So Uncle Wiggily got ready to start off on his travels again, and in hissatchel he put a whole cherry pie that Mrs. Cat had baked for him.
"It will taste good when you are hungry," she said.
"Indeed it will," agreed Uncle Wiggily, and he wished he was hungry thenand there, because he just loved cherry pie.
He was walking on through the woods, when, all at once, he heard somemusic playing, and the name of the song was "Never Take Your Ice CreamCone and Drop it in the Mud."
"Ha! I believe that is the funny monkey and one of his hand organs!"exclaimed the rabbit. "I shall be glad to see him again."
So he looked through the trees, and there, surely enough, was the monkey,and he was playing the organ with his tail, and in one paw he held acocoanut and in the other paw an orange, and first he would take a bite ofthe orange, and then a bite of the cocoanut.
"I always like music when I eat," said the monkey as he threw a bit oforange skin over his left shoulder.
"How comes it that you are away off here," asked the rabbit.
"Oh! I got tired of staying home," said the monkey. "I thought I would goout and see if I could make a few pennies by playing music." Then heplayed another tune called, "Don't Sit Down When You Stand Up."
Well, Uncle Wiggily listened to the music, which he liked very much, andhe began to feel hungry. Then he thought of the cherry pie, that the catlady had put in his valise.
"I guess I'll eat some of that and give the monkey a bit," he said, and hedid so.
"Oh, this is most delicious and scrumptious!" cried the monkey, as he andUncle Wiggily sat there eating the pie, and wiping off the juice withgreen leaves, so as not to soil their clothing.
"Indeed, it is very delectable," said the rabbit, hungry-like. "Haveanother piece."
Well, he was just cutting it off, when, all of a sudden, before you couldsay "Boo!" to an elephant, a terrible voice cried:
"Here! Give me that pie! I must have cherry pie!" and before the monkey orUncle Wiggily knew what was happening, out from behind the bushes jumpedthe skillery-scallery-tailery alligator, gnashing his teeth.
"Give me that pie!" he cried again, opening his mouth wide enough toswallow a cake as big as a wash-tub.
"No, you cannot have it," said Uncle Wiggily, and, as quick as a wink, hepopped the pie into his valise and closed it up. "Now you can't get it!"the rabbit said.
"Then I'll get you and the monkey!" cried the alligator, as he made a dashfor both of them.
"Not me! You can't catch me!" exclaimed the monkey, as he skipped up intothe top of a tall tree. Then, of course, as the alligator couldn't climb atree he couldn't get the monkey. The skillery-scallery creature tried toeat the hand organ, and he tried to play it, but he could do neither. Thenhe got real angry.
"I'll chase after Uncle Wiggily and eat him!" he cried out, for by thistime the rabbit was hopping along down the road. After him went the'gator, coming nearer and nearer.
"Stop! Stop! I want you!" cried the alligator to the rabbit.
"I know you do, but you can't have me!" replied the rabbit. "I don't wantto be eaten up!"
So he ran on as fast as he could, but still the alligator came on afterhim, and the savage beast was almost up to Uncle Wiggily.
"Oh, if I only had some place to hide!" panted the poor rabbit. "Thenmaybe the alligator would pass me by."
So he looked around for a place in which to hide, but just then he foundhimself in a field, and all that he could see were a whole lot ofsunflowers growing near a fence.
"Oh, I can't hide behind those flowers because the stems are so smallaround," thought Uncle Wiggily. "And I can't climb up them, and sit on thebig flower, because I can't climb, and besides the stems are too slenderto hold me up. Oh, what shall I do?"
Well, the alligator was coming nearer and nearer, and the rabbit couldhear the gnashing of his teeth, when, all at once one of the sunflowerscalled out.
"Gnaw through my stem, and cut me down, Uncle Wiggily. Then you can holdmy big blossom up in front of you and the alligator can't see you."
"But won't it hurt you to cut you down?" asked the rabbit.
"No, for I will grow up again next year," said the big sunflower. "Hurryand cut me down, and hide behind me, and I'll shine in the eyes of thealligator and blind him."
