, and the party will -not be given.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Nannie ill? That’s too bad,” said Uncle -Wiggily, kindly. “I’ll go over to see her after -I have my supper. She may need cheering up a -bit. Yes, I’ll go see her.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So after he had finished eating Uncle Wiggily -put on his tall silk hat that was like a piece of -the stovepipe and away he went, over the fields -and through the woods, to the house where the -little goat girl lived with her brother Billie and -her Uncle Butter, who posted circus pictures on -barns and fences.</p> - -<p class='c011'>It was getting dark, but Uncle Wiggily was -not afraid, for he knew the moon would soon -rise above the tree tops and make a good light.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And on his way to Nannie’s the bunny uncle -passed a candy store.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll just stop in and buy Nannie an ice cream -cone,” said Uncle Wiggily. “Winter is nearly -over and ice cream cones are in season again. -I’ll take two or three, for Billie might like one.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The bunny uncle bought a bag full of the -ice cream cones, and he was walking on again, -hoping that Nannie would not be ill long, when, -all at once, there was a crash in the bushes beside -the rabbit gentleman as if some one had -fallen down.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My goodness me sakes alive and some apple -dumplings!” cried Uncle Wiggily, jumping to -one side. “Who it is?” He hoped it would -not prove to be the bad old fox. “Who is it?” -he asked, for it was too dark to see.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is I—the moon-man,” was the answer. -“I hope I did not scare you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, you did, a little,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“But what are you doing down on the earth? -You ought to be up in the sky.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I know I ought,” said the other, “but you -know how Mother Goose has it:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘The man in the moon came tumbling down,</div> - <div class='line in2'>To inquire the way to Norwich.</div> - <div class='line in2'>He went to the South,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And burned his mouth,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Eating some cold bean porridge.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“That’s how it was,” said the moon-man. “I -had to come tumbling down, you see, for that’s -the way it is in the book. But, oh, dear! I am -so sorry I burned my mouth! How it hurts!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Did you really burn your mouth, in the -South, eating cold bean porridge?” asked -Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I did,” said the moon-man. “Only it was -hot when I ate it. It’s cold enough now, though. -Oh, how I burn! I wish you could help me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I can!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “See, I have -here some cold ice cream cones. Eat one of -them, and your mouth will stop burning.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, thank you!” cried the moon-man, and, -surely enough, when he had eaten the ice cream -cone, his mouth was as cool as a refrigerator, -and he had no more pain.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You are very kind,” said the moon-man to -Uncle Wiggily. “If ever I can do you a favor -I will. But now I must jump back to my place -in the moon.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The rabbit gentleman did not see how the -moon-man was going to do any one any favors, -if he had to jump away up in the moon, high -above the earth. But still Uncle Wiggily was -too polite to say so.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Here I go! Good-by!” cried the man, and, -giving a big hop, up to the moon he jumped. If -you look closely you can see his face there on -moonlight nights. He is smiling.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Good-by!” called Uncle Wiggily, and on -he went to the Wagtail goats’ house to see -Nannie. She was very glad to have her bunny -uncle call, and more pleased still when he gave -her an ice cream cone, and also one to her -brother Billie.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily stayed for quite some time, -talking to the goats, and Uncle Butter told a -funny story about a circus picture of a dog, -which was so natural that a cat ran away when -she saw it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I’ll be getting back to my bungalow,” -said Uncle Wiggily, after a bit. “Nurse Jane -will be worrying about me if I stay too late.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, how dark it is!” said Billie, looking out -the door. “Aren’t you afraid, Uncle Wiggily?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, no,” answered the rabbit uncle. But, -when the door of the goats’ house was shut, and -the pleasant lamplight no longer streamed out, -it was very black and dark indeed. “I wish it -were time for the lightning bugs,” thought Mr. -Longears. “With them brightly flashing I -could easily see my way.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily went on as best he could, but -pretty soon he bumped into a tree, and hurt his -pink, twinkling nose. Next he stumbled against -a big rock, and hurt his paw.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” he cried. “This is no fun! I -wish it were light so I could see where I am -going.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then he tripped over a log and came down -ker-plunk! hurting his rheumatism, and he felt -very badly, indeed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I wish some one would help me find my -way to my bungalow!” he cried.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll help you,” said a kind voice, and then -the woods were suddenly made almost as bright -as day, for the moon rose over the trees, and -shone down, so Uncle Wiggily could see the -path, and stumbled no more.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How is that?” asked the moon-man, beaming -down on Uncle Wiggily. “Do I make it -light enough for you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, indeed! Fine,” said the bunny uncle. -“I can see all right now. Thank you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the moon-man, whose mouth no longer -burned, thanks to the ice cream cone, shone -brightly until Uncle Wiggily safely reached his -bungalow.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And, if the trolley car doesn’t go roller-skating -with the apple pie and upset the goldfish, -so they spill into the canary’s cage, I’ll tell you -next about Uncle Wiggily and Humpty -Dumpty.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-IX' class='c013'>CHAPTER IX<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND HUMPTY DUMPTY</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily</span>, would you mind bringing -me some glue when you come home from your -walk this afternoon?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy -Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, as she -saw the rabbit gentleman leaving his hollow-stump -bungalow one day.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Glue?” asked Uncle Wiggily, curious like. -“I hope you are not going to put it in my chair, -so when I sit down I will stick fast, and not be -able to get up again.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, no!” laughed Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy, -“though if you keep on going out so often, the -way you do, I’ll need a bit of sticky fly paper, or -something like that, to keep you at home.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh! I have to go off to have adventures -now and then,” said the bunny uncle, smiling so -that his nose twinkled like a moonbeam shining -in the water. “But I’ll bring you the glue all -right, Nurse Jane. What is it you want to stick -together?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A broken teacup,” answered the muskrat -lady. “I knocked a breakfast teacup off the -table, and it broke. But I can stick the pieces -together with glue, and it will be almost as good -as new.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Good!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “That’s the -way to do it!” Then he set off over the fields -and through the woods to get the glue.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He found some in the doll doctor’s toy shop, -where the monkey-doodle toy-mender used it to -fasten together all the playthings the animal -boys and girls broke.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s just the glue for Nurse Jane’s cup,” -said the doll doctor. “It will mend anything.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That’s what we want,” said Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Well, the old gentleman rabbit was going -along, hoping he would meet with an adventure -before he reached his hollow-stump bungalow, -when, all at once, he heard a sort of crowing -noise and a clucking, and then a sad voice -said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear, I might have known it would happen! -I should never have let you sit on top of -the wall, Humpty. Now look what you’ve done! -Oh, what will my mother say?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! That sounds like Charlie Chick, the -little rooster chap,” said Uncle Wiggily. “I -wonder what has happened to him, and who -Humpty can be? I guess I’ll look and see.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The bunny uncle went on a little farther and, -coming to a stone wall, he saw, on one side of it, -Charlie Chick; and the little rooster chap’s tail -feathers were all squeezed sideways and crooked, -as though he were in great trouble, indeed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, Charlie!” cried Uncle Wiggily. -“What’s the matter? Is Arabella, your sister, -lost?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, no, Uncle Wiggily!” answered -Charlie. “But I had Humpty Dumpty with -me, and he sat up on the wall, just as he did when -he was out with Mother Goose. But he fell off -and now he’s broken, and oh, dear! I fear he -never will be himself again.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My! My! What’s all this?” asked Uncle -Wiggily. “I never heard of Humpty Dumpty, -or his fall from the wall. And why can’t he be -himself again? If it’s anything that is broken -I can mend it, for I have some glue to mend -Nurse Jane’s broken cup, and I can mend -Humpty Dumpty.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, it’s very kind of you, I’m sure,” said -Charlie, politely, “but it can’t be done. You -see Humpty Dumpty is an egg. My mother, -Mrs. Cluck-Cluck, sent me to take him to Mrs. -Wibblewobble, the duck lady. But on the way -I stopped here to rest and I let Humpty sit upon -the wall.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, what happened then?” asked Uncle -Wiggily, as Charlie stopped, to give a little crow, -and flap his wings.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It happened just as it tells about in the -Mother Goose book,” went on Charlie. “This -is the way it was:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.</div> - <div class='line in2'>All the king’s horses and all the king’s men,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Cannot put Humpty together again.’”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“Why can’t they put him together again?” -asked Uncle Wiggily. “Where is Humpty? -Let me have a look at him. If his shell is only -cracked I can mend it with glue. Where is he?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“On the other side of the stone wall,” answered -Charlie. “He fell over or rolled backward, -and he must be all broken up by now.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Let us hope for the best,” said the rabbit -gentleman. “He may be only cracked, Humpty -Dumpty may be, and if the glue I have for -Nurse Jane will mend a cracked cup, it will -mend a cracked egg. I must have a look.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Up on top of the wall jumped the rabbit gentleman. -Then he hopped down on the other -side. He looked around for Humpty Dumpty.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily saw some broken egg shells. -Then he looked some more and rubbed his eyes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“This is queer,” he said. “If the egg broke, -the white and yellow inside ought to have run -out on the ground. But I don’t see any. That -must have been a hollow egg.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Just then the rabbit gentleman heard:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Peep! Peep! Peepity-peep-cheep-cheep!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My goodness me sakes alive and some corn-meal -pudding!” cried the bunny uncle. “Who -is that?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is I, Humpty Dumpty,” was the answer, -and out from under a bush ran a cute, little, -fluffy, downy chicken.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are you Humpty Dumpty?” cried Uncle -Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Of course,” peeped the little chicken. “I -was inside the eggshell all the while, just waiting -to come out. And when Charlie set me on -the wall I rolled off, cracked my shell and here -I am. I popped out!</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Of course, it isn’t just like in the book,” said -the baby chick, “but it’s better. For though I -sat on the wall and had a great fall, I don’t need -all the king’s horses and all the king’s men to -put Humpty together again.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, and you don’t need any of my glue,” -said Uncle Wiggily, with a laugh. “There is -no use mending a broken eggshell out of which -has come a chicken. Oh, I say, Charlie!” cried -the bunny uncle. “Fly over the wall. It’s all -right. Humpty is here, only he is different from -what you thought you would find him. Here -he is; a new, little chicken brother for you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And wasn’t Charlie surprised? Well, I guess -yes! But he loved Humpty Dumpty very much -and Humpty loved him. So this time, once -more, everything came out all right, just as -Mother Goose would have it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the collar button doesn’t go to a necktie -party all by itself and leave the comb to play -tag with the brush, I’ll tell you next about Uncle -Wiggily and Old King Cole.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/p246.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-X' class='c013'>CHAPTER X<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND OLD KING COLE</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Well</span>, Uncle Wiggily Longears, you are -getting very stylish, indeed, it seems,” spoke -Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady -housekeeper, after the postman bird had paid -a visit to the hollow-stump bungalow one day, -and had left a letter. “Very stylish. Look -here!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, what’s the matter?” asked the bunny -uncle. “Do you call it stylish just to get a letter? -You often get them, and so do I. This is, -very likely, from Grandpa Goosey Gander, asking -me to come over and play checkers with -him.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Indeed, it is nothing of the sort!” exclaimed -the muskrat lady. “That is, if you will excuse -me for saying so. This is a very stylish letter, indeed. -It comes from the king’s palace, as you -can see, by the royal stamp on it in gold and red -and blue and green. I wonder what it can be?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll open it and find out; then I’ll tell you,” -said Uncle Wiggily, politely. “I guess it’s from -the gold and silver palace of the king, who was -in the kitchen counting out his money, while -the queen was in the parlor eating bread and -honey. The maid was in the garden hanging -out the clothes, when along came a blackbird -and nipped off her nose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I helped the king and queen and the maid, -you know, and perhaps they are in more trouble, -and need more help.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But when the bunny uncle opened the letter -he found it was not from that king, but another—this -letter was from Old King Cole.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Read me the letter,” said Nurse Jane.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Uncle Wiggily read:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Old King Cole is a merry old soul,</div> - <div class='line in2'>A merry old soul is he.</div> - <div class='line in1'>He called for his pipe, he called for his bowl,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And he called for his fiddlers three.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Every fiddler had a fine fiddle,</div> - <div class='line in2'>A very fine fiddle had he,</div> - <div class='line in1'>And Uncle Wiggily is asked to come</div> - <div class='line in2'>To list to the music with me.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>At the bottom of the letter was Old King -Cole’s name, in big letters.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, well!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. -“I don’t understand. What’s it all about, I wonder?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Don’t you see!” cried Nurse Jane. “This -is a royal invitation from Old King Cole for you -to come to his palace, and listen to his fiddlers -three making music on their fine fiddles. You -must get ready to go. Put on your best suit and -look nice.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Must I really go?” asked Uncle Wiggily. -“I had much rather stay here with you. I -don’t know Old King Cole at all well. Must I -go?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Of course you must go!” Nurse Jane said. -“Whenever a king invites you, why, you have -to go, even if you must stand on your head. I’ll -help you get ready.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Very well,” Uncle Wiggily said. “But I -had much rather stay home with my slippers on, -eating carrot sandwiches. I know it will be too -fine and grand for me up at the king’s palace. -I’ll be sure to get my napkin on backward, or -tickle some one with the wrong fork. But if I -must go, I must. I wonder how he came to invite -me?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I guess he heard how kind you were to -the king who was in the kitchen, counting out -his money, and how you dug it up for him when -it rolled under the floor,” said Nurse Jane.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So she helped Uncle Wiggily get ready, shaving -the back of his neck for him, where he -couldn’t himself reach with his razor. And she -tied his tie for him, and saw that he was all -scrumptious like, and proper.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Finally the rabbit gentleman set off for the -palace of the king. He was about halfway -there when he heard some little squeaking voices -down beside the woodland path, and there he -saw Jollie and Jillie Longtail, the mouse children, -and their cousin, Squeaky-Eeky.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where are you going, Uncle Wiggily?” -asked Jollie, the boy mouse.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“To Old King Cole’s to hear some fiddle -music,” answered Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, do please take us with you!” begged -Jillie. “We just love fiddle music and we can’t -ever go to hear any.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why?” asked the bunny uncle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Because,” explained Squeaky-Eeky, the -little cousin mouse. “You know what it says -in Mother Goose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“‘Hi-Diddle-Diddle. The cat’s in the fiddle.’ -Now we couldn’t go to hear music when -a cat was in the fiddle, could we?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Of course not,” answered Uncle Wiggily. -“I never thought of that. Cats and mice don’t -go well together. But how can I take you to -King Cole? He may not like mice.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Put us in your pockets,” said Jillie. “We -are not very big, and we can easily hide when -you go in the palace. No one will see us in your -pockets.