"I don't see why!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, and he bent one of his long ears forward and the other backward, until he looked as if he had the letter V on top of his head. But, of course, he hadn't, for that letter is in the reading book—or it was the last time I looked.
"Yes," said Dr. Possum, "you must go away."
"I don't see why," said Uncle Wiggily again. "Couldn't I get well at home here?"
"No, you could not," replied Dr. Possum. "If you want me to tell you the truth——"
"Oh, always tell the truth!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, quickly. "Always!"
"Well, then," said Dr. Possum, as he looked in his medicine case, to see if he had any strong peppermint for Aunt Jerushia Ann, the little, nervous old lady woodchuck. "Well, then, to tell you the truth, you are getting too fat, and you must take more exercise."
"Exercise!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "Why! Don't I play a game of Scotch checkers with Grandfather Goosey Gander, the old gentleman duck, nearly every day? And we always eat the sugar cookies we use for checkers."
"That's just it," said Dr. Possum, as he rolled up a sweet sugar-pill for Sammie Littletail, the mill rabbit boy; "you eat too much, and you don't jump around enough."
"But I used to," said Uncle Wiggily, while he twinkled his pink nose like a red star on a frosty night. "Why, don't you remember the time I went off and had a lot of adventures, and how I traveled after my fortune, and found it?"
"That is just the trouble," spoke Dr. Possum. "You found your fortune, and since you became rich you do nothing. I remember the time when you used to teach Sammie and Susie Littletail how to keep out of traps, and how to dig burrows and watch out for savage dogs."