STORY XIV
JUMPO AND THE CHESTNUT BURR
"Who wants to do something for me?" called Mamma Kinkytail to her two monkey boys as they came home from school one afternoon.
"I do!" chattered Jacko, the red chap.
"So do I," exclaimed Jumpo, the green chap.
"That"s what I love to hear," said their mamma, real pleased like.
"Well, now, I have two things I want done. Some one has to go to the store for a pound of b.u.t.ter, and the other one I would like to have take some jam tarts over to Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman. He is not feeling so very well, and I thought the tarts would make him better."
"Oh, I"ll go to Uncle Wiggily"s," cried both boys at once.
The reason for this was that the old gentleman rabbit always gave his animal boy or girl visitors some chocolate peppermints, or marshmallow candies, or something like that, and of course Jacko and Jumpo were always glad to go to his house. That"s why they both spoke at once.
"Now, that"s too bad!" exclaimed Mamma Kinkytail. "Only one of you can take the jam tarts over, because there won"t be time, after you come back, to go to the store for the pound of b.u.t.ter. So I guess you will have to draw straws to see who goes to Uncle Wiggily"s."
"Draw straws! What"s that?" asked Jumpo, curious like.
"It"s this way," his mamma explained. "I will hold two straws in my paw so that you can only see the tip ends of them. One straw will be short, and the other long. Then, Jumpo, you can draw one straw out of my paw, and Jacko can take the other. Of course, you can"t see which is the long or which is the short one, and that will be perfectly fair, as the tip ends look just alike. Then, whoever pulls out the long straw can take the jam tarts to Uncle Wiggily."
Well, the monkey boys thought that would be nice, so they drew the straws, one after the other, and Jumpo got the long one.
"Oh, goody!" he cried. "I"m to go to Uncle Wiggily"s."
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Jacko, and he felt a bit badly at having to go to the store. But then he soon became pleasant again, and said: "Never mind, it will be my turn next time."
"Of course," agreed Jumpo, "and if Uncle Wiggily gives me anything, I"ll save you half, Jacko."
So off the two brothers started, one going one way to the grocery and the other in a different direction to the house of the old gentleman rabbit. And Jumpo carried the tarts very carefully, so as not to spill out a bit of the jam.
It didn"t take Jacko long to get to the store and buy the b.u.t.ter. And on his way home a big wolf chased after him. But what do you s"pose the monkey boy did? Why, he just spread a little of the b.u.t.ter on the path behind him, and made it so slippery that the wolf slid all over as he ran, and so he couldn"t catch Jacko.
But I must tell you what happened to Jumpo. The little monkey walked on and on through the woods, and he was thinking of how nice it was under the trees. Every once in a while he would pick up a chestnut to eat, and this took him so long that soon he noticed it was getting dark.
"Oh, I must hurry faster than this," he said, and then, holding the basket of jam tarts under his paw, he fairly ran on. And then, all of a sudden, he saw a big chestnut burr on the ground in front of him. The burr wasn"t open yet, and it had a stem, like a handle to pick it up by, so the stickers wouldn"t stick you.
"Oh, there must be at least three big chestnuts in that burr," thought Jumpo. "I"ll pick that up, and then I won"t stop a bit more." So he picked up the chestnut burr, and on he hurried to Uncle Wiggily"s house.
But he got a bit tired just as he was almost out of the woods, and he thought he"d sit down to rest for only a few seconds.
So Jumpo was sitting on a flat stone, looking at the chestnut burr and wondering if perhaps there might not be four brown, shining nuts inside, when, all at once, he heard a rustling in the leaves beside him.
"Hark! What"s that?" he cried as he leaped up and looked at the basket of jam tarts which he had set down. "Perhaps that is some of the tarts trying to jump out," he said.
Then he looked again, and what he saw frightened him very much. For there was a big, fat, crawly snake on the ground moving toward the basket of jam tarts.
"Oh, ho!" exclaimed the snake, sticking out his tongue, which was like a fork--in two parts. "I"m glad I happened to come this way." Then he wound his pointed tail around the handle of the basket, and hissed: "I am very fond of jam--especially in nice flaky tarts."
"Do you--do you happen to mean these tarts?" asked Jumpo, sort of sad-like.
"Indeed, I do," answered the snake, and then he stood upon the end of his tail on the cover of the basket and sang:
"Oh, I am happy, light and free, Jam tarts are the things for me.
I eat them morning, noon and night, For jam tarts, they are my delight."
Then that snake began to lift off the cover of the basket to get at the tarts, and Jumpo cried:
"But those are for Uncle Wiggily, if you please, Mr. Snake."
"Oh, what do I care?" asked the snake, most impolitely. "I will eat these tarts, and then I will eat you."
Well, of course Jumpo felt dreadfully on hearing that, and he was wondering how Uncle Wiggily would feel not to get the tarts, when, all of a sudden, the monkey boy thought of the sticky chestnut burr he still held.
"I"ll fix that snake!" he cried. And then, just as the snake was going to eat the tarts Jumpo threw the sharp burr at the wiggly, crawly creature. The p.r.i.c.kly stickers went into his skin, next to his forty-"leven ribs and land sakes goodness me and some roast peanuts!
That snake was so tickled that he laughed and he sneezed and he coughed and splittered and spluttered, and he fell over backwards off the basket of jam tarts, turning a somersault.
Then Jumpo saw his chance. He made a grab for the basket and ran off with it before the snake had finished sneezing and laughing and coughing, and so the crawly creature couldn"t catch him.
Then the green monkey boy went on to Uncle Wiggily"s house and gave him the tarts. The old gentleman rabbit was very glad to get them, and after thanking Jumpo gave him ten peppermint candies--five for himself and five for Jacko.
And then Uncle Wiggily sent a policeman dog back with Jumpo, so the snake wouldn"t hurt him, but the crawly creature had to go to a dentist to have the chestnut burr stickers pulled out of his ribs and so he wasn"t able to catch anybody that night.
And that will be all for this evening, if you don"t mind. Now for the next story how about Jacko and the roast chestnuts, eh? Well, that"s what it will be if the ashman doesn"t take our door mat to make a pair of roller skates for the p.u.s.s.y cat so she can play tag with the puppy dog.
STORY XV
JACKO AND THE ROAST CHESTNUTS
"Who wants to stay in this afternoon, and help me clean the blackboards?" asked the owl lady teacher one day as it was almost time for the animal pupils to go home.
"I do!" cried Jacko and Jumpo Kinkytail.
"I do!" cried Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow the puppy dog boys.
"So do I!" exclaimed Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels.
And all the other children, including the three Wibblewobbles, Dottie and Munchie Trot, Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg--all of them--said they also would be glad to help teacher.
"But I only need one," said the owl lady, "and as Jacko has been a very good boy lately I"ll let him stay."