Children's Corner

Hutt News, Volume 3, Issue 14, 28 August 1930, Page 4

Children's Corner

SHORT STORIES

The Tale of John Woolly

Once there was a beautiful:yellow kitten called John v Wpplly: He >ad long flufify hair,:- W.'white r.,'fi round his nick, lfttl& whi% f.-ut, and a plumy gSlddivtail; but he was beautiful chiefly because he was always so spotlessly clean. John Woolly's mother was called Sally, and she was a very dainty cat. John Woolly was washed from the tip of his little pink nose to the last hair of his plumy golden tail at least a doz*en times a day—and he hated it. .Sometimes the Scotch terribr, Susan, came and watched Sally wash her son, and John Woolly hated it more than ever. ITe want ed to scratch that terrier's noise. . One day Sally didn't feel very well, and she hid herself away upstairs so that John Woolly should not tease her. -At first he was ratKer miserable, without her, but very soon he cheered up, and j started lpojpng round for sonic- j thing to "Sfe^jyith, feeding very ; ■;■ gran(inand^Qj|pip aj^by himv.:sei£r :^!^^-?r^f^r .. . . ' mf<fl|agia% l |ittle;piece, v of \scuttle^an% .shesn r 'Jfoßt' ;W*>mg^ ' n^wl^onWmie cwhitJe tfa^ii®. then with another—he rolled on his -back.and fought it with all four paws at once—he, pretended to eat it—and oh, he did get in a mess, but it" w^s all great fun; And the best of itf wa&ihat,^vith • Sally away, John Woolly thought: he wouldn't havcrto be washed! - - At last Jqhn -Woolly lost the littie bit Of.:.4oaiy so he pretended C?t#at^|Pri't want it, and" danced .intocth& garden: ••'■ Susan was asleep hear her ken!i. net John Woolly danced up JO her. an.d said rude things about rlier^iblaelt ifacev Susan took no nbt^S- Then John Woolly grew - Van little braver, and, skipping round behind Srisan, started play-; ing wit;n her:tail; but this was too j much. Susan got up, and smack- | ed John Woolly very hard, knock- .; ing him over backwards into her water-dish! ! ' ;: | It was a very muddy little kit- s ten that itself out of Su- .. san's watej-djsliran,d crept into;, ' -the house. •'• *:; \ ;;- -': ■ :'Y- $ When %ln: Wopljy %gan to^ "get dry, all hjs pretty ,golden-4iair^ was mattedr. and streaked; with j coal. Being dirty* he found, was j very uncomfortable, and pot nearly so pleasant as he had thought it would be. ".:.. % ; . .... . ' John Woolly went and sat m ■ his basket and was very sad. He longed formally tocome arid make . him clean fc-ijiSW. Susan came j and tried t&^srkim as she had seen Sally d^^^lfc tongue was j rather large manage very well^^^-^earl^ .as well as his own mummy, John Woolly thought.^-Aii^ fuiiy. :\- ■•■-■■ ■•■--^-,- •,. '■ liate that evening Sally came back, and John Woolly was: glad to->see her. He, had never had such a wash as,his mother gave -"• nirii then, but he* •• didri't mind a bit: and'^iirredihars all the., time. -Before John snuggled down and went to sleep that night, lie made up his mind never to : grumfcle atbeing w^e4,again.

Yap and Worry. , Frank had gone, to Jbe& Tlt^re was a nice glow in the room from , -the; fire. ..•.:••> •.,,; ■ ;., v -. v~• 5 .,. : Frank decided he would take a bedtime walk. He liked taking bedtime walksibeea^e^e-; just lay> «till in 'bed thought he was walking. This time he clipse to go into a wood. ' When Frank had gone some , way he was surprised to see a nice little red, house; and he went up to the door and rang the bell. He was much pleased wheii two puppies answered the bell arid seemed glad to see him. "Do come in. and have some supper/ said the puppies.