So Uncle Wiggily quickly gnawed through the sunflower stalk with his sharpteeth, and down the flower came. Then the rabbit held the blossom up infront of himself, and hid behind it, and the yellow flower, which isround, just like the sun, shone so brightly into the alligator's facethat he couldn't look out of his eyes, and so he was partly blinded, andhe couldn't see to catch Uncle Wiggily, and he had to crawl away withouteating the rabbit.
Then Uncle Wiggily thanked the sunflower, and laid it gently down, andhopped on his way again to seek his fortune.
And the story after this, in case the washbowl and pitcher don't do afunny dance in the middle of the night and wake up my puppy dog, I'll tellyou about Uncle Wiggily and the lightning bugs.
STORY XVIII
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LIGHTNING BUG
It was a very warm day, and as Uncle Wiggily walked along, carrying hissatchel, and sort of leaning on his crutch, for his rheumatism hurt him abit, he said:
"It is very hard to have to look for your fortune on a hot day, I wish itwas nice and cool, and then I would feel better."
"I can tell you where there is a cool place," said a little yellow bird,as she flew along in the air over the head of the old gentleman rabbit.
"Do you mean in an icehouse?" asked the traveling rabbit as he took offhis hat to see if the sun had burned it any.
"No, but of course that is a cold place," said the bird, as she sang afunny little song about a curly-headed dog who hadn't any nose and everytime he walked along he stepped upon his toes. "But I don't mean anicehouse," went on the bird, as she turned her head to one side. "However,I know a nice cool place in the woods where you can lie down and have alittle sleep. By that time the hot sun will go down behind the clouds, andthen you can travel on in comfort."
"I believe that will be a good plan," spoke the rabbit. "I'll do it.Please show me the way to the cool place."
So the bird flew on ahead, and Uncle Wiggily hopped on behind, and prettysoon he came to a place in the woods where there was a little babblingbrook, flowing over mossy green stones, and telling them secrets about thefishes that swam in the cool water. Then there were long, green fernsleaning over, and nodding their heads as they dipped down to take a drinkout of the brook. There was also a nice little cave, made of stones, andthat was almost as cool as an icehouse.
"Oh, this will be just fine for me!" exclaimed the rabbit, as he hoppedinside the stone cave. "I'll go to sleep here."
So he stretched out on a pile of leaves, and the little yellow bird beganto sing a sleepy song. This is how it went, to the tune "Lum-tum-tumtiddily-iddily-um:"
"Sleep, Uncle Wiggily, sleep. Don't open your eyes to peep. I'll sing you a song, That's not very long. It's not sad, so please do not weep."
Well, as true as I'm telling you, before she had sung more thanforty-'leven verses the old gentleman rabbit was fast, fast asleep, and,no matter how hot the sun shone down, Uncle Wiggily was nice and cool.
Well, pretty soon, in a little while, a savage, bad hawk-bird flew downfrom high in the air, where he had seen the little yellow bird sitting onthe tree, near the cave, where the rabbit was sleeping. And the hawk madea dash for the yellow bird, and would have eaten her up only the bird flewquickly away and hid in a hollow stump, and that hawk was so mad that hebit a leaf off a tree and tore it into three pieces--the leaf, I mean, notthe tree.
Well, after that the yellow bird didn't dare stay near the cave, for thehawk was on the watch to catch her, and, of course, Uncle Wiggily had noone to awaken him when it was cool enough for him to travel on and seekhis fortune.
He slept and he slept, and then he slept a little more, and all of asudden he awakened and it wa
s nearly night. My! how he did jump up thenand rub his eyes with his paws, and he couldn't think, for a minute or so,just where he was.
"Oh, now I remember!" he exclaimed. "I'm in the cave. Oh, dear me! butit's coming on night. The yellow bird must have forgotten to wake me up. Iwonder what I shall do?"
So he went out of the cave to look for the bird, but he couldn't find her.The savage hawk was there, however, but when he saw Uncle Wiggily andnoted how brave he was, even if he did have the rheumatism, that hawk justgnashed his beak and flew away.
Then it got darker and darker, and poor Uncle Wiggily didn't know what todo, for he didn't know whether or not it would be safe to stay in thecave.
