The bundle the fairies brought
Mamma helped Marcella arrange all the dolls in a circle around the bed so that they could all see what was in the bundle.
Mamma gently pulled back the soft covering and the dolls saw a tiny little fist as pink as coral, a soft little face with a cunning tiny pink nose, and a little head as bald as the French dolly's when her hair came off.
My, how the dollies all chattered when they were once again left alone in the nursery!
"A dear cuddly baby brother for Mistress!" said Uncle Clem.
"A beautiful bundle of love and Fairy Sunshine for everybody in the house!" said Raggedy Ann, as she went to the toy piano and joyously played "Peter-Peter-Pumpkin-Eater" with one rag hand.
Dollies chatting
Raggedy Ann on fence
When Marcella was called into the house she left Raggedy sitting on the chicken yard fence. "Now you sit quietly and do not stir," Marcella told Raggedy Ann, "If you move you may fall and hurt yourself!"
So, Raggedy Ann sat quietly, just as Marcella told her, but she smiled at the chickens for she had fallen time and again and it had never hurt her in the least. She was stuffed with nice soft cotton, you see.
So, there she sat until a tiny little humming-bird, in search of flower honey hummed close to Raggedy Ann's head and hovered near the tall Hollyhocks.
Raggedy Ann turned her rag head to see the humming-bird and lost her balance—plump!she went, down amongst the chickens.
Raggedy Ann and the rooster
The chickens scattered in all directions, all except Old Ironsides, the rooster.
He ruffled his neck feathers and put his head down close to the ground, making a queer whistling noise as he looked fiercely at Raggedy Ann.
But Raggedy Ann only smiled at Old Ironsides, the rooster, and ran her rag hand through her yarn hair for she did not fear him.
And then something strange happened, for when she madethis motion the old rooster jumped up in the air and kicked his feet out in front, knocking Raggedy Ann over and over.
When Raggedy Ann stopped rolling she waved her apron at the rooster and cried, "Shoo!" but instead of "shooing," Old Ironsides upset her again.
Now, two old hens who had been watching the rooster jump at Raggedy ran up and as one old hen placed herself before the rooster, the other old hen caught hold of Raggedy's apron and dragged her into the chicken-coop.
It was dark inside and Raggedy could not tell what was going on as she felt herself being pulled up over the nests.
But, finally Raggedy could sit up, for the old hen had quit pulling her, and as her shoe-button eyes were very good, she soon made out the shape of the old hen in front of her.
"My! that's the hardest work I have done in a long time!" said the old hen, when she could catch her breath. "I was afraid Mr. Rooster would tear your dress and apron!"
"That was a queer game he was playing, Mrs. Hen," said Raggedy Ann.
The old hen chuckled 'way down in her throat, "Gracious me! He wasn't playing a game, he was fighting you!"
"Fighting!" cried Raggedy Ann in surprise.
"Oh yes, indeed!" the old hen answered, "Old Ironsides, the rooster, thought you intended to harm some of the children chickens and he was fighting you!"
"I am sorry that I fell inside the pen, I wouldn't harm anything," Raggedy Ann said.
"If we tell you a secret you must promise not to tell your mistress!" said the old hens.
"I promise! Cross my candy heart!" said Raggedy Ann.
Then the two old hens took Raggedy Ann 'way back in the farthest corner of the chicken coop. There, in back of a box, they had built two nests and each old hen had ten eggs in her nest.
"If your folks hear of it they will take the eggs!" said the hens, "and then we could not raise our families!"
Raggedy Ann and chickens
Raggedy Ann felt the eggs and they were nice and warm.
"We just left the nests when you fell into the pen!" explained the old hens.
"But how can the eggs grow if you sit upon them?" said Raggedy. "If Fido sits on any of the garden, the plants will not grow, Mistress says!"
"Eggs are different!" one old hen explained. "In order to make the eggs hatch properly, we must sit on them three weeks and not let them get cold at any time!"
"And at the end of the three weeks do the eggs sprout?" asked Raggedy Ann.
"You must be thinking of eggplant!" cried one old hen. "These eggs hatch at the end of three weeks—they don't sprout—and then we have a lovely family of soft downy chickies; little puff balls that we can cuddle under our wings and love dearly!"
"Have you been sitting upon the eggs very long?" Raggedy asked.