\v'hut'.are your names?'/ askc<Ll rank. •' Yap and Worry,'' replied the

P! I'*€S ■'< '■■■•■■ ■ ■ .. . , .JVank..went into the puppies hobse. It was yery untidy, but Tlifcro was a table with some plates of porridge on it., Prank sat doA -?i: and the puppies tried to sit nicety at the table, but they k«nv tumbling; o# their chairs and •,'p.sotting their.porridge. . "Vvhydo you live here in this houir in the wood all alone1?" asked Prank. . " , . '•We were sent here because we were .so,very tiresome,'.' said Yap. "But who sent you to this Louse V ' asked Prank. i " The ; family that. .1 used to live *vith. They >vere nice people, but yru see, I could not help going aftor the cat's tail whenever I [su"%' it. , Sometimes I saw the cat's iUii ««Mung''the nowfers in the garden, md 1 rushed after it arid broke lots of the. plants, arid that mcvh everyone very cross. ■ One time I saw ilie* cat's tail ander a chest of drawers, and the baby m^s trying %o get hop of it to.).'and the pat turned round1 and scrate}}<?d the baby; Bab^cried, and I;4»H cat. ancT ilpset the hnh ..-.i^ictrthq.bafey.'s. mptK|^ rtish Wl i.lnttv, tKie room :and slapped me -a iid't-iie ;epit and kissed. iHe^baby, v :\\l, $P?T£ was a great fuss. So* sent me awaj he*e.: *:' Hf '?^hr: .■:;!werei./ibu:- 'sfeftt -'|iere'?'' l^li^rank to Worry. V-f :'v/^h, fen^r;:said:^Wo^y r - .VJt lived with SQme.. r y.ery nice j)ep|ple too. There' wSs%'6nly oile little girl to pls.y with, .andTw&si" very ■ fond of jier.. But a little girl with' her1 who had ,VG£y..pink legs, and I never could help.rushing at those, fat pink legSj, andl;then, the silly little ■" girl--yelledi arid people said I ;was. too fierce aii(l savage, and they sent me .here." .

' * Are you. all alone here ?'' asked Frank.

I 4<yes, and we have to do everything for ourselves,]" answered the puppies. V A kind lady gave us .some, clothes to wipe up the dishes with, but they were lovely to play Vith- .-That is why the house is'in.such a mess." "When will yoii go home 1 again?" asked Frank.. \ j soon as. "vVe' have, learnt to • behave, V answered the puppies sadly- . .' . ; Frank felt very' sorry for the /I^ppies,; because they did so much *w^tnt; io 'go home::-.•'■".'■.' . ' 'Next morning he told his own little flippy Dido all al?out Yap Sand Worry; and Bido did enjoy

tlio stoty. 'and wriggled with pleasure when Frank told how Yap had rushed after the cat's tail. I Peggy's Pbkey. j ; Peggy's father was a shepherd arid one day in the. spring he brought a tiny lamb home foi-her. It was so small and weak that it [ could only just stand, and it \ epuld not iced itself at all, i ''You can have it for your very ! o\Vn, Peggy," said her father; "its mother is dead, and you must take care of it and feed it." | Peggy was delighted to have this wee lamb. She and her mo-

ther made if a nice bed of hay; they fed it with warm milk out [of a bottle, and it soon grew strong, and began to skip about. It was a white lamb with black legs, and a dear little black nose. Peggy called it "Pokey" because it always poked its little nose into I everything. . . .■ ' One day Pokey came into tne kitchen when Peggy's mother was I baking; there was a large pan of dough before the fire, and what 'must Pokey do-,but go and put Ms littie'biaefc face into it! He sniffed arid snorted, and shook his head, and-made no end of a fuss, and tlieri he ran to. Peggy, and rubbed his nose against her frock. ■ " Oh! Pokey, Pokey, what a ftinny little thing you are!" cried ! Pe^fgy, langning. | Pokey"ptit his head, on one side, i anil lookejd very serious, as if. to- ! say: '**t only did it to amuse

you!" ..• . .... ■■-: ■• ,•_ Another day, when Beggy had beeii Iwriiiirig and left the ink-pot on the tabled Pokey of^ course

must' go -arid poke his nose into. that! It was a wide ink-pot^ just tnV siz<* of-his nose, and it stuck on the 'end, so there he was .with the ink-pot fixed to his nose! He capered about the room, trying to get rid tff the thing,, and all the time the ink was trickling out. Then lie rltehed to Peggy, who .soon set him free. She lavighed "very much at the sight of his inkstained little face and shoulders. Again he put his head on one side, iii his comical way, saying as i>lain as any words: "I am a funny little thing! I just do it to

amuse: you! But -the table-cloth was spoilt •and so was Peggy's frock, so after that Pokey was not allowed to come inta-the house, but was kept in a meadow at the back, and Peggy brought him into the woodshed at night.

