Part 8

But Toodle did not feel much like studying. You know how it is yourself, when you want a rubber doll, or maybe a water-pistol, or a bicycle, or something that your papa or mamma can't let you have, for one reason or another. You keep thinking of that, and nothing else, and it seems as if you really must have it.

That's the way it was with Toodle. He thought of nothing much but roller skates. The next day in school when Professor Rat asked him how to spell horse, Toodle said:

"R-o-l-l-e-r--roller, s-k-a-t-e--skate--roller skates," and all the animal children laughed at him.

"Next," said the teacher, and poor Toodle had to go down to the foot of the class. Oh, how badly he felt.

But, coming home from school that afternoon, something happened to Toodle and, after that he didn't want roller skates at all any more. I'll tell you about it.

Toodle was walking along by himself. His brother Noodle and the other boys had asked him to come with them to play football, but Toodle was thinking so much about his roller skates that he didn't want to do anything else. So he would not go.

So he was walking along through the woods, feeling rather sad and miserable, and wishing his papa was a rich beaver, when, all of a sudden, Toodle saw a little bear on the path in front of him. The bear was such a small chap, not much bigger than Toodle himself, that the beaver boy wasn't a bit afraid.

Of course he looked around to see if the big papa or mamma bear was in sight, but they were not, and so when the baby bear said "Hello!" Toodle answered back, "Hello!" as bravely as anything.

"What are you doing out here?" asked Toodle of the baby bear.

"Oh just walking along," said the baby bear. "What are you doing here? You don't look very happy, my little beaver boy. Are you looking for anything?"

"Yes, I'm looking for a pair of roller skates," said Toodle. "Of course, I don't believe I'll find 'em out here, but I'm looking just the same."

Then a sharp, cunning look came over the face of that baby bear, and he said:

"Well, now, if this isn't the best luck! Say, beaver boy, come with me, and maybe my father will give you his roller skates. He's going to take a long winter sleep soon, and he won't need them. I'll ask him to let you take his."

"Will you really?" cried Toodle in delight. "That's fine! I'll come right along with you."

Now Toodle had been told never to believe what a bear--even a baby bear--said, or to go with one of them. But he was thinking so much about roller skates that he couldn't think of anything else. And so he forgot to be careful.

"Just come along to the den where I live," said the baby bear, "and maybe I'll get you some roller skates."

Toodle felt very happy to hear this, and walked along through the woods at the side of the brown baby bear. Pretty soon they came to the bear's den. At first Toodle was a little afraid when he saw the papa and mamma bear, but the baby bear waved his paws at them, and cried out:

"I've brought a nice fat beaver boy home with me. He wants some roller skates. I told him maybe he could have your old ones, papa, for you're going to take a long sleep."

"That's right," said Mr. Bear. "That's right."

Toodle thought it was funny for the baby bear to speak about how he had brought a fat beaver boy home.

"I wonder why he said I was fat," thought Toodle. Oh, if he had only known how bears like fat beavers just before they take a long winter sleep! Oh my, but just wait and see what happens.

"I'll go in and get the skates," said Mr. Bear. Then he said to his wife: "You stay out here with this nice fat beaver boy. Oh, isn't he fat!"

"I wonder why they're so glad I'm fat?" thought Toodle.

Well he sat down on his tail outside the bear's stone cave and waited. Mr. Bear and the little baby bear went inside.

Pretty soon, through an open window in the cave, Toodle heard voices speaking. They were the voices of the papa bear and the baby bear talking together.

"Didn't I do well to bring home a nice, fat beaver boy for our supper?" asked the baby bear. "I saw him in the woods, and when he said roller skates I could see that he wanted them very much. I knew you had an old pair, so I told him to come along."

"Yes," said Mr. Bear. "I'll make believe to give the skates to him, and then we'll ask him in the den to try them on, and then we can grab him, and----"

"Yum! Yum!" exclaimed the little bear, smacking his lips, and Toodle knew by that how hungry the little bear was.

"Ah, ha!" exclaimed the beaver boy. "So this is a trick, eh? The roller skates are only to fool me! Those bears want to get me in their den and then they'll eat me. I'm not going to stay here!" And with that he ran off toward a pond of water, where he knew he would be safe, for a bear can never catch a beaver in water.

"Here! Where are you going?" cried Mrs. Bear. "Come back for your roller skates, beaver boy!"

