STORY XXVI

FLOPPY AND THE BONFIRE

One night, after an election in Woodland, where the Twistytail
family of pigs lived, Curly, one of the piggie boys, asked his
brother Floppy if they couldn't have some fun.

"I guess so," spoke the other little piggie. "I have a big pile of
leaves, so why can't we make a bonfire?"

"The very thing!" cried Curly Tail. "There are always bonfires after
election, and we'll have ours now."

"And we'll invite all the other animal boys to help us," suggested
Curly Tail. "Sammie Littletail will want to come, I know, and so
will the squirrel boys, and Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck, and the
Bow Wow puppy boys."

So, as it was after school, and they had done their home work
lessons, the piggie boys could run out and play. In a vacant lot,
not far from their house, Flop Ear had collected a big pile of
leaves, ready for the fire, and he said to Curly Tail:

"Now, if you go get the other fellows, I'll find some more leaves,
and some old boxes and barrels and we'll have a fine big fire."

"All right, I will," agreed Curly Tail. So off he ran over the
fields and through the woods to call all his friends to the bonfire
which Flop Ear was going to make.

"Now for a surprise!" exclaimed the little piggie boy who was left
near the pile of leaves. "I'll look for some potatoes and I'll put
them to roast in the bonfire and when it is all over we'll eat them,
and sit about the blaze, telling stories about the election."

So he crawled through a fence into a field near by, where there were
some late potatoes, and soon, with his strong, rubbery nose, he was
rooting them up. The field belonged to Grandfather Goosey Gander,
and Flop knew the old gentleman goose would not mind if the boy
animals took a few potatoes.

"Now to make the fire and roast them," spoke the little piggie boy,
and when he had shoved the leaves all up in a heap with his nose he
lit them with a match.

"Won't Curly Tail and the others be surprised when they come up, and
see the fire already going?" thought Flop Ear. "And they'll be more
surprised when I pull out the roast potatoes for them. Oh! I almost
forgot! I must get some salt to eat on them."

Into the house he ran, with his queer little kinky tail twisting
around like a piece of strawberry shortcake, and Floppy got the
salt. His mamma was busy getting supper, and she did not see him,
and as his sister, Baby Pinky, was practising her piano lesson on
the tin dishpan, she made so much noise Mrs. Twistytail did not hear
the piggie boy, so no one stopped Flop Ear.

Maybe if mamma had known that he had a bonfire she would not have
liked it, and I want you children--especially you little ones--to
promise Uncle Wiggily that you will never, never make a fire unless
some older person is there to watch you. Fires are very bad, you
know--and burns--Bur-r-r-r! How burns do hurt!

Well, anyhow, Flop Ear had his fire going, and the potatoes were
roasting in the hot leaves, and he had the salt all ready to eat on
them. As he came running back to the blaze, out of the shadows
stepped someone, and a voice said:

"Ah ha! Good evening! I was wondering who had made this good fire
for me."

"I--I did," said Flop Ear, "but I didn't make it for you. I made it
for us."

"Never mind, it will do very well for me," went on the voice. "It
will save me the trouble of kindling one to roast my pork sausage
and chops--I mean you!" exclaimed the voice.

Flop Ear gave a jump, and looked more closely at the figure in the
shadow by the fire. And then he saw that it was a big, bad old fox,
with a fuzzy tail.

"Oh! Oh!" gasped the little piggie boy. "You don't mean that, do
you; that you're going to roast me!"

"Exactly what I'm going to do," replied the fox, and he caught hold
of Flop Ear. "We will wait until the fire is a little hotter," he
said.

Oh, how poor Flop Ear did try to get loose, but he couldn't because
the fox held him too tightly. And the fire got hotter and hotter,
and the little piggie boy was hoping that Curly Tail and the other
animal boys would come back in time to save him, but he could
neither see nor hear anything of them.

"I guess I'm going to be roasted!" he cried. "Oh, if Uncle Wiggily
were only here. Or even Grandpa Squealer!"

"Ha! No one will come to save you!" snarled the bad fox, and just
then, what do you think? Out from the fire rolled some of the
potatoes Flop Ear was roasting for his friends. Out rolled two big
potatoes, and the fox, seeing them, exclaimed:

"Ha! What have we here? Something good to eat, I should say," and he
smelled the baked potato. "Oh Yum yum!" he cried, and he smacked his
lips. "That will go most excellently with roast pork. I think I will
eat one, and then I'll put you on the fire to cook," he said to Flop
Ear.

The little piggie boy didn't say anything, but he felt very bad. And
the fox, holding him with one paw, took up a roasted potato in the
other, and cracked it open with his teeth.

And then--!

Well, you know how hot roast potatoes are, just out of the oven, I
dare say. This one, from Flop Ear's bonfire, was even hotter. It was
just roasting hot, and the fox had bitten into it.

"Oh, wow!" cried the fuzzy creature. "Oh, double wow, and some ice
cream cones! Oh, pepper casters! Oh, mustard! Oh, my mouth, how it
burns! And my paws!"

And then he had to let go of Flop Ear, and run to the brook to get a
drink of cold water--that fox did--because the hot potato burned
his mouth so, but I guess it served him right.

Anyhow, Flop Ear was free, and the next minute along came Curly Tail
and all the other animal boys, and then of course the bad fox had to
run away and put cold cream on his tongue. Flop Ear told all that
had happened, and then the bonfire was made bigger than ever, and
when the roast potatoes were cool they all ate some, and had a fine
time.

So, that's all now, but in the next story, in case the pear doesn't
fall off the apple tree and hit the ragman on the nose, I'll tell
you about Flop Ear and the skate wagon.

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