Uncle Wiggily’s Fishing Trip Or The Good Luck He Had With the Clothes Hook
“Where are you going, boys?” asked Uncle Wiggily Longears, the bunny rabbit gentleman one day, as he stood in front of his hollow stump bungalow. Nurse Jane was on the steps, shaking the wrinkles out of the table cloth. Going past, with poles over their shoulders, was Jackie Bow Wow, the puppy dog boy, and Charlie Chick, the little rooster chap. “Where are you going?” Uncle Wiggily asked them. “Fishing,” answered Jackie. “Don’t you want to come?” crowed Charlie, the rooster. “Yes, I think I might go, later on, perhaps,” said Uncle Wiggily.
“Why, Uncle Wiggily!” cried Nurse Jane, as she looked out the window. “You’ll let all my nicely washed clothes down in the mud if you loosen that line! Please stop!” Uncle Wiggily stopped, but he said: “I want a bit of line to go fishing with, Nurse Jane. You have more than you need here.” The muskrat lady laughed. “I’ll get you an extra piece that has no clothes hanging on it,” she said. “But aren’t you afraid the sharp hook will hurt the fish you catch?” Uncle Wiggily shook his head. “I’m going to use a smooth hammock hook,” he said.
“So you are going fishing, are you?” Nurse Jane called after the bunny rabbit gentleman who hopped down the road. “Yes,” he answered. “You gave me a bit of clothes line, I’ll use my rheumatism crutch for a pole, the dull hammock hook will not hurt the fish, and for bait I’ll give them some of the cherry pie you put up for my lunch.” Nurse Jane waved her paw, and said she hoped the bunny gentleman would have good luck and bring home plenty of fish. “Uncle Wiggily thinks he’ll catch something,” said the Pipsisewah to Skeezicks, “but we’ll catch him!”
“Well, now I am all ready to begin fishing,” said Uncle Wiggily to himself, as he sat down on a green, mossy bank, in a shady nook beside a little brook. “I’ll bait the dull hammock hook with a nice, sweet, juicy bit of cherry pie, and then we’ll see what I shall catch.” Hiding behind the rabbit gentleman, in the bushes, the Skeezicks and Pipsisewah whispered to one another about catching Uncle Wiggily. “I only hope I don’t spoil my nice, new hat,” said the Skee. “And I hope nothing happens to my new cap,” spoke the Pip. Uncle Wiggily knew nothing of this.
“Dear me hum suz dud and some slippery eels!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “What is this I have caught without even wetting my hook in the brook? I declare! It’s a fine hat! I’ll take it home and Nurse Jane can fix it up for me! Hats cost money. Now I have a new one for nothing!” Uncle Wiggily’s hook had snatched the hat off the head of the Skeezicks hiding in the bushes. And oh, how surprised the Skee was. Likewise the Pipsisewah. “Come on, let’s grab him quick!” cried the bad chaps. “He’ll catch us on the hook next!” So they got ready to get the bunny.
“Well, I do declare!” cried Uncle Wiggily, as once more he swung his hook and line around his head. “I seem to be having the queerest luck today! First I catch a hat and then I catch a cap. Well, so much the better for me. They are both quite sporty. Now I will not have to buy anything to cover my head all winter. But I must try to catch a fish for Nurse Jane.” The bad Skeezicks and the worse Pipsisewah were dancing up and down, they were so mad. “It’s all your fault!” howled the Pip as he saw his fine cap snatched away. “No, it’s yours!” gargled the Skee.
“Now to see what I catch this time!” cried Uncle Wiggily, as once more, he swung his hook and line around his head. “Come on!” cried the Pip to the Skee. “Come on! This is no place for us! First thing we know he’ll catch us on that hook!” The Skee began to run, saying: “Uncle Wiggily is too good a fisherman for us. We’ll have to try again!” The bunny gentleman had put the hat and cap down on the grass beside him. Then he saw Jackie Bow Wow and Charlie Chick coming along. The puppy dog boy and the rooster chap had caught nothing.
“Oh, Uncle Wiggily! Look!” cried Jackie Bow Wow, as he and the bunny gentleman and Charlie Chick stopped in front of a drug store on their way home from the fishing trip. “Look! Special sale of ice cream cones!” Charlie Chick said: “I wonder how they taste?” Uncle Wiggily, who had not caught any fish, any more than had the puppy and rooster, sort of blinked his eyes. “I wonder how much those gold minnows are?” he said to himself. “I’m going in and ask. I guess I can buy gold fish with silver money. And we’ll see about some ice cream cones, too!”
“Well, Uncle Wiggily, did you have good luck?” asked Nurse Jane, as, standing at the gate of the hollow stump bungalow, she saw Mr. Longears coming back from his fishing trip. “Good luck? I should say so! I caught a cap and a hat, and a glass bowl full of fish.” Nurse Jane laughed. “Did you catch anything, Jackie and Charlie?” she asked. “Ice cream cones,” answered the puppy dog and rooster chap. “They’re better than fish!” And back in their dens the Pip and Skee had nothing but cold potatoes for supper, and they had to wear an old cap and hat.
And if the wind doesn’t blow the smoke out of the chimney, and tickle the gold fish so it sneezes itself out of the water into the condensed milk, the next pictures and story will tell how
