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Bedtime Stories

LULU, ALICE AND JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE

by

HOWARD R. GARIS

Author of _Sammie and Susie Littletail_, _Johnnie and Billie Bushytail_,
_Those Smith Boys_, _Dick Hamilton's Fortune_, etc.

Illustrations by Louis Wisa

1912



       *       *       *       *       *



R.F. Fenno & Company
18 East Seventeenth St.
New York
Children's Books

By HOWARD R. GARIS

THE BEDTIME STORIES SERIES

EIGHT COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS

Price 75 cents each, postpaid


SAMMIE AND SUSIE LITTLETAIL
    31 Rabbit Stories
JOHNNIE AND BILLIE BUSHYTAIL
    31 Squirrel Stories
LULU, ALICE AND JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE
    31 Duck Stories
JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW-WOW
    31 Dog Stories

Other volumes in preparation

       *       *       *       *       *

THE UNCLE WIGGILY SERIES

EIGHT COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS

Price 75 cents each, postpaid

UNCLE WIGGILY'S ADVENTURES
  31 of the Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories
UNCLE WIGGILY'S TRAVELS
  31 More Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories

BOY'S BOOKS

THOSE SMITH BOYS SERIES

FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS

Price 75 cents each, postpaid

THE SMITH BOYS
  Or, The Mystery of the Thumbless Man
THOSE SMITH BOYS ON THE DIAMOND
  Or, Nip and Tuck for Victory

THE ISLAND BOYS SERIES

FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS

Price 75 cents each, postpaid

THE ISLAND BOYS
  Or, Fun and Adventures on Lake Modoc


Other volumes in preparation


       *       *       *       *       *



R.F. Fenno & Company

BEDTIME STORIES--Lulu, Alice and Jimmie

The stories herein contained appeared originally in the Evening News, of
Newark, N.J., where (so many children and their parents have been kind
enough to say) they gave pleasure to a number of little folks, and
grown-ups also.

Permission to issue the stories in book form was kindly granted by the
publisher and editor of the News, to whom the author extends his thanks.



[Illustration]




LULU, ALICE AND JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE




STORY I

LULU WIBBLEWOBBLE STUCK IN THE MUD


Once upon a time, not so very many years ago, there lived three ducks in a
duck pen. And this pen was not far from where Sammie and Susie Littletail,
the rabbit children, had their burrow, and it was close to the trees where
Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrel brothers, learned to jump from
their nest. Now I am going to tell you some stories about these ducks, and
what they did.

To begin with there was the mamma duck. She was Mrs. Wibblewobble, a nice,
white duck, being a cousin to Mrs. Quack-Quack, who once rescued Billie
and Johnnie Bushytail, and Jennie Chipmunk from the desert island where
they had been shipwrecked, you remember.

Then there was the papa duck, and, of course, his name was Mr.
Wibblewobble. Also there were the children ducks; Jimmie Wibblewobble and
his two sisters, Lulu and Alice.

Lulu was a duckling who could throw a stone almost as well as could
Jimmie, but Alice was not so fond of doing this. She would rather dress
up, and play keep house, while Lulu wanted to be off having a good time
with her brother. But the three ducklings got along very nicely together
just the same.

What's that? Why were they named Wibblewobble? Well, because, you see they
did wibblewobble from side to side when they walked, and so they had to be
named Wibblewobble, or things wouldn't have come out right. So there!

Well, the Wibblewobble family lived in a nice, wooden house, called a pen,
near a pond of water, and their house had a door and two windows to it, so
you see they were quite well off. In fact they were very stylish ducks,
and once Jimmie Wibblewobble even rode in an automobile, but I can't tell
you about that now, because you see I am going to relate to you how Lulu
was caught fast in the mud. It happened one day when Jimmie and his two
sisters were swimming about on the pond, just like three white boats.

"Let's see who can swim the fastest!" suddenly called the little boy duck.
"We'll race over to the other side of the pond," and he put his head down
under the water to get a fine, juicy bit of weed, with some water-cress
sauce on it.

"Oh, no," exclaimed Alice Wibblewobble, "it's not nice for girl ducks to
race," and she spread out her wings to see how they looked.

"Yes it is," said Lulu. "Come on, Jimmie, I'll race with you."

So off they started, splashing the water with their yellow, webbed feet,
throwing up a little spray, which sparkled in the sunshine, just like
baby's eyes when you come close to her and she laughs at you so cunningly.

On they went, faster and faster and faster, Lulu and Jimmie, while Alice
remained behind, to gaze in the water which was just like a looking glass,
you know. Oh, my yes, but please don't try it, unless the water is very,
very shallow. You see Alice wanted to see if all her feathers were on
straight, and they were, believe me, as straight as straight can be.

Well, of course, Jimmie won the race, being a very good swimmer, but Lulu
was close behind him, and would have beaten, only one of her legs got
caught in a weed. Now I call that too bad, don't you? For I was hoping,
all the while, that Lulu would win. But you never can tell what is going
to happen in this world; now can you? No, indeed.

"Let's race back again," proposed Lulu, after she had rested.

"Oh, don't race any more," spoke Alice, swimming up just then. "Let's walk
out on land and see if we can't find some nice corn meal. I'm sure it must
be almost dinner time, and I just love corn meal."

"I know something better than that," suddenly said a quivery-quavery
voice, right beside the ducks, and when they looked around who should be
there but Mr. Goosey-Gander, the grandfather of all the ducks in the pen.
"I know something better than corn meal, little ones," he said, and he
splashed his wings in the water.

"What is it?" asked Lulu, as quickly as you can shoot a marble into the
ring and out again. "Is it gum drops?"

"No," answered Grandfather Goosey-Gander, "it is not gum drops. It is
better than that. It is nice, sweet roots and grasses that grow down under
water," and, with that, what do you think he did? Why, he stood right up
on his head, and reached his bill down beneath the pond, and got some of
the nicest grass that ever was. "There," said the old gentleman duck,
poking up his head, "do as I did, little ones."

So those three Wibblewobble children did, and pretty soon, Alice and
Jimmie had as much as they could eat, and raised their heads. Then they
saw that Lulu still had her bill down under the water.

"She must be getting lots more than we did," spoke Alice.

"Yes, indeed," replied Jimmie. "I wonder how she can hold her breath so
long?"

Just then, what should happen but that Lulu began to wave her feet in the
air, and she flapped her wings until the spray went up in a regular
shower, just like at Asbury Park.

"Oh, my goodness me sakes alive, and three teaspoonsfull of corn meal with
pepper in!" cried Grandfather Goosey-Gander. "Lulu is stuck in the mud! We
must pull her out. Quick!" That's just the way he said it.

And, would you believe me, Lulu was held fast in the mud by her dear
little bill! Oh, how terribly frightened Jimmie and Alice were. They
squawked and they quacked, and they tried to pull Lulu out, but she was
stuck too fast.

Then all the other ducks came swimming up to see what the trouble was, and
they tried to pull her out, but they couldn't, and, all the while her feet
were wiggling as fast as they could wiggle, almost like Sammie
Littletail's nose.

Then Grandfather Goosey-Gander called out: "What ho! Make way there! I
will save her!" And with that, what do you think he did? Why, he dived
right down under the water, yes, sir, right down in the mud, and he
pushed, and he pulled, and he hauled and he splashed, and he yanked, and
he rooted, and he twisted, and he turned, and he shoved, and then, all
alone, brave old grandfather that he was, he got Lulu up from the mud,
where she had been stuck by her little bill!

And it was almost time, too, let me tell you, for her breath was nearly
gone. But she soon got better, and she never put her head so far down
under water again.

Then all the ducks said: "Quack, Quack, Quack!" three times, they were so
glad, and they swam around in a circle, and the old rooster stood on the
bank and crowed, just as if he had done it all! Oh, how glad Papa and
Mamma Wibblewobble were that Lulu was saved!

Now, if you do not get your feet wet, I shall tell you, to-morrow night,
how Jimmie rode in an automobile.




STORY II

JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE IN AN AUTO


One day, well, it must have been about a week after Lulu Wibblewobble got
caught in the mud, she and Jimmie were out swimming around the pond.

"Come on," said Lulu, "let's go over and see Mrs. Greenie, the frog. She
always has some candied sweet-flag root hidden away, and perhaps she will
give us some."

"I don't believe there's any left," spoke Jimmie, "for Bully, the boy
frog, is so fond of it that he eats all he can get."

"Well, we'll go, anyhow," went on Lulu. Just then she heard her mother
calling:

"Jimmie! Lulu! Where are you going?"

"We are going over to see Mrs. Greenie," replied Jimmie.

"Wait for Alice," called Mamma Wibblewobble. "She will go with you. She is
just putting a clean apron on."

"Oh, dear!" cried Lulu. "Why does Alice always make us wait while she
puts on something clean?"

"I suppose," answered Jimmie, and he scratched his bill with his left leg,
"I suppose it is because she wants to look nice."

"Yes," agreed Lulu, with a sort of quacking-sigh, "I suppose I ought to
want to look nice, too; but, somehow I don't--ever. I always seem to be in
such a hurry."

"Maybe you'll change, some day," suggested her brother.

"Maybe," spoke Lulu, and just then Alice came swimming along, looking just
as nice and pretty as do some ducks which are in a picture. They all went
over to see Mrs. Greenie, the old lady frog, who lived down on the bottom
of the pond, at the far edge, by a big willow tree.

And, honestly, though I don't like to mention it, for fear you'll think
Bully a greedy little boy, there wasn't a single bit of candied sweet-flag
root in the house. No, sir, not a tiny, weeny bit. So Mrs. Greenie gave
the Wibblewobble children some nice snails, which they liked very much,
and then they went on swimming around. Jimmie was looking for Bully, but
the little boy frog had hopped off to see his cousin. Now, in a few
minutes Jimmie is going to have an adventure, and, if you please, I want
you to listen very carefully, so as not to miss it.

Well, the three ducklings swam on, thinking how nice it was on the water,
with the warm sun on their backs, when they suddenly came to the end of
the pond. And who should be standing there but the man who owned the
little puddle. And, more than that, there was another man also standing
there in the road and beside him was a queer thing, with big fat wheels,
fatter than the fattest duck or goose you ever saw. It was puffing away,
and some smoke and a funny smell came from it. Of course, you've guessed
it! An automobile! Now, what do you think about that? The ducks listened
to what the men were saying, for, though the Wibblewobbles couldn't talk
as the men did, they could understand our language.

"It's too bad," said the man who owned the pond. "Can't you go any
farther?"

"No," said the man who had the automobile, "I can't. You see my horn, that
I blow to tell people to get out of the way, is broken. I can't sound any
warning, and if I ran my machine I might hurt some one; and I wouldn't do
that for the world; no, not for two worlds, if you were to offer them to
me."

"That is very kind of you; very kind, indeed, I'm sure," went on the man
who owned the pond. "I am glad to have met you; and I wish I could help
you."

"I'm afraid you can't," answered the other. "I have to walk way down to
Newark, to get a new horn for my auto, so I can blow it, to warn people
out of the way."

So he started to walk off, and then what do you think happened? Why,
Jimmie Wibblewobble got so excited that he gave a loud "Quack-Quack!" Oh,
so loud and clear! As soon as the man who owned the auto heard it he cried
out, "My gracious goodness! What's that?"

"That," replied the man who owned the pond, "is one of my ducks. Doesn't
he speak very loudly?"

Then Jimmie, just to show what he could do, quacked again, harder than
before.

"Oh, extemporaneousness!" cried the auto man. "That is very fine quacking,
indeed. I never heard better. I have the greatest idea," he added. "Would
you be so kind as to lend me that little duck? I will bring him safely
back to you and not harm him in the least."

"What will you do with him?" asked the man who owned the pond.

"I will take him on the seat beside me," replied the other, "and maybe he
will go 'quack-quack' whenever a person gets in the way of my auto. Then
they will not be run over. Why, this little duck will be as good as an
auto horn! Will you let me take him?"

"I guess so," answered the other man. "But please do not frighten him, as
he is very little."

The man who owned the auto said he would be careful, and he went over to
where Jimmie was, and picked him right up.

Now I should have thought that Jimmie would have been frightened, but he
wasn't a bit, no, would you believe me, not a bit. So the man took him and
put him on the seat and started off in the auto. Jimmie knew exactly what
to do. Every time he came to a crossing he "quack-quacked" as loudly as he
could, without being told, and he did the same thing whenever he saw a
person in the way of the big machine.

Oh, what a fine ride he had in the auto, and how proud he was! Not too
proud, you know, but just proud enough. Well, as true as I'm telling you,
if Jimmie wasn't as good an auto horn as one could wish. Not a single
accident happened when he was on the seat, "quack-quacking" away, and when
the man went to a store and got his regular horn, with the rubber handle
to it, why, he brought Jimmie right back to the pond.

Now, wasn't that quite an adventure? All the other ducks thought so
anyhow. To-morrow night, if you do not slam the door, you shall hear about
Alice Wibblewobble's new bonnet.




STORY III

ALICE WIBBLEWOBBLE'S NEW BONNET


When the Wibblewobble family came back to their house after a swim around
the pond one bright sunny afternoon, and when the grass on the edges of
the water was as green as it could be, Mamma Wibblewobble looked at her
children, who were walking ahead of her. Jimmie and Lulu were throwing
stones along the path, but Alice, who was as ladylike a little duck as one
could wish, would not throw pebbles even, to say nothing of stones.

"I declare," exclaimed Mamma Wibblewobble, "those girls will have to have
new bonnets. I must see to it at once."

"Very well," answered Papa Wibblewobble, "I will get them when I come home
to-morrow. I met Mrs. Gooseyoosy this morning and she said they had a
special sale of hats at the store by the barnyard gate."

"A man duck cannot get bonnets for Alice and Lulu," declared Mrs.
Wibblewobble. "You would not know what to pick out! It is bad enough to
have you get Jimmie's hats and shoes, but you would never know how to buy
bonnets for the girls."

"Very well," answered Papa Wibblewobble, "then I will let you do the
buying. I think a green colored bonnet would be nice for Alice."

"Green! With her complexion!" cried his wife. "Never! It must be
blue--blue for Alice and a brown one for Lulu. Give me the money and I
will start out shopping to-morrow."

So Mamma Wibblewobble started out the next day, taking Alice and Lulu with
her, while Jimmie stayed home and played cross-tag with Bully, the frog,
and Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, who had a day's vacation.

They had lots of fun, and once Jimmie nearly fell down a great big--but
there, I started to tell you about Alice Wibblewobble's bonnet, and I must
not get off the track. That story about Jimmie will do for another time.

Well, you should have seen the numbers and numbers of duck-bonnets that
Mrs. Wibblewobble looked at before she was satisfied with two for the
girls. Not that Alice and Lulu were hard to please. Oh, my, no! But their
mamma wanted them to look just right, and you know it is quite difficult
to fit a bonnet on a duck and make it look like anything. The milliner
said so herself, and she ought to know. But at last the two duck girls
both had very fine bonnets indeed; as fine as mustard seeds, which are
very, very fine. Alice had a nice blue one, and Lulu a brown one.

Well, would you ever imagine it? Something is going to happen to Alice's
bonnet, and very soon, too. Just be patient and you shall hear.

"Now children," said Mrs. Wibblewobble, when they had reached the pen
where they lived, "you may go out and swim around a bit with your new
bonnets on until your papa comes home. I want him to see how well they fit
you, for I think I have very good taste when it comes to bonnets."

"Oh, I don't want to wear my new one," spoke Lulu. "I will put on my old
one and go and play with Jimmie and Bully, the frog."

So she did, but Alice, who was very fond of nice clothes, went for a swim
on the pond. At first she paddled around, gazing down in the water, which
was just like the looking-glass some men shave by, and she thought: "Oh,
what a lovely bonnet I have! How fine I shall look when I go for a walk on
Sunday!"

And just then--really I'm not exaggerating a bit--If it didn't begin to
rain! Now, of course, rain couldn't hurt Alice any, for she was a duck
and was used to the water, but she knew it would spoil her new bonnet. So
she took it off and laid it under a big burdock plant leaf near the pond,
to keep the flowers and ribbons dry.

"I wish it would stop raining," said Alice, after a while. "I want to go
home," but the big drops kept on falling, and she had to remain near her
bonnet for fear something would happen to it.

Then, in a little while, oh, maybe half an hour or so, all at once as
quick as a wink, along came Mooleyooly, the big brown cow. Mooleyooly
walked up to the burdock leaf, under which was the new bonnet, and
Mooleyooly saw the pretty yellow flowers on it, and she saw the blue
flowers on it and she saw the red flowers on it. Then Mooleyooly said, as
she licked her lips with her red tongue:

"What have we here? It looks very nice."

"It is nice," answered Alice proudly, for she was glad to have some one,
even a cow, admire her bonnet.

"It looks just like the green meadow where I live," went on Mooleyooly,
"with buttercups, and daisies, and ragged sailor flowers and some red
poppies growing in it. Oh, very fine, indeed. Why, those flowers are
real!" exclaimed the cow, looking carefully at the new bonnet under the
big leaf.

"Of course," cried Alice, "certainly they are real."

"Better and better!" went on Mooleyooly. "Most delightful, I am sure!"
Then, oh, how sorry I feel that I have to tell it--then, if that brown cow
didn't start right in and eat up Alice's new bonnet!

Yes, sir, every single bit, down to a bunch of green grass that looked so
pretty on it. She ate it all up at one mouthful, before Alice could cry
out "stop" or "halt" or "cease" or any words like that. Well, of course,
Alice cried. Wouldn't you, boys and girls--I mean, of course, you
girls--have done the same? Well, I guess so!

Then, when the cow saw how sorry Alice felt, Mooleyooly felt badly, too,
and she cried great big tears until you would have thought it was raining
harder then ever. Then, being a good cow, Mooleyooly promised to get Alice
a new bonnet, which she did, made of the finest straw in the stable.

So Alice had a hat for Sunday after all, even if one was eaten up by
mistake. Well, pretty soon it stopped raining and Alice went home with the
bonnet the cow gave her, and Mamma Wibblewobble said it was even better
than the one she had bought. Now, wasn't that rather odd? I thought so,
myself.

To-morrow night if you do not sneeze, I hope to have the pleasure of
telling you how Jimmie Wibblewobble almost fell over the waterfall; but
don't let that alarm you the least bit, for he was saved in a most
wonderful way.




STORY IV

JIMMIE AND THE WATERFALL


It was such a nice day that Mr. and Mrs. Wibblewobble decided to go
visiting, as they had an invitation to call on Mrs. Greenie, the frog lady
who lived at the end of the pond. So the two ducks, after seeing that the
pen was in order, and the windows nice and clean, in case any company
should call on them while they were out, started off, swimming very
slowly, for they had their best clothes on and did not want to splash
water on them.

"Now, I hope you children will be good," called Mamma Wibblewobble to
Jimmie and Lulu and Alice. "Don't get into any mischief and we'll be back
at supper time."

"We'll be good," promised Alice, but Jimmie and Lulu didn't say anything,
though, of course they meant to be good also. Only, sometimes, you know
how it is, just when you want to be good and make no trouble something is
sure to happen; that is, most always. Well, that's the way it was this
time.

The papa and mamma ducks hadn't been gone more than half an hour before
Jimmie thought of something to do. Of course, he didn't know it was
mischief but it was, all the same.

It happened that at one end of the pond where the ducks lived there was a
waterfall. That is, the water ran from the pond, and fell over a high wall
of stones upon some more stones down below, and made a lot of foam and a
rushing, gurgling noise that was very cool in summer, making you think of
ice cream and all nice things like that. And besides this there was, near
the waterfall, a big mill, with a wheel that went around and around, to
grind the corn and grain.

Well, Jimmie's papa and mamma hadn't been gone more than half an hour
before the little boy duck called to Lulu and Alice. "Let's see how near
we can go to the waterfall," he said.

Now this was a very dangerous thing to do, because there was a strong and
swift current at the fall, and any one who went too near it might be
carried over. Mr. and Mrs. Wibblewobble knew this, and many times had told
their children to keep away. But, you see, Jimmie forgot, or else didn't
want to remember, so he called to his sisters, telling them to see how
near they could go.

"I'll not," spoke Alice. "And you hadn't better either, Jimmie. You know
what mamma said."

"Oh, well, the water's low now," replied Jimmie. "I don't believe there's
any danger. Come on, Lulu."

"All right," said Lulu. So she and Jimmie started to swim as close as they
could to the waterfall. But Alice stayed near shore, and who should come
along but Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, the muskrat nurse who was out for a
walk. She told Alice about Sammie and Susie Littletail, and said the
little rabbit children were well.

Now all this while Jimmie and Lulu were swimming nearer and nearer to the
waterfall. They could hear the water splashing on the rocks below, and
they liked to listen to it.

"We had better stop," called Lulu, after a while.

"No, I'm going closer," declared Jimmie. "There is no danger; come on!"

But just then Lulu felt something pulling her down toward where the big
wheel went around and around, and she got frightened. Then she swam just
as hard as she could toward shore, and called to her brother: "Jimmie,
don't go any closer! Come back!"

But Jimmie was a boy duck, and wanted to be brave, so he answered: "I'm
going just a little bit closer."

Now Lulu had a very hard time, indeed, getting to shore, as the current
was so strong, but she finally managed it. Jimmie, however, kept on
swimming nearer and nearer to the falls. Then, all at once, before you
could stick a pin in a cushion, what should take place but that the little
boy duck felt himself being pulled along by the rushing water, just as the
soap floats along when you pull the plug out of the bathtub. Oh, how fast
the water swept him along! Jimmie splashed and paddled with all his might,
and tried to swim ashore, where Lulu was anxiously watching him, but he
couldn't seem to move. There he was, being carried along to the edge of
the falls, with the cruel, sharp stones below, and the big millwheel going
around and around. Then Jimmie knew he was in great danger, and he cried
out: "Help! Help! Help!" three times, as loudly as he could call.

Lulu and Alice heard him, and were much frightened. They started to go to
the aid of their brother, but Grandfather Goosey-Gander warned them not
to.

"But who will save Jimmie?" they cried.

"I will try to," answered the old gentleman duck.

So he got a rope and threw it to Jimmie, but the rope wasn't long enough,
and the poor little boy duck kept getting closer and closer to the edge
of the falls, and the big millwheel. Oh, how hard he was swimming, but the
water was stronger than he was.

