UNCLE WIGGILY'S
FORTUNE
BY
HOWARD R. GARIS
Author of "Sammie and Susie Littletail," "Johnnie and Billie
Bushytail," "Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg," "Joie,
Tommie and Kittie Kat," "Uncle Wiggily's
Travels," "Those Smith Boys," Series,
"The Island Boys," Series, etc.
ILLUSTRATED BY LOUIS WISA
R. F. FENNO & COMPANY
18 EAST SEVENTEENTH STREET
NEW YORK
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
By HOWARD R. GARIS
THE BEDTIME STORIES SERIES
EIGHT COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS
Price 75 cents each, postpaid
SAMMIE AND SUSIE LITTLETAIL
31 Rabbit Stories
JOHNNIE AND BILLIE BUSHYTAIL
31 Squirrel Stories
LULU, ALICE AND JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE
31 Duck Stories
JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW WOW
31 Dog Stories
BUDDY AND BRIGHTEYES PIGG
31 Guinea Pig Stories
JOIE, TOMMIE AND KITTIE KAT
31 Cat Stories
CHARLIE AND ARABELLA CHICK
31 Chicken Stories
THE UNCLE WIGGILY SERIES
EIGHT COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS
Price 75 cents each, postpaid
UNCLE WIGGILY'S ADVENTURES
31 of the Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories
UNCLE WIGGILY'S TRAVELS
31 more of the Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories
UNCLE WIGGILY'S FORTUNE
31 other of the Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories
UNCLE WIGGILY'S AUTOMOBILE
31 different Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories
THOSE SMITH BOYS SERIES
FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS
Price 75 cents each, postpaid
THOSE SMITH BOYS
THOSE SMITH BOYS ON THE DIAMOND
THE ISLAND BOYS SERIES
FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS
Price 75 cents each, postpaid
THE ISLAND BOYS
(Other volumes In preparation)
Copyright, 1913, by
R. F. FENNO & COMPANY
FORTUNE
STORY I
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE FOX
Once upon a time, not so very many years ago, there lived an old gentleman rabbit named Uncle Wiggily Longears. He was a nice, quiet sort of a bunny, and he had lots of friends among other rabbits, and squirrels, and ducks, and doggies, and pussy cats, and mice and lambs, and all sorts of animals.
Most especially there was a muskrat lady, named Miss Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, who liked Uncle Wiggily very much. She made a crutch for him, when he had the rheumatism. She gnawed it out of a cornstalk for him, and painted it red, white and blue with raspberry jam.
Well, Uncle Wiggily was a funny old rabbit gentleman. He was always having adventures--which means things happening to you, such as stubbing your toe, or getting lost or things like that.
I have told you some of his adventures in a book before this one, and also about how he traveled all around looking for his fortune, so he would be rich. But he didn't find it for some time, though many things happened to him.
The last thing that happened, in the book before this one, was that he tore his nice coat, and a good tailor bird kindly mended it for him. And he stayed at her house for some time, bringing up coal, and sweeping the sidewalk, and things like that to be useful; for Uncle Wiggily was very kind.
He used to sleep in a hollow stump, near the nest of the tailor bird, and one night it rained so hard that he had to go to bed and pull the dried leaves up over him to keep warm. All night it rained, and in the morning Uncle Wiggily got up, and he was hoping it had cleared off, so he could travel on and seek his fortune, and get rich.
Out of bed hopped Uncle Wiggily. In one corner of the stump was his valise in which he carried his lunch and clean clothes and the like of that.
The day before, a bad wolf had chased Uncle Wiggily, catching him and tearing his coat, so that now the rabbit gentleman was quite stiff and sore. Still he managed to move about.
"Oh, dear me!" he exclaimed as he looked out of a hole in the stump, and saw the big rain drops still pattering down, "this is a very poor day for me to find my fortune. Still, I can't stay in on account of the weather, so I will get my breakfast and travel on."
He had some carrot and lettuce sandwiches in his valise and he ate these and then looked out to see if the rain had stopped, but it had not, I am sorry to say.
"Well," Uncle Wiggily said. "I don't like to get wet, but there is no help for it. I'll start out." Then he happened to think of something. "I know what I'll do!" he exclaimed. "I'll get the largest toadstool I can find, and use it for an umbrella."
