“What will I see?” asked Uncle Wiggily.

“You will see a red fairy,” answered the boy who used to be mud turtle, “and the red fairy will do something wonderful for you.”

“Oh!” cried Uncle Wiggily, “I don’t believe in fairies!”

But, all the same, he had to, after what happened, for he went back to the woods, and met a red fairy, and the red fairy stopped Uncle Wiggily’s rheumatism for a time, as you can find out by reading the first book of this series, entitled “Sammie and Susie Littletail,” which tells a lot about two little rabbit children and their friends, as well as about Uncle Wiggily Longears.

Now I’ve reached the end of this story, but there’s another one for to-morrow night, in case you don’t hit anybody with your bean shooter, and it’s going to be about Lulu and the Golden fairy.

STORY XXV

LULU AND THE GOLDEN FAIRY

Once upon a time it was raining very hard one morning.  It was just when Lulu and Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble were looking out of the window of the duck pen, getting ready for school.

“Jimmie, is your hair combed?” asked his mamma.

“No, ma’am,” he answered; “but I’m just going to comb it.”

“And did you brush your teeth?”

“No, mamma, but I’m just going—­”

“Now, now, Jimmie, that’s what you always say.  Hurry to the bathroom and clean your teeth at once, or else there’ll be a dentist coming to the school looking into your mouth and goodness knows what will happen then.  Hurry, now, or you’ll be late.”

Jimmie cleaned his teeth quickly, and ran on to school so he wouldn’t be late and get a bad mark.  What’s that?  You didn’t know ducks had teeth?  Well, the next time you get a chance, when a duck opens his mouth real wide, you look in, and maybe you’ll see them.  They’re very small, I know, but that doesn’t count.

Well, Lulu and Alice ran on ahead, and Jimmie came following after.  He wasn’t late at school because he met Bully the frog, who hopped, and so Jimmie had to run to keep up.  The little boy duck was the first one in the classroom, and the teacher said: 

“Why, Jimmie, this is a delightful surprise.  You are not late this morning, though you were every other day this week.”

“Yes, ma’am,” was all Jimmie said, as he took his seat.

Well, you should have seen it rain!  Honestly, I don’t know when it ever rained so hard before; maybe not since the animals came out of the ark, or the last time I wanted to go to a picnic.  Some of the kindergarten children got quite wet, because, you see, they were so little that they couldn’t hold their umbrellas up straight.  And even some of the high school girls got wet, too; but they didn’t mind.

Jimmie and his sisters didn’t need an umbrella, for, you know, water always runs off a duck’s back, and doesn’t do a bit of harm.  It rained when the duck children got home from school, and it was still raining when Mrs. Wibblewobble said: