hopping along under the bushes one day, near the edge of the forest nearest to where lived the real boys and girls, uncle wiggily longears, the bunny rabbit gentleman, heard two boys talking together.
"we'll put a tick-tack on her window," said the first boy.
"and she'll be scared stiff!" said the second boy. "oh, what fun we'll have this hallowe'en!"
"hum!" thought the bunny rabbit gentleman to himself, after hearing this. "it may be fun for you, but how about whoever it is you're going to scare stiff? i only hope it isn't my nice muskrat lady housekeeper, nurse jane fuzzy wuzzy!"
uncle wiggily twinkled his pink nose, and listened with both ears.
"yes," went on the first boy, "we'll have a lot of fun this hallowe'en with tick-tacks and the like of that! and we'll put on false faces so the little old lady of mulberry lane won't know us!"
"oh ho! so that's the one they're going to play tricks on; is it?" thought uncle wiggily to himself. "the little old lady of mulberry lane! i know her—poor creature; she lives all alone, and she may have a cupboard, like old mother hubbard, [pg 137] but she hasn't a dog or a bone. i suppose," thought uncle wiggily, "that jackie or peetie bow wow would stay with her, if she wanted them. i must see about it."
"but, first of all, i must plan some way so these mischievous boys won't put a tick-tack on the window of the little old lady of mulberry lane. i know what tick-tacks are!"
and well uncle wiggily knew, for sometimes the boys and girls of woodland, near the orange ice mountains, where the bunny had built his hollow stump bungalow, put one of the scary things on his window. that is, they were scary if you didn't know what they were, but uncle wiggily did.
oftentimes sammie littletail, the rabbit, or johnnie and billie bushytail, the squirrels, would take some string, a pin and an old nail, or little stone, and make a tick-tack. they fastened a short piece of string to the pin, and on the other end of the string they tied a dangling stone. when it grew dark the animal chaps would sneak up to uncle wiggily's window, and stick the pin in the wooden sash so the stone, or nail, hung dangling down against the glass. then they would tie the long string, or thread, about half way down on the short cord and hide off in the bushes, with one end of the long string in their paws.
from their hiding place the animal boys would pull the long string. the pebble, or stone, would rattle against uncle wiggily's window, making a sound like:
"tick! tack!"
that's how it got its name, you see.
"so they are going to play tick-tack on the little old lady of mulberry lane; are they?" said uncle wiggily to himself, as the two boys walked away. "well, i must try to stop them!"
[pg 138] mulberry lane was a street near the forest where the bunny gentleman lived in his hollow stump bungalow, and the little old lady was the only one whose house was built there. the bunny liked the little old lady, for in winter she scattered crumbs for the birds.
uncle wiggily hopped home to his hollow stump, and from the attic he took down one of his old, tall silk hats.
"what in the world are you doing, uncle wiggily?" asked nurse jane. "do you think it is april fool, and are you going to wear an old hat so the animal boys won't play tricks on you?"
"well, not exactly," the bunny answered. "i'll tell you later, miss fuzzy wuzzy—if it works."
"hum!" said the muskrat lady housekeeper, as she saw mr. longears put in his pocket some pieces of white paper and a pot of paste. "i do believe he's going to fly a kite—and on hallowe'en of all nights!"
for it quickly became hallowe'en night. as soon as the dusky shadows of evening began to fall, strange figures flitted to and fro, not only in the woods of the animal folk, but on the other side, in the village where the real boys and girls lived.
real boys, with the heads of wolves, the faces of clowns and some as black as the charcoal-man skipped here and there, ringing doorbells, outlining in chalk on the steps something that looked like an envelope, or else they tapped on windows with long sticks so that when the windows were opened no one could be seen.
uncle wiggily, hopping off through the darkness toward the edge of the forest, carried with him one of nurse jane's old brooms,[pg 139] an old, tall silk hat and a coat the bunny gentleman had, long ago, tried to throw in the rag bag. only miss fuzzy wuzzy wouldn't let him.