Out he ran and soon he had picked a big toadstool that made as fine an umbrella as one could wish. Then, strapping his satchel to his back, where it would be out of the way, the old gentleman rabbit hopped off, holding the toadstool umbrella over his head, and limping along on his barber-pole crutch. And as he went over the meadows and through the woods he sang this little song, and sometimes when one sings it just at the right time, why it stops raining almost at once. But it has to be sung at the proper time. Anyhow this is the song:
"Splish-splash! Drip-dash!
How the raindrops fall!
When the weather gets too wet,
It isn't nice at all.
"Mr. Rain, oh, please go 'way!
For my feet are wet.
And you're splashing on my nose.
What? You can't stop yet?
"Won't you please be nice to me--
Make your raindrops dry.
I am sure you could do this
If you'd only try.
"Dry raindrops are very nice,
And if they would fall,
We could walk in showers, and
Not get wet at all."
Well, as soon as Uncle Wiggily had sung this song, he looked up quickly from under his toadstool umbrella to see if it had stopped raining, but it hadn't, and he got a drop right in his left eye, which made him sneeze so hard that his spectacles fell off. And they dropped right into a mud puddle.
"Ha, hum!" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit, "this is a pretty kettle of fish!" Of course, he didn't mean that there was a kettle of fish in the mud puddle, but that was his manner of talking, because he was so surprised. "A very pretty kettle of fish, indeed!" cried the old gentleman rabbit, "and speaking of fish, I guess I'll have to fish for my spectacles."
So what did he do but use his red-white-and-blue-striped-barber-pole crutch for a fishing pole, and he dipped it down in the mud puddle and in a little while up came his glasses wiggling on the end of the crutch just like an eel.
"That is good luck!" said the rabbit, as he wiped off the mud and water and put on his spectacles, and he was just going to put his toadstool umbrella over his head again when he found out that the rain had stopped and he didn't need it.
Then he left the toadstool hanging on a berry bush by the mud puddle to dry, so that whoever came along next time would have an umbrella all ready for the rain.
"Well, now that the sun is coming out I must be on the watch for my fortune," said the old gentleman rabbit to himself. And he peered first on one side of the road and then on the other, but not a sign of his fortune could he see.
Then, all of a sudden he saw something shining golden yellow in a field close by.
"Ah, that must be a pile of yellow gold!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "Now my fortune is made!" and he hopped over to the field. But alas! and alack-a-day! Instead of being gold the pile of yellow things were carrots.
"Well, it might be worse!" said the rabbit. "At least I can eat carrots. I wonder if whoever they belong to would mind if I took some?"
"I wouldn't mind a bit!" exclaimed a voice. "Take as many as you like, Uncle Wiggily," and up jumped Mr. Groundhog, who owned the carrots. "Take all you can eat and fill your valise," said Mr. Groundhog.
"Thank you very kindly," replied the rabbit, so he ate several carrots and filled his satchel with more, and then he and Mr. Groundhog talked about the weather, and things like that, until it was time for Uncle Wiggily to hop on again after his fortune.
But he didn't find it, and pretty soon it came on toward night, and the old gentleman rabbit looked for a place to stay while it was dark.
"I think this will do," he said, when he came to a small stone cave. "I'll just crawl in here with my carrots and my crutch," and in he crawled as nicely as a basket of shavings.
Pretty soon Uncle Wiggily was fast, fast asleep, and he never thought the least mite about any danger. But danger was close at hand just the same.
Hark! What's that creeping, creeping along under the bushes? Eh? What's that? Why, my goodness me sakes alive and a piece of pie! It's the fuzzy old fox! Yes, as true as I'm telling you, the old red fox had seen Uncle Wiggily go into the cave, and now he was snooping and snipping up to catch him if he could.
"Oh, I'll soon have a fine time!" said the fox in a whisper, smacking his lips. Into the cave he crawled, and in the darkness he happened to knock over Uncle Wiggily's crutch, which was standing in a corner. Quickly the old gentleman rabbit awakened when he heard the noise. Up he jumped and he cried out:
"Who's there?"
"I'm the fox," was the answer, "and I came to catch you."
But do you s'pose Uncle Wiggily was afraid? Not a bit of it. He ran to his valise and he took out a pawful of carrots with their sharp points, and before that fox could even sneeze the rabbit threw one carrot at him and hit him on the nose, for Uncle Wiggily could see in the dark.
Then he threw another carrot and hit the fox on the ear, and then he threw still another one and he hit him on the two eyes, and that fox was so frightened and surprised that he jumped out of the second-story window of the cave house and sprained his toenail. Then he ran back to his den and didn't bother Uncle Wiggily any more that night, and the rabbit slept in peace and quietness, and dreamed about Santa Claus and ice-cream popcorn balls.