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Well, Uncle Wiggily put them in—Jollie, -Jillie and Squeaky-Eeky Longtail. But the -rabbit gentleman was afraid lest the king might -not like it. However, let us see what happened, -as they say in story books.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Glad to see you, Uncle Wiggily!” cried Old -King Cole, as the bunny uncle came in the -grand palace. “Make yourself right at home!” -and the king clapped his hands. Then some one -sang:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Old King Cole is a merry old soul,</div> - <div class='line in1'>A merry old soul is he.</div> - <div class='line in1'>He called for his pipe,</div> - <div class='line in1'>He called for his bowl,</div> - <div class='line in1'>And he called for his fiddlers three.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>In came the fiddlers, playing tweedle-dweele-dee, -making nice music, until, all at once:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Snap! Snap! Snap!” went something. -“Snap!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My goodness me sakes alive and some -orange lemonade!” cried Uncle Wiggily. -“What was that?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Our fiddle strings have broken!” cried one -of the fiddlers. “Now we can make no more -music until we have new strings.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” cried King Cole. “That’s too -bad. I must have music from my fiddlers three, -or from some one, or Mother Goose won’t like -it. How can I get squeaky fiddle music for -Uncle Wiggily? How can I?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Just then Jollie Longtail popped his head out -from Uncle Wiggily’s pocket.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“If you please, Old King Cole,” he said, -“Jillie, Squeaky-Eeky and I, with our squeaky -voices, will make music for you if you like.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I do like,” said the king. “Make some -music, if you please!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the mice, who have very squeaky voices, -sang nice music, almost like the fiddles, and -Old King Cole was a more merry soul than -ever.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’m glad you came, Uncle Wiggily,” he -said. “And I’m glad you brought the nice -Longtail mice children with you. Give them -all some cheese!” And he laughed most jolly-jilly -like.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the mice sang for the king until the fiddlers’ -fiddle strings were fixed, and every one had a -good time and plenty to eat.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the jam tart doesn’t get inside the -huckleberry pie, where the egg beater can’t find -it to dance with, I’ll tell you next about Uncle -Wiggily and Peter-Peter.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-XI' class='c013'>CHAPTER XI<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND PETER-PETER</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily</span>, don’t you think you’d better -take an umbrella with you?” asked Nurse -Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, -as the rabbit gentleman, Mr. Longears, -started out from his hollow-stump bungalow one -morning.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“An umbrella, Nurse Jane? Why should I -take one with me? I have my red, white and -blue-striped barber-pole rheumatism crutch, that -you gnawed for me out of a corn-stalk.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That wouldn’t be much good in a rain-storm,” -said the muskrat lady, with a laugh. -“It wouldn’t keep off many of the drops.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, I s’pose not,” said the bunny uncle, sort -of rubbing his pink, twinkling nose, thoughtful -like, with the brim of his tall silk hat. “So you -think it is going to rain, do you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Or snow,” said the muskrat lady, looking -to see if the hair ribbon had come off the end -of her tail, but it had not, I’m glad to say.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I guess I’ll be back before it storms,” -went on Uncle Wiggily. “I’m only going over -to Grandfather Goosey Gander’s pen house to -see if he wants to play checkers with grains of -corn. I won’t be very long,” and with that Uncle -Wiggily hopped away.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Over the fields and through the woods hopped -the bunny uncle to the house, or pen, of the old -gentleman goose. Uncle Wiggily was thinking -what a nice visit he would have when, all of a -sudden, he heard from behind a scratchy briar -bush a sad voice saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! They’re all spilled! I’ll never -be able to pick them up; never! There are too -many of them! Oh, dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! That is funny talk. It sounds as -though some one were in trouble,” said Uncle -Wiggily to himself. “I wonder if I can help -them? I’ll just take a peek first, for it might -be the skillery-scalery alligator, with humps on -his tail, or the bad fox or wolf, and they would -help themselves to catch me rather than have me -help them. I’ll take a peek first.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Uncle Wiggily peeked out and there, on -the other side of the bush he saw a little man, -bending down and picking something up off the -ground.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Now, as a rule, the bunny uncle didn’t like -men, for most of them were hunters, with dogs -and bang-bang guns, who came after the animal -people. But this man was so little, and so kind-looking -and, withal, Uncle Wiggily could see -he had no gun, so Mr. Longears knew it would -be all right.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Excuse me,” said Uncle Wiggily, speaking -a language that animals and little men can understand. -“But can I help you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, hello, Uncle Wiggily,” exclaimed the -small chap. “Why, maybe you can help me. -You see, I am Peter-Peter, and——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What, not Peter-Peter, the Pumpkin-Eater?” -asked the rabbit gentleman, surprised -like.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The very same,” was the answer. “I’m that -Peter-Peter.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then you must be a friend of Mother -Goose,” said the bunny uncle, smiling down one -side of his pink twinkling nose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am,” answered Peter-Peter.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then I am more than ever anxious to help -you,” spoke Mr. Longears. “I always help the -friends of Mother Goose. What is the -trouble?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I have spilled all my pumpkin seeds,” was -the answer of Peter-Peter. “You see I was -scooping out my pumpkin shell, making it hollow -to keep my wife in, as it says in the Mother -Goose book. When I had the seeds all scooped -out my wife said it would be a good thing to take -them over to Mrs. Bushytail, the squirrel lady, -as she and her two boys, Johnnie and Billie, -could eat them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I guess they would be glad to get them,” said -Uncle Wiggily. “In fact, I like roasted pumpkin -seeds myself.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But the trouble is,” said Peter-Peter, “that -when I had put the seeds in a bag, and was on -my way to the Bushytail home with them, I came -through these woods. The prickly briar bush -caught my bag, tore holes in it, and out fell the -pumpkin seeds. They are scattered all over the -ground here, and, oh, dear! I’ll never be able -to pick them up.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes, you will,” said Uncle Wiggily, with -a jolly laugh. “I’ll help you, and I’ll get my -friends, Dickie and Nellie Chip-Chip, the sparrows, -to help. They are great at picking up -seeds.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Uncle Wiggily whistled for Dickie and -Nellie Chip-Chip, and when the sparrow boy -and girl came, with their sharp bills, they soon -picked up most of the pumpkin seeds; Uncle -Wiggily and Peter-Peter helping, of course.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And when they were all picked up Uncle -Wiggily pasted some postage stamps over the -holes in Peter-Peter’s bag, so it was as good as -ever. Then the little man started off with it over -his shoulder to the Bushytail squirrel house.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Thank you, very much, Uncle Wiggily,” -said Peter-Peter. “And you, too, Dickie and -Nellie. If ever I can do you a favor I will.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So he went on, and, when Dickie and Nellie -had flown home, Uncle Wiggily hopped along -to Grandpa Goosey Gander’s house. There the -old rabbit gentleman had a nice time playing -checkers with grains of corn, but on his way -home, when he was in the middle of the woods, -all of a sudden it began to rain very hard.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” cried the bunny uncle. “Nurse -Jane was right. It is raining, and I have no -umbrella! I will get all wet, and my rheumatism -will be worse than ever. Oh, dear! I wish I had -some place to go in!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And just then Uncle Wiggily heard a voice -singing.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Peter-Peter, Pumpkin-Eater,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Had a wife and could not keep her.</div> - <div class='line in1'>He put her in a pumpkin shell,</div> - <div class='line in1'>And there he kept her very well.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>Uncle Wiggily looked through the bushes, -and there he saw a cute little house, made from -a pumpkin, with a hollowed-out corn-cob for a -chimney. And in the door of the house stood -the little man, Peter-Peter himself.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hello, Uncle Wiggily!” called Peter-Peter. -“Come in out of the rain.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Is there room in there with you and your -wife?” asked the bunny uncle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Plenty of room,” answered Peter-Peter. -“This is an extra big Thanksgiving pumpkin. -Come in!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>In went Uncle Wiggily out of the rain, and -he stayed in Peter-Peter’s pumpkin-shell house -until the storm was over, and he could go home -without getting wet. So you see it was a good -thing Uncle Wiggily helped Peter-Peter pick -up the pumpkin seeds.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the rain-drop doesn’t fall down-stairs -and splash all over the pancake turner when it -goes out to shovel the snow, I’ll tell you next -about Uncle Wiggily and the butcher.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-XII' class='c013'>CHAPTER XII<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BUTCHER</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>It</span> was raining in animal land, where Uncle -Wiggily Longears, the nice rabbit gentleman, -lived. It had been raining for several days; in -fact, ever since the bunny uncle had helped -Peter-Peter pick up the pumpkin seeds.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily had been caught out in the -rain then, and had gone in the pumpkin shell, -where Peter-Peter kept his wife very well. That -rain was only a shower, which was soon over, -but the storm began again and had lasted ever -since. It was very wet in animal land.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My!” exclaimed Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, -the muskrat lady housekeeper. “If it doesn’t -stop soon I’ll never get the clothes dry.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Worse than that,” said Uncle Wiggily. “If -it doesn’t stop soon there will be a flood, and our -hollow-stump bungalow will be full of water. -In fact, I think there is a little water in it now.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Well, it kept on raining, and there was a flood, -so much so that Uncle Wiggily’s cellar was full -of water, almost up to the floor, and all about, -outside the hollow-stump bungalow, there were -little lakes and puddles and rivers of rain water -in the woods.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Will it ever stop raining?” asked Nurse -Jane, as she stood at the window, looking out. -“If it doesn’t, I don’t know what we shall do. I -need some things from the store.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll get them for you,” said Uncle Wiggily, -kindly.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But how can you, in all this rain?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, very easily,” answered the bunny uncle, -twinkling his pink nose to make himself bright -and cheerful like. “I’ll put on my rubber boots, -my raincoat, take an umbrella and go to the -store.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I’m sure it’s very brave of you to go -out in this storm,” said Nurse Jane, “and I hope -your rheumatism doesn’t catch cold. But we -need some bread, sugar, salt and other things.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll get them,” said Uncle Wiggily, and off -he started through the storm, well wrapped up -so he would get no wetter than could be helped.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The rabbit uncle finally got to the store, and -the monkey-doodle gentleman who kept it put -in a basket the things Nurse Jane wanted.</p> - -<p class='c011'>He wrapped them in heavy paper, putting -some over the top of the basket so in case Uncle -Wiggily’s umbrella blew wrong side out the -groceries would not get wet.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I guess everything is going to be all -right,” thought Uncle Wiggily to himself, as he -hopped along through the rain on his way back -to the hollow-stump bungalow. “I don’t believe -I’m even going to have an adventure (except -now and then splashing into a puddle) for all -my coming out in the storm. And I haven’t had -an adventure in some time. I really wish something -would happen!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily had no sooner thought this -than, all of a sudden, something did happen. -He slipped into a big puddle with his rubber -boots. The water came nearly to the top of them, -but that did not so much matter as did something -else. For when the bunny uncle tried to pull -his feet up out of the puddle he couldn’t do it. -No, sir, he could no more pull his feet up than -you could get loose from sticky fly paper in case -you happened to sit down in it, which, I hope, -you never do; though our cat did once. And -such a time!</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My! This is quite too bad!” cried Uncle -Wiggily. “I wonder what could have happened? -My feet are caught fast!” He -squirmed about a bit with his feet in the rubber -boots. Then he said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I know what has happened. My feet are -held tight in the crooked, twisted old root of a -tree that is down under the puddle. I’m caught -as badly as if I were in a trap. Oh, dear! This -is an adventure, all right, but not the kind I like. -I wonder how I can get loose?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And well might the bunny uncle wonder. His -feet were caught fast in the root, away down -under water and he could not reach down with -his paws to loosen them, for he had his umbrella -in one paw and the basket of groceries on the -other, for there was water all around him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “I s’pose -I could pull my feet out of the rubber boots and -just leave them caught in the puddle, but if I -did that I’d have to go home bare-pawed, and -I’d catch my rheumatism worse than ever. Oh, -dear! What shall I do?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Just then, through the woods Uncle Wiggily -heard the sound of a drum. “Dub-dub! Dubbity-dubbity-dub!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! I wonder if that can be Sammie Littletail, -the bunny boy, coming along with his -Christmas drum? If it is he can help me,” said -Mr. Longears.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily, still caught fast, looked -through the trees, and he saw some one sailing -along in a washtub. And it was the butcher -man, in his white apron and cap, with a big -knife in his hand, who was drumming, with the -knife handle, on the sides of the tub. And the -butcher sang this song:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Rub-a-dub-dub! Three men in a tub;</div> - <div class='line in1'>The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker;</div> - <div class='line in1'>They all jumped over a hard baked potato.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“Why, that’s in Mother Goose!” cried Uncle -Wiggily, joyful like. “This butcher must be -a friend of hers. I wonder if he could help -me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Just then the butcher saw Uncle Wiggily -caught fast in the puddle, and, stopping his -washtub ship, he asked:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are you in trouble?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Trouble? I should say I was!” cried the -bunny uncle. “My feet are caught fast in a -tree root down under the water, and I can’t -get loose. Can you help me?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I can and will,” replied the butcher. Then, -with his long, sharp knife, he reached down under -the puddle and cut the tree root that was -holding Uncle Wiggily’s feet fast, taking care -not to cut the bunny uncle’s rubber boots.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“There you are!” cried the butcher. “Now -you’re loose.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, thank you so much,” said Uncle Wiggily, -hopping out of the puddle. “But, excuse -me, I thought there were three of you rub-a-dub-dub -men in a tub. You are only one.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, there were three of us,” said the -butcher. “But since Mother Goose wrote that -verse about us, after we jumped out of the baked -potato, we grew so large that three of us had hard -work to fit in one tub. So now we each have a -tub to ourselves. Now I must sail on. The -baker and candlestick maker and I are having a -tub-boat-race. I hope I win. Good-by!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And on he sailed in his tub, while Uncle Wiggily, -his feet no longer caught fast, went safely -on to his hollow-stump bungalow through the -rain with the groceries.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the bunny uncle was saved by the butcher, -you see, and, if the gas lamp doesn’t go down -cellar in the dark and stumble over the fire shovel -when it’s playing in the ashes, I’ll tell you next -about Uncle Wiggily and the baker.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-XIII' class='c013'>CHAPTER XIII<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BAKER</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>It</span> was still raining in Woodland, where the -animal folk lived. All around the hollow-stump -bungalow, where Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the -muskrat lady, kept house for Uncle Wiggily -Longears, the rabbit gentleman, there were puddles -of water; little lakes and rivers, too.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I think it is getting colder,” said Uncle Wiggily, -as he came in from having been up to the -Orange Mountain, to get a dozen of lemons so -Nurse Jane could bake a cherry pie.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“If it gets colder, perhaps it will stop raining,” -Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy remarked, “and goodness -knows we have had enough of water.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, a little snow for a change would seem -nice,” spoke the bunny uncle, looking out of the -window at the rain-drops still splashing down.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Was it raining on the Orange Mountain?” -Nurse Jane wanted to know.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, just as hard as it is down here in the -valley. But the water runs off the sides of the -mountain, so there are not so many puddles to -step in, as I stepped in one the other day, and got -my foot caught in a tree root, when the butcher, -in his rub-a-dub-dub tub, cut me loose.