"Neither one of us has kept track of the time," said one hen. "So we do not know! You see, we never leave the nests only just once in a while to get a drink and to eat a little.So we can hardly tell when it is day and when it is night."
"We were going out to get a drink when you fell in the pen!" said one old hen. "Now we will have to sit upon the eggs and warm them up again!"
The two old hens spread their feathers and nestled down upon the nests.
"When you get them good and warm, I would be glad to sit upon the eggs to keep them warm until you get something to eat and drink!" said Raggedy. So the two old hens walked out of the coop to finish their meal which had been interrupted by Raggedy's fall and while they were gone, Raggedy Ann sat quietly upon the warm eggs. Suddenly down beneath her she heard something go, "Pick, pick!" "I hope it isn't a mouse!" Raggedy Ann said to herself, when she felt something move. "I wish the old hens would come back." But when they came back and saw the puzzled expression on her face, they cried, "What is it?"
Raggedy Ann sitting on eggs
Raggedy Ann got to her feet and looked down and there were several little fluffy, cuddly baby chickies, round as little puff-balls.
"Cheep! Cheep! Cheep!" they cried when Raggedy stepped out of the nest.
"Baby Chicks!" Raggedy cried, as she stooped and picked up one of the little puff-balls. "They want to be cuddled!"
The two old hens, their eyes shining with happiness, got upon the nests and spread out their soft warm feathers, "The other eggs will hatch soon!" said they.
So, for several days Raggedy helped the two hens hatch out the rest of the chickies and just as they finished, Marcella came inside looking around.
"How in the world did you get in here, Raggedy Ann?" she cried. "I have been looking all about for you! Did the chickens drag you in here?"
Both old hens down behind the box clucked softly to the chickies beneath them and Marcella overheard them.
She lifted the box away and gave a little squeal of surprise and happiness.
"Oh you dear old Hennypennies!" she cried, lifting both old hens from their nests. "You have hidden your nests away back here and now you have one, two, three, four—twenty chickies!" and as she counted them, Marcella placed them in her apron; then catching up Raggedy Ann, she placed her over the new little chickies.
"Come on, old Hennypennies!" she said, and went out of the coop with the two old hens clucking at her heels.
Marcella called Daddy and Daddy rolled two barrels out under one of the trees and made a nice bed in each. Then he nailed slats across the front, leaving a place for a door. Each Hennypennie was then given ten little chickies and shut up in the barrel. And all the dolls were happy when they heard of Raggedy's adventure and they did not have to wait long before they were all taken out to see the new chickies.
Raggedy Ann is angry
Jeanette was a new wax doll, and like Henny, the Dutch doll, she could say "Mamma" when anyone tipped her backward or forward. She had lovely golden brown curls of real hair. It could be combed and braided, or curled or fluffed without tangling, and Raggedy Ann was very proud when Jeanette came to live with the dolls.
But now Raggedy Ann was very angry—in fact, Raggedy Ann had just ripped two stitches out of the top of her head when she took her rag hands and pulled her rag face down into a frown (but when she let go of the frown her face stretched right back into her usual cheery smile).
Andyouwould have been angry, too, for something had happened to Jeanette.
Something or someone had stolen into the nursery that night when the dolls were asleep and nibbled all the wax from Jeanette's beautiful face—and now all her beauty was gone!
The mouse hole
"It really is a shame!" said Raggedy Ann as she put her arms about Jeanette.
"Something must be done about it!" said the French doll as she stamped her little foot.
"If I catch the culprit, I will—well, I don't know what I will do with him!" said the tin soldier, who could be very fierce at times, although he was seldom cross.
"Here is the hole he came from!" cried Uncle Clem from the other end of the nursery. "Come, see!"
All the dolls ran to where Uncle Clem was, down on his hands and knees.
"This must be the place!" said Raggedy Ann. "We will plug up the hole with something, so he will not come out again!"
The dolls hunted around and brought rags and pieces of paper and pushed them into the mouse's doorway.
"I thought I heard nibbling last night," one of the penny dolls said. "You know I begged for an extra piece of pie last evening, when Mistress had me at the table and it kept me awake!"
While the dolls were talking, Marcella ran down-stairs with Jeanette and told Daddy and Mamma, who came up-stairs with Marcella and hunted around until they discovered the mouse's doorway.
