Uncle Wiggily in the Woods

by Howard Roger Garis

  So, as his toothache was all better, Billie had good fun in the woodswith the bunny uncle, until it was time to go home. And in the nextstory, if the top doesn't fly off the coffee pot and let the bakedpotato hide away from the egg-beater, when they play tag, I'll tell youabout Uncle Wiggily and the slippery elm.

  STORY III

  UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SLIPPERY ELM

  "Where are you going, Uncle Wiggily?" asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, themuskrat lady housekeeper, as she saw the rabbit gentleman standing onthe front steps of his hollow stump bungalow in the woods one morning."Where are you going?"

  "Oh, just for a walk through the forest," spoke the bunny uncle. "Itis so nice in the woods, with the flowers coming up, and the leavesgetting larger and greener every day, that I just love to walk there."

  "Well," said Nurse Jane with a laugh, "if you happen to see abread-tree in the woods, bring home a loaf for supper."

  "I will," promised Uncle Wiggily. "You know, Nurse Jane, there reallyare trees on which bread fruit grows, though not in this country. ButI can get you a loaf of bread at the five and ten cent store, I daresay."

  "Do, please," asked the muskrat lady. "And if you see a cocoanut treeyou might bring home a cocoanut cake for supper."

  "Oh, my!" laughed the rabbit gentleman. "I'm afraid there are nococoanut trees in my woods. I could bring you home a hickory nut cake,perhaps."

  "Well, whatever you like," spoke Nurse Jane. "But don't get lost,whatever you do, and if you meet with an adventure I hope it will be anice one."

  "So do I," Uncle Wiggily said, as he hopped off, leaning on his red,white and blue stripped [Transcriber's note: striped?] rheumatismcrutch which Nurse Jane had gnawed for him out of a cornstalk.

  The old rabbit gentleman had not gone very far before he met Dr. Possumwalking along in the woods, with his satchel of medicine on his tail,for Dr. Possum cured all the ill animals, you know.

  "What in the world are you doing, Dr. Possum?" asked Uncle Wiggily, ashe saw the animal doctor pulling some bark off a tree. "Are you goingto make a canoe, as the Indians used to do?"

  "Oh, no," answered Dr. Possum. "This is a slippery elm tree. Theunderside of the bark, next to the tree, and the tree itself, is veryslippery when it is wet. Very slippery indeed."

  "Well, I hope you don't slip," said Uncle Wiggily, kindly.

  "I hope so, too," Dr. Possum said. "But I am taking this slippery elmbark to mix with some of the bitter medicine I have to give BillieWagtail, the goat boy. When I put some bark from the slippery elm treein Billie's medicine it will slip down his throat so quickly that hewill never know he took it."

  "Good!" cried Uncle Wiggily, laughing. Then the bunny uncle went closeto the tree, off which Dr. Possum was taking some bark, and felt of itwith his paw. The tree was indeed as slippery as an icy sidewalk slideon Christmas eve.

  "My!" exclaimed Mr. Longears. "If I tried to climb up that tree I'd donothing but slip down."

  "That's right," said Dr. Possum. "But I must hurry on now to giveBillie Wagtail his medicine."

  So Dr. Possum went on his way and Uncle Wiggily hopped along until,pretty soon, he heard a rustling in the bushes, and a voice said:

  "But, Squeaky-Eeky dear, I can't find any snow hill for you to ridedown on your sled. The snow is all gone, you see. It is Spring now."

  "Oh, dear!" cried another voice. "Such a lot of trouble. Oh, dear!Oh, dear!"

  "Ha! Trouble!" said Uncle Wiggily to himself. "This is where I comein. I must see if I cannot help them."

  He looked through the bushes, and there he saw Jillie Longtail, thelittle girl mouse, and with her was Squeaky-Eeky, the cousin mouse.And Squeaky-Eeky had a small sled with her.

  "Why, what's the matter?" asked Uncle Wiggily, for he saw thatSqueaky-Eeky had been crying. "What is the matter, little mice?"

  "Oh, hello. Uncle Wiggily!" cried Jillie. "I don't know what to dowith my little cousin mouse. You see she wants to slide down hill onher Christmas sled, but there isn't any snow on any of the hills now."

  "No, that's true, there isn't," said the bunny uncle. "But, Squeaky,why didn't you slide down hill in the Winter, when there was snow?"

