All of a sudden he was awakened by feeling himself being pulled. At first he thought it was the skillery-scalery alligator, or the bad fox trying to drag him off to his den, and Uncle Wiggily, opening his eyes, cried:
"Here! Stop that if you please! Don"t pull me so!"
But when he looked around he could see no one, and then he knew it was Tommie"s kite, flying up in the air, that was doing the pulling.
The wind was blowing hard now, and as Uncle Wiggily had the kite string wound around his paws, of course he was pulled almost off his feet.
"Ha! That kite is a great puller!" said the bunny uncle. "I must look out or it might pull me up to the clouds. I had better fasten the string to this old stump. The kite can"t pull that up."
So the rabbit gentleman fastened the kite cord to the stout old stump, winding it around two or three times, and he kept the loose end of the string in his paw.
Uncle Wiggily was just going to sleep again, and he was wondering why it took Tommie so long to find more string for the kite, when, all of a sudden, there was a rustling in the bushes, and out jumped the bad old babboon, who had, once before, made trouble for the bunny uncle.
"Ah, ha!" jabbered the babboon. "This time I have caught you. You can"t get away from me now. I am going to take you off to my den."
"Oh, please don"t!" begged Uncle Wiggily.
"Yes, I shall, too!" blabbered the babboon. "Off to my den you shall go--you shall go--you shall go. Off to my den. Oh, hold on!" cried the bad creature. "That isn"t the song I wanted to sing. That"s the London Bridge song. I want the one about the dinner bell is ringing in the bread box this fine day. And the dinner bell is ringing for to take you far away, Uncle Wiggily."
"Ah, then I had better go to my dinner," said the bunny uncle, sadly.
"No! You will go with me!" cried the babboon. "Come along now. I"m going to take you away."
"Well, if I must go, I suppose I must," Uncle Wiggily said, looking at the kite string, which was pulling at the stump very hard now. "But before you take me away would you mind pulling down Tommie"s kite?"
asked the bunny uncle. "I"ll leave it for him."
"Yes, I"ll pull the kite down," said the babboon.
"Maybe you will," thought Uncle Wiggily, laughing to himself. "And maybe you won"t."
The bad babboon monkey chap unwound the string from the stump, but no sooner had he started to pull in the kite than there came a very strong puff of wind.
Up, up and up into the air blew the kite and, as the string was tangled around the babboon"s paws, it took him up with it, and though he cried out: "Stop! Stop! Stop!" the kite could not stop, nor the babboon either.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Up, up and up into the air blew the kite and, as the string was tangled around the babboon"s paws, it took him up with it.]
"Well, I guess you won"t bother me any more," said Uncle Wiggily, as he looked at the babboon, who was only a speck in the sky now; a very little speck, being carried away by the kite.
And the babboon did not come back to bother Uncle Wiggily, at least for a long time. Tommie felt badly when he found his kite blown away. But he was glad Uncle Wiggily had been saved, and he and the bunny uncle soon made a new kite, better than the first. They had lots of fun flying it.
And in the story after this, if the chocolate pudding doesn"t hide in the coal bin, where the cook can"t find it to put the whipped cream on, I"ll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and Johnnie"s marbles.
STORY XXI
UNCLE WIGGILY AND JOHNNIE"S MARBLES
It was a nice, warm spring day, when the ground in the woods where the animal boys and girls lived was soft, for all the frost had melted out of it; and, though it was a little too early to go barefoot, it was not too early to play marbles.
Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels; Sammie Littletail, the rabbit, and Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck, were having a game under the trees, not far from the hollow stump bungalow which was the house of Uncle Wiggily Longears, the bunny gentleman.
"First shot agates!" cried Johnnie.
"No, I"m going to shoot first!" chattered his brother Billie.
"Huh! I hollered it before either of you," quacked Jimmie, the duck boy, and he tossed some red, white and blue striped marbles on the ground in the ring. The marbles were just the color of Uncle Wiggily"s rheumatism crutch.
The animal boys began playing, but they made so much noise, crying "Fen!" and "Ebbs!" and "Knuckle down!" that Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, went to the bungalow door and called:
"Boys! Boys! Will you please be a little quiet? Uncle Wiggily is lying down taking a nap, and I don"t want you to wake him up with your marbles."
"Oh, I don"t mind!" cried the bunny uncle, unfolding his ears from his vest pockets, where he always tucked them when he went to sleep, so the flies would not tickle him. "It"s about time I got up," he said.
"So the boys are playing marbles, eh? Well, I"ll go out and watch them. It will make me think of the days when I was a spry young bunny chap, hopping about, spinning my kites and flying my tops."
"I guess you are a little bit twisted; are you not?" asked Nurse Jane, politely.
"Oh, so I am," said Uncle Wiggily. "I mean flying my kite and spinning my top."
Then he pinkled his twink nose--Ah! you see that"s the time I was twisted--I mean he twinkled his pink nose, Uncle Wiggily did, and out he went to watch the animal boys play marbles.
Billie, Johnnie and Jimmie, as well as Sammie, wanted the bunny uncle to play also, but he said his rheumatism hurt too much to bend over.
So he just watched the marble game, until it was time for the boys to go home. And then Johnnie cried:
"Oh, I forgot! I have to go to the store for a loaf of bread for supper. Come on, fellows, with me, will you?"
But neither Jimmie, nor Sammie nor Billie wanted to go with Johnnie, so he started off through the woods to the store alone, when Uncle Wiggily cried:
"Wait a minute, Johnnie, and I"ll go with you. I haven"t had my walk this day, and I have had no adventure at all. I"ll go along and see what happens."
"Oh, that will be nice!" chattered Johnnie, who did not like to go to the store alone. So, putting his marbles in the bag in which he carried them, he ran along beside Uncle Wiggily.
They had not gone far when, all of a sudden, there came a strong puff of wind, and, before Uncle Wiggily could hold his hat down over his ears, it was blown off his head. I mean his hat was--not his ears.
Away through the trees the tall silk hat was blown.
"Oh, dear!" cried the bunny uncle. "I guess I am not going to have a nice adventure today."
"I"ll get your hat for you, Uncle Wiggily!" said Johnnie kindly. "You hold my bag of marbles so I can run faster, and I"ll get the hat for you."
Tossing the rabbit gentleman the marbles, away scampered Johnnie after the hat. But the wind kept on blowing it, and the squirrel boy had to run a long way.
"Well, I hope he gets it and brings it back to me," thought Uncle Wiggily, as he sat down on a green, moss-covered stone to wait for the squirrel boy. And, while he was waiting the bunny uncle opened the bag and looked at Johnnie"s marbles. There were green ones, and blue and red and pink--very pretty, all of them.
"I wonder if I have forgotten how to play the games I used to enjoy when I was a boy rabbit?" thought the bunny gentleman. "Just now, when no one is here in tile woods to laugh at me, I think I"ll try and see how well I can shoot marbles."