"Oh, why couldn't it have chewed on me?" Raggedy Ann asked herself when she saw Marcella's sorrowful face, for Raggedy Ann was never selfish.
"Daddy will take Jeanette down-town with him and have her fixed up as good as new," said Mamma, so Jeanette was wrapped in soft tissue paper and taken away.
Later in the day Marcella came bouncing into the nursery with a surprise for the dolls. It was a dear fuzzy little kitten.
Marcella introduced the kitten to all the dolls.
"Her name is Boots, because she has four little white feet!" said Marcella. So Boots, the happy little creature, played with the penny dolls, scraping them over the floor and peeping out from behind chairs and pouncing upon them as if they were mice and the penny dolls enjoyed it hugely.
When Marcella was not in the nursery, Raggedy Ann wrestled with Boots and they would roll over and over upon the floor, Boots with her front feet around Raggedy Ann's neck and kicking with her hind feet.
Then Boots would arch her back and pretend she was very angry and walk sideways until she was close to Raggedy. Then she would jump at her and over and over they would roll, their heads hitting the floor bumpity-bump.
Boots slept in the nursery that night and was lonely for her Mamma, for it was the first time she had been away from home.
Even though her bed was right on top of Raggedy Ann, she could not sleep. But Raggedy Ann was very glad to have Boots sleep with her, even if she was heavy, and when Boots began crying for her Mamma, Raggedy Ann comforted her and soon Boots went to sleep.
One day Jeanette came home. She had a new coating of wax on her face and she was as beautiful as ever.
Now, by this time Boots was one of the family and did not cry at night. Besides Boots was told of the mouse in the corner and how he had eaten Jeanette's wax, so she promised to sleep with one eye open.
Late that night when Boots was the only one awake, out popped a tiny mouse from the hole. Boots jumped after the mouse, and hit against the toy piano and made the keys tinkle so loudly it awakened the dolls.
They ran over to where Boots sat growling with the tiny mouse in her mouth.
My! how the mouse was squeaking!
Raggedy Ann did not like to hear it squeak, but she did not wish Jeanette to have her wax face chewed again, either.
So, Raggedy Ann said to the tiny little mouse, "You should have known better than to come here when Boots is with us. Why don't you go out in the barn and live where you will not destroy anything of value?"
"I did not know!" squeaked the little mouse, "This is the first time I have ever been here!"
"Aren't you the little mouse who nibbled Jeanette's wax face?" Raggedy Ann asked.
"No!" the little mouse answered. "I was visiting the mice inside the walls and wandered out here to pick up cake crumbs! I have three little baby mice at home down in the barn. I have never nibbled at anyone's wax face!"
"Are you a Mamma mouse?" Uncle Clem asked.
"Yes!" the little mouse squeaked, "and if the kitten will let me go I will run right home to my children and never return again!"
"Let her go, Boots!" the dolls all cried, "She has three little baby mice at home! Please let her go!"
"No, sir!" Boots growled, "This is the first mouse I have ever caught and I will eat her!" At this the little Mamma mouse began squeaking louder than ever.
"If you do not let the Mamma mouse go, Boots, I shall not play with you again!" said Raggedy Ann.
"Raggedy will not play with Boots again!" said all of the dolls in an awed tone. Not to have Raggedy play with them would have been sad, indeed.
But Boots only growled.
The dolls drew to one side, where Raggedy Ann and Uncle Clem whispered together.
And while they whispered Boots would let the little Mamma mouse run a piece, then she would catch it again and box it about between her paws.
This she did until the poor little Mamma mouse grew so tired it could scarcely run away from Boots.
Boots would let it get almost to the hole in the wall before she would catch it, for she knew it would not escape her.
As she watched the little mouse crawling towards the hole scarcely able to move, Raggedy Ann could not keep the tears from her shoe-button eyes.
Finally as Boots started to spring after the little mouse again, Raggedy Ann threw her rag arms around the kitten's neck. "Run, Mamma mouse!" Raggedy Ann cried, as Boots whirled her over and over.
Uncle Clem ran and pushed the Mamma mouse into the hole and then she was gone.
When Raggedy Ann took her arms from around Boots, the kitten was very angry. She laid her ears back and scratched Raggedy Ann with her claws.
