"No, Uncle Wiggily, but a lot of the b.u.t.tons came off. I guess they don"t fasten b.u.t.tons on new shoes very tight."
"I guess they don"t," Uncle Wiggily said. "But still you have enough b.u.t.tons left to keep the shoes on your feet. I guess you will be all right."
So Nannie walked on a little farther, with Uncle Wiggily resting his rheumatism, now and then, on the red, white and blue striped barber pole crutch that Nurse Jane had gnawed for him out of a cornstalk.
All of a sudden Nannie cried out again:
"Oh, dear! Oh, this is too bad!"
"What is?" asked Uncle Wiggily.
"Now all the b.u.t.tons have come off my shoes!" said the little goat girl, sadly. "I don"t see how I can go on to the party and dance, with no b.u.t.tons on my shoes. They"ll be slipping off all the while."
"So they will," spoke Uncle Wiggily. "Shoes without b.u.t.tons are like lollypops without sticks, you can"t do anything with them."
"But what am I going to do?" asked Nannie, while tears came into her eyes and splashed up on her horns. "I do want so much to go to that party."
"And I want you to," said Uncle Wiggily. "Let me think a minute."
So he thought and thought, and then he looked off through the woods and he saw a queer tree not far away. It was a sycamore tree, with broad white patches on the smooth bark, and hanging down from the branches were lots of round b.a.l.l.s, just like shoe b.u.t.tons, only they were a sort of brown instead of black. The b.a.l.l.s were the seeds of the tree.
"Ha! The very thing!" cried the bunny uncle.
"What is?" asked Nannie.
"That sycamore, or b.u.t.ton-ball tree," answered the rabbit gentleman.
"I can get you some new shoe b.u.t.tons off that, Nannie, and sew them on your shoes."
"Oh, if you can, that will be just fine!" cried the little goat girl.
"For when the b.u.t.tons came off my new shoes they flew every which way--I mean the b.u.t.tons did--and I couldn"t find a single one."
"Never mind," Uncle Wiggily kindly said. "I"ll sew on some of the b.u.t.tons from the sycamore tree, and everything will be all right."
With a thorn for a needle, and some long gra.s.ses for thread, Uncle Wiggily soon sewed the b.u.t.tons from the sycamore, or b.u.t.ton-ball, tree on Nannie"s new shoes, using the very smallest ones, of course. Then Nannie put on her shoes again, having rested her feet on a velvet carpet of moss, while Uncle Wiggily was sewing, and together they went on to the Longtail mouse party.
"Oh, what nice shoes you have, Nannie!" cried Susie Littletail, the rabbit girl.
"And what lovely stylish b.u.t.tons!" exclaimed Lulu Wibblewobble, the duck.
"Yes, Uncle Wiggily sewed them on for me," said Nannie.
"Oh, is Uncle Wiggily outside!" cried the little mousie girl. "He must come in to our party!"
"Of course!" cried all the other animal children. And so Uncle Wiggily, who had walked on past the house after leaving Nannie, had to come in anyhow, without his whiskers being trimmed, or his ears curled.
And he was so jolly that every one had a good time and lots of ice cream cheese to eat, and they all thought Nannie"s shoes, and the b.u.t.ton-ball b.u.t.tons, were just fine.
And if the ham sandwich doesn"t tickle the cream puff under the chin and make it laugh so all the chocolate drops off the cocoanut pudding, I"ll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily and the red spots.
STORY x.x.xI
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE RED SPOTS
Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, was hopping along through the woods one fine day when he heard a little voice calling to him:
"Oh, Uncle Wiggily! Will you have a game of tag with me?"
At first the bunny uncle thought the voice might belong to a bad fox or a harum-scarum bear, but when he had peeked through the bushes he saw that it was Lulu Wibblewobble, the duck girl, who had called to him.
"Have a game of tag with you? Why, of course, I will!" laughed Uncle Wiggily. "That is, if you will kindly excuse my rheumatism, and the red, white and blue crutch which Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, my muskrat lady housekeeper, gnawed for me out of a cornstalk."
"Of course, I"ll excuse it, Uncle Wiggily," said Lulu. "Only please don"t tag me with the end of your crutch, for it tickles me, and when I"m tickled I have to laugh, and when I laugh I can"t play tag."
"I won"t tag you with my crutch," spoke Uncle Wiggily with a laugh.
"Now we"re ready to begin."
So the little duck girl and the rabbit gentleman played tag there in the woods, jumping and springing about on the soft mossy green carpet under the trees.
Sometimes Lulu was "it" and sometimes Uncle Wiggily would be tagged by the foot or wing of the duck girl, who was a sister to Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble.
"Now for a last tag!" cried Uncle Wiggily when it was getting dark in the woods. "I"ll tag you this time, Lulu, and then we must go home."
"All right," agreed Lulu, and she ran and flew so fast that Uncle Wiggily could hardly catch her to make her "it." And finally when Uncle Wiggily almost had his paw on the duck girl she flew right over a bush, and, before Uncle Wiggily could stop himself he had run into the bush until he was half way through it.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Before Uncle Wiggily could stop himself he had run into the bush.]
But, very luckily, it was not a scratchy briar bush, so no great harm was done, except that Uncle Wiggily"s fur was a bit ruffled up, and he was tickled.
"I guess I can"t tag you this time, Lulu!" laughed the bunny uncle.
"We"ll give up the game now, and I"ll be "it" next time when we play."
"Ail right, Uncle Wiggily," said Lulu. "I"ll meet you here in the woods at this time tomorrow night, and I"ll bring Alice and Jimmie with me, and we"ll have lots of fun. We"ll have a grand game of tag!"
"Fine!" cried the bunny uncle, as he squirmed his way out of the bush.
Then he went on to his hollow stump bungalow, and Lulu went on to her duck pen house to have her supper of corn meal sauce with watercress salad sprinkled over the sides.
As Uncle Wiggily was sitting down to his supper of carrot ice cream with lettuce sandwiches all puckered around the edges, Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy looked at him across the table, and exclaimed:
"Why, Wiggy! What"s the matter with you?"
"Matter with me? Nothing, Janie! I feel just fine!" he said. "I"m hungry, that"s all!"
"Why, you"re all covered with red spots!" went on the muskrat lady.
"You are breaking out with the measles. I must send for Dr. Possum at once."