Lulu, Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble by Howard R. Garis

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Bedtime Stories

LULU, ALICE AND JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE

by

HOWARD R. GARIS

Author of _Sammie and Susie Littletail_, _Johnnie and Billie Bushytail_,
_Those Smith Boys_, _Dick Hamilton's Fortune_, etc.

Illustrations by Louis Wisa

1912

* * * * *

R.F. Fenno & Company
18 East Seventeenth St.
New York
Children's Books

By HOWARD R. GARIS

THE BEDTIME STORIES SERIES

EIGHT COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS

Price 75 cents each, postpaid

SAMMIE AND SUSIE LITTLETAIL
31 Rabbit Stories
JOHNNIE AND BILLIE BUSHYTAIL
31 Squirrel Stories
LULU, ALICE AND JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE
31 Duck Stories
JACKIE AND PEETIE BOW-WOW
31 Dog Stories

Other volumes in preparation

* * * * *

THE UNCLE WIGGILY SERIES

EIGHT COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS

Price 75 cents each, postpaid

UNCLE WIGGILY'S ADVENTURES
31 of the Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories
UNCLE WIGGILY'S TRAVELS
31 More Old Gentleman Rabbit Stories

BOY'S BOOKS

THOSE SMITH BOYS SERIES

FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS

Price 75 cents each, postpaid

THE SMITH BOYS
Or, The Mystery of the Thumbless Man
THOSE SMITH BOYS ON THE DIAMOND
Or, Nip and Tuck for Victory

THE ISLAND BOYS SERIES

FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS

Price 75 cents each, postpaid

THE ISLAND BOYS
Or, Fun and Adventures on Lake Modoc

Other volumes in preparation

* * * * *

R.F. Fenno & Company

BEDTIME STORIES--Lulu, Alice and Jimmie

The stories herein contained appeared originally in the Evening News, of
Newark, N.J., where (so many children and their parents have been kind
enough to say) they gave pleasure to a number of little folks, and
grown-ups also.

Permission to issue the stories in book form was kindly granted by the
publisher and editor of the News, to whom the author extends his thanks.

[Illustration]

LULU, ALICE AND JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE

STORY I

LULU WIBBLEWOBBLE STUCK IN THE MUD

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.

STORY II

JIMMIE WIBBLEWOBBLE IN AN AUTO

One day, well, it must have been about a week after Lulu Wibblewobble got
caught in the mud, she and Jimmie were out swimming around the pond.

"Come on," said Lulu, "let's go over and see Mrs. Greenie, the frog. She
always has some candied sweet-flag root hidden away, and perhaps she will
give us some."

"I don't believe there's any left," spoke Jimmie, "for Bully, the boy
frog, is so fond of it that he eats all he can get."

"Well, we'll go, anyhow," went on Lulu. Just then she heard her mother
calling:

"Jimmie! Lulu! Where are you going?"

"We are going over to see Mrs. Greenie," replied Jimmie.

"Wait for Alice," called Mamma Wibblewobble. "She will go with you. She is
just putting a clean apron on."

"Oh, dear!" cried Lulu. "Why does Alice always make us wait while she
puts on something clean?"

"I suppose," answered Jimmie, and he scratched his bill with his left leg,
"I suppose it is because she wants to look nice."

"Yes," agreed Lulu, with a sort of quacking-sigh, "I suppose I ought to
want to look nice, too; but, somehow I don't--ever. I always seem to be in
such a hurry."

"Maybe you'll change, some day," suggested her brother.

"Maybe," spoke Lulu, and just then Alice came swimming along, looking just
as nice and pretty as do some ducks which are in a picture. They all went
over to see Mrs. Greenie, the old lady frog, who lived down on the bottom
of the pond, at the far edge, by a big willow tree.

And, honestly, though I don't like to mention it, for fear you'll think
Bully a greedy little boy, there wasn't a single bit of candied sweet-flag
root in the house. No, sir, not a tiny, weeny bit. So Mrs. Greenie gave
the Wibblewobble children some nice snails, which they liked very much,
and then they went on swimming around. Jimmie was looking for Bully, but
the little boy frog had hopped off to see his cousin. Now, in a few
minutes Jimmie is going to have an adventure, and, if you please, I want
you to listen very carefully, so as not to miss it.

