Back Aa

Winkie, the Wily Woodchuck: Her Many Adventures

<h2 id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX WINKIE LEARNS TRICKS</h2> Though Winkie had never been very close to any dog except Don, the wily woodchuck knew the bark of this dog meant danger. It is this way with many wild animals, and even with your cat, perhaps, which is not so wild as a woodchuck. Little kittens, if they are brought up with dogs from their earliest days, may not be afraid of Rover or Towser, whom they know. But they may be afraid of a strange dog. However, almost any cat will arch up its back, hiss and, if it gets a chance, will run away from almost any dog. It was the same with Winkie, though she did not arch her back nor fluff out her tail—woodchucks don’t do that. But Winkie tried to run away as soon as she heard the bark of the dog. Only she could not get out of the pen. But she did run and hide in her sleeping box, which was partly filled with hay. “Oh, here comes Buster!” exclaimed Alice. “Don’t let Buster get the woodchuck!” [87] “No, indeed!” cried Larry. “Uncle Elias’s dog shan’t get my woodchuck!” “I thought you said she was part my woodchuck,” observed Alice. “Yes, that’s so. You may have half,” agreed Larry. “Go on back, Buster! Go away!” shouted Larry, as a big dog came bounding into the yard, barking and wagging his tail, for he was glad to see the children, and often played with them, being a friendly dog except toward wild things. All at once Buster stopped barking and stopped wagging his tail. He stood still, his nose pointed toward the pen, and he began to sniff. He had caught the wild smell of the woodchuck, even though he could not see Winkie, who was hiding in her sleeping chamber. Then Buster growled, away down in his throat, and came nearer the pen. Alice ran to get in front of the dog, and again Larry cried: “Go on away, Buster!” Just then Uncle Elias Tottle, who was a brother of Larry and Alice’s mother—being, in fact the children’s uncle—came along. He saw the boy and girl standing near the pen, and he heard his dog growling. “What’s the matter with Buster? What have you youngsters got there?” asked Uncle Elias, in rather a harsh voice. He had no children of his[88] own, and owned the farm next to that of Mr. Dawson, who was the father of Larry and Alice. “What have you in that box that makes Buster growl?” demanded Uncle Elias Tottle. “I have a woodchuck,” answered Larry. “I caught her in my skunk trap. But she isn’t hurt. I’m going to tame her.” “We’re going to teach her tricks,” added Alice. “Huh! Woodchuck!” cried Uncle Elias. “The pesky creatures! If I had my way they’d all be shot or trapped. They eat my clover. I saw some of ’em eating it the other day.” If he had only known it, Winkie was one of those very woodchucks! But Uncle Elias didn’t know. “Woodchuck!” he exclaimed. “Eating up everything a poor farmer can raise! I’ll kill that woodchuck of yours if I catch her out!” “Well, you won’t catch her, for we aren’t going to let her out,” said Alice, and she and her brother felt bad because of the harsh words of Uncle Elias. It is true, in some places, that woodchucks do harm when they are very numerous, and farmers don’t like them. But Larry and Alice did not see what harm poor little Winkie could do, especially if they kept her shut up in a pen. [89] “Look here!” said Uncle Elias at last. “Will you sell me that woodchuck for a dollar, Larry?” “A dollar?” repeated the boy. “Yes, I’ll give you a dollar for her,” went on Uncle Elias, putting his hand in his pocket. Larry shook his head. “I want my woodchuck,” said the boy. “And she’s half mine,” broke in Alice. “Even if Larry would sell his half, I wouldn’t sell my half! So there, Uncle Elias!” “Huh!” grunted the farmer, who was a hard and sometimes a cruel man. “What do you want of a woodchuck, Uncle Elias?” asked Larry. “Do you want one to teach tricks to? If you do I’ll try to catch one for you in my trap.” “Nonsense! As if I’d try to teach a woodchuck tricks!” snorted the old man, while his dog sniffed and snuffed at the wild smell and Winkie cowered down in her dark box. “If I had that ground-hog of yours—which I’m willing to pay a dollar for”—went on Mr. Tottle, “I’d turn her loose and set Buster on her! Woodchucks are no good!” “Well, you aren’t going to get this one!” said Larry. “I guess not!” exclaimed Alice. “I love my woodchuck!” [90] “Huh!” snorted Uncle Elias. “Come on, Buster!” he called to his dog. “This isn’t any place for us! We don’t like woodchucks!” Then, to the relief of Larry and Alice, their cruel-hearted uncle went away, followed by Buster. The dog, however, did not want to go. He growled and whined as he sniffed toward the woodchuck’s pen. Had poor Winkie been outside and if Buster had chased her there would not have been much left of her. “The idea!” exclaimed Alice, when Mr. Tottle was gone. “To want to kill our woodchuck!” “I wouldn’t sell her for two dollars—no, not for five!” cried Larry. “When we teach her tricks maybe we can put her in a circus!” “Oh, wouldn’t that be wonderful!” cried Alice, clapping her hands. “Let’s start teaching her tricks right away. But what shall we name our woodchuck?” “Yes, we must think of a name,” agreed Larry. Just then Winkie, no longer hearing the barking of the dog, poked her head out of the square hole in the smaller box, into which she had gone to hide. Coming out of the dark, as she did, made Winkie’s eyes open and shut until they became