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That was quite an adventure,” said Nurse -Jane. “You haven’t seen the other friends of -Mother Goose—the baker and the candlestick -maker—have you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No,” Uncle Wiggily answered. “But I understand -that the butcher’s two friends, the baker -and the candlestick maker, are having a race -with him, each one in a tub. They may sail -along any day now. I guess I’ll go out and look -for them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What! In all this rain?” cried Nurse Jane, -in surprise. “You’ll catch cold in your rheumatism, -I’m sure.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, no, I’ll wrap up well in my rubber coat, -and put on my rubber boots as I did before,” said -the bunny uncle, making his nose twinkle like -a gold tooth in the wax doll.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Off started the old rabbit gentleman, carrying -a big umbrella so that too many rain-drops -would not get on his tall silk hat. He walked -along through the woods, down from the trees -of which the rain-drops dripped. There were -many puddles, but Uncle Wiggily kept as much -out of them as he could.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is getting quite some colder,” he said to -himself, as he put one paw in his pocket to warm -it—warm his paw, I mean, not his pocket, for -that was warm already. “I wouldn’t be surprised -to see it snow.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And, in a little while, a few flakes of snow did -begin to fall, dodging their way in between the -rain-drops, and sort of playing tag with one another.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How pretty the flakes look,” said Uncle -Wiggily, coming to a stop to watch them. “I -think I’ll sit down a minute and look at them.” -He found a fallen log, which, being under a -Christmas tree, was not as wet as it might otherwise -have been, and down Uncle Wiggily sat on -that.</p> - -<p class='c011'>More snowflakes fell, and they looked so -pretty that Uncle Wiggily stayed longer than he -meant to, sitting on the log. It kept on getting -colder and colder, and finally the bunny uncle -said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I mustn’t sit here any longer. I’ll get -up and go back to my nice, warm, cozy hollow-stump -bungalow. Yes, I’ll get up and——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But Uncle Wiggily did not get up. He -couldn’t! He had frozen fast to the log, which -had some water on it. The cold air had made -the water freeze, and Uncle Wiggily was held -as fast there as if he had sat down in sticky fly -paper—even more tightly, I believe.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” he cried. “This is quite too -bad! In fact, it is terrible. What shall I -do!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He tried to get up, but he could not, and he -did not want to take off his rubber coat, and so -free himself, for fear he might catch cold without -his coat.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! I don’t know what to do!” cried -Uncle Wiggily. “Help! Help! Will no one -help me to get loose?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then, through the woods he suddenly heard a -rub-a-dub-dub drumming sound.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! I wonder if that can be my friend, the -butcher?” thought the bunny uncle. But when -he looked he saw a baker coming along, dressed -in a spotless white apron and cap. The baker -had a loaf of bread in his hand, and with a large -spoon he was pushing himself along in his tub -through the puddles of water, which had not yet -solidly frozen over, though there were chunks of -ice in them. And the baker was singing:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub;</div> - <div class='line in1'>The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker;</div> - <div class='line in1'>But I am the one with the hot baked potato.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>Then the baker, seeing Uncle Wiggily sitting -on the log, called to the bunny uncle as he -stopped his tub boat:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Would you like to buy a loaf of bread?” -asked the baker.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, yes, I might, for I heard Nurse Jane -say we needed some,” answered the bunny uncle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then please come and get it,” said the baker. -“For I am riding a boat-tub race with the -butcher and the candlestick maker, and I don’t -want to stop. They might get in ahead of me. -You see, we are doing a little different from what -it says in the Mother Goose book,” went on the -baker, shaking some rain-drops off his white cap. -“We each have a tub to ourselves.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I see,” said Uncle Wiggily. “I heard about -it. In fact, I met the butcher sailing along in -his tub the other day.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, did you? Then I must hurry,” cried the -baker, “or he will win the race. Come and get -your loaf of bread and I’ll paddle along.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I can’t come and get it,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“I am sorry, but I really can’t.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why not?” asked the baker.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Because I am frozen fast to this log,” said -the bunny uncle, “and I really can’t get up, -much as I would like to. I was calling for help, -and, when you came along, I hoped——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! Say no more!” cried the baker, in a -jolly voice. “Of course I’ll help you. Never -mind about the race. I’ll get you loose!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How?” asked Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll show you!” cried the baker. He stopped -his tub, which had started off by itself, put on -his rubbers, and stepped out into a little puddle. -In his hands he carried the hot loaf of bread, and -the hot baked potato. Putting these down on -the log, one on each side of Uncle Wiggily, the -heat of them soon melted the ice, and the rabbit -gentleman was unfrozen, and could get up and -go on his way as well as ever.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, thank you!” he called to the baker. -“Thank you!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You are welcome,” was the answer, “and -take the hot bread and potato with you,” and -with that the baker jumped back in his tub and -went on sailing, hoping to catch up to the -butcher.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Uncle Wiggily went to his hollow-stump -bungalow, not being frozen any more, and all -was well. And if the soft boiled egg doesn’t go -sliding on the ice and fall down so it breaks all -to pieces and has to be put in a pudding, I’ll tell -you next about Uncle Wiggily and the candlestick -maker.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-XIV' class='c013'>CHAPTER XIV<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CANDLESTICK MAKER</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>After</span> supper, one night, Uncle Wiggily -Longears, the rabbit gentleman, put on his tall -silk hat, his fur-lined overcoat, and, taking his -red, white and blue-striped barber-pole rheumatism -crutch down off the piano, he started for -the door.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What! You are not going out to-night, are -you?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the -muskrat lady housekeeper, in surprise.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, yes, for a little while,” answered the -bunny uncle. “It has stopped raining, you -know, and the ground has dried up. It is cold, -but I have my fur coat, so I shall be nice and -warm.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where are you going?” asked Nurse Jane.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“To call on Mr. Longtail, the mouse gentleman. -He likes night visits better than day ones, -so that’s why I go in the evening. He’s like an -owl that way.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, don’t stay too late,” said Nurse Jane, -and Uncle Wiggily promised that he would not. -Out into the night he went, but it was not very -dark, for there was a moon shining. And as the -rabbit uncle was hopping along through the -woods he suddenly stepped upon something -round, which rolled from under his paw and almost -threw him down.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! I wonder what that can be?” Uncle -Wiggily said. He looked and saw a brass -candlestick on the ground. “This is queer,” -went on the bunny uncle. “I did not know that -candlesticks grew in the woods. Some one must -have dropped it. I’ll take it with me, and perhaps -Mr. Longtail will know whose it is.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>With the candlestick in one paw and his -rheumatism crutch in the other, Uncle Wiggily -once more hopped on. Pretty soon he saw a -little light flickering through the trees.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, that looks just like a lightning bug,” -said the bunny uncle, “only they are not out this -time of the year. I wonder what that can be?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then he heard a tummity-tum-tum, drumming -sound, and a voice sang:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub;</div> - <div class='line in1'>The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker,</div> - <div class='line in1'>And the baker has taken the hot baked potato.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“Why, that must be the last of the three, queer -Mother Goose men, who went sailing a race in -washtubs, when the weather was rainy,” said -Uncle Wiggily. “And this one must be the -candlestick maker, for I have met the other two.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But if this is the candlestick maker I don’t -see how he can be sailing in his tub when the -rain has stopped, and there are no little rivers, -lakes or even puddles in the woods,” went on the -rabbit gentleman. “Everything is frozen over. -I don’t see how he can.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then the singing voice stopped, and Uncle -Wiggily heard some one crying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! Ouch, how it burns! Oh, where -can it be? Where can it be?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The flickering light came nearer, and Uncle -Wiggily, looking through the trees, saw that it -was not a lightning bug, or firefly, but a little -man, with a leather apron on, and a hammer and -other tools hanging from his belt. The tools -jingled and rattled. Behind the man, who was -pulling it along as if it were a sled, with a rope -through one the handles, was the washtub. In -one hand the man carried a lighted candle, and, -all the while, he kept on saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! Ouch! How it burns me! -Oh, my!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Excuse me,” said Uncle Wiggily, politely, -“but you seem to be in trouble. Perhaps I can -help you. What burns you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“This candle,” answered the man. “I ought -to have a candlestick to hold it, but I dropped my -nice brass candlestick as I ran through the -woods, and now I have to hold the candle in my -bare fingers. And it is so short that it burns me. -Ouch!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! Then this is what you want,” Uncle -Wiggily said, and he handed over the candlestick -he had picked up.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The very thing!” cried the little man, in delight. -“Thank you so much. Now my fingers -won’t burn any more.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He stuck the end of the lighted candle in the -stick and spoke again.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’m the candlestick maker, as you can see; -I make candlesticks, but just now I am not making -any, as I am on a race with the butcher and -baker to see who first will get to Mother Goose’s -house. We started out in a dreadful rain-storm, -when we could float in our tubs like boats, but -the butcher and baker seem to have gotten ahead -of me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“They have,” said Uncle Wiggily. “I met -them two days ago.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then there isn’t much use in my keeping -on,” said the candlestick maker. “But it has -gotten colder. It may snow, and if I come to -a hill I can coast down it in my tub, which I made -into a sled when I found the ground frozen and -all the water gone. If I can slide down hill in -my tub-sled I may yet get ahead of the butcher -and baker and win the prize of a hot baked -potato.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Perhaps you may,” said Uncle Wiggily, as -he told how the baker had kindly thawed him off -the frozen log with the hot baked potato and a -hot loaf of bread.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I’ll be getting on,” said the candlestick -maker, after a bit. “Thank you for being kind -to me. If ever I can do you a favor I will. My -fingers no longer burn.” Then he hurried off -through the woods, dragging his tub-sled after -him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily had a nice visit with Mr. -Longtail, the mouse gentleman, but when the -bunny uncle started home the moon had gone -down and it was very dark. Soon Uncle Wiggily -was lost in the woods. He could not tell -which way to go, and he hopped around, stubbing -his paws and bunking into trees, until he -was all sore and lame.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I wish I had a light!” he cried. And, -no sooner had he spoken than he heard a drumming -sound, and along came the candlestick -maker with the lighted candle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Here you are! Here’s your light, Uncle -Wiggily!” the candlestick maker cried. “I’ll -light you all the way to your hollow-stump bungalow.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Good!” cried the bunny uncle. “But I -don’t want to take your time and delay you. I -thought you were racing.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I gave it up. The baker won and got there -first. I just met Old Mother Hubbard and she -told me. So I’m going to take you home.” And -he did, making the woods light with his candle, -all the way to the bunny uncle’s hollow-stump -bungalow.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the rabbit gentleman was all right again, -you see, and if the piece of cheese doesn’t run -away from the slice of apple pie, and get lost in -the rice pudding, I’ll tell you next about Uncle -Wiggily and Tom-Tom.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-XV' class='c013'>CHAPTER XV<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND TOM-TOM</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily Longears</span>, the nice rabbit -gentleman, was going along through the woods -one day, wondering what sort of an adventure -he would have, when he met Mother Goose, who, -as I have told you before, had come, with her -large family of funny folk, to live in the forest -near the hollow-stump bungalow of the bunny -uncle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How do you do, Mother Goose?” asked Mr. -Longears, as he made a polite bow, taking off his -tall silk hat.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am very well, thank you,” she said. “You -look well yourself. I wonder if you have seen -him anywhere, as you have been walking -along?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Seen whom?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “If -you mean the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick -maker, I have. I met them the other -day——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, thank you, I don’t mean them,” said -Mother Goose. “They have come safely home -again with their rub-a-dub-dub-tubs, and they -are happily living together once more. No, it’s -another of my friends who is lost. You may -have seen him. He is——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But just then Old Mother Hubbard came to -the door of her house, after having given her dog -a bone, and she called across the woodland path:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Mother Goose! Little Tommie Tucker -is crying for his supper. What shall I give him, -white bread and butter?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Wait a minute. I’ll be right there,” answered -Mother Goose. “I want to put a little -molasses on Tommie’s bread. You walk on,” -she said to Uncle Wiggily. “I’ll come back to -you in a minute and tell you who is lost.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But Mother Goose must have had to give -Tommie Tucker a bigger supper than usual, or -else some of her other friends wanted something, -for Uncle Wiggily hopped on and on, and -the nice old goose lady did not come to speak to -him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It’s funny,” said the bunny uncle, “but I -wonder who it is that is lost? I can’t very well -look for him—or her—until I know. It may be -Little Bo Peep, or Jack Horner. Well, I’ll keep -on, and I may meet with the lost one, whoever -he or she is; or I may have an adventure. Who -knows?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Well, the bunny uncle had not gone on much -farther before, all at once, he heard some one -running through the bushes, and the sound of -loud squeals.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! Something is happening,” said Uncle -Wiggily. “Perhaps this is the adventure I am -expecting.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then, all of a sudden, through the bushes -came running a boy with a squealing pig under -his arm.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Squee! Squee! Squee!” cried the pig.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Hold on! Stop! Wait a minute!” cried -Uncle Wiggily. “Who are you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am Tom-Tom, the piper’s son,” was the -answer.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, you’re from Mother Goose, aren’t -you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, but I’m running away from her now,” -answered Tom-Tom. “You know how it goes -in the book:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘Tom-Tom, the piper’s son,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Took a pig and away he run.</div> - <div class='line in2'>The pig was eat, and Tom was beat,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And he went roaring down the street.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“That’s how it is in the book,” went on -Tom-Tom. “Only it isn’t exactly right. I -didn’t do any roaring, though I may when I get -the beating. It’s the pig who is doing the -roaring.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It sounds more like squealing,” said Uncle -Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, you could call it that,” said Tom-Tom, -as he looked at the pig under his arm, which -cried louder than before. I mean the pig -squealed, not Tom-Tom’s arm.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But look here,” said Uncle Wiggily. “You -should not have taken this pig. That’s quite -wrong you know, Tom-Tom. Besides, Mother -Goose is after you. I just met her, and she -started to tell me about some of her friends being -lost. She asked me to help look for him—or her—but -before she could tell me who it was, she -was called away. It must have been you she -meant.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It was,” said Tom-Tom. “I had to run after -I took the pig, but the funny part of it is I can’t -find any street to run down, as the book says I -did. It’s all woods around here; no streets at -all. I’d run with the pig down the street, fast -enough, if I could find one.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, no! You mustn’t do that,” said Uncle -Wiggily. “You only go down the street after -the pig was eat, or eaten, to be more correct. Besides, -you ought not to take the pig at all.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What shall I do?” asked Tom-Tom. “I -have the pig now, you see. What must I do with -it?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll take him with me,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“I can lead him back home, and then you must -go tell Mother Goose you’re sorry, and I don’t -believe she’ll whip you or beat you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“All right,” said Tom-Tom, the piper’s son. -“I’ll do as you say.