Peggy spent nearly all day m the meadow with her Pokey; As soon as Pokey saw her at the gate' he ran to.meet her, andpokfed

his little nose into her pocket. "Oh. what a funny little Pokey you arc!" she cried, kneeling down, by him.- ■' -. ' '\ At once he began .poking, his little wet .nose in hei* neck, and tickled her so much, that.she rolled over and over on tlie grass, laughing.* Then he stood still, and put his little head 4rion^ side, as if to" say : '' What a iitnny little lamb I am! I do all this to amuse you!'' '' You are the ' amusingiest and the darlingest little lamb in the world!" said Peggy, "and I wouldn't sell you for a huridred and a million pounds!" Then Pokey said, ''Baa-a-baa," wnich showed that he agreed with his young mistress. The Ducks of Dingle Dell. 6ne morning when Mrs. Duck woke up, Dingle.'-.'Pell, where she lived with her six children, was all dried up. ' c Dear me,'' said Mrs. Duck, "this will never do ! We must.find another home." So Mrs. Duck and £er six children set out They walked all day, but nowhere did they find any place half as nice as Dingle Dell whenHhe pool was. full.

Towards the late ; afternoon, when they were all very tired, hungry and thirsty, they came to a tree with a little door in it 4• That looks like a house" said the oldest little duck. "Perhaps it is empty," said the youngest little duck. , . Now that tree was th.c home of Mr: Sly Fox, and he. peeped through the window and saw them coming. Very quietly he set the <Joor open and hid behind it.

"Who- is coming .into my house ?" he called in a small little"

voice,

"If yoti please," said Mrs; Duck «* 'tis myself arid the six children. WeVe had to leave Dingle Dell because' the pool was driecj up, and we are hurigry and "so tired." "Walk right in," said the small little voice. " Supper will be on the table at once. J> ;

*It happened -that a little distance. away Mr, Gilbert Bunny was sitting in the pore& of his little-house. Through the grass he liad seen Mrs Puck and her children coming along, arid ibis sharp ears had heard the soft little voice of Mr. Sly Fox^

"If that isn't just 4mrridT" he said. And he scampered off to. the house of Mr. Tickly Prickly Hedgehog in the hedge beyond, and told him and his family what had happened. .

4'Disgusting*l call it,'" said the eldest hedgehog. "Anyhow, w-eQI settle him., You trot along li^e a good*little boy and tell him;!.'we want to see him." ■-. In a second Mr. Gilbert Buimy was back at the tree. ;!? ■"Mr. Sly Fox!" he called. '■'Are. yon there I *;j \Mr. Sly Fox was sitting watching Mrs.^ Duck and her f atiply. and wondering whicji he wiould eat first. He jumped up andlpeep ed out of the window. ''} ..

"I've just seen five hedgehogs," called Gilbert Bunny. "They're, v asleep on the bank of the\i big^ holly bush."' . ■■•: * '' Thank you,'' said Mr. •; Fox. "I'll make a note of it." =. f '

Bunny ran off round the corner to watcb. And sure enough,?.in: a. minute out came Mr. Sly \ Fox, saying over his shoulder to-'MTS. Duck and her family, "EbcGuse me a moment—-then I'll be^back and we'll have supper." ; •

As soon as he had trottei^ out of sight, Gilbert Bunny rushed into the tree-house. .;'* ''Come at once," he !,; qried. "Pon't you know Mr. Sl^ Fox "ivhen you see him?" -jj.1 ' ' "Dear, dear!" cried Mrs; Duck. "Whtt'd have thought it? nd he was so polite." SK'e hurried out with her children and followed5 Mr; Gilbert Bunny. At th« foot of the opposite, bank werej.ja lot of tall grasses and hillocksj-jusij tKe place for a home, ;* ! Mrs Duck thanked Mr. (silbert Bunny very; much, and.ask{MJhim to' cali and see her some dayVShe i and'her family then splashedlntb the stream with loud cries of jay. j " Gilbert Bunny scampered back Ito the'nedge with the holly tree ■in it. Just as. he got there he heard Mr.- Sly Fox howling, and lifting first on^ pad and then another, and saying very rude things irideexL" .

"""You said the hedgehogs were asleep iincler the holly bush," he said as Bunny trotted up, "and here I' found them just in my path as I turned the corner, and my feet are full of their nasty . ." Bunny didn't wait to hear more lie just ran away smiling over his shoulder, and Mr. Sly Fox Umped home. When he got home a^d found the door open and the checks gone, he was so angry that he shut himself in and sulked aftl 'day. But Mrs. Duck invited lUffrGilbert Bunny and the Trickly Priciiies to an evening party.