Chapter IV: Part 4

"There is no school now," said the grasshopper, as he sat on a daisy flower, "but I am hopping along to get out of danger."

"Danger? What danger is there around here?" asked the rabbit. "Do you see a fox, or anything like that?"

"No, but don't you hear that dreadful noise?" asked the grasshopper. "Listen, and you will hear it. It scared me so that I went away as fast as I could."

So Uncle Wiggily listened, and sure enough he heard, away off in the woods, a voice shouting:

"Help! Help! Help! Oh, won't some one please help me, or I'll be killed!"

"There, did you hear it?" asked the grasshopper, as he shivered and got ready to flit away again, "he said he was going to kill us."

"Oh, no! Nonsense!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "That is some poor animal caught in a trap, and he's afraid of being killed himself. I'm going to see who it is. Perhaps it is a friend of mine."

"Oh, no! Don't you go!" begged the grasshopper. "For it may be the alligator with the skillery-scalery-railery tail."

"Oh, preposterous!" cried Uncle Wiggily, who sometimes used big words when he was excited. "I'm not afraid. I'm going to help whoever it is, and, perhaps, in that way I may find my fortune."

So the grasshopper, who was very much frightened, flew on, and the rabbit hopped toward where he could hear the voice still calling for help.

And whom do you s'pose it was? Why, the second cousin to Grandfather Prickly Porcupine was caught fast in a trap, and he was calling for help as loudly as he could call.

"Oh, I'm so glad you came along," said the porcupine to Uncle Wiggily. "Please help me to get my leg out of this trap."

"Of course I will," said the rabbit, and with his crutch he pried open the trap, and set free the nice little second cousin to Grandfather Prickly Porcupine.

"Oh, how thankful I am to you," said the porcupine, as he limped away. "If ever I can do you a favor I will." And, would you believe it? the time was soon to come when that porcupine was to save Uncle Wiggily's life.

Well, the old gentleman rabbit hopped on, looking all over for his fortune, but he couldn't seem to find it anywhere until, all of a sudden, as he was walking along by some big stones, he saw something shining, and picking it up, he found he had a silver twenty-five-cent piece.

"Oh, my goodness me, sakes alive and a piece of cherry pie!" cried the rabbit. "I've found part of my fortune! I'll have good luck now, and perhaps I can find more."

So the rabbit looked all about in among the stones for other money. But he didn't find any, and pretty soon he came to a place where there was a hole down in between the big rocks.

"Perhaps there is more money down there," said the rabbit. "I'll take a look." He leaned over, and looked down, and then--Oh, how sorry I am that I have to tell it, but I do, all of a sudden Uncle Wiggily fell right down that black hole.

Right down into it he fell, and he landed at the bottom with such a bump that he nearly broke his spectacles. At first it was so dark that he couldn't make out anything, but in a little while he could see something big and black and shaggy coming toward him, and a grillery-growlery voice called out:

"Who's there? Who dares to come into my den?"

"It is only I," said the rabbit. "I'm Uncle Wiggily Longears, and I came in here by mistake. I was looking for my fortune."

"Ah, ha!" cried the bear, for the shaggy creature with the grillery-growlery voice was a bear. "Ah, ha! That is a different story. I am very glad you dropped in to see me, Mr. Longears. I was just wondering what I'd have for my dinner, and now I know--it is going to be rabbit stew, and you are going to be stewed," and the bear opened the dining-room shutters so he could see to eat the rabbit.

"Oh, how can you be so cruel to me?" asked Uncle Wiggily. "I only came in here by mistake. I found twenty-five cents, and I was looking for more."

"Found twenty-five cents, did you, eh?" cried the bear, savage-like. "Give it to me at once! I lost that, it's my money!"

And he took the twenty-five-cent piece right away from Uncle Wiggily. Then the bear was just going to eat up the nice old gentleman rabbit, and Uncle Wiggily didn't know how to get away, and he was feeling most dreadful, when, all of a sudden, a voice sharply cried:

"Here, you let my friend Uncle Wiggily alone," and then some one scrambled down through the top hole of the bear's den.

"Who are you?" asked the shaggy creature with the grillery-growlery voice, and the bear gnashed his teeth.

"I'm the second cousin to Grandfather Prickly Porcupine," was the answer, "and I'm going to save my rabbit friend."

And with that the porcupine took out a whole handful of his stickery-ickery quills, like toothpicks, and he stuck them right into the soft and tender nose of that bad bear. And the stickery-ickery quills so tickled the bear and hurt him that he nearly sneezed his head off, and tears came into his eyes.

