Chapter 4

"This," said the little yellow bird, "is the enchanted castle. I live here all summer, and so do all my friends. Sometimes we bathe in the water, and sometimes we hide under the flowers. Then, when the water spouts up out of the top of the castle we all fly away."

And just then, what should happen but that some water began to spurt, then and there, right out of the top of that big pile of stones. Up, up it went, in a spray, spreading out at the tops like an umbrella in a rain storm, and the drops fell with a splash into the basin below. Then Alice Wibblewobble cried out!

"Why, this isn't an enchanted castle at all!"

"No?" asked the yellow bird, putting its head on one side, so as to see better. "Why, we always call this our enchanted castle; always."

"No," answered Alice. "It is only a fountain in a stone pile in somebody's flower garden. I've seen one before, near our house."

"Well, it looks like an enchanted castle," said the bird, "and I'm sure it's just as pretty as one. Isn't it as good as your fairy prince?"

"Well," replied the little duck girl. "I suppose it is. But it's only water, such as I swim in."

"Oh, do you swim?" asked the bird. "Do please show me how. I've always wanted to learn."

So, though Alice was disappointed about the enchanted castle, she got in the little pond at the foot of the fountain, and swam around. The water spurted up in the air and fell all over her, but she didn't mind that. All the birds gathered around to watch, and even the flowers nodded their heads, they were so delighted.

"Oh, I'm sure we never can learn to swim," said the yellow bird, as Alice went around again. "It is much too difficult."

Then, all of a sudden, something happened. A boy and a girl came running down the gravel walk to the fountain. The little girl had yellow hair, just like a daffodil, and as soon as she saw Alice she cried out: "Oh, Norman! Come quick! Here is a lovely duck! I hope we can keep it!"

That frightened Alice very much, especially as the boy tried to grab her. So she sprang out of the water and ran and hid under some bushes where the children couldn't find her, and as soon as she could, she went back the way she had come, into the pond, and started to swim home.

And on the way a fox chased her and a big hawk tried to swoop down, and grab her, but she managed to get away. She was all tired out when she got home, and when Jimmie and Lulu asked her where she had been she told them all her adventures.

"Well," said Jimmie, when his sister had finished, "I think I would rather see that enchanted castle than the fairy prince again. Will you take us there some day, Alice?"

"Perhaps," she said, but before they made that trip something else happened, which you shall hear about to-morrow night if I find a green popcorn ball with a pink ribbon on it. It's a story of a visit to Grandpa Wibblewobble's house.

STORY XII

A VISIT TO GRANDPA WIBBLEWOBBLE

Jimmie Wibblewobble was playing marbles with Bully, the frog, one day. They had just finished one game, and were beginning another when Alice Wibblewobble came alone. "Jimmie," she said, "mamma wants you."

"What does she want?" asked her brother.

"She wants you to come for a walk in the woods with us. Papa is going along. Come right away."

"Aw, I'd rather play with Bully," answered Jimmie, but just then his mamma called him, and he had to go. Bully hopped off, and Jimmie and Alice walked home together.

"Come, Lulu, are you all ready?" asked Mrs. Wibblewobble, as she saw her other daughter throwing stones in the pond, and making a great splash.

"Yes," was the reply, and then Jimmie said: "Oh, mamma, I don't want to go walking."

"I think you will want to when you know where we are going," said his papa.

"Where are we going?"

"To Grandpa Wibblewobble's."

"Oh, goody!" cried Lulu and Jimmie at once, for they always had a nice time at their grandfather's. So the ducks set off through the woods and over the fields, and every time they came to a bit of water they swam over it as fast as a cat can wash her face.

Pretty soon, after awhile, not very long, they came to the pen where Grandpa Wibblewobble lived with his daughter, Miss Weezy Wibblewobble, who kept house for him.

"Ha, I think grandpa has company," said Papa Wibblewobble, as they came close to the pen and heard talking. "Yes, he certainly has." And, sure enough, the old gentleman duck had. And whom do you suppose it was? My Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman rabbit!

"How is your rheumatism?" asked Mrs. Wibblewobble of Uncle Wiggily Longears, after they had sat down.

