Part 3

So he threw the rest of the moth balls out of his airship at the lion. And the balls hit the bad creature on the nose and the lion cried, “Wow! Wow! Wow!” three times, just like that, and then he had to go to the dentist’s to have his nose fixed. So he didn’t chase the doggie any more.

“But where are the moth balls?” asked Nurse Jane, when Uncle Wiggily reached home in his airship. And when he told her what he had done with them she said: “Well, you were very kind, of course, but I guess I had better get the moth balls myself next time.”

And she did, and she put Uncle Wiggily’s fur coat away in them, and no moths tried to eat it at all. And, in the next story, if the stovepipe takes the refrigerator out to see the circus elephant jump over the back fence, I’ll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and the dentist.

STORY VIII

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE DENTIST

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman rabbit, was out taking a sail among the clouds in his airship, made from a clothes basket, some toy circus balloons, a Japanese umbrella and an electric fan, that went whizzie-izzie.

“Well, I wonder what will happen to me to-day?” Uncle Wiggily said to himself, as he steered out of the way of a thunderstorm that was having a race with a black cloud. “I suppose I shall have some sort of an adventure.”

And, surely enough he did, and I am going to have the pleasure of telling you all about it; that is, if you care to listen, as the telephone girl says.

Uncle Wiggily was sailing along, flying over the tops of the houses and the trees in animal land, when, all at once, as he fluttered in his airship above the burrow, or underground house where Sammie Littletail, the rabbit boy lived, Mr. Longears heard a voice crying:

“Oh, mamma! But I don’t want to go! I can’t go! I know it will hurt too much!”

“Silly boy!” said Mrs. Longtail, the rabbit lady. “Would you rather have the toothache than go to the dentist’s and have him take it away?”

“Do you mean take the toothache away or the tooth, mamma?” asked Sammie, curious like.

“Both,” answered Mrs. Littletail, with a smile.

“Oh, I’m not going!” yelled Sammie.

“Ha! There is trouble down there,” said Uncle Wiggily, as he listened to this talk. “I guess perhaps I had better go down and see what I can do.”

So down he went in his airship to the home of the Littletail rabbit family, and there, indeed, he found trouble. Sammie had the toothache, from eating too many carrot ice cream cones, and as the tooth was an old one, with a big hole in it, that tooth needed to be pulled.

“But I won’t go to the dentist’s!” howled Sammie. Sometimes boy animals, and real boys, too, are that way. It takes girls to go to the dentist. They don’t mind a bit. All they’re afraid of is that their hair ribbons may get bent, or twisted, but they are easily fixed.

“I’ll not go,” said Sammie, and he cried real hard.

“Oh, dear!” exclaimed Mrs. Littletail. “Whatever shall I do with you?”

“Ha! Perhaps I can help you!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, as he came sailing gently down in his airship. “Sammie, you come for a ride with me, and perhaps everything will be all right. Come in my airship.”

“Are we going to the dentist’s?” asked the rabbit boy.

“Well, we’ll just stop in and see how he is,” said Uncle Wiggily. “Perhaps he may have a new way of pulling teeth that won’t hurt you the least mite.”

Well, at first Sammie did not want to go, but finally he said he would, and into the airship he got with Uncle Wiggily.

Up near the clouds they went, sailing along until they came to the hollow stump office of the dentist, who was a bear gentleman, with long claws, just made on purpose for pulling out the aching teeth of the animal people.

“Here is my nephew, Sammie Littletail, the rabbit boy,” said Uncle Wiggily to the dentist bear. “He has an aching tooth!”

“And I want it pulled, but I am afraid it will hurt too much,” cried Sammie.

“Oh, nonsensicalness!” exclaimed the dentist bear. “I can pull teeth without anyone knowing it. Now did you ever tie a string around your tooth, and then fasten a flatiron to the other end of the string, and let the iron drop out of the window?”

“Yes,” said Sammie, “I have done that, and every time the flatiron dropped the tooth came out, also. But it hurt!”

“Well, maybe a little bit,” said the dentist bear. “But did you ever tie a string to the tooth you wanted pulled, and then tie the other end of the string to the door-knob, and have some one open the door suddenly, when you didn’t know it; ever do that?”

“Yes,” said Sammie, “I did. And the tooth came out that time, too.”

“Then we shall have to try a new way,” said the dentist bear. “Just let me tie a string to your tooth, and we shall see what happens.”

