Howard R. Garis - Uncle Wiggily in the Woods
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Howard R. Garis >> Uncle Wiggily in the Woods
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"What is it?" Uncle Wiggily wanted to know, sort of making his pink
nose turn orange color by looking up at the sun and sneezing. "What is
it that I can do for myself as well as for you, Janie?"
"Cream puffs," answered Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy.
"Cream puffs?" cried the bunny uncle, hardly knowing whether his
housekeeper was fooling or in earnest.
"Yes, I want some cream puffs for supper, and if you stop at the
baker's and get them you will be doing yourself a favor as well as me,
for we will both eat them."
"Right gladly will I do it," Uncle Wiggily made answer. "Cream puffs I
shall bring from the baker's," and then, whistling a funny little tune,
away he hopped to the woods.
It did not take him long to get to the place where the baker had his
shop. And in a few minutes Uncle Wiggily was on his way back with some
delicious cream puffs in a basket.
"I'll take them home to Nurse Jane for supper," thought the bunny
uncle, "and then I can keep on with my walk, looking for an adventure."
You know what cream puffs are, I dare say. They are little, round,
puffy balls made of something like piecrust, and they are hollow. The
inside is filled with something like corn-starch pudding, only nicer.
Uncle Wiggily was going along with the cream puffs in his basket when,
coming to a nice place in the woods, where the sun shone on a green,
mossy log, the bunny uncle said:
"I will sit down here a minute and rest."
So he did, but he rested longer than he meant to, for, before he knew
it, he fell asleep. And while he slept, along came a bad old weasel,
who is as sly as a fox. And the weasel, smelling the cream puffs in
the basket, slyly lifted the cover and took every one out, eating them
one after the other.
"Now to play a trick on Uncle Wiggily," said the weasel in a whisper,
for the bunny uncle was still sleeping. So the bad creature found a
lot of puff balls in the woods, and put them in the basket in place of
the cream puffs.
Puff balls grow on little plants. They are brown and round and hollow,
and, so far, they are like cream puffs, except that inside they have a
brown, fluffy powder that flies all over when you break the puff ball.
And, if you are not careful, it gets in your eyes and nose and makes
you sneeze.
"I should like to see what Uncle Wiggily and Nurse Jane do when they
open the basket, and find puff balls instead of cream puffs," snickered
the weasel as he went off, licking his chops, where the cornstarch
pudding stuff was stuck on his whiskers. "It will be a great joke on
them!"
But let us see what happens.
Uncle Wiggily awakened from his sleep in the woods, and started off
toward his hollow stump bungalow.
"I declare!" he cried. "That sleep made me hungry. I shall be glad to
eat some of the cream puffs I have in my basket."
"What's that?" asked a sharp voice in the bushes. "What did you say
you had in the basket?"
"Cream puffs," answered Uncle Wiggily, without thinking, and then, all
of a sudden, out jumped the bad old skillery-scalery alligator with the
humps on his tail.
"Ha! Cream puffs!" cried the 'gator, as I call him for short, though
he was rather long. "Cream puffs! If there is one thing I like more
than another it is cream puffs! It is lucky you brought them with you,
or I would have nothing for dessert when I have you for supper."
"Are you--are you going to have me for supper?" asked Uncle Wiggily,
sort of anxious like.
"I am!" cried the alligator, positively. "But I will eat the dessert
first. Give me those cream puffs!" he cried and he made a grab for the
bunny's basket, and, reaching in, scooped out the puff balls, thinking
they were cream puffs. The 'gator, without looking, took one bite and
a chew and then----
"Oh, my! Ker-sneezio! Ker-snitzio! Ker-choo!" he sneezed as the
powder from the puff balls went up his nose and into his eyes. "Oh,
what funny cream puffs! Wow!" And, not stopping to so much as nibble
at Uncle Wiggily, away ran the alligator to get a drink of lemonade.
[Illustration: "Ker-sneezio! Ker-snitzio! Ker-choo!" he sneezed as
the powder from the puff balls went up his nose and into his eyes.]
