“Ha! I thought at first it might be Jackie Bow Wow,” spoke Uncle Wiggily.
“No; I am another Jack,” said the boy. “I’m one of Mother Goose’s friends.”
“Are you Jack Sprat?” Sammie wanted to know, “who could eat no fat?”
But still the boy did not look like that Jack.
“I’ll tell you who I am,” the boy said. “I’m Jack-be-Nimble, Jack-be-Quick, Jack jump over the candlestick.”
“Oh, now I remember,” spoke Uncle Wiggily. “How do you do, Jack-be-Nimble?”
“But the trouble is I can’t do it,” went on Jack.
“Can’t do what?” asked Sammie Littletail.
“I can’t be nimble and jump over the candlestick,” was the answer. “I’ve tried and tried. But it seems of no use. Every time I jump I either hit the candle, and put it out, or I come down ker-flunk! in it, and get my shoes all grease. Mother Goose says I ought to be ashamed of myself. If I can’t jump over the candlestick, I can’t be in her book, she says, and Oh, dear! I don’t want to be put out of the nice book.”
“That’s too bad,” said Uncle Wiggily. “Now, Jack, I’ll tell you what to do. You watch Sammie and me jump, and perhaps that will teach you how. Watch us. Come on, Sammie, we must jump some more to teach Jack.”