“Ha!” said Uncle Wiggily softly. “I thought so! The wise man! I have found him! Now to see if he has Nannie’s doll!”
Uncle Wiggily peeked through the bush, which was a blackberry one, only there were no berries on it now. On the other side, sitting on the ground, was the Wise Man, wearing glasses, and he had Nannie’s doll in his hands. He was talking to the doll, something like this:
“Now, little doll, don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. I’m just going to toss you into the berry bush, and scratch out both your eyes. But that won’t hurt, for as soon as I see your eyes are out, with all my might and main, I’ll toss you in another bush and scratch them in again. There you go!”
Before Uncle Wiggily could stop him, the Wise Man had tossed Nannie’s doll, Priscilla Spicecake Orangejuice, into the berry bush. Then the man cried:
“Yes, your eyes are scratched out, all right, dollie! Now to scratch them in again!” And, before Uncle Wiggily could hop any closer to stop him, the Wise Man tossed again into the bush, the poor doll. And when she fell down the Wise Man carefully picked her up, and, looking at her, said:
“Alas! Alack a-day! Woe is me! The eyes aren’t scratched in again at all! Oh, dear, what shall I do? I’ll have to get the little goat girl another doll.”
Uncle Wiggily jumped out from behind the berry bush.
“What do you mean?” asked the bunny uncle. “Why do you treat a poor doll so? Look, her hair has come off, and her eyes have fallen out! Oh, my!” and from the ground he picked up the doll’s hair-wig and eyes, which were of glass, fastened together with wire.
“I’m sorry,” said the Wise Man. “I’m very sorry this has happened. But I read about the Wise Man in the Mother Goose book, who jumped into a berry bush and got a new pair of eyes. I thought I could do the same as he, for I’m tired of glasses.
“But I thought I’d try it on a doll first, to see if it were true. So, not having any doll of my own I took Nannie’s, meaning no harm. But see what I have done!” he said, sadly. “I have scratched out her eyes and her wig is off, and I can’t put the eyes back again, nor yet the wig. It’s a good thing I didn’t jump into the scratchy bush myself. It is better to wear glasses than have no eyes at all.”