Uncle Wiggily in the Woods

by Howard Roger Garis

  Uncle Wiggily and the ant boy ran here and there in the woods lookingfor a spring of water. But they could find none, and the bread andcrackers were just beginning to burn when a voice cried:

  "Here is water, Uncle Wiggily!"

  "Where? Where?" asked the rabbit gentleman, all excited like. "Where?"

  "Inside my pulpit," was the answer, and Uncle Wiggily saw, not faraway, the Jack-plant he had helped from under the stone.

  "When it rained a while ago, my pitcher-pulpit became filled withwater," went on Jack. "If you will just tip me over, sideways, I'llsplash the water on the blazing matches and put them out."

  "I'll do it!" cried Uncle Wiggily, and he quickly did. The pulpit heldwater as good as a milk pitcher could, and when the water splashed onthe fire that fire gave one hiss, like a goose, and went out.

  "Oh, you certainly did me a favor, Mr. Pulpit-Jack," said UncleWiggily. "Though the matches are burned, the bread and crackers aresaved, and I can get more matches." Which he did, so Nurse Jane couldmake a fire in the stove.

  So you see Uncle Wiggily had an adventure after all, and quite anexciting one, too, and if the lemon drop doesn't fall on the stick ofpeppermint candy and make it sneeze when it goes to the movingpictures, I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the violets.

  STORY VI

  UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE VIOLETS

  Down in the kitchen of the hollow stump bungalow there was a greatclattering of pots and pans. Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbitgentleman who lived in the bungalow, sat up in bed, having beenawakened by the noise, and he said:

  "Well, I wonder what Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy is doing now? Shecertainly is busy at something, and it can't be making the breakfastbuckwheat cakes, either, for she has stopped baking them."

  "I say, Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy, what's going on down in your kitchen?" calledthe rabbit gentleman out loud.

  "I'm washing," answered the muskrat lady.

  "Washing what; the dishes?" the bunny uncle wanted to know. "If youwash them as hard as it sounds, there won't be any of them left fordinner, and I haven't had my breakfast yet."

  "No, I'm getting ready to wash the clothes, and I wish you'd come downand eat, so I can clear away the table things!" called the muskrat lady.

  "Oh, dear! Clothes-washing!" cried Uncle Wiggily, making his pink nosetwinkle in a funny way. "I don't like to be around the bungalow whenthat is being done. I guess I'll get my breakfast and go for a walk.Clothes have to be washed, I suppose," went on the rabbit gentleman,"and when Nurse Jane has been ill I have washed them myself, but I donot like it. I'll go off in the woods."

  And so, having had his breakfast of carrot pudding, with turnip saucesprinkled over the top, Uncle Wiggily took his red, white and bluestriped rheumatism crutch, and hopped along.

  The woods were getting more and more beautiful every day as the weathergrew warmer. The leaves on the trees were larger, and here and there,down in the green moss, that was like a carpet on the ground, could beseen wild flowers growing up.

  "I wonder what sort of an adventure I will have today?" thought thebunny uncle as he went on and on. "A nice one, I hope."

  And, as he said this, Uncle Wiggily heard some voices speaking.

  "Oh, dear!" exclaimed a sad little voice, "no one will ever see ushere! Of what use are we in the world? We are so small that we cannotbe noticed. We are not brightly colored, like the red rose, and allthat will happen to us will be that a cow will come along and eat us,or step on us with her big foot."

  "Hush! You musn't talk that way," said another voice. "You were puthere to grow, and do the best you know how. Don't be finding fault."

  "I wonder who can be talking?" said Uncle Wiggily. "I must lookaround." So he looked up in the air, but though he heard the leaveswhispering he knew they had not spoken. Then he looked to the right,to the left, in front and behind, but he saw no one. Then he lookeddown, and right at his feet was a clump of blue violet flowers.

  "Did you speak?" asked Uncle Wiggily of the violets.

  "Yes," answered one who had been finding fault. "I was telling mysisters and brothers that we are of no use in the world. We just growup here in the woods, where no one sees us, and we never can have anyfun. I want to be a big, red rose and grow in a garden."