Well, the three ducklings swam on, thinking how nice it was on the water,
with the warm sun on their backs, when they suddenly came to the end of
the pond. And who should be standing there but the man who owned the
little puddle. And, more than that, there was another man also standing
there in the road and beside him was a queer thing, with big fat wheels,
fatter than the fattest duck or goose you ever saw. It was puffing away,
and some smoke and a funny smell came from it. Of course, you've guessed
it! An automobile! Now, what do you think about that? The ducks listened
to what the men were saying, for, though the Wibblewobbles couldn't talk
as the men did, they could understand our language.

"It's too bad," said the man who owned the pond. "Can't you go any
farther?"

"No," said the man who had the automobile, "I can't. You see my horn, that
I blow to tell people to get out of the way, is broken. I can't sound any
warning, and if I ran my machine I might hurt some one; and I wouldn't do
that for the world; no, not for two worlds, if you were to offer them to
me."

"That is very kind of you; very kind, indeed, I'm sure," went on the man
who owned the pond. "I am glad to have met you; and I wish I could help
you."

"I'm afraid you can't," answered the other. "I have to walk way down to
Newark, to get a new horn for my auto, so I can blow it, to warn people
out of the way."

So he started to walk off, and then what do you think happened? Why,
Jimmie Wibblewobble got so excited that he gave a loud "Quack-Quack!" Oh,
so loud and clear! As soon as the man who owned the auto heard it he cried
out, "My gracious goodness! What's that?"

"That," replied the man who owned the pond, "is one of my ducks. Doesn't
he speak very loudly?"

Then Jimmie, just to show what he could do, quacked again, harder than
before.

"Oh, extemporaneousness!" cried the auto man. "That is very fine quacking,
indeed. I never heard better. I have the greatest idea," he added. "Would
you be so kind as to lend me that little duck? I will bring him safely
back to you and not harm him in the least."

"What will you do with him?" asked the man who owned the pond.

"I will take him on the seat beside me," replied the other, "and maybe he
will go 'quack-quack' whenever a person gets in the way of my auto. Then
they will not be run over. Why, this little duck will be as good as an
auto horn! Will you let me take him?"

"I guess so," answered the other man. "But please do not frighten him, as
he is very little."

The man who owned the auto said he would be careful, and he went over to
where Jimmie was, and picked him right up.

Now I should have thought that Jimmie would have been frightened, but he
wasn't a bit, no, would you believe me, not a bit. So the man took him and
put him on the seat and started off in the auto. Jimmie knew exactly what
to do. Every time he came to a crossing he "quack-quacked" as loudly as he
could, without being told, and he did the same thing whenever he saw a
person in the way of the big machine.

Oh, what a fine ride he had in the auto, and how proud he was! Not too
proud, you know, but just proud enough. Well, as true as I'm telling you,
if Jimmie wasn't as good an auto horn as one could wish. Not a single
accident happened when he was on the seat, "quack-quacking" away, and when
the man went to a store and got his regular horn, with the rubber handle
to it, why, he brought Jimmie right back to the pond.

Now, wasn't that quite an adventure? All the other ducks thought so
anyhow. To-morrow night, if you do not slam the door, you shall hear about
Alice Wibblewobble's new bonnet.

STORY III

ALICE WIBBLEWOBBLE'S NEW BONNET

When the Wibblewobble family came back to their house after a swim around
the pond one bright sunny afternoon, and when the grass on the edges of
the water was as green as it could be, Mamma Wibblewobble looked at her
children, who were walking ahead of her. Jimmie and Lulu were throwing
stones along the path, but Alice, who was as ladylike a little duck as one
could wish, would not throw pebbles even, to say nothing of stones.

"I declare," exclaimed Mamma Wibblewobble, "those girls will have to have
new bonnets. I must see to it at once."

"Very well," answered Papa Wibblewobble, "I will get them when I come home
to-morrow. I met Mrs. Gooseyoosy this morning and she said they had a
special sale of hats at the store by the barnyard gate."

"A man duck cannot get bonnets for Alice and Lulu," declared Mrs.
Wibblewobble. "You would not know what to pick out! It is bad enough to
have you get Jimmie's hats and shoes, but you would never know how to buy
bonnets for the girls."

"Very well," answered Papa Wibblewobble, "then I will let you do the
buying. I think a green colored bonnet would be nice for Alice."