"Oh, it doesn't seem to get any better," he answered. "I have carried a piece of horse chestnut in one ear, and a bit of dried potato in the other for ever so long, but nothing seems to do me any good. I am going to have a new doctor soon if I don't get well. Oh my, yes, and some pepper hash on bread and butter also! Ha! Hum! Oh my! Ouch! and Jack and the Bean Stalk!" Uncle Wiggily called out that last because his rheumatism hurt so.

Well, Grandpa Wibblewobble gave each of the Wibblewobble children some nice sugared corn meal, flavored with sweet flag, peppermint and watercress, and a few snails to eat, and maybe they didn't like them!

"Now," said grandpa, "you children go out to play, while we old folks talk about the weather and rheumatism," for you see rheumatism was about all Uncle Wiggily cared to talk about.

Well, the little duck children had a fine time playing around grandpa's house, and now, in about a minute something is going to happen. They had wandered off a little way, and, just as they were resting under some burdock leaves, in the shade, they heard voices talking. And one voice said:

"Now I'll go up to the front door of Grandpa Wibblewobble's house and you go up to the back door. We'll both knock at the same time, and the ducks won't know which door to go to first. Then we'll jump in the windows and eat them all up--all up--up! There are some extra fine ducks there to-day."

Oh, maybe Jimmie and his sisters weren't frightened. They trembled so that the leaves shook as if the wind was blowing them, and when Jimmie got a little quiet he looked out, and what do you suppose he saw? Why two mean, wicked, sly old foxes, who were getting ready to go to grandpa's house and eat him up, and Mamma and Papa Wibblewobble up, and probably Uncle Wiggily Longears, too; who knows?

"Oh, isn't this awful?" asked Alice in a whisper. "I am going to faint! I know I am!"

"Silly!" said Jimmie to her. "Don't you dare faint! Here, smell of this," and he picked some spearmint, and held it under his sister's nose, which made her feel better.

"We must do something," said Lulu. "It will never do to have those bad foxes go to grandpa's house! How can we stop them?"

"Let me think," whispered Jimmie, quite bravely, and he put his head under his wing, so he could be quiet and think better. "Ah, I have it!" he cried out. "Come with me, girls!"

So they stepped softly from under the burdock leaves, those three duck children did, and ran to grandpa's house as fast as they could, leaving the bad foxes in the woods. Well, you can imagine how surprised all the folks were, even Uncle Wiggily, when they heard the alarming news which the children told.

"Oh, whatever shall we do?" cried Weezy Wibblewobble.

"I know what I'd do, if it wasn't for my rheumatism!" said Uncle Wiggily. "I'd bite those foxes, and jump on them, too, but I can't! Oh, if Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy were only here!"

"Never mind. I will save you," spoke Jimmie. "Come now, we must get a lot of stones and some boards. Hurry, for the foxes will soon be here."

So the ducks, with Uncle Wiggily helping them as much as he could, put a board over the front door, and one over the back door, just inside the house. Then they piled a lot of stones on the boards and fixed them with strings, so that when the cords were pulled the boards would fall down and the stones would also fall, with a clatter on the head of whoever was at the door.

Well, after all this was done, the ducks and Uncle Wiggily went and hid in the house. Then, in a little while, those bad foxes came sneaking along. And, sure enough, one went to the back door and the other to the front door.

They knocked at the same time, just as they had said they would, and Papa Wibblewobble opened one door and Grandpa Wibblewobble the other. Then just as soon as the doors were opened Jimmie, who had hold of the strings that were fast to the boards, pulled them with his bill, and down clattered the stones, rattlety-bang-go-bung-ker-plunk, right on top of the heads of those two bad foxes! Oh, how scared they were!

"The house is falling! The house is falling! Run away!" cried one fox and they both ran as fast as they could, glad enough to escape, I tell you. Now, wasn't that a good trick Jimmie played on those bad animals?

I thought so, myself, and so did his grandpa and his papa and mamma, to say nothing of Uncle Wiggily Longears. And that's how the foxes didn't eat up the ducks, and to-morrow night, if the robin sings under my window as sweetly as he did yesterday morning, you shall hear about how Aunt Lettie came on a visit.

STORY XIII

A VISIT FROM AUNT LETTIE

One day it was so very pleasant out of doors that Lulu and Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble didn't want to go to school. The sun was sparkling on the water in the duck pond, and Alice said, as she felt the wind blowing on her feathers:

"Oh, I just wish I could go see the fairy prince again!"