"Now's our time! Come on, let's get away from here!" cried the porcupine to the rabbit, and up out of the bear's den they scrambled, and got safely away before the bear had finished his sneezing.

"Oh, you saved my life," said Uncle Wiggily to the prickly porcupine, "and I thank you very much." Then they traveled on together, and they had an adventure the next day.

What it was I'll tell you soon, when, in case the boys who go in swimming don't duck my typewriter under water and make it catch the measles, I'll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and the toadstool.

STORY XXIII

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE TOADSTOOL

"Were you much frightened when you were in the bear's den?" asked the prickly porcupine as he and Uncle Wiggily went along the road next day. They had slept that night in a hole where an old fox used to live, but just then he was away on his summer vacation at Asbury Park, and so he wasn't home.

"Was I frightened?" repeated the old gentleman rabbit, as he looked to see if there was any mud on his crutch, "why I was so scared that my heart almost stopped beating. But I'm glad you happened to come along, and that you stuck your stickery-ickery quills into the bear's nose. It was very lucky that you chanced to come past the den."

"Oh, I did it on purpose," said the porcupine. "After you got me out of the trap, and I scurried away, I happened to think that you might go past the bear's house, so I hurried after you, and--well, I'm glad that I did."

"So am I," said the rabbit. "Will you have a bit of my carrot sandwich?"

"I don't mind if I do," said the porcupine, polite-like, so he and the rabbit traveler ate the carrot sandwiches as they walked along.

"Well, I don't believe I'm ever going to find my fortune," said Uncle Wiggily sadly. "I began to have hopes, when I picked up the twenty-five-cent piece, but now the bear has that and I have nothing. Oh, I certainly am very unlucky."

"Never mind," said the porcupine, "I'll help you look." But even with the sharp eyes, and the sharp, stickery-ickery quills of the hedgehog, Uncle Wiggily couldn't find his fortune.

But it is a good thing the old gentleman rabbit had company, for as they were walking along under some trees, all of a sudden a big snake hissed at them, like a coffee-pot boiling over. And then the snake uncoiled himself and tried to grab the rabbit by the ears.

"Here! That will never do!" cried the porcupine, and then and there, without even stopping to take off his necktie, that brave creature stuck twenty-seven and a half stickery-stockery-stackery quills into the snake, and then that snake was glad enough to crawl away. Oh, my, yes, and a basketful of soap bubbles besides!

Well, it wasn't long after that before it was dinner time, and the two friends sat down in a place where there were a lot of toadstools to eat their lunch. They sat on the low toadstools, and the higher ones they used for tables, each one having a toadstool table for himself, just like in a restaurant.

"Now, this is what I call real jolly," said the porcupine, as he ate his third piece of hickory-nut pie with carrot sauce on it.

"Yes, it is real nice," said the rabbit. "After all, it isn't so bad to go hunting for your fortune when you have company, but it's not so much fun all alone."

Well, the two friends were just finishing their meal, and they were getting ready to travel on, when, all at once, there was a terrible crashing sound in the bushes, just as if some one was breaking them all to pieces.

"My! What's that?" asked the porcupine, preparing to pull out some more of his stickery-ickery quills.

"It sounds like the elephant," said the rabbit, as he looked around for a safe place in which to hide in case it should happen to be the bear coming after him.

"Oh, if it's the elephant, we don't have to worry. He is a friend of ours," said the porcupine.

Well, the crashing in the bushes still kept up, and then before you could tickle your pussy cat under the chin-chopper, there burst out of the middle of a prickly briar bush a great big alligator--the same one who once before had tried to catch Uncle Wiggily.

"Oh, look!" cried the porcupine. "He's after us."

"Indeed, I am!" exclaimed the 'gator. "I'll have a fine meal in about a minute. I'll pull all your quills out, and eat you with strawberry sauce on; prickly porcupine."

"Oh, don't you let him do it!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "Stick some of your quills in him, and make him go away, Mr. Porcupine."

"It wouldn't do any good," said the porcupine. "You see, the alligator has such a thick skin on him that even a bullet will hardly go through, so my quills won't hurt him. I guess we had better run away."

Well, they started to run away, but the 'gator, with his skillery-scalery tail, chased after them, and he could go very quickly, too, let me tell you. Right after Uncle Wiggily and the porcupine the alligator raced, and he almost caught both of them. Then the porcupine saw a hole just big enough for him to squeeze down, but not big enough for the alligator to come after.