But Uncle Wiggily had another adventure next day. I'll tell you about it in a little while, when, in case some one sends me a mud pie with a cherry on the top, the story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the bird's nest.
STORY II
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BIRD'S NEST
"Now, I must be very careful to-day," said Uncle Wiggily to himself as he got up after sleeping in the stone cave, as I told you he did in the story before this one. "I must be very careful so that fox won't catch me."
So, very carefully and cautiously, he crept to the window of the stone cave house, and looked down, but the red fox was not there. The sun was brightly shining and the old gentleman rabbit could see the big dent made in the soft ground, where the fox had landed when he jumped out of the window and sprained his toenail.
"My! that certainly was a narrow escape for me," thought Uncle Wiggily. Then he fried some of Mr. Groundhog's carrots for his breakfast and, putting some of them in his valise for his lunch, off he started once more to seek his fortune.
He hadn't gone very far before he came to a place where he heard a funny buzzing sound. It was just like a small saw-mill away off in the woods, where the men saw logs into boards in order that houses may be built.
"Oh, my suz dud and a piece of red paper!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "I must be careful or I might get my nose cut off in that saw-mill." So he was very careful, and, after he had listened a while longer, he wasn't quite so sure that it was a saw-mill that he heard, for he could hear a little voice crying:
"Oh, dear. I'll never get loose! I'm caught fast! Oh, if some one would only help me!"
"Ha! That is some one in trouble!" said the rabbit. "I'm going to see if I can't help them." So he bravely kept on through the woods, and the buzzing sound became louder, until, all at once, the old gentleman rabbit saw a nice, good bumble bee caught in the web of a big, black spider.
The bee was all tangled up in the web, and it was his wings fluttering to and fro and up and down that made the buzzing sound.
"Ha! Can't you get loose?" asked the rabbit.
"Indeed he can't!" cried the big, black spider lady, as she sat all hunched up in a corner of her web, waiting for the bee to get more tangled up and all tired out, so she could bite him. "He'll never get away from me," said the spider lady, sassy-like.
"Oh, ho! We will have to see about that!" exclaimed the rabbit. "I am afraid you are mistaken, Mrs. Spider. I am very sorry to have to spoil your cobweb, but I must help my friend, the bumble bee." And with that Uncle Wiggily took his crutch, and broke the web away from the bee's legs and wings so that he was loose and could fly away.
"I never can thank you enough, Uncle Wiggily," said the bee to the rabbit, "and if ever I can do you, or any of your friends, a favor I will. Don't forget to call on me."
"And if ever I can bite you, I will, Mr. Rabbit," said the spider in her crossest voice, as she set to work to mend her cobweb net so that she might catch some one else. Oh! but she was angry, though perhaps we can't blame her.
Well, Uncle Wiggily didn't worry much about what the spider said, as he knew he was going to travel on for a long distance after his fortune, and he didn't think she would come after him, and she didn't.
On and on hopped the old gentleman rabbit, sometimes going slowly and sometimes fast, and once in a while he would go up a hill, and then, again, he would go down. And so it went on. When it wasn't one thing it was another. But he didn't find his fortune anywhere.
Pretty soon, when it was nearly noon, Uncle Wiggily began to feel hungry, so he looked for a nice place where he might sit down and eat his lunch. He saw a shady tree, and he walked toward that, and, just as he did so, he happened to look up, and there, hanging from a branch, was a sort of brown-colored round object, that looked like a small bag.
"Ha! I think I know what that is!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "That is the nest of a stingery hornet, and if I go too close I'll get stung. I'll just keep away, and go somewhere else to eat my lunch."
Uncle Wiggily started off, but at that moment he heard some voices calling. And this is what they said:
"Oh, dear! How hungry we are! Oh, when will mamma come back! Oh, if we only had something to eat!"
"Hum! I hope those hornets don't see me, and come out to bite me," said the rabbit.
And, would you ever believe it? the next moment those who had been calling must have seen Uncle Wiggily, for a voice exclaimed:
"Oh, good Mr. Rabbit won't you please come here? We can't get out, and our mamma has gone to the store for something to eat, and she hasn't come back; and we're so hungry. Please help us!"
"No indeed, I will not!" said Uncle Wiggily firmly. "I don't want to be unkind," he said, "but I am afraid you will sting me, you little hornets!"
"Why, the idea!" cried all the voices at once. "We are not hornets, we are only little birdies, and this is a bird's nest."