“You won’t pull it; will you?” asked the rabbit boy.

“No, I won’t pull it,” answered the dentist bear, as he blinked both his eyes at Uncle Wiggily sort of funny like.

So Sammie tied the string to his aching tooth; a good long strong string it was. The dentist took the other end of the cord and dropped it out of the window.

“What are you doing?” asked Sammie.

“You’ll see, in a minute,” answered the dentist. “Here, you just look at this picture book for awhile,” and he gave Sammie one with many prettily colored pictures in.

Well, when Sammie was looking at the picture book, the dentist took the loose end of the string, that was on the rabbit boy’s tooth, and tied it to Uncle Wiggily’s airship; tied the string I mean, not the tooth.

“Now,” whispered the nice bear to the rabbit gentleman, “if you start your airship all of a sudden you will pull on Sammie’s aching tooth, and you’ll have it out in a jiffy, which is very quick indeed.”

“I’ll do it!” said Uncle Wiggily. So, while Sammie was sitting there, with the string around his tooth, looking at the pictures and wondering what was going to happen, all of a sudden Uncle Wiggily started the airship. Up it went toward the clouds, pulling on the string, and the next minute Sammie felt a tug, and a pull and a yank and a jerk and, all of a sudden—out came his aching tooth.

“Oh!” he cried, jumping up. “What happened?”

“Your toothache is gone,” said the dentist bear gentleman. “Uncle Wiggily pulled it away with his airship.”

“Oh, I am so glad!” cried Sammie, when it was all over. “I didn’t know Uncle Wiggily was a dentist, too.”

Then his toothache stopped and he rode back home with the rabbit gentleman in the airship, and everybody was happy. Mrs. Littletail, especially, for Sammie had been very troublesome, though he did not mean to be. So this teaches us that an airship is good for pulling teeth, as well as for sailing up in the clouds.

And on the next page, if the pussy cat doesn’t fall out of the cherry tree and scratch the covers off the pansy bed, where the puppy dog sleeps, I’ll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and the grocery cat.

STORY IX

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE GROCERY CAT

Uncle Wiggily, the nice old gentleman rabbit, was working away out in the yard fixing his airship. He had been riding around in it a great deal of late, sailing up among the clouds, taking it out in rain storms, and once he even sailed in it across the duck pond, coming right down into the water with it.

And in doing all these things one of the handles of the clothes basket, which was part of the airship, had become bent and twisted. And some of the toy circus balloons needed to be blown up with fresh air, and there was a hole in the Japanese umbrella, which formed the top part of the airship, to keep the sun off Uncle Wiggily.

“Yes, I must fix up my airship,” said the rabbit gentleman as he worked away, whistling and twinkling his nose at the same time, like a star on a frosty night.

And that is very hard to do—to whistle and twinkle your nose at the same time. If you do not believe me just try it yourself and see.

“Have you any more sofa cushions I could take for my airship, Nurse Jane?” asked Uncle Wiggily, going into the house where the muskrat lady housekeeper was boiling some carrots to make a lemon pie.

“Sofa cushions?” Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy cried. “What in the world do you want of more sofa cushions?”

“To make another seat in the clothes basket of my airship,” answered the rabbit gentleman. “You see, I have room for two persons in it, and perhaps even three more of my animal friends, if we squeezed up a bit, but I need more sofa cushions to make a soft place for my company to land on in case we fall.”

“Well, I guess we have a few cushions left,” said the muskrat lady. “But, please, don’t lose them.”

Uncle Wiggily said he wouldn’t and soon he had his airship all fixed up with two nicely cushioned seats in it. Then he went back in the house to get a turnip cookie, with cocoanut sprinkled on the bottom, and he asked of Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy, most politely:

“Won’t you come and take a ride in my airship, Nurse Jane?”

“Oh, my goodness me, sakes alive and some fried soap bubbles!” cried the muskrat lady, surprised like. “No, indeed, thank you! I should be dreadfully afraid.”

“There is no danger at all,” Uncle Wiggily said, but Nurse Jane would not come out in the airship with him, and the rabbit gentleman had to go sailing all alone by himself.

Up into the air he soared, looking down on the tree tops, and he wished he had some one with him, for he was lonesome, Uncle Wiggily was. But Charlie and Arabella Chick, the hen lady’s children, were at school, and so were Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbits, and Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels. In fact Bully and Bawly No-Tail, the frog boys, and all the animal children were at school.