"I--I guess I don't want any," said Toodle, slyly-like, and with that he jumped into the water and swam safely home, though the big papa bear tried to catch him. But he didn't, I'm glad to say. So you see it was all a trick about the roller skates, and the baby bear tried to fool Toodle with them.

And when Toodle reached home he was all over the notion of wanting roller skates, which had nearly gotten him into a lot of trouble.

"Never believe what bears say--even a baby bear--unless they are good bears," said Grandpa Whackum when he heard what had happened, and Papa Flat-tail said the same thing. "And soon I'll show you how to make ice skates," said Grandpa Whackum.

So that is the story of Toodle, and how he didn't get his roller skates after all, and it's a good thing he didn't, I guess. And in the next story, if the spelling book doesn't jump over the geography and spill the ink bottle out of the parlor window, I'll tell you about Noodle and the pop corn.

STORY XXII

NOODLE AND THE POPCORN

One day, when Noodle and Toodle and little Crackie Flat-tail, the beaver children were on their way to school, which, as I have told you, was in an old boat, kept by Professor Rat, the three little animal children saw Grandfather Goosey Gander, the old duck gentleman, going along with a bag over his shoulder.

"Ha! Where do you s'pose he's going with that bag?" asked Toodle of Noodle, as the beaver boys stopped on the path to watch.

"I don't know," said Noodle to Toodle. "Maybe he is pretending to be Santa Claus."

"It is too early--Christmas is too far off--for anyone to be practicing Santa Claus now," said Toodle. "And anyhow, Grandpa Goosey hasn't a red coat on, all trimmed with white, and he hasn't any white whiskers, so he can't be Santa Claus."

"That's so," said Noodle. "Let's ask him what he's got in that bag. He'll tell us, and if it's something good to eat maybe he'll give us some."

"You boys had better come on to school," said Crackie, "or else you may be late."

"Oh, this won't take a minute," said Noodle. "I'll run after Grandpa Goosey and ask him. You and Toodle can go on, Crackie, and tell Professor Rat that I'm coming."

So Toodle and Crackie, the two little beaver children, went on to school, holding their broad, flat tails up out of the mud. Their tails were so large that when they grew tired the beaver children could sit on them, just as you children sit on a stool.

Noodle ran after the old duck gentleman, who had kept wobbling along with the bag over his shoulder, and, when the little beaver boy got near enough, he saw that the bag was very heavy indeed, and that Grandpa Goosey had hard work to carry it.

"Good morning, Grandfather Goosey Gander," said Noodle politely. "Don't you want me to help you carry that bag?" You see, Noodle wanted to know what was in it, but he knew it wasn't just nice to ask at once. So he offered first to help the duck gentleman.

"Ha! Hum!" exclaimed Grandfather Goosey, with a sneeze that made his hat fall off. Noodle kindly picked it up for him.

"Excuse me," went on Grandfather Goosey, speaking through his yellow bill. "You see I have a bad cold in my head. I can't talk very well, and I can't hear very well. Jimmie Wibblewobble, my little grandson, dropped part of his ice cream cone down my back the other night, at the duck party, and that gave me a cold. Oh dear!" and poor Grandfather Goosey Gander sneezed again. This time his spectacles flew off, and bounced into the pond of water.

But, in a second, Noodle, who could swim better than a fish, jumped in and got them out.

"Thank you very kindly," said Grandfather Goosey Gander, as he put his glasses on his ears--I beg your pardon--I mean his nose.

"What was it you asked me, Noodle?--just before I sneezed--excuse me--here I go again--aker-choo-choo-choo!" and surely enough, the duck gentleman sneezed like a choo-choo engine. This time a penny jumped out of his pocket, he sneezed so hard, and when Noodle picked up the money, Grandfather Goosey said the little beaver boy could keep it for himself.

"I asked if I couldn't help you carry your bag, Grandfather Goosey," said Noodle, when the sneezing had ended. "It seems too heavy for you. Maybe there is gold in it," he added, for, through a hole in the bag, the little beaver boy saw something yellow, just like gold.

"Gold! Ha! ha! No, I wish it were," said Grandfather Goosey Gander. "Then I would be as rich as Uncle Wiggly Longears, the rabbit gentleman.

"No, Noodle, this isn't gold. It is yellow corn, that we ducks will eat this winter, just as you beavers will eat the bark of trees."