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He gave Uncle Wiggily the pig, which was -a baby one, and the bunny gentleman led it -along by a string, while Tom-Tom hurried off to -tell Mother Goose he was sorry that he had been -a little bad. And Mother Goose forgave him, -and did not whip him, so Tom-Tom did not have -to go roaring down the street after all.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, what have you there, Uncle Wiggily?” -asked Nurse Jane, when she saw the -bunny gentleman coming along leading a pig.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“This is the pig Tom-Tom had,” said Mr. -Longears, and then, all at once, before he could -say anything more, the pig began to squeal with -all his might and so loudly that Nurse Jane -could not hear the bunny uncle’s voice.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Mercy,” cried the muskrat lady. “What a -noise!” and she put her paws over her ears. -“Take him away, Wiggy, do. That’s a dear! -Take him away!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Squee! Squee! Squee!” yelled the baby -pig. And then along came Mother Hubbard’s -dog.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! So here’s where you are, eh?” asked -the dog. “Well, you come right back to your -pen!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I will, and right gladly,” squealed the pig, -“and don’t let Tom-Tom take me again. -Thank you, Uncle Wiggily, for bringing me -this far.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then the dog led the pig home by the ear, -piggie squealing all the way, but he stopped -when Mother Goose gave him something to eat. -And Tom-Tom never took the pig again, so the -little boy did not have to run roaring down the -street, I’m glad to say.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And, if the sugar spoon doesn’t whisper to -the butter knife and have to stay on the table -after the rest of the dishes go to the sink to be -washed, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily -and the crooked man.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-XVI' class='c013'>CHAPTER XVI<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CROOKED MAN</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Heigh-ho</span>! Away I go!” sang Uncle Wiggily -Longears, the rabbit gentleman, one day, -as he looked in the glass to see if his whiskers -were on straight, and his nose twinkling just -right.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What? Away again?” asked Nurse Jane -Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper of -the hollow-stump bungalow, as she finished drying -the dinner dishes. “You seem to me to go -out a great deal, Mr. Longears.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Far be it from me,” she went on, “to say -anything about it, but I should think you would -get tired of going around so much.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, no,” Uncle Wiggily laughed. “I like -it. I have a new adventure nearly every day, -and I think it is good for my rheumatism. So, -heigh-ho! Away I go!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Off through the woods went Uncle Wiggily. -It would soon be Spring now, and already the -pussy willows were just beginning to learn how -to mew a little bit, like baby cats.</p> - -<p class='c011'>As the rabbit gentleman went along he saw, -lying on the path in front of him, a piece of -money. But it was a very queer bit of money, -indeed. It was all bent and twisted and crooked, -as though a trolley car had stepped on it by mistake, -and on one side was a figure six.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, maybe this will bring me good luck,” -said Uncle Wiggily. “It doesn’t seem to be -good for much else—such crooked money. A -six-cent piece, I guess it was once. I’ll just put -it in my pocket.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So he did, and he walked along a little farther, -until, coming to a place where a great, big tree -had fallen to the ground, Uncle Wiggily heard -some one sitting on it saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! I’ve lost it! I can’t find it anywhere, -and without it I don’t see how I can do -what it says in the Mother Goose book I must -do. It’s lost—gone!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily looked and saw, sitting on the -fallen tree, a very funny, but nice, old man. -And the man was very crooked. He was bent -and twisted until there was not a straight place -on him, not even his nose, which was wobbled -and bent over to one side, and his ears were -folded together like pieces of paper.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, well,” said Uncle Wiggily, feeling -sorry for so crooked a man, “this is too bad. I -wonder what happened to him to make him so -bent, and I wonder what he has lost?” for the -crooked, twisted man was turning his pockets -inside out, and even his pockets were curled -around like a corkscrew.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, such trouble as I am in!” cried the man. -“Oh, dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha, trouble! That means here is a chance -for me to help,” said the bunny uncle. “Excuse -me,” he said, “but who are you, and can I do -anything to help you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! Uncle Wiggily Longears! I know -you by your pictures!” said the man. “Don’t -you know me? I’m in the book that Mother -Goose wrote. It says about me that once</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘There was a crooked man,</div> - <div class='line in3'>Who walked a crooked mile,</div> - <div class='line in1'>And found a crooked sixpence</div> - <div class='line in3'>Against a crooked stile.</div> - <div class='line in1'>He bought a crooked cat,</div> - <div class='line in3'>Which caught a crooked mouse,</div> - <div class='line in1'>And they all lived together</div> - <div class='line in3'>In a little crooked house.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“That’s who I am,” said the man. “But now -I’ll never be able to buy the crooked cat to catch -the crooked mouse, and live with me forever in -my little crooked house.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why not?” asked Uncle Wiggily, sort of -wondering like.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Because I lost the crooked sixpence,” said -the crooked man. “I found it against the -crooked stile all right, after I’d walked the -crooked mile. The road did twist and turn like -a carpenter’s shaving, so it was crooked all right. -And when I came to the stile, which is a pair of -steps to get over a fence—a pair on each side—they -were so crooked I could hardly get over -them. And there was the crooked sixpence. -But I must have lost it out of my pocket, for I -haven’t it now.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Is this it?” asked Uncle Wiggily, as he took -the crooked piece of money out of his ear, which -he sometimes used as a pocket.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, that’s just it!” cried the crooked man, -in delight. “How ever did you find it?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It was lying on the path in the woods,” said -the bunny uncle, “and I picked it up. You may -have it back.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, now I am all right!” laughed the -crooked man. “I can buy the crooked cat, and -it will catch a crooked mouse, and then we’ll -walk along and find our little, crooked house.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But please don’t let your crooked cat catch -my little mice friends, Jollie or Jillie Longtail, -or Squeaky-Eeky, the cousin mouse?” begged -Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, indeed not!” promised the crooked -man. “My crooked cat will only catch a -crooked candy mouse. Perhaps you would like -to come with me and see me buy the crooked -cat.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I would,” spoke Uncle Wiggily. “I’ll -come.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The crooked man started off, twisting this -way and that as he walked along the crooked -mile, and Uncle Wiggily, who was sort of curious -and inquisitive, asked:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What made you get all twisted up this -way?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Rheumatism,” was the crooked man’s answer. -“But I don’t mind now, for I have no -pain. In fact, I think it’s quite jolly to be -crooked and live in a crooked house. It’s so different -from other people.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” said Uncle Wiggily, “it is certainly -different. But it is nice that you are so happy -about it. Some folks would be sad. I’m glad -you are jolly.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Pretty soon the two friends came to where -crooked cats were sold for crooked money. By -this time Uncle Wiggily was so tired, from having -to jump back and forth to follow the crooked -man walking a crooked mile, that the bunny -uncle thought he would go back to his hollow-stump -bungalow and rest.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But the crooked man, after he had bought the -crooked cat, still went along with Uncle Wiggily, -and it was a good thing he did. For, when -Uncle Wiggily was about halfway home, out -from behind a stump a bad old fox jumped at -him. Zip!</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ah, ha!” cried the fox. “Now I have -you!” And then he saw the crooked man and -crooked cat, the fox did, and he rubbed his eyes -with his paws, once or twice, and cried out:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh! What does this mean? I must be -asleep and dreaming, for never can there really -be such strange, crooked things in this world as -that crooked man and cat. I must be dreaming, -and pretty soon I’ll wake up in my den. I’ll just -lie quietly and not move, or I might have a worse -dream.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And, thinking it was all a dream, the fox lay -down in the woods to sleep, and so he didn’t get -Uncle Wiggily after all, thanks to the crooked -man and cat. The bunny uncle hurried away -from the sleeping fox, and the twisted chap, with -the doubled-up pussy, soon reached their own -crooked house, where they lived happily for -many crooked years, catching crooked candy -mousies that cried crooked candy tears.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So no more at present, if you please. But in -the next chapter, if the olive oil and the vinegar -speak nicely to each other when they meet at -the party in the lettuce salad, I’ll tell you about -Uncle Wiggily and the barber.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-XVII' class='c013'>CHAPTER XVII<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BARBER</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily Longears</span>, the nice old rabbit -gentleman, walked across the sitting-room of -his hollow-stump bungalow, to where a looking-glass -hung on the wall. He looked in the glass, -and rubbed his paw, thoughtful like, up and -down his chin.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What is the matter?” asked Nurse Jane -Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper. -“Did something bite you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No,” answered Uncle Wiggily, “but I -think I need to shave off some of my whiskers. -They are getting too long. Also I need a hair -cut.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Gracious goodness me sakes alive, and some -corn-meal muffin lollypops!” exclaimed Nurse -Jane. “What for? A shave! A hair cut!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, you see,” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, -“Spring is nearly here now, and, though I let -my hair and whiskers grow long in the cold -weather, to keep me warm, I don’t need them so -long now, as it is getting warmer. So I shall go -to the barber’s.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why don’t you shave yourself?” asked -Nurse Jane.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I could do that,” the bunny uncle said. -“Only I can’t very well cut my own hair. So -I might as well have both done by the barber.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The old gentleman rabbit, taking his red, -white and blue-striped barber-pole rheumatism -crutch down off the bathtub, started out through -the woods and across the fields for the barber’s.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Mr. Longears had not gone very far before -he came to the house where Mother Goose lived. -She was up bright and early, shaking out her -feather beds; and, seeing the old rabbit gentleman, -she asked:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where are you going?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“To the monkey-doodle barber’s to get -shaved,” replied Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, would you just as soon go to my barber’s?” -asked Mother Goose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Your barber’s? I didn’t know you had -one,” said Uncle Wiggily, sort of laughing. “I -didn’t know you ladies had your hair cut.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We don’t,” spoke Mother Goose. “But -this barber is one of the friends in my story book, -you know, and I’d like to give him something -to do. You must have heard of him.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘Barber, barber, shave a pig.</div> - <div class='line in2'>How many hairs will make a wig?</div> - <div class='line in2'>Four-and-twenty, that’s enough.</div> - <div class='line in2'>Give the barber a pinch of snuff.’”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“Oh, I’ve often heard of him!” said Uncle -Wiggily. “But I haven’t a pinch of snuff to -give him, and besides I don’t need a wig.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, well, you don’t have to take a wig,” said -Mother Goose. “As for the snuff, tell him I’ll -send little Tommie Tucker down with it later.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Another thing,” spoke Uncle Wiggily. “If -that barber of yours is shaving a pig I don’t believe -he’ll have time to shave me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, that will be all right,” said Mother -Goose, laughing. “He doesn’t really shave a -pig. I just put ‘pig’ in to make it rhyme with -‘wig.’ Hop along now, and get shaved. The -barber lives down the lane, with the little boy -who was given the bag of wool from Baa-Baa, -the black sheep.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Very good,” answered Uncle Wiggily, politely. -So along he hopped, to the barber shop, -which he soon reached. Out in front was a red, -white and blue-striped pole, like the rabbit gentleman’s -rheumatism crutch, and inside the shop -was the barber man, a little chap, not much -larger than the bunny uncle himself.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Shave? Hair cut? Shampoo? Massage? -Manicure?” asked the barber, clicking his -scissors.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Just a shave and hair cut,” answered Uncle -Wiggily, getting in the chair, while the barber -tucked an apron under the bunny’s chin.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Fine weather we’re having,” said the barber, -as he began to cut Uncle Wiggily’s hairy -fur.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Very,” said Uncle Wiggily. “To-morrow -is the first day of Spring, and that’s why I’m -getting a hair cut, to be ready for warmer -weather.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Good!” said the barber. Then, when he -had Uncle Wiggily’s hair half cut, the barber -stopped and began to mix up some soap suds -lather in a cup.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What are you doing?” asked Uncle Wiggily. -“Why don’t you finish cutting my hair -before you shave me?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Because my scissors are too dull. They -would pull. I’ll send them to the scissors-to-grind -man to be sharpened, and, while I’m waiting -for them to come back I’ll shave you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So he began to shave the bunny uncle’s whiskers, -talking all the while about the weather and -what a hard Winter it had been, and how much -carrots cost and all of that.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then, all of a sudden, when Uncle Wiggily -was half shaved, there was a whistling sound -out in front of the barber shop, and a voice sang:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Barber, barber, shave a pig,</div> - <div class='line in1'>How many hairs will make a wig?</div> - <div class='line in1'>Four-and-twenty, that’s enough.</div> - <div class='line in1'>Give the barber a pinch of snuff!”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>Into the shop came little Tommie Tucker. -He had a paper package in his hand, and he -tossed it across the room to the barber, saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Here’s your pinch of snuff. Mother Goose -sent me with it. How is Uncle Wiggily’s shave -and hair cut coming off?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It is coming off all—aker-choo! Kersnitzio! -Aker-ker-foozilum-goozilum—choo-chee!” -sneezed the barber, wiping some tears -out his eyes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, my!” laughed Tommie Tucker. -“What kind of a shave and hair cut is a ker-choo! -Oh-er—Snitzio! Whoo-ee-whoop-gizzium!” -and Tommie himself was sneezing, too.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What’s all this?” asked Uncle Wiggily. -“Why don’t you finish my—ker-choo! Goo-zoo! -Gizzium! Whush! Oh-ker-skee-zicks!” -And he sneezed so hard that he sneezed himself -right out of the barber’s chair into the middle of -the room. Then they were all sneezing, the -barber, Uncle Wiggily and Tommie Tucker. -For you see when Tommie tossed the barber the -paper of snuff Mother Goose had sent the paper -burst open and the snuff scattered all about the -place. All over the shop floated the sneezy stuff.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ker-choo!” sneezed the barber.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A-ker-choo-choo!” sneezed Tommie.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A-ker-choo-choo-choo! Toot-toot! All -aboard!” and Uncle Wiggily sneezed like a -railroad train going through a tunnel.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I’m so sorry,” said Tommie Tucker. -“I should not have been so careless.” But soon -all the snuff blew out of the window, the sneezes -stopped, and the barber finished shaving and -hair cutting Uncle Wiggily, and that’s the end -of this story.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But if the man beating our carpets doesn’t -stop to play marbles with the moth balls, and -make the roller-skates feel lonesome for a lollypop, -I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and -the blackbirds.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-XVIII' class='c013'>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BLACKBIRDS</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily Longears</span>, the rabbit gentleman, -came out of his hollow-stump bungalow -to take a walk in the woods one day.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I hope I may meet with an adventure,” he -said to himself, as he limped along on his red, -white and blue crutch, that Nurse Jane Fuzzy -Wuzzy, the muskrat lady, had gnawed for him -out of a corn-stalk.</p> - -<p class='c011'>An adventure, you know, as I have told you -before, is something that happens to you. If -you find a stick of lollypop candy, that’s a nice -adventure. But, if you lose your penny down -a crack in the board walk, that’s an unpleasant -adventure; though it may turn out all right in -the end.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” went on Uncle Wiggily, sort of -twinkling his pink nose, thoughtful like, “I -hope I have a nice adventure, or, perhaps, even -a funny one, like sneezing, as, when Tommie -Tucker gave the barber the pinch of snuff.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>That’s the story I told you last night, if you -will kindly remember.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Uncle Wiggily hopped along, over the -fields and through the woods, and pretty soon -he came to where Mother Goose lived, not far -from his own hollow-stump bungalow. Mother -Goose was looking up at the sky.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Good morning! What are you looking -for?” asked the bunny uncle. “Are you looking -for signs of rain, or snow in the clouds?