XXV

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE RED FAIRY

Well, I didn't find that penny rolling up hill, after all, but never mind, I'll tell you a story just the same. Let's see, we left off about Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman rabbit, and what was going to happen to him when he should meet the red fairy, didn't we?

Uncle Wiggily walked along very slowly, going home from the party Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble had. Sammie Littletail saw how slowly his uncle walked, and asked:

"What is the matter, Uncle Wiggily? Does your rheumatism hurt you very much?"

"No, it isn't that," replied the old gentleman rabbit, "though it does pain me some. I was just wondering about that red fairy."

"Oh, do you really suppose one will appear, as the fairy prince said?"

asked Susie, making her nose twinkle like two stars and a comet on a frosty night.

"No," spoke Uncle Wiggily very decidedly, "I don't really believe one will. Still, there may. You never can tell in this world what is going to happen," and I think Uncle Wiggily was right about it.

"Oh!" cried Susie, "I wish I could come with you, Uncle Wiggily. I never saw a real fairy in all my life. Couldn't I come with you?" and the little rabbit girl went close to her uncle, and took hold of his crutch, gnawed by the muskrat, Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, out of a cornstalk.

"Yes, I suppose you could," answered Susie's Uncle, who was very kind to her.

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Sammie. "It might spoil the magic spell, if more than one went, Uncle Wiggily. Maybe the fairy would not like it. You had better go alone."

"All right," answered the old gentleman rabbit, "anything to please you.

I'll go alone."

Well, when the rabbit family got back to their burrow, after the party, they could talk of nothing else but what was going to happen when Uncle Wiggily should meet the red fairy. Sammie and Susie didn't want to go to bed, they were so excited, but their mamma sent them up with Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy.

Now listen very carefully, for the fairy will soon appear, and you know what happens then. Oh, yes, indeed, something wonderful.

Well, when it came time, Uncle Wiggily started off alone to the woods to meet the red fairy. He walked on, and on, and on, and he had to go pretty slow, because his rheumatism was hurting him again. And suddenly, when he was right under a big oak tree, what should he hear but a silver trumpet blowing "Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta-ra!" Just like that, honest. Then he stood still, and a sort of shivery feeling came over him, and he looked up and he looked down and he looked to one side and then to the other.

And then he wiggled his ears, and he wrinkled up his nose as fast as fast could be. Then he heard some one call:

"Uncle Wiggily Longears!"

"Yes, I'm here!" he answered.

"And I am the red fairy!" cried the voice again, and when the old gentleman rabbit looked up in the tree, what do you suppose he saw?

Well, you'd never guess, so I'll tell you.

There, perched on a limb, was a beautiful little lady, all dressed in red, with a red cloak on, and a red hat on, and it had a red feather in it; in fact, she was as red as Red Riding Hood ever thought of being.

"Do you believe in fairies, Uncle Wiggily?" she asked.

"No," replied the old rabbit, "I can't say that I do."

"Well," went on the little creature, "you soon will. Watch me carefully."

And with that, what did she do but float down from that tall tree, just as one of those red balloons you buy at the circus floats along. Yes, sir, she floated right down to where Uncle Wiggily was. Then she waved her magic wand in the air three times, and said this word: "Higgildypiggilyhobbledehoi!" It's a very hard word for you to say, I know, but easy for a fairy. Well, she said that word, and then, all at once, what should happen but that a golden ball appeared, floating in the air.

"Catch the golden ball!" cried the red fairy.

"I can't!" answered the old rabbit. "I haven't played ball in years, and years, and years."

"Well," went on the fairy, with a laugh, "no matter. It will come to you," and you may not believe me, but if that golden ball didn't float right down into Uncle Wiggily's hands. He had to drop his crutch to catch it.

"Now," proceeded the red fairy, "do you want to see me do something magical to prove that I am wonderful, and a real fairy?'"

"Yes," answered Uncle Wiggily, "certainly."

"Well, what shall I do? Name something wonderful."

"If you could cure me of my rheumatism it would be wonderful," he answered. "It hurts me something fierce, now."

"Ha! That is not wonderful at all," spoke the red fairy. "That is altogether too easy. But I will do it all the same. Watch me carefully."

Then, as true as I'm telling you, if that golden ball didn't begin to dance up and down, and sideways, and around and around Uncle Wiggily, leaping here, and there, and everywhere, until he could hardly see it.

And the silver trumpet blew: "Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta-ra!" just like that, and all of a sudden Uncle Wiggily felt himself being lifted up, and whirled around, and then came a clap of thunder, and then it all got still, and quiet, and a little bird began to sing. Then the fairy's voice asked:

"Well, Uncle Wiggily, how is your rheumatism now?"

"Why!" exclaimed the old rabbit, "it is all gone. It certainly is. I never would have believed it," and, honestly, the pain was all gone, and he didn't need his crutch for a long time after that. Then he believed that the red lady was a fairy, and he hurried home to tell Sammie and Susie, while the little red lady and the golden ball flew back into the tree. "Oh!" cried Susie, when she heard the story, "I wish I could see a fairy!" And, listen, she did! The very next day; and, if nothing happens, the story to-morrow night will be about Susie Littletail and the blue fairy.

Now listen, Uncle Wiggily felt so good at being cured of his rheumatism that he asked the red fairy if some boys and girls, who had been very good, couldn't stay up after they had heard the bedtime story to-night.

"I want to make them happy because I am happy," said Uncle Wiggily.

"Yes, they stay up if their papas and mammas will let them," answered the red fairy, so now you just ask, but be very polite about it, and see what happens. But don't stay up too late, you know, for that would never do, never at all.

XXVI

SUSIE AND THE BLUE FAIRY

They were talking about Uncle Wiggily's visit to the red fairy, in the rabbits' burrow the next day, when Susie remarked:

"Well, if I saw a fairy, I think I'd ask for something more magical than having my rheumatism cured."

"No you wouldn't," said her uncle, as he nibbled a bit of chocolate-covered carrot that Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had made. "You think you would, but you wouldn't. In the first place, you never had rheumatism, or you'd be glad to get the first fairy you saw to cure it.

And in the second place, when you see a fairy it makes you feel so funny you don't know what you are saying. But I am certainly glad I met that one. I never felt better in all my life than I do since my rheumatism is cured. I believe I'll dance a jig."

"Oh, no, don't," begged Mamma Littletail.