Imperial Valley Press

UNCLE WIGGILY'S PARADE

"Will you be all right in there for a while?" asked Uncle Wiggily as he looked down inside an old hollow tree.

"Oh, yes. it is lovely and warm in here." was the answer. "Thank you so much! We are almost happy again."

"Ma! Ma! Ask him about something to eat!" spoke a little voice from deeper down in the hollow tree. "A slice of carrot, maybe."

"And ask him what about a bit of cabbage," came from another voice.

"Hush, my dears!" spoke a louder voice. "You ought to be thankful to be cozy and warm."

"Don't worry! I know they are hungry and I will soon be back with food for all of you," Uncle Wiggily said and away hopped.

"To whom was Uncle Wiggily talking in that hollow tree." asked the Owl of the Blue Jay. And, having started, the Owl went on: "Tu woo! Tu woo! Tu woo!" in a way Owls have.

"There is a family of rabbits, a cold and hungry mother bunny and some little rabbit children, in that hollow tree." answered the Blue Jay bird and he called loudly as Blue Jays always do.

"Uncle Wiggily found the poor rabbits in the woods. The father of the little bunnies can't be found and their burrow home, underground, was washed full of sand by rain and melting snow. So Uncle Wiggily brought them to the hollow tree."

"They're a Christmas present to me!" groaned the hollow tree in his deep, booming voice. "The first Christmas present I ever had! I am going to keep these bunnies within me forever. I can't feed them," went on the hollow tree, "but I can keep them warm."

"Uncle Wiggily will feed them." hooted the Owl. "He is clever, that rabbit gentleman. He will bring food for the hungry bunnies."

Unless some of the Bad Chaps catch him before he gets back here," yelled the Blue Jay.

"Who are the Bad Chaps?" asked the mother of the little rabbits, who were no longer cold, but still hungry. "And why will they catch good, kind Uncle Wiggily?"

"The Bad Chaps." explained the Owl, "are the Fox, the Wolf and the Bob Cat, and they are always after Uncle Wiggily to nibble him."

"Oh, I hope they don't nibble him this time," murmured the mother bunny.

"Anyhow, I hope they don't catch him before he gets back here with something for us to eat," said one of the little boy rabbits in the hollow tree.

"Uncle Wiggily is pretty lucky," hooted the Owl.

By this time Mr. Longears had hopped back to his hollow stump bungalow. It was afternoon and nearly all his little rabbit boys and girls, including Baby Bunty, the orphan child, were home from school.

"Get ready, my dears!" Uncle Wiggily called to them as he hopped toward his bungalow. "Get ready!"

"Ready for what?" Baby Bunty wanted to know. "Are we going to play a new game, Unkie Wig—maybe an airplane game?"

"No, we are going to have a parade!" answered Mr. Longears.

"A parade—now—in winter?" asked Jingle in surprise.

"And so near Christmas?" asked her twin sister, Jangle.

"Shush! Don't ask so many questions!" whispered Buster, a boy rabbit. "When it's so near Christmas, as it now is, always do what Daddicums wants. If he says have a parade, we'll have a parade. If he says to stand on your heads, why stand on 'em! Do what he says!'

So the girl and boy rabbits and Baby Bunty, the orphan said: "We'd love to have a parade, Daddicums."

(Only Baby Bunty said "Unkie Wig," as she was allowed no more baby talk than that.)

Then Uncle Wiggily hopped into the kitchen and said to Nurse Jane: "Put me up some carrot, some cabbages, some sugar and spice and everything nice, for we are going to have a parade—the children and I."

"A parade! What for?" asked the muskrat lady housekeeper.

"To take food to the hungry rabbits in the hollow tree," said Uncle Wiggily. "I gave some hungry rabbits to a hollow tree for a Christmas present, and now I must carry them along in a parade through the woods, taking the good things." The children and I will march

"Oh, how wonderful and kind you are!" squeaked Nurse Jane. So she made many bags, baskets and bundles of sugar and spice and everything nice and Uncle Wiggily carried some and marched at the head of the parade of his little rabbits carrying the rest.

On they marched through the woods. The Fox, the Bob Cat and the Wolf saw the parade of rabbits and tried to catch some. But the Blue Jay called loudly for the Police Dog and when that big animal came the Bad Chaps ran away. So the hungry rabbits in the hollow tree had all they could eat and more, too.

And if the teapot doesn't pour molasses in the rubber boot so it sticks on the food of the stairs, I'll tell you next about Uncle Wiggily's candy cane.