used to the glare of the sun. Larry and his sister, watching their new pet, saw her eyes winking this way. [91] “Oh, I know what to call her!” cried Alice. “What?” asked her brother. “Winkie!” replied the little girl. “See her wink!” “Yes, Winkie will be a good name,” agreed Larry. And so Winkie was given by the children the same name the father and mother of the little ground-hog had given her when she lived in the burrow. “Come here, Winkie! Come here!” called Alice. Winkie remained with her head out of the bedroom, but she did not come to the side of the larger, outside pen, near which Alice stood. “I guess Winkie is a little afraid,” said Larry. “I’ll get her something to eat. That will make her tame quicker than anything else.” Out to the barn ran Larry, and soon he came back with some yellow carrots. He cut off little pieces of them and tossed them into the pen through the open meshes of the chicken wire on top. At first Winkie was a bit timid about taking these chunks of carrot. But they smelled so good, and she was so hungry, that she at last ventured to nibble one. Then, finding no harm came to her, she grew bold and took more. She limped a little on the leg that had been caught[92] in the trap, but it was quickly getting over its soreness. “Oh, isn’t Winkie cute!” cried Alice, as she watched the woodchuck eat. “Yes,” agreed Larry. “And I want to teach her soon to eat out of my hand.” “We want to be careful that she doesn’t bite us,” said his sister. “See what sharp teeth she has.” Indeed Winkie had very sharp teeth and Larry knew this. “I’ll be careful!” he said. For two or three days Winkie would not take any food from Larry’s hand or that of Alice. But she grew bolder when she saw that the boy and his sister meant to be kind, and one day, about a week after being caught and put in the pen, Winkie took a piece of carrot right from Larry’s fingers. “Oh, she’s getting tame! She’s getting tame!” cried the boy. “Now I can teach her some tricks!” “Let me feed her!” begged Alice. And the little girl was delighted when Winkie took some pieces of carrot from her fingers. It was several days longer before either Larry or his sister dared reach in to stroke Winkie’s fur. The first time this was tried Winkie scurried back into her sleeping box as though Buster[93] were after her. But the next time she was not so timid, and soon the little woodchuck came to know that the children intended no harm. “Though why they want to fuss over me and rub me is more than I can tell,” thought Winkie to herself. “I wish I had some one to talk animal talk to—Squinty, the pig, or Slicko, the squirrel. Or even Tum Tum, the elephant. I wish he were here!” Winkie had never seen an elephant like Tum Tum, and of course she did not know how large elephants are. Tum Tum could hardly have gotten more than one of his big feet in Winkie’s pen! One day Larry came running into the house much excited. “Oh, you ought to see!” he cried. “You ought to see Winkie!” “Has she gotten out?” asked Alice. “No, but I’ve taught her a trick. She’ll sit up on her hind legs and beg like a dog! Come and see!” Alice followed her brother out to the yard where Winkie’s pen had been built. Larry took off some of the top wire. “She’ll get away!” cried Alice. “No, she won’t,” said Larry. “Winkie is tame now, and won’t run away. I’ve taught her a trick! She’ll sit up and beg! Look!” [94] Taking the woodchuck out of her cage—and Winkie did not try to bite Larry now—the boy stood her on the ground. Then, holding a piece of turnip in front of the ground-hog, the boy exclaimed: “Sit up, Winkie! Sit up!” Slowly, because she was now very fat, Winkie sat up on her hind quarters. This is easy for woodchucks to do, since they often sit that way outside their burrows to watch for danger. “Look! She’s begging!” laughed Larry. “And here’s your piece of turnip!” he added. “Isn’t that a good trick, Alice?” “A lovely one! I wish I could teach Winkie some tricks!” “Maybe you can,” said Larry. “Here, see if she’ll beg for you.” And Winkie, who was standing with all four feet on the ground, again stood up as Alice held out a bit of carrot and told her to “beg!” “I don’t know why they want me to do that,” thought Winkie. “But they give me something to eat each time after it, so I may as well do what they want.” Once again Winkie rose up on her haunches, and she looked very cute when she did that. Larry and Alice laughed to see her. “But one trick isn’t enough,” Larry said. “We must teach her another.” [95] “What one?” asked Alice. “We’ll teach her to lie down and roll over,” said the boy. It took nearly a week to get Winkie to understand this trick, which, though no harder than the other, was quite different. But at last Winkie got to the point where she would lie on her back and roll over like a dog whenever Larry or Alice told her to. And of course each time the trick was done Winkie was given something good to eat. One day, when Larry and Alice came home from school, they ran out toward the woodchuck pen, for Larry had said he was going to teach Winkie a new trick. As brother and sister neared the pen they heard the loud barking of a dog, and the frightened whistling and teeth-clattering of the little ground-hog. “Oh, Buster is trying to get Winkie!” cried Larry, dropping his books and rushing toward the pen. <hr class="chap" /> [96] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2

Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.