Uncle Wiggily's Fortune

In Short

Uncle Wiggily's Fortune is a classic children's episodic storybook following Uncle Wiggily Longears, an elderly rabbit suffering from rheumatism, who travels across fields, forests, and beaches in search of a hidden treasure of gold and diamonds. Across thirty-one distinct bedtime tales, Uncle Wiggily navigates encounters with dangerous wild animals like foxes, snakes, and alligators while forming warm friendships with woodland creatures, sea animals, and lost pets. The book has endured because of its lighthearted rhythmic storytelling, gentle moral lessons on kindness and resourcefulness, and the comforting predictability of the rabbit's whimsical daily travels.

The Story

The narrative begins with Uncle Wiggily Longears, a polite, older rabbit who walks with a bright red, white, and blue cornstalk crutch crafted for his rheumatism by his neighbor, Miss Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. Leaving his familiar home and young relatives, Sammie and Susie Littletail, Uncle Wiggily sets out on a long journey into the wider world, determined to secure a fortune so he can return rich. He carries a small valise packed with cherry pie, carrots, and essential supplies, meeting each new day with cheerful optimism regardless of the hazards he encounters.

His travels take him through dense woods, over high hills, and down to the ocean shore. Along the way, he regularly encounters dangerous predators—including a hungry fuzzy fox, a slippery water rat, a giant black bear, and a lurking alligator—who view the old rabbit as an easy meal. Uncle Wiggily frequently escapes these threats not through force, but through quick thinking, polite negotiation, and the timely assistance of the friends he makes along his path.

As he searches under rocks, inside hollow logs, and beneath ocean waves for gold and diamonds, Uncle Wiggily stops constantly to assist others in need. He feeds hungry baby birds in a nest, rescues a lost puppy named Peetie Bow Wow, aids a lame squirrel boy, helps a red monkey get over a sudden fever, and arranges whistling lessons between a green parrot and his companions. He improvises clever solutions to small crises, such as converting a red handkerchief into a sail to outrun a water rat on a raft, sheltering under a massive pink seashell during a painful hail storm, and digging a back door to escape a fox who blocked his underground burrow.

Despite his continuous searching, Uncle Wiggily repeatedly mistakes ordinary natural objects for rich treasures. He mistakes a piece of discarded glass for a diamond, a shiny scrap of tin for gold, and a heavy watermelon for a giant green football waiting to ripen. Near the end of his long trek, accompanied by Kittie Kat, he approaches a secluded house at the edge of a dark forest to ask for directions. Though his companion fears an old witch lives inside, the polite rabbit knocks on the door anyway, continuing his endless quest with unflagging good nature.

How It Unfolds

The search begins Uncle Wiggily packs his valise and sets off on his cornstalk crutch to find his fortune, quickly stopping to feed a nest of hungry young birds whose mother was delayed by a boy throwing stones. When a snake threatens the nest, a helpful bumblebee stings the predator away, prompting the grateful mother bird to assist the rabbit on his journey.

Navigating the waters While crossing a river on a makeshift wooden raft, Uncle Wiggily is pursued by a hostile water rat demanding his cherry pie. Following the advice of the mother bird overhead, the rabbit turns his large red handkerchief into a sail to catch the breeze and outdistance the rat.

Misadventures at the beach At the ocean, a friendly grasshopper suggests digging in the sand for buried pirate gold, but Uncle Wiggily's hole fills rapidly with water and a crab pinches his tail. Later, while swimming to look for subsea treasure, a toggle-taggle fish grabs his leg, forcing the rabbit to swim furiously back to shore to haul the creature onto dry land.

Sharing shelter and food When a sudden hail storm shreds his toadstool umbrella, Uncle Wiggily takes shelter under a large pink seashell beside the grasshopper. Continuing over the hills, he discovers a large green object he mistakes for a football; after slipping on his crutch, he learns from the grasshopper that it is a watermelon, which they cut open to share.

Outwitting the fox After taking refuge in an underground burrow, Uncle Wiggily and his friends find themselves trapped when a bad fox seals the entrance with dirt. Uncle Wiggily digs a secret back exit, allowing the group to slip away into the forest while the fox waits fruitlessly at the front door for a week.