“I guess I can find no one to ride with me to-day,” sadly said Uncle Wiggily, after he had called on Grandfather Goosey Gander and found that the old goose gentleman had gone fishing after snails. Dr. Possum, on whom the old rabbit gentleman also called, was busy looking after the ill animals, so of course Dr. Possum could not go.

Well, Uncle Wiggily was getting more and more lonesome, and he was thinking of going back home, when, all of a sudden, down on the ground below him he heard some one saying:

“Oh, dear! Isn’t it too bad! Oh, such bad luck! and they want these things for the party, too! Oh, sorrow! Oh, unhappiness! Oh, woe is me!”

“My, some one must be having a whole bushel of trouble, and then some more,” said Uncle Wiggily, sort of surprised like. “I must see what this is.”

He made his airship go slowly down toward the ground, and then the rabbit gentleman saw the delivery boy grocery cat standing near an old stump, and looking down at a broken basket, that had been filled with things from the store. But the things were all spilled now.

“Ha! What is the matter, Tom?” asked Uncle Wiggily of the grocery cat. You see the cat’s name was Tom, and he worked at delivering groceries from the grocery store.

“Oh, I have such a lot of trouble,” said Tom. “As I was going along with the groceries just now, my basket handle broke, one of the sides slipped out, and the groceries spilled all over.”

“That is too bad,” said Uncle Wiggily kindly, as he made his airship go all the way down to the ground.

“And the worst of it is,” went on Tom, the grocery cat, “that the basket is so broken that I can’t use it again. I have no other and Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady, is in a hurry for these things. She wants them for a party she is getting up for Lulu, Alice and Jimmie. Oh, isn’t it too bad!”

“Yes, but it might be worse,” said Uncle Wiggily, cheerfully. “Nothing is so bad but what it could be worse.”

“I don’t see how,” spoke Tom, the grocery cat. “I can’t deliver these things, and Mrs. Wibblewobble will be so disappointed, and so will Lulu and Alice and Jimmie.”

“Oh, it might easily be worse,” laughed Uncle Wiggily, as he twinkled his nose twice and once more. “I might not have come along in my airship to help you. But here I am, and I have just put a new cushioned seat in the clothes basket, on purpose to give some one a ride.

“Now you get right in with me, and pile in the groceries. Never mind the broken basket. I’ll take you to Mrs. Wibblewobble’s house as fast as anything, and then you can deliver the groceries.”

“Oh, how kind you are!” cried Tom. In a second he had his groceries packed in Uncle Wiggily’s clothes basket airship. Then he and the old rabbit gentleman took their seats, up went the airship, around went the electric fan and pretty soon they were over the home of Mrs. Wibblewobble, the duck lady.

“Groceries!” cried Tom the cat, just as if he were at the back door, and when Uncle Wiggily lowered his airship, the things for the party were put on the back stoop. And wasn’t the duck lady surprised to see the groceries from the store come in an airship? Well, I guess she was! But she was delighted, too!

Then Tom, the grocery cat, thanked Uncle Wiggily again for helping him, and the rabbit gentleman took Tom back to the store, where he got a new basket, and everybody was happy.

And on the next page, if our piano doesn’t go out to a phonograph party and forget to come home to breakfast, I’ll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and the smoky chimney.

STORY X

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE SMOKY CHIMNEY

Once upon a time there was a Flump, who lived in animal land, not far from where Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, had his hollow stump bungalow with nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady. This Flump lived in a house all by herhimself, and heshe was not a very pleasant sort of an animal.

You see, a Flump is sometimes a he and sometimes a she, so I have to mix up the words. And another thing—a Flump is always sad and cross and unhappy, and tries to make others unhappy, too. So, whatever you are, please, please, please never be a Flump.

A Flump can never see anything good in anything or anybody. Gracious, if there were many Flumps in this world it would be a dreadful place in which to live.

For instance, a Flump doesn’t like to see children playing tag and running about, and a Flump doesn’t like to hear children laugh and shout. If the Flumps had their way it would always be dark and bedtime, and everybody would go in their houses and shut themselves up and be gloomy and sad. There never would be any Christmas or Fourth of July, and school would always be in, with no recess, and there wouldn’t be any ice cream cones, or merry-go-rounds, or peanuts, or toy balloons, or circus-lemonade, or anything like that.