  "Oh, my!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "I never heard of a violet turning intoa rose." Then the mother violet spoke and said:

  "I tell my little girl-flower that she ought to be happy to grow herein the nice woods, in the green moss, where it is so cool and moist.But she does not seem to be happy, nor are some of the other violets."

  "Well, that isn't right," Uncle Wiggily said, kindly. "I am sure youviolets can do some good in this world. You are pretty to look at, andnice to smell, and that is more than can be said of some things."

  "Oh, I want to do something big!" said the fault-finding violet. "Iwant to go out in the world and see things."

  "So do I! And I! And I!" cried other violets.

  Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute, and then he said:

  "I'll do this. I'll dig up a bunch of you violets, who want a change,and take you with me for a walk. I will leave some earth on your rootsso you won't die, and we shall see what happens."

  "Oh, goodie!" cried the violets. So Uncle Wiggily dug them up with hispaws, putting some cool moss around their roots, and when they had saidgood-by to the mother violet away they went traveling with the bunnyuncle.

  "Oh, this is fine!" cried the first violet, nodding her head in thebreeze. "It is very kind of you, Uncle Wiggily to take us with you. Iwish we could do you a kindness."

  And then a bad old fox jumped out from behind a stump, and started tograb the rabbit gentleman. But when the fox saw the pretty violets andsmelled their sweetness, the fox felt sorry at having been bad and said:

  "Excuse me, Uncle Wiggily. I'm sorry I tried to bite you. The sightof those pretty violets makes me feel happier than I did. I am goingto try to be good."

  "I am glad of it," said Mr. Longears, as he hopped on through thewoods. "You see, you have already done some good in this world, evenif you are only tiny flowers," he said to the violets.

  Then Uncle Wiggily went on to his hollow stump bungalow, and, reachingthere, he heard Nurse Jane saying:

  "Oh, dear! This is terrible. Here I have the clothes almost washed,and not a bit of bluing to rinse them in. Oh, why didn't I tell Wiggyto bring me some blueing from the store? Oh, dear!"

  "Ha! Perhaps these will do to make blue water," said the bunny uncle,holding out the bunch of violets. "Would you like to help Nurse Jane?"he asked the flowers.

  "Oh, yes, very much!" cried the violets.

  Then Uncle Wiggily dipped their blue heads in the clean rinsingwater--just a little dip so as not to make them catch cold--and enoughcolor came out of the violets to make the water properly blue for NurseJane's clothes, so she could finish the washing.

  "So you see you have done more good in the world," said Uncle Wiggilyto the flowers. Then he took them back and planted them in the woodswhere they lived, and very glad they were to return, too.

  "We have seen enough of the world," they said, and thereafter they wereglad enough to live down in the moss with the mother violet. And ifthe umbrella doesn't turn inside out so the handle tickles its ribs andmakes it laugh in school, I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily andthe high tree.

  STORY VII

  UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE HIGH TREE

  Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice rabbit gentleman, stood in front ofthe looking glass trying on a new tall silk hat he had just boughtready for Easter Sunday, which would happen in about a week or two.

  "Do you think it looks well on me, Nurse Jane?" asked the bunny uncle,of the muskrat lady housekeeper, who came in from the kitchen of thehollow stump bungalow, having just finished washing the dishes.

  "Why, yes, I think your new hat is very nice," she said.

  "Do you think I ought to have the holes for my ears cut a littlelarger?" as
ked the bunny uncle. "I mean the holes cut, not my ears."

  "Well, just a little larger wouldn't hurt any," replied Miss FuzzyWuzzy. "I'll cut them for you," and she did, with her scissors. ForUncle Wiggily had to wear his tall silk hat with his ears sticking upthrough holes cut in it. His ears were too large to go under the hat,and he could not very well fold them down.

  "There, now I guess I'm all right to go for a walk in the woods," saidthe rabbit gentleman, taking another look at himself in the glass. Itwas not a proud look, you understand. Uncle Wiggily just wanted tolook right and proper, and he wasn't at all stuck up, even if his earswere, but he couldn't help that.

  So off he started, wondering what sort of an adventure he would havethat day. He passed the place where the blue violets were growing inthe green moss--the same violets he had used to make Nurse Jane'sblueing water for her clothes the other day, as I told you. And theviolets were glad to see the bunny uncle.