"Pooh! I don't," spoke Jimmie. "But I wish we could stay home from school. Bully, the frog, and I were going to get up a baseball nine. Let's go ask papa if we can stay home."

"Can't I play on your ball team?" asked Lulu, who could throw a stone almost as well as a boy.

"No," said Jimmie. "Girls never play on ball teams."

"Couldn't I even umpire?" went on his sister.

"No, Uncle Wiggily Longears is going to do that," replied Jimmie. "Billie and Johnnie Bushytail and Sammie Littletail are going to play on the team. But let's go ask papa if we can stay home. It's too nice to go to school."

So they went and asked Mr. Wibblewobble, who had remained at home from work that day, because, you see, he happened to swallow a shoe button by mistake for a grain of corn, and he had indigestion something awful; yes, really.

You know it was a tan shoe button, and if your eyesight isn't very good, why it does look like a grain of corn, especially if you're very hungry and in a hurry. So Mr. Wibblewobble wasn't feeling very well when Jimmie and Lulu came in to ask him if they could stay home from school, and he was the least bit cross, perhaps, because his indigestion was really very bad at that moment. So he answered them:

"No, indeed, you can't stay home. Go to school at once! Quack!"

Now when a duck says one quack, instead of a double quack-quack, you may know he is feeling very, very miserable, and you don't want to bother him any more than you can help.

Lulu and Jimmie knew this, and they hurried out of the pen to go to school. Then their papa felt sorry for them, because, you see, he did not really mean to be cross, only he knew it was best for them to learn all they could. So he said "Quack-quack," which meant he was feeling better, and he added: "When you come home, my dears, you may each have a penny. Run along now, like good ducks."

So, though Jimmie felt badly about not being able to get up a ball nine, he waddled along with his sisters, and pretty soon they were at the owl school, where they met Sammie and Susie Littletail and Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, and Sister Sallie and Bully, the frog. Yes, they were all there, and, what's more, they had their lessons, too, so they were not kept in.

They hurried home after school, Alice and Lulu and Jimmie, I mean, because this story is about them, you see; and they got their pennies from their papa, and each one bought some watercress snails, preserved in salted cornmeal; very fine they were, too, for ducks.

Just as the three Wibblewobble children were finishing the last of the snails, who should come hopping along but Bully, the frog. He hopped into the water to cool himself off and then, when he had hopped out again, he asked:

"I say, Jimmie, are your folks expecting company?"

"I don't think so," answered Jimmie. "I saw mamma setting the table and she wasn't putting the clean cloth on. No, I guess we're not going to have company, or there'd be a clean cloth put on. Why do you ask?"

"Because, as I was coming through the woods just now I met a funny looking creature asking the way to your pen."

"Who was it?" inquired Lulu.

"Oh, it was a nice old lady. She had long hair and she carried a basket and she wore such a funny bonnet! Two sharp things stuck right out of the top of it. I offered to show her the way here, but she said I went in the water so often that she couldn't follow me, for she didn't want to get her feet wet. You must be going to have company."

"Maybe we are!" cried Alice. "Let's go ask mamma."

So they went, and asked their mother, but she said she did not know of any company coming, but, for fear some one might come along unexpectedly she did put the clean table cloth on, and she got out the napkins, and opened a jar of preserved sweet flag root.

"Come on," proposed Lulu, after a bit, "let's go through the woods. Bully, you show us where you met the queer lady, and maybe we'll see her."

So the four started off, Bully hopping along in front, and pretty soon, just as they got to the place where the weeping willow tree stands, what should they hear but a funny noise. It sounded like "Ma-a-a-a-a!" You know, just like a sheep cries.

"There she is!" exclaimed Bully. "That's just the way she talks. And there she is! Look! The nice old lady!"

The three Wibblewobble children looked, and what should they see but a big white goat. She was an old lady goat, and she was walking along with her basket on her arm, and the things sticking out of her bonnet were her horns. As soon as she saw the children she called:

"Oh, my dears, can you show me the way to Mrs. Wibblewobble's? I'm afraid I'm lost!"

"Why, Mrs. Wibblewobble is our mamma," answered Lulu, quickly.

"Oh, my dears! You don't mean it!" cried the goat. "Then you must be my little nieces and nephew I've heard so much about. But who is this little green boy? I've seen him before."

"Oh, he's the catcher on our base ball nine," said Jimmie. "He catches the balls in his mouth. But, who are you, if I may be so bold as to ask?"

