“Were you very scared when you were in the bear’s den?” asked the prickly porcupine as he and Uncle Wiggily walked along the road the next day. They had slept that night in a hole where an old fox used to live, but at that moment, he was on summer vacation and not at home.
“Was I scared?” repeated the old rabbit as he brushed the mud off himself. “I was so scared that my heart almost stopped. So I was very glad when you happened to come by the den and poked the bear in the nose with your quills.”
“Oh, but I did that on purpose,” said the porcupine. “When you rescued me from the trap and started walking, I happened to think that you might pass by the bear’s house, so I hurried after you. Now, I’m glad I did.”
“Me too,” said the rabbit. “Would you like a piece of my carrot sandwich?”
“I would,” said the porcupine politely. So they ate their carrot sandwiches together and walked on.
“Well, I don’t think I’ll ever find my fortune,” said Uncle Wiggily sadly. “I started to have hope when I picked up that twenty-five cent piece, but now the bear has it and I have nothing. Oh, I always have bad luck.”
“Never mind,” said the porcupine, “I’ll help you look.” But even with the help of the porcupine’s sharp eyes, Uncle Wiggily couldn’t find his fortune.
But it was a good thing the old rabbit had company because as they walked under some trees, a big snake suddenly hissed at them. Then the snake unwound and tried to grab the rabbit by the ears.
“You’ll never succeed, snake,” shouted the porcupine and ran at the snake and stuck twenty-seven quills into it. The snake didn’t know how fast it had to crawl away.
By then it was almost time to eat, and the friends sat down in a place with many mushrooms. They sat on the low mushrooms and used the tall mushrooms as tables. It looked like a restaurant.
“This is fun,” said the porcupine happily, as he ate his third piece of nut cake with carrot sauce.
“Yes, this is really fun,” said the rabbit. “After all, it’s not so bad to go fortune hunting in good company.”
The friends had just finished eating and were getting ready to travel on when there was a terrible cracking sound in the bushes, as if someone was breaking the branches.
“What could that be?” asked the porcupine, as he immediately prepared to bring out his quills.
“It sounds like the elephant,” said the rabbit, as he quickly looked around for a safe place to hide in case it was the bear that was coming after him.
“Oh, if it’s the elephant, we don’t have to worry. He’s a friend of ours,” said the porcupine.
The cracking from the bushes continued and then a very large snake appeared through a thorny bush that had already tried to catch Uncle Wiggily.
“Oh, look!” shouted the porcupine. “He’s chasing us.”
“That’s right, I’m chasing you,” shouted the snake. “In a minute, I’ll have a good meal. I’ll pull all your quills out and eat you with strawberry sauce, prickly porcupine.”
“Oh, don’t let him do that!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “Please stick some of your quills in him and make him go away, Mr. Porcupine.”
“It wouldn’t work,” said the porcupine. “This snake has such a thick skin that even a bullet can barely penetrate it, so my quills won’t hurt him. I think we’d better run.”
So they started running as fast as they could, but the snake chased after them, and snakes are very fast. It almost caught the porcupine and the rabbit. Then the porcupine saw a hole that was just big enough for him but not for the snake. The spiky porcupine jumped in, and he was safe, but there was no hole for Uncle Wiggily to hide in, and the snake was right behind him.
“Jump on a mushroom, maybe he can’t catch you,” shouted the porcupine as he stuck the end of his nose out of the hole.
“I’ll do it,” cried the scared rabbit, and with a leap he landed on top of the largest mushroom.
“Oh, I can easily get you off that mushroom,” the snake screamed furiously. “I’ll have you back on the ground in no time.”
The snake stood up to grab the rabbit, but Uncle Wiggily sat right in the middle of the mushroom, as far away as possible. The snake almost caught him, but suddenly the mushroom began to grow. The mushroom got bigger and bigger, as mushrooms can grow very quickly. It was like a lift taking Uncle Wiggily up.
“Haha, now I’m safe!” shouted the rabbit, as he was pretty high up in the air.
“Not at all,” shouted the snake. “I’ll catch you.” And he stood up as high as possible. The snake reached for the rabbit, but the mushroom immediately began to grow again, as high as a church tower, and the snake couldn’t reach it.
“Now I’m safe, but how will I ever get down?” thought the rabbit, because the snake was still there. A minute later, a policeman suddenly ran by. He swung his baton at the snake, and the snake quickly went back to the swamp where it belonged. Then the mushroom got smaller and smaller, and the rabbit sank back to the ground. Uncle Wiggily landed safely on the ground again. He was very grateful to the mushroom.
“We’d better always go on the road together,” said Uncle Wiggily to the spiky porcupine. So the two friends went back into the woods together and had another new adventure the next day.