Down into this hole jumped the prickly porcupine, and he was safe, but there was no hole for Uncle Wiggily to hide in, and the alligator was close after him.

"Jump up on a toadstool, and maybe he can't get you!" called the porcupine, sticking the end of his nose out of the hole.

"I will!" cried the rabbit, and up on top of the biggest toadstool he landed with a jump.

"Oh, I can easily get you off there!" yelled the alligator, savage-like. "I'll have you down in a minute."

He reached up with his claws to get the rabbit, and Uncle Wiggily got right in the middle of the toadstool, as far away as he could, but it wasn't very far. The alligator's claws almost had him, when all of a sudden that toadstool quickly began to grow up tall. Taller and taller it grew, for toadstools grow very fast you know. Higher and higher it went, like an elevator, taking Uncle Wiggily up with it.

"Oh, now I'm safe!" cried the rabbit, for he was quite high in the air by this time.

"No, you're not. I'll get you yet!" cried the alligator, as he reared up on the end of his skillery-scalery tail. He made a grab for the rabbit, but the kind toadstool at once grew itself up as tall as the church steeple, with Uncle Wiggily still on top, and then, of course, the alligator couldn't reach him.

"Oh, now I'm safe, but how ever am I going to get down?" thought the rabbit, for the alligator was still there. But, in another minute, along came a policeman dog, and with his club he made that alligator run away back to the swamp where he belonged. Then the toadstool began to get smaller and smaller, and it sank down close to the ground again and lowered the rabbit just like on an elevator in a store, and Uncle Wiggily was safe on earth once more. And he was very thankful to the toadstool, which grew up so quickly just in time.

"Well, we'd better get along once more," said Uncle Wiggily to the prickly porcupine, after he had thanked the dog-policeman. So the two friends set off together through the woods, and the next day something else happened to them.

I'll tell you what it was on the next page, when, in case the iceman brings me some hot chocolate to put on my bread and butter, the bedtime story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the chickie.

STORY XXIV

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CHICKIE

"Well, what shall we do to-day?" asked the second cousin to Grandfather Prickly Porcupine, as he crawled out of his bed of dried leaves, and looked over to where Uncle Wiggily was washing his whiskers. "Are we going to travel some more?"

"Oh, yes," answered the old gentleman rabbit, "we must still keep on, for I have yet to find my fortune."

"What are you going to do with your fortune when you find it?" asked the porcupine. "Will you buy a million ice cream cones with the money?"

"Oh, my goodness sakes alive, and a pot of mustard, no!" replied Uncle Wiggily. "If I ate as many cones as that I would have indigestion, as well as rheumatism. When I find my fortune I am going back home, and I'll buy something for Sammie and Susie Littletail, and for Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, and for all my other animal friends, including Grandfather Goosey Gander. That's what I'll do when I find my fortune."

"Very good," said the porcupine, and then he got up and washed his face and paws. And he wiped them on the towel after the old gentleman rabbit, instead of before him, for you see when the porcupine soaked up the water off his face he left some of his stickery-stockery quills sticking in the towel, and if Uncle Wiggily had used it then he might have been scratched. But, as it was, the rabbit didn't even get tickled, and very glad of it he was, too. Oh, my, yes, and some pepper hash in addition.

Well, Uncle Wiggily and the porcupine had their breakfast and then they started off. They hadn't gone very far before they met a locust sitting on the low limb of a tree. And this locust was buzzing his wings like an electric fan, and making more noise than you could shake your handkerchief at on a Tuesday morning.

"Why do you do that?" asked the rabbit.

"To keep myself cool," said the locust. "I am fanning myself with my buzzy wings for it is going to be a very hot day."

"Then we must keep in the shade as we travel along," said the porcupine, and that is what he and the old gentleman rabbit did. And it is a good thing they did so, for, as they walked along where it was cool and dark, beneath clumps of ferns, and under big, tall trees, they passed by a place where a bad snake lived.

"Look out! There's the snake's hole!" cried Uncle Wiggily, and he jumped to one side.

"Ha! I'm ready for him!" called the porcupine, and he got some of his stickery quills ready to jab into the snake. But the snake was out on a big rock, sunning himself in the hot sun, though when he heard the rabbit and porcupine talking he made a jump for them and tried to catch them.

But you see they were in the cool shadows, and the snake's eyes were blinded by the sun, so he could not see very well, and thus the rabbit and his friend escaped.

"I tell you it is a good thing we heard the locust sing, and that we kept in the shade, or else we might have stepped right on that snake and he'd have bitten and killed us," said the porcupine, and Uncle Wiggily said that this was true.