  "Because, I had the mouse-trap fever, then," answered Squeaky-Eeky,"and I couldn't go out. But now I am all better and I can be out, andoh, dear! I do so much want a ride down hill on my sled. Boo, hoo!"

  "Don't cry, Squeaky, dear," said Jillie. "If there is no snow youcan't slide down hill, you know."

  "But I want to," said the little cousin mouse, unreasonable like.

  "But you can't; so please be nice," begged Jillie.

  "Oh, dear!" cried Squeaky. "I do so much want to slide down hill on mysled."

  "And you shall!" suddenly exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "Come with me,Squeaky."

  "Why, Uncle Wiggily!" cried Jillie. "How can you give Squeaky a slidedown hill when there is no snow? You need a slippery snow hill forsleigh-riding."

  "I am not so sure of that," spoke Uncle Wiggily, with a smile. "Let ussee."

  Off through the woods he hopped, with Jillie and Squeaky following.Pretty soon Uncle Wiggily came to a big tree that had fallen down, oneend being raised up higher than the other, like a hill, slanting.

  With his strong paws and his sharp teeth, the rabbit gentleman beganpeeling the bark off the tree, showing the white wood underneath.

  "What are you doing, Uncle Wiggily?" asked Jillie.

  "This is a slippery elm tree, and I am making a hill so Squeaky-Eekycan slide down," answered the bunny uncle. "Underneath the bark thetrunk of the elm tree is very slippery. Dr. Possum told me so. Seehow my paw slips!" And indeed it did, sliding down the sloping treealmost as fast as you can eat a lollypop.

  Uncle Wiggily took off a lot of bark from the elm tree, making a long,sliding, slippery place.

  "Now, try that with your sled, Squeaky-Eeky," said the bunny uncle.And the little cousin mouse did. She put her sled on the slantingtree, sat down and Jillie gave her a little push. Down the slipperyelm tree went Squeaky as fast as anything, coming to a stop in a pileof soft leaves.

  "Oh, what a lovely slide!" cried Squeaky. "You try it, Jillie." Andthe little mouse girl did.

  "Who would think," she said, "that you could slide down a slippery elmtree? But you can."

  Then she and Squeaky took turns sliding down hill, even though therewas no snow, and the slippery elm tree didn't mind it a bit, but ratherliked it.

  And if the coal man doesn't take away our gas shovel to shoot sometooth powder into the wax doll's pop gun, I'll tell you next aboutUncle Wiggily and the sassafras.

  STORY IV

  UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SASSAFRAS

  "Uncle Wiggily! Uncle Wiggily! Get up!" called Nurse Jane FuzzyWuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, as she stood at the foot of thestairs of the hollow stump bungalow and called up to the rabbitgentleman one morning.

  "Hurry down, Mr. Longears," she went on. "This is the last day I amgoing to bake buckwheat cakes, and if you want some nice hot ones, withmaple sugar sauce on, you'd better hurry."

  No answer came from the bunny uncle.

  "Why, this is strange," said Nurse Jane to herself. "I wonder ifanything can have happened to him? Did he have an adventure in thenight? Did the bad skillery-scalery alligator, with humps on its tail,carry him off?"

  Then she called again:

  "Uncle Wiggily! Uncle Wiggily! Aren't you going to get up? Come downto breakfast. Aren't you going to get up and come down?"

  "No, Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy," replied the bunny uncle, "not to give you ashort answer, I am not going to get up, or come down or eat breakfastor do anything," and Mr. Longears spoke as though his head was hiddenunder the bed clothes, which it was.

  "Oh, Uncle Wiggily, whatever is the matter?" asked Nurse Jane,surprised like and anxious.

  "I don't feel at all well," was the answer. "I think I have theepizootic, and I don't want any breakfast."

  "Oh, dear!" cried Nurse Jane. "And al
l the nice cakes I have baked. Iknow what I'll do," she said to herself. "I'll call in Dr. Possum.Perhaps Uncle Wiggily needs some of the roots and herbs that grow inthe woods--wintergreen, slippery elm or something like that. I'll callDr. Possum."

  And when the animal doctor came he looked at the bunny uncle's tongue,felt of his ears, and said:

  "Ha! Hum! You have the Spring fever, Uncle Wiggily. What you need issassafras."

  "Nurse Jane has some in the bungalow," spoke Mr. Longears. "Tell herto make me some tea from that."

