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Lulu, Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble

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<h2>STORY X</h2> <h3>THE ROOSTER TRIES TO SWIM</h3> Grandfather Goosey-Gander was quite lame the next day from having been caught in the brush pile, and could not go very far away from the duck pen. He did manage to hobble around on the crutch which Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy made for him, and he sat in a sunny corner, reading the newspaper with his glasses which Susie Littletail found. He was reading away as Alice, Lulu and Jimmie Wibblewobble were playing about on the edge of the pond, and the little duck children made so much noise that the old grandfather could not understand what was in the papers. "Can't you children play something quiet?" he asked for Papa and Mamma Wibblewobble had gone visiting, and Grandfather Goosey-Gander was left to mind the house. "Play some nice, easy game," he suggested. "Let's play acorn tag," said Lulu. "All right, you're it," answered Jimmie. So they each took an acorn which they found in the woods and put it in their bills. Then Lulu had to chase after Jimmie and Alice, and when she touched either one of them with her wing she had to call out: "You can't run a little bit, I've tagged you, and now you're it." Yes, that's what she had to call, and she had to do it without letting the acorn fall out of her bill. Now, if you think that's a very easy thing to do, just you try it, that's all. Lulu didn't have much trouble putting her wing on Jimmie or Alice, but, every time she tried to call out the little verse the acorn would roll out of her bill and she'd have to start all over again, or it wouldn't have been fair. So it was some time before she got over being "it," and then it was Jimmie's turn. Well, they played acorn tag for quite a while, and, when they got tired of that they all went in swimming. They swam around in circles, and criss-crossed and went in squares, and in triangles and all sorts of queer figures, including eight, nine, ten, which are very difficult figures, indeed, for little ducks. While they were swimming away, having lots of fun, and far enough off so that Grandfather Goosey-Gander could read his paper in peace, who should come down to the edge of the pond but the rooster. His name was Mr. Cock A. Doodle, and he was very proud. He walked right down to the edge of the water, and looked at the ducks. Then he crowed as loud as he could, and flapped his wings, just as if he were saying: "There! I'd like to see any of you do that! Ha! Hum! Oh my, yes, indeed!" "How do you do, Mr. Cock A. Doodle?" asked Jimmie. "Ahem! I am pretty well, my young friend," replied the rooster. "And how may you happen to be to-day? And how are your sisters, Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble?" "We are very well," answered Lulu and Alice, and Lulu went on: "Don't you wish you could swim, Mr. Doodle?" "I can," said the rooster, and he strutted back and forth at the edge of the pond. "Certainly I can swim. What put the notion into your heads that I can't?" "We never saw you," spoke Jimmie. "Ahem! Perhaps not. You never saw me stand on one foot and jump over a barrel, but that doesn't prove that I can't do it," replied Mr. Doodle. "I can swim if I choose. I have never cared to, that's all." "Try now," suggested Lulu, for she didn't believe that rooster could swim, no matter what he said. "Oh, the water is too cold to go swimming now," said Mr. Doodle. "I never swim in cold water." "Why, it's as warm as warm can be," declared Alice, and she splashed a few drops upon the rooster, so he could feel it. "Well, er—ahem! The wind is blowing too much," said the rooster, when he felt the nice, warm water. "Why, it doesn't blow at all," answered Jimmie. "Well, I haven't my swimming shoes on," objected Mr. Cock A. Doodle. "I can't swim without them. You ducks have pieces of skin between your toes, so the water won't slip through, but I haven't my webbed feet on." "Oh, that is very easily fixed," said Lulu. "We will take some pieces of cloth, and tie them over your claws to make them like ours. Do you think you could swim then?" "Yes," answered the rooster, "I think I could." You see he had no more excuses to make. Oh, wasn't he a tricky old rooster, though, eh? So Lulu and Jimmie got some bits of cloth, and, with long pieces of ribbon grass, they bound the cloth on the rooster's claws so his feet looked something like a duck's. "Now come on and we'll have a swimming race," suggested Jimmie. "Walk right down into the water as we do. It won't hurt you the least bit, Mr. Doodle." "Pooh! Do you think I'm afraid?" inquired Mr. Doodle, and he actually did walk right into the water, while all the ducks and chickens and geese looked on in wonder, for they had never seen the rooster swim, and didn't believe he could. Oh, but Mr. Doodle was proud! He even tried to crow as he stepped into the water, but, as he wasn't used to it, it made his breath feel just as if it were choking him when he tried to swallow. Yes, he tried to crow, but all the noise he could make was a sort of a gasp and a sigh and a cough and a splutter and a sneeze and choke and a whimper. "Ha! Aha! Ahem! Ha! Ha! Ho! Ho I will now swim" cried the rooster, and then the water got so deep that he couldn't wade any more, and he had to float. He struck out with his feet, and tried to paddle just as he saw Lulu and Alice and Jimmie doing, but a very funny thing happened. The rooster went right around in a circle, for he only used one leg at a time. Then he got dizzy, and went around the other way. Then he had to stop. Next he flapped his wings and splashed the water all over. Say, I wish you could have seen him. It was as good as a circus! He got his tail all wet, and his back got all wet, and, as his feathers weren't the kind that water runs off from, he was soon as soaked as your umbrella ever was. That made him heavy and he began to sink. Oh, how he splashed and spluttered around in that pond! He couldn't swim any more than my typewriter can, and, all at once, what do you suppose happened? Why, he felt himself sinking more and more and more. Oh, it was terrible! "Save me! Oh, save me!" Mr. Doodle cried. "I am going down! Help me, please! Help! Help! Help!" Then the duck children felt sorry, and swam to him as fast as they could. Each one took hold of that poor rooster; Lulu and Alice by a wing, and Jimmie by the rooster's tail, and they towed him to shore. Oh, but he was a sorry looking sight! He couldn't even crow, nor flap his wings. "I thought you said you could swim," spoke Jimmie. "Hush!" begged Alice, who was very kind-hearted. "Don't be casting up! Don't make him feel bad." "Oh, I feel bad enough without that," said Mr. Doodle, sighing. "I guess the water wasn't right for swimming to-day," and with that he walked off, and hid himself in some leaves, to get dry, for he hadn't any towels at his house. But the Wibblewobble children kept on swimming, for they knew how; and now, let me see; well, how about a story of an enchanted castle for to-morrow night; eh? that is if the scissors don't cut up too much. <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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