voice. And the bear saw
some trees waving their branches at him.

"Pooh! I'm not afraid of you!" growled
the bear, and he made a rush for the bunny.
"I'm not afraid of trees."

"Not afraid of us, eh? Well, you'd better
be!" said the mother tree. "I'm a strong horse
chestnut and these are my strong little ponies.
Come on, children, we won't let the bear get
Uncle Wiggily." Then the strong horse chestnut
tree and the pony trees reached down with
their powerful branches and, catching hold of
the bear, they tossed him up in the air, far away
over in the woods, at the same time pelting him
with green, prickly horse chestnuts, and the
bear came down ker-bunko in a bramble brier bush.

"Oh, wow!" cried the bear, as he felt his soft
and tender nose being scratched. "I'll be good!
I'll be good!"

And he was, for a little while, anyhow. So
this shows you how a horse chestnut tree saved
the bunny gentleman, and if the postman
doesn't stick a stamp on our cat's nose so it can't
eat molasses cake when it goes to the puppy
dog's party, I'll tell you next about Uncle
Wiggily and the pine tree.

STORY XIV

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE PINE TREE

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the nice old gentleman rabbit, put on his tall
silk hat, polished his glasses with the tip of his tail, to make them
shiny so he could see better through them, and then, taking his red,
white and blue striped rheumatism crutch down off the mantel, he
started out of his hollow stump bungalow one day.

"Better take an umbrella, hadn't you?" asked Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy,
the muskrat lady housekeeper. "It looks as though we might have an
April shower."

"An umbrella? Yes, I think I will take one," spoke the bunny uncle, as
he saw some dark clouds in the sky. "They look as though they might
have rain in them."

"Are you going anywhere in particular?" asked the muskrat lady, as she
tied her tail in a soft knot.

"No, not special," Uncle Wiggily answered. "May I have the pleasure of
doing something for you?" he asked with a polite bow, like a little
girl speaking a piece in school on Friday afternoon.

"Well," said Nurse Jane, "I have baked some apple dumplings with
oranges inside, and I thought perhaps you might like to take one to
Grandfather Goosey Gander to cheer him up."

"The very thing!" cried Uncle Wiggily, jolly-like. "I'll do it, Nurse
Jane."

So with an apple dumpling carefully wrapped up in a napkin and put in a
basket, Uncle W