  Then Uncle Wiggily met Grandfather Goosey Gander, the nice old goosegentleman, and the two friends walked on together, talking about howmuch cornmeal you could buy with a lollypop, and all about the best wayto eat fried ice cream carrots.

  "That's a very nice hat you have on, Uncle Wiggily," said GrandpaGoosey, after a bit.

  "Glad you like it," answered the bunny uncle. "It's for Easter."

  "I think I'll get one for myself," went on Mr. Gander. "Do you think Iwould look well in it?"

  "Try on mine and see," offered Uncle Wiggily most kindly. So he tookhis new, tall silk hat off his head, pulling his ears out of the holesNurse Jane had cut for them, and handed it to Grandfather GooseyGander--handed the hat, I mean, not his ears, though of course theholes went with the hat.

  "There, how do I look?" asked the goose gentleman.

  "Quite stylish and proper," replied Mr. Longears.

  "I'd like to see myself before I buy a hat like this," went on GrandpaGoosey. "I hope it doesn't make me look too tall."

  "Here's a spring of water over by this old stump," spoke Uncle Wiggily."You can see yourself in that, for it is just like a looking glass."

  Grandpa Goosey leaned over to see how Uncle Wiggily's tall, silk hatlooked, when, all of a sudden, along came a puff of wind, caught thehat under the brim, and as Grandpa Goosey had no ears to hold it on hishead (as the bunny uncle had) away sailed the hat up in the air, and itlanded right in the top of a big, high tree.

  "Oh, dear!" cried Uncle Wiggily.

  "Oh, dear!" said Grandpa Goosey. "I'm very sorry that happened. Oh,dear!"

  "It wasn't your fault at all," spoke Uncle Wiggily kindly. "It was thewind."

  "But with your nice, new tall silk hat up in that high tree, how are weever going to get it down," asked the goose gentleman.

  "I don't know," answered Uncle Wiggily. "Let me think."

  So he thought for a minute or two, and then he said:

  "There are three ways by which we may get the hat down. One is to askthe wind to blow it back to us, another is to climb up the tree and getthe hat ourselves, and the third is to ask the tree to shake it down tous. We'll try the wind first."

  So Uncle Wiggily and Grandpa Goosey asked the wind that had blown thehat up in the top of the high tree to kindly blow it back again. Butthe wind had gone far out to sea, and would not be back for a week. Sothat way of getting the hat was of no use.

  "Mr. High Tree, will you kindly shake my hat down to me?" begged UncleWiggily next.

  "I would like to, very much," the tree answered politely, "but I cannotshake when there is no wind to blow me. We trees cannot shakeourselves, you know. We can only shake when the wind blows us, anduntil the wind comes back I cannot shake."

  "Too bad!" said Uncle Wiggily. "Then the only way left for us to do,Grandpa Goosey, is to climb the tree."

  But this was easier said than done, for neither a rabbit nor a goosegentleman is made for climbing up trees, though when he was a youngchap Grandpa Goosey had flown up into little trees, and Uncle Wiggilyhad jumped over them. But that was long, long ago.

  Try as they did, neither the rabbit gentleman nor the goose gentlemancould climb up after the tall silk hat.

  "What are we going to do?" asked Grandpa Goosey.

  "I don't know," replied Mr. Longears. "I guess I'll have to go getBillie or Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrel boys, to climb the tree forus. Yes, that's what I'll do; and then I can get my hat."

  Uncle Wiggily started off through the woods to look for one of theBushytail chaps, while Grandpa Goosey stayed near the tree, to catchthe hat in case it should happen to fall by itself.

  All of a sudden Uncle Wiggily heard some one coming along whistling,and then he heard a loud pounding sound, and next he saw ToodleFlat-tail, the beaver boy, walking in the woods.

  "Oh, Toodle! You're the very one I want!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "Myhat is in a high tree and I can't get it. With your strong teeth, justmade for cutting down trees, will you kindly cut down this one, and getmy hat for me?"

  "I will," said the little beaver chap. But when he began to gnaw thetree, to make it fall, the tree cried:

  "Oh, Mr. Wind, please come and blow on me so I can shake UncleWiggily's hat to him, and then I won't have to be gnawed down. Pleaseblow, Mr. Wind."