Caring for the sick and lost The rabbit pauses his treasure hunt to help the lost puppy Peetie Bow Wow find his grandfather's house, narrowly avoiding a hungry black bear along the way. Later, when Uncle Wiggily falls ill with a fever at a red monkey's home, his woodland companions gather bitter medicine and seek out ice to soothe him back to health.

The ongoing journey In his final documented travels, Uncle Wiggily meets a green parrot who gives whistling lessons and a beetle who punches hole transfers for trolley cars. Rejoining Kittie Kat, he continues to check under stones and logs, undeterred by false alarms of tin and glass as he approaches a mysterious cottage at the forest edge.

The People

• Uncle Wiggily Longears: A gentle, elderly rabbit with rheumatism who walks with a cornstalk crutch. He wants to find a fortune of gold and diamonds to secure his future, but his deep kindness constantly distracts him to help lost animals and repair broken situations.
• The Grasshopper: An agile, cheerful insect companion who floats on his back in the ocean and plays music with his leg. He wants to help Uncle Wiggily discover gold and offers practical, albeit occasionally flawed, advice throughout their shared travels.
• The Red Monkey: A former circus performer who turned red after an accident with raspberry juice. He wants to learn how to whistle from a green parrot and serves as a generous host and caregiver when Uncle Wiggily falls sick.
• The Fuzzy Fox: A persistent predator who wanders the woods and beaches looking for a soft meal. He wants to catch and eat Uncle Wiggily, but is repeatedly outsmarted by the rabbit's resourcefulness and subterranean tricks.
• Kittie Kat: A cautious pussycat girl who accompanies Uncle Wiggily near the end of his travels. She wants to keep the old rabbit safe from hidden danger and helps him inspect stones and logs for hidden treasure.

In Its Own Voice

"Most especially there was a muskrat lady, named Miss Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, who liked Uncle Wiggily very much. She made a crutch for him, when he had the rheumatism. She gnawed it out of a cornstalk for him, and painted it red, white and blue with raspberry jam."

An introduction to the old rabbit's unique daily support and his loyal friends.

"He stuck the crutch up for a mast on the raft, and then he fastened his largest red handkerchief to the crutch. And the wind caught it, and blew upon that red handkerchief sail and the raft skimmered over the river so fast that the bad rat was left far, far behind..."

Uncle Wiggily improvise a solution on the river to escape an aggressive water rat.

"So he sat down on top of the hill, and looked at the ocean tumbling and foaming on the beach below him, and he waited for the green football to get ripe."

The rabbit rests beside a watermelon, hilariously misinterpreting what kind of object lies before him.

What It's Really About

Beneath its gentle, episodic plots, Uncle Wiggily's Fortune explores the idea that the true value of a journey lies in community and mutual assistance rather than material wealth. Uncle Wiggily sets out explicitly to find financial riches—gold coins, diamonds, and buried pirate treasure—yet every chapter demonstrates that his real security stems from the goodwill he generates among fellow creatures. The narrative continually contrasts the greedy, isolated motivations of predators like the fox and alligator with the cooperative, generous nature of the forest community. The book suggests that optimism, good manners, and patience in the face of minor physical ailments and unexpected setbacks are far more rewarding than the literal gold the rabbit spends thirty-one stories trying to dig up.

Why Read It Today

Uncle Wiggily's Fortune offers modern readers a delightful vintage glimpse into early twentieth-century children's literature, defined by warm humor, comforting repetition, and inventive animal characters. Parents and educators reading aloud will appreciate the steady cadence of the episodic structure, which was originally designed for short bedtime readings.

The prose carries a distinct period charm, featuring playful exaggerated vocabulary ("skillery-scalery," "quivering-quavering") and direct, reassuring authorial check-ins that address young listeners directly before mild perils resolve. While the stories contain straightforward, dated moralizing and simplified character dynamics typical of 1913 juvenile fiction, the core tone remains remarkably gentle and free of heavy-handed severity. Readers who enjoy classic animal fables like The Wind in the Willows or Peter Rabbit will appreciate the whimsical world of Uncle Wiggily, his cornstalk crutch, and his endless supply of cherry pie. It remains a sweet, soothing collection that leaves readers with a lasting impression of kindness and cheerful resilience.