But the puppy baby still whined, for he was hungry. Uncle Wiggily pickedup a bottle and put the end of it in Wuff Wuff's mouth.
"Here, drink that," said the bunny. "Then you won't be hungry." Thepuppy baby did so, and then something very strange happened. The littlepuppy suddenly began growing very large. First he was the size of Mr.Bow Wow, and then he swelled up until he was as big as a horse, and hadto get out of the kennel house for fear of bursting off the roof.
And when the alligator saw the great big puppy dog, like the one inAlice of Wonderland, suddenly standing in front of him, Mr. 'Gator justgave one flip of his tail, and away he ran crying:
"Oh, my! I didn't know an elephant was there to save Uncle Wiggily!"
But there wasn't. It was only the puppy who had suddenly grown big. Forby mistake instead of giving him the bottle of milk, the bunny rabbitgave him some of the water from the magical red-stoppered, big-growingbottle that Alice from Wonderland had sent the bunny. It had been mendedafter the croquet ball broke it. And, after the puppy had scared awaythe alligator, Uncle Wiggily gave Wuff Wuff some water from the magicalblue-stoppered bottle and shrunk him to his regular baby size, andeverybody was happy.
And if the fairy tale doesn't waggle itself all around the book case andscare all the big words out of the dictionary, I'll tell you next aboutUncle Wiggily and the Unicorn.
CHAPTER XIX
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE UNICORN
"Well, you look just as if you were going somewhere, Uncle Wiggily,"said Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, as the rabbitgentleman whizzed around the corner of his hollow stump bungalow in hisautomobile, with the bologna sausage tires, one morning.
"I am going somewhere," he answered, and really he was, for the wheelswere whizzing around like anything.
"And going where, may I ask?" politely inquired the muskrat lady.
"I am going to give Alice a ride," answered Uncle Wiggily. "Alice fromWonderland, I mean. She never has ridden in an automobile."
"She never has?" cried Nurse Jane, in surprise.
"Never! You see, when she was put in that nice book, which tells so muchabout her, there weren't any autos, and, of course, she never couldhave had a ride in one.
"But she had ever so many other nice adventures, such as going down therabbit hole and through the looking glass. However, I promised her aride in my auto, and here I go to give it to her," and with that UncleWiggily sprinkled some pepper and salt on the sausage tires of hisauto's wheels to make them go faster.
The rabbit gentleman found Alice, the little book girl, in the WhiteQueen's garden having a make-believe tea party with the Mock Turtle, whosoon would have to go into the 5 o'clock soup.
"Oh, how kind of you to come for me, Uncle Wiggily!" cried Alice, andshe jumped up so quickly that she overturned the multiplication table,at which she and the Mock Turtle had been sitting, and ran to jump inthe auto.
"Well, I don't call that very nice," said the Mock Turtle. "Here she'sgone and mixed up the seven times table with the three times six, andgoodness knows when I'll ever get them straightened out again."
"I'm sorry!" called Alice, waving her hand as she rode off with UncleWiggily. "I'll help you when I come back."
"And I'll help too," promised the bunny uncle.
Mr. Longears and Wonderland Alice rode over the fields and through thewoods, and they were having a fine time when, all of a sudden, as theautomobile came near a place where some oak trees grew in a thickcluster Alice cried:
"Hark! They're fighting!"
"Who?" asked Uncle Wiggily. "Please don't tell me it is the mosquitoenemy coming after me to bite me."
"No, it's the Lion and the Unicorn," Alice answered. "Don't you rememberhow it goes in my book:
"'The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the Crown, The Lion beat the Unicorn all around the town. Some gave them white bread, some gave them brown, And then the funny Unicorn jumped right up and down.'
"That last line isn't just right," explained Alice to the bunny uncle,"but I couldn't properly think of it, I'm so frightened!"
"Frightened? At what?" asked Uncle Wiggily.
"At the Unicorn," answered Alice. "Here he comes," and, as she saidthat, Uncle Wiggily saw a funny animal, like a horse, with a big longhorn sticking out of the middle of his head, straight in front of him,galloping out of the clump of trees.
"Hurray! I beat him!" cried the Unicorn. "Come on now, quick, I must getaway from here before they catch me!"