Well, they kept on and on, and pretty soon they sat down in the shade of a mulberry tree and ate their lunch. Then they rested a bit, and in the afternoon they traveled on farther.

And, just as they were passing by a large, gray rock, that had nice, green moss on it, all of a sudden they heard something calling like this:

"Cheep! Cheep! Chip-cheep-cheep! Oh, cheep! Peep! Peep!"

"What's that?" asked Uncle Wiggily in a whisper.

"I don't know. Maybe a burglar fox," answered the porcupine also, in a whisper. "But I'm all ready for him."

So he got out some of his sharpest stickery quills to jab into the burglar fox, and the noise still kept up:

"Cheep! Cheep! Yip! Yip! Yap! Yap! Cheep-chap!"

"That doesn't sound like a fox," said the rabbit, listening with his two ears.

"No, it doesn't," admitted the porcupine, and he stuck his quills back again like pins in a cushion. "Perhaps it is the skillery-scalery alligator, and my quills would be of no use against him," he went on.

Then, all at once, before Uncle Wiggily could make his nose twinkle like a star of a frosty night more than two times, there was a rustling in the bushes, and out popped a poor, little white chickie--only she wasn't so very white now, for her feathers were all wet and muddy.

"Cheep-chap! Yip-yap!" cried the little chickie.

"Why, what in the world are you doing away off here?" asked Uncle Wiggily. "You poor little dear! Where is your mother?"

"Oh, me! Oh, my!" cried the little chickie. "I only wish I knew. I'm lost! I wandered away from my mamma, and my brothers, and sisters, and I'm lost in these woods. Oh chip! Oh chap! Oh yip! Oh yap!" Then she cried real hard and the tears washed some of the dirt off her white feathers.

"Don't cry," said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. "We'll help you find your mamma, won't we, Mr. Porcupine?"

"Of course we will," said the stickery-stockery creature. "You go one way, Uncle Wiggily, and I'll go the other, and the chickie can stay on this big rock until one of us comes back with her mamma."

"Yes, and here is a piece of cherry pie for you to eat while we are gone," said the rabbit, giving the lost chickie a nice piece of the pie.

So off the rabbit and the porcupine started to find the chickie's mamma. They looked everywhere for her, but the porcupine couldn't find the old lady hen, so he went back to the rock to wait there with the lost chickie so she wouldn't be lonesome. But Uncle Wiggily wouldn't stop looking. Pretty soon he heard something going "cluck-cluck" in the bushes, and he knew that it was the mamma hen. Then he went up to her and said:

"Oh, I know where your little lost chickie is."

Well, at first, that mamma hen didn't know who the rabbit was, and she ruffled up her feathers, and puffed them out, and let down her wings, and she was going to fly right at Uncle Wiggily, but she happened to see who he was just in time and she said:

"Oh, thank you ever so much, Uncle Wiggily. I was so worried that I was just going down to the police station to see if a policeman had found her. Now I won't have to go. Come along, children, little lost Clarabella is found. Uncle Wiggily found her."

So she clucked to all the other children, and the rabbit led them toward where Clarabella was sitting on the rock with the porcupine.

And on the way a big, ugly fox leaped out of the bushes and tried to eat up all the chickens, and Uncle Wiggily also. But the old mother hen just ruffled up her feathers and puffed herself all out big again, and she flew at that fox and picked him in the eyes, and he was glad enough to slink away through the bushes, taking his fuzzy tail with him.

Then the rabbit hopped on and took the mamma hen to her little lost chickie on the rock, and the rabbit and the porcupine had supper that night with the chicken family and slept in a big basket full of straw next door to the chicken coop.

Then they traveled on the next day and something else happened. What it was I'll tell you right soon, when, in case a little boy named Willie doesn't crawl up in my lap when I'm writing and pull my ears, as the conductor does the trolley car bell-rope, the story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the wasp.

STORY XXV

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE WASP

"What would you like for breakfast this morning?" asked Mrs. Hen, as Uncle Wiggily and the porcupine got up out of their bed in the clean straw by the chickens' coop. This was the day after the rabbit found the little white chickie.

"Ha, hum! Let me see," exclaimed the rabbit, as he waved his whiskers around in the air to get all the straw seeds out of them: "what would I like? Why, I think some fried oranges with carrot gravy on them would be nice, don't you, Mr. Porcupine?"

"No," said the stickery-stockery creature. "I think I would like to have some bread with banana butter on and a glass of milk with vanilla flavoring."