"Do you want me to help you carry it?" asked Noodle. Somehow or other he was just a little sorry that the bag didn't have in it some Santa Claus Christmas presents. But then there was time enough for them later, he thought.

"Oh, bless your tail, no!" said Grandpa Goosey Gander, with a laughing quack. "I shall manage it very well. But, since you were so kind as to offer to help, Noodle, I will give you an ear of corn. It isn't the yellow kind that we ducks eat, but a white kind.

"And if you shell off the kernels and put them in a popper or a pan over the fire the corn will pop, and you can put butter on it, and salt; or you can put sugar on it, just like down on the board walk at Asbury Grove. Here is your ear of pop corn."

"Oh, thank you very much," said the little beaver boy, as Grandpa Goosey gave him the extra white ear of pop corn. "I'll pop it tonight and give Toodle and Crackie some," said Noodle.

"Very good," spoke Grandpa Goosey, and then, slinging his bag over his shoulder he started for home, while Noodle went on to school. He left the ear of pop corn outside in a hollow stump, where no one could find it, for he did not want to take it in school with him.

"Well, what did Grandpa Goosey have in the bag?" asked Toodle of Noodle at recess that day.

"Corn," answered Noodle, "and he gave me some of my own to pop. We'll have a good time home tonight."

Well, when evening came in the Flat-tail house, and when the lessons were all done, Noodle brought out his ear of corn, and he and Toodle and Crackie shelled off the kernels. There was a fire on the open fire place, and when the logs had burned down to red, glowing coals, Noodle put the popper over them and shook it back and forth, just as Grandpa Goosey had told him to do, so the corn would not burn.

"Now, children," said Mrs. Flat-tail to them, "your papa and I are going over to call on Uncle Wiggily Longears for a few minutes. Grandpa Whackum is out to a moving picture show, and so you will be all alone. But I know you will be all right."

"Yes, mamma," said Toodle and Crackie.

Then Noodle shook the popper some more, while his papa and mamma went out. The corn was rather slow in popping, and the beaver children were just wondering whether Grandpa Goosey had not made a mistake, and given Noodle the wrong kind, when, all of a sudden, the front door quietly opened, and in came creeping softly--oh! so softly!--a bad old fox!

He wanted to get one of the beaver children, but neither Noodle nor Toodle nor Crackie heard the fox, as they were so busy watching for the corn to pop.

Nearer and nearer crept the fox, and the bad creature suddenly stuck out his paws and grabbed Crackie.

"Now, I have you!" cried the fox, and at that Noodle, who was shaking the popper, turned around to see what had happened. And when he saw that the fox had hold of his sister Crackie, Noodle was so surprised that he forgot to shake the popper. That made the corn get very hot, and it quickly began to pop all at once.

All of a sudden poppity-pop-pop! it went, just like a lot of firecrackers, and the popper was so full that the cover flew off, and the white pop corn was scattered all over the room.

It showered on the fox just like snow, and the bad creature was so frightened at hearing the popping noise, and at seeing the snow white kernels burst out, that he cried:

"Oh, wow! Double wow and some pepperhash. Oh, I am shot! I am caught in a snow storm! Excuse me!"

And with that he let go of Crackie, and out of the door he rushed, home to his den where he belonged. And so he didn't get Crackie after all, nor Toodle nor Noodle. And the beaver children weren't frightened any more, and they popped corn, and made some with butter on, and some with sugar, and their papa and mamma and Grandpa Whackum said it was just fine.

So that's the story of Noodle and his pop corn, that Grandpa Goosey Gander gave him, and I hope you liked it. And next, if the puppy dog doesn't pull off the baby's stockings to play tag with in the gold-fish tank, I'll tell you about Toodle and Noodle in trouble.

STORY XXIII

TOODLE AND NOODLE IN TROUBLE

Of course, they didn't mean to do it. Children, whether they are animals, like little beaver boys, or real boys and girls like yourselves, never do mean to get into trouble, I suppose, but, sometimes they do, just the same.

And now, if you'd like to hear it, and won't wiggle too much, I'll tell you how Toodle and Noodle, the two little beaver boys, made a lot of trouble, just because they didn't stop to think.

It was one cool day, when there was no school, because Professor Rat had to go to the dentist's to have his spectacles fixed, that this happened.