"You beat him? Do you mean beat the Lion?" asked Uncle Wiggily for hewas not frightened as was Alice.
"Sure I beat him," answered the Unicorn, as he jumped into the back seatof the automobile. "Drive on!" he ordered just as if the bunny unclegentleman were the coachman.
"Did you beat him very hard, with a broomstick?" asked Alice, puttingout her head from behind Uncle Wiggily's tall silk hat where she hadhidden herself.
"Beat him with a broomstick? Ha! Ha! I should say not!" laughed theUnicorn. "We're too jolly good friends for that," and he spoke like anEnglish chap. "I beat him playing hop-Scotch and Jack-straws. I was twohops and three straws ahead of him when I stopped and ran away becausethey were after me."
"Who were after you?" asked Alice. "The lion's friends?"
"No, the straws that show which way the wind blows. When the wind blowsthe straws against me they tickle, and I can't bear to be tickled. I'mworse than a soap bubble that way. So I ran to get in the auto. I hopeyou don't mind," and the Unicorn leaned back on the seat cushions.
"Mind? Not in the least!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "I'm glad to give you aride with Alice," and he made the auto go very fast. On and on theywent, over the fields and through the woods and then, all of a sudden,out from behind a tree jumped the big skillery-scalery alligator walkingon his hind legs and the end of his double-jointed tail.
"Halt!" he cried, like a sentry soldier, and Uncle Wiggily stopped theauto. "At last I have caught you," said the alligator in a nutmeg gratersort of a voice. "I want you, Uncle Wiggily, and that Alice girl also.As for your friend in the back seat, he may go--"
"Oh, may I? Thank you!" cried the Unicorn, and with that he leanedforward. And, as he did so the long sharp horn in his head reached overUncle Wiggily's shoulder, and began to tickle the alligator right underhis soft ribs.
"Oh, stop! Stop it, I tell you!" giggled the 'gator. "Stop tickling me!"and he laughed and wiggled and squirmed like an angle worm goingfishing.
"Stop! Stop!" he begged.
"I will when you let my friends, Uncle Wiggily and Alice, alone," saidthe Unicorn, still tickling away.
"Yes! Yes! I'll let them alone," promised the alligator, and he laugheduntil the tears ran down his tail. And then he had to run off byhimself through the woods, and so he didn't get the bunny uncle norWonderland Alice either. And he never could have gotten the Unicorn,because of his long, ticklish horn.
So it is sometimes a good thing to take one of these stickery chapsalong when you go for an automobile ride. And if the skyrocket doesn'tfall down and stub its nose when it tries to jump over the moon with thecrumpled horn cow, I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and HumptyDumpty.
CHAPTER XX
UNCLE WIGGILY AND HUMPTY DUMPTY
"Excuse me," spoke a gentle voice behind Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, themuskrat lady housekeeper, who was cleaning the steps of the hollow stumpbungalow one morning. "Excuse me, but can Uncle Wiggily be out to play?"
"Be out to play?" repeated Nurse Jane. "Do you mean play with you?" andthe muskrat lady turned to see a little girl, with flaxen hair, standingat the foot of the steps.
"Yes, play with me, if you please," said the little girl. "I'm Alicefrom Wonderland, you know, and Uncle Wiggily and I had such a jolly timeyesterday, when the Unicorn tickled the alligator and made him laugh,that I'd like to go off with him again."
"With whom--the alligator?" asked Nurse Jane.
"No, with Uncle Wiggily," laughed Alice. "Where is he?"
&
nbsp; "Here I am, Alice. I've just finished breakfast," answered the bunnyrabbit gentleman himself, as he came out on the front bungalow steps."Are you ready for another auto ride?"
"Indeed I am, thank you. And as tomorrow is a holiday I don't have anyschool today."
"That's funny," said Uncle Wiggily, twinkling his pink nose. "Whatholiday is it?"
"The Fourth of July!" answered Alice. "Have you forgotten? Even though Iam an English girl I know what it means. Your boys and girls shoot offlollypops, bang ice cream cones and light red, white and blue candy."
"Candy? I guess you mean candles!" laughed Uncle Wiggily. "However,you're right. It is the Fourth of July tomorrow, and whereas, years ago,we used to shoot off firecrackers (when many children were burned), nowwe have a nicer holiday.