"Get a board!" cried Bully, the frog, who came hopping along just then. So
the ducks and the geese got a board and threw it to Jimmie, but it floated
past him, and he couldn't get upon it. Then it surely did look as if he
were going to be carried right over the falls, for he was being swept
nearer and more near, and he could hear the water making a terrible
roaring, splashing sound on the rocks. You have no idea how scared Jimmie
was, and he wished he had never gone near the falls.

Then the other ducks got a long stick and Grandfather Goosey-Gander held
it out, so the little boy duck could grasp it in his bill, but the stick
broke, and every one said it was too bad! Then, just as Jimmie was almost
to the edge of the falls, if Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy didn't call out:
"Stand aside, everybody! I am a good swimmer and I will save him!"

Then what do you think happened? Why that good, kind muskrat jumped right
into the water, and hurried to where Jimmie was. She dived down, and got
hold of his yellow legs in her teeth, but she took hold very gently, so as
not to hurt him. Then she was such a fine swimmer that she managed to get
to shore, towing and pulling Jimmie with her, for the water could not hurt
Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, no matter how hard the millwheel splashed.

So that is how Jimmie was saved from the waterfall, and when his papa and
mamma came home they were very glad, of course, and why shouldn't they be?
But, all the same Lulu and Jimmie had to be punished for disobeying, and
going too near the falls when they had been told not to, and their
punishment was that they could not go in swimming for three days. And if
you ever were a duck you know that was very severe punishment indeed, very
severe.

But I'm not going to say that Jimmie and Lulu didn't deserve it, no indeed
I'm not; not if you were to offer me an orange and a half; and I'm very
fond of oranges; very. Well, that's how things will sometimes happen in
this world, won't they? do the best that you can. But now I suppose you
want to know what the story will be about to-morrow night. Well, if I see
a pink grasshopper, I shall tell you about a visit the Wibblewobble
children paid to poor, sick, Billie Bushytail.




STORY V

A VISIT TO BILLIE BUSHTAIL


You remember how Lulu and Jimmie had to be punished for disobeying their
papa and mamma, and going too near the waterfall, I suppose? They couldn't
go in swimming for three days. Well, the three days were very nearly up;
that is there was just one day left, so Lulu said:

"Come on, Jimmie, we will go for a walk in the woods. Don't you want to
come, too, Alice?"

Now, of course, Alice could go in the water if she wanted to, for she was
not punished, as she had not gone near the waterfall, but instead of going
swimming alone, she stayed with her brother and sister, and I call that
very kind of her. So, when Lulu asked her to take a walk in the woods,
Alice answered:

"Of course, I will go with you. Who knows, perhaps we may have an
adventure!" For you see Alice was very romantic. That is, she always hoped
something would happen that never had happened before, and she was always
hoping a fairy prince would come along and rescue her from some danger.
But, up to this time, nothing like this had ever occurred, though those
duck children are going to have a small adventure pretty soon, I think.

"All right," spoke Jimmie, "let's take a walk, and see what happens." So
they walked on through the woods, which were very fine that day, and they
felt the nice, warm, brown earth on their yellow feet, and it was almost
as good as going in the water. Pretty soon, just after they had passed
under a buttonball tree, the ducklings heard a noise, and who should run
out from under a bush but little Sister Sallie. You remember her, I hope;
Sister Sallie, who was named after Lolly-pop-Lally, and who lived with
Johnnie and Billie Bushytail.

"Why, Sister Sallie!" cried Lulu Wibblewobble, "where are you going this
bright, beautiful, sunshiny day?"

"I'm going for the doctor," answered Sister Sallie.

"Are you sick?" inquired Jimmie. "You don't look so."

"No, it's Billie Bushytail," said the little girl squirrel. "He is quite
ill, and I am going for Dr. Possum. Billie has a fever and headache, and
he snuffles something terrible. His papa and mamma are quite worried
about him. Isn't it terrible to be sick?"

"I don't know," answered Jimmie, "for I was never sick."

"I was once," remarked Alice, "and it is not nice, I do assure you.
Suppose we go call on Billie Bushytail Maybe we could cheer him up."

"I think that would be lovely," spoke Sister Sallie. "You go see him,
while I hurry for the doctor."

So the three Wibblewobble children walked on through the pleasant woods,
until they came to the place where the Bushytail family had moved. Their
home was now in a hollow stump, close to the ground, and there was a
fallen tree leading up to it, just like a plank over the brook, so the
ducks could easily walk up it. They went right to the front door, and
Jimmie knocked with his strong, yellow bill. Mrs. Bushytail opened the
door, and when she saw the little ducklings, she said:

"Oh, my dears! Do not come too near, for we don't know what disease Billie
may have. I would not want you to catch it."

"Oh, we are not afraid," spoke Jimmie. "But we will not come too near. We
were out walking in the woods, and we met little Sister Sallie. We came to
call on Billie, and cheer him up."

"That is very kind of you," said Mamma Bushytail. "The poor little fellow
is quite miserable. I put his feet in hot mustard water, and gave him some
Jamaica ginger, and he is now in bed. I fear he has the epizootic, which
is a very dreadful disease."

"Oh, I hope not!" exclaimed Alice, kindly. "Perhaps he only has the pip,
which is not nearly so bad."

"Perhaps," answered Mamma Bushytail. "I have sent Johnnie for some
quinine, and that may help Billie."

"May we see him?" asked Lulu. "Perhaps we can cheer him up."

"To be sure, you may see him," replied Billie's mamma; so she opened the
door a little wider in order that the ducklings might look in the
hollow-stumphouse, for of course they could not enter, as it was too
small. They saw Billie, all wrapped up in blankets, in bed, and he looked
quite ill. But he seemed happy in spite of that, for the hot mustard
footbath had helped him some. He smiled when he saw Jimmie and Lulu and
Alice. Then Jimmie gave Mrs. Bushytail some nice acorns he had picked up
in the woods and had carried under his wing.

"They are for Billie," said Jimmie. Next Lulu gave the sick squirrel-boy
some nice, sweet grass she had gathered on the edge of the pond, and
Alice had some lovely sugared sweet-flag root, which is very good in case
of sickness. Then Billie felt much better, and after a while Jimmie said:
"Let's sing a funny little song for Billie." So Jimmie, Alice and Lulu
sang this little verse to cheer up poor, sick Billie, and, if you can get
a good singer to sing it for you, it doesn't sound at all bad, I assure
you:

    Don't mind if you have to take stuff from a spoon,
    'Tis better than having to climb to the moon.
    You might make a stumble or else have a tumble,
    And then you would fall pretty soon.

    We came, little Billie, to make you feel better.
    At first we were going to write you a letter;
    But we had no ink, dear, so that's why we came here.
    We're dry now, but we'll soon be wetter.

Then Billie laughed right out loud, he felt so much better, and he ate
some acorns and the sweet-flag root, nibbling at it with his sharp teeth.
Then a scratching sound was heard on the stump, and who should come up it
but Sister Sallie, with Dr. Possum.

The doctor said "He!" and he said "Hum!" and he said "Ahem!" Then he felt
Billie's pulse and made him put out his tongue. Then Dr. Possum exclaimed:
"Why, this little squirrel isn't sick at all! No, sir! Not at all. My
goodness me; no, indeed! Why, the very idea! Sick? I guess not!"

But Mrs. Bushytail said her little boy had been very ill, and Dr. Possum
answered:

"Well, if he was sick, these little ducks have cured him. They are just as
good at doctoring as I am; yes, indeed; and a thermometer or two besides.
There is no need for me."

"It was the funny little song that cured me," said Billie. Then he got out
of bed and began frisking around; the doctor went home, and the little
squirrel was all well. After a while Jimmie, Lulu and Alice had to leave,
and they went home, feeling very happy for the good they had done to
Billie Bushytail, for it always makes you feel happy to help some one.
Now, if you promise not to whisper in school next week you shall hear
to-morrow night how Jimmie tried to become a flying machine.

[Illustration:]




STORY VI

JIMMIE AS A FLYING MACHINE


One day, I think it must have been about three-and-a-half-quacks past
cornmeal time, there was a great commotion in the yard, and around the
pond where Jimmie Wibblewobble and his two sisters and his papa and mamma
lived. There was a great fluttering in the air, and something, colored in
beautiful tints, flew down and settled on the water with a little splash.

"My goodness, what is that?" asked Alice Wibblewobble, who was easily
frightened. At first no one knew, for, though the creature was shaped just
like a duck, it was not colored like any duck Jimmie had even seen. It was
gold and bronze and green, with little patches of red and blue here and
there, and was a most beautiful creature.

"Maybe that is a fairy," suggested Lulu, who sometimes read fairy stories.

"Oh, if it only might be one, and could tell me where the fairy prince
is!" exclaimed Alice, with a sigh.

"Nonsense!" cried Jimmie, who was just going off to see his friend Bully,
the frog. "Stuff and nonsense!"

"That's what I say, too," called out the strange creature. "Nonsense! I'm
not a fairy at all. I'm a duck like yourselves, only I am a wild duck."
Then its wings beat the air and water, and the wild duck arose and flew
right over the pond and back again, as quickly as could be.

"My goodness! How do you do that?" asked Jimmie, who never could fly more
than a few feet.

"Why," answered the wild duck, "I just did it, that's all."

"Snippery, snappery snails!" cried Jimmie, "you're just like a flying
machine that my papa read about in the paper."

"Well, somewhat like one, perhaps," admitted the wild duck. "I can fly a
long distance. Did you ever try?"

"No," answered Jimmie; "I never did."

"Perhaps you would like to try now," suggested the other. "I will stay
here a little while, and show you. It is very easy. You can just as well
become a flying machine as not. Come, I will fly up on the fence. You come
up here, too, and when I say 'Go!' why start off, and, who knows? perhaps
you will do as well as I. Don't be afraid."

"Of course, I'll try," said Jimmie, very bravely, for he was always
wanting to try new things.

"So will I," cried Lulu. "I want to fly, too."

"Oh, you had better be careful," warned Alice, who was a very cautious
duckling, never getting into danger if she could help it.

"Oh, we'll be careful, but we are going to become flying machines just the
same," said Jimmie.

So the wild duck flew up on the fence, which was at one edge of the pond,
and, oh, how beautiful he looked with the sun shining on his finely
colored feathers. Jimmie had quite a struggle to get on the top rail of
the fence, and so did Lulu, but they finally managed it, and, just as they
stood beside the wild duck, who should come along but Grandfather
Goosey-Gander. He asked the two Wibblewobble children what they were going
to do, and when Jimmie said they were going to learn to become flying
machines, the old duck said, "Humph!" just as quickly as he could.

"If you had such hard work getting to the top of the fence, how do you
think you can fly across the pond?" he asked, and then he sneezed three
times, for he was catching cold.

"Oh, we will do it," answered Jimmie, for, of course, you see, he really
thought he could.

But something is going to happen, just as sure as you can add up two and
three and make five out of them.

"Are you all ready?" asked the wild duck of Jimmie and Lulu, as they stood
beside him, balanced on the fence rail.

"Yes," replied Jimmie, trying to stop his heart from beating so rapidly,
"we are ready, Mr. Wild Duck. You fly and we will fly also."

"Watch me carefully," said the beautiful creature, "and do exactly as I
do."

They were just about to fly, when the old rooster, who had been picking up
corn down the road, come running up.

"Hold on!" he cried, "I can fly as good as that wild duck! Wait for me and
we will have a race!"

So they waited until the old rooster got up on the fence rail, too. Then
the wild duck counted: "One to begin with, two for a show, three to make
ready and four to go!"

Then he flapped his wings, gave a loud "squawk-squawk" and sailed over
that pond as nice as you please.

Well, of course, I've got to tell exactly what happened, or it wouldn't be
fair. Jimmie tried to fly, but I wish you could have seen him. He only
went a little way, and then, because his body was too heavy for his wings,
or because his wings were too light for his body, he came flopping right
down to the ground, ker-thump, and he hurt his nose considerably, let me
tell you, for considerably is quite a lot.

Well, poor Lulu, if she didn't fall, too! Yes, sir, she turned a
somersault right in the air, before all those watching ducks, and she,
too, came down ker-flimmax-ker-flump, and she hurt her left-hand wing.
Then she cried once, "Boo-hoo!" just like that. Then she stopped.

Jimmie didn't cry at all, if you'll believe me, no, sir, not a mite, but
he felt badly all the same. And then that rooster! Oh, dear me, how
foolish some roosters are, anyhow, now aren't they, really? Well, he
started off all right, but just then the wind got in the wrong place, and
it turned him upside down. Now, no rooster can fly upside down, no matter
what else he can do, so that one came flippity-flop down into the water
ker-splash-ker-sposh; and one more besides! Maybe he didn't feel
mortified!

But that wild duck! Oh, my, goodness me! How he did fly. Around and
around, and around that pond he went, never touching the water once. Then
he came to where Jimmie and Lulu were, and he told them how sorry he felt
for them, before he flew away to a far, far distant land, where only wild
ducks live. Then Grandfather Goosey-Gander went up to those two
Wibblewobble children, and so did Alice, to lend Lulu her handkerchief.
And Grandfather Goosey said: "It is better for tame ducks to stay on the
water, or on land. They were not made for flying." So that was the end of
Jimmie trying to become an air ship. To-morrow night you may hear about
Lulu and the gold fish, that is if the lemon squeezer doesn't pinch me.




STORY VII

LULU AND THE GOLD FISH


Well, here we are again, after a rest over night, and all ready for
another story, I suppose. Let me see, it was to be about the fairy prince
and Alice Wibblewobble--no, hold on there, I'm wrong. I know it. Lulu and
the gold fish; to be sure! Well, here we go. Now, of course, I could make
this about the fairy prince--in fact, he has something to do with this
story--but as the gold fish has more, I put her name at the top.

Lulu Wibblewobble, the little duck girl, who could throw stones almost as
straight as a boy, was swimming around the pond near the pen where she
lived. It was a nice, warm, sunshiny day, and Lulu wanted to do something,
but she didn't just know what. Jimmie, her brother, was off playing with
Bully, the frog, and Alice, her sister, was straightening out her feathers
in the back parlor bedroom, where a piece of tin could be used for a
looking glass.

All at once Lulu's mamma called to her:

"Lulu, I want you to go to the store to get some acorn meal and a yeast
cake. I am going to set bread to-night. Hurry, now, that's a good girl."

"All right, mamma," answered Lulu, and she steered herself around, just
like a motorboat in the water, and started for the store, paddling as hard
as she could.

She had not gone very far, with the little ripples and waves chasing each
other across the pond, before she saw something swimming close beside her.
Lulu looked down, and what do you think she saw? Well, you might guess,
but then again, you might not, so I'll tell you. It was a gold fish.

Oh, it was such a beautiful gold fish, with red and silvery spots and
streaks, and a long, feathery tail that looked like lace in the water.

"Hello!" exclaimed Lulu; "I didn't know you lived here."

"Oh, yes," answered the fish. "I have lived here for some time, but, you
see, during the cold weather I stay down in the mud. However, as it is now
spring, I have come up, and I am going to play around all summer."

"That's nice," remarked Lulu. "What's your name?"

"My name is Fannie Tail," replied the fish. "You see I got that name
because my tail is shaped like a fan, but most persons just call me Fan
Tail. You may, if you like."

"All right," agreed Lulu. "I will. My name is Lulu, but you may call me
Lu, if you wish."

"Good," answered the fish, turning a double somersault in the water and
wiggling her right fin as if trying to shake hands. "Now we are well
acquainted. And may I ask where you are going?"

So Lulu told the fish girl about having to go to the store, and Fan seemed
quite pleased to hear it. The two swam on together for some distance, the
fish just under the water and Lulu on top. Pretty soon Lulu asked Fan
where she was going, and the gold fish replied:

"I am going to the drug store for some sweet flag root for the fairy
prince," and once more the fish girl turned a double somersault and opened
her mouth wide, for she had a cold in her head, in consequence of being so
wet. But as it is very difficult to write a story and make a gold fish
talk as if she had a cold in the head, I have decided to make Fan talk
just ordinarily. You never would have known anything about the cold if I
hadn't mentioned it, so it's just as well.

"Pardon me," said Lulu, just like a telephone girl, "but did I understand
you to say you were going for some sweet flag root for the fairy prince?"

"Yes," answered Fan Tail, "that's what I said."

"But!" cried Lulu. "A fairy prince! I never knew there were fairies in
this pond!"

"Neither did lots of other persons," replied Fan. "It's supposed to be a
secret, but I'll tell you. And, another thing. There is something strange
about this fairy prince. Do you promise never to tell?"

"Yes," answered Lulu. "Cross my heart I'll never tell," and she lifted one
leg out of the water and crossed her heart as well as she could.

"Then," said the gold fish in a whisper, "If you will come with me I will
show you the fairy prince. That is, after I go to the drug store for him.
But mind, it's a great secret."

So the two swam on together, but Lulu felt sad. And the reason she felt
sad was this: Her sister Alice, who was very romantic--that is, she
continually wanted things to happen that never could happen--Alice always
had wished to see a fairy prince. Now, unless Fan would let Lulu tell the
secret, Alice would never see a prince. And to think he was right in the
same pond with her! Oh, it's dreadful to have a secret you can't tell even
to your own sister, I think.

Lulu sighed so that she made quite a wave in the pond, and when the fish
saw this she knew something was the matter. So she asked Lulu what it was,
and Lulu told her how Alice was just crazy to see a fairy prince, and had
been dreaming of one for ever and ever so long.

"And I've promised not to tell," ended Lulu. "Poor Alice! How disappointed
she will be not to see a real, live fairy!"

"Well, perhaps it is too bad," admitted Fan Tail, and she sneezed so hard
that the water flew up in a spray, just like a fountain. "Perhaps I shall
let you off from your promise," the gold fish went on. "Yes, I think you
may bring Alice to see the fairy prince."

"And Jimmie? Jimmie's my brother. I know he would love to see him, too.
May he come?"

"Yes, you may bring Jimmie also. But mind, I don't want you to be
disappointed. Most fairy princes are disappointing, so don't say I didn't
warn you."

"Oh, that will be all right," spoke Lulu, now quite happy again. "May I
bring them this afternoon?"

"Oh! I suppose so, but no one else, mind. You see the fairy prince is
rather bashful."

So Lulu promised she would bring no one else, and she hurried to the store
and back again. Fan Tail, the gold fish, went to the drug store for the
sweet flag root for the fairy prince, and on the way she stubbed her nose
against a stone, which made her cold in the head worse than ever; but of
course we have nothing to do with that except to feel sorry for her.

When Lulu got home she was so excited she dropped the yeast cake in the
pond, and it would have gotten all wet only it was wrapped in tin-foil.
Then she told Alice and Jimmie about the fairy prince she was going to
see, but, as this story is too long already, I must stop, and in case the
postman does not blow his whistle too loud and scary, I shall have the
pleasure, to-morrow night, of telling you about the fairy prince. And I
hope you won't be disappointed.




STORY VIII

WHO THE FAIRY PRINCE WAS


Mamma and Papa Wibblewobble were sitting in front of the duck pen, talking
with Grandfather Goosey-Gander and the big rooster. They were so busily
engaged in conversation about the best way to serve cold corn meal mixed
with water, that when Lulu asked her parents if she and Jimmie and Alice
could go for a swim, Mrs. Wibblewobble said:

"Yes, my dear, but be careful you don't get wet."

Now wasn't that a funny thing for a duck mamma to say to her little duck
girl? But Mamma Wibblewobble was absent minded, so we must excuse her. You
see she thought Lulu wanted to go for a walk in the woods. Well, it didn't
much matter, but I thought I would speak about it.

"Can we go?" asked Jimmie, when Lulu came back.

"Yes," she answered. "Hurry now, for we are going to see the fairy prince,
as the gold fish promised."

"Oh, I'm so excited I can hardly wait!" exclaimed Alice, who was quite
romantic, as I have explained. "Am I swimming straight, Lulu? I wouldn't
for all the world, have a fairy prince see me swimming crooked."

"Oh, don't be so fussy!" called out Jimmie. "I wish Bully, the frog was
here. He and I could have some fun."

"Oh, no!" cried Lulu. "We are the only ones allowed to see the fairy
prince. It's a secret, and he is quite bashful."

"How are you going to find him?" asked Jimmie. "This is a large pond, and
it's going to be quite a task to locate the fairy prince, or even the gold
fish."

"Oh! let's don't worry," suggested Alice. "Worrying is one of the very
worst things you can do, especially when there is anything in it about a
fairy. Don't you know that fairies are especially made not to worry? We
will find our way somehow. Either a golden ball will appear and roll on
before us to show us the right direction, or else a magical boat will
suddenly come up in the water, and we can ride right to the place."

"Hu! What do we want of a boat?" asked Jimmie. "Can't we swim? I don't
believe much in this fairy business, anyhow."

"Then, if you don't believe, you never will see the fairy prince,"
declared Alice. "Only those who believe in fairies can see them. I know,
for I've read lots of fairy stories." You see Alice was very much in
earnest about this matter.

So the three children swam on together over the pond, and the waters
sparkled in the sun, until you would have thought there were thousands of
diamonds floating on top. The breeze blew just enough to make little
ripples, and altogether it was a very fine day. They went on and on, until
pretty soon they were in a part of the pond they had never before visited.
Tall rushes grew on either side, and the long meadow grass came right down
to the edge of the water and trailed in it, making little green caves in
which to hide. It was cool and quiet there, and very lovely. The ducks
liked it, but still there was no sign of the fairy prince; and the gold
fish had not come to show them the way.

"I don't believe we'll ever see any fairy prince," said Jimmie.

"Oh! but the gold fish promised me," spoke Lulu.

"Hush!" cried Alice. "We must keep very quiet. We may meet the magical
boat, or the golden ball, any minute."

And just then, what should happen, but that they heard a voice singing.
Yes, sir, just as true as I'm telling you, a voice singing, right down
under the water. And this is what it sang, in silvery tones, just like the
little bell that tinkles on pussy's neck:

    The fairy prince lies deep and dark,
    Waiting for the firefly's spark;
    If you wish to see him now,
    Follow me, and make a bow.