"You may both have what you like, because you were so kind to my little lost Clarabella," said Mrs. Hen. Then she spoke to her children.

"Scurry around now, little ones, and get Uncle Wiggily and his friend the nice things for breakfast. Hurry now, for they will be wanting to travel on before the sun gets too hot," the mamma hen said.

So one little chickie got the oranges, and another chickie got the bananas, and still another chickery-chicken, with a spotted tail, got the carrots, and then Clarabella went to where Mrs. Cow lived, and got the milk for the prickly porcupine. Then Mrs. Hen cooked the breakfast, and very good it was, too, if I may be allowed to say so.

"Well, I guess we'll be getting along now," said Uncle Wiggily. "Are you still going to travel with me, Mr. Porcupine?"

"Oh, yes, I'll come with you for a couple days more, and then if you don't find your fortune I'll start out by myself, and perhaps I can find it for you."

So the two friends went on together. They traveled over hills and down dales, and once they met a lame rabbit, who had the epizootic very bad. Uncle Wiggily showed him how to make a crutch out of a cornstalk, just as Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, the muskrat, had done, and the lame rabbit made himself one and was much obliged.

Then, a little later they met a duck with only one good leg, and the other one was made of wood, and this duck wanted to get over a fence but she couldn't, on account of her wooden leg.

"Pray, how did you lose your leg?" asked Uncle Wiggily, as he and the porcupine kindly helped her over the rails.

"Oh, a bad rat bit it off," said the duck. "I was asleep in the pond one morning and before I knew it a rat swam up under water, and nipped off my leg."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," said the rabbit. "I'll tell Alice and Lulu and Jimmie Wibblewobble, my duck friends, to be careful of bad rats in their pond."

"That's a good idea," spoke the duck with the wooden leg, and then she said good-by and waddled away.

After that Uncle Wiggily and the porcupine traveled on some more, and, as it got to be very warm they thought they would lie down in a shady place and take a little sleep.

Well, they picked out a nice place under a clump of ferns, that leaned over a little babbling brook, and touched the tips of their green leaves into the cool water. And, before he knew it, dear old Uncle Wiggily was fast, fast asleep, and he snored the least little bit, but please don't tell any one about it.

Then pretty soon the porcupine was asleep too, only he didn't snore any, though I'm not allowed to tell you why just now. I may later, however.

Well, in a little while, something is going to happen. In fact, it's now time for it to begin. Yes, here comes the stingery wasp. Listen, and you can hear him buzz.

"Buzz! Buzz! Bizzy-buzzy-buzzy!" went the stingery wasp, as he flew over the place where the rabbit and porcupine were sleeping. And the wasp flitted and flapped his bluish wings and lifted up the sharp end of his body where be carries his stingery-sting.

"Ah, ha! I see something to sting!" thought the wasp. "Now, I wonder which one I shall sting first? I think I will try the porcupine, and then I will sting the rabbit." Oh, but he was a bad wasp, though; wasn't he, eh?

Well, he was all ready to sting the porcupine, when suddenly the wasp heard a voice calling to him from the bushes.

"Don't sting the porcupine, Mr. Wasp, sting the rabbit," said the rasping voice.

"Why should I do that?" asked the wasp, as he looked to see if his sting needed sharpening.

"Oh, because if you sting the porcupine you might get stuck with his stickery-stockery quills," said the voice. "But the rabbit can't hurt you. Besides, if you sting him for me I will give you a popcorn ball."

"Why are you so anxious for me to sting the rabbit?" asked the wasp, as he flittered his steely-blue wings.

"Oh, if you do that it will scare him so that he won't know which way to run, and then, when he is all puzzled up, I can jump out on him and eat him up!" said the voice. "I have been wanting a rabbit dinner this long time," and with that out from the bushes crawled the bad fox.

"Very well," said the wasp, "I'll sting the rabbit on the end of his twinkling nose for you, and then you must give me a popcorn ball," for you know wasps like sweet things.

So the wasp got ready to sting poor Uncle Wiggily, and all this while the rabbit and the porcupine were peacefully sleeping there under the ferns, and they didn't know what was going to happen.

"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!" went the wasp, as he flew closer to Uncle Wiggily. He was all ready to sting him, when a piece of bark happened to fall off a tree and hit the porcupine on his left ear, waking him up. He opened his eyes very quickly, thinking that a fairy was throwing snowballs at him, and then the porcupine heard the wasp buzzing, and he saw the wasp flying straight toward Uncle Wiggily to sting him, and next the porcupine saw the bad fox.

