The Pipsisewah and the Skeezicks Knew Not What Uncle Wiggily Had in the Bag. But When They Found Out! Oh My! Oh My!
Uncle Wiggily Longears, the bunny rabbit gentleman, leaned on the gate in front of his hollow stump bungalow one day. He was all dressed up to take a walk, but didn’t know where to go. All at once he saw Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the two squirrel boys. “Where are you going, Johnnie and Billie?” asked the bunny uncle. “We are going to the woods for some chestnuts and hickorynuts,” answered Johnnie. “Mother puts them in our cake.” Uncle Wiggily said that was fine. “I wonder if Nurse Jane will bake a cake if I get some nuts?” said Uncle Wiggily.
“Nurse Jane,” asked Uncle Wiggily, as he gave a hop, skip and jump back into the hollow stump bungalow, after Billie and Johnnie had scampered on down the woodland path, “Nurse Jane, if I get some hickorynuts, or chestnuts, will you bake them in a cake for me?” She said she would, and be very glad to. So Uncle Wiggily found an empty flour bag and, slinging it over his shoulder, off he started to find some nuts in the woods. “And please be careful that the Pipsisewah or the Skeezicks doesn’t get you!” begged Nurse Jane.
Uncle Wiggily hopped and jumped through the woods, with the empty flour sack over his shoulder. He was thinking how good the nut cake would taste when, all of a sudden, the bunny rabbit gentleman came to a big pile of chestnuts under a tree. The wind has blown them down, but they were still in the stickery, prickery burrs, Jack Frost not having cracked them open. Uncle Wiggily did not know as much about chestnuts as did Johnnie and Billie, the squirrels, and picked up the nuts with his bare paws. “Ouch,” he cried. “I’m stuck full of splinters!”
While Uncle Wiggily was wondering how he could fill his bag with chestnuts, and not get the stickers in his paws, along through the woods came Charlie and Arabella Chick, the little rooster boy and the little hen girl. “Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” crowed Charlie, “Arabella and I will pick up the stickery chestnuts for you in our beaks. They won’t stick us!” Uncle Wiggily said that would be very kind. So, while the bunny held open the bag, Charlie and Arabella filled it with the prickly chestnuts. And what do you suppose the Pipe and Skee are going to do?
“Good-bye, Uncle Wiggily! Good-bye!” crowed Charlie the rooster chap, as the bunny rabbit gentleman’s bag was filled with chestnuts, and he started for his hollow stump bungalow. “Good-bye!” answered Uncle Wiggily. “When Nurse Jane bakes the nut cake, I’ll save you each a piece for having so kindly helped me!” The Pipsisewah, hiding behind a tree with the Skeezicks, heard what the bunny said and cried: “He must have a cake in that bag! When he isn’t looking, I’ll tear the bag open with my claws and the cake will fall out!”
Uncle Wiggily walked along through the woods, with the bag of chestnut burrs over his shoulder. “When I get home,” thought the bunny, “I’ll get Johnnie and Billie Bushytail to help me take the stickers off the chestnuts, and then Nurse Jane can make the cake.” Following behind Uncle Wiggily, laughing and skipping and full of glee, was the old Pipsisewah and also Mr. Skee. “Won’t we have a good time when I rip that bag open with my claws, and Uncle Wiggily’s cake falls out!” cried the Pip. “Indeed we will!” said the Skee. But you wait and see.
“Hello there, Johnnie and Billie!” cried Uncle Wiggily, as he saw the two squirrel boys up in a tree. “Did you find any nuts?” the bunny asked them. “Yes, a few,” answered Billie. “What’s in your bag, Uncle Wiggily?” asked Johnnie. “Oh, something good,” replied the bunny rabbit. “Charlie and Arabella Chick helped me, but if it hadn’t been for you I never would have thought of nut cake. So come down to my hollow stump bungalow!” Johnnie and Billie were delighted. “Now is my chance!” whispered the Pip to the Skee. “Watch the cake fall out of the bag!”
“My goodness me sakes alive and a peanut lollypop! What happened?” cried Uncle Wiggily, looking around as he felt the bag on his back ripped open. “What’s the matter?” Johnnie and Billie laughed to see the Pipsisewah and Skeezicks all stuck up with the sharp chestnut burrs. “That’s what happened, Uncle Wiggily!” chattered Billie. “The Pip and Skee were fooled all right!” “You said there was cake in that bag!” growled the Skee, picking a chestnut splinter from his nose. “I thought so,” sadly howled the Pip, who had a splinter in each ear.
“Well, everything came out all right, didn’t it, Uncle Wiggily?” asked Johnnie, as Nurse Jane gave him another slice of cake. “Yes, everything came out all right—even the prickly chestnut burrs out of my bag!” laughed the bunny. “The Pip and Skee won’t bother me again very soon. They are full of splinters.” Charlie and Arabella had helped pick up the chestnuts the second time, the bunny fixed the hole made by the Pipsisewah, and Johnnie and Billie opened the chestnuts. Nurse Jane made the cake. Everybody was happy except the Pip and the Skee.
And if the potato pudding doesn’t go out in the dark, and get lost, so the apple pie can’t jump rope with it at the Pussy Cat’s party, the next pictures and story will tell how