"I'm your Aunt Lettie," replied the goat. "I've come to pay you a long visit. Oh, I'm so glad I found you, for I feared I would never get to your house! See, I have brought you some apple turnovers, and some gooseberry tarts. Now let's hurry home, but first kiss me."

So Aunt Lettie kissed them all, even Bully, the frog, and then she and the Wibblewobble children went to the ducks' pen, where she stayed several days.

And quite a number of things happened, too. In fact, one took place the very next day, as you shall hear to-morrow night, when I am going to tell you about Lulu and the pussy willows, provided a doggie with a yellow nose and pink ears doesn't scare me.

STORY XIV

LULU AND THE PUSSY WILLOWS

"What shall we do now?" asked Lulu the next morning after Aunt Lettie came, and the duck children had gone out to play, leaving their mamma and the old lady goat to do the dishes.

"Let's go see the fairy prince," suggested Alice.

"Oh, you're always thinking of that fairy prince," objected Jimmie. "I say let's go for a walk."

"All right," agreed Lulu. "I know where there are some nice pussy willows. We'll get some to take to our school teacher next Monday."

So they started off up the pond to the place where the pussy willows grew. They gathered quite a number, breaking off the stems in their strong yellow bills, and then, putting the willows under their wings, they started back home again. They didn't have to hurry because, you see, it was Saturday, and there wasn't any school. Oh, my no! Ducks don't have to go to school on Saturday any more than you do, even if they are only in the kindergarten class.

Now, if you please, pay close attention, for something is going to happen very shortly, if Uncle Wiggily Longears doesn't come along and bother me, and I don't believe he will. Well, Lulu and Alice and Jimmie got safely home with the pussy willows, and as they were putting them in water to keep until Monday, Aunt Lettie came into the room.

"What have you there, my dears?" she asked, wiggling her horns and looking over the tops of her glasses as easily as you can draw a picture of a horse. "What have you there, my dears?"

"They are pussy willows, Aunt Lettie," replied Lulu.

"Oh dearie me! oh Sacramento!" cried Aunt Lettie, who was quite excitable at times. "Why ever did you bring them here, little ones?"

"Why, we want them for teacher," explained Alice.

"I don't," declared Jimmie. "Boys never bring the teacher flowers; that is unless they don't want to be kept in when there's a ball game. But don't you like pussy willows, Aunt Lettie?"

"Oh, no indeed," she answered. "I don't like cats of any description."

"But these are only pussy willows," said Alice.

"Oh, they'll turn into cats quickly enough," remarked Aunt Lettie. "There was a family who once lived next to us, and they had kittens. Why it wasn't any time at all before those kittens had turned into cats, and land goodness, how they did howl nights and keep me awake! And I had lumbago that summer, too! Oh, yes, indeed, kittens are all very well, but when they turn into old cats they're not so nice."

"Oh, but Aunt Lettie, you don't understand," explained Jimmie, smiling the least bit. "You see these are only plant pussies. They can't ever become real cats you know."

"They grow, don't they?" asked the old lady goat, shaking her horns again, "Don't they grow?"

"Yes," admitted Lulu. "They certainly grow."

"Well, if they're pussies now they'll grow to be cats soon enough, you mark my words," went on Aunt Lettie quite sorrowfully. "That is unless they drown in that water," she added quickly.

"Why, no; pussy willows can't drown in water," said Lulu. "We put them there to keep them fresh. You don't need to worry about those pussy willows, dear Aunt Lettie."

But Aunt Lettie did worry. In fact she had to worry about something, anyhow, so I suppose it is just as well that she worried about the pussy willows. And, when they all went to bed that night, the last thing she said was:

"Now, you mark my words! Those pussies will be cats before you know it."

But Lulu and Alice and Jimmie did not think so. However you just wait and see what happened.

Along in the middle of the night, when it was all still and quiet, and when even the frogs had stopped croaking, and it wasn't time for the roosters to begin to crow; yes, when it was dark, and still and silent and not a sound was heard, suddenly what should happen but that right in the Wibblewobble house there came a loud: "Mew! Mew! Mew!"

"There!" exclaimed Aunt Lettie, jumping out of bed. "What did I tell you? Those pussy willows have turned into cats, and the house will be full of them! Oh, dear! Why did you bring them in here? It's dreadfully bad luck!"

