Three little Trippertrots

“Why, where in the world do you s’pose all the horses and the men went to?” asked Mary Trippertrot, as she looked at her two brothers, who, like herself, were on top of the table where the fireman captain had set them. “Where did they go in such a hurry?”

“To a fire, of course,” answered Tommy. “Whenever the bell rings there is a fire, and the horses and the men have to take the engine to it.”

“Does the engine want to see the fire?” asked Johnny.

“No. It wants to squirt water on it and put it out,” replied his brother.

“Do the firemen have to go to a fire even at night?” asked Mary.

“Of course,” replied Tommy.

“Then I should think they’d take out the bell after supper, or fix it so it couldn’t ring, and make them go to fires,” went on Mary. “I shouldn’t like to go out in the dark. Why, some nights it rains or snows!”

“Oh, ho! That doesn’t make any difference to a fireman,” said Tommy. “Firemans is always brave; aren’t they, Johnny?”

“Of course,” replied Johnny. “And some one makes the bell ring in the fire-house, so they will know where the fire is, and go to put it out, same as the one put out the fire in our chimney.”

“That’s so,” spoke Mary. “I wonder when he is coming back? He missed going to this fire.”

“Oh, he’ll be along pretty soon,” said Tommy. “We’ll just wait here. The bell may ring some more, and besides, I haven’t seen half the things. I guess we can get down off the table now.”

“But do you think we ought to stay?” asked Mary, who wasn’t exactly sure that they were doing right.

“Of course we must stay,” said Johnny. “Why, we haven’t thanked the fireman yet for doing us that favor, and mamma wouldn’t want us to come home until we had done it.”

“That’s right,” added Tommy. “Why, don’t you remember once Mrs. Smith gave me a piece of cake, and I forgot to thank her, and came home, and mamma sent me back to tell Mrs. Smith I was much obliged? And I’m real glad I went back, for she gave me a second piece of cake. Oh, yes, we must always be polite in this world.”

“Yes; and now let’s look at all the shiny things,” suggested Johnny.

So he and his brother and sister went all around inside the fire-engine house. Pretty soon the fireman came in who had put out the chimney fire in the Trippertrot home.

“Why, bless me!” he exclaimed in surprise. “Everybody has gone to another fire, and I must go, too!” And he was about to run out on the street again, to find where the fire was, when Mary said:

“Oh, but if you please, couldn’t you first wait until we thank you, and then can’t you take us home? For I’m afraid we’ll get lost if we go by ourselves. We’re always getting lost, you know. But we forgot to thank you, so we came here to do it.”

“Bless me! That was kind of you,” said the fireman. “But I really haven’t time to stay, for I must go and help the captain and the men put out this other fire. I really can’t stay.” And once more he was about to run off.

“Quick! Thank him, Johnny and Tommy!”

“We thank you!” said Tommy and Johnny together, making two low bows.

“And so do I thank you for not letting our chimney burn up,” said Mary, making her nicest bow.

“Well, you’re welcome, I’m sure,” replied the fireman. “But really, now, I must hurry away.”

“Oh, I just know we’ll be lost!” cried Mary.

“Hold on! Wait a minute!” exclaimed the fireman. “I have an idea. Here!” he called to a funny-looking boy who just then came into the fire-house. “Jiggily, will you please take these children home, so they won’t get lost? I put out a chimney fire in their house to-day, and they came here to thank me. You take them home. You know where the Trippertrot house is, don’t you?”

“Oh, yes,” said the funny boy. “I can take them home, all right, and I’ll be glad to do it.”

“Then I can go to this other fire,” said the fireman, and away he ran, like Tom-Tom the piper’s son, waving his hand to the children as he hurried along the street.

“Come on, little ones!” called the funny boy. “I’ll see you safely home.”

“Is your name Jiggily?” asked Mary, and she didn’t quite know whether she liked the funny boy or not, for he was very funny-looking.

He had on a funny suit, partly green and partly yellow, and his nose was stubby and short and turned up at the end, as if it was always trying to fly up to the stars; but the boy looked kind, and he was always laughing or smiling.

“Yes, my name is Jiggily,” he said to Mary, as they all walked out of the fire-engine house.

“Haven’t you any other name?” asked Tommy.

“Oh, yes, of course,” answered the funny boy. “My other name is Jig; so you see my whole name is Jiggily Jig.”

“How did you get that name?” inquired Johnny.

“Why, they call me that because I can dance a jig,” said the funny boy. “Would you like to see me?”

