The Project Gutenberg eBook of Uncle Wiggily Goes Swimming, by Howard R. Garis

IF YOU LIKE THIS FUNNY LITTLE PICTURE BOOK ABOUT THE
BUNNY RABBIT GENTLEMAN YOU MAY BE GLAD
TO KNOW THERE ARE OTHERS.

So if the spoon holder doesn’t go down cellar and take the coal shovel away from the gas stove, you may read

1	UNCLE WIGGILY’S AUTO SLED.
2	UNCLE WIGGILY’S SNOW MAN.
3	UNCLE WIGGILY’S HOLIDAYS.
4	UNCLE WIGGILY’S APPLE ROAST.
5	UNCLE WIGGILY’S PICNIC.
6	UNCLE WIGGILY’S FISHING TRIP.
7	UNCLE WIGGILY’S JUNE BUG FRIENDS.
8	UNCLE WIGGILY’S VISIT TO THE FARM.
9	UNCLE WIGGILY’S SILK HAT.
10	UNCLE WIGGILY, INDIAN HUNTER.
11	UNCLE WIGGILY’S ICE CREAM PARTY.
12	UNCLE WIGGILY’S WOODLAND GAMES.
13	UNCLE WIGGILY ON THE FLYING RUG.
14	UNCLE WIGGILY AT THE BEACH.
15	UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE PIRATES.
16	UNCLE WIGGILY’S FUNNY AUTO
17	UNCLE WIGGILY ON ROLLER SKATES.
18	UNCLE WIGGILY GOES SWIMMING.

Every book has three stories, including the title story.

Made in U. S. A.

Copyright 1919 McClure Newspaper Syndicate. Trade mark registered.
Copyright 1920, 1922, 1924 Charles E. Graham & Co., Newark, N. J., and New York.

1. One day, as Uncle Wiggily was hopping through the woods, he looked toward a pond and saw Bully and Bawly No Tail, the frog boys, jumping from the end of the spring board. “Ah, that reminds me of the time I was young!” thought the bunny gentleman. “As long as Nurse Jane isn’t here I’m going to dive in and swim.” Into the swimming hole splashed Bully and Bawly as the bunny rabbit took off his coat.

2. “Oh, hurray! Here’s Uncle Wiggily!” croaked Bully. “Come on in, the water’s fine!” rumbled Bawly. “Thanks, I’ll try, though I am not a very good swimmer or diver,” answered Mr. Longears. He stood on the end of the teeter-tauter spring board. “One, two, three!” counted Bully. “Jump in!” Uncle Wiggily twinkled his pink nose, and, hoping he would not get too much water up it, in he jumped!

3. Uncle Wiggily did not think he was going to jump so hard, but he did and his head was stuck in the mud of the pond bottom. “Blubble! Ubble! Blub!” cried the poor rabbit gentleman. “Quick! We must pull him out! Get hold of his other leg!” croaked Bully. The two froggie boys, on the end of the spring board, pulled as hard as they could. “If we get him out we’ll put him on a raft,” croaked Bully.

4. “I guess you had better not try any more swimming or diving,” said the frog boys to Uncle Wiggily, after they had pulled him out of the mud where he stuck upside down. “I think you are right,” agreed the rabbit gentleman. So Bully and Bawly made a raft and Uncle Wiggily rested easily on it while the froggie boys poled it about the pond. And then—the Fuzzy Fox crept softly to the pond’s edge.

5. “Well, boys, I think you’ve given me a long enough ride,” said Uncle Wiggily after a while. “Just push the raft toward shore and I’ll dress.” So the raft was shoved toward shore. The Froggie boys began leaping in from the spring board and the Fuzzy Fox went down to the water’s edge to wait for the rabbit to come ashore. “And then how I will nibble his ears!” thought the Fox, smacking his lips.

6. “Oh, my goodness! What is this?” cried Uncle Wiggily as the Fox pulled him from the raft when shore was reached. “Ears is the answer, Uncle Wiggily!” growled the Fox. “I’m going to take you off to my den in the woods and nibble your ears.” Not waiting to let the bunny dress himself, the Fox led the way. But Bully and Bawly are going to play a trick. “We’ll sling this stone at the Fox,” they said.

