Howard R. Garis Curly and Floppy Twistytail the Funny Piggie Boys, Chapter 23: The Piggies and the Fish Lyrics

STORY XXIII

THE PIGGIES AND THE FISH

On the morning of the day when it was to be Hallowe'en, Curly Tail,
and Flop Ear, the two piggie boys, awakened in Uncle Wiggily's
bungalow, on Raccoon Island in Lake Hopatcong, and Curly Tail
whispered:

"What are you going to dress up like, Flop Ear?"

"Oh, I guess I'll make believe I'm a loaf of bread. What are you
going to be?"

"An apple pie," said the other little piggie boy, "I'll stick apples
all over myself, and some bits of pie crust, and when we get through
playing Hallowe'en we can eat them."

"Fine!" cried Curly Tail. "I wish I was going dressed up like an ice
cream cone, but then I'd melt so fast I wouldn't have any fun. So I
guess I'll be a loaf of bread."

"And we'll fool Uncle Wiggily, won't we?" said Flop Ear.

"We surely will," declared his brother. But if they could have
looked into the next room, and have seen Uncle Wiggily laughing to
himself, and winking his eyes, and rubbing his leg that had
rheumatism in it--well, maybe those piggie boys wouldn't have felt
so funny.

"Fool me, eh? Will they?" whispered Uncle Wiggily. "We'll see about
it," and then he hopped about on his crutch to help the boys get
breakfast.

"We must have all the good times we can," said the old gentleman
rabbit, "for soon the new roof will be on your school and you will
have to begin studying your lessons again. Be happy while you're
here, for soon the snow will fly and the ice will come, and we will
have to go away from the lake."

"Oh, we're going to have a good time, Uncle Wiggily," said Curly
Tail, or Curly, as I often call him for short, and then he looked at
his brother, and they both laughed and pretended it wasn't anything
at all. But Uncle Wiggily knew better.

"Well," said the old gentleman rabbit, after breakfast, "I guess
I'll go down and play Scotch checkers with Pop Goes the Weasel. You
boys can stay here, but if the bad alligator or the fuzzy fox tries
to get you, just call for me."

"All right," said Curly Tail, and when his uncle was out of sight he
and his brother began to dress up for Hollowe'en, which is the night
everyone puts on false faces you know.

One of the piggie boys made a lot of flour paste, colored with brown
sugar, and that was to fix him so he would look like a loaf of
bread. And Flop Ear made himself look like an apple pie.

"Now, we'll just practice, ready for tonight, when we're going to
fool Uncle Wiggily," said Curly Tail, and they did, having lots of
fun.

Just before supper Uncle Wiggily came home from having played Scotch
checkers with Pop Goes the Weasel. The old gentleman had something
under his coat, but when Curly Tail and Flop Ear asked him what it
was he only laughed and said:

"Oh, you'll soon see!"

Well, it got pretty dark, and Curly Tail and his brother thought it
was time for them to dress up and play a trick on their uncle. So
they took their false faces, one like a lump of b___ered bread and
the other like a piece of cheese, and went out in the woods to
dress. They intended to come and knock on the bungalow door and see
what Uncle Wiggily would do and say when he saw them.

Pretty soon they were both ready, and, really, if I do say it
myself, Curly Tail looked just like a ten-cent loaf, with flour in
his b___onhole and all that, only he didn't have any real b___er on,
as that was so greasy. And Flop Ear, or Flop, or Floppy, for short,
looked too cute for anything--just exactly like an apple pie, and
he even carried a bit of cheese to go with it, and a toasting fork.

"Now, we'll fool Uncle Wiggily," they said, as they started for the
bungalow. But they didn't know what had happened to the rabbit
gentleman. They hadn't gone very far before, out in a boat on the
lake, not far from shore, they heard a voice calling:

"Oh, help! Help! He's such a big one that I can't get him in, and
Percival has fallen overboard! Help! Help!"

"My goodness! What's that?" asked Curly Tail, in surprise.

"Some one must be in trouble," said Flop Ear. "Let's see who it is."

"But it might be the bad skillery-scalery alligator, with the lumps
on his tail," said the other piggie boy. Then Flop Ear looked out on
the lake, where it was all lighted by the moon and he said:

"I see a lady in a boat. Surely she would not harm us. And she spoke
of Percival--she must mean the old circus dog! I am going to see
what is the matter!"

"Better not! Maybe it's a trick to catch us!" said Curly Tail.

But just then a lady on the lake called again: "Oh help! He is such
a big one that I can't get him into the boat, and Percival has
fallen overboard!"

Then there was a great splashing, and a rustling in the bushes and
Flop Ear called:

"We're coming to help you, lady! What have you got that is so big?"

"A fish," she answered. "My husband, Percival, is a great fisherman
and he caught the biggest fish in all the lake, but it pulled him
out of the boat. However, I have hold of the pole and line, and the
fish is still fast to the hook. Oh, help me to catch him!"

So the piggie boys said they would, and they ran down to the shore,
and the lady in the boat passed them the pole. Then Curly and Flop
pulled as hard as they could, and old circus dog Percival scrambled
out of the water, and he helped pull, too, and, all of a sudden,
from the bushes along the edge of the lake--on dry land, but not in
the water--there suddenly flopped the biggest fish any one had ever
seen.

"Oh, what long ears the fish has!" cried Curly Tail, when the moon
shone on the fish. "I never saw a fish with ears!"

"I'm not a fish," said a voice. "Oh, please let me go. The hook is
caught in my collar. Please let me go!"

"Who are you?" asked Percival, in wonder.

"I'm Uncle Wiggily Longears," was the answer. "I dressed up like a
Hallowe'en fish to fool Curly Tail and Flop Ear. I was walking along
the shore in the dark, thinking I could catch the piggie boys, when,
all of a sudden, something caught in my coat collar, and I was
dragged through the bushes. I was choked so I could hardly speak,
and I didn't know what had happened to me."

"Oh, that's too bad," said Percival. "I guess I happened to catch
you on my fishhook by mistake, when I was tossing it around. But why
are you all dressed up?" he asked Curly Tail and Flop Ear and Uncle
Wiggily.

"Because it is Hallowe'en," said Flop Ear; "but I guess we have had
enough of it."

"Yes," said Uncle Wiggily, "come up into the bungalow and we will
duck for apples, eat marshmallows and have fun."

So Curly Tail took off his bread crumbs clothes, and Flop Ear his
apple pie suit, and Uncle Wiggily his fish scales, and they all took
off their false faces, and Percival and the lady whose name was
Gertrude, had a good time.

And in the next story in case the ash can doesn't roll off the roof
and fall on the dog house to scare the puppy cake I'll tell you
about Curly Tail and the little afraid girl.