Toodle and Noodle, with their sister Crackie, had started for school, and on the way, as they often did, they met Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrels, and Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbit children, and Buddy and Brighteyes, the guinea pigs, and many more of their friends.

And when they reached the school, which was in an old boat that floated around the pond, there was a sign on the door reading:

"No School Today. Come Tomorrow."

"Oh, joy!" cried Toodle.

"Oh, happiness!" said Noodle.

"Now we can have some fun," spoke Bully the frog. "Come on, boys, what shall we do?"

"Come over by our beaver pond and maybe we can have some fun there," suggested Toodle.

"Yes, you can coast down our mud slide into the water," added Noodle.

"Oh, I couldn't do that--rabbits are not supposed to do that," said Sammie Littletail.

"Well, come on, anyhow," urged Noodle. "We'll find some way to have fun."

So many of the animal boys went with Toodle and Noodle over to the beaver pond, where there was a dam, or a long, low wall of mud, stones, sticks and grass to keep the water from running away. It was just such a dam as you children build in the gutter on a rainy day, only the beaver dam was larger.

Most of the little girl animals--such as Susie Littletail, Dottie Trot, the pony girl; Kittie Kat, the little pussy girl--and, of course, Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble, the duck girls, went along with Crackie Flat-tail to the woods, to play with their dolls.

When Toodle and Noodle, and their boy friends, came running around the beaver pond--some of them, like Bully No-tail, the frog, swimming in it--the beaver lady said:

"My goodness, my sakes alive and some cherry potpie! What does this mean, Toodle--Noodle? Why are you home from school at this hour? It isn't out, is it?"

"There isn't any school, ma," said Toodle, putting away his books. "Professor Rat has the toothache in his spectacles. Oh, I'm so glad!"

"What!" cried Mrs. Flat-tail, "glad that any one is in pain?"

"Oh, no, ma," said Noodle, quickly. "Toodle meant that he was glad there was no school."

"That's it," said Toodle. "Come on, boys, let's have some fun. We'll go play around the dam, and I'll show you how we coast down the mud slide."

"Be very careful," said Mrs. Flat-tail. "There is a lot of water in the pond, on account of the big rain and the dam is not very strong. Don't do anything to break it, for that would make a lot of trouble. All the water would run out."

"We won't, ma," said Noodle, and really he meant it at the time he said it, of course.

Well, the boys who had come home with Toodle and Noodle began playing. They had lots of fun, and when the beaver boys slid down the slippery mud slide by sitting on their big tails, why, Sammie Littletail said it was as good as a circus, and wished he had a big tail such as all beavers have.

But of course when Toodle and Noodle slid down the mud slide that wasn't much fun for any one else, because the slide ran right into the water, into which Toodle and Noodle would go "ker-splash" every time they got to the bottom.

"I'll tell you what we can do," said Noodle, after a bit. "We can all go up to the top of the mud slide, and roll stones down it. The one who sends his stone the longest distance wins the game."

"That will be fun," cried Toodle. "Let's all get stones and roll them down."

Now this is what Toodle and Noodle should not have done, for the mud slide was close to the big dam that held in the waters of the beaver pond. And when the stones rolled down the slide they might break a hole in the dam. But Toodle and Noodle didn't think.

Soon all the boys were rolling stones, and many of the rocks hit the dam, bouncing off, turning somersaults over it, and some of them landing on it.

"Now for a big stone," cried Noodle, as he climbed up the slide, with a large rock on his tail, which was like a sled, you see.

"Oh, I have a bigger one!" cried Toodle, and up he came with one, too.

If Grandpa Whackum, the oldest beaver of them all, had been there he never would have let the boys play such a game, and, really, Toodle and Noodle should have known better. But they didn't think.

All of a sudden Toodle and Noodle rolled their big stones down the slide, which was made slippery with water from the pond. Toodle's stone struck the dam near the middle and Noodle's over a little to one side.

And then something happened. The stones broke large holes in the dam, and through these holes the water began rushing out. The beaver pond began to get lower and lower.

"Oh, dear!" cried Noodle. "Look what we did!"

"Yes, I guess we'd better be getting home, boys," said Samuel Littletail. "The beavers will think we did that, Billie Bushytail."