Lulu and Jimmie and Alice jumped out of bed, too. So did Mr. and Mrs. Wibblewobble. All the while they kept hearing that: "Mew! Mew! Mew!"

"Whatever can it be?" asked Mamma Wibblewobble. "Maybe it's a burglar."

"Nonsense!" replied Mr. Wibblewobble, "burglars don't mew. I'll go look."

So he went to look, and what do you think he found? Why, right under a vase of the pussy willows, on a cushion, was a dear, sweet, little white kitten. Yes, sir, as true as I'm telling you! And so soon as Lulu saw it she cried: "It's mine! One of my pussy willows has turned into a kittie! Oh, how glad I am!"

And, honestly, the kittie was right under Lulu's vase of pussy willows, just as sure as that two and two make four.

"I told you so!" cried Aunt Lettie. "Now, maybe you'll believe me next time. The pussy willows turned into a kitten."

"Oh, but this kitten can't be from those willows," said Papa Wibblewobble. "This is a real pussy. It must have come in from out of doors. I guess I must have left a window open."

And the funny part of it was that he had left a window up, and it was a real kittie that had wandered in, straying away from its mamma. But Aunt Lettie was sure it had come from a pussy willow. Lulu didn't care, because she was allowed to keep the kittie for herself, and what do you think? Why that kittie joined Jimmie's baseball nine, and to-morrow night I'll tell you about a game of ball that was played. That is if the man in the moon doesn't tumble down and hurt his nose.

STORY XV

PLAYING A BALL GAME

One day Jimmie Wibblewobble was going over to where Bully, the frog, lived.

"Come on!" cried the little boy duck, to the frog. "Let's get up a ball game. We'll find Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, and Sammie Littletail, and have some fun. Have you seen Uncle Wiggily Longears? He will umpire for us, I know, and tell who's out, and when the balls go straight, and all that. Have you seen him?"

"I saw him limping along a while ago," answered Bully. "He can't have gone very far, for his rheumatism is bad again."

"Let's hurry up and catch him," suggested Jimmie. So they ran on through the woods as fast as they could and, sure enough, they soon saw the old gentleman rabbit.

"Will you come to our ball game?" asked Jimmie.

"Why, of course, to be sure," answered Uncle Wiggily. "But I can't play very well, you know, on account of--Oh my! Ouch! Oh dear! Um Um! Present arms! Ready! Aim! Fire! Oh! Oh! Oh!" That's the way he cried all of a sudden.

"What's the matter?" asked Jimmie.

"Matter? Why my rheumatism; that's what's the matter! It does seem to catch me at the wrong time. I'm afraid I won't be able to play ball to-day after all, boys. I'm sorry, but--Oh dear! There it goes again!" and that poor, old gentleman rabbit had to lean on his crutch, because his legs hurt him so.

"Oh, we only want you to look on, and tell us when the game is going all right," said Jimmie very kindly. "You can have a seat in the shade, and you will decide who's out, and who makes a run, and which side wins."

"Well, I might manage that," replied Uncle Wiggily. "Come on, but please walk very slowly."

So they walked on very slowly, and pretty soon they met Johnnie and Billie Bushytail with Sister Sallie. And the little girl squirrel was singing:

"Hippity-hop to the barber shop To buy a lolly-pop-lally. One for me and one for thee And one for Sister Sallie."

"Come on, let's play ball," called Jimmie to Johnnie and Billie. The Bushytail brothers said they would, and on they all went, through the woods and over the fields, and pretty soon, oh, maybe in about two quacks and a half, whom should they meet but Sammie and Susie Littletail. Sammie said he would play ball, and Susie said she would look on. Then along came Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble, and Lulu had her white kittie with her.

"My kittie ought to play, as long as I can't play, especially as she knew how to roll a ball," spoke Lulu. So Jimmie said the kittie could very nicely with her paws.

"But that's all the girls who are going to be on the team," said Jimmie very decidedly.

Well, they started to play, and they had an old wooden door knob for a ball. I just wish you could have seen them, honestly I do. It was as good as going to a show, where they charge five pins to get in. Bully, the frog, was the catcher, for all he had to do was to open his large mouth, and the ball would go right in. Uncle Wiggily was a sort of judge, or umpire. That is, he sat in the shade, on a pile of soft leaves, and told when it was right for one of the players to give up the bat, and let some one else have a chance.