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, indeed,” laughed Mother Goose. “But -you know this is the first day of Spring, and the -little birds should begin to sing. I am looking -to see if the blackbirds are flying up from down -South, where they went to spend the Winter. -They always come back in the Spring, you -know.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” said Uncle Wiggily. “But I do not -see any blackbirds coming,” and he, too, looked -up at the sky. It was blue—very blue and pretty—like -babies’ eyes. And there were little white -clouds in the sky, floating along like fairy ships. -But there were no blackbirds to be seen.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I hope nothing has happened to them,” said -Mother Goose, sort of anxious like. “They -should be here now.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I, too, hope they are all right,” Uncle Wiggily -said. “I am going for a walk, and if I see -the blackbirds, I will tell them to hurry, as you -are looking for them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll be very glad if you do that,” spoke -Mother Goose, and then she had to go next door -to see if Little Bo Peep had found her lost sheep.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Once more Uncle Wiggily hopped along. -He looked on all sides of him, and up in the air, -hoping he might see the blackbirds, for then, -surely, it would be Spring, and Winter had -lasted all too long for the animal folk.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But no birds could the bunny uncle see. On -and on he went, until, after a while, he came to -the palace where lived Old King Cole, the jolly -old soul. And, as Mr. Longears was wondering -whether or not to go in, and pay King Cole a -visit, he heard some one humming a verse that -went like this:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Sing a song of sixpence,</div> - <div class='line in3'>A pocket full of rye.</div> - <div class='line in1'>Four-and-twenty blackbirds,</div> - <div class='line in3'>Baked within a pie.</div> - <div class='line in1'>When the pie was opened,</div> - <div class='line in3'>The birds began to sing.</div> - <div class='line in1'>Wasn’t that a dainty dish</div> - <div class='line in3'>To set before the King?”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>Uncle Wiggily stood still. He thought for a -moment.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I wonder,” he said. “I wonder—four-and-twenty—blackbirds? -Mother Goose didn’t say -how many she was expecting, and these may be -the very same ones. I guess I’ll go in and see -about this.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Into the palace of Old King Cole went the -bunny uncle. He knew his way about very -well, for he had been there before. From the -kitchen came all sorts of the most delicious -smells, just like a pie baking.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, hello, Uncle Wiggily!” cried jolly -Old King Cole, as he saw the bunny uncle hopping -along. “Come in and sit down! How -are you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Fine!” cried the bunny uncle. “Very fine, -indeed. And yourself?” he asked, politely.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I never felt better in my life. I am just going -to have a bit of lunch. Won’t you sit down -and help me enjoy it?” asked Old King Cole, -also politely. “You may have some carrots -with lettuce sauce on, or a bit of boiled lollypops -with ice cream cones sprinkled on the top. -Anything you wish!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That is very good of you,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“But don’t go to any trouble on my account. -I’ll have whatever you are going to -have.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Then it will be pie!” cried Old King Cole. -“I told the cook to have pie to-day, and I think -it is ready. I’ll ring the bell for it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ding-dong!” rang the bell. In came the -cook with a big pie on a dish. And the cook -began to hum:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Sing a song of sixpence,</div> - <div class='line in3'>A pocket full of rye.</div> - <div class='line in1'>Four-and-twenty blackbirds,</div> - <div class='line in3'>Baked within a pie.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“What’s that?” cried Old King Cole. -“Twenty-four blackbirds baked in my pie! -Why, how did that happen?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It was this way,” said the cook. “You told -me to give you pie to-day. Well, I made all -ready for it, but, at the last minute, I had nothing -to put in the pie—no apples, no cherries, no -peaches—nothing at all. I did not know what -to do, but, all of a sudden, I looked out of the -window, and I saw two dozen blackbirds flying -along. ‘The very thing!’ said I to myself. -‘They’ll do for Old King Cole’s pie!’ I asked -them if they would mind getting in between the -upper and lower pie crusts, and they said no.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And did they?” asked the king, putting his -crown on sideways.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“They did,” answered the cook. “Look!” -and he sang:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“When the pie was opened,</div> - <div class='line in3'>The birds began to sing.</div> - <div class='line in1'>Wasn’t that a dainty dish</div> - <div class='line in3'>To set before the king?”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>Then, taking care not to hurt the feathered -singers, the cook cut open the pie. Surely -enough, out flew the blackbirds, singing as -sweetly as one could wish. Around and around -the palace they flew, singing, and Uncle Wiggily -cried:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, these must be the blackbirds Mother -Goose is looking for! Did you come up from -the South to tell us that Spring has come?” he -asked them.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” answered the birds, “we did. But -first we wanted to snuggle up in the pie for the -king.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! Well, you did it all right!” laughed -Old King Cole. “But, now, I don’t need you -in my pie any longer, so fly away to Mother -Goose. Uncle Wiggily and I will eat cake, instead -of pie, to-day, since there is nothing between -the crusts to chew on.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So they ate cake, and the blackbirds, which -had only been put in the pie just after it came -from the oven, flew all about animal land, singing: -“Spring is here! Spring is here!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the bunny gentleman had his adventure -after all, you see, and if the cake of soap doesn’t -slide over the bathroom floor, and bunk into -the wash rag, when it is cleaning its teeth, I’ll -tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the fat -man.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-XIX' class='c013'>CHAPTER XIX<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE FAT MAN</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>A letter</span> for you, Uncle Wiggily,” said -Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady -housekeeper, as she went to the door of the hollow-stump -bungalow, when the bird postman -gave a whistle, and a tap of his bill, to let them -know that he had some mail.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A letter for me! Thats’s nice!” said the -bunny uncle. “Why, it’s an invitation to a -party—for you and me,” he went on to Nurse -Jane. “It’s from Jollie and Jillie Longtail, the -mice children. They want us to come to their -house,” and he read the invitation.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Shall you go?” asked Nurse Jane.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I shall,” answered Uncle Wiggily. “And -before I go I must practice that new ice cream -cone dance, where you stand on one ear and eat -a lollypop. You’ll go, of course, Nurse Jane.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I don’t know. I need a new dress, -and——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Say no more about it!” cried Uncle Wiggily, -with a jolly laugh. “Here is some money. -Go down to the five and ten cent store and buy -the finest gold and diamond silk dress you can -find. I want you to look nice.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Nurse Jane bought the new dress, which -had rows and rows of double plaited insertion -with fried egg tassels down the side, and Uncle -Wiggily practiced dancing for the party the -Longtail mice children were to have.</p> - -<p class='c011'>At last the evening for the party came. Off -started Uncle Wiggily and Nurse Jane, talking -of the good times they were going to have, when, -all at once, the bunny gentleman cried:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! I’ve forgotten my dancing -shoes! I’ll run back to the bungalow after them. -You keep on, Nurse Jane, and I’ll soon catch up -to you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily turned back, taking a shortcut -to the hollow-stump bungalow, where he -lived, and he was almost there when, all at once, -he heard some one crying sadly:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! It’s gone! Oh, what shall I do? -I’d go after him if I could, but I can’t. Oh, -what trouble I’m in!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! Trouble!” cried the bunny uncle. -“Some one is in trouble! That’s what I like to -hear! I mean I like to hear it because I like to -help people out of trouble. I must see who -this is.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He looked through the bushes and there, sitting -on a stump, in the moonlight, Uncle Wiggily -saw a very big man, with a turban—a white -cloth, like a twisted towel—around his head. -The man was sort of chocolate-colored.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, what is your trouble?” asked Uncle -Wiggily. “Perhaps I can help you. Who are -you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Surely you must have heard of me,” said the -big man, puffing out his chest. “I am in -Mother Goose’s book.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I don’t seem to remember you,” said Uncle -Wiggily, sort of thoughtful like, scratching his -pink, twinkling nose with his ear. “If you -would kindly tell me——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then the troubled one sang:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“I am the fat man from Bombay,</div> - <div class='line in1'>I was smoking my pipe one fine day.</div> - <div class='line in1'>When a bird, called a snipe,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Flew away with my pipe.</div> - <div class='line in1'>Which vexed the fat man of Bombay.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“Oh, now I remember you,” said Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’m glad you do,” spoke the fat man. “So -you see how it is. I’m really quite vexed, which -means just a little angry, and I’m in trouble, for -the snipe bird did fly away with my pipe, and -I can’t smoke, and I must do that, or it won’t be -the way it is in the Mother Goose book. Do -you think you can help me?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I’ll try,” said Uncle Wiggily. “You -just wait here until I run to my hollow-stump -bungalow for my dancing slippers, and, when -I come back I’ll see what I can do.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily hurried on through the woods, -found his dancing shoes, and was hurrying -back, when, all of a sudden, he slipped and fell -head over heels with his slippers, and a big sliver -was stuck in his paw.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” cried the bunny uncle. “That -sliver hurts very much! What shall I do? Now -I am in trouble, for I can’t dance and I can’t -help the fat man of Bombay. Oh, dear, what -can I do?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily couldn’t hop on with that -sliver in his paw, and he couldn’t pull it out, try -as he did.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Help! Help!” he called, as loudly as he -could. “Will no one help me, and the fat man -of Bombay?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! Who is that calling?” asked a voice. -“And who knows about the fat man of Bombay?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I do,” answered the bunny uncle. “I am -calling, and I know the Bombay fat man. He -is in trouble, too.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then through the bushes came flying a bird -called a snipe, and in his bill he carried a pipe.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, you have it!” cried Uncle Wiggily. -“Why don’t you give it back to him so he won’t -be sad and vexed any more? Why don’t you -give back the pipe to the fat man of Bombay?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I would, if I could find him,” answered the -snipe. “You see, I only took his pipe in fun. -He looked so funny sitting there smoking, that -I thought I’d play a trick on him. So I flew -away with his pipe, that’s because I’m a snipe. -But I’ll give it back to him now. Is there something -the matter with you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” answered Uncle Wiggily, sadly, “I -have run a big wooden splinter in my paw, and -I can’t get it out, and I want to go to the Longtail -dance and I can’t——”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Of course you can!” cried the snipe bird, in -a jolly voice. “With my sharp bill I can easily -pull the splinter out of your paw. Let me get -hold of it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Laying down the fat man’s pipe, the snipe -soon pulled the splinter out of Uncle Wiggily’s -paw.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now I can go to the dance!” cried the -bunny uncle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And if you will show me where the fat man -of Bombay is, I’ll take him back his pipe,” said -the snipe.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“This way!” cried Uncle Wiggily. He -showed the bird where the sad, fat man was sitting, -and the snipe gave back the pipe.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, how good you are!” cried the fat man, -striking a match, but only in fun, of course. -“Now my troubles are over.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And so are mine—the sliver-trouble!” said -the bunny uncle. Then the fat man of Bombay, -which is in India, smoked his pipe, the snipe -flew away and Uncle Wiggily and Nurse Jane -went on to the dance and had a fine time.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the top of the stairs doesn’t go sit at the -bottom, so the wax doll can’t get up to sleep in -the cat’s cradle, I’ll tell you next about Uncle -Wiggily and the tarts.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/p312.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-XX' class='c013'>CHAPTER XX<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE TARTS</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Where</span> are you going, Uncle Wiggily?” -asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat -lady, as she saw the rabbit gentleman starting -out of the hollow-stump bungalow one morning.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, just for a walk, over the fields and -through the woods,” he answered. “This is the -Spring of the year, now, you know, since the -four-and-twenty blackbirds jumped out of Old -King Cole’s pie, and I want to see if the grass -and flowers have begun to spring up.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I think it is a little early for them,” spoke -Nurse Jane.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I’ll go for a walk, anyhow,” said -Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the bunny uncle hopped on and on, sometimes -leaning on his red, white and blue-striped -barber-pole rheumatism crutch, that Nurse Jane -had gnawed for him out of a corn-stalk, and -again he would carry it under his paw.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Pretty soon Uncle Wiggily came to the palace -where Old King Cole lived. He was thinking -of going inside, and perhaps playing a game of -checkers, as he used to do with Grandfather -Goosey Gander, when, all at once, the bunny -uncle saw a lady looking at him from the kitchen -window.</p> - -<p class='c011'>The lady had on a silk dress, all spangled over -with red hearts, like a valentine. And on her -head was a cap, and that had blue hearts on, so -she looked very pretty indeed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How do you do?” asked the lady of Uncle -Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Very well,” he answered. “And how are -you?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, not well at all,” was the answer, and -the lady sighed sadly. “Oh, there is so much -trouble here!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Trouble? Trouble?” asked Uncle Wiggily. -“Why, then I came to just the right -place.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How is that?” asked the lady, sort of surprised -like.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Because I always try to help trouble, or -those who are in it. Let me see now, I don’t believe -I have the pleasure of knowing you,” and -Uncle Wiggily sort of made his nose twinkle -inquisitive like.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, you must have heard about me,” said -the lady, with a smile. “I’m in Mother Goose’s -book, you know. Listen to this:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,</div> - <div class='line in4'>All on a summer’s day.</div> - <div class='line in2'>The Jack of Hearts, he took those tarts,</div> - <div class='line in4'>And with them ran away.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“I am the Queen of Hearts,” said the lady, -bowing politely.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Pleased to meet you,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, -also with a low bow. “So that is the -trouble, eh? The Jack of Hearts has taken the -tarts away?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, no, not exactly,” answered the Heart -Queen. “You see, I haven’t yet made the tarts. -But, when I do, I suppose the Jack will take -them, and then there’ll be trouble, for Old King -Cole specially wants them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why haven’t you yet made them?” asked -the bunny uncle. “If it says in the Mother -Goose book that you must make the tarts, why -don’t you make them?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Because, in the first place,” answered the -Queen of Hearts, sort of shivering like, “this -isn’t a Summer day. And, in the second place, -I don’t know how to make the tarts—that’s the -trouble.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, that is easily mended,” spoke the -bunny uncle. “I can’t make a Summer day out -of a Spring one, but I can show you how to make -tarts.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, can you—and will you?” asked the -Queen of Hearts, clapping her hands in delight.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I can and will,” said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. -“I have often watched Nurse Jane Fuzzy -Wuzzy, my muskrat lady bungalow-keeper, -make them, so I ought to know how.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Tell me,” said the Queen, “and we’ll do it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You take flour and water and milk and -sugar and a yeast cake and spices and make a pie -crust,” said the bunny uncle. “Then you bake -it in the oven after you have cut it out in little -round pieces, some with three holes in, and some -just plain.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, how lovely that sounds!” cried the -Queen, clapping her hands again. “I have all -the things you need. Let’s make the tarts.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And when the crust is baked in the oven,” -went on Mr. Longears, “you take out two pieces -of tarts, put jam in between them, press them -together, and—there you are.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Lovelier and more lovely!” cried the -Queen. “Oh, I am so glad you happened to -come along. Now we’ll begin.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So she and Uncle Wiggily mixed up the sugar -and spice, and other things nice, making the -pie crust, out of which they cut round, flat -pieces, some with three holes in, and some plain.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, what lovely tarts they’ll be!” laughed -the Queen. “Isn’t it a shame that the Jack of -Hearts must take them away?