"Green! With her complexion!" cried his wife. "Never! It must be
blue--blue for Alice and a brown one for Lulu. Give me the money and I
will start out shopping to-morrow."

So Mamma Wibblewobble started out the next day, taking Alice and Lulu with
her, while Jimmie stayed home and played cross-tag with Bully, the frog,
and Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, who had a day's vacation.

They had lots of fun, and once Jimmie nearly fell down a great big--but
there, I started to tell you about Alice Wibblewobble's bonnet, and I must
not get off the track. That story about Jimmie will do for another time.

Well, you should have seen the numbers and numbers of duck-bonnets that
Mrs. Wibblewobble looked at before she was satisfied with two for the
girls. Not that Alice and Lulu were hard to please. Oh, my, no! But their
mamma wanted them to look just right, and you know it is quite difficult
to fit a bonnet on a duck and make it look like anything. The milliner
said so herself, and she ought to know. But at last the two duck girls
both had very fine bonnets indeed; as fine as mustard seeds, which are
very, very fine. Alice had a nice blue one, and Lulu a brown one.

Well, would you ever imagine it? Something is going to happen to Alice's
bonnet, and very soon, too. Just be patient and you shall hear.

"Now children," said Mrs. Wibblewobble, when they had reached the pen
where they lived, "you may go out and swim around a bit with your new
bonnets on until your papa comes home. I want him to see how well they fit
you, for I think I have very good taste when it comes to bonnets."

"Oh, I don't want to wear my new one," spoke Lulu. "I will put on my old
one and go and play with Jimmie and Bully, the frog."

So she did, but Alice, who was very fond of nice clothes, went for a swim
on the pond. At first she paddled around, gazing down in the water, which
was just like the looking-glass some men shave by, and she thought: "Oh,
what a lovely bonnet I have! How fine I shall look when I go for a walk on
Sunday!"

And just then--really I'm not exaggerating a bit--If it didn't begin to
rain! Now, of course, rain couldn't hurt Alice any, for she was a duck
and was used to the water, but she knew it would spoil her new bonnet. So
she took it off and laid it under a big burdock plant leaf near the pond,
to keep the flowers and ribbons dry.

"I wish it would stop raining," said Alice, after a while. "I want to go
home," but the big drops kept on falling, and she had to remain near her
bonnet for fear something would happen to it.

Then, in a little while, oh, maybe half an hour or so, all at once as
quick as a wink, along came Mooleyooly, the big brown cow. Mooleyooly
walked up to the burdock leaf, under which was the new bonnet, and
Mooleyooly saw the pretty yellow flowers on it, and she saw the blue
flowers on it and she saw the red flowers on it. Then Mooleyooly said, as
she licked her lips with her red tongue:

"What have we here? It looks very nice."

"It is nice," answered Alice proudly, for she was glad to have some one,
even a cow, admire her bonnet.

"It looks just like the green meadow where I live," went on Mooleyooly,
"with buttercups, and daisies, and ragged sailor flowers and some red
poppies growing in it. Oh, very fine, indeed. Why, those flowers are
real!" exclaimed the cow, looking carefully at the new bonnet under the
big leaf.

"Of course," cried Alice, "certainly they are real."

"Better and better!" went on Mooleyooly. "Most delightful, I am sure!"
Then, oh, how sorry I feel that I have to tell it--then, if that brown cow
didn't start right in and eat up Alice's new bonnet!

Yes, sir, every single bit, down to a bunch of green grass that looked so
pretty on it. She ate it all up at one mouthful, before Alice could cry
out "stop" or "halt" or "cease" or any words like that. Well, of course,
Alice cried. Wouldn't you, boys and girls--I mean, of course, you
girls--have done the same? Well, I guess so!

Then, when the cow saw how sorry Alice felt, Mooleyooly felt badly, too,
and she cried great big tears until you would have thought it was raining
harder then ever. Then, being a good cow, Mooleyooly promised to get Alice
a new bonnet, which she did, made of the finest straw in the stable.

So Alice had a hat for Sunday after all, even if one was eaten up by
mistake. Well, pretty soon it stopped raining and Alice went home with the
bonnet the cow gave her, and Mamma Wibblewobble said it was even better
than the one she had bought. Now, wasn't that rather odd? I thought so,
myself.

