“No, said Sister Sallie, ``I never had a doll.”
“What!” cried Grandma Lightfoot. “Never had a doll? Oh, my goodness me and a bag of marbles! That's too bad. I wish I had a doll for you.”
“Maybe Billie or Johnnie could make her one,” suggested Jennie Chipmunk.
“To be sure!” exclaimed grandma. “Couldn't you, boys?”
“Boys never make dolls,” said Johnnie.
“Maybe they do for their little sisters,” whispered Billie, who always thought twice before he spoke once.
“I'd like a doll very much,” sighed Sister Sallie. “I never had one, never. What is it like? Do you eat it?”
“Oh, oh, oh!” cried Jennie Chipmunk with a laugh. “Eat a doll! Whoever heard of such a thing! No, my darling, you play with a doll, just as boys play with marbles and kites, and----”
“Bows and arrows!” finished Billie quickly. “Do you remember how we played soldier, Jennie?”
“Indeed I do,” she answered. “But now you must make Sister Sallie a doll.”
“Oh, I should just love to have a doll,” said the little baby squirrel, and then Billie and Johnnie made up their minds they would get her one, no matter what it cost. But grandma, who knew boys were not very wise when it came to dolls, whispered to them how to make one.
So, frisking their big tails, Johnnie and Billie ran down the tree, leaving Sister Sallie with grandma. The two boy squirrels went to a cornfield they knew of, and searching around, found a corncob, with all the kernels off.
“This will do,” said Johnnie, but just as he was carrying it away what should happen but that a big rat ran out from a hole and cried:
“Here! Where are going with my corncob?” Yes, sir, that's just the way he called, as cross as cross could be. Oh, yes, indeed.
“If you please,” said Billie, “we want to make a doll for our little Sister Sallie.”
“Oh, that's all right then,” spoke the rat, not so cross this time, and he combed his whiskers with his left forepaw. “Run along with it, then, and come and see me sometime.”
So Johnnie and Billie ran off with the corncob. Then they got some pieces of wood, gnawing them with their sharp teeth, and made arms and legs. They made eyes from some dried huckleberries, and drew a nose, mouth and ears with a burned stick. Then they dressed the doll in leaves, tying them on with bits of grass, and pretty soon they had the nicest corncob doll you can imagine.
“Oh, how perfectly scrumptious lovely!” exclaimed Sister Sallie, when she saw it, and she hugged it close in her arms. Then she kissed Billie and Johnnie for being so kind to her, but they said it was nothing. And they told about the rat, and Sister Sallie thought they were very brave indeed, as, of course, they were. Then the boy squirrels and their new little sister ran home, and the next day little Sallie had quite an adventure, as you shall hear to-morrow night, if the stars are out.
XXI
SISTER SALLIE'S ADVENTURE
SISTER SALLIE was walking in the woods with the corncob doll Billie and Johnnie had made her. It was the first time she had gone out alone since coming to the Bushytail home, and she felt that she was getting to be quite a big girl, indeed. She had her doll in a carriage made from a last year's bird's-nest, with pieces of wood that the little boy squirrels had gnawed out for wheels. But the wheels were not exactly round, and when Sister Sallie wheeled the carriage it went along with an up-and-down wabbly-motion. At first you might think that rather odd, but the corncob doll liked it, for the carriage was like a carriage and cradle made into one.
Now you boys needn't stop reading this story, because you think it's going to be all about dolls and girls and doll carriages. Something is going to happen pretty soon, and Johnnie and Billie are going to have a fight. You just wait a minute and you'll see.
Well, now, to go back to where I left off. Sister Sallie was wheeling her doll through the woods, when, all at once, when she was quite a way from home, what should happen but that she heard a savage voice calling to her from behind a big stump:
“Here! Where did you get that corncob doll?”
Oh, what an ugly voice it was, and how poor Sister Sallie shivered and shook and trembled with fear! She stood right still, and looked all around, and what should come from behind the stump but a big rat, with sharp teeth that showed when he moved his whiskers to and fro.
“Where did you get that corncob?” he asked again. “Give it to me this instant! It's mine!”
