Uncle Wiggily
started off.

"Better take your umbrella," Nurse Jane called after him. "All the
April showers are not yet over, even if it is May."

So the rabbit gentleman took his umbrella.

On his way to the store through the woods, the bunny uncle came to a
big beech tree, which had nice, shiny white bark on it, and, to his
surprise the rabbit gentleman saw a big black bear, standing up on his
hind legs and scratching at the tree bark as hard as he could.

"Ha! That is not the right thing to do," said Uncle Wiggily to
himself. "If that bear scratches too much of the bark from the tree
the tree will die, for the bark of a tree is just like my skin is to
me. I must drive the bear away."

The bear, scratching the bark with his sharp claws, stood with his back
to Uncle Wiggily, and the rabbit gentleman thought he could scare the
big creature away.

So Uncle Wiggily picked up a stone, and throwing it at the bear, hit
him on the back, where the skin was so thick it hurt hardly at all.

And as soon as he had thrown the stone Uncle Wiggily in his loudest
voice shouted:

"Bang! Bang! Bungity-bang-bung!"

"Oh, my goodness!" cried the bear, not turning around. "The hunter man
with his gun must be after me. He has shot me once, but the bullet did
not hurt. I had better run away before he shoots me again!"

And the bear ran away, never once looking around, for he thought the
stone Mr. Longears threw was a bullet from a gun, you see, and he
thought when Uncle Wiggily said "Bang!" that it was a gun going off.
So the bunny gentleman scared the bear away.

"Thank you, Uncle Wiggily," said the beech tree. "You saved my life by
not letting the bear scratch off all my bark."

"I am glad I did," spoke the rabbit, making a polite bow with his tall
silk hat, for Mr. Longears was polite, even to a tree.

"The bear would not stop scratching my bark when I asked him to," went
on the beech tree, "so I am glad you came along, and scared him. You
did me a great favor and I will do you one if I ever can."

"Thank you," spoke Uncle Wiggily, and then he hopped on to the store to
get the loaf of bread and the pound of sugar for Nurse Jane.

It was on the way back from the store that an adventure happened to
Uncle Wiggily. He came to the place where his friend the beech tree
was standing up in the woods, and a balsam tree, next door to it, was
putting some salve, or balsam, on the places where the bear had
scratched off