Hi,
It's Stefania and we're back with another Uncle Wiggly's Adventure.
Uncle Wiggly and the July Bug Well,
What shall we do today?
Asks the white pussycat of Uncle Wiggly as they traveled on together the next day after the adventure at the snake hole.
They had slept that night in a nice hollow stump.
Hmm,
I hardly know what to do,
Replied the old gentleman rabbit.
Of course,
I must be on the watch for my fortune but I don't seem to be finding it very fast.
What do you say to having a picnic today?
The very thing,
Cried the pussycat.
We will get some lunch and go off in the woods and eat it.
Only,
We ought to have a lot more people.
Two are hardly enough for a picnic.
I would like some of my friends to come to it,
Spoke Uncle Wiggly.
But I'm afraid they are too far off.
Can you send them word by telephone?
Inquired the pussycat.
I'm sure I would like to meet them for I have heard so much about Sammy and Susie Littletail and Johnny and Billy Bushytail.
There is no telephone in these woods,
Replied Uncle Wiggly.
And we haven't time to send them postcards.
I wish I could get word to them.
However,
They don't suppose I can.
Yes,
You can,
Suddenly cried a voice down in the grass.
I'll tell all your friends to come to the picnic if you like.
Indeed,
I would like it,
Said the rabbit.
But who are you?
If I may be so bold as to ask,
I can't see you.
There he is.
It's a big June bug,
Exclaimed the pussycat.
I beg your pardon,
Spoke the bug quickly as he crawled off from under a leaf and sat on a toadstool.
But I am not a June bug,
If you please.
You look like one,
Said Uncle Wiggly politely.
I am a July bug,
Went on the funny little creature.
I was intended for a June bug,
But there was some mistake made and I didn't come out of my shell until July.
So,
You see,
I'm a July bug.
And at first I thought it would be jolly fun to hear all the firecrackers and skyrockets go off.
It isn't as much fun as you would imagine,
Said Uncle Wiggly,
As he thought of the time he went sailing into the air on the skycracker.
But don't you like being a July bug?
Not very much.
You see,
I'm the only one there is and all the others are June bugs.
The June bugs won't speak to me or let me play with them,
So I'm very lonesome.
I heard you talking about a picnic you were going to have and so I offered to call all your friends to it,
I thought.
Perhaps if I did that,
You would let me come to it also?
To be sure,
Exclaimed Uncle Wiggly,
You may gladly come.
But how are you going to send word to all of my friends?
I will fly through the air and tell them to come,
Was the answer.
I am a very swift flyer.
Watch me!
And then and there,
The July bug buzzed around so fast that Uncle Wiggly and the Pussycat couldn't see his wings go flip-flop-flop.
Well,
They decided it would be a good plan to have the July bug act as a boatswain.
So Uncle Wiggly wrote out the invitations on little pieces of white birch bark and gave them to the bug.
Off he flew into the air,
Waving one leg at Uncle Wiggly and the Pussycat.
Well,
Now we must get ready for the picnic,
Get the things to eat,
For that bug flies so fast that soon all of my friends will be here,
Said the rabbit.
So he and the Pussycat began to get the lunch ready.
Uncle Wiggly had some food in his case,
But they got more good things from a kind old monkey who lived in the woods.
He used to work on a hand organ,
But when he got old,
He bought him a nest in the woods with the pennies he had saved up.
And he lived in peace and quietness and played a mouth organ on Sundays.
Well,
You will hardly believe me,
But it's true.
No sooner had Uncle Wiggly and the Pussycat put up the lunch,
Wrapping some for each visitor in nice green grape leaves,
Than the first ones of the picnic party began to arrive.
They were Dicky and Nelly Chip-Chip the Sparrows,
But they could fly through the air very quickly,
And so they came on ahead.
We got your invitation that the July bug left us,
Uncle Wiggly,
And we came at once,
Said Dicky.
Where are the others?
Asked the old gentleman rabbit.
They are coming,
Answered Nelly as she tied her tail ribbon over again,
For the bow knot had become undone as she was flying through the air.
