"I will tell you," said the robin. "You know there is a bird called the cowbird or cuckoo, and that bird is too lazy to build a nest for itself.
So what do you think it does?"
"What?" asked the p.u.s.s.y.
"Why it goes around, laying its eggs in the nests of other birds," said the robin. "Then we birds have to hatch out the cowbird"s eggs, and when her children come out they are so unpleasant that they shove our little birdies right out of the nest, and eat all the things we mamma birds bring home to our little ones."
"Ha! That is very unpleasant, to say the least," spoke the rabbit. "And are there any cowbirds in your nest now, Mrs. Robin?"
"Not yet, but there are three of the cowbird"s eggs here, and they will soon hatch out."
"Why don"t you toss out the cowbird"s eggs?" asked the p.u.s.s.y. "Then you won"t have to hatch them."
"I would," said the robin, "only I am not strong enough, for I have been ill, and my husband is out of work and he is looking for some. So I don"t know what to do about it. Oh, dear!" and she cried again.
"Ha! We must see what we can do," said Uncle Wiggily, who always liked to help people who were in trouble. "I think I have a plan."
"What is it?" asked the robin.
"Well, I can"t climb up that bush, for my paws are not built for that sort of thing, but the p.u.s.s.y can climb very nicely, as she has sharp claws."
"Indeed I can," said the p.u.s.s.y, "and I will, and I"ll throw out the cowbird"s eggs for you, so those bad birds won"t bother your little birds."
So Uncle Wiggily gave the p.u.s.s.y a boost up the bush, in which the robin"s nest was built, and then the p.u.s.s.y, with her sharp claws climbed up the rest of the distance all alone very nicely.
"Now show me which are the eggs of the cowbird?" said the kittie-cat to the robin when the nest was reached. So the robin mamma pointed out the eggs with her claw, and then with her foot the p.u.s.s.y clawed those cowbird eggs out on the ground where they wouldn"t hatch.
"Now, that will be the last of those bad birds," said the p.u.s.s.y as she started to climb down to where Uncle Wiggily was waiting for her.
"Yes, indeed, and thank you very much," spoke the robin. "Now, my little ones will have a chance to grow and live."
And just then there was a fluttering and a rustling in the bushes, and the bad cowbird came flying past. And when she saw what had been done, and how her eggs had been tossed out of the robin"s nest where they didn"t belong, that cowbird flew at the p.u.s.s.y and was going to pick her eyes out.
But Uncle Wiggily took his crutch, and tickled the cowbird so that she sneezed, and had to fly away without doing any harm. And Uncle Wiggily called after her that she ought to be ashamed of herself not to build her own nests. And I guess that cowbird was ashamed, but I"m not sure. Anyhow she came back a little later and gathered up her eggs off the ground, and flew away with them, and what she did with them I"ll tell you; oh, just as soon as you like.
The bedtime story then will be about Uncle Wiggily and the tailor bird--that is, if the needle and thread don"t dance up and down on the pin cushion, and make it full of holes so the sawdust stuffing comes out and tickles the baby"s pink toes.
STORY x.x.xI
UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE TAILOR BIRD
After Uncle Wiggily and the p.u.s.s.y had helped the robin get the cowbird"s eggs out of her nest, as I told you in the story before this, the rabbit and the kittie stayed in the woods a little while talking to the mamma bird.
"I should like to see the little robins hatch out of the eggs," said the p.u.s.s.y, as she frisked her tail about and smoothed out her fur.
"So should I," added Uncle Wiggily.
"I will gladly let you see my little birdies hatch," spoke the robin, "but it will take nearly a week yet, and you will have to wait."
"Oh, I can"t wait as long as that," went on the rabbit. "I must be off to seek my fortune."
"Yes, and I must go and find my clothespin house," said the p.u.s.s.y.
So they said good-by to the mamma robin, and away the p.u.s.s.y and Uncle Wiggily went, over the hills and down the dales through the woods and over little brooks.
Pretty soon they came to a place in the woods where there were a whole lot of flowers nodding their heads in the wind, and it was such a pretty place that Uncle Wiggily and the p.u.s.s.y stayed there a little while. And in about a minute they heard something flying through the bushes and out flew that same cowbird, and she laughed just as hard as she could laugh, as she pa.s.sed along.
"Somebody is going to be surprised!" cried the cowbird and she fluttered her wings at the rabbit and the kittie, and then she hid herself off in the woods.
"I wonder what she means?" asked the p.u.s.s.y.
"I"m sure I don"t know," replied the rabbit. "But did you notice that she didn"t have her eggs with her?"
"Sure enough!" exclaimed the p.u.s.s.y. "She must have left them in some other bird"s nest."
"Well, we had better keep on, for it is getting late," spoke Uncle Wiggily, "and I want to find your clothespin house for you."
On they hurried through the trees, and pretty soon--Oh, I guess about as long as it takes you to eat a stick of peppermint candy--they suddenly came to the p.u.s.s.y"s clothespin house.
"Oh, here"s where I live!" she cried. "How glad I am to get back home!"
She hurried in through the front door and no sooner was she inside than she cried out:
"Come here! Come here, quickly, Uncle Wiggily! Did you ever see such a sight in all your born days?"
"What is it?" asked the rabbit, as he hopped in, and he was half afraid that there might be a burglar fox hiding in the p.u.s.s.y"s house.
But it wasn"t anything like that. Instead the rabbit saw the p.u.s.s.y pointing to her bed, and there, right in the middle of the feather pillows, were some eggs.
"The cowbird"s eggs!" cried the kittie. "That"s what she meant when she said some one was going to be surprised. Indeed, I am the one who is surprised. She brought her eggs here, thinking I would hatch them out for her, but I"ll not do it!"
So the p.u.s.s.y threw the eggs out of the window, on some soft straw, where they wouldn"t be broken, and pretty soon that cowbird came back, as angry as a lion without any tail. And she grabbed up her eggs, and this time she took them to the monkey, who played five hand-organs at once. And the monkey was a good-natured sort of a chap, so he hatched out the cowbird"s eggs for her, and soon he had a lot of little calfbirds, and when they grew up they gave him no end of trouble.
"Well, now you are safe home," said Uncle Wiggily to the p.u.s.s.y, "I will travel on."
"First, let me fill your valise with something to eat," said the kittie cat, and she did so, and then the rabbit hopped on. He looked all over for his fortune, but he couldn"t find it, and pretty soon it got dark night and he went to sleep in a hollow stump.
"Surely, I will find my fortune to-day," thought Uncle Wiggily, as he arose the next morning, and combed out his whiskers. It was a bright, beautiful sunshiny morning, and everything was cheerful, and the birds were singing. But, in spite of all that, something happened to the rabbit.
He was just going past a berry bush, and he was reaching up to pick off some of the red raspberries, when all at once a sharp claw was thrust out from the bush and a grab was made for the rabbit.
"Now, I"ve got you!" cried a savage voice.
"No, you haven"t!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, and he jumped back just as a savage wolf sprang out at him.
"Oh, don"t worry, I"ll get you yet!" went on the wolf and he made another spring. But the rabbit was ready for him and ran down the hill and the wolf ran after him, howling at the top of his grillery-growlery voice, for he was very hungry.