“If you please,” said Sister Sallie, “I--I don't think it can be yours, kind sir. Billie and Johnnie gave it to me, kind sir.” You see, she said “kind sir” twice because she thought it would please the old rat, and he wouldn't hurt her. But do you suppose he cared for that? Not in the least. He just showed his teeth more than ever, and he growled just like a dog, would you believe me? He did, indeed!
“Give me that corncob!” he said again, oh, so cross! “I was wondering who took it. There are some kernels of corn on it that I have been looking for.”
“Oh, no, indeed, there are no kernels on this cob, kind sir, kind sir,” replied Sallie, still trembling. “Besides, Johnnie and Billie got this from a kind rat, and----”
“What's that? Don't you think I'm a kind rat?” cried the old fellow, wiggling his whiskers, just like a fan on a hot day.
“Well, you--you don't seem to be very kind,” spoke Sister Sallie.
“You give me my corncob!” cried the rat, crosser than ever. “Johnnie and Billie, whoever they are, had no right to take it. I'm not afraid of them, nor half a dozen like them!”
Then what should he do but rush right at the doll carriage and grab up Sister Sallie's doll. Then the little girl squirrel screamed and tried to grab her dollie away from that bad rat. You see, he was a bad rat, and not the pretty good rat that had given Billie and Johnnie permission to take the cob. It just shows you how mean a rat can be when he tries real hard. But I know a good rat, and some day I will tell you about him.
Where was I? Oh, I remember. The rat had just grabbed Sister Sallie's doll. He started to carry it off, but when the little squirrel caught it away from him, he turned on her, and grasped her in his mouth. Now what do you think about that? Yes, sir, that's just what he did. Only he took her by the back of the neck, just as you lift up a kitten, and it didn't hurt her hardly any, only, of course, she was very frightened. Then the rat started to carry her off to his den--O. No. I don't exactly mean that. It was the fox, and his dear little foxes, Eight, Nine, Ten, who lived in a den--O.
But just as the rat was carrying Sister Sallie off, what happened but that out from the woods rushed Billie and Johnnie Bushytail. Right at that bad, ugly rat they rushed, and they had their bows and arrows with them!
“Shoot him!” cried Johnnie.
“Hit him!” yelled Billie.
“Save me! Oh, save me!” pleaded Sister Sallie.
“Don't be afraid, we'll save you!” declared Johnnie.
Then he put an arrow to his bow, and he shot that rat on the nose. And Billie, he put an arrow to his bow, and he shot the rat on the left ear. That made the rat so mad that he dropped Sister Sallie, and rushed right at Billie and Johnnie. But they weren't a bit afraid, no indeed! They stood there, and shot some more arrows at the rat. Then they didn't have any left, and the rat was still rushing at them, and they hardly knew what to do until Billie took his bow and hit him over the head. Then Johnnie took his bow and also hit that bad rat over the head, until the old fellow gave a squeal --oh! such a squeal!--and ran away. So that is how Johnnie and Billie saved Sister Sallie from the adventure. Then they took her home, after her heart stopped beating so fast. Papa and Mamma Bushytail praised the two little boy squirrels, who happened to be out hunting when they came upon the rat carrying Sister Sallie away, and Mamma Bushytail gave them some maple sugar hickory nuts to eat. And after that Sallie never went out alone. Now, if the wind should be in the south to-morrow night, you shall hear how Billie kept store.
XXII
BILL
IE BUSHYTAIL KEEPS STORE
DID any of you children ever play keep a store? I suppose you have, with an old board for a counter, some clam and oyster shells full of sand and sticks for things to sell, and bits of paper, or, maybe, pebbles for money. Isn't it fun? Well, squirrels have to play just as you boys and girls do, so, a few days after the adventure with the bad rat (not the good one, you understand, for I'm going to tell you about the good rat by and by)--a few days after that adventure Johnnie and Billie were sitting on a branch near the nest in the hollow tree, looking around for something to do.
“Let's take our bows and arrows and see if we can hunt that rat again,” suggested Johnnie.
“All right,” agreed Billie. “Only I shot away all my arrows. We will have to gnaw some more out of pieces of wood.”
“Oh, boys, please don't go off into the woods after that bad rat!” begged Sister Sallie. “He might catch you.”