“Indeed we would,” spoke all the Trippertrot children together, and then and there that funny boy did a funny little dance in front of the fire-engine house. And a little black poodle dog that was running past in the street saw him, and would you ever believe it, if I didn’t tell you? but that dog tried to dance just as Jiggily Jig was doing.

But, bless you, all of a sudden the doggie slipped on a piece of banana skin, and he almost fell down. He would have, too, only Jiggily Jig caught him by the tail and stood him on his feet again—on the dog’s feet, you understand, not those of Jiggily Jig—which shows you that you must never, never throw banana skins on the sidewalk, as they are very slippery.

“Oh, that was a very nice dance,” said Mary, who went to dancing school sometimes.

“Can you do anything else?” asked Tommy, and he wished the funny boy would come and live with them.

“Yes, I can whistle on my fingers,” said Jiggily Jig. So he put his fingers in between his lips, just as if he was going to eat a piece of pie, only, of course, he didn’t really have any pie, or cake, either, and then the funny boy whistled as loudly as an automobile horn can toot.

“Oh, my!” cried Mary, and she had to put her hands over her ears, because Jiggily Jig whistled so loudly.

“My, that was fine!” cried Johnny and Tommy, who wished they could whistle that way.

“Can you do anything else?” asked Johnny.

“Yes. I can stand on my head and wiggle my feet in the air,” answered Jiggily Jig; and before anybody could stop him, even if they had wanted to, which, of course, they didn’t, that funny boy was standing on his head in front of the engine-house, and he was waving his feet in the air, as easily as a baby can wiggle its pink toes.

“Oh, that’s great!” cried Tommy and Johnny together.

“Yes; I’m going to try it,” said Johnny.

“No! You mustn’t!” exclaimed his sister. “You might slip, and get dirty.”

“Yes, and you might slip and also get hurt,” said Jiggily Jig. “The best place to try that trick, until you learn how, is safely at home, in the middle of the bed. Then, if you fall, you won’t get hurt.”

“I’m going to do it as soon as I get home,” said Johnny.

“Do you know any more tricks?” asked Tommy.

“Oh, my gracious goodness me sakes alive!” cried Mary, shaking her finger at her brothers and the funny boy. “Please don’t show them any more tricks, or we’ll never get home to-day. Can’t you take us home now, Jiggily Jig?”

“Oh, yes,” answered the funny boy. “I forgot where we were going. Come along, little ones.”

So along the street they went, the Trippertrots and Jiggily Jig. But they couldn’t go very fast, because every once in a while Jiggily Jig would have to stop and dance, and, of course, he couldn’t walk then. And sometimes he would whistle on his fingers, and all the dogs in all the streets for half a mile around would think he was whistling at them, and they’d come running up, wagging their tails; and, of course, when there were a whole lot of dogs around them the children couldn’t walk at all.

And then, again, Jiggily Jig would stand on his head, and that would make a crowd of people come around; and then, too, the Trippertrots couldn’t walk on through the crowd.

“Oh, we’ll never get home, at this rate!” said Mary, and she felt a little bit like crying, for she thought her mamma would be in the house by this time, and would worry because her little children weren’t home.

“Yes, we will soon be there,” said Jiggily Jig, as he looked around to see if he could locate the Trippertrot house. But he couldn’t yet discover where it was.

“I think it must be around the next corner,” said the funny boy at last. “Come on. We will soon be there.”

Well, they turned the corner, but still the Trippertrot home wasn’t in sight, and even Tommy and Johnny were beginning to be worried now, when, all of a sudden, they saw coming toward them a man pushing a little wagon on two wheels, and on the wagon were a lot of pies; and behind the man was another queer-looking boy, almost like Jiggily Jig.

“Oh! Who is that?” cried Mary.

“Why, the man pushing the wagon is a pieman,” said Jiggily Jig.

“And who is the boy?” asked Johnny.

“Why, that is Simple Simon,” answered Jiggily Jig. “You know he used to be in Mother Goose’s book. ‘Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair. Said Simple Simon to the pieman, let me taste your ware.’ That’s who the boy is.”

“Oh, how glad I am to meet them!” cried Mary.

“And is the pieman going to a fair or circus?” asked Johnny.

“No, he is just coming back, because the circus is over!” exclaimed Simple Simon. “But he’s got lots of pies left. Hey, Jiggily Jig!” called Simple Simon to the funny boy. “Let’s see who can turn the most somersaults.”

And then those two funny boys began turning somersaults down the street, going over and over, faster and faster, and getting farther and farther away from the Trippertrots.

“Oh, he’s gone—Jiggily Jig is gone, and we’ll never get home!” cried Mary.

“Never mind,” said the kind pieman, “I think I can take you home. Come with me.”