Well,
In a little while,
Along came Hopping,
Sammy and Susie Littletail the Rabbit Children,
And Billy and Johnny Bushytail the Squirrel Brothers,
And Bully and Bolly the Frogs,
And Dotty and Munchy Trot the Ponies,
And Lulu and Alice and Jimmy Wibble Wibble the Duck Twins,
And Buddy and Bright-Eyed Pig,
And oh,
All the boy and girl animals I have ever told you about.
And oh,
How glad they were to see Uncle Wiggly.
He had to tell them all about his travels after his fortune,
Before they would go off into the woods to the picnic.
But at last they went,
Each one with a little leaf package of lunch.
The Julybug came along,
Too,
And he had a very little package of good things,
Because he was so small,
You see,
But it was enough.
They all sat on the ground with flat stones for plates,
And sticks for knives and forks,
And they ate their picnic lunch there.
Oh,
They had the finest time,
And it didn't matter if some ants did get in the sugar.
Uncle Wiggly said they could have all they wanted of the sweet stuff.
And when the picnic was almost over,
There was a sudden noise in the bushes,
And two bad foxes sprang out.
One tried to grab Uncle Wiggly,
And the other made a dash for Lulu Wibble Wobble.
Oh,
Dear,
Cried Dotty Trot without looking to see if her hair ribbon was on straight.
We shall all be eaten up.
No,
You won't,
Cried the brave Julybug.
I'll fix those foxes.
So that brave Julybug just buzzed his wings as hard as he could,
And straight at the foxes he flew,
Bumping and banging them on their noses and in the eyes so that they gave two separate and distinct howls,
And ran away,
Taking their big tails with them.
So that is how the Julybug saved everybody from being eaten up.
And then the picnic was over,
And everyone said it was lovely.
Well,
I'll start on my travels again tomorrow,
Said Uncle Wiggly as his friends told him goodbye.
So now that was the end of our story,
But in this episode,
We're having a bonus extra story.
This one is Uncle Wiggly and the Jack in the Pulpit.
Uncle Wiggly was slowly hopping along through the woods,
Sometimes leaning on his crutch when his rheumatism pained him,
And again skipping along when he got out into the warm sunshine.
It was the day after the picnic,
And the old gentleman rabbit felt a bit lonesome as all his friends had gone back to their homes.
I do declare,
Exclaimed Uncle Wiggly as he walked slowly along by a little lake where an August rabbit was running his motorboat.
If I don't find my fortune pretty soon,
I won't have any vacation this year.
I must look carefully today.
And see if I can't find a pot of gold.
Well,
He looked as carefully as he could,
But my land sakes and a pair of white gloves,
He couldn't seem to find a smidge of gold,
And not so much as a crumb of diamonds.
Hmm,
Exclaimed Uncle Wiggly.
At this rate,
I guess I'll have to keep on traveling for several years before I find my fortune.
Oh,
But never mind.
I'm having a good time anyhow.
I'll keep on searching.
So,
He kept on.
And all of a sudden,
When he was walking past a prickly briar bush,
He heard a voice calling.
Hey,
Uncle Wiggly,
Come on in here.
Huh,
Who are you?
And why do you want me to come in there?
Said the old gentleman rabbit.
Oh,
I am a friend of yours,
Was the answer.
And I will give you a lot of money if you come in here.
Let me see your face,
Answered the rabbit.
I want to know who you are.
Oh,
I have a dreadful headache,
Said the creature hiding in the bushes.
I don't want to stick my face out in the cold.
But if you will take my word for it,
I am a good friend of yours.
I would like very much for you to come in here.
Well,
Perhaps I had better.
Said the old gentleman rabbit.
For I certainly need money.
And he was just going to crawl in under the prickly briar bush,
When all of a sudden he happened to look,
And he saw the skillery,
Skillery tail of the alligator accidentally sticking out.
Yes,
It was the alligator trying to fool dear old Uncle Wiggly.
Oh-ho,
Cried the wise old rabbit.
I guess I won't go in there after all.
So he hopped to one side,
And the alligator kept waiting for him to come in so he could eat him.
But when the rabbit didn't come in,
The savage creature with the skillery,
Skillery tail cried.
