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STORY XXXI

ALICE WIBBLEWOBBLE IN A BAG

You remember I told you last night about Jimmie Wibblewobble being carried up by a kite.  Well, when his papa and mamma came home that evening, they heard all about it, and how much excitement there was, and they told Jimmie he must be more particular after this.  He promised that he would be very careful.

“I’ll fly smaller kites,” he said, and he went out the next time with one about the size of a postage stamp, and that couldn’t take any one up in the air, you know, except, maybe, a mosquito, and they don’t count.

Well, it was about two days after this that something happened to Alice.  You see she had been sent to the store for a yeast cake and some prunes, for her mamma was going to make prune bread—­that is, bread with prunes in it, and it’s very nice, I assure you, for I’ve eaten it.

As Alice was coming home, through a lonely part of the woods, where the trees were so thick that it was almost dark, she began to feel a little bit frightened.  So, to stop herself from feeling scared she began to sing.  If she had been a boy, she would have shouted, or if she had been Lulu she would have whistled, for Lulu could whistle as good as could Jimmie.

But instead Alice sang, and this is the song she made up so she wouldn’t be frightened.  You are allowed to sing it if you are not more than seven-and-three-quarters years old.  If you are any older than that you will have to have a special excuse; or some one else will have to sing it for you.  Well, this is the song: 

    “I’m not afraid to wander
     In woodlands dark and drear,
     For who is there to harm me
     When not a soul is near? 
     The birds, the trees and flowers
     Are kind as kind can be,
     I’m sure that not a single one
     Would do a thing to me.

    “The bugs and pretty butterflies
     Will form a fairy band
     And guard me safely while I walk
     Throughout this dark woodland. 
     But just the same, I’ll hurry,
     And not stay here too long;
     Because, you see, I only know
     Two verses of this song.”

Well, as soon as Alice finished singing, land sakes! goodness, gracious me! if a big fox didn’t pop out from behind a tree, and before Alice could say “How do you do?” or even “Good afternoon,” or anything like that, if he didn’t grab her by the legs and put her into a bag he carried over his shoulder, and then he tied the bag tight and started to run away.

“Oh!  Oh!” cried Alice.  “Let me out!  Please let me out of this bag, Mr. Fox, and I’ll give you all the money I’ve got saved up in my bank!  Honest, I will; every cent in my bank!”

“No,” answered the fox savagely.  “I don’t want your money.  What good would money be to me?  I can’t eat money!  Ha! ha! ha!” and he laughed that way three times, just like a mooley cow.