“Pooh! He couldn't catch us!” cried Johnnie, and he straightened up, just like a soldier, and looked very brave.
“No, indeed,” added his brother. “We're not afraid of him!”
“Besides, we want some excitement,” went on Johnnie. “I'm tired of sitting here doing nothing. We haven't had anything happen to us for ever so long--almost three days.”
“I know what let's do,” cried Sister Sallie, and she put her corncob doll into the nest, carriage, and covered it up with a pine- needle robe, embroidered with pussy willows. “My doll is asleep now, and we can play store.”
“How do you do that?” asked Johnnie.
“I'll show you,” answered Sister Sallie. “Billie can be the storekeeper, and the store will be that low stump over there. He can have acorns and nuts and little stones to sell, and pieces of dried leaves will be money, for they will rustle just like dollar- bills, you know.”
“If Billie is storekeeper, what can I be?” asked Johnnie.
“Oh, you and I will come to buy things,” explained the little girl squirrel.
“Two aren't enough to buy things,” objected Billie. “There ought to be more.”
“Well, perhaps others will come,” said Sallie. “Come on, now, we will help you fix up the store.”
So they got some pieces of bark to put the things on that were to be sold. And when Mamma Bushytail saw what they were doing she gave them some bits of cake, a little maple sugar, some odds and ends of nuts and other good things left over from breakfast, so they actually had really and truly things in the store.
Then Billie got behind the counter, which was made of little round limbs of trees, placed close together, just like the sides of a log cabin that Abraham Lincoln lived in, and these pieces were laid across two small stumps. Then Billie was ready to sell.
Sister Sallie came to the store first with some pieces of dried leaves for money.
“My mamma wants three and a half of granulated sugar, a quart of beans, and a yeast cake,” she said, just like a real little girl.
“We are all out of yeast cakes,” said Billie, just like a real storekeeper, “but we have some prunes that will do just as well.”
Well, you should have heard Sister Sallie laugh at that! The idea of prunes being just as good as a yeast cake! But then you see, Billie didn't know any better.
Then Johnnie came, and he bought some pieces of maple sugar and some nuts, and sat right down in the store and ate them.
“Hold on!” cried Billie. “That isn't fair. You get all the good things to eat and I only get dried leaves for them.”
“That is money,” answered his brother, with a laugh. “Besides, storekeepers never eat the things in their store. They sell them to other people.”
“Well, I'm going to eat some,” declared Billie, and he did. Then who should come along but Bully, the frog, and he bought come water cress, and a little while after that Jennie Chipmunk came along smiling, and she bought some nuts, and they all had a jolly good time. Even the fish-hawk, who happened to be passing, took a little sugar for his digestion, which was not very good.
Then, all at once, who should come running through the woods but a sly old fox. He saw the store, and he was hungry, but he had no money, because all the dried leaves had blown away by that time. So he didn't know how to buy anything at Billie's store. Then he thought of a plan.
“Have you heard about Eagle Rock?” he asked, waving his tail to and fro.
“No, what has happened to it?” asked Johnne, for it was on the mountain where they lived.
“It is all cracked,” said the fox. “You had better go look at it.”
So Johnnie and Billie and Sister Sallie ran off in a hurry to see the cracked rock, and that was just what the fox wanted, for he ate up everything there was left in the store, and never paid a cent, and the rock wasn't cracked at all; what do you think of that? Johnnie and Billie were quite angry at the mean trick the fox had played on them, but after all, they had had a nice time playing store, so they ran home. In case you would like to hear it, I have a story about Billie, Johnnie, and the fairy hen for to-morrow night.
XXIII
BILLIE, JOHNNIE AND THE FAIRY HEN
OF course, you know there are all kinds of fairies. There are the story-book sort, that are really delightful, and then there are fairies that you meet every day, even on your way to school. Some of them are real fairies, and some are make-believe. Then there are creatures which some persons do not call fairies at all, but which really are, for they do the most wonderful things, more wonderful even than making a palace out of an old lamp or turning a mouse into an elephant. So, you see, if you don't believe in one kind of faires, you must believe in the other; that's certain. Now, Billie and Johnnie Bushytail met a real fairy--a fairy hen, and I'm going to tell you all about it, if you don't wiggle too much.