  "No, what is needed is fresh sassafras," said Dr. Possum. "And, whatis more, you must go out in the woods and dig it yourself. That willbe almost as good for your Spring fever as the sassafras itself. Sohop out, and dig some of the roots."

  "Oh, dear!" cried Uncle Wiggily, fussy like. "I don't want to. I'drather stay here in bed."

  "But you can't!" cried Dr. Possum in his jolly voice. "Out with you!"and he pulled the bed clothes off the bunny uncle so he had to get upto keep warm.

  "Well, I'll just go out and dig a little sassafras root to please him,"thought Uncle Wiggily to himself, "and then I'll come back and stay inbed as long as I please. It's all nonsense thinking I have to havefresh root--the old is good enough."

  "I do feel quite wretched and lazy like," said Uncle Wiggily tohimself, as he limped along on his red, white and blue-stripedbarber-pole rheumatism crutch, that Nurse Jane had gnawed for him outof a cornstalk. "As soon as I find some sassafras I'll pull up a bitof the root and hurry back home and to bed."

  Pretty soon the bunny uncle saw where some of the sassafras roots weregrowing, with their queer three-pointed leaves, like a mitten, with aplace for your finger and thumb.

  "Now to pull up the root," said the bunny uncle, as he dug down in theground a little way with his paws, to get a better hold.

  But pulling up sassafras roots is not as easy as it sounds, as you knowif you have ever tried it. The roots go away down in the earth, andthey are very strong.

  Uncle Wiggily pulled and tugged and twisted and turned, but he couldbreak off only little bits of the underground stalk.

  "This won't do!" he said to himself. "If I don't get a big root Dr.Possum will, perhaps, send me hack for more. I'll try again."

  He got his paws under a nice, big root, and he was straining his backto pull it up, when, all of a sudden, he heard a voice saying:

  "How do you do?"

  "Oh, hello!" exclaimed the bunny, looking up quickly, and expecting tosee some friend of his, like Grandpa Goosey Gander, or SammieLittletail, the rabbit boy. But, instead, he saw the bad old fox, whohad, so many times, tried to catch the rabbit gentleman.

  "Oh!" said Uncle Wiggily, astonished like. And again he said: "Oh!"

  "Surprised, are you?" asked the fox, sort of curling his whiskersaround his tongue, sarcastic fashion.

  "A little--yes," answered Uncle Wiggily. "I didn't expect to see you."

  "But I've been expecting you a long time," said the fox, grinning mostimpolitely. "In fact, I've been waiting for you. Just as soon as youhave pulled up that sassafras root you may come with me. I'll take youoff to my den, to my dear little foxes Eight, Nine and Ten. Those aretheir numbers. It's easier to number them than name them."

  "Oh, indeed?" asked Uncle Wiggily, as politely as he could, consideringeverything. "And so you won't take me until I pull this sassafrasroot?"

  "No, I'll wait until you have finished," spoke the fox. "I like youbetter, anyhow, flavored with sassafras. So pull away."

  Uncle Wiggily tried to pull up the root, but he did not pull very hard.

  "For," he thought, "as soon as I pull it up then the fox will take me,but if I don't pull it he may not."

  "What's the matter? Can't you get that root up?" asked the fox, aftera while. "I can't wait all day."

  "Then perhaps you will kindly pull it up for me," said the bunny uncle."I can't seem to do it."

  "All right, I will," the fox said. Uncle Wiggily hopped to one side.The fox put his paws under the sassafras root. And he pulled and hepulled and he pulled, and finally, with a double extra strong pull, hepulled up the root. But it came up so suddenly, just as when you breakthe point off your pencil, that the fox keeled over backward in apeppersault and somersault also.

  "Oh, wow!" cried the fox, as he bumped his nose. "What happened?" ButUncle Wiggily did not stay to tell. Away ran the bunny through thewoods, as fast as he could go, forgetting all about his Spring fever.He was all over it.

  "I thought the sassafras would cure you," said Dr. Possum, when UncleWiggily was safely home once more.

  "The fox helped some," said the bunny uncle, with a laugh.

  And if the black cat doesn't cover himself with talcum powder and makebelieve he's a white kid glove going to a dance, I'll tell you nextabout Uncle Wiggily and Jack-in-the-Pulpit.

  STORY V

  UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE PULPIT-JACK

  "Well, how are you feeling today, Uncle Wiggily?" asked Nurse JaneFuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, as she saw the rabbitgentleman taking his tall silk hat down off the china closet, gettingready to go for a walk in the woods one morning.