7. On shore the Fox tied a piece of grape vine rope around poor Uncle Wiggily’s neck and dragged the bunny along through the woods. “Now it will be easy to whack the Fox with the stone and not hit Uncle Wiggily,” croaked Bully as he and his brother pulled down on the spring board which was to sling the stone through the air as if from a gun. “Oh, how good some ear nibbles will taste!” smacked the Fox.

8. “Is everything all ready?” asked Bully as he and his brother pulled the spring board down as far as it would come. “All ready!” croaked Bawly. “Then let her go!” cried Bully, and they let go the spring board. Up and away sailed the big rock, straight toward the bad Fox who was leading Uncle Wiggily to the den. “Won’t you please let me go?” begged the poor bunny. “No!” snarled the Fox and then—

9. All of a sudden the stone struck the Fox in his soft and tender ribs. “Um!” grunted the Fox. “What is going to happen?” But that was all he could ask, for down he fell and the stone fell on top of him and he couldn’t get up to nibble Uncle Wiggily’s ears. “You were very smart, froggie boys, to think of that trick!” laughed the bunny as the three friends hopped away. And the Fox cried: “Wow!”

1. “Well, Nurse Jane, I’m going!” cried Uncle Wiggily as he started out from his hollow stump bungalow one day, carrying a basket full of frosted cakes. “Where are you going?” asked the muskrat lady housekeeper. “I’m going to call on my friends,” answered the bunny. “And to every one who is thankful at this Thanksgiving season, I’m going to give a cake.” Nurse Jane told him to watch out for the Fox and Wolf.

2. Uncle Wiggily hopped along with his basket of Thanksgiving cakes until he came to the home of Mr. Twistytail, the pig gentleman. “What is the matter?” asked the bunny. “Oh, I’m a very sick pig,” was the answer. “Then I suppose you have nothing to be thankful for?” asked the bunny. “Oh, yes, I’m glad all my legs aren’t tied up,” grunted Mr. Twistytail. “You get a cake!” laughed Uncle Wiggily.

3. Leaving thankful Mr. Twistytail, Uncle Wiggily saw Uncle Butter the goat. Uncle Butter was running toward a fence on which was posted the picture of another goat. “Ah,” said Uncle Wiggily, “my friend is going to have a little morning exercise. He is going to see how strong his horns are. He must be thankful that he is so strong. I’ll give him a cake after he bangs the picture goat. He can’t hurt him.”

4. All of a sudden Uncle Butter banged himself against the fence. But the boards were thin and Uncle Butter’s head went all the way through and stuck out on the other side. “Dear me!” cried Uncle Wiggily, “I suppose you have nothing to be thankful for now!” Uncle Butter bleated and said he was glad he didn’t have two heads to get stuck in the fence. “Ha! Ha!” laughed the bunny. “You get a cake!”

5. Uncle Wiggily helped Uncle Butter pull his head out of the fence, and then the goat gentleman took his Thanksgiving cake home. Uncle Wiggily hopped on a little farther until he met Police Dog Percival. “Why do you look so bad, Percival?” asked the bunny. “I’m afraid you are not thankful. You can’t have a cake.” Percival swung his club. “No, I’m not thankful. But I smell a Fox. Wait a moment!”

6. All of a sudden Police Dog Percival ran down the path and caught the Fuzzy Fox, who was sneaking up to get Uncle Wiggily. “I arrest you!” barked Percival. “Wow! Wow! Let me go!” howled the Fox. “No, no!” barked Percival. “Now I have something to be thankful for! I’ve made an arrest. That’s why I wasn’t thankful before.” Uncle Wiggily gave Percival a Thanksgiving cake from his basket.

7. After Percival took the Fox to jail, Uncle Wiggily hopped on with his cake basket. “I wonder whom I shall next meet to give a Thanksgiving cake?” murmured the bunny. “I’m going to be thankful in a moment!” howled a harsh voice, and out popped the Woozie Wolf. “I’ll catch you and nibble your ears—then I’ll be thankful!” growled the Wolf. Uncle Wiggily ran as fast as he could.

8. Uncle Wiggily hopped as he had never hopped before, but the Wolf could run the faster, and soon the bad animal caught the bunny. “Ha! Ha!” laughed the Wolf, as he held the bunny by one paw, “you talk about Thanksgiving! What have you to be thankful for? You laughed when Percival arrested my friend the Fox! Now it’s my turn to laugh.” Uncle Wiggily said he had one thing to be thankful for.