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, if it’s that way in the Mother Goose -book, it can’t be helped,” said Uncle Wiggily. -“But when he takes these tarts we’ll make some -more.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the tarts were made and set aside to cool.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now we’ll hide behind the kitchen door,” -said the Queen of Hearts, “and watch the Jack -as he comes in to get them. I hope he doesn’t -take them all.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Maybe he won’t,” said Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Pretty soon, as the bunny gentleman and the -Queen of Hearts were hiding, into the kitchen -came the Jack of Hearts. He was a funny chap, -with little candy hearts all over his clothes and -cap.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ah, ha!” said the Jack, smacking his lips. -“This is tart day. Here is where I have a fine -feast! I’ll get the tarts of the Queen of Hearts.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Laughing to himself, the Jack went up to the -shelf where the tarts were cooling. He lifted -one down, and took a big bite from it, saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll taste them before I take them away.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But, no sooner had he tasted it than the Jack -of Hearts he dropped that tart and, all excited -like, he cried:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh me! Oh my! Oh ice water and lemonade! -Oh, how my mouth burns! I don’t want -any of those tarts! Oh, no,” and away he ran, -not taking one.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, that’s queer,” said the queen. “He -should have taken those hearts. That’s the way -it is in the book.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The bunny uncle looked at the tarts he and the -Queen had made. He took a little taste of one, -and then Uncle Wiggily said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No wonder the Jack didn’t want them. By -mistake we have put red pepper in the tarts instead -of red raspberry jam! They’re as hot as -a stove. Oh dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Never mind,” said the Queen, sweetly. -“We’ll make some more tarts, and this time -we’ll do it right and put in the jam. Anyhow -I’m glad, for now the Jack won’t want to take -the new tarts I make.” And the Jack did not. -He had had enough.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the tarts were made over again by Uncle -Wiggily and the Queen—right, this time, with -real jam—and King Cole ate them and said they -were fine. And if the paper boy doesn’t turn -into a bottle of ink, and make the fountain pen -go swimming with the goldfish, I’ll tell you next -about Uncle Wiggily and the jumping cow.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-XXI' class='c013'>CHAPTER XXI<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE JUMPING COW</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily Longears</span>, the nice, old gentleman -rabbit, started out from his hollow-stump -bungalow one day, to take a walk. He hopped -over the fields and through the woods, wondering -whether or not he might meet with an -adventure, when, after a little while, he came -to the House that Jack Built.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And there, nicely wrapped up in a bag, the -bunny uncle saw the malt that lay in the House -that Jack Built. Malt, you know, is a sort -of flour, out of which they make buckwheat -cakes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My goodness!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, -as he scratched his pink, twinkling nose, “I did -not think I had come this far.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He stood in front of the House that Jack -Built, wondering whether or not he ought not -go in and say “howdy do,” when he saw coming -out of the house the rat that ate the malt, and the -cat that caught the rat, and the dog that worried -the cat that caught the rat that ate the malt that -lay in the House that Jack Built.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, this is very strange,” said Uncle Wiggily -to himself. “They all seem to be running -away!” And indeed they were. For the cat -was chasing the rat and the dog was chasing -the cat and the rat was chasing after its own -shadow, so as to get away from the cat, and then, -all of a sudden, out came Mother Goose herself.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, have you seen her, Uncle Wiggily?” -asked Mother Goose. “I am so worried about -her!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Seen whom? About whom are you -worried?” asked the rabbit gentleman, politely.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The jumping cow,” answered Mother -Goose. “She’s gone!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I guess you mean the cow with the crumpled -horn, don’t you?” asked the bunny uncle. -“She’s the one, you know, that tossed the dog -that worried the cat that caught the rat that -ate the malt that lay in the House that Jack -Built.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, I don’t mean that cow,” answered -Mother Goose. “I mean the jumping cow. -She’s the worst cow for jumping you ever saw. -She jumps over all the fences and stone walls -and when we want her to give some milk for -Little Tommie Tucker’s supper she isn’t to be -found. I’ve looked everywhere for her, but I -can’t find her. Oh, dear! Such trouble! I -thought she might be here, in the House that -Jack Built, with the Crumpled-Horn Cow. -But she isn’t.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! Just you leave it to me, if you please,” -said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “I’ll find the -jumping cow for you. I can start off in my -automobile, with the bologna sausage tires, -that go faster when you sprinkle pepper on them -or in my clothes-basket airship, with toy circus -balloons on the handles.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You had better take your airship,” said -Mother Goose. “A jumping cow would be -found up in the air, I think.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I think so myself,” said Uncle Wiggily. -So he hurried back to the hollow-stump bungalow -and got out his airship. In that he sailed -over the woods and fields, looking for the jumping -cow.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Do, please, ask her to hurry back,” said -Mother Goose. “For she has all the milk -for supper, and Tommie Tucker and the -Children of the Old Woman who Lives in a -Shoe, are so hungry they don’t know what to -do.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll get her,” promised Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>On and on he sailed in his airship. But he -could not see the jumping cow. Up high he -sailed and down low, and finally, when he came -close to the ground, near the place where Sammie -Littletail, the boy rabbit, lived with his sister -Susie and his father and mother, Uncle Wiggily -heard Jollie Longtail, the mouse boy, singing -a song that went like this:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Hi-diddle-diddle!</div> - <div class='line in2'>The cat’s in the fiddle!</div> - <div class='line in1'>The cow jumped over the moon,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The little dog laughed</div> - <div class='line in1'>To see so much sport,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And the dish ran away with the spoon.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“Hello, what’s that!” cried Uncle Wiggily, -bringing his airship to a sudden stop and sailing -down to earth. “What cow is that Jollie, that -jumped over the moon?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Mother Goose’s cow,” answered the -little mouse boy. “You see, Joie Kat, the little -kitten boy, crawled inside the fiddle, having a -game of tag with Tommie, his brother. And -when Jack Sprat tried to play music on the -fiddle it made such a funny noise that the cow, -who was waiting for Little Boy Blue to blow his -horn, gave a big jump, and away up over the -moon she went. That’s the way it was,” said -Jollie Longtail.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I see,” answered Uncle Wiggily. “Well, -in that case, I suppose I must go sailing up to -the moon to find the jumping cow. She is -needed to bring home the milk for Little Tommie -Tucker’s supper.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Just then along came Mother Goose once -more.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, look!” she cried, pointing her broom -up to the sky. “There’s my nice jumping cow -now. She’s falling down from her jump over -the moon. Oh, she’ll break her horns, surely. -Oh, dear! What shall I do?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Do? Do nothing,” said Uncle Wiggily, -kindly. “I will do it myself. See, I have my -airship. I’ll sail up and catch the jumping cow -before she has time to fall. Then everything -will be all right.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, please do!” begged Mother Goose.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Up in his clothes-basket airship went Uncle -Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in23'>up.</div> - <div class='line in21'>and</div> - <div class='line in19'>up</div> - <div class='line in17'>and</div> - <div class='line in15'>up</div> - <div class='line'>The cow was falling</div> - <div class='line in15'>down</div> - <div class='line in17'>and</div> - <div class='line in19'>down</div> - <div class='line in21'>and</div> - <div class='line in23'>down.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” cried Mother Goose, on the -earth below. “That cow should have known -better than to jump over the moon!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I think so myself,” said the Man in the -Moon. “I tried to stop her, but I couldn’t.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Never mind,” said Uncle Wiggily. “It -will be all right, I’m sure.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then he steered his airship right under the -falling cow, who was no longer jumping. Instead, -she was sailing toward the earth, with a -piece of green cheese on one horn. She really -had jumped over the moon, but she slipped, and -that’s how the green cheese got on the tip of her -horn.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Here you are!” cried Uncle Wiggily, in -his jolly voice, just like a trolley car conductor. -“Plenty of room up in front.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then the jumping cow landed gently in the -rabbit gentleman’s airship, and he brought her -down to earth as lightly as a feather, and the cow -was just in time with the milk for Little Tommie -Tucker’s supper.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So this teaches you that Uncle Wiggily can -do many things besides eating carrots and having -the rheumatism, and if the egg beater -doesn’t skip out to whip the rag doll’s carpets, -to earn five cents for the moving pictures, I’ll -tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the pussies.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-XXII' class='c013'>CHAPTER XXII<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE PUSSIES</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily Longears</span>, the kind old rabbit -gentleman, was hopping along in the woods -in front of his hollow-stump bungalow one -morning, and, every now and then, he would -stoop over and look at the ground.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What are you doing, Wiggy, if I may ask?” -inquired Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat -lady, who kept the bungalow nice and neat -for the bunny uncle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You may ask, and I will tell you,” politely -answered Mr. Longears. “I am looking to see -if any flowers are growing in the woods.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What! Flowers growing this time of -year?” cried Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy. “It is much -too early!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, it was the first of Spring, the other -day!” said Uncle Wiggily. “I should think the -flowers would be waking up now, and putting -their heads out from beneath the brown earth-blankets, -under which they slept all winter.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, no!” laughed Nurse Jane. “First we -must have some April showers to bring May -flowers.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, I am going to keep on looking,” said -Uncle Wiggily. “I may find a flower in the -woods, or, if I do not, I’ll have an adventure. -Either one would be nice.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So away hopped the bunny uncle, leaning on -his red, white and blue barber-pole striped rheumatism -crutch, which Nurse Jane had nicely -speckled with pink candy for him on account -of Spring coming.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And, all of a sudden, as Mr. Longears went -along, he slipped in a little puddle of water, -and—presto-chango! Off flew his glasses and -they were broken all to pieces.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” cried Uncle Wiggily, picking -up the bits. “That’s too bad. Now I can -hardly see to get along. I must take these glasses -to the blacksmith shop to have them mended. -I hope I don’t lose my way, for, without my -glasses, I am almost as blind as a bat or an owl -in daylight. But I will do the best I can.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>With the pieces of his broken glasses in his -pocket, Uncle Wiggily went along through the -woods. He peered this way and that, for the -sun hurt his eyes when he had no glasses, but -still he could see a little bit. Then, all at once, -Uncle Wiggily, looking through the trees, said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, here comes Mrs. Wibblewobble, -the duck lady, I do declare!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily made his necktie tidy and -smooth, and pulled down his vest, for he wanted -to look nice. Then he made a low bow and said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How do you do, Mrs. Wibblewobble? I -am glad to meet you in the woods.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But there was no answer, and Uncle Wiggily -said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, I wonder if she heard me? I hope -Mrs. Wibblewobble isn’t getting deaf! I must -speak louder.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He looked again where he thought he had -seen the duck lady, going a little nearer, and, lo! -it was only a stump that looked like Mrs. Wibblewobble.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, well!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “I -can’t see at all well without my glasses. What a -mistake to make!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>He laughed and walked on, and, pretty soon -he thought he saw Mrs. Stubtail, the lady bear, -mother to Neddie and Beckie Stubtail.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, how do you——” began Uncle Wiggily, -and then he saw it was only a big black -stone on the woodland path.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! Another mistake!” cried the bunny -uncle, with a laugh. “I am making lots of them -to-day. It comes of having such poor eye-sight!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So he went on toward the blacksmith shop to -have his glasses mended. A little later he -thought a fallen log was Grandfather Goosey -Gander, and, not long after that, he saw a pile of -dried leaves and thought they were Uncle Butter, -the goat gentleman. He was just going to -shake paws with the leaves, when he came closer -he saw that he had made another mistake.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, well!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “It -certainly is too bad not to have your glasses once -you start wearing them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>On he went, a little farther, and he came soon -to a place where some bushes were growing. -Up in the bushes a little way from the ground, -Uncle Wiggily saw some soft, furry, fuzzy -things perched on the branches.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, the dear little pussies!” cried the rabbit -gentleman. “Some dog must have come along -here and chased them up in the bushes. I’ll get -them down. Don’t be afraid, little ones,” he -said. “I won’t let anybody harm you. Come to -your Uncle Wiggily!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The bunny uncle hopped up and held out his -paw to the fuzzy things. They did not speak to -him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But that’s all right,” he said. “They are -too frightened even to mew. I’ll take them to -Mother Goose and she will give them some -warm milk. Come along, Pussies!” said the -rabbit gentleman.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But, though he went close to the bush, and -called very gently, the pussies did not jump into -his paws.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I guess they are too frightened,” said the -bunny uncle. “I’ll just break off the branch -with the pussies on,” thought Mr. Longears, -“and carry them home that way. Poor little -pussies! Did a bad bow-wow dog scare you? -Well, just come with your Uncle Wiggily, and -it will be all right!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the bunny gentleman broke off the branch -with the soft, fuzzy pussies on it, and away he -walked through the woods.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll take them to Mother Goose,” he said, -“and then I’ll go to the blacksmith shop and -have my glasses mended.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily soon was at the house of the -lady who swept cobwebs out of the sky.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Mother Goose! Mother Goose!” he cried. -“I’ve brought you some little pussies on the -branch of a bush. A dog chased and scared -them up there, and they were afraid to come -down. Please get them some warm milk with -carrot sauce in.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Mother Goose came running to the door. -She looked at the fuzzy things Uncle Wiggily -held out. Then she laughed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What’s the matter?” asked the bunny uncle. -“Why don’t you take care of the poor -pussies?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Pussies? Pussies?” laughed dear old -Mother Goose, harder than before. “Those -are pussy willows.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Pussy willows” said Uncle Wiggily, surprised -like.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, they are the soft, fuzzy blossoms of the -willow bush. They are plants and not an animal -at all.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, well!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “That -shows what it is to be without glasses. I certainly -thought they were real pussies. I must -hurry to the blacksmith’s to have my glasses -fixed.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So he did, and his glasses were soon mended; -while Mother Goose put the pussy willows in -water where they would blossom out into big -cat-posies.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the stepladder doesn’t walk off with -the cake of soap and have a birthday party for -the broom and dust pan on the back stoop, I’ll -tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the -leaves.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-XXIII' class='c013'>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LEAVES</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily Longears</span>, the rabbit gentleman, -stood out in front of his hollow-stump -bungalow in the woods, one day, and looked -carefully around. Then he glanced up at the -blue sky.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What is the matter?” asked Nurse Jane -Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady bungalow-keeper. -“Are you looking for some one?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, no, not exactly,” replied the bunny -uncle, slowly. “I was just thinking that perhaps -I had better begin to do some Spring cleaning -around my bungalow.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Spring cleaning! Do you mean inside or -outside?” asked the muskrat lady, as she carefully -wiped a bit of flour off the end of her -nose with her tail, for she had been baking a -cake.