And, all at once, who should appear but Fan Tail, the gold fish. She
popped right out of the water, and when she saw the three duck children
she asked:

"Did you hear me singing?"

"Was that you?" asked Lulu.

"It was," replied Fan. "But why don't you do as I said? If you wish to see
the fairy prince you must bow. He always wants people to do that."

So Lulu and Jimmie bowed once, and Alice bowed three times, and when they
asked why she did that she said you must always do things by threes where
fairies are concerned.

"Now, follow me," called the gold fish; so they swam farther and farther
up the part of the pond where they had never before been. It got smaller
and smaller, until it was like a little brook, with rushes bending over
it, while the water whispered to the green stems.

"The fairy prince lives in there," suddenly said the gold fish, poking her
head up out of the water, so she could speak more plainly, and she pointed
with her fin to a hole in the bank. "He will come out presently. Bow your
prettiest." Well, you can just imagine how excited the duck children were.
Alice fairly trembled, and even Jimmie was interested, as they all bowed.

"All ready now!" went on the gold fish. "Behold the fairy prince. Behold!
Behold!" and she made a booming noise under the water, just like the big
bass drum, when a man in the circus jumps over sixteen elephants and a
quarter all at once.

Then, all of a sudden, oh! maybe in a second and a little more what should
come out of that hole in the side of the bank, just above the water, what,
I say, should come out of that hole--now be careful, take tight hold of
the arms of the chair, and hold your breaths, so as not to be
disappointed, what should come out of the hole but a big, brownish-black,
spotted with red and yellow, wrinkle-legged, hard-shelled, sharp-beaked
mud turtle! There, now!

At first the duck children were so frightened and surprised that they did
not know what to do or say. They had expected something so different. Did
you? Well, I'm awfully sorry, but you know I'm not responsible. I merely
tell what happens.

"Why, that isn't a fairy prince!" cried Jimmie, speaking first.

"Of course not," added Lulu.

Then the gold fish came quite close to them and whispered something.

"Do you know," said Fan Tail, "I have always had my doubts about it
myself. He says he's the fairy prince--insists on it, in fact,--and he has
it engraved on his visiting cards. But I have my doubts, only I don't dare
say so, for you see I work for him, run errands and the like of that; so
far be it from me to say he is not a fairy prince. I have, however, guided
you to him. Behold, the fairy prince!" and she called the last real
loudly, for the mud turtle was looking right at her. Then she added in a
whisper: "But I have my doubts."

"Hush! Oh hush, please!" begged Alice. "Of course he is a fairy prince!
They are always disguised like that--always appearing as something
different from what they really are, you know. Sometimes they are toads,
and sometimes frogs, and sometimes mud turtles, I suppose, though I never
heard of any of the last kind. But of course he is a fairy prince." Then
she bowed again, three times, and said: "Fairy prince, I salute thee."

"Fairy nothing!" grunted Jimmie. "He is no more a fairy than I am."

Then the mud turtle heard them talking, and he stuck his head farther out
of the shell, and he looked around with his snaky neck, and he came a
little more out of the hole, and said:

"Of course I am the fairy prince. Everybody knows that. I've been a fairy
prince for ever and ever so long." And then he sneezed, just to show that,
though he was a fairy prince, he was not proud.

"What shall I do, O fairy prince, to change you back into your own
rightful shape?" asked Alice. "Tell me, and I will do it at once. Dost
thou need three drops of magical water?"

"No," answered the mud turtle, "not any at all, thank you, so much. I am a
fairy prince, but I am satisfied with my shape as I am; and I do not want
to change. I have always been this way, and I always want to stay so.
Please be so kind as to go away. I want to eat my dinner."

So they hurried away, for the gold fish whispered that the mud turtle was
always cross when he ate. Jimmie and Lulu were much disappointed, but
Alice was not, for she insisted that the mud turtle was really wonderful,
and was a fairy prince in disguise. Now what do you think about it? I
leave it to you. But whatever you may think please don't be hasty. Take
plenty of time. Perhaps you had better wait for the story to-morrow night,
which if the cow bell doesn't ring and awaken the doll in the baby
carriage will be about how Grandfather Goosey-Gander got into trouble and
out again.




STORY IX

GRANDFATHER GOOSEY-GANDER IN TROUBLE


On their way home, after having seen the mud turtle fairy prince, Jimmie,
Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble, of course, talked of nothing else. They
wished the prince had done something wonderful, instead of merely sending
them away when he ate his dinner, and they hoped he would perform a
magical feat another time. He really did, as I shall tell you about later,
if I do not forget it. The gold fish swam a little way back with the duck
children, as she said the prince always liked to be alone when he ate.

"Well, how did you like him?" asked Fan Tail of the ducks.

"Not very much," replied Lulu. "I never did care for mud turtles."

"Nor I," added Jimmie.

"I don't believe he was really a mud turtle at all," declared Alice. "He
was a real, truly, fairy prince, and he only looked like a mud turtle,
because we did not have the right kind of eyes with which to see him or
else because we had no faith in him. It is always so, in fairy stories.
You must believe, or you can't see the beautiful things."

"Well, I'd rather have some snails to eat," said Jimmie. "You don't care
how they look; it's how they taste. I'm never going to bother with fairies
again."

It was about three days after this that Jimmie and Lulu were walking in
the deep, green woods, under the trees, picking tender leaves and roots to
eat. They were hoping they might meet Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the
squirrels whom they had not seen for some time. Alice stayed home to curl
her feathers.

All at once, as they were walking along, the little boy and girl duck
heard a funny noise.

"What's that?" cried Jimmie.

"I don't know," answered Lulu. "It sounds like some one calling."

And, sure enough, it was. As they stopped to listen they could hear some
one crying: "Help! Help! Oh, help!"

"Let's go and see who it is," suggested Jimmie.

"Maybe it's a dog, or a bad rat, or a fox," objected Lulu.

"No," said her brother, "they would never call for help. Come on."

[Illustration:]

So they walked on, looking this way and that, to see what they could see;
on and on through the woods, until, just as they came from behind a big
oak tree, what should they catch sight of, but poor, Grandfather
Goosey-Gander, caught fast in the middle of a pile of brush.

"Oh dear me! Oh my goodness me sakes alive! Oh, floppy! floppy! floppy!
Oh, a bag of salt and some corn meal!" cried the poor old gentleman duck.
"I am in a terrible state! Help me!"

Then Lulu and Jimmie ran right up to him, and asked him what was the
matter.

"Oh dear," he said, "I really can't say. I've lost my glasses, and I can't
see very well. All I know is that I was walking in the woods, thinking
what a nice day it was, when, all of a sudden, in about a quack and a
half, I found myself caught fast. And the worst part of it is that I can't
get loose!"

"Let me take a look," said Jimmie.

So he went quite close and looked, and he saw that Grandfather
Goosey-Gander's right leg was held in between two sticks. The old
gentleman duck was in great pain.

"Is my leg broken?" he asked Jimmie.

"No," answered the little boy duck, "but some of the skin is scraped off."

"I knew it!" cried Grandfather Goosey-Gander. "Now I won't be able to go
fishing next week. Oh, I do seem to have the worst luck; don't I?"

"We will get you out," Lulu said to him, and then she and her brother went
to the aid of the poor old duck. They pushed this way and that way, and
they pulled that way and this way, and they lifted up on the pieces of
sticks, and they pushed down on them, but it was no use. Poor Grandfather
Goosey-Gander was stuck fast there, and I think it was a shame, but it
couldn't be helped. Oh my no, and a bit of peppermint candy besides!

"Well, I guess I will have to stay here and die," said the discouraged old
duck, and he felt so badly that he wept. Lulu and Jimmie cried also, they
felt so sorry. The three of them cried, and their tears were so many that
if they had cried long enough there would have been quite a pond there,
and they could have gone in swimming. That is, of course, all but
Grandfather Goosey-Gander, and he couldn't swim for he was held fast. But
they didn't weep long enough.

"Let's try once more," said Lulu, after a while, and then she and Jimmie
tried harder than ever to get grandfather's leg out. But they couldn't.

"If I only had a saw!" cried Jimmie, "I could get him loose."

"Ha! perhaps I can help you!" suddenly exclaimed a voice.

Then, as quickly as you can break an egg by dropping it on the floor (only
of course you must not do it without permission), who should appear but
Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, the muskrat. She was out walking with Sammie and
Susie Littletail.

"Oh, somebody do please help me!" cried Grandfather Goosey-Gander. "I've
lost my glasses, my leg is caught, and I have a pain in my back. Oh, oh,
oh!"

"I'll gnaw through those sticks in a jiffy!" cried Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, for a
jiffy is very quick time indeed. Oh, yes, and a broken down couch besides!

So, telling Sammie and Susie Littletail to stand back, and calling to
Jimmie and Lulu to remain with them, the muskrat nurse set to work to free
Grandfather Goosey-Gander. Her teeth were like the chisels the carpenter
uses and in a few seconds the old duck's leg was free. Oh, how glad he
was, and how thankful to Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy! Of course the duck and
rabbit children also were glad.

Then Jane gnawed out a little crutch for grandfather to walk with, as he
was a trifle lame, and what do you think? Why, Susie Littletail found his
glasses for him; and Sammie and Jimmie rubbed his back so nicely that the
pain all went out of that. Now I call that doing something don't you?

Well, Grandfather Goosey-Gander started for home, and Jimmie and Lulu
asked Sammie and Susie to come and play with them. Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy
said they might, and they had a fine time under the trees in the woods,
playing tag of all kinds; cross-tag, wood-tag, dirt-tag, leaf-tag,
stump-tag, and a new kind, called acorn-tag, which I will explain about
later. Then the bunny children went home with their nurse and Jimmie and
Lulu also went home and about two days after that a very funny thing
happened.

What it was you shall hear to-morrow night if the trolley car doesn't get
off the track, but I'll let you know this much--it's going to be about the
rooster trying to swim.




STORY X

THE ROOSTER TRIES TO SWIM


Grandfather Goosey-Gander was quite lame the next day from having been
caught in the brush pile, and could not go very far away from the duck
pen. He did manage to hobble around on the crutch which Nurse Jane
Fuzzy-Wuzzy made for him, and he sat in a sunny corner, reading the
newspaper with his glasses which Susie Littletail found. He was reading
away as Alice, Lulu and Jimmie Wibblewobble were playing about on the edge
of the pond, and the little duck children made so much noise that the old
grandfather could not understand what was in the papers.

"Can't you children play something quiet?" he asked for Papa and Mamma
Wibblewobble had gone visiting, and Grandfather Goosey-Gander was left to
mind the house. "Play some nice, easy game," he suggested.

"Let's play acorn tag," said Lulu.

"All right, you're it," answered Jimmie. So they each took an acorn which
they found in the woods and put it in their bills. Then Lulu had to chase
after Jimmie and Alice, and when she touched either one of them with her
wing she had to call out: "You can't run a little bit, I've tagged you,
and now you're it." Yes, that's what she had to call, and she had to do it
without letting the acorn fall out of her bill. Now, if you think that's a
very easy thing to do, just you try it, that's all.

Lulu didn't have much trouble putting her wing on Jimmie or Alice, but,
every time she tried to call out the little verse the acorn would roll out
of her bill and she'd have to start all over again, or it wouldn't have
been fair. So it was some time before she got over being "it," and then it
was Jimmie's turn.

Well, they played acorn tag for quite a while, and, when they got tired of
that they all went in swimming. They swam around in circles, and
criss-crossed and went in squares, and in triangles and all sorts of queer
figures, including eight, nine, ten, which are very difficult figures,
indeed, for little ducks.

While they were swimming away, having lots of fun, and far enough off so
that Grandfather Goosey-Gander could read his paper in peace, who should
come down to the edge of the pond but the rooster. His name was Mr. Cock
A. Doodle, and he was very proud. He walked right down to the edge of the
water, and looked at the ducks. Then he crowed as loud as he could, and
flapped his wings, just as if he were saying:

"There! I'd like to see any of you do that! Ha! Hum! Oh my, yes, indeed!"

"How do you do, Mr. Cock A. Doodle?" asked Jimmie.

"Ahem! I am pretty well, my young friend," replied the rooster. "And how
may you happen to be to-day? And how are your sisters, Lulu and Alice
Wibblewobble?"

"We are very well," answered Lulu and Alice, and Lulu went on: "Don't you
wish you could swim, Mr. Doodle?"

"I can," said the rooster, and he strutted back and forth at the edge of
the pond. "Certainly I can swim. What put the notion into your heads that
I can't?"

"We never saw you," spoke Jimmie.

"Ahem! Perhaps not. You never saw me stand on one foot and jump over a
barrel, but that doesn't prove that I can't do it," replied Mr. Doodle. "I
can swim if I choose. I have never cared to, that's all."

"Try now," suggested Lulu, for she didn't believe that rooster could swim,
no matter what he said.

"Oh, the water is too cold to go swimming now," said Mr. Doodle. "I never
swim in cold water."

"Why, it's as warm as warm can be," declared Alice, and she splashed a few
drops upon the rooster, so he could feel it.

"Well, er--ahem! The wind is blowing too much," said the rooster, when he
felt the nice, warm water.

"Why, it doesn't blow at all," answered Jimmie.

"Well, I haven't my swimming shoes on," objected Mr. Cock A. Doodle. "I
can't swim without them. You ducks have pieces of skin between your toes,
so the water won't slip through, but I haven't my webbed feet on."

"Oh, that is very easily fixed," said Lulu. "We will take some pieces of
cloth, and tie them over your claws to make them like ours. Do you think
you could swim then?"

"Yes," answered the rooster, "I think I could." You see he had no more
excuses to make. Oh, wasn't he a tricky old rooster, though, eh?

So Lulu and Jimmie got some bits of cloth, and, with long pieces of ribbon
grass, they bound the cloth on the rooster's claws so his feet looked
something like a duck's.

"Now come on and we'll have a swimming race," suggested Jimmie. "Walk
right down into the water as we do. It won't hurt you the least bit, Mr.
Doodle."

"Pooh! Do you think I'm afraid?" inquired Mr. Doodle, and he actually did
walk right into the water, while all the ducks and chickens and geese
looked on in wonder, for they had never seen the rooster swim, and didn't
believe he could. Oh, but Mr. Doodle was proud! He even tried to crow as
he stepped into the water, but, as he wasn't used to it, it made his
breath feel just as if it were choking him when he tried to swallow.

Yes, he tried to crow, but all the noise he could make was a sort of a
gasp and a sigh and a cough and a splutter and a sneeze and choke and a
whimper.

"Ha! Aha! Ahem! Ha! Ha! Ho! Ho I will now swim" cried the rooster, and
then the water got so deep that he couldn't wade any more, and he had to
float. He struck out with his feet, and tried to paddle just as he saw
Lulu and Alice and Jimmie doing, but a very funny thing happened.

The rooster went right around in a circle, for he only used one leg at a
time. Then he got dizzy, and went around the other way. Then he had to
stop. Next he flapped his wings and splashed the water all over.

Say, I wish you could have seen him. It was as good as a circus! He got
his tail all wet, and his back got all wet, and, as his feathers weren't
the kind that water runs off from, he was soon as soaked as your umbrella
ever was. That made him heavy and he began to sink. Oh, how he splashed
and spluttered around in that pond! He couldn't swim any more than my
typewriter can, and, all at once, what do you suppose happened?

Why, he felt himself sinking more and more and more. Oh, it was terrible!

"Save me! Oh, save me!" Mr. Doodle cried. "I am going down! Help me,
please! Help! Help! Help!"

Then the duck children felt sorry, and swam to him as fast as they could.
Each one took hold of that poor rooster; Lulu and Alice by a wing, and
Jimmie by the rooster's tail, and they towed him to shore. Oh, but he was
a sorry looking sight! He couldn't even crow, nor flap his wings.

"I thought you said you could swim," spoke Jimmie.

"Hush!" begged Alice, who was very kind-hearted. "Don't be casting up!
Don't make him feel bad."

"Oh, I feel bad enough without that," said Mr. Doodle, sighing. "I guess
the water wasn't right for swimming to-day," and with that he walked off,
and hid himself in some leaves, to get dry, for he hadn't any towels at
his house. But the Wibblewobble children kept on swimming, for they knew
how; and now, let me see; well, how about a story of an enchanted castle
for to-morrow night; eh? that is if the scissors don't cut up too much.




STORY XI

ALICE WIBBLEWOBBLE'S ENCHANTED CASTLE


Alice Wibblewobble had made up her mind to find out more about the fairy
prince. She couldn't believe he was only a mud turtle. She felt sure he
was merely in that form until some one came along, pronounced the magical
words, or sprinkled the magical water on him, or did something else, to
change him back again.

"I think I will have another talk with him," she said. "Perhaps, if I go
all alone, he will tell me what to do. Oh, wouldn't it be perfectly lovely
if I could change him into a king with a golden-diamond-ruby crown. Yes, I
certainly shall go."

So Alice swam off up the pond, in the direction the gold fish had once led
Lulu and Jimmie and her.

Well, Alice went on and on and on, for ever so long, but she couldn't seem
to find the place where the mud turtle fairy prince lived. She saw the
green rushes hanging over the water's edge, she saw the bright ripples,
just like diamonds that might be in a king's crown, and she heard the
birds singing; but there was no mud hole where the fairy prince lived.

"Oh dear!" exclaimed Alice. "I'm afraid I'm lost."

"What? Lost in this beautiful place?" asked a voice just above her head,
and, looking up, Alice saw a dear little yellow bird sitting on a tree
over the water.

"Yes," said Alice, and a tear came into her eye, and ran down her yellow
bill. "I am lost. I can't find the fairy prince."

"Oh, that is too bad," said the little yellow bird. "I don't just know
what a fairy prince is, but it must be dreadful not to be able to find one
when you want to. Do not feel badly, however. I can take you to an
enchanted castle, if that will do."

"Oh, can you?" cried Alice. "That will be lovely. I had almost as soon see
an enchanted castle as a fairy prince. Is it a really, truly one?"

"Oh, yes," answered the bird. "It certainly is. It is the most beautiful
place in all the world. Come, and I will show you."

Then Alice felt delighted, and she walked out of the water, and waddled
along on the land. The bird flew along, going slowly, so as not to get
ahead of Alice. On and on they went, over green fields, and through the
woods, until, pretty soon, they came to a place where the bird stopped.

"We are near the enchanted castle," he said. "But you must be very
careful."

"Why?" asked Alice.

"Oh, because every once in a while a lot of water spouts up out of the
castle, and it might drown you, if you were not careful."

"Oh, I don't mind water," answered Alice.

Then they went on a little farther, and, in a short time, oh, perhaps
about as long as it takes you to peel an orange, and put some salt on it,
they came to a most beautiful place. I wish you could have seen it! At
first Alice thought the rainbow had fallen from the sky, there were so
many colors. There was red and green and blue and orange and violet and
yellow and pink and purple and even some of that skilligimink color, that
once turned Sammie Littletail sky-blue-pink.

Then the little duck girl saw that the colors were all from different
flowers that smelled just like mamma's perfume bottles. Next, as she
walked on a little farther, she saw a great pile of stones high in the
air, and, around the bottom of the pile was a big basin of water, not
quite as large as the pond at the ducks' pen, but nearly, Green vines and
flowers were growing in and out among the stones, and birds were flying
here and there, singing.

"This," said the little yellow bird, "is the enchanted castle. I live here
all summer, and so do all my friends. Sometimes we bathe in the water, and
sometimes we hide under the flowers. Then, when the water spouts up out of
the top of the castle we all fly away."

And just then, what should happen but that some water began to spurt, then
and there, right out of the top of that big pile of stones. Up, up it
went, in a spray, spreading out at the tops like an umbrella in a rain
storm, and the drops fell with a splash into the basin below. Then Alice
Wibblewobble cried out!

"Why, this isn't an enchanted castle at all!"

"No?" asked the yellow bird, putting its head on one side, so as to see
better. "Why, we always call this our enchanted castle; always."

"No," answered Alice. "It is only a fountain in a stone pile in somebody's
flower garden. I've seen one before, near our house."

"Well, it looks like an enchanted castle," said the bird, "and I'm sure
it's just as pretty as one. Isn't it as good as your fairy prince?"

"Well," replied the little duck girl. "I suppose it is. But it's only
water, such as I swim in."

"Oh, do you swim?" asked the bird. "Do please show me how. I've always
wanted to learn."

So, though Alice was disappointed about the enchanted castle, she got in
the little pond at the foot of the fountain, and swam around. The water
spurted up in the air and fell all over her, but she didn't mind that. All
the birds gathered around to watch, and even the flowers nodded their
heads, they were so delighted.

"Oh, I'm sure we never can learn to swim," said the yellow bird, as Alice
went around again. "It is much too difficult."

Then, all of a sudden, something happened. A boy and a girl came running
down the gravel walk to the fountain. The little girl had yellow hair,
just like a daffodil, and as soon as she saw Alice she cried out: "Oh,
Norman! Come quick! Here is a lovely duck! I hope we can keep it!"

That frightened Alice very much, especially as the boy tried to grab her.
So she sprang out of the water and ran and hid under some bushes where the
children couldn't find her, and as soon as she could, she went back the
way she had come, into the pond, and started to swim home.

And on the way a fox chased her and a big hawk tried to swoop down, and
grab her, but she managed to get away. She was all tired out when she got
home, and when Jimmie and Lulu asked her where she had been she told them
all her adventures.

"Well," said Jimmie, when his sister had finished, "I think I would rather
see that enchanted castle than the fairy prince again. Will you take us
there some day, Alice?"

"Perhaps," she said, but before they made that trip something else
happened, which you shall hear about to-morrow night if I find a green
popcorn ball with a pink ribbon on it. It's a story of a visit to Grandpa
Wibblewobble's house.




STORY XII

A VISIT TO GRANDPA WIBBLEWOBBLE


Jimmie Wibblewobble was playing marbles with Bully, the frog, one day.
They had just finished one game, and were beginning another when Alice
Wibblewobble came alone. "Jimmie," she said, "mamma wants you."

"What does she want?" asked her brother.

"She wants you to come for a walk in the woods with us. Papa is going
along. Come right away."

"Aw, I'd rather play with Bully," answered Jimmie, but just then his mamma
called him, and he had to go. Bully hopped off, and Jimmie and Alice
walked home together.

