"Ha!" cried Toodle. "I have it. I'll make a lot of soapsuds in the water; it will get in the rat's eyes, and he'll have to let Jimmie go."
No sooner said than done. Holding the cake of soap in his paws, Toodle sozzled it around in the water until he had made a thick lather. Of course, none got in his eyes, or in Jimmie's. But the bad rat's eyes got full of soapsuds, and so did his mouth, and you know how badly soap tastes. So the rat let go of Jimmie's leg and swam off to wash in some clean water, crying:
"Oh, dear! How my eyes hurt! Oh, that Toodle Flat-tail is too smart for me."
And so Toodle saved Jimmie, and when Grandpa Whackum came swimming back with Noodle there was nothing for him to do. So the duck and the beavers swam home together, and Mrs. Flat-tail made a lovely cocoanut cake, without any soap in it, and gave them all some.
And next, if the cork doesn't pop out of the ink bottle and blacken the eye of the needle, when it tries to sew a button on the bean bag, I'll tell you about Noodle helping Uncle Wiggily.
[STORY XXIX]
NOODLE HELPS UNCLE WIGGILY
Noodle and Toodle Flat-tail, the two little beaver boys, were in the hollow stump school, where Professor Rat and Miss Lady Bug taught and heard the lessons of the animal children. School had just begun, and the pupils were singing a little song that went something like this:
"We dearly love our teacher,