"Ha! So that is how things are, eh?" cried the porcupine, as he jumped up. "Well, I'll soon put a stop to that!"

So, before you could fan yourself with a feather, the porcupine took out one of his stickers, and he stuck the wasp with it so hard that the bad wasp was glad enough to fly away, taking his stinger with him.

"Now, it's your turn!" cried the porcupine to the fox, and with that he threw a whole lot of his sharp quills at the fox, and that bad creature ran away howling. And then Uncle Wiggily woke up and wanted to know what it was all about, and what made the buzzing and howling noises.

"You had a narrow escape," said the porcupine as he told the rabbit about the wasp and the fox.

"I guess I did," admitted Uncle Wiggily. "I'm much obliged to you. Now let's have supper."

So they ate their supper, and that's all I can tell you for the present, if you please. But, in case I see a little pig with a pink ribbon tied in his curly tail, I'll make the next bedtime story, about Uncle Wiggily and the bluebell.

STORY XXVI

UNCLE WIGGLY AND THE BLUEBELL

Well, I didn't see any little pig with a pink ribbon tied in his kinky, curly tail, but I'll tell you a story just the same if you'd like to hear it.

Once upon a time, a good many years ago, when--Oh, there I go again! I'm always making mistakes like that, of late. That's a story about a giant that I was thinking of, whereas I meant to tell you one about Uncle Wiggily, and what happened to him.

It was the day after the wasp had nearly stung him, and the old gentleman rabbit was traveling on alone, for the second cousin to Grandfather Prickly Porcupine had to go home, and so he couldn't help Uncle Wiggily hunt for his fortune any longer.

"Now take care of yourself," the porcupine had said to the rabbit, as they bade each other good-by, "and don't let any wasps sting you."

"What should I do, in case I happened to be stung?" asked Uncle Wiggily.

"Put some mud on the place," said the porcupine. "Mud is good for stings."

"I will," said the rabbit, and then he hopped on with his valise and his red-white-and-blue-striped-barber-pole crutch. Uncle Wiggily hoped he would soon find his fortune, for he wanted to get back home and see Sammie and Susie Littletail, and all the other animal friends. So he looked around very carefully for any signs of gold. He also asked all the animals and flowers whom he met if they could tell him where his fortune was.

"No," said a warty-spotted toad, "I can't tell you, but I should think you would dig in the ground for gold."

So Uncle Wiggily dug in the dirt in many places, but no gold did he find.

"Perhaps you can tell me where my fortune is?" he said to a tailor-bird who was sewing some leaves together to make a nest.

"It might be up in the air," said the tailor-bird. "If I were you I should hop up into the air and look for it."

Well, Uncle Wiggily hopped up, but you know how it is with rabbits. They're not made to fly, and he couldn't stay up in the air long enough to do any good, so he couldn't find any gold that way.

"Oh, dear! I guess I'll never find my fortune," said the rabbit sadly-like. Then he saw a little blue flower, shaped just like a bell, hanging on a stem over a small babbling brook of water.

"Ah, there is a bluebell!" said the rabbit. "Perhaps she knows where my fortune is. I'll ask her, for flowers are very wise."

"No, I can't tell you where there is any gold," said the bluebell when Uncle Wiggily had asked her most politely. "All I do is to swing backward and forward here all day long, and I ring my bell and I am happy. I do not need gold."

"I wish I didn't have to have it, but I do. I need it to make my fortune, and then I can go home," said the rabbit.

"Very well," spoke the blue flower, as she rang her bell, oh so sweetly! so that it seemed to the rabbit as if she played a song about the blue skies, and birds singing and fountains spouting upward in the sun while pretty blossoms grew all around. "Go on, Uncle Wiggily, but if you don't find your fortune come back here, and I will sing you to sleep," she added.

"I will," spoke the rabbit, as he hopped away.

Well, pretty soon, not so very long, as he was walking on a path through the woods, Uncle Wiggily heard a voice speaking.

"I can tell you where to find your fortune," said the voice. "I know where there is a big pile of yellow stones, and I think they are gold. Follow me and I will show you."

"But who are you?" asked the rabbit, for he could see no one. "You may be the alligator for all I know."

"Oh, I'm not the alligator," was the answer. "I am a friend of yours, and I like you very much," and the unseen one smacked his lips. "But I can't come out and let you see me, for I dare not go out in the sun as I am afraid of getting too hot," the voice answered, "so I will just creep along through the bushes and I will wiggle my tail, and you can see it moving in the grass, and you can follow that without seeing me, and I will lead you to the pile of yellow stones."