"Why, bless my whiskers!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "I believe I have made a mistake." Then he put on his glasses, and surely enough he saw that the brown object like a bag was a nest, and it was full of little birds who could not yet fly very much, for their wings were not strong enough.
"Now, will you help us?" the birdies asked the rabbit. "Help us, please do; for we won't hurt you!"
"Bless my whiskers! Of course I will!" Uncle Wiggily cried, and he at once opened his valise and gave them all they could eat.
"Now I will go look for your mamma," he said. Off he started, but he had not gone very far before he heard the birdies in the nest crying:
"Help! Help! Help!" Uncle Wiggily looked back, and there was a great, big, ugly snake crawling up the tree to get the little birds.
"Oh, I must stop that!" exclaimed the rabbit, and back he started to hop to the nest. But he was quite a distance off, and he saw that he could not get back in time to drive off the snake. "Oh, what shall I do?" he cried. "If only the bumble bee would come along now and sting that snake the crawly creature would run away!"
And, would you ever believe it if I didn't tell you? At that moment along buzzed the bee and he saw the snake and stung him so that the snake was glad to jump away, and not hurt the little birdies. Then Uncle Wiggily and the little birds thanked the bee, who buzzed off to find some apple blossom honey. And pretty soon the mamma bird came home from the store, and she was very grateful to the rabbit for taking care of her little ones.
The reason she was away so long was because a boy threw a stone at her and made her spill the bread she had for her birdies. So she had to go back to the store for more.
"If you stay with us for a few days we will help you look for your fortune," said the mamma bird, and Uncle Wiggily did stay, and he had an adventure.
I'll tell you about it on the next page, when, in case the popcorn ball doesn't roll off the table and bump the kittie's nose, the story will be about Uncle Wiggily and a big rat.
STORY III
UNCLE WIGGILY AND A BIG RAT
When Uncle Wiggily had fed the little birds in the nest, after he and the bumble bee had saved them from the snake, as I told you in another story, the mamma bird said she could not do enough for the old gentleman rabbit.
"I will have my little ones sing a song for you," she went on. "Come now, birdies, sing for Uncle Wiggily."
So this is the song the little birds in the nest sang:
"Uncle Wiggily is good,
Uncle Wiggily is kind,
And we hope with all our hearts,
That his fortune he may find.
"Gold and silver, diamonds, too,
Ice-cream cones and candy sticks,
And we hope that he can buy,
Two red monkeys who do tricks."
"Oh! that is a very nice song, birdies," said the rabbit, as he took off his hat and made a low bow. "But," he went on, "I don't know as I care for red monkeys who do tricks. What in the world would I do with them?"
"Why, you could give them to us and they would amuse us when our mamma was away," said a little bird who had some feathers sticking crossways in her tail.
"Yes, I suppose I could give you the monkeys," went on the old gentleman rabbit, "but I hardly expect to find any in my travels--especially red ones."
"Won't you stay to supper with us?" asked the mamma bird, "and we would also be pleased to have you stay all night. Oh, no!" she suddenly exclaimed. "I don't see how you can stay all night."
"I can if you want me to," said Uncle Wiggily, for he thought perhaps the bird was afraid the snake might come back in the darkness, and the old gentleman rabbit made up his mind that if the crawly creature did sneak up, he would hit it with his crutch.
"Well, of course we'd like to have you stay," said the mamma bird, slowly, "but the truth of the matter is that I have no place for you to sleep. You see, our nest is so small; and besides, I never knew of a rabbit in a nest, except at Easter time."
"Of course," agreed Uncle Wiggily, "I never thought of that. However, it is very kind of you, and I'll travel on until I find a hollow stump, or some place like that where I can sleep."
"Oh, mamma!" exclaimed a little boy birdie, "why can't Uncle Wiggily make a tent, and sleep in it right near our nest? He can pretend that he is camping out."
"The very thing!" cried the rabbit. "I'll do it. But of what can I make a tent?"
"We can give you the sticks and the cloth," said the mamma bird, so she showed Uncle Wiggily where there were some nice long sticks, like fishing poles, and some old sheets from a bed that no one wanted.
"That will make a fine tent!" said Uncle Wiggily, "and I'm sure I will sleep in it very nicely."
So he set to work to make the tent. First he stuck one stick in the ground, and then he stuck another stick in, and then still another, until he had about seven sticks sticking around in a circle. Next the mamma bird pulled them together at the top, just like the Indians' tents in the Wild West show, and then she and all the other little birdies tied them with blades of grass for strings, and helped put the cloth around to cover up the sticks.