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I mean outside, of course,” replied -Uncle Wiggily. “I’ll leave you to look after -the bungalow, inside, while I clean up outside. -You see there are so many last year’s dried leaves -about, here in the woods, that if they were to -catch fire our bungalow might burn.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Mercy!” cried Nurse Jane. “I wouldn’t -want that to happen. Oh, my!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, indeed,” Uncle Wiggily said. “Once -was enough. The last time we had a fire you -and I had to board around with our friends. -Still, it was not so bad as it might have been, for -I met Mother Goose, and did some favors for -her and her friends.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What were you thinking of doing to the -leaves?” asked Nurse Jane, curious like and inquisitive.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, I thought I’d rake them up in a pile -and make a soft place, so if Sammie and Susie -Littletail, the rabbit children, came along on -their way home from school, they could jump on -the leaves as they sometimes do in the hay.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Very good,” Nurse Jane said. “You rake -up the leaves and I’ll wash the dishes.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Uncle Wiggily began. For a rake he -used the dried branch from a tree. It had many -little ends to it, almost like the teeth of a rake, -that branch had.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I wonder if a rake ever gets the toothache?” -thought Uncle Wiggily, as he pulled and poked -the leaves into piles. “If it does, it must hurt -very much because there are so many teeth.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But the bunny uncle did not have a real rake, -only a tree branch, which he used as one, and -that had no teeth to ache, I’m glad to say.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It will be good to get the layers of dead, -dried leaves off the ground,” said Uncle Wiggily, -“for soon the April showers will bring the -May flowers, and they find it easier to spring up -if there is no blanket of leaves over them to hold -them down.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The bunny uncle soon had many piles of soft, -dried leaves, and in a little while along came -Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbit children, -and into the leaves they jumped, off a stump, -bouncing up and down like rubber balls.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Pretty soon Uncle Wiggily heard a voice saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear, isn’t it too bad? Yes, it’s even -three, four, five, six, seven bad! That’s what it -is!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ha! Some one in trouble!” said Uncle -Wiggily, dropping his tree-branch rake and -running back to the pile of leaves. “I suppose -either Sammie or Susie has fallen down, and -bumped one of their noses. I must help them -up!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>But when Uncle Wiggily got there the cupboard -was bare—oh, no, excuse me, if you -please. That’s in another story. I mean when -the bunny uncle reached the pile of leaves where -Sammie and Susie had been playing neither one -of the rabbit children was in sight.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, my!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “They -must be all covered up with the leaves! I’ll have -to dig them out! No wonder it’s two, six, seven -bad! Poor rabbits under the leaves.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>With his paws he began digging at the piles -of leaves, scattering them all over, after his hard -work of raking them up. But as he went deeper -and deeper he could see no signs of the bunny -children. And then, from somewhere behind -him, Uncle Wiggily heard the sad voice again -saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! It’s too bad! Yes, it’s two, three -and even sixteen-eleven bad. Oh, dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Turning quickly, Uncle Wiggily saw Jimmie -Wibblewobble, the boy duck, with an empty bag -over his wing shoulder.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, Jimmie! Is that you?” asked the -bunny uncle, in surprise. “I thought it was -Sammie and Susie Littletail. They were playing -in these dried leaves a while ago, but now I -can’t find them, and I fear they may be -covered up so far down that I can never get them -out.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, don’t worry about that, Uncle Wiggily,” -said Jimmie, the boy duck. “Sammie -and Susie are all right. I met them running -down a woodland path a little while ago, as I -came along, and they were talking of what fun -they had had in the leaves. They got tired and -ran away when you weren’t looking. That’s -why you can’t find them under the leaves. But, -oh, dear! Two, sixteen-eleven bad!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, what’s the matter with <i>you</i>?” asked -Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “Are <i>you</i> in trouble, -Jimmie?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I am, Uncle Wiggily.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What kind of trouble, Jimmie, my duck -boy?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Feather-trouble,” answered the Wibblewobble -chap.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Feather-trouble?” repeated Uncle Wiggily, -sort of surprised like and astonished. “Feather-trouble?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes. You see my mother sent me with a bag -of our best duck feathers for Mother Goose to -make a feather bed from. Well, all at once, -some strong March wind came dancing by, -turned the bag inside out and blew away every -feather! And, what to do I don’t know, for -there are no more feathers at our coop. And if -Mother Goose doesn’t have feathers for her bed -she will feel badly. Oh, dear! Such trouble!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily thought for a moment. Then -he said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ho, Jimmie! I see a way out of your -trouble. Fill your bag with some of these soft, -dried leaves. They will be nearly as good as -feathers for Mother Goose, and, at the same -time, you will be doing me a favor by taking -away the leaves, so the flowers can grow.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, fine!” cried Jimmie. So he took a big -bag of the leaves, which Mother Goose said -were as good to sleep on as feathers, and thus -everything came out just right, you see, and -Sammie and Susie weren’t lost under the leaves -after all, for which Uncle Wiggily was very -glad.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the fried egg doesn’t try to hide in the -apple dumpling and make the peach stone jump -over the shortcake, when we have company for -supper, I’ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily -and the wise man.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-XXIV' class='c013'>CHAPTER XXIV<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE WISE MAN</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Rat-a-tat-tat</span>!” came a knock on the door -of the hollow-stump bungalow, where Uncle -Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, lived.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll see who it is,” he called to Nurse Jane -Fuzzy Wuzzy and the muskrat lady housekeeper -was glad of that, for her paws were in -the dishwater up to her elbows, and you know -how it is yourself; you don’t like to answer the -bell with your hands all soap bubbles, like a -pipe.</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Uncle Wiggily went to the door, and, -standing there, he saw Nannie Wagtail, the little -goat girl. And there were tears in Nannie’s -eyes, and she was trying to wipe them away with -the tips of her horns. But when she did this she -only tickled herself and she had to laugh.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But she didn’t want to laugh; she wanted to -cry, for she was sad. And you know how it is -yourself—you can’t laugh and cry at the same -time; can you?</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, Nannie! What is the matter?” asked -Uncle Wiggily, kindly. “Come in and tell me -all your troubles!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! Boo hoo! Hoo boo! I have lots -of troubles!” said the little goat girl. “My best -doll, Priscilla Spicecake Orangejuice, is gone.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Gone!” cried Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Taken!” exclaimed Nannie. “I was out -in front of our house a while ago playing dolls -with Beckie Stubtail, the little girl bear. Beckie -had her doll, Esmeralda Pancake Eggturner, -with her, and we were having a lovely time.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But I laid my doll down to go in the house to -get some cookies, and when I came out my doll -was gone, and Beckie was crying.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, what happened?” asked Uncle Wiggily, -surprised like.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Beckie said a man came running along, -grabbed up my doll, and before she could stop -him he hurried off into the woods with my dear -Priscilla Spicecake Orangejuice!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, that’s too bad!” said the bunny uncle. -“Now don’t you cry any more. You just tell me -what sort of a man he was who took your doll -and I’ll go after him and make him give it back, -even if I have to get the circus elephant to squirt -water on him from the lemonade barrel. Tell -me what sort of a man he was.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“He was a man who wore glasses,” said -Nannie.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Say no more!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “I -think I know exactly who he is! I’ll go after -him at once.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So the bunny uncle, telling Nurse Jane not to -wait lunch for him, started off over the fields and -through the woods to look for Nannie’s doll. -On the way he met Mother Goose, and he asked -that old lady:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are any of your friends the kind of a man -who wears glasses, and would take a little goat -girl’s doll?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, yes,” said Mother Goose, slowly, “the -Wise Man might. You see he spoiled his eyes, -reading so much to make him wise, that he has -to wear glasses. But he is really very kind. I -think he only took Nannie’s doll for a joke, or -perhaps he wants to get her another just like it -and took that along for a sample.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Perhaps,” said Uncle Wiggily. “But, anyhow, -I’ll find him and ask him about it.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So he walked and hopped on and on through -the woods to where the Wise Man used to live, -and pretty soon, from behind a big bush, the -bunny uncle heard some one singing this -song:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“There was a man in our town,</div> - <div class='line in3'>And he was wondrous wise.</div> - <div class='line in1'>He jumped into a berry bush,</div> - <div class='line in3'>And scratched out both his eyes.</div> - <div class='line in1'>But when he saw his eyes were out,</div> - <div class='line in3'>With all his might and main,</div> - <div class='line in1'>He jumped into another bush</div> - <div class='line in3'>And scratched them in again.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>“Ha!” said Uncle Wiggily softly. “I -thought so! The wise man! I have found him! -Now to see if he has Nannie’s doll!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily peeked through the bush, -which was a blackberry one, only there were no -berries on it now. On the other side, sitting on -the ground, was the Wise Man, wearing glasses, -and he had Nannie’s doll in his hands. He was -talking to the doll, something like this:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Now, little doll, don’t be afraid. I won’t -hurt you. I’m just going to toss you into the -berry bush, and scratch out both your eyes. But -that won’t hurt, for as soon as I see your eyes are -out, with all my might and main, I’ll toss you in -another bush and scratch them in again. There -you go!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Before Uncle Wiggily could stop him, the -Wise Man had tossed Nannie’s doll, Priscilla -Spicecake Orangejuice, into the berry bush. -Then the man cried:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, your eyes are scratched out, all right, -dollie! Now to scratch them in again!” And, -before Uncle Wiggily could hop any closer to -stop him, the Wise Man tossed again into the -bush, the poor doll. And when she fell down -the Wise Man carefully picked her up, and, -looking at her, said:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Alas! Alack a-day! Woe is me! The -eyes aren’t scratched in again at all! Oh, dear, -what shall I do? I’ll have to get the little goat -girl another doll.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily jumped out from behind the -berry bush.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What do you mean?” asked the bunny -uncle. “Why do you treat a poor doll so? -Look, her hair has come off, and her eyes have -fallen out! Oh, my!” and from the ground he -picked up the doll’s hair-wig and eyes, which -were of glass, fastened together with wire.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’m sorry,” said the Wise Man. “I’m very -sorry this has happened. But I read about the -Wise Man in the Mother Goose book, who -jumped into a berry bush and got a new pair of -eyes. I thought I could do the same as he, for -I’m tired of glasses.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But I thought I’d try it on a doll first, to see -if it were true. So, not having any doll of my -own I took Nannie’s, meaning no harm. But -see what I have done!” he said, sadly. “I have -scratched out her eyes and her wig is off, and I -can’t put the eyes back again, nor yet the wig. -It’s a good thing I didn’t jump into the scratchy -bush myself. It is better to wear glasses than -have no eyes at all.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, indeed,” said Uncle Wiggily, and he -felt sorry for the poor Wise Man. “But never -mind,” went on the bunny uncle. “I know a -monkey-doodle gentleman, who mends broken -dolls. I’ll take Priscilla Spicecake Orangejuice -to him, and he can fasten her eyes in again and -glue on her wig.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Will you? Then please do!” said the Wise -Man. “I’ll pay the monkey-doodle, and here is -five cents extra for little Nannie. Tell her I’m -sorry I borrowed her doll and I’ll never do it -again.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“All right,” cheerfully said Uncle Wiggily, -“and don’t you try to scratch your eyes out, and -in again.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I won’t,” promised the Wise Man. -“Glasses are good enough for me.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>The monkey-doodle gentleman soon fixed -Nannie’s doll as good as ever, so the eyes opened -and shut, and the little goat girl was happy once -more, when Uncle Wiggily brought back Priscilla -Spicecake Orangejuice. Thus, you see, -everything came out all right, as I generally try -to make it.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the crazy quilt doesn’t jump into the -rag bag and get lost so the pillow case has no -place to sleep, when it comes home from the -moving pictures, I’ll tell you next about Uncle -Wiggily and the tailors.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-XXV' class='c013'>CHAPTER XXV<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE TAILORS</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'>“<span class='sc'>Well</span>, where are you going this morning, -Uncle Wiggily?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy -Wuzzy, the muskrat lady, of the rabbit gentleman, -as he lifted his red, white and blue-striped -rheumatism crutch down off the hat rack, and -opened the front door.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, I’m just going out for a hop through -the woods,” replied the bunny uncle. “Mother -Goose said that Grandfather Goosey Gander -was coming to pay her a visit to-day, and, as I -haven’t seen him in some time, I thought I’d go -over myself and have a little talk.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Very well,” went on Nurse Jane, “and on -your way back I wish you would bring me a -spool of thread.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“A spool of thread? Why, certainly,” promised -Uncle Wiggily, and off he hopped through -the woods until he came to where Mother Goose -lived. Her house was next door to the shoe, in -which lived the Old Woman Who Had So Many -Children She Didn’t Know What To Do.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Good morning, Mother Goose,” said Uncle -Wiggily, politely. “I hope I see you well. Has -Grandpa Goosey Gander come yet?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Not yet. I am expecting him every minute. -Sit down and make yourself at home,” and -Mother Goose dusted a chair.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily sat down, and he and Mother -Goose were talking about the best way to give -the most bread and jam to animal children, when -along came Grandpa Goosey.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’m sorry I’m late,” he said, all sort of flustered -like, “but I lost a button off my coat. I -stopped in a tailor’s to have it sewed on, but, -would you believe me? There isn’t a tailor to -be found in Woodland—not one in this whole -forest!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Nonsense!” cried Mother Goose. “Why, -there are four-and-twenty tailors here—just as -many as there were blackbirds baked in the pie -that was set before the king. No tailors to be -found out of all those four-and-twenty? Nonsense! -There must be!” and she swept cobwebs -down out of the sky just for fun.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Not a tailor!” said Grandpa Goosey. “I -looked all over for one. Their shops were open, -but the tailors were gone, and so I had to come -without a button on my coat.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Never mind,” said Mother Goose. “I’ll -sew it on for you,” and she did.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“That reminds me,” said Uncle Wiggily, -after they had talked a bit. “Speaking of tailors, -I’m to bring Nurse Jane a spool of thread. -I think I’ll be hopping along. If I can’t find any -tailor in his shop, where I can buy the thread, -I’ll have to go to the five and ten cent store.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So he said good-by to Mother Goose and -Grandpa Gander, and away hopped the bunny -uncle gentleman over the fields and through the -woods.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I wonder if I could find those four-and-twenty -tailors?” thought Uncle Wiggily. -“Four-and-twenty—that’s just two dozen—quite -a number. I wonder why they all left their -shops? I wonder——?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>And just then from behind some bushes he -heard some voices saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You go up and jab her!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, you do it!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’m afraid!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, so am I. Hi there, who has a yardstick? -Let whoever has a yardstick go up and -jab her!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“And let some one tickle her with a needle.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“You do it!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, you. I’m afraid.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Well, so am I! Boo!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Goodness me gracious sakes alive and some -hooks and eyes!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “What -does all this mean? Who’s afraid?” He -peeked through the bushes and there he saw, on -the woodland path, a lot of men with needles, -pins, spools of thread, tape measures, yardsticks, -thimbles, scissors, linings, pockets, buttonholes -and all things like that.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Who are you?” asked Uncle Wiggily, in -surprise.