"Come, Lulu, are you all ready?" asked Mrs. Wibblewobble, as she saw her
other daughter throwing stones in the pond, and making a great splash.

"Yes," was the reply, and then Jimmie said: "Oh, mamma, I don't want to go
walking."

"I think you will want to when you know where we are going," said his
papa.

"Where are we going?"

"To Grandpa Wibblewobble's."

"Oh, goody!" cried Lulu and Jimmie at once, for they always had a nice
time at their grandfather's. So the ducks set off through the woods and
over the fields, and every time they came to a bit of water they swam over
it as fast as a cat can wash her face.

Pretty soon, after awhile, not very long, they came to the pen where
Grandpa Wibblewobble lived with his daughter, Miss Weezy Wibblewobble, who
kept house for him.

"Ha, I think grandpa has company," said Papa Wibblewobble, as they came
close to the pen and heard talking. "Yes, he certainly has." And, sure
enough, the old gentleman duck had. And whom do you suppose it was? My
Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman rabbit!

"How is your rheumatism?" asked Mrs. Wibblewobble of Uncle Wiggily
Longears, after they had sat down.

"Oh, it doesn't seem to get any better," he answered. "I have carried a
piece of horse chestnut in one ear, and a bit of dried potato in the other
for ever so long, but nothing seems to do me any good. I am going to have
a new doctor soon if I don't get well. Oh my, yes, and some pepper hash on
bread and butter also! Ha! Hum! Oh my! Ouch! and Jack and the Bean
Stalk!" Uncle Wiggily called out that last because his rheumatism hurt so.

Well, Grandpa Wibblewobble gave each of the Wibblewobble children some
nice sugared corn meal, flavored with sweet flag, peppermint and
watercress, and a few snails to eat, and maybe they didn't like them!

"Now," said grandpa, "you children go out to play, while we old folks talk
about the weather and rheumatism," for you see rheumatism was about all
Uncle Wiggily cared to talk about.

Well, the little duck children had a fine time playing around grandpa's
house, and now, in about a minute something is going to happen. They had
wandered off a little way, and, just as they were resting under some
burdock leaves, in the shade, they heard voices talking. And one voice
said:

"Now I'll go up to the front door of Grandpa Wibblewobble's house and you
go up to the back door. We'll both knock at the same time, and the ducks
won't know which door to go to first. Then we'll jump in the windows and
eat them all up--all up--up! There are some extra fine ducks there
to-day."

Oh, maybe Jimmie and his sisters weren't frightened. They trembled so that
the leaves shook as if the wind was blowing them, and when Jimmie got a
little quiet he looked out, and what do you suppose he saw? Why two mean,
wicked, sly old foxes, who were getting ready to go to grandpa's house and
eat him up, and Mamma and Papa Wibblewobble up, and probably Uncle Wiggily
Longears, too; who knows?

"Oh, isn't this awful?" asked Alice in a whisper. "I am going to faint! I
know I am!"

"Silly!" said Jimmie to her. "Don't you dare faint! Here, smell of this,"
and he picked some spearmint, and held it under his sister's nose, which
made her feel better.

"We must do something," said Lulu. "It will never do to have those bad
foxes go to grandpa's house! How can we stop them?"

"Let me think," whispered Jimmie, quite bravely, and he put his head under
his wing, so he could be quiet and think better. "Ah, I have it!" he cried
out. "Come with me, girls!"

So they stepped softly from under the burdock leaves, those three duck
children did, and ran to grandpa's house as fast as they could, leaving
the bad foxes in the woods. Well, you can imagine how surprised all the
folks were, even Uncle Wiggily, when they heard the alarming news which
the children told.

"Oh, whatever shall we do?" cried Weezy Wibblewobble.

"I know what I'd do, if it wasn't for my rheumatism!" said Uncle Wiggily.
"I'd bite those foxes, and jump on them, too, but I can't! Oh, if Nurse
Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy were only here!"

"Never mind. I will save you," spoke Jimmie. "Come now, we must get a lot
of stones and some boards. Hurry, for the foxes will soon be here."

So the ducks, with Uncle Wiggily helping them as much as he could, put a
board over the front door, and one over the back door, just inside the
house. Then they piled a lot of stones on the boards and fixed them with
strings, so that when the cords were pulled the boards would fall down and
the stones would also fall, with a clatter on the head of whoever was at
the door.

Well, after all this was done, the ducks and Uncle Wiggily went and hid in
the house. Then, in a little while, those bad foxes came sneaking along.
And, sure enough, one went to the back door and the other to the front
door.

They knocked at the same time, just as they had said they would, and Papa
Wibblewobble opened one door and Grandpa Wibblewobble the other. Then just
as soon as the doors were opened Jimmie, who had hold of the strings that
were fast to the boards, pulled them with his bill, and down clattered
the stones, rattlety-bang-go-bung-ker-plunk, right on top of the heads of
those two bad foxes! Oh, how scared they were!

"The house is falling! The house is falling! Run away!" cried one fox and
they both ran as fast as they could, glad enough to escape, I tell you.
Now, wasn't that a good trick Jimmie played on those bad animals?

I thought so, myself, and so did his grandpa and his papa and mamma, to
say nothing of Uncle Wiggily Longears. And that's how the foxes didn't eat
up the ducks, and to-morrow night, if the robin sings under my window as
sweetly as he did yesterday morning, you shall hear about how Aunt Lettie
came on a visit.




STORY XIII

A VISIT FROM AUNT LETTIE


One day it was so very pleasant out of doors that Lulu and Alice and
Jimmie Wibblewobble didn't want to go to school. The sun was sparkling on
the water in the duck pond, and Alice said, as she felt the wind blowing
on her feathers:

"Oh, I just wish I could go see the fairy prince again!"

"Pooh! I don't," spoke Jimmie. "But I wish we could stay home from school.
Bully, the frog, and I were going to get up a baseball nine. Let's go ask
papa if we can stay home."

"Can't I play on your ball team?" asked Lulu, who could throw a stone
almost as well as a boy.

"No," said Jimmie. "Girls never play on ball teams."

"Couldn't I even umpire?" went on his sister.

"No, Uncle Wiggily Longears is going to do that," replied Jimmie. "Billie
and Johnnie Bushytail and Sammie Littletail are going to play on the team.
But let's go ask papa if we can stay home. It's too nice to go to
school."

So they went and asked Mr. Wibblewobble, who had remained at home from
work that day, because, you see, he happened to swallow a shoe button by
mistake for a grain of corn, and he had indigestion something awful; yes,
really.

You know it was a tan shoe button, and if your eyesight isn't very good,
why it does look like a grain of corn, especially if you're very hungry
and in a hurry. So Mr. Wibblewobble wasn't feeling very well when Jimmie
and Lulu came in to ask him if they could stay home from school, and he
was the least bit cross, perhaps, because his indigestion was really very
bad at that moment. So he answered them:

"No, indeed, you can't stay home. Go to school at once! Quack!"

Now when a duck says one quack, instead of a double quack-quack, you may
know he is feeling very, very miserable, and you don't want to bother him
any more than you can help.

Lulu and Jimmie knew this, and they hurried out of the pen to go to
school. Then their papa felt sorry for them, because, you see, he did not
really mean to be cross, only he knew it was best for them to learn all
they could. So he said "Quack-quack," which meant he was feeling better,
and he added: "When you come home, my dears, you may each have a penny.
Run along now, like good ducks."

So, though Jimmie felt badly about not being able to get up a ball nine,
he waddled along with his sisters, and pretty soon they were at the owl
school, where they met Sammie and Susie Littletail and Billie and Johnnie
Bushytail, and Sister Sallie and Bully, the frog. Yes, they were all
there, and, what's more, they had their lessons, too, so they were not
kept in.

They hurried home after school, Alice and Lulu and Jimmie, I mean, because
this story is about them, you see; and they got their pennies from their
papa, and each one bought some watercress snails, preserved in salted
cornmeal; very fine they were, too, for ducks.

Just as the three Wibblewobble children were finishing the last of the
snails, who should come hopping along but Bully, the frog. He hopped into
the water to cool himself off and then, when he had hopped out again, he
asked:

"I say, Jimmie, are your folks expecting company?"

"I don't think so," answered Jimmie. "I saw mamma setting the table and
she wasn't putting the clean cloth on. No, I guess we're not going to have
company, or there'd be a clean cloth put on. Why do you ask?"

"Because, as I was coming through the woods just now I met a funny looking
creature asking the way to your pen."

"Who was it?" inquired Lulu.

"Oh, it was a nice old lady. She had long hair and she carried a basket
and she wore such a funny bonnet! Two sharp things stuck right out of the
top of it. I offered to show her the way here, but she said I went in the
water so often that she couldn't follow me, for she didn't want to get her
feet wet. You must be going to have company."

"Maybe we are!" cried Alice. "Let's go ask mamma."

So they went, and asked their mother, but she said she did not know of any
company coming, but, for fear some one might come along unexpectedly she
did put the clean table cloth on, and she got out the napkins, and opened
a jar of preserved sweet flag root.

"Come on," proposed Lulu, after a bit, "let's go through the woods. Bully,
you show us where you met the queer lady, and maybe we'll see her."

So the four started off, Bully hopping along in front, and pretty soon,
just as they got to the place where the weeping willow tree stands, what
should they hear but a funny noise. It sounded like "Ma-a-a-a-a!" You
know, just like a sheep cries.

"There she is!" exclaimed Bully. "That's just the way she talks. And there
she is! Look! The nice old lady!"

The three Wibblewobble children looked, and what should they see but a big
white goat. She was an old lady goat, and she was walking along with her
basket on her arm, and the things sticking out of her bonnet were her
horns. As soon as she saw the children she called:

"Oh, my dears, can you show me the way to Mrs. Wibblewobble's? I'm afraid
I'm lost!"

"Why, Mrs. Wibblewobble is our mamma," answered Lulu, quickly.

"Oh, my dears! You don't mean it!" cried the goat. "Then you must be my
little nieces and nephew I've heard so much about. But who is this little
green boy? I've seen him before."

"Oh, he's the catcher on our base ball nine," said Jimmie. "He catches the
balls in his mouth. But, who are you, if I may be so bold as to ask?"

"I'm your Aunt Lettie," replied the goat. "I've come to pay you a long
visit. Oh, I'm so glad I found you, for I feared I would never get to your
house! See, I have brought you some apple turnovers, and some gooseberry
tarts. Now let's hurry home, but first kiss me."

So Aunt Lettie kissed them all, even Bully, the frog, and then she and the
Wibblewobble children went to the ducks' pen, where she stayed several
days.

And quite a number of things happened, too. In fact, one took place the
very next day, as you shall hear to-morrow night, when I am going to tell
you about Lulu and the pussy willows, provided a doggie with a yellow nose
and pink ears doesn't scare me.




STORY XIV

LULU AND THE PUSSY WILLOWS


"What shall we do now?" asked Lulu the next morning after Aunt Lettie
came, and the duck children had gone out to play, leaving their mamma and
the old lady goat to do the dishes.

"Let's go see the fairy prince," suggested Alice.

"Oh, you're always thinking of that fairy prince," objected Jimmie. "I say
let's go for a walk."

"All right," agreed Lulu. "I know where there are some nice pussy willows.
We'll get some to take to our school teacher next Monday."

So they started off up the pond to the place where the pussy willows grew.
They gathered quite a number, breaking off the stems in their strong
yellow bills, and then, putting the willows under their wings, they
started back home again. They didn't have to hurry because, you see, it
was Saturday, and there wasn't any school. Oh, my no! Ducks don't have to
go to school on Saturday any more than you do, even if they are only in
the kindergarten class.

Now, if you please, pay close attention, for something is going to happen
very shortly, if Uncle Wiggily Longears doesn't come along and bother me,
and I don't believe he will. Well, Lulu and Alice and Jimmie got safely
home with the pussy willows, and as they were putting them in water to
keep until Monday, Aunt Lettie came into the room.

"What have you there, my dears?" she asked, wiggling her horns and looking
over the tops of her glasses as easily as you can draw a picture of a
horse. "What have you there, my dears?"

"They are pussy willows, Aunt Lettie," replied Lulu.

"Oh dearie me! oh Sacramento!" cried Aunt Lettie, who was quite excitable
at times. "Why ever did you bring them here, little ones?"

"Why, we want them for teacher," explained Alice.

"I don't," declared Jimmie. "Boys never bring the teacher flowers; that is
unless they don't want to be kept in when there's a ball game. But don't
you like pussy willows, Aunt Lettie?"

"Oh, no indeed," she answered. "I don't like cats of any description."

"But these are only pussy willows," said Alice.

"Oh, they'll turn into cats quickly enough," remarked Aunt Lettie. "There
was a family who once lived next to us, and they had kittens. Why it
wasn't any time at all before those kittens had turned into cats, and land
goodness, how they did howl nights and keep me awake! And I had lumbago
that summer, too! Oh, yes, indeed, kittens are all very well, but when
they turn into old cats they're not so nice."

"Oh, but Aunt Lettie, you don't understand," explained Jimmie, smiling the
least bit. "You see these are only plant pussies. They can't ever become
real cats you know."

"They grow, don't they?" asked the old lady goat, shaking her horns again,
"Don't they grow?"

"Yes," admitted Lulu. "They certainly grow."

"Well, if they're pussies now they'll grow to be cats soon enough, you
mark my words," went on Aunt Lettie quite sorrowfully. "That is unless
they drown in that water," she added quickly.

"Why, no; pussy willows can't drown in water," said Lulu. "We put them
there to keep them fresh. You don't need to worry about those pussy
willows, dear Aunt Lettie."

[Illustration]

But Aunt Lettie did worry. In fact she had to worry about something,
anyhow, so I suppose it is just as well that she worried about the pussy
willows. And, when they all went to bed that night, the last thing she
said was:

"Now, you mark my words! Those pussies will be cats before you know it."

But Lulu and Alice and Jimmie did not think so. However you just wait and
see what happened.

Along in the middle of the night, when it was all still and quiet, and
when even the frogs had stopped croaking, and it wasn't time for the
roosters to begin to crow; yes, when it was dark, and still and silent and
not a sound was heard, suddenly what should happen but that right in the
Wibblewobble house there came a loud: "Mew! Mew! Mew!"

"There!" exclaimed Aunt Lettie, jumping out of bed. "What did I tell you?
Those pussy willows have turned into cats, and the house will be full of
them! Oh, dear! Why did you bring them in here? It's dreadfully bad luck!"

Lulu and Jimmie and Alice jumped out of bed, too. So did Mr. and Mrs.
Wibblewobble. All the while they kept hearing that: "Mew! Mew! Mew!"

"Whatever can it be?" asked Mamma Wibblewobble. "Maybe it's a burglar."

"Nonsense!" replied Mr. Wibblewobble, "burglars don't mew. I'll go look."

So he went to look, and what do you think he found? Why, right under a
vase of the pussy willows, on a cushion, was a dear, sweet, little white
kitten. Yes, sir, as true as I'm telling you! And so soon as Lulu saw it
she cried: "It's mine! One of my pussy willows has turned into a kittie!
Oh, how glad I am!"

And, honestly, the kittie was right under Lulu's vase of pussy willows,
just as sure as that two and two make four.

"I told you so!" cried Aunt Lettie. "Now, maybe you'll believe me next
time. The pussy willows turned into a kitten."

"Oh, but this kitten can't be from those willows," said Papa Wibblewobble.
"This is a real pussy. It must have come in from out of doors. I guess I
must have left a window open."

And the funny part of it was that he had left a window up, and it was a
real kittie that had wandered in, straying away from its mamma. But Aunt
Lettie was sure it had come from a pussy willow. Lulu didn't care, because
she was allowed to keep the kittie for herself, and what do you think? Why
that kittie joined Jimmie's baseball nine, and to-morrow night I'll tell
you about a game of ball that was played. That is if the man in the moon
doesn't tumble down and hurt his nose.




STORY XV

PLAYING A BALL GAME


One day Jimmie Wibblewobble was going over to where Bully, the frog,
lived.

"Come on!" cried the little boy duck, to the frog. "Let's get up a ball
game. We'll find Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, and Sammie Littletail, and
have some fun. Have you seen Uncle Wiggily Longears? He will umpire for
us, I know, and tell who's out, and when the balls go straight, and all
that. Have you seen him?"

"I saw him limping along a while ago," answered Bully. "He can't have gone
very far, for his rheumatism is bad again."

"Let's hurry up and catch him," suggested Jimmie. So they ran on through
the woods as fast as they could and, sure enough, they soon saw the old
gentleman rabbit.

"Will you come to our ball game?" asked Jimmie.

"Why, of course, to be sure," answered Uncle Wiggily. "But I can't play
very well, you know, on account of--Oh my! Ouch! Oh dear! Um Um! Present
arms! Ready! Aim! Fire! Oh! Oh! Oh!" That's the way he cried all of a
sudden.

"What's the matter?" asked Jimmie.

"Matter? Why my rheumatism; that's what's the matter! It does seem to
catch me at the wrong time. I'm afraid I won't be able to play ball to-day
after all, boys. I'm sorry, but--Oh dear! There it goes again!" and that
poor, old gentleman rabbit had to lean on his crutch, because his legs
hurt him so.

"Oh, we only want you to look on, and tell us when the game is going all
right," said Jimmie very kindly. "You can have a seat in the shade, and
you will decide who's out, and who makes a run, and which side wins."

"Well, I might manage that," replied Uncle Wiggily. "Come on, but please
walk very slowly."

So they walked on very slowly, and pretty soon they met Johnnie and Billie
Bushytail with Sister Sallie. And the little girl squirrel was singing:

    "Hippity-hop to the barber shop
      To buy a lolly-pop-lally.
     One for me and one for thee
      And one for Sister Sallie."

"Come on, let's play ball," called Jimmie to Johnnie and Billie. The
Bushytail brothers said they would, and on they all went, through the
woods and over the fields, and pretty soon, oh, maybe in about two quacks
and a half, whom should they meet but Sammie and Susie Littletail. Sammie
said he would play ball, and Susie said she would look on. Then along came
Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble, and Lulu had her white kittie with her.

"My kittie ought to play, as long as I can't play, especially as she knew
how to roll a ball," spoke Lulu. So Jimmie said the kittie could very
nicely with her paws.

"But that's all the girls who are going to be on the team," said Jimmie
very decidedly.

Well, they started to play, and they had an old wooden door knob for a
ball. I just wish you could have seen them, honestly I do. It was as good
as going to a show, where they charge five pins to get in. Bully, the
frog, was the catcher, for all he had to do was to open his large mouth,
and the ball would go right in. Uncle Wiggily was a sort of judge, or
umpire. That is, he sat in the shade, on a pile of soft leaves, and told
when it was right for one of the players to give up the bat, and let some
one else have a chance.

Now whom do you suppose threw the ball? Why, Johnnie Bushytail. And
Billie was on first base, while Jimmie Wibblewobble had the bat, which was
a piece of hickory stick. He was to hit the ball and Sammie Littletail and
the white kittie, whose name was Sadie, were to chase it.

Oh, what fun they had! Jimmie knocked the ball as hard as he could, and
then he ran, and Sadie and Sammie tried to put him out, that is to tag him
with the ball, for that's the way they played. Then it came Bully's turn
to bat, while Johnnie Bushytail caught, and then you should have seen how
cutely Sadie, the kittie, would roll the ball along to first base whenever
any one hit it.

And as for Billie Bushytail, when it was his turn, he knocked a ball away
over in the field, and Lulu ran after it, even if she wasn't supposed to
play. She threw it back too, and then she went and sat down with Alice and
Susie and Sister Sallie. Uncle Wiggily did fine at umpiring, and he was as
kind and good as could be, so no one found fault with what he said, even
when he had to rub his leg that had rheumatism in it.

But something dreadful happened. I've got to tell about it, or else it
wouldn't be fair, and we must always be honest and fair in this world, no
matter whether we want to or not. It was Jimmie's turn at the bat again.
He hit the ball very hard.

Away it sailed, over the fence and across the field, and then, oh, don't
breathe or wiggle for a few seconds now! then, if that ball didn't smash,
bang, crash right into the window of Grandfather Goosey-Gander's house!
Yes, sir, it broke the window all to flinders, and out rushed Grandfather
Goosey-Gander! Oh, but he was angry! He quacked, and he squawked, and he
called out:

"Who broke my window?"

"I--I did, please sir," answered Jimmie. "But I didn't mean to. It was an
accident."

"Ha, hum! An accident, eh? Well, you'll have to pay for it," said
Grandfather Goosey-Gander. "Yes, that's what you will!"

"Oh we'll all chip in and pay for it," said Bully, quickly. "That's what
we always do in a ball game when a window is broken. I'll pay my share."

"Ha! Hum!" cried Grandfather Goosey-Gander, and then he sneezed, for he
had run out without his cap on and he was bald headed.

So they all agreed to pay for the window, and even Sister Sallie said she
would help. But they didn't have to. No, sir, as true as I'm telling you,
if Aunt Lettie didn't happen along just then, and, when she heard what
the matter was, she just took out her purse and said:

"I'll pay for the window which Jimmie broke. I am rich, and I'll never
miss the money. Boys and girls must have some fun."

"Fine!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "I'm the umpire and I say that's just fine."

Now, wasn't that kind of Aunt Lettie? Well, I guess so! Then the game went
on, and Billie and Johnnie Bushytail won, but no more windows were broken.
Now, if we don't get an April shower to-morrow, you shall hear, in the
next story, to-morrow night, about how the duck's pen caught fire, and who
put it out.




STORY XVI

THE WIBBLEWOBBLE HOME ON FIRE


After the ball game, which I told you about last night, all the players,
and those who had looked on, and Uncle Wiggily, the umpire, started for
home. On the way they talked of how kind Aunt Lettie was.

"She's the kindest person I have ever known," said Uncle Wiggily, as he
limped along on his crutch that Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had gnawed out of a
cornstalk for him. "She is very--Oh dear! Oh me! Oh my! Oh
disproportionability! Wow! Ouch! My rheumatism again!" and it hurt him so
he had to stand still and waggle his ears as hard as ever he could. Then
he felt better, especially after he had rubbed a horse chestnut on his
sore leg.