  So the wind hurried back and blew the tree this way and that. Downtoppled Uncle Wiggily's hat, not in the least hurt, and so everythingwas all right again, and Uncle Wiggily and Grandpa Goosey and ToodleFlat-tail were happy. And the tree was extra glad as it did not haveto be gnawed down.

  Down toppled Uncle Wiggily's hat, not in the least hurt.]

  And if the little mouse doesn't go to sleep in the cat's cradle andscare poor pussy so her tail swells up like a balloon, I'll tell younext about Uncle Wiggily and the peppermint.

  STORY VIII

  UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE PEPPERMINT

  "Uncle Wiggily, would you mind going to the store for me?" asked NurseJane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, one morning, as shecame in from the kitchen of the hollow stump bungalow, where she hadbeen getting ready the breakfast for the rabbit gentleman.

  "Go to the store? Why of course I'll go, Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy," answeredthe bunny uncle. "Which store?"

  "The drug store."

  "The drug store? What do you want; talcum powder or court plaster?"

  "Neither one," answered Nurse Jane. "I want some peppermint."

  "Peppermint candy?" Uncle Wiggily wanted to know.

  "Not exactly," went on Nurse Jane. "But I want a little of thepeppermint juice with which some kind of candy is flavored. I want totake some peppermint juice myself, for I have indigestion. Dr. Possumsays peppermint is good for it. I must have eaten a little too muchcheese pudding last night."

  "I'll get you the peppermint with pleasure," said the bunny uncle,starting off with his tall silk hat and his red, white and blue stripedrheumatism barber pole crutch.

  "Better get it in a bottle," spoke Nurse Jane, with a laugh. "Youcan't carry peppermint in your pocket, unless it's peppermint candy,and I don't want that kind."

  "All right," Uncle Wiggily said, and then, with the bottle, which NurseJane gave him, he hopped on, over the fields and through the woods tothe drug store.

  But when he got there the cupboard was bare--. No! I mustn't saythat. It doesn't belong here. I mean when Uncle Wiggily reached thedrug store it was closed, and there was a sign in the door which saidthe monkey-doodle gentleman who kept the drug store had gone to abaseball-moving-picture show, and wouldn't be back for a long while.

  "Then I wonder where I am going to get Nurse Jane's peppermint?" askedUncle Wiggily of himself. "I'd better go see if Dr. Possum has any."

  But while Uncle Wiggily was going on through the woods once more, hegave a sniff and a whiff, and, all of a sudden, he smelled a peppermintsmell.

  The rabbit gentleman stood still, looking around and making his pinknose twinkle like a pair of roller skates. While he was doing thisalong came a cow lady chewing some grass for her c
omplexion.

  "What are you doing here, Uncle Wiggily?" asked the cow lady.

  Uncle Wiggily told her how he had gone to the drug store for peppermintfor Nurse Jane, and how he had found the store closed, so he could notget any.

  "But I smell peppermint here in the woods," went on the bunny uncle."Can it be that the drug store monkey doodle has left some here for me?"

  "No, what you smell is--that," said the cow lady, pointing her hornstoward some green plants growing near a little babbling brook of water.The plants had dark red stems that were square instead of round.

  "It does smell like peppermint," said Uncle Wiggily, going closer andsniffing and snuffing.

  "It is peppermint," said the cow lady. "That is the peppermint plantyou see."

  "Oh, now I remember," Uncle Wiggily exclaimed. "They squeeze the juiceout of the leaves, and that's peppermint flavor for candy or forindigestion."

  "Exactly," spoke the cow lady, "and I'll help you squeeze out some ofthis juice in the bottle for Nurse Jane."

  Then Uncle Wiggily and the cow lady pulled up some of the peppermintplants and squeezed out the juice between two clean, flat stones, thecow lady stepping on them while Uncle Wiggily caught the juice in theempty bottle as it ran out.

  "My! But that is strong!" cried the bunny uncle, as he smelled of thebottle of peppermint. It was so sharp that it made tears come into hiseyes. "I should think that would cure indigestion and everythingelse," he said to the cow lady.