Then, if you'll believe me, and I hope you do, there was the tent, pointed on top and round at the bottom, just like those chocolate drops with white cream inside that are so nice and soft.
"Ha! this is a very fine tent indeed!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "Now I'll move my valise and crutch inside, and I'll feel right at home."
"And we'll help you make your bed," said the little birds, and away some of the strongest of them flew around, gathering up in their bills dozens of soft leaves, and soon they had made as fine a bed, almost, as baby's crib.
Then supper was ready. And now, let me see, what did they have for supper? Oh, I know! There was some rose leaf pie, and some violets with sugar on, and some bird seed boiled in molasses, and for Uncle Wiggily there was the loveliest turnip cake, with carrot frosting on top, that you have ever seen. Oh! it was most delicious, and it makes me hungry even to typewrite about it, and I'm sure you would like it if you had some.
"Now it's bedtime for you birdies," said the mamma, and she sang them a little lullaby and soon their eyes were tightly shut.
"Yes, and I guess I had better get in my tent," said the rabbit, so in he crawled beneath the cloth that was stretched over the poles, down upon the bed of leaves he lay, and soon he too was fast, fast asleep.
Well, along about in the middle of the night Uncle Wiggily was awakened by hearing something scratching on the side of the tent.
"Ha, hum! I wonder what that can be?" he asked. "Perhaps it is the bad snake coming back. If it is I must get ready with my crutch."
So he reached out in the darkness to get hold of the crutch and just then he saw a light flickering. And a moment later something big and black, with long whiskers, and long sharp teeth, came right inside the tent. And Uncle Wiggily saw that it was a big rat, and that rat had a bottle, and in it were a lot of flickering lightning bugs, and that was the lantern the rat carried, so that he could see in the dark.
"Oh, hello! So you're in here, eh?" asked the rat as he waved his whiskers to and fro at Uncle Wiggily. "Well, I'm disappointed."
"Why so?" asked the rabbit, as he got his crutch and stood ready to hit the rat in case he sprang forward to use his sharp teeth. "Why are you disappointed?"
"Because I thought the birds were in here," said the rat. "I mean to take them all off to my den and make them sing me to sleep. But since you are here, I'll begin on you first, and then I'll go out and pull down the birds' nest."
"Oh, no, you can't do that," said Uncle Wiggily firmly.
"Why not?" asked the rat, surprised-like. "Who will stop me?"
"I will!" bravely cried Uncle Wiggily, and with that he raised his crutch, and he tickled that rat right on the end of his long tail. And the rat was so surprised that he thought he had been struck by a policeman's club. So he jumped around, and, as he did so, Uncle Wiggily threw a piece of cherry pie at him, and it was all soft and squashy like, and the juice ran down in the rat's eyes, and so blinded him that he couldn't see to bite the rabbit, or even a piece of cheese.
"Now, you get right out of this tent, and don't you dare to harm the birds!" cried the old gentleman rabbit, and that rat went right out, taking his long thin tail with him, but forgetting his lightning bug lantern, which he left on the ground.
So Uncle Wiggily looked out to make sure that the rat didn't go near the birds' nest and the bad creature didn't, but he scurried back to his hole in the rocks, feeling quite savage-like and more disappointed than ever.
Next the rabbit took the cork out of the rat's bottle-lantern and he let the poor lightning bugs go, and they were very thankful. And then the rabbit stretched out on the leaves again, and went to sleep until morning and nothing more disturbed him.
Now if the knives and forks don't jump up and down on the table, and upset the sugar bowl, so that it scares the vinegar bottle, I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily on a raft.
Uncle Wiggily and the Big River Rat
STORY IV
UNCLE WIGGILY ON A RAFT
"Well, I think I will be traveling along now," said Uncle Wiggily to the bird family the next morning after he had had the adventure with the rat. "I must have another try at finding my fortune. And, perhaps, since you sang such a nice song for me yesterday, you little birds will sing another as I am leaving."
"Of course they will," said their mamma, so she gave a few trills and chords to start them off, and the birdies sang this:
"Dear old Uncle Wiggily,
We wish that you could stay
And live near our nest always,
To drive the rats away.
"But if you now must leave us,
Then we will wish for you,
That you may have much happiness
Whatever you may do."
"I'm sure that's very nice," said the rabbit, "and now I'll bid you good-bye and travel on."