"Very well," answered the rabbit, "though I would much rather see you. But go ahead and I'll follow, for I must find my fortune."

So the old gentleman rabbit saw the grass wiggling and he followed that, and he kept thinking of how rich he would soon be, and how many nice things he would buy for Sammie and Susie Littletail.

But if the rabbit had only known who it was he was following he wouldn't have been so happy, for it was a crawly snake, and that snake was only fooling Uncle Wiggily, and trying to get him off to his den so he could eat him. And that's why he didn't show himself. On and on the snake wiggled through the grass, shaking his tail, and the poor rabbit followed after him.

"Are we nearly to the gold?" asked Uncle Wiggily after a bit.

"Almost," answered the snake, making his voice soft and gentle.

The snake was nearly at his den now, and he was just going to turn around and squeeze the rabbit to death, when all at once a yellow bumblebee that was flying overhead looked down and saw the crawly creature, and the bee knew what the snake was going to do.

"Run away, Uncle Wiggily! Run!" called the bee, "the snake is fooling you!"

Well, Uncle Wiggily didn't wait a second. He jumped right over a briar bush and away he hopped as fast as he could hop, and the snake didn't get him, and, oh, how mad that snake was!

Uncle Wiggily hopped around and around in the woods and the first thing he knew he couldn't find the path, he was so excited. And the more he tried to find it the more he couldn't, until he sat down on a stump and said:

"I'm lost. I know I am! Lost in the dark, deep, dismal woods, and night coming on! Oh, what shall I do?"

Well, he was feeling very badly, and was quite frightened, and he didn't know what to do when, all at once he heard a bell ringing. Oh, such a sweet-toned silvery bell. "Ding-dong! Ding-dong!" it went, sounding very clearly through the woods. Then the bell seemed to say:

"Come this way, Uncle Wiggily, come this way. Ding-dong!"

"Oh, that's the bluebell flower!" cried the rabbit. "How glad I am. Now I can follow the ringing sound and get to a nice place to stay for the night."

So he listened carefully, and the blue flower rang her tinkling bell louder than ever, and the rabbit could tell by the sound of it just which way to go, and pretty soon he was out of the woods and right beside the flower that was swinging to and fro in the wind, just like a bell in a church steeple.

"Oh, I'm go glad I could ring and tell you the way back here," said the bluebell. "Now lie down and sleep, and if there is any danger I will tinkle my bell and awaken you."

So Uncle Wiggily stretched out on some soft moss, and went to sleep. And there was some danger for him, as I shall tell you very soon, when, in case the rocking chair on the front porch doesn't go swimming in the molasses barrel, the next story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the Wibblewobble children.

STORY XXVII

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE WIBBLEWOBBLES

Uncle Wiggily, the nice old gentleman rabbit, was sleeping on the soft moss under a clump of ferns, and over his head the bluebell flower was nodding in the night breeze, keeping watch for danger. For you remember, I dare say, that the flower had promised to awaken Uncle Wiggily in case any harm happened to come near him.

Hour after hour crept along, like a little mouse after a bit of cheese, and still the rabbit slumbered, and still the bluebell nodded her drowsy head, for she would not go to sleep while she was keeping watch.

"I think I will just take one little nap," said the flower to herself, after a bit, "just shut my eyes for a little while." So she did so, and then, all of a sudden, as quietly as a clock when it isn't ticking, there came creeping and crawling through the woods, the bad scalery-tailery alligator.

He was looking around sniffing, and snooping, and scuffing for something to eat, and pretty soon he sniffed and snuffed until he came to where Uncle Wiggily was fast asleep, dreaming that he had found his fortune. And the worst part of it was that the bluebell flower also was sleeping, and she couldn't tell the rabbit what was going to happen.

"Oh, I'll have a fine meal in about a minute," said the scalery-tailery alligator as he smacked his big jaws. Then he shuffled up closer to Uncle Wiggily, and was about to bite him when all of a sudden the nutmeg grater tail of the scalery alligator accidentally hit against the bluebell flower, and she awoke quickly.

"Tinkle! Tinkle! Tinkle! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!" rang out the bluebell, just like an alarm clock in the morning. "Ding-dong-dong! Tinkle! Tinkle!"

Up jumped Uncle Wiggily, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He looked through the woods, and by the light of the silvery moon he saw the grinning alligator, with his open mouth, close to him.

