, so that he might catch the elephant's salty tears.

"Oh, I feel so happy that I can't help crying, because my pain is gone!"
exclaimed the big creature. Then he cried about forty-'leven bushels of
tears, and a milk bottle full besides, and there was a little pond around
him, and Uncle Wiggily was in it up to his neck.

Then, all of a sudden, in came swimming the alligator, right toward the
rabbit.

"Ah, now I'll get you!" cried the skillery-scalery beast.

"No you won't!" shouted the elephant, "Uncle Wiggily is my friend!" So he
put his trunk down in the water, and sucked it all up, and then he
squirted it over the trees. That left the alligator on dry land, and then
the elephant grabbed the alligator up in his strong trunk, and tossed him
into the briar bushes, scalery-ailery tail and all, and the alligator
crawled away after a while.

So that's how Uncle Wiggily was saved from the alligator by the crying
elephant, and the rabbit and elephant traveled on together for some days.
Now, as I see the sand man coming, I must stop.

But, in case I don't fall into the washtub with my new suit on, and get it
all colored sky-blue-pink, so I can't go to the picnic, I'll tell you next
about Uncle Wiggily and the cherry tree.

STORY XXIV

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE CHERRY TREE

Uncle Wiggily Longears and the crying elephant were walking along together
one day, talking about the weather, and wondering if it would rain, and
all things like that. Only the elephant wasn't crying any more, for the
rabbit had pulled the tack that was hurting him, out of the big beast's
foot, you remember.

"We'll travel on together to find our fortune, and look for adventures,"
said the elephant, as he capered about, and stood on his hind legs,
because he felt so jolly. "Won't we have fun, Uncle Wiggily?"

"Well, we may," spoke the old gentleman rabbit, "but I don't see how we
are going to carry along on our travels enough for us to eat. Of course,
_I_ don't need much, but _you_ are such a big chap that you will have to
have quite a lot, and my valise is small."

"Don't worry about that," replied the elephant. "Of course you might think
I could carry a lot of pie and cake and bread and butter in my trunk, but
really I can't you know, for about all that my trunk will hold is water.
However, I think I can pick what hay and grass I want from along the
road."

"Yes, and perhaps we may meet a man with a hot peanut wagon, once in a
while,"