"But you must take some lunch with you," said the mamma bird, and she gave him some more cherry pie to make up for the piece he had thrown at the rat.
Uncle Wiggily went on and on, and pretty soon he came to a place in the woods where there was a tall tree. And some distance up from the ground there was a hole in this tree trunk.
"Ha, hum!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, "perhaps there may be gold in that tree hole. Now if I could only climb up to see, I might find my fortune."
Well, you know how it is with rabbits. They can't climb a tree even as well as a girl can, and, of course, Uncle Wiggily had to remain on the ground.
"If only Johnnie or Billie Bushytail were here now," thought the rabbit, "those squirrel boys could climb the tree for me. But I know what I'll do, I'll tie a stone to a string, and I'll put some molasses on the stone and throw it up into the hole in the tree. Then, if there is any gold there, it may stick to the molasses on the stone, and I can pull some down."
So he did this, and he made the string fast to the stone, and was all ready to throw it up when he happened to remember that he had no molasses.
"How careless of me! What shall I do?" he exclaimed. And a voice answered:
"I will give you some molasses, Uncle Wiggily."
The old gentleman rabbit looked around, and there was a nice, green grasshopper, and, as she had some molasses with her, she put quite a lot on the stone. Then the rabbit threw it up at the hole in the tree, but a most surprising thing happened.
For, instead of being gold in the hole there were two unpleasant old owls there, and when the molasses-covered stone popped in on them it awakened them from their sleep, for owls sleep in the day time, and fly about at night, you know.
"Who threw that stone?" cried one owl.
"I don't know," answered the other owl, and she gnashed her sharp beak, "but whoever it was I'm going to bite him!"
"Oh, run! Run for your life, Uncle Wiggily!" cried the grasshopper, as the two owls stuck their heads out of the hole in the tree. "Hop away!"
So Uncle Wiggily hopped off, and the grasshopper hopped also, and the two owls flopped down after them. But the savage birds could not see very well in the day time, and one went ker-bunk into a tree, and the other went ker-thump into a briar bush, and they were all tangled up, and so Uncle Wiggily and the grasshopper got safely away.
"Well, I didn't get any fortune that time," said the rabbit sorrowfully as he hopped down a hill. "But perhaps I may find it soon."
The next place he came to was a big river, and, as he stood on the bank and looked across, it seemed to Uncle Wiggily that he could see a big field of gold on the other side.
"I must get over there," he said to himself, "and I am sure I will find my fortune. But how am I going to do it? That river is too wide for me to jump across, and it is too wide for me to swim. If I only had a boat I would be all right."
The old gentleman rabbit looked around for a boat, but none was at hand. Then he happened to think of something that Sammie and Susie Littletail once did.
"That's what I'll do!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, "I'll make a raft." So he got some planks and boards and sticks, and he laid them crossways one upon the other, and tied them together with strong pieces of wild grape vine. Then he had a raft on which he could sit and push himself across the river, almost as well as if he had a rowboat.
"Now, I'll put my valise on board, and hop on myself, and away we'll go!" he cried, and he was very much pleased with the raft that he had made. Into the water he shoved it, and in the middle of the raft he placed his valise. Then he got on, and shoved off, using his crutch for a pushing pole.
Out into the middle of the river went Uncle Wiggily on the raft, and he was having a fine sail. Then all at once he felt hungry, so he stopped pushing the raft, opened his valise and took out a piece of cherry pie.
Well, as true as I'm telling you, just as he was eating it he heard a swirling noise in the water behind him and a savage voice cried out:
"Ha! Now I have you! Give me that piece of cherry pie or I'll upset the raft and you'll get all wet!"
Uncle Wiggily looked around, and there, swimming right up to him was a big, snicky-snooky water rat--a second cousin to the rat that got into Uncle Wiggily's tent the night before.
"Give me that pie!" cried the rat, as she put her claws on the raft. "Give it to me."
"No, indeed, I will not," replied Uncle Wiggily, as politely as one can speak to a rat.
Then the bad creature tried to climb up on the raft, but the rabbit took his crutch and put it down in the water and pushed along on the bottom of the river, sending the raft along very swiftly.
"Oh, I'll get you yet!" cried the rat, as she swam on after the raft. Faster and faster she swam, and faster and faster did Uncle Wiggily push, until he was all tired out, and he felt sure he would be caught and carried away by the bad rat. And then a voice in the air overhead suddenly cried out:
"Take your handkerchief, Uncle Wiggily, and make a sail out of it. Then the wind will blow you along so fast that the rat can't catch you. Make a sail!"
