Once upon a time Uncle Wiggily met Baby Bunty on her skates. “Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” laughed the little rabbit girl, “why don’t you get a pair and come roller skating with me?” The bunny sort of twinkled his pink nose doubtful like. “Do you think an old rabbit like me could skate?” he asked. “Of course you could! I’ll teach you if you’ve forgotten!” kindly offered Baby Bunty. “All right,” said Mr. Longears.
Uncle Wiggily, in his heart, felt that something dreadful would happen. But he did not like to disappoint Baby Bunty, so he bought himself a pair of roller skates and began. “This is how you do it!” called back the cute little rabbit girl, as she started boldly off, for she was a good skater. “Ye-ye-yes, my de-de-dear! I—I see how you do it,” stammered Uncle Wiggily. “But it isn’t so-so-so easy!”
All went well for a while, though Uncle Wiggily, of course, could not skate as fast as Baby Bunty. All of a sudden one of the bunny’s paws shot out from under him. “Oh, Baby Bunty! Look!” he cried. “Uncle Wiggily! Stop that!” scolded Bunty. “You shouldn’t try any fancy tricks before you learn to skate straight!” Mr. Longears twinkled his nose. “Trick!” he cried. “I couldn’t help doing this!
After some hard work Uncle Wiggily managed to get his elevated leg back on the ground where it belonged, and he started off once more. But he tried to go too fast and, all of a sudden he turned a peppersault in the air. “Oh, Uncle Wiggily! Why do you keep on doing those tricks?” cried Baby Bunty. “I—I’m not doing them on purpose!” said the poor bunny. “They just—just—seem to happen!”
Well, after a while, Uncle Wiggily landed right side up with care, and he and Baby Bunty skated off once more. But, all of a sudden, they reached the top of a hill, and, before he knew what was going on, Uncle Wiggily started to glide down. “Oh! Oh!” he cried. “Look out!” shouted Baby Bunty. “See the puddle!” “I see it!” shouted Uncle Wiggily, “and I don’t like the looks of it, either! Wow!”
Nearer and nearer rolled the bunny gentleman to the puddle. Just as he seemed about to plop in, he gave a great jump, as Jack did over the candle stick, and right across sailed Uncle Wiggily. “Good! Good!” cried Baby Bunty, who caught hold of a tree to save herself from skating into the water. “That was good, Uncle Wiggily!” “It was not so bad for an old chap!” chuckled the bunny gentleman.
Down came Uncle Wiggily, “ker-plunk!” on the far side of the mud puddle. He thought everything was going to be fine, and that now he could skate with Baby Bunty. But, all of a sudden, his legs began to spread apart, farther and farther. “Oh! Oh! Oh!!” he cried. Baby Bunty, who had skated around the puddle, came hurrying up. “Oh, what is the matter now?” asked Baby Bunty. It was dreadful!
“Wait a minute! I’ll help you, Uncle Wiggily!” called Baby Bunty. She began to push on one of the spread-apart legs of the bunny. “You pull on your other leg, Uncle Wiggily,” advised Baby Bunty. The rabbit tried, but it was no use. “Oh, if we only had some one to help!” he sighed. “I’ll help you!” offered a voice. “Who was that?” asked Baby Bunty. “Oh, the Alligator!” cried Uncle Wiggily.
All of a sudden, as soon as he knew the Alligator was there, Uncle Wiggily’s legs seemed to pull together. “I’m all right now, Bunty!” he cried. “Come on, I’ll skate as I haven’t skated since I was a boy rabbit!” And Mr. Longears did just that. He and Baby Bunty glided so fast that, run as he did, the Skillery Scallery Alligator could not get them. “Ha! Ha!” laughed the bunny, “who says I can’t skate!”