But Raggedy Ann only smiled—it did not hurt her a bit for Raggedy was sewed together with a needle and thread and if that did not hurt, how could the scratch of a kitten? Finally Boots felt ashamed of herself and went over and lay down by the hole in the wall in hopes the mouse would return, but the mouse never returned. Even then Mamma mouse was out in the barn with her children, warning them to beware of kittens and cats.
Raggedy Ann and all the dolls then went to bed and Raggedy had just dozed off to sleep when she felt something jump upon her bed. It was Boots. She felt a warm little pink tongue caress her rag cheek. Raggedy Ann smiled happily to herself, for Boots had curled up on top of Raggedy Ann and was purring herself to sleep.
Then Raggedy Ann knew she had been forgiven for rescuing the Mamma mouse and she smiled herself to sleep and dreamed happily of tomorrow.
Raggedy Ann with a kitten asleep
Marcella pouring tea
Marcella was having a tea party up in the nursery when Daddy called to her, so she left the dollies sitting around the tiny table and ran down stairs carrying Raggedy Ann with her.
Mama, Daddy and a strange man were talking in the living room and Daddy introduced Marcella to the stranger.
The stranger was a large man with kindly eyes and a cheery smile, as pleasant as Raggedy Ann's.
The Ocean Fairies and Freddy
He took Marcella upon his knee and ran his fingers through her curls as he talked to Daddy and Mamma, so, of course, Raggedy Ann liked him from the beginning. "I have two little girls," he told Marcella. "Their names are Virginia and Doris, and one time when we were at the sea-shore they were playing in the sand and they covered up Freddy, Doris' boy-doll in the sand. They were playing that Freddy was in bathing and that he wanted to be covered with the clean white sand, just as the other bathers did. And when they had covered Freddy they took their little pails and shovels and went farther down the beach to play and forgot all about Freddy.
"Now when it came time for us to go home, Virginia and Doris remembered Freddy and ran down to get him, but the tide had come in and Freddy was 'way out under the waterand they could not find him. Virginia and Doris were very sad and they talked of Freddy all the way home."
"It was too bad they forgot Freddy," said Marcella.
"Yes, indeed it was!" the new friend replied as he took Raggedy Ann up and made her dance on Marcella's knee. "But it turned out all right after all, for do you know what happened to Freddy?"
"No, what did happen to him?" Marcella asked.
"Well, first of all, when Freddy was covered with the sand, he enjoyed it immensely. And he did not mind it so much when the tide came up over him, for he felt Virginia and Doris would return and get him.
"But presently Freddy felt the sand above him move as if someone was digging him out. Soon his head was uncovered and he could look right up through the pretty green water, and what do you think was happening? The Tide Fairies were uncovering Freddy!
"When he was completely uncovered, the Tide Fairies swam with Freddy 'way out to the Undertow Fairies. The Undertow Fairies took Freddy and swam with him 'way out to the Roller Fairies. The Roller Fairies carried Freddy up to the surface and tossed him up to the Spray Fairies who carried him to the Wind Fairies."
"And the Wind Fairies?" Marcella asked breathlessly.
"The Wind Fairies carried Freddy right to our garden and there Virginia and Doris found him, none the worse for his wonderful adventure!"
"Freddy must have enjoyed it and your little girls must have been very glad to get Freddy back again!" said Marcella. "Raggedy Ann went up in the air on the tail of a kite one day and fell and was lost, so now I am very careful with her!"
"Would you let me take Raggedy Ann for a few days?" asked the new friend.
Marcella was silent. She liked the stranger friend, but she did not wish to lose Raggedy Ann.
"I will promise to take very good care of her and return her to you in a week. Will you let her go with me, Marcella?"
Marcella finally agreed and when the stranger friend left, he placed Raggedy Ann in his grip.
"It is lonely without Raggedy Ann!" said the dollies each night.
"We miss her happy painted smile and her cheery ways!" they said.
And so the week dragged by....
But, my! What a chatter there was in the nursery the first night after Raggedy Ann returned. All the dolls were so anxious to hug Raggedy Ann they could scarcely wait until Marcella had left them alone.
When they had squeezed Raggedy Ann almost out of shape and she had smoothed out her yarn hair, patted her apron out and felt her shoe-button eyes to see if they were still there, she said, "Well, what have you been doing? Tell me all the news!"
"Oh we have just had the usual tea parties and games!" said the tin soldier. "Tell us about yourself, Raggedy dear, we have missed you so much!"