You see the rheumatism which was cured by a red fairy, as I told you about
in the first book, came back because Uncle Wiggily got his feet wet going
out one day without his umbrella.

Of course Papa and Mamma Wibblewobble were much surprised to hear about
the ball game, and the broken window, but they didn't scold Jimmie very
much, and pretty soon, oh, in a little while after supper, you know, it
was bedtime for the duck children and they went to bed.

Well, it got darker and darker, and soon it was nice and quiet around the
pond where the ducks lived. Only the frogs seemed to be awake, and they
were croaking away in the water. And pretty soon Lulu and Alice were
dreaming and so was Jimmie, and the funny part of it is that they all
dreamed different things.

Pretty soon it got even darker, and then up popped the silvery moon, and
it wasn't quite so dark. But it was more quiet. Oh my, yes! It was so
quiet that I believe if a feather had fallen off a duck's back it would
have made a noise when it struck the ground. Oh, it was very quiet.

Then, all of a sudden Jimmie awakened. He sniffed and he snuffed, and he
smelled smoke. So he got up and he called to Lulu and Alice in the next
room:

"Say, don't you smell smoke?"

"Yes," said Alice, "I do."

"Maybe it's Grandfather Goosey-Gander smoking his pipe," suggested Lulu.

"No, he doesn't smoke as late as this," said Jimmie.

Then the smell of smoke got stronger, and, in about as long as it would
take you to count one and a half, what should happen but that the whole
duckhouse was suddenly lighted up. Then there came a crackling, roaring
sound, and Papa and Mamma Wibblewobble jumped up.

"Oh, dear! It's burglars! I know it's burglars!" cried Mrs. Wibblewobble.
"Quack real loud, Leander" (you see Mr. Wibblewobble's name was Leander).
"Quack real loud, and call the police!"

So Mr. Leander Wibblewobble quacked as loudly as he could, and just then
Aunt Lettie jumped out of bed.

"Oh dear! Oh dear! Oh dear!" she cried, three times, just like that. "The
house is on fire! The house is burning up! Run! Jump, everybody!"

And, sure enough, the ducks' house was on fire, and it wasn't a burglar at
all; no sir! Whether the moon was so hot that it caused the fire, or
whether it was sparks from grandfather's pipe, I can't say, but anyhow,
the house was on fire, and it was burning fiercely.

"Oh dear! Oh dear!" cried Aunt Lettie again. And Mamma Wibblewobble cried
just the same, too. Then they all ran and jumped out of the second-story
window, but it didn't hurt them, for they could fly a little bit, you
know, and they came down like balloons. That is all but Aunt Lettie, and
she was used to jumping, so she came down like a lot of dishes falling
off the table.

Well, you should have seen that house burn! Oh, it was a dreadful sight.
All the other ducks and the geese and the chickens gathered around. The
rooster crowed the alarm. Box number twenty-one it was, but of course
there were no engines to come and put out the fire.

"Oh, we must save the house!" shouted Papa Wibblewobble.

"Everybody bring water from the pond and throw it on the fire!" cried Aunt
Lettie, and she ran down and filled her two horns, which she carried on
her head. The horns were hollow and had the tops sawed off, so she could
fill them quickly and pour out the water just as easily. She splashed some
water on the fire, but it didn't do much good. Then Lulu and Alice and
Jimmie, they filled their bills with water and threw it on the blaze, but
that didn't do much good.

No, sad to tell, all the water the ducks and the geese and Aunt Lettie
could carry, to say nothing of the rooster who couldn't bring much,
because he stopped to crow every now and then--all this water didn't do a
bit of good, and the house was burning faster and faster.

Then, what do you think happened? Why, all at once there came running up
old Nero, the big, shaggy, yellow dog, who was so old and kind that he
would never hurt any one. Yes, he ran right up and called out:

"Make way, if you please. I will put out that fire!"

So he ran down into the pond as fast as he could run and soaked himself in
the water. Then he ran up close to the fire and shook himself hard, and
the drops of water scattered from his shaggy sides all over the blaze,
just like a rain storm. And the fire was partly out.

Then he ran down again and got all wet and shook himself, and scattered
some more water over the fire. And that fire was pretty nearly out.

Then for the third time that dog, Nero, ran down into the water and got
all soaking wet, and scattered the drops over the blaze, like two showers
and a half. And then that fire was all completely out! Oh, wasn't he a
good dog, though?

Well, the house wasn't burned so much after all, and the ducks could go
back into it. And maybe they weren't thankful to Nero, but he only said:

"Ah, you should have watched me gnaw bones when I was a young dog. That
was a sight worth seeing." But I think it was great for him to put out
the fire, don't you? Now, to-morrow night's story, providing my automobile
doesn't hit a balloon, will be about how the fairy prince was caught.




STORY XVII

HOW THE FAIRY PRINCE WAS CAUGHT


Aunt Lettie, the nice old lady goat, wanted Lulu and Alice and Jimmie to
have a good time, so one day she fixed them up a basket of lunch to take
off in the woods and eat. She made some jam tarts--oh, such lovely, flaky
ones!--and there were cookies and bread and butter and I don't know what
all. I just wish I had that basket of lunch now, don't you? But, of
course, we wouldn't want to take it away from the duck children, would we?

So they started off, and as they passed by Nero, he opened one eye--only
one, mind you, and looked at them. And he said: "I am feeling a little
hungry, but I don't s'pose you have anything for me."

"Yes," said Lulu, "you may have a jam tart because you saved our house
from burning up."

So they gave Nero one tart, and he gobbled it up as quickly as you can
cross your "t" or dot your "i" when you're writing in school.

Pretty soon, well, not so very long, you know, the three duck children
came to the woods. Oh, the woods were the nicest place you ever saw!

There was a little brook running in and out among the trees, and it
sounded like music when it went over the stones. Well, they sat down on
the grass, near a mossy old stump, and ate their lunch, until there wasn't
even so much as a crumb of a jam tart left. They had just gotten through
when, all of a sudden, they heard a big noise. It was like some one
stamping his feet down and breaking sticks.

The duck children were terribly frightened, for they thought maybe it was
an elephant or a rhinoceros coming along, but Jimmie peeked through the
bushes and whispered to his sisters:

"It's a big boy!"

"What's he doing?" asked Alice.

"I guess he's going fishing," said Lulu, "for he has a fish pole over his
shoulder."

And, sure enough, that boy was going fishing! He walked on a little
farther, stepping on sticks and breaking them, and then he sat down on the
edge of the little brook and began to fish. Then the duck children weren't
so much afraid, and they watched him.

Pretty soon the boy pulled up his line with a jerk, but there wasn't
anything on it. Then he said:

"Oh, dear! That was a big fish, but he got away."

"I'm glad it got away," whispered Alice, "for I don't like to see the poor
fish caught."

Then, in about two quacks and a waddle, the boy pulled up his pole again,
and this time he didn't have anything on the hook, either. So he said
again:

"Oh, dear me, and an angle worm! That's two big fish that have gotten
loose."

Then he threw in his line again, and the next time when he pulled it up
something came with it. Something wiggily, and black and yellow and
red-spotted with wrinkly legs and a long snaky neck and head.

"Ker-thump!" it landed on the bank and the boy ran up to it. "Why, I've
caught a mud turtle!" he cried.

"I am not!" the mud turtle called out, only he couldn't speak very
plainly, for the hook was in his mouth. "I'm a fairy prince, and you had
no right to catch me," he said.

Now, of course, the boy couldn't hear this, for he didn't understand the
language used by the fairy prince. But Alice heard him, and so did Lulu
and Jimmie.

"Oh, dear!" cried Alice. "That bad boy has caught the fairy prince! Let's
run out and make him let the prince go!"

"Oh, no!" answered Lulu, "the boy might catch us then."

"I know what let's do," whispered Jimmie. "We'll get in the bushes right
behind that boy, and quack and squawk as loud as we can: That will scare
him and make him run away. I don't believe the mud turtle is fairy prince,
but I don't want to see him hurt. Come on, girls. Now when I say: 'ready,'
quack real loud."

So the three duck children went softly up to a bush right behind where
that fisherman--I mean fisherboy--was sitting.

All this while the fairy prince was talking to the boy, and asking to be
let go, for the hook hurt him. The boy finally did take the hook out, not
hurting the mud-turtle any more than he could help, for he was not a bad
boy.

Then, in an instant, or maybe in an instant and a half, Jimmie cried,
"Ready!" and he and his sisters quacked as loudly as possible, or even
louder. The boy was just going to put the mud turtle into the basket, but
when he heard the quacking, coming right out of the bushes behind him, he
was so frightened that he dropped the fairy prince on the ground.

And the fairy prince crawled off as fast as he could, let me tell you.
Then the boy saw that it was the duck children who had frightened him, and
he laughed; but they didn't care, not a bit.

Then the boy said: "Oh, I guess there is no good fishing here. I'm going
to try a new place," so he walked away.

Then Alice went right up to the mud turtle and said: "O fairy prince, art
thou much hurt?"

"I am hurt considerable," said the mud turtle. "I am hurt in two ways. My
mouth hurts where the hook went in, and my feelings are hurt because the
boy didn't believe I was a fairy prince."

"Well, if you are a fairy prince," asked Jimmie, "why didn't you turn him
into an elephant or a lion and scare him, or why didn't you change him
into a bug or a mosquito, so he could fly away? Why didn't you do that,
eh?"

"There are several reasons," replied the mud turtle.

"Oh, wilt thou tell them to us?" asked Alice, romantically.

"Not now," replied the fairy prince, "but I will later. Return here
to-morrow and I will tell you," and he stretched first one wrinkly leg,
and then the other, and went to sleep.

"We will return," said Alice, and then the duck children hurried home, and
to-morrow night you shall hear about a magic trick and why the fairy
prince didn't turn that boy into an elephant or a lion. That is, if the
Thanksgiving turkey doesn't go to a football game.




STORY XVIII

THE FAIRY PRINCE DOES A MAGIC TRICK


One day, after they had been out roller skating, Lulu and Alice and Jimmie
Wibblewobble suddenly remembered that it was time they went back to the
woods to meet the fairy prince, who was to tell them why he didn't turn
that fisher-boy into a lion or an elephant. So they took off their skates
and hurried to the place, and by and by, after awhile, not so very long,
they got there. Then they stopped and looked around.

"Hu!" exclaimed Jimmie. "He isn't here. I _thought_ he was fooling us."

"Hush!" begged Alice. "He may be only hiding to test us, to see if we
really believe in him. He may appear any moment in a big balloon or on the
back of a great bird."

"Somebody's coming now," said Lulu, suddenly, for she heard a rustling in
the bushes. They all turned around, and whom do you think they saw coming
right out of the woods? Why, Uncle Wiggily Longears! The old gentleman
rabbit was limping along, making his nose go up and down and sideways at
the same time, the way you have seen all the bunnies do, you know.

"Ha! Ha!" he exclaimed. "What have we here? Why, I do declare! If it isn't
Jimmie Wibblewobble and his sisters! What are you doing here, little
ones?"

"We came here to meet the fairy prince," replied Jimmie. "He was going to
tell us about why he didn't change a boy into an elephant. But he isn't
here."

"Who--the fairy prince, the boy or the elephant?" asked Uncle Wiggily,
gently rubbing a horse chestnut on his left hind leg, that had the worst
rheumatism in it.

"Neither one," said Alice, "but the fairy prince is sure to come."

"Stuff and nonsense. Nonsense and stuff, also snuff and red pepper!" cried
Uncle Wiggily. "Fairy prince indeed! There's no such thing!"

"Oh, yes, there is!" said Alice. "Pray do not speak so loudly. He might
hear you."

"Thank you, my dear, for trusting in me!" exclaimed a voice suddenly, and
honestly, you may not believe me, but if there wasn't that mud turtle!
Yes, sir, as true as I'm telling you, he appeared right from behind a
bush!

"Thank you, my dear, for believing me," said the fairy prince to Alice
again. "As for this--ahem!--this person!" and the mud turtle looked very
severely at Uncle Wiggily, very severely indeed, "as for this person, I
will soon show him! Oh, my, yes! and a tortoiseshell comb in addition," he
said; and then the turtle stuck out its long neck, straight at the old
rabbit, until Uncle Wiggily thought it was a snake.

"Fairy prince, we salute thee!" exclaimed Alice, making a low bow.

"Good, very good," remarked the mud turtle. "I believe I promised you I
would tell you why I did not change the boy, who caught me, into something
strange, say an elephant or a lion."

"Yes," replied Jimmie, "you did promise us. Go ahead, please."

"That's not the way to talk to a fairy prince," objected Alice. "You
should speak more politely."

"Never mind him, he doesn't know any better," went on the mud turtle. "I
will now give you my reasons. In the first place I did not want to scare
that boy after the way you frightened him. He had been punished enough, I
thought. Besides, if I had turned him into a lion or an elephant he would
have run through the woods, scaring every one he met, and that would not
have been right. And the reason I didn't change him into a bug or a
mosquito was because he might fly away, and then, when the magic spell
had passed off, and he was changed back into a boy again, the
transformation might have happened in the air, and he would fall right
down on somebody's head, and that would never do, never, never, not in a
year and a half. So I concluded not to do anything to him."

"I don't believe you could have changed him into anything at all," said
Uncle Wiggily, quite boldly. "I don't even believe you are a fairy
prince."

"There it goes again!" cried the mud turtle, and he wept big tears that
made a little puddle of water. "Very few persons do believe in me. But I
assure you I am a fairy prince," he added, "and, what's more, all I would
have had to say to that boy was 'Oskaluluhinniumhaddy,' and he would have
been turned into anything I liked. But I see you still do not believe
me--that is, all but Alice. So I will just do a magic trick for you.
Return here in an hour, and in this very spot you shall find a round
stone. Take a rock and break open the stone and you will see what
happens."

So the Wibblewobble children and Uncle Wiggily went away, wondering what
was going to happen. They came back in an hour, and, sure enough, right
where the mud turtle had been standing was a large, round stone.

"Wonderful!" cried Alice.

"Let's see what's inside," suggested Jimmie.

So he and Uncle Wiggily took up a rock, and hit that stone once, and they
hit it twice, and they hit it three times, and, at the third blow, if that
stone didn't break open, and out stepped the mud turtle fairy prince! He
was right inside that stone! Now, wasn't that a magic trick? I think so,
anyhow.

"Oh, tell us how you did it!" begged Lulu.

"It was very simple, very simple," said the turtle, as he flicked a bit of
mud off his nose. "You see, I just rolled myself up in some soft clay, and
then made it round like a stone. Then I stayed in the sun until it was
baked as hard as a rock, and then I rolled along here to wait for you.
Very simple, indeed. But, now, do you believe I am a fairy prince?" And
they all declared they did, even Uncle Wiggily, and Alice said three
times: "We salute thee, fairy prince." Oh, it was as good as a play!

Well, now, let's see about to-morrow night. How about a story of the rat
who took the eggs? Do you think you would like that? Very well, then, you
shall hear it, providing my golden slipper doesn't fall off.




STORY XIX

THE RATS WHO TOOK THE EGGS


Nothing had happened at the Wibblewobble house in several days, and Jimmie
and Lulu and Alice were beginning to feel that it was about time they went
off on another picnic, or else tried to find the fairy prince again. But,
one day, just as Jimmie was looking for his baseball and his catching
glove, his mamma came out of the pantry, where she had gone to get some
dishes to set the table.

"Did any of you children take my eggs?" she asked, and she looked very
severely at them.

"What? Are the eggs gone?" asked Aunt Lettie, the old lady goat.

"Yes," said Mamma Wibblewobble, "there were just thirteen eggs, and now
there are only ten. Three have been taken, and I hope Lulu and Alice and
Jimmie didn't touch them."

"Oh, no indeed, mamma," spoke Alice very quickly, as she finished tying a
sky-blue-pink ribbon around her neck. "I never touched them."

"Neither did I," added Lulu.

"Nor me," said Jimmie. "I don't like eggs anyhow."

"I was saving them to hatch more little ducklings out of," went on Mamma
Wibblewobble, in sorrowful tones. "Now I shall have to wait. Oh, it's such
a disappointment to me!"

"Maybe they fell off the shelf," suggested Jimmie.

"No," replied his mother. "If they had fallen from the shelf out of the
basket, where I had them, the eggs would have broken, and made a mark on
the floor," and, of course, you know they would, for when an egg breaks on
the floor it makes a splish and a splash and a big yellow and white spot
that you can't help but see; now, doesn't it? So Mamma Wibblewobble knew
the eggs couldn't have fallen.

"Well," remarked Aunt Lettie, "it's very strange. Perhaps they have been
stolen. You should notify the police."

"Or tell Mr. Cock A. Doodle, the rooster," added Jimmie. "He would crow
over it; and if we offered a reward, maybe we would get the eggs back."

"Well, I'm glad you children didn't take them, at all events," said their
mother. "Run along and play now. Aunt Lettie has made some molasses
cookies, with corn meal and raisins on top, and you may have some of
them."

So Lulu and Alice and Jimmie went out to play, but all the while they were
thinking of the missing eggs. It was very strange. Their mamma and Aunt
Lettie hunted all over the duck pen for them, but the eggs couldn't be
found, any more than you can find a penny after you drop it down a crack
in the board walk.

Well, when Papa Wibblewobble came home, he was told about the three
missing eggs. He was much surprised, but he said at once:

"Why, a burglar has taken them; that's what! I remember now I heard a
suspicious noise last night. It was some one sneezing. That was the
burglar taking the eggs. I thought of getting up and going down to catch
him, but I was too sleepy, so I stayed in bed."

"No, it wasn't a burglar who sneezed," said Aunt Lettie. "It was I. I left
my window open, and I caught a little cold."

"Then who did sneeze and take the eggs?" asked Papa Wibblewobble.

But no one could tell him, and it was more mysterious and wonderful than
ever, yes indeed. Not a trace of those eggs could be found, and Mamma
Wibblewobble felt terribly.

[Illustration]

Well, that night Jimmie thought of a plan. He decided he would catch
the bad burglar, or whoever it was that had taken the eggs, for the little
boy duck thought if they took three eggs they would come back for more.

"I'm going to hide in the pantry to-night," he said to Lulu and Alice,
"and when the burglar comes I'm going to grab him."

"Won't you be afraid?" asked Alice, shivering.

"Afraid? Humph! I guess not," replied her brother.

So that night, after every one had gone to bed, and it was all still and
quiet in the house, and Aunt Lettie was snoring the least little bit,
Jimmie crawled softly out of bed. Oh, so softly, and went and hid in the
pantry.

It was dark, so he took a candle and was all ready to light it whenever he
heard a sound. Well, he had to wait quite some time, and it was getting
pretty lonesome, and he was beginning to feel sleepy when, all of a
sudden, he heard a noise! Then he heard another noise, and then a
scratching and a squeaking. Then he lighted the candle as quickly as he
could, and what do you suppose he saw?

Why, two great big rats, no relation to good, kind Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy,
the muskrat, oh, not at all, but two other bad rats!

Well, as true as I'm telling you, if one rat didn't climb up on the
shelf, where the duck eggs were in the basket, and take one up in his
paws; and then what do you suppose he did? Why, he went to the edge of the
shelf and dropped the egg to the rat on the floor below.

Then the rat on the floor caught it and lay down on his back, and hugged
the egg in his four paws, and the rat on the shelf ran down and got hold
of the tail of the rat that had the egg and began pulling him along the
floor, just as if he were a little wagon or sled with an egg on it. All
this Jimmie saw, and he cried out:

"Oh, you bad rats, you, to steal my mamma's eggs!"

Well, you should have seen how frightened those rats were at that! One
dropped the egg out of his paws and ran away, and the other followed. Oh,
but they were frightened, though! and wasn't Jimmie brave to hide in the
pantry and discover them? So that's how the first three eggs were taken,
but no more were, for Papa Wibblewobble stopped up the rat hole.

And that's the end of this story. The one to-morrow night will be about
how Jimmie tried to stand on his head, that is, if the pussy cat doesn't
go to sleep in the milk bottle.




STORY XX

HOW JIMMIE STOOD ON HIS HEAD


Jimmie Wibblewobble was quite a hero after he had found out about the rats
taking the eggs, and every time he walked in the chicken yard the old
rooster would crow and say:

"There goes Jimmie, the boy who scared the rats."

But do you s'pose Jimmie was proud? Not a bit of it. He was just as nice
as ever, and Lulu and Alice thought a lot of him, let me tell you.

Well, one day, Bully, the frog, came over to play with Jimmie. They tossed
a baseball around, Bully catching it in his mouth. All of a sudden the
frog boy cried out:

"Oh, my, I'm so warm, I think I'll jump in the pond and cool off." So he
jumped into the pond just as easily as butter melts on a hot stove, and
when he came up he felt better. Then he said to Jimmie:

"Why don't you dive down under the water the way I do? It's lots of fun."

"I would," answered Jimmie, "only I can't stay under water as you do. I
have to float on top. I can put my head under, to dig in the mud for
snails and sweet, spicy weeds, but I can't get my whole body under."

"I know how you could do it," went on Bully.

"How?" asked Jimmie, and he wobbled his tail so fast you could hardly see
it move.

"Tie a stone around your neck," went on Bully. That will make you sink
under water, and you can then dive as good as I can. Come on, we'll have
some fun."

"Oh, don't you do it, Jimmie!" cried Lulu, who came along just then with
Alice. "Maybe you can't get the stone loose, and you'll be drowned!"

"Oh, I guess not," answered Jimmie. "I can stay under water a long time. I
want to see how it feels to dive in--ker plunk!--like a frog."

"I'm going to tell mamma," cried Alice.

"Tattle-tale! Tattle-tale!" called Jimmie. "I never tell on you!"

"Well, then, I won't tell," said Alice, "but Lulu and I will stay close
by, so if you can't get the stone off we can help you."

"Well, that's kind of you," spoke her brother, "but I'll be all right. You
will see me stand on my head, just like Bully does, and dive under the
water."

So he got a stone and a piece of long grass for a string, and Bully tied
the stone around Jimmie's neck. Now, this was a very risky thing to do,
but, you see, Jimmie didn't know any better. Neither did Bully. But you
just wait and see what happens. I'm coming to it very shortly now.

Pretty soon the stone was tied on good and tight, and then Jimmie and
Bully stood on the edge of the pond.