So you see, after all, the weasel's trick saved Uncle Wiggily, who soon
went back to the store for more cream puffs--real ones this time, and
he got safely home with them.
And nothing else happened that day. But if the trolley car stops
running down the street to play with the jitney bus, so the pussy cat
can have a ride when it wants to go shopping in the three and four-cent
store, I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the May flowers.
STORY XXV
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE MAY FLOWERS
"Rat-a-tat!" came a knock on the door of the hollow stump bungalow,
where Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, lived in the woods
with Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, his muskrat lady housekeeper.
"My! Some one is calling early to-day!" said the bunny uncle.
"Sit still and eat your breakfast," spoke Nurse Jane. "I'll see who it
is."
When she opened the door there stood Jimmie Wibblewobble, the boy duck.
"Why where are you going so early this morning, Jimmie?" asked Uncle
Wiggily.
"I'm going to school," answered the Wibblewobble chap, who was named
that because his tail did wibble and wobble from side to side when he
walked.
"Aren't you a bit early?" asked Mr. Longears.
"I came early to get you," said Jimmie. "Will you come for a walk with
me, Uncle Wiggily? We can walk toward the hollow stump school, where
the lady mouse teaches us our lessons."
"Why, it's so very early," Uncle Wiggily went on. "I have hardly had
my breakfast. Why so early, Jimmie?"
The duck boy whispered in Uncle Wiggily's ear:
"I want to go early so I can gather some May flowers for the teacher.
This is the first day of May, you know, and the flowers that have been
wet by the April showers ought to be blossoming now."
"So they had!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "I'll hurry with my breakfast,
Jimmie, and we'll go gathering May flowers in the woods."
Soon the bunny uncle and the boy duck were walking along where the
green trees grew up out of the carpet of soft green moss.
"Oh, here are some yellow violets!" cried Jimmie, as he saw some near
an old stump.
"Yes, and I see some white ones!" cried the bunny uncle, as he picked
them, while Jimmie plucked the yellow violets with his strong bill,
which was also yellow in color.
Then they went on a little farther and saw some bluebells growing, and
the bluebell flowers were tinkling a pretty little tinkle tune.
The bluebells even kept on tinkling after Jimmie had picked them for
his bouquet. The boy duck waddled on a little farther and all of a
sudden, he cried:
"Oh, what a funny flower this is, Uncle Wiggily. It's just like the
little ice cream cones that come on Christmas trees, only it's covered
with a flap, like a leaf, and under the flap is a little green thing,
standing up. What is it?"
"That is a Jack-in-the-pulpit," answered the bunny uncle, "and the Jack
is the funny green thing. Jack preaches sermons to the other flowers,
telling them how to be beautiful and make sweet perfume."
"I'm going to put a Jack in the bouquet for the lady mouse teacher,"
said Jimmie, and he did.
Then he and Uncle Wiggily went farther and farther on in the woods,
picking May flowers, and they were almost at the hollow stump school
when, all at once, from behind a big stone popped the bad
ear-scratching cat.
"Ah, ha!" howled the cat. "I am just in time I see. I haven't
scratched any ears in ever and ever so long. And you have such nice,
big ears, Uncle Wiggily, that it is a real pleasure to scratch them!"
"Do you mean it is a pleasure for me, or for you?" asked the bunny
uncle, softly like.
"For me, of course!" meaouwed the cat. "Get ready now for the
ear-scratching! Here I come!"
"Oh, please don't scratch my ears!" begged Uncle Wiggily. "Please
don't!"
"Yes, I shall!" said the bad cat, stretching out his claws.
"Would you mind scratching my ears, instead of Uncle Wiggily's?" asked
Jimmie. "I'll let you scratch mine all you want to."
"I don't want to," spoke the cat. "Your ears are so small that it is
no pleasure for me to scratch them--none at all."
"It was very kind of you to offer your ears in place of mine," said
Uncle Wiggily to the duck boy. "But I can't let you do that. Go on,
bad cat, if you are going to scratch my ears, please do it and have it
over with."
"All right!" snarled the cat. "I'll scratch your ears!" She was just
going to do it, when Jimmie suddenly picked up a new flower, and
holding it toward the cat cried:
"No, you can't scratch Uncle Wiggily's ears! This is a dog-tooth
violet I have just picked, and if you harm Uncle Wiggily I'll make the
dog-tooth violet bite you!"
And then the big violet went: "Bow! Wow! Wow!" just like a dog, and
the cat thinking a dog was after him, meaouwed:
"Oh, my! Oh, dear! This is no place for me!" and away he ran, not
scratching Uncle Wiggily at all.
Then Jimmie put the dog-tooth violet (which did not bark any more) in
his bouquet and the lady mouse teacher liked the May flowers very much.
Uncle Wiggily took his flowers to Nurse Jane.
And if the umbrella doesn't turn inside out, so its ribs get all wet
and sneeze the handle off, I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and
the beech tree.
STORY XXVI
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BEECH TREE
"Will you go to the store for me, Uncle Wiggily?" asked Nurse Jane
Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, of the rabbit gentleman one
day, as he sat out on the porch of his hollow stump bungalow in the
woods.
"Indeed I will, Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy," said Mr. Longears, most politely.
"What is it you want?"
"A loaf of bread and a pound of sugar," she answered, and Uncle Wiggily
started off.
"Better take your umbrella," Nurse Jane called after him. "All the
April showers are not yet over, even if it is May."
So the rabbit gentleman took his umbrella.
On his way to the store through the woods, the bunny uncle came to a
big beech tree, which had nice, shiny white bark on it, and, to his
surprise the rabbit gentleman saw a big black bear, standing up on his
hind legs and scratching at the tree bark as hard as he could.
"Ha! That is not the right thing to do," said Uncle Wiggily to
himself. "If that bear scratches too much of the bark from the tree
the tree will die, for the bark of a tree is just like my skin is to
me. I must drive the bear away."
The bear, scratching the bark with his sharp claws, stood with his back
to Uncle Wiggily, and the rabbit gentleman thought he could scare the
big creature away.
So Uncle Wiggily picked up a stone, and throwing it at the bear, hit
him on the back, where the skin was so thick it hurt hardly at all.
And as soon as he had thrown the stone Uncle Wiggily in his loudest
voice shouted:
"Bang! Bang! Bungity-bang-bung!"
"Oh, my goodness!" cried the bear, not turning around. "The hunter man
with his gun must be after me. He has shot me once, but the bullet did
not hurt. I had better run away before he shoots me again!"
And the bear ran away, never once looking around, for he thought the
stone Mr. Longears threw was a bullet from a gun, you see, and he
thought when Uncle Wiggily said "Bang!" that it was a gun going off.
So the bunny gentleman scared the bear away.
"Thank you, Uncle Wiggily," said the beech tree. "You saved my life by
not letting the bear scratch off all my bark."
"I am glad I did," spoke the rabbit, making a polite bow with his tall
silk hat, for Mr. Longears was polite, even to a tree.
"The bear would not stop scratching my bark when I asked him to," went
on the beech tree, "so I am glad you came along, and scared him. You
did me a great favor and I will do you one if I ever can."
"Thank you," spoke Uncle Wiggily, and then he hopped on to the store to
get the loaf of bread and the pound of sugar for Nurse Jane.
It was on the way back from the store that an adventure happened to
Uncle Wiggily. He came to the place where his friend the beech tree
was standing up in the woods, and a balsam tree, next door to it, was
putting some salve, or balsam, on the places where the bear had
scratched off the bark, to make the cuts heal.
Then, all of a sudden, out from behind a bush jumped the same bad bear
that had done the scratching.
"Ah, ha!" growled the bear, as soon as he saw Uncle Wiggily, "you can't
fool me again, making believe a stone is a bullet, and that your
'Bang!' is a gun! You can't fool me! I know all about the trick you
played on me. A little bird, sitting up in a tree, saw it and told me!"
"Well," said Uncle Wiggily slowly, "I'm sorry I had to fool you, but it
was all for the best. I wanted to save the beech tree."
"Oh, I don't care!" cried the bear, saucy like and impolitely. "I'm
going to scratch as much as I like!"
"My goodness! You're almost as bad as the ear-scratching cat!" said
Uncle Wiggily. "I guess I'd better run home to my hollow stump
bungalow."
"No, you don't!" cried the bear, and, reaching out his claws, he caught
hold of Uncle Wiggily, who, with his umbrella, and the bread and sugar,
was standing under the beech tree. "You can't get away from me like
that," and the bear held tightly to the bunny uncle.
"Oh, dear! What are you going to do to me?" asked the rabbit gentleman.
"First, I'll bite you," said the bear. "No, I guess I'll first scratch
you. No, I won't either. I'll scrite you; that's what I'll do. I'll
scrite you!"
"What's scrite?" asked Uncle Wiggily, curious like.
"It's a scratch and a bite made into one," said the bear, "and now I'm
going to do it."
"Oh, ho! No, you aren't!" suddenly cried the beech tree, who had been
thinking of a way to save Uncle Wiggily. "No, you don't scrite my
friend!" And with that the brave tree gave itself a shiver and shake,
and shook down on the bear a lot of sharp, three-cornered beech nuts.
They fell on the bear's soft and tender nose and the sharp edges hurt
him so that he cried:
"Wow! Ouch! I guess I made a mistake! I must run away!"
And away he ran from the shower of sharp beech nuts which didn't hurt
Uncle Wiggily at all because he raised his umbrella and kept them off.
Then he thanked the tree for having saved him from the bear and went
safely home. And if the cow bell doesn't moo in its sleep, and wake up
the milkman before it's time to bring the molasses for breakfast, I'll
tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the bitter medicine.
STORY XXVII
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE BITTER MEDICINE
"How is Jackie this morning, Mrs. Bow Wow?" asked Uncle Wiggily
Longears, the rabbit gentleman, one day, as he stopped at the kennel
where the dog lady lived with her two little boys, Jackie and Peetie
Bow Wow, the puppies. "How is Jackie?"
"Jackie is not so well, I'm sorry to say," answered Mrs. Bow Wow, as
she looked carefully along the back fence to see if there were any bad
cats there who might meaouw, and try to scratch the puppies.
"Not so well? I am sorry to hear that," spoke the bunny uncle.
"What's seems to be the matter?"
"Oh, you know Jackie and Peetie both had the measles," went on Mrs. Bow
Wow. "They seemed to get over them nicely, at least Peetie did, but
then Jackie caught the epizootic, and he has to stay in bed a week
longer, and take bitter medicine."
"Bitter medicine, eh?" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "I am sorry to hear
that, for I don't like bitter medicine myself."
"Neither does Jackie," continued Mrs. Bow Wow. "In fact, he really
doesn't know whether he likes this bitter medicine or not."
"Why, not?" asked the rabbit gentleman.
"Because we can't get him to take a drop," said the puppy dog boy's
mother. "Not a drop will he take, though I have fixed it up for him
with orange juice and sugar and even put it in a lollypop. But he
won't take it, and Dr. Possum says he won't get well unless he takes
the bitter medicine."
"Well, Dr. Possum ought to know," said Uncle Wiggily. "But why don't
you ask him a good way to give the medicine to Jackie?"
"That's what I'm waiting out here for now," said Mrs. Bow Wow. "I want
to catch Dr. Possum when he comes past, and ask him to come in and give
Jackie the medicine. The poor boy really needs it to make him well."
"Of course he does," agreed Uncle Wiggily. "And while you are waiting
for Dr. Possum I'll see what I can do."
"What are you going to do?" asked Mrs. Bow Wow, as the bunny uncle
started for the dog kennel.
"I'm going to try to make Jackie take his bitter medicine. You just
stay out here a little while."
"Well, I hope you do it, but I'm afraid you won't," spoke Mrs. Bow Wow
with a sigh. "I've tried all the ways I know. I was just going, as
you came along, to get a toy balloon, blow it up, and put the medicine
inside. Then I was going to let Jackie burst it by sticking a pin in
it. And I thought when the balloon exploded the medicine might be
blown down his throat."
"Oh, well, I think I have a better way than that," said Uncle Wiggily
with a laugh. He went in where Jackie, who had the measles-epizootic,
was in bed. "Good morning, Jackie," said the bunny uncle. "How are
you?"
"Not very well," answered Jackie, the puppy dog boy. "But I'm glad to
see you. I'm not going to take the bitter medicine even for you,
though, Uncle Wiggily."
"Ho! Ho! Ho! Just you wait until you're asked!" cried Mr. Longears
in his most jolly voice. "Now let me have a look at that bitter
medicine which is making so much trouble. Where is it?"
"In that cup on the chair," and Jackie pointed to it near his bed.
"I see," said Uncle Wiggily, looking at it. "Now, Jackie, I'm a good
friend of yours, and you wouldn't mind just holding this cup of bitter
medicine in your paw, would you, to please me?"
"Oh, I'll do that for you, Uncle Wiggily, but I'll not take it," Jackie
said.
"Never mind about that," laughed the bunny uncle. "Just hold the
medicine in your paw, so," and Jackie did as he was told. "Now, would
you mind holding it up to your lips, as if you were going to make
believe take it?" asked Uncle Wiggily. "Mind you, don't you dare take
a drop of it. Just hold the cup to your lips, but don't swallow any."
"Why do you want me to do that?" asked Jackie, as he did what Uncle
Wiggily asked.
"Because I want to draw a picture of you making believe take bitter
medicine," said the bunny, as he took out pencil and paper. "I'll show
it to any other of my little animal friends, who may not like their
medicine, and I'll say to them: 'See how brave Jackie is to take his
bitter medicine.' Of course, I won't tell them you really were afraid
to take it," and without saying any more Uncle Wiggily began to draw
the puppy dog boy's picture on the paper.
"Hold the cup a little nearer to your lips, and tip it up a bit,
Jackie," said the bunny man. "But, mind you, don't swallow a drop.
That's it, higher up! Tip it more. I want the picture to look
natural."
Jackie tipped the cup higher, holding it close to his mouth, and threw
back his head, and then Uncle Wiggily suddenly cried: "Ouch!" And
Jackie was so surprised that he opened his mouth and before he knew it
he had swallowed the bitter medicine!
[Illustration: Jackie was so surprised that he opened his mouth.]
"Oh, why I took it!" he cried. "It went down my throat! And it wasn't
so bad, after all."
"I thought it wouldn't be," spoke Uncle Wiggily, as he finished the
picture of Jackie, and now he could really say it showed the doggie boy
actually taking the medicine, for Jackie did take it.
So Dr. Possum didn't have to come in to see Jackie after all to make
him swallow the bitter stuff, and the little chap was soon all well
again. And if the clothesline doesn't try to jump rope with the Jack
in the Box, and upset the washtub, I'll tell you next about Uncle
Wiggily and the pine cones.
STORY XXVIII
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE PINE CONES
Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice rabbit gentleman, was out walking in
the woods one day when he felt rather tired. He had been looking all
around for an adventure, which was something he liked to have happen to
him, but he had seen nothing like one so far.
"And I don't want to go back to my hollow stump bungalow without having
had an adventure to tell Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy about," said Mr.
Longears.
But, as I said, the rabbit gentleman was feeling rather tired, and,
seeing a nice log covered with a cushion of green moss, he sat down on
that to rest.
"Perhaps an adventure will happen to me here," thought the bunny uncle
as he leaned back against a pine tree to rest.
It was nice and warm in the woods, and, with the sun shining down upon
him, Uncle Wiggily soon dozed off in a little sleep. But when he
awakened still no adventure had happened to him.
"Well, I guess I must travel on," he said, and he started to get up,
but he could not. He could not move his back away from the pine tree
against which he had leaned to rest.
