once upon a time, not so very many years ago, there lived three ducks in a duck pen. and this pen was not far from where sammie and susie littletail, the rabbit children, had their burrow, and it was close to the trees where johnnie and billie bushytail, the squirrel brothers, learned to jump from their nest. now i am going to tell you some stories about these ducks, and what they did.

to begin with there was the mamma duck. she was mrs. wibblewobble, a nice, white duck, being a cousin to mrs. quack-quack, who once rescued billie and johnnie bushytail, and jennie chipmunk from the desert island where they had been shipwrecked, you remember.

then there was the papa duck, and, of course, his name was mr. wibblewobble. also there were the children ducks; jimmie wibblewobble and his two sisters, lulu and alice.

lulu was a duckling who could throw a stone almost as well as could jimmie, but alice was not so fond of doing this. she would rather dress up, and play keep house, while lulu wanted to be off having a good time with her brother. but the three ducklings got along very nicely together just the same.

what's that? why were they named wibblewobble? well, because, you see they did wibblewobble from side to side when they walked, and so they had to be named wibblewobble, or things wouldn't have come out right. so there!

well, the wibblewobble family lived in a nice, wooden house, called a pen, near a pond of water, and their house had a door and two windows to it, so you see they were quite well off. in fact they were very stylish ducks, and once jimmie wibblewobble even rode in an automobile, but i can't tell you about that now, because you see i am going to relate to you how lulu was caught fast in the mud. it happened one day when jimmie and his two sisters were swimming about on the pond, just like three white boats.

"let's see who can swim the fastest!" suddenly called the little boy duck. "we'll race over to the other side of the pond," and he put his head down under the water to get a fine, juicy bit of weed, with some water-cress sauce on it.

"oh, no," exclaimed alice wibblewobble, "it's not nice for girl ducks to race," and she spread out her wings to see how they looked.

"yes it is," said lulu. "come on, jimmie, i'll race with you."

so off they started, splashing the water with their yellow, webbed feet, throwing up a little spray, which sparkled in the sunshine, just like baby's eyes when you come close to her and she laughs at you so cunningly.

on they went, faster and faster and faster, lulu and jimmie, while alice remained behind, to gaze in the water which was just like a looking glass, you know. oh, my yes, but please don't try it, unless the water is very, very shallow. you see alice wanted to see if all her feathers were on straight, and they were, believe me, as straight as straight can be.

well, of course, jimmie won the race, being a very good swimmer, but lulu was close behind him, and would have beaten, only one of her legs got caught in a weed. now i call that too bad, don't you? for i was hoping, all the while, that lulu would win. but you never can tell what is going to happen in this world; now can you? no, indeed.

"let's race back again," proposed lulu, after she had rested.

"oh, don't race any more," spoke alice, swimming up just then. "let's walk out on land and see if we can't find some nice corn meal. i'm sure it must be almost dinner time, and i just love corn meal."

"i know something better than that," suddenly said a quivery-quavery voice, right beside the ducks, and when they looked around who should be there but mr. goosey-gander, the grandfather of all the ducks in the pen. "i know something better than corn meal, little ones," he said, and he splashed his wings in the water.

"what is it?" asked lulu, as quickly as you can shoot a marble into the ring and out again. "is it gum drops?"

"no," answered grandfather goosey-gander, "it is not gum drops. it is better than that. it is nice, sweet roots and grasses that grow down under water," and, with that, what do you think he did? why, he stood right up on his head, and reached his bill down beneath the pond, and got some of the nicest grass that ever was. "there," said the old gentleman duck, poking up his head, "do as i did, little ones."

so those three wibblewobble children did, and pretty soon, alice and jimmie had as much as they could eat, and raised their heads. then they saw that lulu still had her bill down under the water.

"she must be getting lots more than we did," spoke alice.

"yes, indeed," replied jimmie. "i wonder how she can hold her breath so long?"

just then, what should happen but that lulu began to wave her feet in the air, and she flapped her wings until the spray went up in a regular shower, just like at asbury park.

"oh, my goodness me sakes alive, and three teaspoonsfull of corn meal with pepper in!" cried grandfather goosey-gander. "lulu is stuck in the mud! we must pull her out. quick!" that's just the way he said it.

and, would you believe me, lulu was held fast in the mud by her dear little bill! oh, how terribly frightened jimmie and alice were. they squawked and they quacked, and they tried to pull lulu out, but she was stuck too fast.

then all the other ducks came swimming up to see what the trouble was, and they tried to pull her out, but they couldn't, and, all the while her feet were wiggling as fast as they could wiggle, almost like sammie littletail's nose.

then grandfather goosey-gander called out: "what ho! make way there! i will save her!" and with that, what do you think he did? why, he dived right down under the water, yes, sir, right down in the mud, and he pushed, and he pulled, and he hauled and he splashed, and he yanked, and he rooted, and he twisted, and he turned, and he shoved, and then, all alone, brave old grandfather that he was, he got lulu up from the mud, where she had been stuck by her little bill!

and it was almost time, too, let me tell you, for her breath was nearly gone. but she soon got better, and she never put her head so far down under water again.

then all the ducks said: "quack, quack, quack!" three times, they were so glad, and they swam around in a circle, and the old rooster stood on the bank and crowed, just as if he had done it all! oh, how glad papa and mamma wibblewobble were that lulu was saved!

now, if you do not get your feet wet, i shall tell you, to-morrow night, how jimmie rode in an automobile.