“Oh, my!” cried Uncle Wiggily.  “I never heard of a violet turning into a rose.”  Then the mother violet spoke and said: 

“I tell my little girl-flower that she ought to be happy to grow here in the nice woods, in the green moss, where it is so cool and moist.  But she does not seem to be happy, nor are some of the other violets.”

“Well, that isn’t right,” Uncle Wiggily said, kindly.  “I am sure you violets can do some good in this world.  You are pretty to look at, and nice to smell, and that is more than can be said of some things.”

“Oh, I want to do something big!” said the fault-finding violet.  “I want to go out in the world and see things.”

“So do I!  And I!  And I!” cried other violets.

Uncle Wiggily thought for a minute, and then he said: 

“I’ll do this.  I’ll dig up a bunch of you violets, who want a change, and take you with me for a walk.  I will leave some earth on your roots so you won’t die, and we shall see what happens.”

“Oh, goodie!” cried the violets.  So Uncle Wiggily dug them up with his paws, putting some cool moss around their roots, and when they had said good-by to the mother violet away they went traveling with the bunny uncle.

“Oh, this is fine!” cried the first violet, nodding her head in the breeze.  “It is very kind of you, Uncle Wiggily to take us with you.  I wish we could do you a kindness.”

And then a bad old fox jumped out from behind a stump, and started to grab the rabbit gentleman.  But when the fox saw the pretty violets and smelled their sweetness, the fox felt sorry at having been bad and said: 

“Excuse me, Uncle Wiggily.  I’m sorry I tried to bite you.  The sight of those pretty violets makes me feel happier than I did.  I am going to try to be good.”

“I am glad of it,” said Mr. Longears, as he hopped on through the woods.  “You see, you have already done some good in this world, even if you are only tiny flowers,” he said to the violets.

Then Uncle Wiggily went on to his hollow stump bungalow, and, reaching there, he heard Nurse Jane saying: 

“Oh, dear!  This is terrible.  Here I have the clothes almost washed, and not a bit of bluing to rinse them in.  Oh, why didn’t I tell Wiggy to bring me some blueing from the store?  Oh, dear!”

“Ha!  Perhaps these will do to make blue water,” said the bunny uncle, holding out the bunch of violets.  “Would you like to help Nurse Jane?” he asked the flowers.

“Oh, yes, very much!” cried the violets.

Then Uncle Wiggily dipped their blue heads in the clean rinsing water—­just a little dip so as not to make them catch cold—­and enough color came out of the violets to make the water properly blue for Nurse Jane’s clothes, so she could finish the washing.

“So you see you have done more good in the world,” said Uncle Wiggily to the flowers.  Then he took them back and planted them in the woods where they lived, and very glad they were to return, too.