"Oh, dear! what has happened," cried the bunny uncle. "I am stuck
fast! I can't get away! Oh, dear!"
At first he thought perhaps the skillery-scalery alligator with the
humps on his tail had come softly up behind him as he slept and had him
in his claws. But, by sort of looking around backward, Mr. Longears
could see no one--not even a fox.
"But what is it holding me?" he cried, as he tried again and again to
get loose, but could not.
"I am sorry to say I am holding you!" spoke a voice up over Uncle
Wiggily's head. "I am holding you fast!"
"Who are you, if you please?" asked the rabbit gentleman.
"I am the pine tree against which you leaned your back. And on my bark
was a lot of sticky pine gum. It is that which is holding you fast,"
the tree answered.
"Why--why, it's just like sticky flypaper, isn't it?" asked Uncle
Wiggily, trying again to get loose, but not doing so. "And it is just
like the time you held the bear fast for me."
"Yes, it is; and flypaper is made from my sticky pine gum," said the
tree. "I am so sorry you are stuck, but I did not see you lean back
against me until it was too late. And now I can't get you loose, for
my limbs are so high over your head that I can not reach them down to
you. Try to get loose yourself."
"I will," said Uncle Wiggily, and he did, but he could not get loose,
though he almost pulled out all his fur. So he cried:
"Help! Help! Help!"
Then, all of a sudden, along through the woods came Neddie Stubtail,
the little bear-boy, and Neddie had some butter, which he had just
bought at the store for his mother.
"Oh!" cried the pine tree. "If you will rub some butter on my sticky
gum, it will loosen and melt it, so Uncle Wiggily will not be stuck any
more."
Neddie did so, and soon the bunny uncle was free.
"Oh, I can't tell you how sorry I am," said the pine tree. "I am a
horrid creature, of no use in this world, Uncle Wiggily! Other trees
have nice fruit or nuts or flowers on them, but all I have is sticky
gum, or brown, rough ugly pine cones. Oh, dear! I am of no use in the
world!"
"Oh, yes you are!" said Uncle Wiggily, kindly. "As for having stuck me
fast, that was my own fault. I should have looked before I leaned
back. And, as for your pine cones, I dare say they are very useful."
"No, they are not!" said the tree sadly. "If they were only ice cream
cones they might be some good. Oh, I wish I were a peach tree, or a
rose bush!"
"Never mind," spoke Uncle Wiggily, "I like your pine cones, and I am
going to take some home with me, and, when I next see you, I shall tell
you how useful they were. Don't feel so badly."
So Uncle Wiggily gathered a number of the pine cones, which are really
the big, dried seeds of the pine tree, and the bunny uncle took them to
his bungalow with him.
A few days later he was in the woods again and stopped near the pine
tree, which was sighing and wishing it were an umbrella plant or a gold
fish.
"Hush!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "You must try to do the best you can for
what you are! And I have come to tell you how useful your pine cones
were."
"Really?" asked the tree, in great surprise. "Really?"
"Really and truly," answered Uncle Wiggily. "With some of your cones
Nurse Jane started her kitchen fire when all the wood was wet. With
others I built a little play house, and amused Lulu Wibblewobble, the
duck girl, when she had the toothache. And other cones I threw at a
big bear that was chasing me. I hit him on the nose with them, and he
was glad enough to run away. So you see how useful you are, pine tree!"
"Oh, I am so glad," said the tree. "I guess it is better to be just
what you are, and do the best you can," and Uncle Wiggily said it was.
And, if the roof of our house doesn't come down stairs to play with the
kitchen floor and let the rain in on the gold fish, I'll tell you next
about Uncle Wiggily and his torn coat.
STORY XXIX
UNCLE WIGGILY AND HIS TORN COAT
"Do you think I look all right?" asked Uncle Wiggily Longears, the
rabbit gentleman, of Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, his muskrat lady
housekeeper. He was standing in front of her, turning slowly about,
and he had on a new coat. For now that Summer was near the bunny uncle
had laid aside his heavy fur coat and was wearing a lighter one.
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