And Uncle Wiggily did so. He stuck the crutch up for a mast on the raft, and then he fastened his largest red handkerchief to the crutch. And the wind caught it, and blew upon that red handkerchief sail and the raft skimmered over the river so fast that the bad rat was left far, far behind, and so couldn't catch the rabbit.
It was the kind mamma bird who had called to the rabbit gentleman to tell him what to do.
And in a little while Uncle Wiggily was safe on the other shore and he hopped off the raft and ran toward the field that looked as if it was filled with gold.
Whether he found any or not, and what happened to him, I'll tell you on the next page, when the story will be about Uncle Wiggily in a boat--that is if our puppy dog doesn't sit down in the fly-paper and get so stuck up so he can't gnaw a bone when he goes to the kitten's party.
STORY V
UNCLE WIGGILY IN A BOAT
When Uncle Wiggily got to the edge of the yellow golden-colored field after jumping off the raft, as I told you in the story before this one, the old gentleman rabbit rubbed his eyes, and then rubbed them again, for he wasn't quite sure of what he saw.
"Why!" he exclaimed, as he put on his spectacles in order to see better. "I have made quite a mistake. This isn't a field of gold at all, it is only a field of golden rod, which is a flower."
"Ah, if it is golden rod, perhaps if you wait long enough it will turn into chunks of gold," said a little voice down on the ground, and, glancing there, Uncle Wiggily saw a little ant with a tiny loaf of bread on her back. "Why don't you wait for that to happen, Mr. Rabbit?" she asked.
"Oh, it would never happen," said Uncle Wiggily. "This golden rod is a flower, and it will always remain a flower. I am disappointed once more about finding my fortune. I thought when I saw this shining yellow color from my raft, after I got away from the rat, that I had found the gold for which I am looking. But, never mind, this flower is very pretty," and he picked a bunch of it and smelled of it.
And some of the yellow dust of the posy-blossom got up the rabbit's twinkling nose, and he sneezed so hard that his glasses fell off. But the ant kindly picked them up for the old gentleman though he had to reach over to take them from her, as she was so small that she hardly came up to the rabbit's knee.
"Well, I must get home to my little ones," said the ant with a loaf of bread. "I hope you have good luck, Uncle Wiggily."
"Thank you very kindly," spoke the rabbit, and then he put a golden rod flower in his button-hole and hopped on to look for his fortune.
Pretty soon, not so very long, in a little while, the rabbit came to a nice smooth rock which was long and slanting, just like a hill down which you slide on your sleds in the winter time. Only, of course, there was no snow or ice now, as it was summer.
"Ha! Now if I was a little younger, and didn't have the rheumatism, I'd slide down that rock!" exclaimed the rabbit. "I wish Sammie and Susie Littletail were here, for they would enjoy this very much. And so would Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrel brothers, not to mention the puppy dogs."
Then the rabbit looked at the nice, smooth rocky slide, and all of a sudden he heard a voice singing:
"Lumps of pudding and pieces of pie
My mamma gave me when I was a boy,
And for those things I used to cry--
For lumps of pudding and pieces of pie!"
"Hum! I wonder who that can be?" asked Uncle Wiggily, and then he heard some one laugh and shout, and a great big boy, about as big as two barrels of molasses, burst out of the bushes.
"Why, it's the giant's little boy!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily in great surprise.
"Yes, that's who I am!" cried the boy who was as large as two barrels of molasses, and a can of condensed milk besides. "How are you, Uncle Wiggily? Have you found your fortune yet?"
"No," said the rabbit a bit sadly, "I have not."
"Never mind," spoke the giant's little boy, "come on and have a slide, it's lots of fun," and with that the big boy threw himself down on the smooth rock, just as if he were on a sled, and away he whizzed down the hill as nicely as a cake of soft soap slips into the bathtub.
"I believe I will try it!" exclaimed the old rabbit gentleman, so, taking a firm hold of his crutch and valise he sat down on the smooth rock, and away he whizzed down after the boy who was as big as two barrels of sweet molasses and an ice-cream cone also.
Faster and faster went the rabbit, and faster and faster went the giant's little boy, until, all of a sudden, the boy slipped off the stone and landed in a big pile of hay, and wasn't hurt at all.