"Are you all ready?" asked Bully.

"Yep," replied Jimmie, and he stretched out his neck, for it felt funny to
have a stone tied around it. Oh, how foolish some ducks are; now, aren't
they, honestly?

"All ready," went on Bully. "One for the money, two for a show, three to
make ready and FOUR to go!" and he yelled the "FOUR" real loudly.

Then they jumped in, Jimmie and Bully, ker-splash, ker-splosh, ker-splish,
ker-thump! Oh what a lot of water they scattered about, wetting Lulu and
Alice, but the girl ducks didn't mind it. Of course, Bully went right to
the bottom, and so did Jimmie, too. His head went right down in the mud,
the way Lulu's did that terrible day I told you about once. And poor
Jimmie's yellow feet were right up in the air, and that's where a duck's
feet ought never to be. Oh my, no! and some shingle nails besides.

Well, Jimmie tried to swim along under water, as he saw Bully doing, but
he couldn't. No, sir, not the least bit. You see the stone was too heavy,
and it held him down. Besides, his feet were out of the water, and as a
duck has to have his feet in water to swim with, of course, Jimmie
couldn't move along at all.

There he was, held down under water, and all the while his breath was
getting shorter and shorter, and he kept feeling worse and worse, and he
wished he had taken Lulu's advice and not tried to stand on his head and
dive.

Well, naturally, when Jimmie didn't come up in some time, Lulu and Alice
got worried. Bully popped up, after swimming across the pond under water
and out of sight, and they asked him what had become of Jimmie.

"I'll go look," he said, and when he dived down, and came back, he was
pale green instead of dark green as he usually was. You see he turned pale
green because he was so frightened.

"Oh, dear!" cried Bully. "Jimmie is held fast down there by the stone on
his neck, and can't get up."

"Can't you bite the stone loose?" asked Alice. Then Bully tried, but he
couldn't, and Lulu and Alice tried, but they couldn't. And there wasn't
any one else around to help, and it began to look pretty bad for poor
Jimmie.

And then, just as he surely thought he would never see his papa, and
mamma, and sisters, and Aunt Lettie again, who should come walking along
the bottom of the pond but the mud turtle fairy prince. He saw right away
what the matter was, and it didn't take him a second, with his sharp jaws,
to bite through the grass that held, the stone around Jimmie's neck, and
up popped the little boy duck!

His life had been saved just in time, let me tell you! And oh, how
thankful Alice and Lulu were, to say nothing of Jimmie; and how they
thanked the fairy prince.

"Maybe you will believe that I am a fairy now," said the mud turtle to
Jimmie, and Jimmie said he would. He also said he would never stand on his
head again, with a stone tied around his neck, and I'm glad to say he
never did. Now, in case I should see a sky-blue-pink-green rose in blossom
to-morrow I'll tell you a story about Lulu, and how Aunt Lettie did her a
great favor.




STORY XXI

LULU AND AUNT LETTIE


Lulu Wibblewobble was walking in the deep, dark woods, and, what is more,
she was all alone. Yes, and she wasn't afraid. You see, Jimmie had gone
off with the boys in the lots back of the duck pond to play ball, and
Alice had gone shopping with her mamma. Lulu could have gone, too, only
felt she would rather go walking in the woods, so she went.

At first it was very pleasant with the birds singing in the trees, and the
wind blowing through the leaves, and making music, and Lulu liked it very
much. She found some fine eel grass in a little brook, and she was eating
the green stems, and thinking how nice it was, when all at once she heard
a funny noise. It was just like when a great, big door swings on rusty
hinges.

Lulu stopped eating eel grass at once, and she called right out loud:

"My goodness! What's that?"

Then it was all still, and quiet; as quiet, you know, as when a little
mouse walks along, and doesn't want any one to hear him, going after the
crackers and cheese, and maybe the jam tarts, too; who knows? Well, it was
just as still and quiet as it could be, when all of a sudden the noise
came again.

"Oh, dear!" cried Lulu. "I believe I'm going to be frightened. I wish
Jimmie was here!"

But Jimmie, the brave boy duck, was a long way off, playing ball with
Bully, the frog, and his other friends, though he would have come at once
to help his sister if he had known what a dreadful thing was almost going
to happen to her.

Well, as I said, the noise sounded again, and then, when Lulu looked right
at a tree, what should she see but something big and bushy, waving in the
wind.

"Oh, maybe it's Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, and perhaps Sister Sallie is
with them!" she said, aloud, and she didn't feel quite so frightened. Then
that terrible noise came again, and the bushy thing got bigger, and Lulu
saw that it was the tail of a great, big black dog. Oh, such a big black
dog as it was! And he was growling, and that's what made the sound like a
big door creaking on big, rusty hinges.

The dog came out from behind the tree, and he stared right in the face of
Lulu, as bold as bold could be.

"Who are you?" growled the dog.

"If--if you please, kind sir, I'm Lulu," she answered.

"Bur-r-r-r!" growled the dog. "I'm not a kind Sir at all. I'm a bad dog!
Bur-r-r-r! Bur-r-r-r! What's your last name? Bur-r-r-r!"

"My last name is Wibblewobble, Bad Dog," she replied.

"Bur-r-r-r! What are you calling me names for?" he asked, and he showed
his teeth something frightful, yes, indeed! Now cuddle up close to me if
you want to, and you won't be a bit afraid, because, in a few minutes Lulu
is going to be saved in a wonderful way. Just you wait and see.

"Why do you call me names?" asked the dog again.

"I--I--If you please," said Lulu, "I thought you said your name was Bad
Dog, sir."

"Bur-r-r-r!" cried the dog. "I didn't at all. No matter what my name is. I
am a bad dog, however, and I'm proud of it!" Oh, wasn't he the bold, ugly
dog, though? Then he looked at Lulu some more, and growled even louder,
and he asked her:

"What are you, a chicken or a turkey?"

"Neither," replied Lulu, "I'm a duck, if you please."

"Ha!" exclaimed the bad dog. "A duck! The very idea! Of all things I love
ducks! I just dote on 'em! I love 'em just like you love jam tarts, I
expect. But why aren't you larger, Lulu? I like big ducks."

"Oh!" cried the little duck girl, "are you going to eat me up?"

"Yes," replied the dog, "I am."

"Then," went on Lulu, very bravely, for she was trying to think of a way
to get out of the deep, dark woods, "if you will wait a year or two, I
will be larger."

"No," said the dog. "I can't wait. I'm in a hurry. I must have you now."

Then he growled some more, and rushed right at Lulu, and I suppose he
would have eaten her up, feathers and all, only for what happened.

Now, what do you suppose prevented him? Why, just as he was about to grab
the little duck girl there was a crashing and a smashing in the bushes and
who should appear but dear Aunt Lettie, the old lady goat! As soon as she
laid eyes on that dog she knew what he was going to do, and without
speaking a word, she rushed right at him and lowered her horns.

Now, it's a good thing for that dog that the sharp ends of Aunt Lettie's
horns had been sawed off. So, you see, when she stuck them in that dog's
ribs, they only tickled him and he had to laugh, instead of sticking right
through him. Oh, how hard he laughed! But he didn't want to, not a bit.

Then Aunt Lettie just lowered her head, and then she raised it up, and
over her back that bad dog went, right up in the air, and he was tossed in
some briars and brambles that scratched him well.

But he wasn't satisfied yet, and he rushed back at Lulu, but Aunt Lettie
tickled him in the ribs again, and he laughed: "Ha! Ho!" though he didn't
want to at all, and over into the briars and brambles he was tossed once
more.

Then he had had enough, and he ran off, howling instead of laughing, and
that's the way it was that Aunt Lettie saved Lulu. You see the old lady
goat happened to be walking in the woods, when she heard the dog growl and
she ran up just in time. Then she went home with Lulu, and Jimmie said if
he ever saw that dog he would throw a stone at him, and I wouldn't blame
him, would you?

Now to-morrow night I think the story is going to be about how Alice cut
her foot, and what happened after it. But I can't tell it unless I happen
to see a grasshopper standing on his head and eating jam tarts.




STORY XXII

HOW ALICE CUT HER FOOT


Did you ever go barefooted in the summer time? I suppose you have, and I
don't blame you a bit, especially on hot days, or when you are at Asbury
Park or Ocean Grove. Now, to go barefooted, you know, you have to take off
your shoes and stockings, and that's quite a bother at times.

Well, Alice Wibblewobble didn't have to do this when she wanted to go
barefooted, for, you know, she never wore shoes and stockings in summer.
You see it would be too much trouble to take them off every time she went
in swimming with Lulu and Jimmie, so that's why it was arranged that she
never had to wear any.

Now it happened one day, oh, I guess it must have been about a week and a
minute after Lulu had been frightened by that big dog, that Alice was
going to the store for her mother. The store was kept by Mr. Drake, who
had a little round door knob on the top of his head, so his hat wouldn't
blow off in windy weather.

"Bring me a pound of butter and some cornmeal, Alice," her mother had said
to her, "and be sure the cornmeal is fresh. I am going to fry some for
your father's supper."

So Alice said she would be sure about it, and she started off.

"Want me to come, Alice?" asked Lulu.

"No, dear," replied her sister. "I think it is too hot for you to-day.
I'll soon be back again."

"Better take Jimmie," went on Lulu. "You may meet the bad dog or an ugly
fox."

"No," spoke Alice again, "I think I'll go alone. Besides, Jimmie is off
with Sammie Littletail, playing leapfrog. I'll go alone."

So off she went. Now I'm going to tell you why she wanted to go alone, but
don't whisper it to any one. You see, Alice thought maybe she might meet
the fairy prince, for she still hoped that some day he would change into a
king with a golden diamond crown on his head.

But, as she walked on toward Mr. Drake's store she saw nothing of the
fairy prince, though she kept a sharp lookout. Well, she got the pound of
butter and the cornmeal, and to make sure it was fresh she ate a little,
for that's the surest way to tell. Then she started for home, with the
butter under one wing and the cornmeal under the other.

Well, all of a sudden, just as she got past the weeping willow tree, if
she didn't step on a sharp stone and cut her foot, because, you see, she
had no shoes on, and the stone was very, very sharp, almost as sharp as an
exclamation point; yes, indeed! There, I had the printer put one in (!) so
you could see how very sharp it is. Always be careful of exclamation
points, children.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried Alice, as she felt the sharp stone go in her foot, and
she had to sink down to the ground, it hurt her so. Then the cornmeal fell
from under her wing and the bag burst and it spilled all over. Then the
butter fell from under the other wing, but that didn't get hurt any. It
only got some dents in it, and you know that doesn't matter, for butter.

"Oh, dear! Whatever shall I do?" cried Alice again. "I--I can't walk on my
sore foot, and I can't carry the cornmeal and the butter! Oh, dear! Oh,
dear! My foot's bleeding, too!" and, sure enough it was. Poor Alice! How
sorry I feel for her.

"Ah, if only the fairy prince would appear now," she went on. "He would
cause a golden chariot to take me home!"

You see, Alice hadn't gotten over being romantic, even if she had cut her
foot. Oh, my, no, and a diamond earring besides!

Well, as true as I'm telling you, no sooner had she made that wish about
the fairy prince than a voice called out:

"Who is crying? Does any one need help?"

"Yes," replied Alice, "I do. I've cut my foot, and I've dented the butter
in several places, but that doesn't matter much, and I've spilled the
cornmeal."

"Oh, what a lot of troubles for one poor little duck girl!" cried the
voice again. "Perhaps, I can help you," and who should come along but
Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old gentleman rabbit. "Let us see what's
the trouble," he went on, and he put his strongest spectacles over his
nose and he looked at the cut in Alice's foot. Then he cried:

"Oh, I should say that was a cut! Oh, my, yes! No doubt about it whatever!
But there, don't cry," he added, for he saw some tears running down
Alice's yellow bill. "I'll fix it for you."

So he got some nice, soft leaves, and he tied them on her sore foot with
some stout grass. Then she felt better, but she couldn't walk, and she
didn't know how she was ever going to get home. So she asked Uncle
Wiggily.

"Why, the easiest thing in the world!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "All I have to
do is to say a little verse, and I'll think of a way." So he said this
little verse:

    "Wiggily, waggily, woggily wome,
     How shall I get Alice home?
     She has hurt herself quite much
     And she'll have to use my crutch."

Of course, Uncle Wiggily knew that wasn't a very good verse, but it was
the best he could do.

"You shall use my cornstalk crutch, that Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy made for
me," he went on. "It will be just the thing."

"Won't you need it?" asked Alice, very politely.

"No," said Uncle Wiggily. "My rheumatism is much better to-day. You may
have it," and he fitted it under Alice's wing, and she could walk pretty
well, not having to use her sore foot.

Then that kind old rabbit scraped up all the cornmeal, and he put some in
his big left ear and some in his big right ear, because the bag was
broken, and he carried the dented butter, which wasn't hurt the least
mite.

Then they started for the duck pen and they reached it safely, Alice
limping along as well as she could. And Uncle Wiggily told Mamma
Wibblewobble about the accident, after he had emptied his left ear and
his right ear of the cornmeal and had handed over the dented butter. Dr.
Possum was called in to put some salve on Alice's foot, and she was soon
better.

Now that's all to-night, but, if the moving man doesn't take my typewriter
away, I shall tell you to-morrow night about Jimmie in a tall tree.




STORY XXIII

JIMMIE IN A TALL TREE


It had rained in the morning, and of course the grounds were too slippery
and wet to play ball. That is, they were for Sammie Littletail and Billie
and Johnnie Bushytail, but naturally Jimmie Wibblewobble, the boy duck,
and Bully, the boy frog, would not have minded the wet the least bit. But
there wasn't any ball game, and so Jimmie was playing all alone in the
woods back of his house, and wishing it hadn't rained.

"Oh! I wish some of the boys would come over," he said. "We could do
something, even if it is wet. I'm lonesome."

Just then he heard a voice singing in the woods, and he heard the branches
of the trees moving about, and bits of bark falling off. And this is the
song he heard: you have to sing it quite slowly to get the full effect:

    "Oh! it is such fun if you see the sun
      When the rain has gone away.
     If you'll come with me you may climb a tree,
      And in the top we'll play.

    "Oh! the winds may blow and the cows may crow,
      But what care we for that?
     As you scamper high, near the bright, blue sky,
      Look out, or you'll lose your hat."

And with that who should come scampering out of a tree but Billie and
Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrel brothers. No, Sister Sallie wasn't with
them this time, having stayed at home to wheel her corncob doll in the
carriage her brothers had made for her.

"Hello!" cried Billie and Johnnie. "Hello, Jimmie!"

"Aw, why didn't you chaps come over to play ball?" asked the little boy
duck.

"Oh! it was too wet," replied Johnnie. "But say, Jimmie, did you hear us
singing?"

"Sure," answered Jimmie. "But say; cows don't crow!"

"I know it," replied Johnnie. "Billie made up that verse, and I made the
first one. He said he had to have something like that in it or it wouldn't
be right. But no matter. Did you like it?"

"Yes, pretty well."

"Shall we sing it again?" asked Johnnie.

"No, don't!" begged his brother. "He's been singing it all the morning,
and I'm getting tired of it, even if I did make up one verse," he
explained. "But say, Jimmie, don't you wish you could climb a tall tree,
like this?" and before you could say Salimagundy or maybe
incomprehensibility or even disproportionability, why Billie had run to
the top of the tree and down again. "Don't you wish you could?" he asked
again.

"Yes," answered Jimmie, looking up, "I wish I could climb a tree, but I
guess ducks weren't made for that. I once tried to fly, and I didn't
succeed very well. I'll stay on the ground, I think. Come on, let's have a
catch. I've got a ball."

"No," spoke Johnnie, "I have an idea. Billie, why can't you and I teach
Jimmie to climb a tree? If we pick out one with branches close together
I'm sure he could get up it. We can help him, and he can take hold of some
limbs in his bill, like a parrot takes hold of the wires in his cage."

"Fine!" cried Billie. "Will you do it, Jimmie?"

"Sure," answered the little boy duck, but he didn't know what was going to
happen, or, maybe, he wouldn't have tried to climb up. Well, the
squirrels selected quite a tall tree, but rather an easy one, and Jimmie
managed to scramble up to the first low limbs, with Billie and Johnnie
boosting him.

After that it wasn't quite so hard, and he was able to get up quite a
distance, pulling himself with his yellow bill. He was not very graceful,
and I'm sure if you ever saw a duck climb a tree you would agree with me,
but finally, after a great deal of hard work, Jimmie was right on the top
branch where the two squirrels sat blinking their eyes.

"How do you like it?" asked Johnnie.

"Fine!" cried Jimmie. "Quack! Quack! Quack!" Now when a duck says "quack"
three times, you may know he is very much pleased indeed. Oh, what a fine
view Jimmie had, but he didn't dare frisk around as Billie and Johnnie
did, for he was a trifle dizzy. Then, after he had been up there some
time, he thought he had better go down, for the wind was blowing the
treetop, and he wasn't used to it. So, after Billie and Johnnie had sung
their song again, Jimmie started for the ground.

Well, you know how it is yourself, if you have ever climbed a tree. It's
easy to go up, but it's hard to get down. The limb for your feet is never
where you think it is. Poor Jimmie tried, and Billie and Johnnie helped
him, but he didn't dare turn around to go down, backward, and that's the
only way you can get down a tree, unless you're a squirrel.

Then Jimmie began to get frightened. He knew it was time for him to go
home, but it began getting darker and darker and darker, and there he was
right in the top of the tree, as far away from the ground as ever. He
tried once more, but he didn't dare let go of one branch with his bill,
while he put his foot down on another limb below, and there he was. Oh,
what an unpleasant situation to be in, to say the least!

"Oh, I'll never get down!" cried Jimmie. "I wish I'd stayed on the
ground!"

Billie and Johnnie began to get frightened, too, for it was partly their
fault, and they were just going off for some kind of help, though what
kind they didn't know, when they heard a noise.

It was a swishing, swooping, swoshing noise, and who should fly down out
of the sky but that good, kind fishhawk, who once carried Billie and
Johnnie on his big back to Lincoln Park. As soon as the squirrels saw him
they cried out:

"Oh, please help Jimmie Wibblewobble down! He's in a tall tree and can't
reach the ground."

"Why, of course, to be sure," replied the kind fishhawk, and he alighted
in the tree, and Jimmie got upon his strong, broad back, and the fishhawk
flew gently to the earth, and that's how Jimmie got down. And maybe he
wasn't glad of it! I know I am, anyhow.

Now, listen: the moving man didn't get my typewriter, after all, so if we
have cocoanut-chocolate-mustard-apple-pie cake for supper, I can tell you
a story to-morrow night, and it will be about the party Alice and Lulu
had, and what happened at it. Something wonderful, too, let, me tell you.




STORY XXIV

THE WIBBLEWOBBLES' PARTY


There was great excitement in the duck pen. And the reason for it was that
Lulu and Alice were going to have a party. It was the first party they had
ever had, and it was on their birthday. You see, it was this way: Lulu and
Alice both had the same birthday; that is, they, were twins. Jimmie was a
day older than they were, and he wasn't a twin. There, now I've explained
it all to you, and I'll get on with the story.

Well, Mamma Wibblewobble arranged for the party. She did all the baking
and got the ice cream ready and made the pies and tarts, and Alice and
Lulu sent out the invitations. They were written on nice little pieces of
white birch bark that Johnnie and Billie Bushytail gnawed off the trees
for the little duck girls.

Of course, Johnnie and Billie were invited, and so was Sammie Littletail,
and Susie and Sister Sallie, and Mr. and Mrs. Bushytail, and Mr. and Mrs.
Littletail, and Uncle Wiggily Longears, and Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, and
Grandfather Goosey-Gander, and Bully, the frog, and the goldfish, and, let
me see, who else? Oh, of course, the fairy prince. Alice would not have
had him left out for anything.

Alice and Lulu had their best hair ribbons on and their new dresses, and
were all dressed up for the party nearly an hour before it was time.
Jimmie got ready, too. That is, he put on a clean collar and a new, red
necktie, and he looked very nice. But he really didn't care much about the
party. He said he and the boys would go off by themselves and talk about
baseball.

"No," said his mother, "you must not do that. I want you and the boys to
entertain the little girls. Be nice, now, Jimmie."

So Jimmie said he would, and pretty soon the company began to come. Bully,
the frog, hopped along first, and right after him came Grandfather
Goosey-Gander, and, would you believe me, he never said a word about
Jimmie breaking his window that time.

"We are very glad to see you," said Alice and Lulu, as they stood at the
front door to receive their friends. Aunt Lettie, the nice old lady goat,
was also there, and as the guests came up, she called out:

"Now, girls, walk right in the bedroom and put your things on the bed.
You boys take your things in Jimmie's room." Oh, it was a real party, let
me tell you.

Uncle Wiggily was the last to arrive, and you know why that was. It was
because his rheumatism hurt him so. But he finally got there, and then the
party was complete; that is, all but the fairy prince, and even the
goldfish didn't know what had become of him.

First the boys all stayed on one side of the room and the girls on the
other, but when Alice said, "Let's play spin the platter," they all cried
out, "Oh, yes, let's do it." And they used one of Mamma Wibblewobble's
dishes for the platter, and didn't break it a bit. Jimmie was "it" part of
the time, and so was Johnnie Bushytail.

"Now let's play going to Jerusalem," proposed Lulu, and they did,
Grandfather Goosey-Gander whistling through his bill, just like a fife, to
make the music. Then they played blind-duck-bluff, and post-office and
clap-in clap-out, and forfeits and, oh, such lots of games that I can
hardly remember them. Oh, yes, there was one more, puss in the corner, and
whom do you suppose was the puss? Why the little kittie; Lulu's little
kittie, you know, that Aunt Lettie thought had come from the
pussy-willows.

"When are we going to eat?" asked Bushytail, after a while, and he spoke
out loud.

"Hush!" cried Sister Sallie. "You mustn't ask that, Billie; it isn't
polite!"

"Well, I wanted to know," said the little boy squirrel.

"Bless your heart!" exclaimed Aunt Lettie. "Of course you do. It must be
time to serve the refreshments. I'll go ask Mrs. Wibblewobble."

"I don't want refreshments," objected Billie, in a whisper to Sister
Sallie. "I'm hungry, and I want something to eat!"

"Hush!" cried his little sister again. "Refreshments are good things to
eat!"

"Oh," said Billie, and just then in came Mamma Wibblewobble and Aunt
Lettie and Mrs. Bushytail and Mrs. Littletail and Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy,
all of whom helped serve the good things to eat.

Oh, what a lot of refreshments there were, including maple sugar,
hickorynut ice cream and chocolate-covered carrots, and cornmeal made into
little balls with cocoanut marshmallow on the outside, and candied cabbage
leaves, and water-cress flavored with spearmint, and the land knows what!

Well, those children at Alice's and Lulu's party ate so much it's a wonder
that they ever got home. They had a lovely time, though Alice felt
disappointed because the fairy prince didn't come, and everyone wished
Alice and Lulu many happy returns, and Bully, the frog, said:

"When _you_ have a party, Jimmie, I'm coming to that, too."

"Sure," answered Jimmie. "I'll have one next week, if mamma will let me,"
for you see he found he liked parties better than he thought he would.

Well, they played some more games, including one called hide the peanut,
and then it was time to go home; and now comes the queer part of it. Just
as they were all saying good-night, and Uncle Wiggily was looking for his
crutch, there sounded out in the woods three blasts from a silver trumpet.
"Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta-ra!"

You know, just like when the procession starts in a circus, and who should
come riding up to the ducks' house but a little boy, all dressed in silver
and gold, with a long white plume in his hat and he was on a white horse.
Once more the trumpet sounded, and the boy called out:

"Am I too late for the party?"

"Yes, you are," said Uncle Wiggily, leaning on his crutch, which he found
behind the door. "But who are you?"

[Illustration]

"Me? I am the fairy prince!" cried the boy, and the trumpets blew again.

"What? Not the mud turtle fairy prince?" asked Alice, fanning herself, so
she wouldn't faint.

"The very same," answered the boy. "I got tired of being a mud turtle, but
I am still a fairy prince!"

"I don't believe it!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. "You are only a little boy
on a horse, and not a fairy prince at all!"

"Wait, and you shall see!" cried the boy, waving his hand, and the silver
trumpet blew again, "Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta-ra!" and the horse reared up on his
hind legs. "I certainly am the fairy prince, and to prove it I will do
something wonderful. Come to the woods to-morrow, Uncle Wiggily Longears,
and see!"

"What will I see?" asked Uncle Wiggily.

"You will see a red fairy," answered the boy who used to be mud turtle,
"and the red fairy will do something wonderful for you."

"Oh!" cried Uncle Wiggily, "I don't believe in fairies!"

But, all the same, he had to, after what happened, for he went back to the
woods, and met a red fairy, and the red fairy stopped Uncle Wiggily's
rheumatism for a time, as you can find out by reading the first book of
this series, entitled "Sammie and Susie Littletail," which tells a lot
about two little rabbit children and their friends, as well as about Uncle
Wiggily Longears.

Now I've reached the end of this story, but there's another one for
to-morrow night, in case you don't hit anybody with your bean shooter, and
it's going to be about Lulu and the Golden fairy.




STORY XXV

LULU AND THE GOLDEN FAIRY


Once upon a time it was raining very hard one morning. It was just when
Lulu and Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble were looking out of the window of
the duck pen, getting ready for school.

"Jimmie, is your hair combed?" asked his mamma.

"No, ma'am," he answered; "but I'm just going to comb it."

"And did you brush your teeth?"

"No, mamma, but I'm just going--"

"Now, now, Jimmie, that's what you always say. Hurry to the bathroom and
clean your teeth at once, or else there'll be a dentist coming to the
school looking into your mouth and goodness knows what will happen then.
Hurry, now, or you'll be late."

Jimmie cleaned his teeth quickly, and ran on to school so he wouldn't be
late and get a bad mark. What's that? You didn't know ducks had teeth?
Well, the next time you get a chance, when a duck opens his mouth real
wide, you look in, and maybe you'll see them. They're very small, I know,
but that doesn't count.

Well, Lulu and Alice ran on ahead, and Jimmie came following after. He
wasn't late at school because he met Bully the frog, who hopped, and so
Jimmie had to run to keep up. The little boy duck was the first one in the
classroom, and the teacher said:

"Why, Jimmie, this is a delightful surprise. You are not late this
morning, though you were every other day this week."

"Yes, ma'am," was all Jimmie said, as he took his seat.

Well, you should have seen it rain! Honestly, I don't know when it ever
rained so hard before; maybe not since the animals came out of the ark, or
the last time I wanted to go to a picnic. Some of the kindergarten
children got quite wet, because, you see, they were so little that they
couldn't hold their umbrellas up straight. And even some of the high
school girls got wet, too; but they didn't mind.

Jimmie and his sisters didn't need an umbrella, for, you know, water
always runs off a duck's back, and doesn't do a bit of harm. It rained
when the duck children got home from school, and it was still raining when
Mrs. Wibblewobble said:

"My dears, I don't like to ask you to go out in the storm again, but I do
wish you would run over to Grandfather Goosey-Gander's house. He is ill,
and I want to send him some hot watercress tea."

Now Alice didn't want to go because her foot, that she once had cut on a
stone, pained her. And Jimmie, well, no sooner had he gotten in the house,
and taken some bread and butter, with jam on it, than he had run out in
the rain again, to play with Bully, the frog. That left only Lulu to go to
Grandfather Goosey-Gander's house, but she said she didn't mind in the
least, and afterward she was very glad she went, for she saw a most
wonderful sight. Just you wait, and I'll tell you about it.

So Mrs. Wibblewobble put the hot tea in a tin pan, and covered it over
with a burdock leaf, to keep the rain out, and then she put some cold
potatoes in a dish, for she thought the old gentleman duck might like them
as well. Then Lulu started off through the woods to go to her
grandfather's house. It was still raining, but she didn't mind, and pretty
soon, oh, maybe in about ten quacks, she came to where Mr. Gander lived.

Well, you would have felt sorry for him if you could have seen him. There
he was, sitting on a stool, with his feet in a pail of hot water, and
seven bottles of medicine on a table at his right wing, and six bottles of
pills on a table at his left wing, and there was a blanket up around his
neck, and he had a nightcap on, and he was groaning something terrible;
yes, really he was.

"Oh, grandfather!" cried Lulu. "Are you very sick?"

"Yes," he replied, "I am very sick. I think I have the pip, or maybe the
epizoodic."

"Which is worse?" asked Lulu, as she set the hot tea and the cold potatoes
on the table.

"They are both worse," answered the old gentleman duck. "That is, they
seem so, when you have them both at once. But I think I would feel better
if I had a hot cornmeal poultice on the back of my neck. Only I can't make
it and put it there, for I can't take my feet out of the hot water, and I
don't know where the cornmeal is, and I'm home all alone, for my wife has
gone shopping."

"Oh, I'll make it for you," said Lulu very kindly. "I know where the
cornmeal is." So she went to get some, and, on the way to the meal box she
began to think:

"Wouldn't it be lovely if a blue fairy, or a green one or a purple one, or
even a skilligimink colored one would appear now? I would ask her to make
grandfather better. But I don't s'pose one will come, for I never have any
luck seeing fairies," and she sighed three times as she opened the
cornmeal box.

Then, all of a sudden, as she lifted the cover, as true as I'm telling
you, if she didn't see something all glittering and shining down in one
corner of the box. At first she thought it was the yellow meal, but then
she saw that it was a little creature, all gold, with shimmering wings,
like those of a humming bird.

"Oh!" cried Lulu, "are you a fairy?"

"Yes," replied the little creature, "I am the golden cornmeal fairy. I
have been shut up here for ever and ever so long, and I thought I would
never get out. But, since you have let me out, I will do anything in the
world for you," and she waved her golden wings, and sang a jolly, golden
song about diamonds.

"Will you?" cried Lulu. "Then please make my grandfather better, for he is
very sick and has to take thirteen kinds of medicine."

"I will make him well," said the fairy, as she flew out of the box, "and
it is very kind of you to ask that, instead of something for yourself.
Now, you make a nice hot poultice of this meal, which is magical, and put
it on the back of his neck.

"Then you say this fairy word: Bibbilybab-bilyboobily-bag,' and see what
happens. But don't tell your grandfather I am a fairy; in fact, say
nothing to any one about it, for we fairies are going away for a time, but
we may come back later." Then the golden fairy waved her wings and
disappeared.

But Lulu did just as she had been told, even to saying that magical word,
and, my gracious! if Grandfather Goosey-Gander didn't get all well in a
second, and he thanked Lulu very much. She felt sorry about the fairy
disappearing so suddenly, but you can't always have fairies, you know.
Now, if you girls don't lose your pink hair ribbon I'll tell you to-morrow
night about Jimmie and the black cow.




STORY XXVI

JIMMIE AND THE BLACK COW


Lulu Wibblewobble felt quite proud of having seen the golden fairy in the
corn meal box. In fact she was the only one of her family who saw a fairy
for ever and ever so long after that, because the fairies happened to go
away from that part of the country.

Of course, Lulu wondered how the tiny creature got into the meal box, and
she wondered if she might tell Alice and Jimmie about having seen her, but
she decided she had better not.

Now it was about a week after Lulu had taken Grandfather Goosey-Gander the
hot tea and the cold potatoes, that something happened to Jimmie
Wibblewobble.

It was one afternoon when he was on his way home from school, and he was
all alone, for he had been kept in for missing his spelling lesson, and
all the other children had gone on. You see he couldn't spell "vinegar."
Of course that's an easy word, I know, but Jimmie didn't like sour things,
and I suppose that's why he missed vinegar. He put the "x" and a "k" of
the word in the wrong places. Anyway he was kept in, and he had to write
"ketchup" on his paper fifty times.

Well, after he was let out Jimmie started off through the woods and over
the fields. Pretty soon, right after he was passing along a deep, dark,
dingly dell, which is a sort of little valley, with flowers and ferns
growing in it, he heard a bell ring. "Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!"
went the bell. At first Jimmie thought he was near a church, but just then
the bell rang differently.

This time it went: "Tinkle-tankle! Tinkle-tankle! Tinkle-tank--" just like
that.

"Why!" exclaimed Jimmie. "I wonder what that can be?"

Then he went on a little farther, and he came out of the deep, dark
dingle-dell, and he heard the bell more plainly still. This time it rang
very rapidly, and right after it Jimmie heard a loud voice calling: "Moo!
Moo! Moo! Help me, will you; will you?"

"Why!" cried Jimmie. "That's a cow!"

Then, in another moment he came from behind a big tree, and what should he
see but a big, black cow, standing in a swamp. The cow was shaking her
head and shaking her horns at the same time, and ringing the bell, which
was fastened around her neck by a strap, and she was mooing as hard as she
could moo.

"Why, what's the matter?" asked Jimmie, wobbling up quite close to her.
"What ever is the matter?"

"Lots and lots is the matter," answered the cow. "But aren't you afraid of
me, little boy duck; afraid of me and my sharp horns?"

"Why no," answered Jimmie, after he had thought it over for a minute or
two. "I don't believe I am afraid of you. Why should I be afraid?"

"No reason at all; none in the world," replied the cow. "But since I'm in
trouble so many creatures seem to be afraid of me. I saw a frog hopping
past, and I asked him to help me, but I guess he was afraid I'd step on
him, so he wouldn't come near, but hopped off as far as he could."

"That must have been Bully," said Jimmie. "He's afraid of lots of things.
But maybe he was in a hurry," he added, for he did not want to say that
Bully was afraid if the frog wasn't frightened, you know.

"Well," agreed the cow, "maybe he was. Then a rabbit boy hopped past, and
I asked him to help me, but he was afraid, too."

"That must have been Sammie Littletail," said Jimmie. "But I don't believe
he was afraid. Sammie is very brave. Maybe he was in a hurry."

"Well," admitted the cow, "maybe he was. But then two little squirrel boys
came along, and I asked them to help me, but they ran away, frisking their
tails. I guess they were afraid."

"No," answered Jimmie, "they weren't afraid. They were Billie and Johnnie
Bushytail, and the reason they ran was to get some one to help you, for
they are very kind. Maybe Bully and Sammie will bring some one to help
you, also. But what seems to be the matter?"

"My foot is caught under a stone," said the cow, and she blinked her big
brown eyes as fast as she could. In fact, they opened and shut so rapidly
that big tears came from them, and splashed down her nose.

"Oh! I am so sorry!" cried Jimmie. "Your foot caught under a stone!"

"Wait a minute! Hold on!" exclaimed the cow. "That is not the worst of it!
You have not heard all! My foot is under a stone, and the stone is under
water, so I can't see to get my foot out. That's why I feel so badly about
it. You can see for yourself, Johnnie--"

"My name is Jimmie," said the little boy duck quickly.

"Well, Jimmie, then," went on the cow. "You can see for yourself how it
is, or, rather, you can't see, for the water is in the way," and then
Jimmie noticed that one of the cow's hoofs was down in a puddle of water,
and no matter how hard she pulled she couldn't get loose from that stone;
no, sir, any more than you can tie a string to one of your teeth and get
the tooth loose--that is, not counting a tooth that needs pulling, of
course.

"Well," remarked Jimmie, after he had looked very carefully at the puddle
where the cow's foot was, "it's too bad."

"It certainly is," agreed the cow. "You see if the stone wasn't under
water I could see to loosen it with my horn, but as it is I can't, and
I've tried several times," and she tried once more, just to show she was
telling the truth.

"I've been here some time," the cow went on, "and no one seems able to
help me," and she mooed some more, and the bell tinkled some more, and
more of her tears fell splish-splash in the puddle of water, making it
bigger than ever.

"I will help you!" cried Jimmie, suddenly. "I am a duck, and I know all
about water!"

So he jumped right in that puddle, and he commenced to splash with his
wings and his yellow feet, and my goodness gracious sakes alive! if in
about two quacks he didn't have all the water splashed out of that hole
where the poor cow's foot was fast.

Then the cow could see to loosen the stone with her horn, and she could
walk home. And because Jimmie was so kind she gave him a pail of milk to
take to the duck pen for Alice and Lulu. Now to-morrow night the story
will be about Alice and the puppy dogs, providing the automobile does not
turn upside down and spill me out.




STORY XXVII

ALICE AND THE PUPPY DOGS


Alice Wibblewobble had been over to pay a visit to Sister Sallie, the
little squirrel-sister of Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, and she had ever
so much fun; and a good time, and such a nice supper! ending up with
butternut ice cream, with maple sugar for dessert. Well, before Alice knew
it, night had come, and it was all dark.

"Oh! dear!" she cried, "I didn't know it was so late."

"Are you afraid to go home in the dark?" asked Mrs. Bushytail.

"No, not exactly," answered Alice, "but you see it's so dark I might
tumble into a hole, or cut my foot again on a sharp stone. I'm not exactly
afraid of the dark, but--"

"Oh! I understand," said Mamma Bushytail. "But I hardly know what to do,"
she went on. "My husband is away this evening, or he would take you home,
and Billie and Johnnie are over at Grandpa Lightfoot's, and I'm so busy
getting through my spring housecleaning, and sewing a new dress for
Sister Sallie, that I don't believe I could spare the time to go."

"Oh! I wouldn't think of asking you," spoke Alice quickly, but she looked
out into the dark, and she didn't feel very happy, even if she had just
eaten a large plate of butternut ice cream.

"Couldn't you stay all night, my dear?" asked Sister Sallie's mother.

"No, I'm afraid my mamma would worry," replied Alice.

"Perhaps Jimmie will come for you pretty soon," suggested Sister Sallie,
and then she hummed that little verse about going hippity-hop to the
barber shop to buy a lolly-pop lally. You remember it, I dare say.

"Maybe he will," agreed Alice, so she and Sister Sallie played another
game, but it got darker and darker, and no Jimmie came, and then Alice
knew she must start for home, or her papa and mamma would be worried. But
she didn't like to go out in the black night, and she was almost ready to
cry, and didn't know what to do, when, all of a sudden, Sister Sallie
called out:

"Oh, mamma, I know the very thing! I'll run next door, to where Mrs. Bow
Wow lives, and ask her to send Jackie and Peetie home with Alice."

"Who are Peetie and Jackie?" asked the little girl duck.

"They are puppy dogs," replied Sister Sallie, "and the cutest ones you
ever saw! Oh, they are darlings! They'll go home with you through the
woods, because they are very brave. Some day they will grow to be big
dogs, and guard the house. I'll ask Mrs. Bow Wow, their mamma, to let them
take you home."

"That will be a good plan," agreed Mrs. Bushytail. "Run in and ask Mrs.
Bow Wow, Sister Sallie."

So Sister Sallie ran in next door, and pretty soon she came back with two
of the cutest puppy dogs Alice had ever seen.

"Which one is Peetie and which one is Jackie?" Alice asked, as they
tumbled about on the floor, getting up and falling down again.

"I am Peetie," answered one. "You can tell that because I am all white
with a black spot on my nose."

"And I am Jackie," said his brother. "I am all black, with a white spot on
my nose. So you see it is easy to tell us apart."

"Yes," agreed Alice with a laugh, "I see; that is, I would see if you kept
still long enough, only you don't, for you wiggle and tumble about so
much. But will you please take me home?"

"Of course we will," answered Jackie, rubbing the black spot on his
brother's nose with his paw. Just then, if those two puppy dogs didn't see
one of Papa Bushytail's boots, and, land sakes alive! if one didn't grab
one end and one the other end, and they began to pull and growl. Puppy
dogs always do such things, you know.

"Oh! Oh! You mustn't do that," cried Mamma Bushytail. "You must take Alice
home."

"We will," answered Peetie, rubbing the black spot on his own nose with
his little white paw. "We were only doing this for practice. Come on,
Alice! Bow-wow! Bow-wow!"

So pretty soon, after a while, oh, not so very long, Alice started for the
duck pen, with Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow tumbling over each other in their
eagerness to see which would walk at her right wing, and which at her
left. Well, weren't those puppy dogs brave, though, to go out in the dark
night? They never thought anything about it, really; any more than you
mind going to bed in the dark.

Then, all of a sudden, as they were walking through a very dismal place in
the woods, Jackie began to growl.

"Oh, don't do that!" cried Alice, "you frighten me! Did you see a burglar
or a wolf?"

"Why, I only growled because I smelled a bone," said Jackie, and he
laughed, and fell over and over, turning a complete somersault.

"I smelled the bone first!" cried Peetie, "and I'm going to have it!" Then
the two of them made a rush for the nice, juicy bone, and they each got
hold of it and began to pull, one on one end and one on the other, and
they fell down and slipped and stumbled all over in the darkness, getting
mixed up in the leaves, growling and snarling; but, of course, it was all
in fun, you know, for the puppy dogs loved each other.

"Oh, don't do that, Peetie!" begged Alice, touching one of the puppy dogs
with her foot. "Don't tumble about so, Peetie!"

"I'm not Peetie; I'm Jackie!" was the answer. "Can't you tell by the white
spot on my nose? Peetie has a black spot."

"I can't see very well in the dark," replied Alice.

Then something very funny happened, for when Jackie opened his mouth to
speak to Alice he had to let go of the bone, and of course Peetie ran off
with it and hid it. But that was a good thing, for they couldn't pull on
it any more, and when Peetie came back they both rubbed noses, and went on
through the dark woods, taking Alice home.

They had only one accident. That is, they fell down a hole, but they
weren't hurt at all, I'm glad to say. Then, when Alice was safe in the
duckpen, the puppy dogs ran back home and went right to sleep.

Now, if you don't spill the salt in the sugar bowl, I'm going to tell you
to-morrow night about Jimmie and Jackie.




STORY XXVIII

JIMMIE AND JACKIE BOW WOW


When Alice reached the duckpen that night, after she had gone visiting
Sister Sallie, and was brought home by the puppy dogs, she told her folks
all about it.

"Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, eh?" remarked Jimmie, her brother, when she
had told their names. "I never heard of them. They must be new around
here."

"They are," answered Alice. "But they are just as cute as they can be;
really they are."

"Cute, eh?" asked Jimmie. "Can they play ball?"

"I don't know," replied his sister. "But you ought to see them pull on
that old boot and the bone! Oh, it was too funny!"

"And they took good care of you, didn't they," asked Lulu.

"Indeed, they did," answered Alice. "They weren't afraid of anything, even
when an owl hooted."

So the next day, which was Saturday, when there wasn't any school, Jimmie
started off with his wooden bat over his shoulder, his catching glove
under one wing and his ball under the other.

"Where are you going?" asked his mother.

"I'm going over to Mrs. Bow Wow's house to see if I can find the puppy
dogs," he said. "I want to get acquainted with them."

"All right, Jimmie, but be sure to wipe your feet if you go in Mrs. Bow
Wow's house, and don't forget to take off your cap and say 'yes, ma'am,'
and 'no, ma'am,' Jimmie."

"S'posin' she doesn't ask me anything?" inquired Jimmie. "What'll I say?"

"Well, then, of course, you needn't say anything; but be polite," warned
the little boy duck's mother, for sometimes he forgot, though he didn't
mean to.

Well, he was walking along through the woods, and over the green fields
where the dandelions were just coming up, looking like buttons on a
policeman's coat, if the policeman's coat was green instead of blue, and I
think green would be a nice color. But no matter about that.

Jimmie was walking along, when, all of a sudden, he heard a little growl.
At first he thought it was the bad fox after him again, but in a moment he
saw a little black ball of fur rolling along, and then he saw a little
white spot, and he thought that might be Sammie Littletail, only he knew
the rabbit boy never growled. Then, all at once, if that ball of fur
didn't unroll, and there stood a puppy dog!

"Hello!" called Jimmie Wibblewobble, real friendly-like.

"Hello!" answered the puppy dog.

"Are you Peetie or Jackie Bow Wow?" asked the little boy duck, for he knew
the puppy dog must be one or the other.

"I'm Jackie," was the answer. "Can't you tell? I'm all black with a white
spot on my nose, and my brother, Peetie, is all white with a black spot on
his nose. See? I'm black with a black spot--no, I mean I'm black with a
white spot, and Jackie he's black--no, hold on--he's white--no, I'm
Jackie, and he's Peetie--he's white with a white--no, a black spot--"

"Oh, for mercy sakes, stop!" cried Jimmie. "I'm all tangled up with white
spots and black spots!"