However, thank goodness, there aren’t many Flumps in the world. But, I am sorry to say, one lived near Uncle Wiggily. And one day when the old gentleman rabbit was sailing around in his airship he happened to land on the ground close by the house of this Flump.

Some of the wind came out of the toy circus balloons that Uncle Wiggily had fastened on his clothes basket airship, and the rabbit gentleman came down to blow more air in them.

The Flump saw him, and coming out of herhis house, with a sad, gloomy face, the Flump said, most dolefully and sorrowfully:

“Oh, why do you waste your time riding around in your airship, Mr. Longears? Why do you waste your time?”

“I do not waste my time,” said the rabbit gentleman cheerfully. “I ride about, it is true, but whenever I see any one in trouble I help them if I can.”

“Ah, yes, but how much better,” said the Flump, “how much better it would be if you would sell your airship and put the money away where you would always have it. Then you could stay in the house all day and be sad, as I am. Oh, I love to be sad.”

“Yes,” said Uncle Wiggily, “I guess you do! You look it! But I do not like to be sad. I like to be happy and make others happy if I can.”

“Happy!” cried the Flump. “There is no such thing as happiness! All is sad and gloom! See, it is getting dark. It will soon be night, and I’ll be glad, for then every one will have to go to bed.”

“No, it is not getting night,” said Uncle Wiggily; “that is only the sun going under a cloud. It will soon come out shining again.” And, surely enough it did, but the Flump was not happy.

“I am going in the house and take some bitter medicine,” said the Flump, sadly like.

“Well, I hope it will do you good,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, cheerfully and politely.

So the Flump went in herhis gloomy house, to take hisher bitter sour medicine, and Uncle Wiggily fixed his airship. Pretty soon, just as he was about to sail up toward the blue sky, where the sun was shining, and the birds were singing, the Flump came running out, crying:

“Oh, woe is me! Oh, unhappiness! I knew something would happen! My house is on fire!”

Uncle Wiggily looked, and, surely enough, a lot of smoke was pouring out of the doors and windows of the Flump animal’s house. Thicker and thicker grew the smoke.

“Yes, there must be a fire!” cried the rabbit gentleman. “But don’t worry! I’ll call out the water bug fire department, and we’ll soon make everything right. Don’t worry!”

“Oh, but I just love to worry!” cried the Flump. “I am glad I have something about which to worry! Oh, unhappiness!”

But Uncle Wiggily had no time to worry. Into his airship he jumped, and off he flew to get the fire department.

He brought back the brave water bugs with their buckets of water, but when they had rushed in the Flump’s house they came out, saying, as they wiped the smoke out of their eyes:

“There is no fire there!”

“No fire?” cried Uncle Wiggily. “But look at the smoke.”

“The chimney is stopped up,” said the head water bug. “There is something in the chimney, and when the Flump built a fire all the smoke came out into the room, instead of going up the flue.”

“Oh, I knew something was the matter,” sobbed the Flump. “And I am glad of it. Now I can be more unhappy than ever.”

“Oh, fie!” cried Uncle Wiggily, twinkling his nose. “It is wrong to be sad and unhappy! Besides, I can soon make you happy.”

“How can I be glad when my chimney smokes?” asked the Flump. “It is all stopped up.”

“Well, perhaps we can unstop it,” said the rabbit gentleman. “We will try.”

The water bugs tried to get whatever it was out of the chimney, but they could not. Neither could a policeman dog, who came in, and barked up the fireplace as hard as he could bark. Then Uncle Wiggily said:

“I will now use my airship. I’ll go up above the chimney and poke a long pole down the chimney hole.” He did this, and a loose brick that had fallen down the flue, stopping it up, was poked out by the rabbit gentleman, and then the chimney did not smoke any more. A fire could now be built in the stove.

“Be happy now, Flump!” cried Uncle Wiggily, cheerfully. And all the water bugs cried:

“Yes, be happy!”

And then, all of a sudden, when the Flump saw how kind every one was to himher, and how anxious every one was for herhim to be glad, the Flump just turned up the corners of hisher mouth—instead of turning them down—and heshe took off the dark spectacles shehe wore, and put on a pair with beautiful rose-colored glasses, so that all the world looked cheerful, and the Flump said:

“Yes, I will be glad! I’m sorry I was ever sad!”