"We go off in the woods and gather flowers. Why, do you know!" cried thebunny uncle, "there are flowers just right for Fourth of July. Thereare puff balls that are as good as torpedoes, and snap-dragons that opentheir mouths and make believe bite you, and there are dogwood flowersthat bark, and red sumach which is just the color of firecrackers."
"Then let's go off in the woods and have Fourth of July there," proposedAlice, and soon she and the bunny uncle were in the automobile. And thenalong came Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbit children, and Johnnieand Billie Bushytail, the squirrels, and Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, thepuppy dogs.
"Oh, Uncle Wiggily!" cried these animal boys and girls. "Take us withyou for Fourth of July!"
"Of course I shall!" promised the bunny gentleman, so they all got inthe automobile with him and Wonderland Alice, and away they went.
They had not gone very far before, all of a sudden, they came to a stonewall, and when Alice saw something on top of it, she cried:
"Why, there's my old friend Humpty Dumpty. I must stop and speak to himor he'll think I'm proud," and she waved her hands.
"Why, that--that's nothing but an--egg!" said Sammie. "It's like theones I colored for Easter when the skilli-gimink dye splashed all overme. That isn't Humpty Dumpty at all--it's an egg!"
"Hush!" whispered Susie. "Humpty Dumpty is an egg, of course, but hedoesn't like to be told of it. Don't you know the little verse?
"'Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King's horses and all the King's men Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again.'"
"That's right," said Alice from Wonderland. "Only don't speak of thefall before Humpty. He doesn't like to be reminded of it."
"I don't see why," spoke Jackie Bow Wow. "He can't hear a word we say.He's only an egg--he hasn't any ears."
"He really isn't dressed yet," said Alice. "It's a bit early. But I'llsoon make him look more human."
With that she jumped out of the auto and, taking two ears of corn from afield nearby, she fastened them with silk from the cob, one on each sideof the egg.
"Now he can hear," said Alice. Then with tulip flowers she made Humpty amouth and from a potato she took two eyes, so the egg could see. A combmade him as nice teeth as one could wish for, and they never ached, andfor a nose she took out a cute little bottle of perfumery.
"I think that's a queer nose," said Johnnie Bushytail, frisking histail.
"Well, a bottle of perfumery smells, doesn't it?" asked Alice, "andthat's what a nose is especially for; smells."
"Indeed it is!" cried Humpty Dumpty in his jolly voice, speaking throughthe tulips. "I'm all made now. I only hope--" And then he suddenlyturned pale, for he nearly fell off the wall. "Has any one any powder?"he asked. "I think I'd like to clean my teeth."
"I have some talcum," spoke Lulu Wibblewobble, the duck girl, comingalong just then.
"That will do," spoke Humpty Dumpty. "It will be just fine." And with abrush made from the end of a soft fern he began to clean his teeth withthe talcum powder which Lulu gave him.
And then, all of a sudden, there was a loud noise, a puff of smoke, andHumpty Dumpty, the egg man, was seen sailing off through the air like abig white balloon.
"Well, this is better than falling off the wall!" he cried in a faintvoice.
"Oh, my! What happened?" asked Sammie Littletail, trying to make hispink nose twinkle as Uncle Wiggily did his.
"Humpty Dumpty was blown up instead of falling down," said Alice. "Iguess your talcum powder was too strong for him, Lulu, my dear. And itbeing the Fourth of July tomorrow, Humpty wanted to give us somefireworks. So he's gone, but I'm glad he wasn't broken, for if he wasthe way the book has it, when he falls off the wall, all the King'shorses and all the King's men couldn't put him together again. Maybe itis best as it is."
But, after a while Humpty Dumpty sailed back again, not hurt a bit, andhe sat on the wall as well as ever.
Then Alice and Uncle Wiggily and the animal boys and girls had fun inthe woods. And, if the pink pills don't hide in the green bottle andpretend they're peppermint candy for the rag doll, I'll tell you nextabout Uncle Wiggily and the looking glass.
CHAPTER XXI
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE LOOKING GLASS
"A package came for you while you were out adventuring today," saidNurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, to Uncle WiggilyLongears, the bunny rabbit gentleman, as he hopped down the stairs ofthe hollow stump bungalow to breakfast one morning.