To-morrow night if you do not sneeze, I hope to have the pleasure of
telling you how Jimmie Wibblewobble almost fell over the waterfall; but
don't let that alarm you the least bit, for he was saved in a most
wonderful way.

STORY IV

JIMMIE AND THE WATERFALL

It was such a nice day that Mr. and Mrs. Wibblewobble decided to go
visiting, as they had an invitation to call on Mrs. Greenie, the frog lady
who lived at the end of the pond. So the two ducks, after seeing that the
pen was in order, and the windows nice and clean, in case any company
should call on them while they were out, started off, swimming very
slowly, for they had their best clothes on and did not want to splash
water on them.

"Now, I hope you children will be good," called Mamma Wibblewobble to
Jimmie and Lulu and Alice. "Don't get into any mischief and we'll be back
at supper time."

"We'll be good," promised Alice, but Jimmie and Lulu didn't say anything,
though, of course they meant to be good also. Only, sometimes, you know
how it is, just when you want to be good and make no trouble something is
sure to happen; that is, most always. Well, that's the way it was this
time.

The papa and mamma ducks hadn't been gone more than half an hour before
Jimmie thought of something to do. Of course, he didn't know it was
mischief but it was, all the same.

It happened that at one end of the pond where the ducks lived there was a
waterfall. That is, the water ran from the pond, and fell over a high wall
of stones upon some more stones down below, and made a lot of foam and a
rushing, gurgling noise that was very cool in summer, making you think of
ice cream and all nice things like that. And besides this there was, near
the waterfall, a big mill, with a wheel that went around and around, to
grind the corn and grain.

Well, Jimmie's papa and mamma hadn't been gone more than half an hour
before the little boy duck called to Lulu and Alice. "Let's see how near
we can go to the waterfall," he said.

Now this was a very dangerous thing to do, because there was a strong and
swift current at the fall, and any one who went too near it might be
carried over. Mr. and Mrs. Wibblewobble knew this, and many times had told
their children to keep away. But, you see, Jimmie forgot, or else didn't
want to remember, so he called to his sisters, telling them to see how
near they could go.

"I'll not," spoke Alice. "And you hadn't better either, Jimmie. You know
what mamma said."

"Oh, well, the water's low now," replied Jimmie. "I don't believe there's
any danger. Come on, Lulu."

"All right," said Lulu. So she and Jimmie started to swim as close as they
could to the waterfall. But Alice stayed near shore, and who should come
along but Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, the muskrat nurse who was out for a
walk. She told Alice about Sammie and Susie Littletail, and said the
little rabbit children were well.

Now all this while Jimmie and Lulu were swimming nearer and nearer to the
waterfall. They could hear the water splashing on the rocks below, and
they liked to listen to it.

"We had better stop," called Lulu, after a while.

"No, I'm going closer," declared Jimmie. "There is no danger; come on!"

But just then Lulu felt something pulling her down toward where the big
wheel went around and around, and she got frightened. Then she swam just
as hard as she could toward shore, and called to her brother: "Jimmie,
don't go any closer! Come back!"

But Jimmie was a boy duck, and wanted to be brave, so he answered: "I'm
going just a little bit closer."

Now Lulu had a very hard time, indeed, getting to shore, as the current
was so strong, but she finally managed it. Jimmie, however, kept on
swimming nearer and nearer to the falls. Then, all at once, before you
could stick a pin in a cushion, what should take place but that the little
boy duck felt himself being pulled along by the rushing water, just as the
soap floats along when you pull the plug out of the bathtub. Oh, how fast
the water swept him along! Jimmie splashed and paddled with all his might,
and tried to swim ashore, where Lulu was anxiously watching him, but he
couldn't seem to move. There he was, being carried along to the edge of
the falls, with the cruel, sharp stones below, and the big millwheel going
around and around. Then Jimmie knew he was in great danger, and he cried
out: "Help! Help! Help!" three times, as loudly as he could call.

Lulu and Alice heard him, and were much frightened. They started to go to
the aid of their brother, but Grandfather Goosey-Gander warned them not
to.

"But who will save Jimmie?" they cried.

"I will try to," answered the old gentleman duck.

So he got a rope and threw it to Jimmie, but the rope wasn't long enough,
and the poor little boy duck kept getting closer and closer to the edge
of the falls, and the big millwheel. Oh, how hard he was swimming, but the
water was stronger than he was.

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