"Run, Uncle Wiggily! Run!" cried the bluebell, and then she made such a jingling-jangling noise that all the birds in the woods awakened, and by the moonlight, they flew down at that alligator, and stuck him with their sharp bills, so that he was glad to crawl away, and he didn't forget to take his scalery tail with him, either.

"My, that was a narrow escape!" said the rabbit. "I am glad he didn't eat me."

"So am I," said the bluebell, "and I'll not go to sleep again, either, I promise you."

So the flower stayed wide awake the rest of the night, and the rabbit slept on the soft moss, and in the morning he awakened and ate his breakfast out of his valise, and then, saying good-by to the flower and thanking her, he set off once more to seek his fortune.

Uncle Wiggily traveled on and on, looking in all the places he could think of for some gold, but he couldn't seem to find any. And then, just when he got on top of a little hill, and started down the other side he heard some one crying--no, I'm just a bit wrong, he heard three some ones crying--three separate and distinct cries.

"Oh, dear, I've got a sliver in my foot!" blubbered one voice.

"And I've stepped on a stone and there's a big bruise on my foot!" sniffled another voice.

"Oh! none of you is as badly off as I am," quivered a third voice, "for I've cut my two feet on a piece of glass! Oh, whatever shall we do?"

"My, I wonder who they can be?" thought the rabbit, for he could see no one as yet. "Maybe those are the little children of the burglar fox, and if they are, then the burglar fox must be somewhere around here, and I had better be careful of myself."

Well, the rabbit was about to turn, and run back down the hill, up which he had just come, when he saw something white fluttering like a piece of paper.

"A fox isn't white," Uncle Wiggily said to himself, "at least not the foxes around here. That must be something else." So he took another careful look, and he saw three nice little duck children--I guess you remember their names--Lulu and Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble. And as soon as they saw the old gentleman rabbit, those three duck children exclaimed:

"Oh, joy! Oh, happiness!" and they didn't think about the slivers and the bruises and the cuts in their feet any more.

"My goodness me sakes alive and a potato pancake!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "What are you children doing so far away from home? You must be lost."

"We are lost," said Jimmie Wibblewobble, "all three of us."

"Yes," went on Lulu, "we are certainly lost, and it's Jimmie's fault, for he asked us to come."

"Oh! it's not all Jimmie's fault," said Alice gently, as she looked at her brother. "You see, Uncle Wiggily, we are visiting our Aunt Lettie, the old lady goat, who lives in the country near here. We are at her house for our vacation, and to-day we started to go to the woods to have a good time, but we took the wrong path and we are lost, and I have a big sliver in my foot."

"Yes, and I stepped on a stone, and have a big bruise," whimpered Jimmie.

"And I've cut both feet on a piece of glass," cried Lulu Wibblewobble, "and Oh, we are all so miserable!"

"Well, well!" exclaimed the rabbit in a jolly voice, "this is too bad. I must see what I can do for you. First we will take the sliver out of Alice's foot," and he did so with a sharp needle. It hurt a little, but Alice never cried.

"Now for Jimmie's bruise," said the rabbit, and he took some soft green leaves, and made a plaster of them, and with some ribbon-grass for a string he tied the plaster on Jimmie's foot, and that was almost well. Then Uncle Wiggily made a little salve, from some gum out of a cherry tree, and bound up the glass cuts on Lulu's feet.

"Now, I will lead you to your Aunt Lettie's house," said the rabbit, "and you won't be lost any more." So the three Wibblewobble children felt much better and happier, and when they were almost at their aunt's house, a big hawk swooped down out of the sky and tried to bite Lulu. But Uncle Wiggily hit the bad bird with his barber-pole crutch, and the hawk flew away, flopping his wings and tail.

"Oh, how good, and brave, and strong you are!" cried Lulu to Uncle Wiggily, and then all three duck children kissed him. Soon they were at the goat-lady's home, and Aunt Lettie was very glad to see the rabbit gentleman, and also glad to have the children back. So she invited Uncle Wiggily to stay to supper, and very glad he was to do so.

He also stayed all night at Aunt Lettie's house, and he had quite an adventure, too, which I shall tell you about directly, when, in case the fire shovel doesn't slide down hill on a cake of ice and break its roller skates the next bedtime story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the berry bush.

STORY XXVIII

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BERRY BUSH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So he stayed in the briar bush that night and had berries for breakfast, and the next day he had another adventure. What it was I will tell you on the page after this one, when the bedtime story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the camp fire--that is, if the cat across the street doesn't untie the pink ribbon off our pussy's neck and put it on his ice cream cone.

STORY XXIX

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CAMP FIRE

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

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

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

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

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