"I wonder what's in it?" asked the bunny as he put a slice of carrot jamon his bread and held it over the lettuce coffee to have it flavored.
"I don't know. You'll have to open it to find out," answered Nurse Jane."It is marked 'Glass. With Care.'"
Uncle Wiggily was so eager and excited like that he could not wait tofinish his breakfast, but quickly opened the package which Mr.Hummingbird, the lightning express messenger, had left at the bungalowearly that morning.
"It's a looking glass!" exclaimed the bunny uncle when he saw what itwas. "And it's from Alice in Wonderland--at least she used to live inWonderland before she came to Woodland to have adventures with me."
"And there's a note with it," spoke Nurse Jane, as she saw a piece ofwhite birch bark, with writing on it; the letters having been made witha burned stick which marks black like a lead pencil.
"Yes, it's a little letter," said Uncle Wiggily as he read it. "And it'sfrom Alice. It says: 'Dear Uncle Wiggily: I send you the Looking Glass Ionce went through, and on the other side I had many adventures. I wishyou the same!'"
"That's queer," said the bunny, as he turned the glass over and lookedat the back. "I don't see any hole where Alice went through."
"Maybe it closed up after her, the same as fairy doors always close onceyou pass through," explained Nurse Jane.
"I believe you are right," said Uncle Wiggily. "But this is a very smallglass for a girl like Alice to get through," and indeed the glass wasone of the kind you hold in your hand.
"Maybe the glass was larger when Alice went through it," said NurseJane, "or else perhaps she had taken some drops from the magic bottleand grew small like a rubber doll."
"I guess that was it," agreed Uncle Wiggily. "Anyhow, it is very kind ofher to send me the looking glass. I may have an adventure with it. I'lltake it out on the front steps and then we'll see what happens next."
So, having finished his breakfast, the bunny went out on the bungalowporch and sat with the looking glass in his paw, waiting for somethingto happen.
He sat there and sat there and sat there and he was just beginning towonder if anything would happen, when, all of a sudden, there was arustling in the bushes, and up on the porch popped a bad oldskillery-scalery alligator, with bumps all down the middle of his backlike the buttons on a lady's dress.
"Ah, ha! I am just in time, I see!" exclaimed the 'gator.
"For what?" asked Uncle Wiggily, suddenly awakening, for he had falleninto a little sleep while he waited for an adventure to happen with thelooking glass. "In time for what?"
"To go away with you," answered the alligator.
"But I am not going away," said the bunny. "At least I did not know Iwas going," and he lo
oked around rather sad and lonesome, for he did notlike the bad alligator, and he wanted to see, Uncle Wiggily did, ifbrave Nurse Jane Fuzzy would not come out and throw cold water onhim--on the alligator, I mean--to drive him away. But the muskrat ladyhad gone to the store to get some cheese for supper.
"I am not going away," said Uncle Wiggily again.
"Oh, yes you are!" exclaimed the alligator, and he smiled in such a waythat it seemed as though the whole top of his head would pop off, solarge was the smile. "You may not know it, but you are going away,Uncle Wiggily."
"With whom?" asked the bunny.
"With me," answered the 'gator. "We are going away together. I came onpurpose to fetch you. Come along," and with that the bad alligator woundhis double-jointed tail around the bunny uncle's ears, lifted him out ofthe rocking chair and started to walk off the bungalow porch with him.
"Oh, stop it!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "Let me go! Let me go!"
"No! No!" barked the alligator, like a dog. "I'll not let you go, now Ihave you!" and he started to drag the bunny uncle off to the dark, damp,dismal swamp, where the mosquitoes lived with the tent caterpillars.
"Oh, please don't take me away!" begged the bunny. "I wish some onewould help me!" and as he said that the alligator gave him a suddentwist and the looking glass, which Uncle Wiggily still held in his paw,came around in front of the alligator's face.
And, no sooner had the 'gator looked in the glass than he gave a loudcry, and, unwinding his tail from Uncle Wiggily, away the bad creaturescurried, leaving the bunny alone and safe. And the alligator cried:
Uncle Wiggily in Wonderland Page 7
