"My!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, as he gave a big sneeze. "This is a very
real dream. I actually believe I _am_ wet!"
Then he got real wide awake all of a sudden, and he found that he was
right in the middle of a lot of wetness, for the man had turned the water
on in the fountain unexpectedly, not knowing that the old gentleman
rabbit was asleep there.
"I must get out of here!" cried Uncle Wiggily, as he grabbed up his valise
and crutch. Then the water came up to his little short, stumpy tail. Next
it rose higher, up to his knees. Then it rose still faster up to his front
feet and then almost up to his chin.
"Oh, I'm afraid I'm going to drown!" he cried. "I must get out!" So he
tried to swim to the edge of the fountain, but you can't swim very well
with a crutch and a valise, you know, and Uncle Wiggily didn't want to
lose either one. Then the water from the top of the fountain splashed in
his eyes and he couldn't see which way to swim.
"Oh, help! Help!" he cried. "Will no one help me?"
"Yes, we will help you!" answered a voice, and up flew the big cat-bird,
and her little kitten-birds. "Quick, children!" she cried, "we must save
Uncle Wiggily, who was so kind to us! Every one of you get a stick, and
we'll make a little boat, or raft, for him!"
Well, I wish you could have seen how quickly the mamma cat-bird and her
kittie-birds gathered a lot of sticks, and twigs, and laid them together
crossways on the water in that fountain basin, until they had a regular
little boat.
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