  "Why, I'm feeling pretty fine, Nurse Jane," answered the bunny uncle."Since I ran home to get away from the fox, after he turned apeppersault from pulling too strong to get up the sassafras root, Ifeel much better, thank you."

  "Good!" cried Nurse Jane. "Then perhaps you would not mind going tothe store for me."

  "Certainly not," spoke Uncle Wiggily. "What do you wish?"

  "A loaf of bread," replied Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy, "also a box of matches andsome sugar and crackers. But don't forget the matches whatever youdo."

  "I won't," promised the bunny uncle, and soon he was hopping alongthrough the woods wondering what sort of an adventure he would havethis day.

  As he was going along keeping a sharp look-out for the bad fox, or theskillery-scalery alligator with the double jointed tail. Uncle Wiggilyheard a voice saying:

  "Oh, dear! I'll never be able to get out from under the stone and growtall as I ought. I've pushed and pushed on it, but I can't raise it.Oh, dear; what a heavy stone!"

  "Ha! Some one under a stone!" said Uncle Wiggily to himself. "Thatcertainly is bad trouble. I wonder if I cannot help?"

  The bunny uncle looked all around and down on the ground he saw a flatstone. Underneath it something green and brown was peeping out.

  "Was that you who called?" asked Mr. Longears.

  "It was," came the answer. "I am a Jack-in-the-Pulpit plant, you see,and I started to grow up, as all plants and flowers do when summercomes. But when I had raised my head out of the earth I found a bigstone over me, and now I can grow no more. I've pushed and pusheduntil my back aches, and I can't lift the stone."

  "I'll do it for you," said Uncle Wiggily kindly, and he did, taking itoff the Pulpit-Jack.

  Then the Jack began growing up, and he had been held down so long thathe grew quite quickly, so that even while Uncle Wiggily was watching,the Jack and his pulpit were almost regular size.

  A Jack-in-the-Pulpit, you know, is a queer flower that grows in ourwoods. Sometimes it is called an Indian turnip, but don't eat it, forit is very biting. The Jack is a tall green chap, who stands in themiddle of his pulpit, which is like a little pitcher, with a curved topto it. A pulpit, you know, is where some one preaches on Sunday.

  "Thank you very much for lifting the stone off me so I could grow,"said the Jack to Uncle Wiggily. "If ever I can do you a favor I will."

  "Oh, pray don't mention it," replied the rabbit gentleman, with a lowbow. "It was a mere pleasure, I assure you."

  Then the rabbit gentleman hopped on to the store, to get the matches,the crackers, the bread and other things for Nurse Jane.

  "And I must be sure not to forget the matches," Uncle Wiggily said tohimself. "If I did Nurse Jane could not make a fire to cook supper."

  There was an April shower while Uncle Wiggily was in the store, and
hewaited for the rain to stop falling before he started back to hishollow stump bungalow. Then the sun came out very hot and strong andshone down through the wet leaves of the trees in the woods.

  Along hopped the bunny uncle, and he was wondering what he would havefor supper that night.

  "I hope it's something good," he said, "to make up for not having anadventure."

  "Don't you call that an adventure--lifting the stone off theJack-in-the-Pulpit so he could grow?" asked a bird, sitting up in atree.

  "Well, that was a little adventure." said Uncle Wiggily. "But I wantone more exciting; a big one."

  And he is going to have one in about a minute. Just you wait andyou'll hear all about it.

  The sun was shining hotter and hotter, and Uncle Wiggily was thinkingthat it was about time to get out his extra-thin fur coat when, all ofa sudden, he felt something very hot behind him.

  "Why, that sun is really burning!" cried the bunny. Then he heard alittle ant boy, who was crawling on the ground, cry out:

  "Fire! Fire! Fire! Uncle Wiggily's bundle of groceries is on fire!Fire! Fire!"

  "Oh, my!" cried the bunny uncle, as he felt hotter and hotter, "The sunmust have set fire to the box of matches. Oh, what shall I do?" Hedropped his bundle of groceries, and looking around at them he saw,surely enough, the matches were on fire. They were all blazing.

  "Call the fire department! Get out the water bugs!" cried the littleant boy. "Fire! Water! Water! Fire!"

  "That's what I want--water," cried the bunny uncle. "Oh, if I couldfind a spring of water. I could put the blazing matches, save some ofthem, perhaps, and surely save the bread and crackers. Oh, for somewater!"