"i'll mend it, sew on some new buttons and it will be as good as ever," she said. well, uncle wiggily found this coat and took it with him.
"i'll stop those boys from putting a tick-tack on the window of the little old lady of mulberry lane," thought the bunny as he hopped along. "i'll tick-tack them!"
he kept in the shadows of the trees so none of the animal children saw him. but the bunny gentleman saw them. he saw neddie stubtail, the boy bear, dressed up like the pipsisewah. and billie wagtail, the goat, had on a false face just like the skinny skeezicks.
here and there animal girls were hurrying to hallowe'en parties. lulu and alice wibblewobble, the ducks, were giving one, and baby bunty, the little rabbit girl, had been invited to "bob" for carrots at the house of buddy and brighteyes, the guinea pigs.
jackie and peetie bow wow, who were dressed in clown suits, hurrying to have fun with johnnie and billie bushytail, the squirrels, caught sight of uncle wiggily.
"come and have some hallowe'en fun with us!" barked jackie.
"i will in a little while," promised the bunny.
on and on he hopped, and soon he came to the house of the little old lady of mulberry lane. the bunny could look in her window and see her reading a book by the light of a candle.
[pg 140] "i'll hide under her window," thought the bunny, "and when those boys come with the tick-tack—well, we'll see what happens!"
uncle wiggily did not have long to wait. pretty soon he heard a rustling in the bushes and some whisperings.
"here they come!" thought mr. longears. he put the extra tall silk hat on top of the broom, and fastened his old coat to the handle, on a cross-stick he had nailed there. then, taking the pieces of white paper from his pocket, uncle wiggily pasted them on the shiny part of the old silk hat in the shape of a grinning jack o' lantern face. then the bunny crouched down behind the bushes with the scarecrow he had made.
"you sneak up and fasten on the tick-tack," whispered one boy, "and i'll pull the string so it will rattle and scare the old lady stiff!"
"i want to pull the string, too!" said the other boy.
"yes, you can, after you fasten on the tick-tack."
"well, give it here then," said the second boy.
they were so close to the bush, behind which uncle wiggily was hidden, that the bunny could have reached out and touched them with his paw if he had wished.
but he didn't do that. instead, uncle wiggily suddenly lifted up the broom, dressed as it was in the old coat and the tall hat with the grinning, white paper face like a jack o' lantern.
"boo-oo-oo-bunk!" groaned the bunny rabbit, scary-like.
the boys, who were just getting ready to frighten the little old lady of mulberry lane, jumped up in fright themselves. they saw the queer face laughing at them.
[pg 141] "oh, it's a hallowe'en hobgoblin! a hobgoblin!" cried one boy.
"come on! come on!" shouted the other. "let's get out of here!" and dropping string, tick-tack and everything, away they ran. they never knew that it was only a bunny rabbit gentleman who had surprised them.
"ha! ha!" laughed uncle wiggily, as he peered out from behind the broomstick and the scary tall-hat creature he had made. "i guess they won't bother the old lady now!"
the little old lady of mulberry lane laid aside the book she had been reading and opened her door.
"is anybody there?" she gently asked, looking out over her dark garden. "seems to me i heard a noise-like. is anybody there, trying to play hallowe'en tricks on a poor, lone body like me? anybody there?"
no one answered—not even uncle wiggily—for he couldn't speak real talk, you know. but he heard what the old lady said.
"nobody there! i guess it must have been the wind," said the little old lady of mulberry lane, as she shut the door.
but we know it wasn't the wind; don't we?
then the bunny hopped back to his own part of the forest, to have hallowe'en fun with the animal boys and girls. the frightened boys ran home and jumped into bed. and if the piano key doesn't unlock the door of the phonograph, and let all the music run down the pussy cat's tail, you may next hear of uncle wiggily and the poor dog.