The two little boy squirrels, with Sister Sallie, went out in the woods playing one day. They played tag and leapfrog, only they didn't leap over the toadstools, for they didn't want to make any more trouble for the old toad with the wart on his nose, who taught school.
“Oh, I'm tired of this,” said Billie, at length. “Let's do something else.”
“What shall we do?” asked Johnnie, and he ran up a tree and down again as fast as he could, just to keep in practice.
“I know!” exclaimed Sister Sallie. “Let's play house. I have my corncob doll with me.”
“No, I think it would be more fun to go sailing again,” went on Johnnie. “Sallie never went sailing. The wind is not strong to-day, and I don't believe we'd tip over.”
“I think I'm afraid of the water,” said Sister Sallie timidly. “Can't we take a nice walk in the woods?”
“Yes,” agreed Billie. “Maybe we will have an adventure like finding the Christmas nuts.”
So they started off through the woods, Sister Sallie wheeling the corncob doll in the carriage with the wheels that weren't quite round. They went on and on and on, and pretty soon they came to a part of the woods where they had never been before. The trees grew up straight and tall, and there was moss on the ground, and a little pond close by. Oh, it was such a beautiful place that they wanted to stay there a long time.
Pretty soon they heard a noise in the bushes, and what should come walking out but a nice, big hen. As soon as she saw the squirrels she ruffled up her feathers, and made a funny noise in her throat, but as soon as she knew they were not going to harm her, she quieted down and said. “Cluck-Cluck,” which was her way of saying “How do you do?”
“Hello,” spoke Johnnie, quite boldly. “What is your name?”
“My name is Mrs. Cut-cut-ka-dah-cut Cluck-Cluck,” she answered, “but every one calls me Mrs. Cluck-Cluck, so you may too, if you like,” and she scratched on the ground, as if she were bowing.
“What are you doing here?” asked Sister Sallie.
“Why,” said Mrs. Cluck-Cluck, “I am a fairy hen. I thought every one knew that. and I'm here to perform a wonderful trick.”
“Oh, fine!” cried Billie, who loved tricks “May w
e see it?”
“You certainly may,” replied the fairy hen. “I invite you all to see the magical, tragical, incomparable, serio-comical task I am about to perform. I will conceal nothing from you, and show you that I have nothing up my sleeves.”
Then the fairy hen held up one leg after another, and flapped her wings to show that she had nothing hidden about her.
“Come this way,” she said, and she led the squirrels through the bushes into a deep, dark part of the woods.
“Perhaps we are going to the fairy castle,” whispered Billie.
“Hush!” cautioned Sister Sallie.
Pretty soon Mrs. Cluck-Cluck stopped, pulled aside a bush with her wing, and, pointing to some white things in a heap on the ground, asked:
“Do you know what those are?”
“Yes,” answered Johnnie; “those are eggs.”
“Correct,” replied the fairy hen. “They are eggs, and the trick I am going to do is to change those into dear little chickens. Watch me closely.”
“Pooh!” exclaimed Billie. “I don't think that is much of a trick. Just make little chickens come out of an egg.”
“It is as much of a trick as to make a rabbit come out of a hat,” said Mrs. Cluck- Cluck, indignantly. “Just you watch.”
“I think it will be a lovely trick,” spoke Sister Sallie. “I love little chickens, and they will be just in time for Easter.”
“It will take me some little time to do this trick,” said the fairy hen, “but I am sure to do it. Please come back in a few days, and the trick will be done.”
So the little squirrels went back home, quite pleased after all at meeting the fairy hen, and when they went back where the eggs were, would you believe me? if there weren't a number of dear, little, soft, downy chickens, peeping and cheeping, and all wanting something to eat, and all that was left of the eggs was shells. Now I call that a wonderful trick, don't you? Sister Sallie and Johnnie did, but Billie was a bit doubtful. Then the fairy hen saw this, so she said, “I will do a trick especially for Billie. Go home and you will find something strange at your nest.” So they all hurried home, leaving the little chickens with the fairy hen, and what Billie found you shall hear to- morrow night.
Johnnie and Billie Bushytail Page 6