"A bear might come along and eat me," he thought. "This cave might be abear's den. I guess I will travel ahead and look for some other placewhere I can spend the night. But I don't like traveling in the dark."
However, there was no help for it, so the old gentleman rabbit, aftereating a lettuce sandwich, took up his satchel, grasped his crutch firmly,and started away.
He traveled on through the woods, and it kept getting darker and darker,until at last Uncle Wiggily couldn't see anything in front of him but justblackness.
"Oh, this will never do!" he cried. "I can't go on this way. If I onlyhad a lantern it would be all right."
Then, all at once, he heard a sort of growling noise in the bushes, andthen he heard a sniffing-snuffling noise, and pretty soon a voice cried:
"Oh, ha! Oh, hum! I smell fresh rabbit. Now, I will have a good supper!"
"That must be a savage bear or a fox!" cried the rabbit. "I guess this isthe last of me!"
Then he saw two round circles shining in the darkness, two flashing,bright, shining things, and he was more frightened than ever.
"Oh, those are the glaring eyes of the fox or bear!" thought UncleWiggily. "I'm done for, sure!"
Then something made a jump for him, out of the bushes, but the rabbitcrouched down, and the beast jumped over him. Then, would you ever believeit? those two shining things flew nearer, and instead of being the eyes ofa fox or bear they were two, good, kind, lightning bugs, who were flittingabout.
"Oh, you'll be a lantern for me, won't you?" cried the rabbit, anxiously."Will you please light me out of these woods, and keep the savage beastsaway?"
"Of course, we will!" cried the two lightning bugs. And they flew closerto the rabbit. Then the savage fox, for he it was who had made a jump forUncle Wiggily, was so afraid of the sparkling lights, that he ran away andhid in the bushes, fearing he would be burned. Then the two bugs calledfor all of their friends to come and make the woods light so the oldgentleman rabbit could see.
And pretty soon seventeen thousand, four hundred and eighty-three biglightning bugs, and a little baby one besides, came flying along, and thewoods were almost as light as day, and Uncle Wiggily could see to hop on.The bugs flew ahead, shining themselves like fairy lanterns, and prettysoon the rabbit came to a nice hollow stump, where he remained all night.And some of the bugs stayed with him to keep the bears and foxes away.
Then, in the morning, after thanking the bugs, the rabbit traveled onagain, and he had another adventure. What it was I'll tell you on the nextpage, when, in case my pussy cat goes in swimming and doesn't get her furwet, the story will be about Uncle Wiggily and the Phoebe birds.
STORY XIX
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE PHOEBE BIRDS
"Well, I don't seem to be finding my fortune very fast," said UncleWiggily to himself the next day, as he traveled on, after the lightningbugs had shown him the way out of the woods. "Here I've been trampingaround the country for a considerable while, and all I've found was onecent, and that belonged to the chipmunk.
"I wish I could find a little money. Then I would buy some peanuts andsell them, and make more money, and pretty soon I would be rich, and Icould go back home and see Sammie and Susie Littletail."
So he walked along, looking very carefully on the ground for money. All hefound for some time were only old acorns, and, as he couldn't eat them,they were of no use to him.
"If Johnnie or Billie Bushytail were here now I would give them some," hesaid. But the squirrels were far away frisking about in the tops.
Now, as true as I'm telling you, a moment after that, just as UncleWiggily was going past a big stone, he saw something bright and shining inthe leaves.
"Oh, good luck!" he cried. "I've found ten cents, and that will buy twobags of peanuts. Now I'll get rich!"
So he picked up the shining thing, and oh! how disappointed he was, for itwas only a round piece of tin, such as they make penny whistles of.
"Oh, dear!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "Fooled again! Well, all I can do is tokeep on."
He went on a little farther, until he came to a place where there were awhole lot of prickly briar bushes, with red berries growing on them.
"Oh, ho!" exclaimed the rabbit. "Some of those berries will do for mydinner, as I'm getting hungry. I'll pick a few."
He was just going to pick some of the berries, when he happened to noticea big, red thing, like a red flannel bag, standing wide open near a holein the bushes. And in front of the red place was a sign, which said:
"Come in, one and all. Everybody welcome."