"So am I," admitted Jackie. "It's hard to tell who I am, sometimes."

"Is it, really?" asked Jimmie.

"Yes, it is. In fact I'm mixed up now. Would you kindly look and tell me
if I have a white or a black spot on my nose. I could look myself, only
it makes me cross-eyed, and I don't like that."

So Jimmie looked, very carefully, and he saw a white spot on the puppy
dog's nose, and told him so.

"It's all right. I'm Jackie then," answered the little fellow. "I thought
I was, but it's best to make sure."

"Can you play ball?" asked Jimmie. "My sister told me about you. It was
very kind of you to bring her home. You haven't lived here very long, have
you?"

"Not very. But I'm glad I could help your sister. She is a nice girl."

"Where's your brother, Peetie?" asked Jimmie.

"Oh, he's gone to the store for mamma."

"Then let's you and I have a catch until he comes back. You can play ball,
can't you?"

"Of course."

So Jimmie tossed the ball to Jackie, and the puppy dog stood up on his
hind legs and caught it in his front paws, and then he fell right over,
ker-thump, and rolled along the ground.

"Here!" cried the boy duck. "That's no way to play ball! You must stand up
and catch."

"Oh, I know that," declared Jackie. "You see I was only practising at
biting the ball with my teeth. I always bite things to sharpen my teeth
so I can gnaw big bones when I get to be a big dog."

"Well, you needn't sharpen your teeth on my new ball!" cried Jimmie, and
he felt a little angry; not much, you know, but a little and he took the
ball and was going home, for he didn't like Jackie, he thought.

It was too bad the little creatures had had a falling-out so soon, but
please wait just a moment and see what happens. No sooner had Jimmie
started to go home--Jackie didn't know why, you see, for he didn't know it
was wrong to bite the ball--no sooner, I say, did Jimmie start home, than
out from the bushes jumped a great big water rat, with ugly, cruel, sharp
teeth and wicked eyes.

Oh, how frightened Jimmie was, for he knew big water rats ate ducks. But
what do you suppose Jackie, that puppy dog, did? Why he just growled away
down in his throat, and he stuck up one ear as far as it would go, and he
let the other ear fall down as far as it would fall, and he opened his
mouth, and he showed his teeth, that he had sharpened on Jimmie's ball,
and he jumped right at that bad rat! Yes, sir, right at him, growling all
the while!

At first the rat was going to fight, but when it saw how brave Jackie
was, it turned and ran away. And then that puppy dog just put his little
tail between his legs, and howled, and ran away, too; Jimmie waddling
after him. You see Jackie was frightened after it was all over, but he had
frightened the rat worse yet.

"How brave you were!" cried Jimmie, when they were at Mrs. Bow Wow's
house. "You were very brave, indeed."

"Do you really think so?" asked Jackie. "Then I must be."

"You can bite my ball all you want to," went on Jimmie, and then Peetie
came home from the store, and they all had a fine time playing catch. Now
to-morrow night I'm going to tell you about Grandfather Goosey-Gander's
tall hat, if I don't lose a penny off the front stoop.




STORY XXIX

GRANDFATHER GOOSEY-GANDER'S TALL HAT


Jimmie Wibblewobble was in the back lots, playing ball with Billie and
Johnnie Bushytail, Sammie Littletail, and Bully, the frog, besides some
other friends of his. They were having a fine time, knocking the ball this
way and that, just as if the ball didn't care what happened to it. When it
came Jimmie's turn to bat, he called out:

"Watch me knock it away over the tree," and land sakes, goodness me and a
pop-corn cake! if that ball didn't fly away over the tree, just like a
little bird. Well,--Jimmie was pretty proud, I can tell you, and he was
such a good hitter that Bully said:

"Let Jimmie knock some more balls for us to catch."

So he did, after Billie Bushytail had run to get the one that went over
the tree, and brought it back.

Well, so the game went on, and pretty soon, oh, I guess it must have been
about as long as it takes to eat two pieces of bread and butter, but not
with jam on, mind you; I guess in about that time, it was Billie
Bushytail's turn to bat. And just as he stepped up to hit the ball, if all
the boy animals didn't see something black moving along by the hedge
fence. It was black and round and shiny, this moving object was, and as
soon as Sammie Littletail saw it he cried out:

"Oh, there's a bad fox. Let's see who can hit him."

So they all caught up stones to throw at the bad fox, to drive him away.

Jimmie had the largest stone, and he could throw the straightest, so it is
no wonder he hit the tall, round, shining black thing by the hedge. But
this is the funny part of it, that black thing wasn't a fox at all. No,
siree!

It was Grandfather Goosey-Gander's new tall hat, and that wasn't at all
funny, I do assure you. And the worst part of it was that Grandfather
Goosey-Gander was under that hat! For, you know, a tall hat couldn't walk
along by a hedge, all alone its own self, now, could it? Of course, I know
it could if this were a fairy story, but it isn't.

[Illustration]

Well, something dreadful happened. The stone which Jimmie threw hit
grandfather's tall hat, went inside, just grazing the top of the old
gentleman duck's head, and then, what do you think? Well, I don't
believe you could guess if you tried a week, so I'll tell you.

That stone came out on the other side. It went right through the hat,
making a hole where it went in, and another hole where it came out. Two
holes; you could easily have counted them if you had been there.

Of course, as soon as Jimmie heard the noise, made by the stone which he
threw, hitting the hat, he could tell by the plinkity-plunkity sound that
there was going to be trouble. And there was.

Grandfather Goosey-Gander jumped up in the air. He uttered a loud quack,
and then he took off his tall hat. He looked at the two ragged holes in
it, and then he looked over at the boys in the field. He knew right away
they had done it, but he didn't know which one. Jimmie, however, was a
good boy, and he wasn't going to have any one else blamed for what _he_
had done. So he ran to where his grandfather stood, sorrowfully looking at
his hat, and Jimmie said:

"I did it, grandpa. I cannot tell a story. I did it with my little stone."

"Ha! Hum! Did you; eh?" cried Grandfather Goosey-Gander. "Well, that's a
pretty bad thing to do, Jimmie. This is my best hat. I put it on to go
down to the bank, to put money in. I mean to put money in the bank, not in
the hat, of course. I always wear it when I go to the bank, so folks will
know I am rich. Now I can't wear it any more. It's too bad!" And the old
gentleman duck looked very sorrowful.

"Yes," agreed Jimmie, "it is too bad," for he couldn't think of anything
else to say.

"You will have to pay for a new hat for me," went on his grandfather.

"I haven't any money," said Jimmie, and tears began to run down his broad,
yellow bill, for the little boy duck felt pretty bad, I can tell you.

"You will have to save up all the pennies you get," decided Grandfather
Goosey-Gander. "Boys should not be so careless."

"We thought you were a fox," said Billie Bushytail.

"And we all threw stones at you," added Sammie Littletail.

"But I'm the only one who hit your hat, though," admitted Jimmie.

"Do I look like a fox?" demanded the old duck. "That's what I want to
know. Do I look like a fox?" Well, of course, you know he didn't, and the
ball players had to admit it. "You will have to pay for my hat, Jimmie,"
grandpa continued, looking again at two ragged holes. "Have you any money
now?"

"No," said Jimmie, and he was crying real hard by this time. Then all the
other boys felt badly, too, and they were just looking in their pockets to
see if they had any money, but they hadn't. All they had was some marbles,
and tops, and broken knives, and chewing gum, all sticky, and some
strings.

Then it began to look as if Grandfather Goosey-Gander would never have a
new hat, but, all at once, there was a buzzing sound in the air, and what
should come flying along but a darning needle. You know what I mean: one
of those funny, long bugs sometimes called a dragon fly, with beautiful
wings, and long legs and body.

"What is the trouble?" asked the darning needle, and then the boys told
him about the broken hat. "Ah," said the darning needle, careless-like,
"do not distress yourself, Jimmie. I know you are a good boy. To fix that
hat is a mere trifle for me, and I'll do it."

And what did that dragon-fly-darning-needle do but buzz back and forth,
all around the holes in Grandfather Goosey-Gander's tall hat, right
through the hat itself, until he had the holes all sewed up, and you could
hardly tell where they were.

Then Mrs. Spider came along, and she spun some glossy silk web over the
places where the seams were, and presto-chango! if that hat wasn't as good
as ever!

Well, you can just imagine how glad Jimmie was that he didn't have to pay
for it. And his grandpa was pleased, too, and so were the boys. Then the
darning needle flew away, Mrs. Spider crawled off, Grandfather
Goosey-Gander went to the bank, the boys played ball some more and
everything was lovely.

Now, if the window curtain doesn't fly up lickety-split and come off the
roller, I'll tell you to-morrow night about Jimmie flying a kite.




STORY XXX

JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE'S KITE


Jimmie Wibblewobble was out flying his kite. He had made it all himself,
out of sticks, and paste, and paper and strings, and it was a very fine
kite indeed. It was nearly as large as the little boy duck, and it was the
kind of a kite that doesn't need a tail. That was good, because a tail
gets all tangled up in the weeds.

Well, Jimmie was flying his kite, and the wind was pretty strong, and the
kite was pulling real hard, just like a little dog pulls, when you tie a
rope to his collar, and he wants to get away. Pretty soon along came
Bully, the frog.

"Does your kite pull much?" he asked.

"Does it?" replied Jimmie. "Well, I should say it did!"

"Let me hold it a minute, will you?" asked Bully, and Jimmie very kindly
let him. Then along came Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, and Sammie
Littletail, and they all took turns holding the kite.

Well now, in a few minutes, something dreadful is going to happen to
Jimmie. I tell you in advance so you won't be frightened, and, really,
there is no need to be, for I'll see to it that, after the thing happens,
Jimmie will be all right again. Now if you watch, and listen closely, you
can tell the moment the thing happens. It's almost time.

The wind kept growing stronger and stronger, and it blew the dust up in a
cloud, and it blew bits of paper and sticks along with the dust, and
raised a dreadful commotion.

Then long came Alice and Lulu Wibblewobble. They had been to the store for
their mamma, and had just come back. They felt the strong wind blowing on
their feathers, and Alice said to her brother:

"You had better take down your kite, Jimmie. The wind may blow it away,
and you with it."

"Oh, I guess I can hold it," answered the little boy duck, as he let out
some more cord. The kite was now almost out of sight, and it was pulling
harder than ever.

Then, all at once, if Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, the two puppy dogs,
didn't come along. Jackie had his white spot on his nose, and Peetie had
his black spot on his nose, so that you could tell them apart. And those
two doggies felt so full of fun that they ran right up and made believe
bite Jimmie's yellow heels.

Now you know it feels queer to have two puppy dogs biting your heels, even
if it is only in fun, and as soon as Jimmie felt Jackie and Peetie nipping
him, he turned around quickly and cried out:

"Oh, don't do that!"

But the minute he looked around, if the kite string didn't get tangled in
his legs, and then if the wind didn't blow a regular strong blast, the
kind that howls down the chimney on a cold night; and oh, dear me,
suz-dud! if Jimmie wasn't carried right up in the air by his kite! There,
I told you something would happen, and it did! Maybe you'll believe me
next time.

Well, up and up and up went Jimmie, pulled by the kite, until he was quite
high in the air, hanging dingling, dangling down--O! by his yellow heels.
Oh, it was a perfectly dreadful position to be in! really it was, and I'm
not fooling a bit, honestly.

"Oh, oh! Save him!" cried Lulu.

"Yes, somebody get him down; please do!" added Alice, flapping her wings.

Billie Bushytail tried to jump up in the air, and grab hold of poor
Jimmie, but he couldn't reach him, and then Sammie Littletail, he tried,
but he couldn't reach him, and all the while poor Jimmie was being
carried higher and higher by the kite.

"Save me! Oh, save me!" he cried, but there didn't seem to be any way of
getting him down, and it began to look as if he would go right up to the
sky.

On the ground Lulu and Alice were running here and there, flapping their
wings and quacking, and Billie and Johnnie Bushytail were chattering, and
as for Sammie Littletail, he made a noise just like a rabbit. Oh, there
was great excitement, I can tell you!

Mr. Cock A. Doodle, the rooster, he came running out, and he crowed as
loud as ever he could crow, as if that could do any good. Then he flapped
his wings as hard as he could, and that didn't do any good, either. Jimmie
kept going farther and farther away.

"Oh, will no one save him?" asked Lulu, crying big tears.

"Wait a minute, I'll try it!" said Bully, the frog. "I am a good jumper,
and I'll jump up. Maybe I can pull the kite down." So he jumped up as high
as ever he could, but it wasn't nearly high enough, and Bully came back on
the ground, ker-thump, ker-bump! and Jimmie Wibblewobble kept on going
up. Poor Bully hurt his ankle, too, and he was lame for some days.

"Run and tell Grandfather Goosey-Gander," cried Lulu. "Maybe he can think
up a way of getting Jimmie down."

So they all ran and told the old gentleman duck, for Mr. and Mrs.
Wibblewobble were away that afternoon. Grandfather Goosey-Gander hurried
out, and he squinted up at Jimmie, who looked only about as big as a baby
chicken now, he was so far away, and then the Grandfather flapped his
wings.

"Nothing can save him!" said Grandfather Goosey-Gander, very solemnly,
"Jimmie has gone to the sky!"

Then, oh, how badly Lulu and Alice felt for their little brother! and all
the others felt badly, too, for they liked Jimmie. But don't get excited
now. All will be well in a very few minutes. Do not fear.

Bully, the frog, made one more jump, hoping to reach the kite, and pull it
down, but he might as well have tried to jump over the moon, which only a
hey-diddle-diddle-cat-and-the-fiddle-cow can do. Well, it looked as if
Jimmie was gone for ever, when, all at once, there was a rushing of wings,
and who should appear, but a kind fish hawk, that once gave Johnnie and
Billie Bushytail a ride on his back.

"I will save Jimmie!" cried the fish hawk.

So he flew up in the air, right to the kite, and, with his strong beak, he
tore a hole in the paper to let the air through. Then the kite came gently
down, just like a red balloon, or maybe a blue one, that you get at the
circus, and some one sticks a pin in it. Yes, the kite came gently down,
and Jimmie came with it, and that's how he was saved!

And, maybe he wasn't glad! Well, I just guess, and some cornstarch pudding
besides! Of course Peetie and Jackie were very sorry for biting Jimmie's
heels and never did it again. Now, if I don't get stung by a bee, I'll
tell you to-morrow night about Alice in a bag.

[Illustration]




STORY XXXI

ALICE WIBBLEWOBBLE IN A BAG


You remember I told you last night about Jimmie Wibblewobble being carried
up by a kite. Well, when his papa and mamma came home that evening, they
heard all about it, and how much excitement there was, and they told
Jimmie he must be more particular after this. He promised that he would be
very careful.

"I'll fly smaller kites," he said, and he went out the next time with one
about the size of a postage stamp, and that couldn't take any one up in
the air, you know, except, maybe, a mosquito, and they don't count.

Well, it was about two days after this that something happened to Alice.
You see she had been sent to the store for a yeast cake and some prunes,
for her mamma was going to make prune bread--that is, bread with prunes in
it, and it's very nice, I assure you, for I've eaten it.

As Alice was coming home, through a lonely part of the woods, where the
trees were so thick that it was almost dark, she began to feel a little
bit frightened. So, to stop herself from feeling scared she began to sing.
If she had been a boy, she would have shouted, or if she had been Lulu
she would have whistled, for Lulu could whistle as good as could Jimmie.

But instead Alice sang, and this is the song she made up so she wouldn't
be frightened. You are allowed to sing it if you are not more than
seven-and-three-quarters years old. If you are any older than that you
will have to have a special excuse; or some one else will have to sing it
for you. Well, this is the song:

    "I'm not afraid to wander
     In woodlands dark and drear,
     For who is there to harm me
     When not a soul is near?
     The birds, the trees and flowers
     Are kind as kind can be,
     I'm sure that not a single one
     Would do a thing to me.

    "The bugs and pretty butterflies
     Will form a fairy band
     And guard me safely while I walk
     Throughout this dark woodland.
     But just the same, I'll hurry,
     And not stay here too long;
     Because, you see, I only know
     Two verses of this song."

Well, as soon as Alice finished singing, land sakes! goodness, gracious
me! if a big fox didn't pop out from behind a tree, and before Alice could
say "How do you do?" or even "Good afternoon," or anything like that, if
he didn't grab her by the legs and put her into a bag he carried over his
shoulder, and then he tied the bag tight and started to run away.

"Oh! Oh!" cried Alice. "Let me out! Please let me out of this bag, Mr.
Fox, and I'll give you all the money I've got saved up in my bank! Honest,
I will; every cent in my bank!"

"No," answered the fox savagely. "I don't want your money. What good would
money be to me? I can't eat money! Ha! ha! ha!" and he laughed that way
three times, just like a mooley cow.

"Are you going to eat me?" asked Alice, from inside the bag, where she was
trembling so that she squashed the yeast cake all out, as flat as a
pancake on a cold winter morning, when you have brown sausage gravy and
maple syrup to pour on it.

"Eat you? Of course, I'm going to eat you!" cried the fox. "That is why I
caught you. But I can't decide whether to have you boiled or roasted. It's
quite trying not to know. I must make up my mind soon, however."

Then he ran on some more, over the hills, bumpity-bump, with poor Alice
jouncing around in that bag, and the little duck girl wished the fox would
be a long time making up his mind which way to cook her, for she thought
that maybe Jimmie might come and save her in the meanwhile.

"It didn't do much good to sing that song," thought Alice, and I suppose
it didn't, but you know you can't always have what you want in this world.
Oh, my, no, and a bottle of cough medicine besides.

Well, the old fox hurried on, with Alice in the bag and he ran fast to get
to his den, and pretty soon the little duck girl felt him coming to a
stop. Then she heard some one saying:

"Ah, good day, Mr. Fox; what have you in that bag?"

"I have apples in this bag," said the fox. Oh, but wasn't he the bold, bad
story-telling fox, though?

"Apples, eh?" asked the voice again, and then Alice knew right away who it
was. Can you guess? No? Well, I'll tell you. It was Nurse Jane
Fuzzy-Wuzzy, the kind old muskrat lady. It was she who had asked the
question.

"Oh, so you have apples in there?" Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy repeated to the fox.
"Well, now, do you know," she went on, "I am very fond of apples. I wish
you would give me one."

"No," answered the bad fox, "I can't. These are very special apples, very
sour, in fact, and I'm sure you wouldn't like them."

"Oh, I just love sour apples," said the muskrat, moving nearer to the fox,
and showing her sharp teeth, like the carpenter's chisel when he shaves
the door down to make it smaller. "I just love sour apples," said the
nurse.

"Oh, I made a mistake, these are sweet apples," said the fox, quickly,
waggling his big tail like a dusting brush.

"I made a mistake, too," went on Miss Fuzzy-Wuzzy. "I guess I love sweet
apples instead of sour ones."

"You will have to excuse me," again spoke the fox quickly. "I made two
mistakes. These apples are half sweet and half sour, and not good at all."

"If there is anything I am fonder of than anything else it's a half sweet
and a half sour apple," declared the muskrat, and she showed her teeth
some more, as if she were smiling, only she wasn't. She was getting ready
to bite the bad fox, I guess.

Just then Alice moved around in the bag, hoping Miss Fuzzy-Wuzzy would see
her, and what's more, the kind muskrat nurse did. "Ah!" she exclaimed,
"you have moving apples, I see. I just love moving apples."

Then the fox knew it was of no use to tell any more stories, so he started
to hurry off with Alice in the bag. But Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy jumped right at
him, and she bit him on the nose, and on his front legs and on his hind
legs, until he was glad enough to drop the bag containing poor Alice, and
run away, over the hills, as fast as he could go.

Then the muskrat gnawed open the bag, and Alice came out, her feathers all
ruffled up, but she was not much hurt; only the yeast cake was all
squashed out of shape, like a piece of putty. Then Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy took
Alice home safely, and nothing more happened right away.

Well, now, to-morrow night, let's see. Ha! Hum! Oh, how careless of me! Of
course there isn't going to be any story to-morrow night, because we're at
the end of this book. You can see for yourself, if you look carefully,
that there are no more stories in it; not a single one.

But, listen, as the telephone girl says; I think, in case that you liked
the stories about the ducks, that I will write something about the
adventures of Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow; you know, those two puppy dogs
who once took Alice home after she had been on a visit to Sister Sallie,
and was afraid to go out in the dark.

I have quite a number of stories about those two puppy dogs; Peetie, you
know, who was all white with a black spot on his nose, and Jackie, who was
all black with a white spot on his nose. So if you want to read about them
you may do so in the next book of the Bed Time series, which will be
called "Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow," and the book will have in it some
pictures of the doggies; and tell how they had a show, and built a swing,
and got lost, and ran away to join a circus, and did ever so many things
that it was really astonishing; honestly it was!

Well, I think I'll say good night now, for I must get right to work on
that other book. So go to sleep, and be good children, and maybe you'll
dream about Peetie and Jackie--who knows?


THE END

       *       *       *       *       *

Books for Boys by Howard R. Garis

       *       *       *       *       *

_Those Smith Boys Series_ 12mo, finely illustrated. Price 75c each,
postpaid

Those Smith Boys
  OR THE MYSTERY OF THE THUMBLESS MAN

Those Smith Boys on the Diamond
  OR NIP AND TUCK FOR VICTORY

OTHER VOLUMES IN PREPARATION

       *       *       *       *       *

_The Island Boys Series_

12mo, finely illustrated. Price 75c each, postpaid

The Island Boys
  OR FUN AND ADVENTURES ON LAKE MODOK

The Island Boys in Camp
  OR THE SECRET OF THE FALLING WATER

OTHER VOLUMES IN PREPARATION

       *       *       *       *       *

Books for Little Folk

       *       *       *       *       *

_The Bedtime Stories Series_ Illustrated in color, with fine cover design
A story for every night in the month. Price 75c each, postpaid

Sammie and Susie Littletail
  31 RABBIT STORIES

Johnnie and Billie Bushytail
  31 SQUIRREL STORIES

Lulu, Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble
  31 DUCK STORIES

Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow
  31 DOG STORIES

Uncle Wiggily's Adventures
  31 RABBIT STORIES