"Yes! Tell us where you have been and what you have done, Raggedy!" all the dolls cried.
But Raggedy Ann just then noticed that one of the penny dolls had a hand missing.
"How did this happen?" she asked as she picked up the doll.
"I fell off the table and lit upon the tin soldier last night when we were playing. But don't mind a little thing like that, Raggedy Ann," replied the penny doll. "Tell us of yourself! Have you had a nice time?"
"I shall not tell a thing until your hand is mended!" Raggedy Ann said.
So the Indian ran and brought a bottle of glue. "Where's the hand?" Raggedy asked.
"In my pocket," the penny doll answered.
Raggedy Ann and her sisters
When Raggedy Ann had glued the penny doll's hand in place and wrapped a rag around it to hold it until the glue dried, she said, "When I tell you of this wonderful adventure, I know you will all feel very happy. It has made me almost burst my stitches with joy."
The dolls all sat upon the floor around Raggedy Ann, the tin soldier with his arm over her shoulder.
"Well, first when I left," said Raggedy Ann, "I was placed in the Stranger Friend's grip. It was rather stuffy in there, but I did not mind it; in fact I believe I must have fallen asleep, for when I awakened I saw the Stranger Friend's hand reaching into the grip. Then he lifted me from the grip and danced me upon his knee. 'What do you think of her?' he asked to three other men sitting nearby.
"I was so interested in looking out of the window I did not pay any attention to what they said, for we were on a train and the scenery was just flying by! Then I was put back in the grip.
"When next I was taken from the grip I was in a large, clean, light room and there were many, many girls all dressed in white aprons.
"The stranger friend showed me to another man and to the girls who took off my clothes, cut my seams and took out my cotton. And what do you think! They found my lovely candy heart had not melted at all as I thought. Then they laid me on a table and marked all around my outside edges with a pencil on clean white cloth, and then the girls re-stuffed me and dressed me.
"I stayed in the clean big light room for two or three days and nights and watched my Sisters grow from pieces of cloth into rag dolls just like myself!"
"Your SISTERS!" the dolls all exclaimed in astonishment, "What do you mean, Raggedy?"
"I mean," said Raggedy Ann, "that the Stranger Friend had borrowed me from Marcella so that he could have patterns made from me. And before I left the big clean white room there where hundreds of rag dolls so like me you would not have been able to tell us apart."
"We could have toldyouby your happy smile!" cried the French dolly.
"But all of my sister dolls have smiles just like mine!" replied Raggedy Ann.
"And shoe-button eyes?" the dolls all asked.
"Yes, shoe-button eyes!" Raggedy Ann replied.
"I would tell you from the others by your dress, Raggedy Ann," said the French doll, "Your dress is fifty years old! I could tell you by that!"
"But my new sister rag dolls have dresses just like mine, for the Stranger Friend had cloth made especially for them exactly like mine."
"I know how we could tell you from the other rag dolls, even if you all look exactly alike!" said the Indian doll, who had been thinking for a long time.
"How?" asked Raggedy Ann with a laugh.
"By feeling your candy heart! If the doll has a candy heart then it is you, Raggedy Ann!"
Raggedy Ann laughed, "I am so glad you all love me as you do, but I am sure you would not be able to tell me from my new sisters, except that I am more worn, for each new rag doll has a candy heart, and on it is written, 'I love you' just as is written on my own candy heart."
"And there are hundreds and hundreds of the new rag dolls?" asked the little penny dolls.
"Hundreds and hundreds of them, all named Raggedy Ann," replied Raggedy.
"Then," said the penny dolls, "we are indeed happy and proud for you! For wherever one of the new Raggedy Ann dolls goes there will go with it the love and happiness thatyougive to others."
Marcella, Raggedy Ann and the Fairies
Transcriber's NoteThe table of contents was added to this html edition. The original text did not have one.There are a few variations in hyphenation between the introduction and the stories themselves. "Today" and "downstairs" occur in the introduction, while "to-day" and "down-stairs" are in the stories.Chicken coop is spelled once with and once without the hyphen.
The table of contents was added to this html edition. The original text did not have one.
There are a few variations in hyphenation between the introduction and the stories themselves. "Today" and "downstairs" occur in the introduction, while "to-day" and "down-stairs" are in the stories.
Chicken coop is spelled once with and once without the hyphen.