"It looks very nice in there," thought the rabbit. "Perhaps it is theopening of a circus tent. I'm going in, for I haven't seen a show in sometime. And, maybe, my friend, the elephant, will be in there."
Uncle Wiggily was just going to hop into the funny red opening that hadthe sign on it, when a little ant came crawling along, carrying a smallloaf of bread.
"Hello, Uncle Wiggily," said the ant. "Where are you going?"
"I am going inside this red circus tent," said the rabbit. "Won't you comein with me? I'll buy you a ticket."
"Oh, never go in there--don't you do it!" cried the ant, and she got soexcited that she nearly dropped her loaf of bread. "That is not a circustent; it is only the skillery-scalery-tailery alligator, and he has openedhis mouth wide hoping some one will come in, so he can have a meal. Don'tgo in."
"I won't," said Uncle Wiggily, quickly as he hopped away, and then he tookup a stone and tossed it into the red mouth of the scalery-tailery-waileryalligator. The alligator shut his jaws very quickly, thinking he hadsomething good to eat, but he only bit on the stone, and he was so angrythat he lashed out with his tail and nearly knocked over a hickory-nuttree.
Then the ant crawled home, and Uncle Wiggily hopped on out of danger andthe alligator opened his mouth again, hoping some foolish animal wouldwalk into the trap he had all ready for them.
Well, in a little while after that, as the old gentleman rabbit was goingalong under the big tree, all of a sudden he heard a voice calling, rathersadly and sweetly:
"Phoebe! Phoebe!"
"My goodness, that must be some little lost girl named Phoebe, and hersister is calling for her," he thought. "I wonder if I could help findher?" For, you know, Uncle Wiggily was just as kind as he could be, andalways wanting to help some one.
Then he heard the voice again:
"Phoebe! Phoebe!"
"Where are you?" asked the rabbit. "I'll help you hunt for your sisterPhoebe. Where are you, little girl?"
But the voice only called again:
"Phoebe! Phoebe!"
"I guess she can't hear me," said the rabbit. "I'll shout more loudly."
So he cried out at the top of his voice:
"I'll help you find Phoebe. Tell me where you are, and we'll go offtogether to hunt for her."
But this time the calling voice was farther off, though still the rabbitcould hear it saying:
"Phoebe! Phoebe!"
"My goodness me, sakes alive, and a bottle of stove polish! I can't makethis out," said Uncle Wiggily. "That little girl is so worried about herlost sister that she doesn't pay any attention to me. But I'll help herjust the same."
So he hopped on toward where he heard the voice calling, and pretty soon,believe me, he heard two voices. One cried out:
"Phoebe! Phoebe!"
And the other one called just the same, only a little more slowly, likethis:
"Phoe-be! Phoe-be!"
"Now, there are two of her sisters calling for the lost one," said therabbit. "They must be very much worried about Phoebe. Perhaps a bear haseaten her. That would be dreadful! I must help them!"
So he hopped on through the woods, faster than ever, crying out:
"I'm coming! I'm coming! Old Uncle Wiggily is going to help you findPhoebe."
And then, would you believe me, Uncle Wiggily heard seven voices, allcalling at once:
"Phoebe! Phoebe! Phoebe! Phoebe! Phoebe! Phoebe! Phoebe!"
"Oh, now the whole family is after that lost child," said the rabbit. "Ihad better go for a policeman." And then he happened to look up, and hesaw a whole lot of little birds sitting on a tree, and each one wascalling:
"Phoebe!" just like that. Really I'm not fooling a bit; honestly.
"Oh my! How surprised I am!" cried the rabbit. "Was that you birds callingfor the little lost girl?"
"It was," said the largest bird, "but there isn't any lost girl. You seewe are Phoebe birds, and that is the way we always sing. We always say'Phoebe--Phoebe' over and over again. We didn't mean to fool you. It'sonly our way of calling."
"Oh, that's all right," said the rabbit. "I don't mind. It was goodexercise for me to run after you."
Well, those birds liked Uncle Wiggily so much that they sang theirprettiest for him, and asked him to stay to dinner, which he did. And hehad chocolate cake with candied carrots on top.