"You're right!" cried the squirrel boy. Then he and all the others were going to leave Toodle and Noodle, when Bully, the frog, cried out:

"Oh, say! That isn't fair! When we are playing ball, and we break a window, we all help pay for it. Now that the dam is broken, though we didn't do it, we must help Toodle and Noodle fix it. Come on, boys."

The little beavers, who had felt sad when they saw all their friends going to leave them, were happy now. By this time the water was fast rushing out of the pond, through the holes the stones had made in the dam. And from their houses came rushing the grown-up beavers, wondering what had happened.

When they saw the trouble Toodle and Noodle had made they cried out:

"Oh, dear!"

For you know if the dam breaks and all the water in the pond runs out the beavers have to make another, or else they could not live in their houses. For their front doors have to be under water, you see, to keep out bad animals.

Just then up came Grandpa Whackum. He saw right away that something must be done.

"Quick, boys," he called to Toodle and Noodle and their boy friends. "Bring me mud and sticks and leaves and grass and stones and pieces of wood. We'll mend the dam!"

Those animal boys who were good swimmers jumped into the pond and brought to Grandpa Whackum the things the other animals gathered from the woods. Soon the old beaver gentleman had many willing helpers, and with his paws, which were like a monkey's hands, and his big tail he stopped up the holes in the dam. Toodle and Noodle helped also.

But, oh! what a lot of trouble they had made, though they did not mean to. Soon the dam was all fixed and the water was stopped from running out of the pond. Then Grandpa Whackum gave all the animal boys a penny for ice cream sandwiches and everybody was happy. Toodle and Noodle said they would never roll big stones down the mud slide again.

"Well, I hope there is school tomorrow," said Grandpa Whackum, with a sigh, as he sat down on his tail to rest.

So that's how Toodle and Noodle made trouble, though not meaning to, and on the next page, if the jam doesn't fall on the toy balloon and make it so sticky that it can't go out in the baby carriage with the rubber doll, I'll tell you about Toodle and the chestnuts.

STORY XXIV

TOODLE AND THE CHESTNUTS

"Oh, but I'm glad there's no school today!" cried Billie Bushytail, the squirrel boy, as he made a noise like a popcorn ball and ran up one side of a tree and down the other.

"So am I!" cried his brother Johnnie, who was trying to see how long he could stand on his head without sneezing.

"Why are you so glad?" asked Toodle Flat-tail, the little beaver boy. "It's Saturday and you know there's never any school that day."

"I know there isn't," spoke Johnnie, "but then, you see, on account of there being none yesterday, when Professor Rat had the toothache in his spectacles, I thought maybe he'd make us come this morning."

"I didn't hear the bell ring, so I'm sure there's no school," said Toodle. "And if it's just the same to you, Billie and Johnnie, I wish you wouldn't speak about yesterday. I want to forget all about how Noodle and I rolled the big stones down the mud slide and broke the dam, making a lot of trouble for Grandpa Whackum."

"All right, we won't speak any more about it," said Johnnie, pleasantly. "But I'll tell you why I'm so glad there's no school today. It's because Billie and I are going after chestnuts."

"Chestnuts!" exclaimed Toodle, the beaver boy, looking at his tail to be sure there were no stickery bramble briars on it. "Where are they?"

"Oh, they grow on a tree like hickory nuts," said Johnnie, "only they come all wrapped up in a big burr, with sharp points on, and we have to wait for the frost to open the burr before we can get the nuts out."

"And when we do get them! Oh, yum-yum!" cried Billie. "How good they are--even better than ice cream!"

"Oh, now I know what you mean," said Toodle. "I have seen chestnuts, but I always thought they came roasted, and grew on a wagon that an Italian gentleman pushed around the street, on two wheels. So chestnuts grow on trees, eh?"

"To be sure," said Billie, "and if you like you may come with Johnnie and me when we gather some today."

"I'd just love to!" cried Toodle and he felt so happy that he tried to stand up on the end of his tail. But it was too broad and flat, and, though it was, as are all beavers' tails, good to sit on, like a stool, Toodle could not stand upon its end.

So, the consequence was, Toodle fell over backward, but his coat of fur (getting ready for winter) was so thick that he never felt his tumble any more than if he had landed in a feather bed, or in a basket of soap bubbles, which are as soft as anything I know of.

"Where's Noodle?" asked Johnnie, when Toodle had picked himself up and brushed the dirt off his coat by fanning himself with his wide tail. "Where is Noodle, Toodle?"