“There it goes! Get it!” suddenly cried Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy, the muskrat¹ lady, one night, making a jump up from the rocking chair where she was sitting, sewing up the holes in the coffee strainer.

 

“My goodness me sakes alive and some cheese pudding!” cried Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, who was reading the evening paper in his hollow stump² bungalow³ near the underground house. “Have you dropped your ball of yarn⁴, Nurse Jane, or did you see Jilly Longtail, the mousie?”

 

“Neither one,” answered Miss Fuzzy Wuzzy, who kept house for Uncle Wiggily. “Oh, there’s another! Hit it quick before it gets upstairs!” she cried, making a grab for something in the air.

 

“Well, this is certainly surprising!” Uncle Wiggily exclaimed. “I see nothing!”

 

He looked at Nurse Jane, who was making[Pg 48] funny motions in the air, waving her paws about and clapping them together.

 

“You don’t see anything?” the muskrat lady cried. “Why, the place is full of moths⁵. They will eat everything up!”

 

“Will they eat up my turnip⁷ sandwich?” Uncle Wiggily wanted to know.

 

“Oh, not that,” replied Nurse Jane. “They are not like foxes, or bears. Moths are little things that first flit about like butterflies. Then they find a nice, cosy⁸, soft bed in your fur coat, or your flannel⁹ shirts, and they lay eggs. Then out of the egg comes a little insect that eats up the fur and flannel. They even eat pianos!”

 

“My gracious!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “They must be regular giants to eat pianos! I never heard of such a thing!”

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