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll tell you who we are,” answered one of -the twenty-four, (for there were just two dozen -of them) as the rabbit gentleman could count. -Then some one sang this song:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“We four-and-twenty tailors went to catch a snail,</div> - <div class='line in1'>The best man among us dared not touch her tail;</div> - <div class='line in1'>She put out her horns like a little Kylow cow,</div> - <div class='line in1'>So run, tailors! Run! Or she’ll bite us all just now!”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>And as the tailor said that he turned and ran -through the woods as fast as ever he could run, -all the other twenty-three running after him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, my! Oh, me! Oh, dear! This is too -funny!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “Four-and-twenty -tailors afraid of a snail, even if she did -put out her horns like a Kylow cow. I say, tailors! -Come back! Come back!” cried Uncle -Wiggily. “Mother Goose is worried about -you. Come back!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We’re afraid of the snail!” said one, who -had sung the song.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Nonsense!” laughed Uncle Wiggily. “She -wouldn’t hurt a lightning bug! Come here, I’ll -show you how to make her pull in her horns!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Slowly and carefully the four-and-twenty tailors -came back on their tippy-tiptoes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What did you want to catch a snail for, anyhow?” -asked the bunny uncle.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Make her put in her horns so she won’t look -so much like a cow and scare us, and we’ll tell -you,” said the singing tailor.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily laughed and suddenly cried:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Snail, snail, pull in your horn,</div> - <div class='line in3'>Here’s Jimmie, the duck boy,</div> - <div class='line in1'>Looking for corn!”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>Then the snail quickly pulled in her horns -and crawled away and she didn’t hurt the tailors -any, and they didn’t tickle her with a needle, -thimble or even a spool of hooks and eyes.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“We just wanted to see if we could catch a -snail,” said the singing tailor. “We didn’t -mean to hurt her, but it says in Mother Goose’s -book that four-and-twenty tailors went out to -catch a snail, and, as we were not very busy this -morning, we went out. But, oh! how fierce she -did look with her horns! I’m not going snail-hunting -any more.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Nor I,” cried the other twenty-three tailors -in a chorus. Then they thanked Uncle Wiggily -for having driven the snail away, as he did, by -making believe Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck -boy, was coming after her (since ducks like -snails very much). And the tailors each gave -Uncle Wiggily a spool of thread, so Nurse Jane -had all she wanted, and Grandpa Goosey’s button -was sewed on.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And if the basket of soap bubbles doesn’t fall -down-stairs and spill ink on the white table cloth -just as it is going to the dance, I’ll tell you next -about Uncle Wiggily and the bat.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 id='p2-Ch-XXVI' class='c013'>CHAPTER XXVI<br /> <br /><span class='c018'>UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BAT</span></h2> -</div> -<p class='c019'><span class='sc'>Uncle Wiggily Longears</span>, the nice little boy -bear—Oh, please be so kind as to excuse me, as -the telephone girl says when she rings the dinner -bell at supper time. I mean Uncle Wiggily -Longears, the nice old rabbit gentleman, put on -his red, white and blue-striped rheumatism tall -silk hat and——</p> - -<p class='c011'>Eh? What’s that? Something else wrong? -Oh, yes; to be sure. I meant to say he took his -red, white and blue-striped rheumatism crutch, -and put his tall silk hat on over his ears, and then -he started out of his hollow-stump bungalow for -a walk.</p> - -<p class='c011'>I don’t know what’s the matter with me in this -story—making so many mistakes—unless it was -that I danced the fox-trot backward the other -night, and it turned out to be a goose-walk. -Anyhow, I’ll try to be more careful after this.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Out stepped Uncle Wiggily, starting off toward -the woods, but he had not gone very far before -Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat -lady, called to him.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where are you going, Uncle Wiggily? -Don’t you know that it is after supper, and will -soon be dark? Then why do you go to the -woods?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I want an adventure,” answered the bunny -uncle. “I haven’t had one to-day. And, as for -the dark, the moon will soon be up, and give me -good light. Have no fear, Nurse Jane, I will -soon be back safely.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Nurse Jane had no fear and Uncle Wiggily -hopped on and on, over the fields and -through the woods. All of a sudden he passed -the house where Susie Littletail, the little rabbit -girl, lived.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Uncle Wiggily,” called Mrs. Littletail, -the bunny mother. “If you see Susie, will you -please tell her to come home at once? Her supper -is quite cold, though I will warm up the carrot -gravy for her.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I’ll tell her,” promised the bunny uncle. -“Where is she?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“She went over to play with Lulu and Alice -Wibblewobble, the two duck girls,” was the answer, -“and she must be having a fine time, for -she’s been there ever so long.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“I wonder what sort of an adventure I shall -have this evening,” thought the bunny uncle. -“Yesterday I drove away the snail that was scaring -the four-and-twenty tailors, but no tailors -would be out now, after dark. However, the -moon will soon be up, and then I will have light -enough to see an adventure if one happens -along.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Going a little farther, Uncle Wiggily came to -where Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble, the duck -girls, lived in a nice pen, with their father and -mother and their brother Jimmie.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Is Susie Littletail in there?” asked Uncle -Wiggily, looking over the fence. “Her mother -said she came over here to play, but hasn’t come -home yet. Is she there?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, Uncle Wiggily,” answered Lulu, wagging -her tail wobbily like. “Susie left here -some time ago. She said she was going to run -home to supper.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“It’s queer I didn’t meet her,” said the bunny -uncle. “But, perhaps, she might have gone -home by another path. I daresay she is all right. -I’ll walk along a little farther, and then if I don’t -see her I’ll go back.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Well, Uncle Wiggily was going on and on, -when, all at once from behind an old stump, he -heard a sad little voice crying, and saying:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear! Oh, dear! I’m afraid to go -home, and I’m afraid to stay here. I don’t know -what to do!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My! That sounds like trouble of the very -worst kind!” spoke Uncle Wiggily, in his jolly -voice. “I must see who it is, and if I can help -them.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>Uncle Wiggily started for the stump, and -then he happened to think:</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Ah, perhaps that might be the skillery-scalery -alligator with the humps on his tail, making -believe to be in trouble just to get me near -enough so he can catch me. I had better be -careful.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Uncle Wiggily carefully peeked around -the corner before going any closer to the stump, -and there, sitting down on a stone behind it in -the moonlight, was Susie Littletail, the rabbit -girl, herself.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, Susie!” cried Uncle Wiggily. -“What are you doing here? Your mother is -looking for you, and so am I. Why don’t you -go home?”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“’Cause I’m afraid, Uncle Wiggily,” and -Susie cried a few tears.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“What are you afraid of?” asked the bunny -uncle. “Surely not the dark. That can’t hurt -you, and besides it will soon be moonlight.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“No, I’m not afraid of the dark, Uncle -Wiggily,” said Susie, “but I’m afraid of the -bat.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“The bat?” cried the bunny uncle, astonished -like.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes; he’s a big bird with wings, but he has -ears and looks like a rat. I’m afraid he’ll get -tangled in my fur, or else that he’ll bite me. Oh, -there he is now!” and Susie pointed to something -black, like a bird, flying to and fro in the -darkness.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes, that is a bat,” said Uncle Wiggily, “but -it will not hurt you. It is only flying around to -catch mosquitoes and other bugs that come out -mostly at night. A bat, like an owl, can see in -the dark. He won’t hurt you.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, but I’m afraid,” said Susie. “I started -from the Wibblewobble house a long time ago, -to go home, but I saw the bat flying around and -I hid. I dassen’t go home.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Nonsense!” laughed Uncle Wiggily. -“I’ll fix it for you. I’ll play a little joke on the -bat and get him out of the way until I can lead -you home.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>So Uncle Wiggily recited this little verse from -Mother Goose:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c020'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Bat, bat! Come under my hat,</div> - <div class='line in3'>And I’ll give you a slice of bacon.</div> - <div class='line in1'>And when I bake,</div> - <div class='line in1'>I’ll give you a cake.</div> - <div class='line in3'>If I am not mistaken.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c021'>Uncle Wiggily put his tall silk hat on the -ground, and, surely enough, the bat crawled -under it to see if there were any bacon there. -And, before he could come out Uncle Wiggily -hurried home with Susie, who wasn’t afraid any -more, not with the bunny uncle to hold her paw.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Then Uncle Wiggily, not being mistaken, -got a cake from Nurse Jane and took it back to -the bat, also getting his tall silk hat. And the -bat was very much obliged, for the cake, and he -said he never would have tangled himself in -Susie’s fur anyhow, so she need not have been -afraid.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“But I’m glad she’s safely home,” said the -bat.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“So am I,” said Uncle Wiggily.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And I guess Susie was also.</p> - -<p class='c011'>But if the button-hook doesn’t get tangled up -in the dog’s tail, and ride out to where the shoe-horn -is playing tunes for the rubber heels to -dance the lame duck, I’ll tell you next——</p> - -<p class='c011'>Oh, but hold on, if you please. I’m not going -to tell you any more stories in this book, for it is -already quite well filled, as you can see for yourself. -So if I write any more tales they will have -to go in another big volume like this.</p> - -<p class='c011'>That’s what I’ll do, if you like, and the next -book will be called, “Uncle Wiggily and His -Friends,” and will tell of the different things that -happened to the bunny uncle when he went calling -on all the animal folk that live in Woodland. -So, while I am getting that book ready, I will -say good-bye.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div>THE END</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c001' /> -</div> -<div class='box1'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div><span class='c008'><span class="sans">CHILDREN’S BOOKS</span></span></div> - <div><span class='c004'>By HOWARD R. GARIS</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c009' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>BEDTIME STORIES</div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c009' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='sc'>Cloth, finely decorated cover, eight colored illustrations</span></div> - <div><i>Price, per volume 75 cents, postpaid</i></div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c009' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>Each book contains a story for every day in the month</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>SAMMIE AND SUSIE LITTLETAIL</div> - <div class='line in2'>31 Rabbit Stories</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>JOHNNIE AND BILLIE BUSHYTAIL</div> - <div class='line in2'>31 Squirrel Stories</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>LULU, ALICE AND JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE</div> - <div class='line in2'>31 Duck Stories</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>UNCLE WIGGILY’S ADVENTURES</div> - <div class='line in2'>31 Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW WOW</div> - <div class='line in2'>31 Doggie Stories</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>UNCLE WIGGILY’S TRAVELS</div> - <div class='line in2'>31 more Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES PIGG</div> - <div class='line in2'>31 Guinea Pig Stories</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>UNCLE WIGGILY’S FORTUNE</div> - <div class='line in1'>31 queer Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>JOIE, TOMMIE AND KITTIE KAT</div> - <div class='line in2'>31 Kitten Stories</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>CHARLIE AND ARABELLA CHICK</div> - <div class='line in2'>31 Chicken Stories</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>UNCLE WIGGILY’S AUTOMOBILE</div> - <div class='line in2'>31 surprising Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>NEDDIE AND BECKIE STUBTAIL</div> - <div class='line in2'>31 Nice Bear Stories</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>BULLY AND BAWLY NO-TAIL</div> - <div class='line in2'>31 Frog Stories</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>UNCLE WIGGILY AT THE SEASHORE</div> - <div class='line in2'>31 different Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>NANNIE AND BILLIE WAGTAIL</div> - <div class='line in2'>31 Goat Stories</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c009' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>SOMETHING NEW</div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c009' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>THE DADDY SERIES</div> - <div>Colored cover and frontispiece, and three drawings in black and white</div> - <div><i>Price 40 cents per volume, postpaid</i></div> - <div>Fun, adventure, amusement, with some nature and</div> - <div>out-door instruction for Little Folk.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c009' /> -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>DADDY TAKES US CAMPING</div> - <div class='line'>DADDY TAKES US FISHING</div> - <div class='line'>DADDY TAKES US TO THE CIRCUS</div> - <div class='line'>DADDY TAKES US SKATING</div> - <div class='line'>DADDY TAKES US COASTING</div> - <div class='line'>(<i>Other books in preparation</i>)</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>All about a little boy and a little girl and their dear Daddy.</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div><span class='c004'>JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW WOW</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>“Come on, Jackie!” called Peetie Bow Wow, -the boy doggie, one morning. “Come on!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Where are you going?” asked Jackie of -Peetie.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Let’s run off and join the circus,” suggested -Peetie, as he tried to stand up on the end of his -tail and turn a somersault. “We can earn a lot -of money.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“How?” asked Jackie, scratching his nose -with his ear.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, we can make money by doing tricks in -the circus,” went on Peetie. “We can jump -over the backs of elephants, climb up to the top -of the tent, and do lots of things like that. A -circus is fun!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>You have read how Daddy Blake took Hal -and Mab to the circus, and you will like to read -about Jackie and Peetie. They are in a book -called “Bedtime Stories: Jackie and Peetie -Bow Wow,” by Howard R. Garis, who also -wrote the Daddy books.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Send to R. F. Fenno & Company, 18 East -17th Street, New York City, and they will mail -the book on receipt of price, if you can not get it -in your book store. The book has colored -pictures.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div>UNCLE WIGGILY’S FORTUNE</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear!” cried Uncle Wiggily Longears, -the rabbit gentleman, as he got to the top of a -big hill and looked down. “Oh, dear!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, what has happened?” asked Sammie -Littletail, the boy rabbit, hopping up.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Why, I have traveled all over, just as Dr. -Possum told me to,” replied Uncle Wiggily, -“and I have not yet found my fortune. It is -very sad!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Sad!” cried Sammie. “Not a bit of it! I -know where your fortune is. You are the richest -rabbit in the whole world!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“My goodness me, sakes alive, and some ice -cream radishes!” Uncle Wiggily exclaimed.</p> - -<p class='c011'>And then Sammie showed the rabbit gentleman -his fortune. You may read all about how -he found it in the book entitled “Bedtime Stories: -Uncle Wiggily’s Fortune.” And you -should see the colored pictures Mr. Wisa made -for it!</p> - -<p class='c011'>Howard R. Garis, who wrote the Daddy -books, wrote this one about Uncle Wiggily. -R. F. Fenno & Company, of 18 East 17th -Street, New York City, publish it. They will -send it to you if your own store does not have it. -Write and ask them.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div>DADDY TAKES US TO THE CIRCUS</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, Mab!” cried Hal Blake, as he came -running into the house one morning. “Daddy is -going to take us to the circus!”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Are you, Daddy?” asked the little girl.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Yes,” said Mr. Blake. “Here are the -tickets.”</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Oh, what fun we’ll have!” shouted Hal.</p> - -<p class='c011'>“Won’t we!” added his sister.</p> - -<p class='c011'>How Daddy Blake took the children to the -show in the big tent, and how Hal and Mab -went to sleep in one of the red wagons, and were -carried off—all that you may read in the book -called “Daddy Takes Us to the Circus.” It is -written by Howard R. Garis, who also wrote -the Bedtime book you have just read. It contains -fine pictures, and has a decorated cover. -You read, and liked, the Bedtimes, so surely -you will like the Daddy books.</p> - -<p class='c011'>If your dealer does not keep them, please -send to the publishers, R. F. Fenno & Company, -18 East 17th Street, New York City, -who will forward any volume on receipt of -price.</p> - -<p class='c011'>Daddy Blake, on his trips with Hal and -Mab, told them things about nature and out-door -life.</p> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003' /> -</div> -<p class='c011'> </p> -<div class='tnbox'> - - <ul class='ul_1 c003'> - <li>Transcriber’s Notes: - <ul class='ul_2'> - <li>Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected. - </li> - <li>Typographical errors were silently corrected. - </li> - <li>Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant - form was found in this book. - </li> - </ul> - </li> - </ul> - -</div> -<p class='c011'> </p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNCLE WIGGILY AND MOTHER GOOSE ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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