Well,
Aren't you coming in?
No,
Thank you,
Said the rabbit.
I have to go on and seek my fortune.
And away he hopped.
Well,
That alligator was so angry that he gnashed his teeth and nearly broke them.
And he crawled out after Uncle Wiggly,
But of course he couldn't catch him.
Uncle Wiggly was pretty careful after that,
And whenever he came near a prickly briar bush,
He listened with both his long ears stuck up straight to see if he could hear any sounds like an alligator.
But he didn't,
So he kept on.
Well,
It was coming on toward evening one afternoon,
And the old gentleman rabbit was tramping along the road,
Wondering where he was asleep,
When all of a sudden something came bursting out of the bushes towards the rabbit and a voice cried out,
Hide,
Uncle Wiggly!
Hide as quickly as you can!
Why should I hide?
Asked the old gentleman rabbit.
Is there a giant coming after me?
Worse than a giant,
Said the voice.
It is a bad wolf that jumped out of his cage from the circus,
And he is just ready to eat up anything he sees.
And the July bug,
For it was he who had fluttered out of the bushes to tell Uncle Wiggly,
Made his wings go slowly to and fro like an electric palm leaf fan.
A wolf,
Eh?
Cried the old gentleman rabbit.
And do you think he will eat me?
He surely will,
Said the July bug.
I happened to fly past his house,
And I heard him say to his wife that he was going out to see if he could find a rabbit supper.
So I know he's coming for you.
You'd better hide.
Oh,
Where can I hide?
Asked the rabbit as he looked around for a hollow stump.
But there wasn't any,
And there were no holes in the ground,
And he didn't know what to do.
Then all at once,
There was a crashing in the bushes,
And it sounded like an elephant coming through,
Breaking all the sticks in its path.
There's the wolf!
There's the wolf!
Cried the July bug.
Hide,
Uncle Wiggly!
And then the bug perched on the high limb of a tree where the wolf couldn't catch him.
Well,
The poor old gentleman rabbit looked for a place to hide himself away from the wolf,
But he couldn't seem to find any.
And he was just going to crawl under a stone and maybe hurt himself,
When all of a sudden,
He heard a voice say,
Jump up here,
Uncle Wiggly.
I'll hide you from the wolf.
So the rabbit traveler looked up,
And there he saw a flower called Jack in the pulpit,
Looking down on him.
I've told you about them before,
How the frog once took his bath in one,
And how when you pick a wood bouquet,
You put them in with some ferns to make the bouquet look pretty.
They are a flower like a vase with a curling top and a thing standing up in the center whose name is Jack.
Jump in here,
Said the Jack.
I'll fold my top down over you like an umbrella and the wolf can't find you.
But you are so small that I can't get inside,
Said the rabbit.
Oh,
I'll make myself bigger,
Cried the Jack.
And he took a long breath and puffed himself up and swelled himself up until he was large enough for Uncle Wiggly to jump down inside.
Then the Jack in the pulpit closed down the umbrella top over the rabbit,
And he was hidden away as nice and snug as could be wished.
Pretty soon that savage,
Bad wolf came prancing along,
And he looked all over for the rabbit.
Then he sniffed and cried.
Oh,
I smell him somewhere around here.
I'll find him.
But he couldn't see Uncle Wiggly because he was safely hidden in the Jack in the pulpit.
So the wolf raged around some more and chased after his tail.
And just as he smelled the rabbit hidden in the flower,
The July bug flew down out of the tree and bang right into the eyes of the wolf.
And then the savage creature felt so badly that he ran home and ate cold bread and water for supper.
And he didn't bother Uncle Wiggly anymore that day.
So that's how the Jack in the pulpit saved the rabbit and very thankful Uncle Wiggly was.
And he stayed that night in the hollow stump,
And the next day he went on to seek his fortune.
And quite a curious thing happened to him,
Which I'll tell you about next time.
The next story will be about Uncle Wiggly and the lost chipmunk.
And that's it for this storytime.
We'll be back again soon.
In the meantime,
Be good,
Stay well,
And have a nice sleep.
Bye-bye for now.