9. “Ho! Ho! What have you to be thankful for?” sneered the Wolf. “I have caught you!” and he shook the bunny. “I’m thankful that the Fox isn’t here,” said Uncle Wiggily. Then slyly he raised the basket and shoved it over the Wolf’s head. “I am also thankful that I can put your head in my basket and run away!” laughed the bunny. “That’s the second part of my Thanksgiving. Now I’m going home!”

1. Once upon a time, when it was almost summer, Uncle Wiggily went out for a walk. He saw some of the animal boys flying their kite. “Why don’t you make a bigger kite, and one without a tail?” asked the bunny gentleman. “You can’t make kites any bigger than this,” said Jackie Bow Wow. “And if you didn’t have a tail they wouldn’t go up,” added Sammie the rabbit. “Ha! I’ll show you!” said Uncle Wiggily.

2. “I’ll show those animal boys that I can make a big kite, and one without a tail,” said Uncle Wiggily, twinkling his pink nose. So he bought some sticks, paper and string, and soon he had put together a kite larger than himself. “Uncle Wiggily, what in the world are you doing?” asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, as she saw the rabbit gentleman looking at his work. “I know something terrible will happen!”

3. “Nonsense, Nurse Jane!” laughed Uncle Wiggily. “Nothing terrible will happen! I’ll just show the boys how to fly a big kite, that’s all.” So the rabbit gentleman put up the big kite without a tail. He twisted the string around his waist, so it would not pull away, and then came such a big puff of wind that it took the kite, Uncle Wiggily and all up into the air. “There, I told you so!” cried Nurse Jane.

4. At first Uncle Wiggily was so surprised at being carried off by the kite, he didn’t know what to do. Then he tried to loosen the cord from around his waist, but it was tied in a hard knot. Straight toward Grandpa Goosey’s house the kite took Uncle Wiggily. “Bang!” the bunny’s paws knocked off the chimney. “Hi there!” cried Grandpa Goosey. “Please excuse me! I couldn’t help it!” shouted the bunny.

5. Sailing on, after knocking off Grandpa Goosey’s chimney, Uncle Wiggily was carried higher and higher by the big kite he had made. “I guess Nurse Jane was right,” he said to himself. “Something terrible is going to happen!” Just then the bunny felt a tug at the loose end of the kite string. He looked down. “Oh, you’re taking me away!” bleated Aunt Lettie. “Worse and worse!” said Uncle Wiggily.

6. The wind blew harder and sailed the kite along, taking Uncle Wiggily and Aunt Lettie with it. “Uncle Wiggily, what does this mean?” bleated the goat lady. “I wish I knew,” sighed the bunny. Just then the Fox and Wolf, down on the ground, saw the strange sight. “Come along!” snarled the Fox to the Wolf. “That string will break in a little while. They’ll fall and we can nibble their ears!”

7. All of a sudden Uncle Wiggily and Aunt Lettie were dragged into a tree by the kite string. Luckily there were some soft leaves on the tree and the bunny gentleman and goat lady did not get much hurt. But the kite cord pulled off the rabbit’s coat and Aunt Lettie’s bonnet and away they sailed. “Well, we’re safe now, Aunt Lettie,” said Mr. Longears. “But suppose the Fox and Wolf come?” she asked.

8. However, the Fox and Wolf did not come to the tree where Uncle Wiggily and Aunt Lettie were pulled loose from the kite cord. “Please let me help you down,” said Uncle Wiggily politely, and he assisted Aunt Lettie from the tree. “Oh, look!” suddenly cried the goat lady. “The Fox and Wolf are chasing the kite. They see your coat and my bonnet and think we’re still on the string.” And that’s what happened.

9. “Come on! Come on!” snarled the Fox to the Wolf. “That string will break soon. Uncle Wiggily and Aunt Lettie will fall and then we can nibble their ears.” On ran the Fox and Wolf, but, all of a sudden, the end of the kite cord tangled around them, and up in the air they went. “Ha! Ha! Look at them!” laughed Uncle Wiggily as he and Aunt Lettie danced. “Woofie! Wuffie! Wow!” howled the bad chaps!

Uncle Wiggily Goes Swimming

How the Frog Boys Surprised the Fox

Uncle Wiggily Distributes Thanksgiving Cakes

The Bunny Rabbit Gentleman Makes A Kite