UNCLE WIGGILY’S HOT CARROT.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 193, 15 August 1931, Page 8

UNCLE WIGGILY’S HOT CARROT.

Once upon a time, when Uncle Wiggly was all alone in his hollow stump bungalow, a knock sounded at the kitchen door. “ I had better be careful about opening the door,” said Uncle Wiggily to himself. “ This may be a trick of the Bad Chaps to catch me. I wish Nurse Jane were at home, or even my wife. They could help me in case the Fox or Bob Cat tries to break in.” “ Rat-a-tat-tat! ” sounded on the kitchen door again. “ Dear me! ” exclaimed the rabbit gentleman. “ This is getting serious. But maybe, after all, it is only Baby Bunty, or one of my rabbit children, coming home from school a bit early. I'll ask who it is, though, before I open the door.” So Uncle Wiggily asked: “ Who is there? Who is knocking?” “ I am!” a voice answered, and Uncle Wiggily* was very glad when he heard the grunting tones of Mr Twisty tail, his fat pig friend. ‘‘Oh, Twisty! Excuse me! I didn’t know it was you,” said Uncle Wiggily as he quickly opened the door. ‘‘Why, what is the matter?” asked Mr Longears as he saw how serious Mr Twistytail looked. Is your wife ill?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “ No, thank goodness, it isn’t quite as bad as that,” the pig gentleman grunted. “ But your friend, Mr Whitewash, the polar bear, has a very bad cold, and Dr Possum says the only thing that will cure him is a hot carrot.” “ Yes, a hot carrot is very good for colds,” said Uncle Wiggily. “ I have tried it many times. But how did Mr Whitewash catch cold?” “You know how it is!” grunted the pig gentleman. “ Living, as he does, in an ice cave, it’s a wonder to me that Whitewash hasn’t always a cold. But he has a bad one this time.” “ Then we must take him a hot carrot,” said the rabbit. “ I am glad you came to me.” “ Yes,” went on Mr Twistytail. “ I knew if anybody would have a hot carrot it would be you, my rabbit friend.” “ I haven’t exactly a hot carrot this moment,” spoke Mr Longears. “ But it will not take me long to boil one. I’ll hop down the cellar after it while you put on the stove a kettle of water to boil. We’ll soon cure the cold of that jolly old Polar Bear. But I think he should do something about living in that ice cave.” Si! §3 iH IS @0 S §0 ® EE HI ® ® H 3 EE! S Hl® El I*)

44 So do I,” said the pig. “If it were lined with red flannel for the winter I think it would be a good thing.” “Or fur or something like that,’* agreed Uncle Wiggily, as he slid down the cellar stairs to get a carrot from the bin. Meanwhile, Mr Twistytail, grunting and puffing because he was so fat, had put the water on to boil and soon the big, yellow carrot was cooking on the stove. Now and again Uncle Wiggily stuck a fork in the boilng vegetable to see if it were cooked enough. At last the rabbit said: “ The carrot is good and hot. We must quickly take it to Mr Whitewash before it gets cool.” “ But how are we going to carry it?” asked the pig. “Itis so hot it will burn our paws even if we wear thick gloves.” “ I’ll put the carrot in a big glass jar, like a bottle,” said Uncle Wiggily. “ Here is a glass jar Nurse Jane used for canned peaches. The peaches are all eaten, the jar is empty and it will nicely hold the hot carrot so it will not burn us as we take it Mr Whitewash.” “ Fine and dandy!” chuckled the fat pig. Soon, with the hot carrot in the glass jar, he and Uncle Wiggily started over the fields and through the woods to the ice cave of Mr Whitewash, the Polar Bear. Uncle Wiggily was carrying the jar with the hot carrot in, and, even though he had on fur gloves, Mr Twistytail noticed that Uncle Wiggily kept changing the carrot jar from one paw to the other. “What’s the matter?” asked the pig. “ This carrot is so hot, even through the glass jar, that it burns my paws if I hold it in one too long,” answered the rabbit. “ I have to keep changing paws all the while.” “ Let me have a go at it,” grunted the pig. He took the hot carrot jar in one of his paws, but quickly changed it to the other, for the boiled, yellow vegetable seemed to be getting hotter all the while. “ Wow! I can’t stand this!” grunted the pig. “It’s too hot even 'with changing paws. What are we going to do? How are we going to get this hot carrot to Mr Whitewash to cure his cold?” “ Hum! Let me think,” answered Mr Longears. So he began to think while Mr Twistytail tossed the hot * carrot jar from one paw to the other. m in m ® in ® id in a ® eei ® eei in s in is m in s