"I wonder if that's what will happen to me?" thought Uncle Wiggily, and he was just looking to see where he would land, and he was hoping it would be in a feather bed, when, as quickly as you can catch an alligator, if ever there's one to catch, the old gentleman rabbit slid off the rock, and down he came, plump on top of a big toadstool, and he wasn't hurt a bit; only sort of jounced up and down like.
"My! That was a fine slide," he said. Then he looked up and he saw that he was right on the shore of a little lake, and close at hand was a rowboat with oars in, and on the boat was a sign which read:
THE LAKE."
"Ha! That is very polite of some one," said the rabbit. "I believe I will take a ride in the boat. And perhaps I may find my fortune in it."
Then he looked more carefully, and he saw that there was a box in the boat, and on the box was a sign which read:
"PLEASE DO NOT OPEN THIS
BOX."
"Hum! Perhaps there is gold in there. But I won't open it to see until some one tells me I may," thought the rabbit.
So he got into the boat, and he stuck the oars through the oarlocks, which are places made for them, then he dipped the wide part of the oar into the water and pulled on the handle part and, my land sakes, flopsy-dub! Uncle Wiggily was rowing as nicely as you please.
Well, he rowed on and on, until he was out in the middle of the lake, and then, all of a sudden, he heard a funny noise inside the box. It was a sort of scratching, growling noise, and before the rabbit could do anything, the top of the box flew open and out stepped a little black bear. Oh, but Uncle Wiggily was frightened!
"Ah, ha! Now I have you, just where I want you, Mr. Rabbit," said the bear. "This is the last of you. Burr-r-r-r!"
Well, Uncle Wiggily was so frightened that he didn't know what to do, for he surely thought his end had come. Then he happened to remember that he had some cherry pie in his valise, and he knew that bears are very fond of sweet stuff.
"I know what I'll do," thought the rabbit. "I'll give the bear some pie, and when he isn't looking I'll row toward shore, and perhaps I can get away from him." So he quickly opened his satchel, took out the pie and gave it to the bear most politely.
"Ha! this is very good," said the bear in a grillery, growlery voice, as he took the pie. "I will eat this first and afterward I'll attend to your case!"
And when the bear was eating the pie, and licking the sweet, red juice off his clawy paws, Uncle Wiggily rowed toward shore. But he wasn't yet quite near enough to jump out of the boat, so he gave the bear another piece of pie and rowed a little closer to shore.
The bear was so interested in eating the cherries from the pie, and sucking the juice off his paws, that he never noticed what was going on. But finally he glanced up, and when he saw how near the shore the rabbit had rowed the boat the bear cried:
"Ah! ha! So that's your trick, eh? Well, I'll scratch you, anyhow."
And with that he made a spring for the rabbit, but Uncle Wiggily was too quick for him. Grabbing up his crutch and valise, the rabbit jumped out of the boat and landed on shore, and then the wind suddenly sprang up and blew the boat and bear in it out into the middle of the lake, and Uncle Wiggily was safe, I'm glad to say, for the bear couldn't swim to shore that day on account of having no bathing suit.
Then, hopping on, Uncle Wiggily looked all over for his fortune. But he did not find it right away. And he had another adventure soon. What it was I'll tell you almost immediately, which is very soon, when in case the pink cow doesn't eat the chocolate pudding from off the back stoop where the cook sets it to cool, the next story will be about Uncle Wiggily at the seashore.
STORY VI
UNCLE WIGGILY AT THE SEASHORE
One morning Uncle Wiggily was hopping along a dusty road. It was the day after he had gotten away from the bad black bear in the boat, and the old gentleman rabbit was thinking of what great danger he had been in.
"I must certainly be more careful," he thought, "and not get in every boat I see. Why, just think of it! If that bear had eaten me up I couldn't search for my fortune any more," and this so frightened Uncle Wiggily that he looked all around and behind the bushes, fearing the bear might, after all, have come ashore and be chasing after him.
But no bear was there, for he had fallen out of the boat and caught cold and had gone to bed, after drinking some hot honey lemonade. The old gentleman rabbit felt better, when he saw there was no bear, but it was so hot that he was thirsty, so he looked for a place to get a drink. Pretty soon he saw a nice, cold spring, and he took three drinks of water and part of another one.
And just as the rabbit was drinking the last drop of water he heard a funny noise out in the road, and, looking up, he saw a whole lot of children going past. Some of them were barefooted, and some had little tin pails and shovels in their hands, and some had red balloons and some blue or green ones. Some of the children had on bathing suits and a few had their little dresses tucked up as far as they could go, and they were dancing along on their slim white legs, as happy as happy could be.