“Oh, don’t even be sorry that you were once sad,” cried Uncle Wiggily, joyfully; “just be glad you are glad, and don’t ever remember you were sad!”

“I’ll always be glad now,” went on the Flump, who turned out to be a nice old lady Grandmother, after all her troubles were over. Then she made up a fire in the stove, the chimney didn’t smoke any more and the Flump made a big chocolate cake and gave every one some. And ever after that the Flump was named Scrump, instead of Flump. For Scrump is short for scrumptious, which means just lovely, you know. And Uncle Wiggily took Scrump for a ride in the airship, and they picked flowers up in cloudland.

And in the next story, if robin redbreast doesn’t take our milk bottle for his bath tub and go picking strawberries off the rose bush, I’ll tell you about Uncle Wiggily and the church bell.

STORY XI

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CHURCH BELL

“Here is a package for you, Mr. Longears,” said Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat lady housekeeper, as she entered the dining-room, of the hollow stump bungalow, where the rabbit gentleman was eating his breakfast right after supper—the next day, of course.

“A package for me—how nice!” exclaimed Uncle Wiggily. “Let me see—what day is it?”

“I don’t see that it makes any difference,” spoke Nurse Jane. “A package is a package any day.”

“Ah, yes, very true,” admitted Uncle Wiggily. “But a package on April Fools’ day is quite different from one on Christmas.”

“So it is,” said the muskrat lady with a laugh. “But as it happens, this is not April Fools’ day.”

“No, it is not,” admitted Uncle Wiggily, “and in that case I will open the package. Who brought it?”

“Billie Bushytail, the squirrel boy, on his way to school left it for you,” answered Nurse Jane.

“And from whom did it come?” Uncle Wiggily wanted to know.

“You had better open it and see,” suggested Nurse Jane.

Uncle Wiggily did so, and what do you s’pose he found? Why in the package was a lovely chocolate cake, with cocoanut on top, and a yellow carrot in the middle. And there was a little card on which was written:

“From the Scrump, who used to be a Flump, to Dear Uncle Wiggily.”

“Ha!” exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit. “This is very nice. I am glad I helped change the Flump into a Scrump.”

I told you that story on the page before this, you remember. The Flump was a curious, sad sort of a mixed-up animal, but when Uncle Wiggily fixed her smoky chimney, the Flump turned into a Scrump, which is short for Scrumptious, and scrumptious means lovely.

“My! that is good chocolate cake,” said the gentleman rabbit, passing Nurse Jane a large slice. “Just give it away to the animal children when they come home from school.”

“That’s just like you!” cried the muskrat lady. “Giving away everything you get! Why don’t you eat it yourself?”

“I had rather see others eat it,” replied Uncle Wiggily. And I might say that if ever you feel yourself turning into a Flump, just start giving things away, or making others happy, and you’ll become a Scrump right away. And it’s much nicer to be a Scrump than a Flump.

“Where are you going?” asked Nurse Jane, as Uncle Wiggily got up from the table.

“Out for a ride in my airship,” replied the rabbit gentleman. “It is a lovely day, and I might find some in trouble whom I could help. Yes, I shall go for a little ride.”

“Well, don’t fall,” begged Nurse Jane, and Uncle Wiggily promised that he would not. Soon he was soaring and flying up near the clouds in his airship, that was made from a clothes basket, some circus balloons, a Japanese umbrella and an electric fan.

Pretty soon, in a little while, not so very long, Uncle Wiggily heard, down on the earth, some one saying most sadly:

“Oh, dear! Now I am in trouble!”

“My! I wonder if that’s Tom, the grocery cat, who has another broken basket?” said Uncle Wiggily to himself. “If it is I must help him.”

He looked down and found that, right under him, was a big church with a steeple and in front of the church was the sexton, or janitor, a very nice man, indeed, if you will kindly allow me to say so.

“Oh, dear! Such trouble!” cried the sexton man, sadly.

“What is the trouble?” asked Uncle Wiggily kindly, as he lowered his airship. “Perhaps I can help you.”

“I’m afraid not,” answered the janitor. “You see, the rope by which I pull the church bell is broken. To-morrow is Sunday and I have not time to mend the rope. I can’t ring the bell, and unless I do make it jingle ding-dong, the people will not hear it and will not come to church.”

“Ha! That is too bad!” agreed Uncle Wiggily. “For going to church does every one good. But won’t they come even if the bell doesn’t ring?”