Curly and Floppy Twistytail | Page 4

brothers couldn't agree, so Curly went in the red store and
his brother in the blue one. The blue store was kept by an old lady dog,
and when the little pig, who, as yet, had no name, entered, the old lady
dog storekeeper looked over the counter and asked:
"Well, little pig boy, what do you want?"
"If you please," he answered, "do you keep names to sell?"
"Why, what a funny question!" barked the dog lady. "The only names I
have are names of candy, and I'm sure you don't want any of those, do
you? There is peppermint and spearmint and cinnamon and lemon
drops and cocoanut kisses and lollypops and jaw-breakers and tootsie
rolls and chocolate--do you want any of those names?"
"No," replied the little pig boy, "I don't think I like any of those names
for myself. I wouldn't want to be called Cocoanut Kisses, nor yet
Lollypops, nor even Tootsie Rolls. Oh dear! I wish I could get a name
such as my brother Curly has. But maybe I will some day. And now, if
you please, I'll have a sour-milk lollypop."
So the old lady dog storekeeper gave it to the little pig boy, and he
handed her his penny. He was just taking the paper off the lollypop,
and was going to eat it--the lollypop, not the paper, you
understand--and go out and see if his brother had come out of the red
store, when, all of a sudden, a little puppy dog boy who had just come
in from school saw the pig boy in the store, and right at him he sprang
with a bow wow bark.
"Here! Come back!" cried the lady storekeeper who was the mother of
the puppy dog boy. "Let that little pig alone."
"I'm only going to play tag with him," answered the puppy dog, and
with that he sprang at the piggie and caught him by the ear. He really
didn't mean to, but his teeth closed fast on poor piggie's ear, and there
they stuck.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" howled piggie. "I'm caught! Oh let me go. Please let me

go!"
"Yes, let go of him at once, you naughty boy!" cried the doggie's
mamma, as she made a grab for his tail. But just then piggie began to
run, squealing as hard as he could, and as the doggie did not let go of
his ear, the little barking chap was dragged along too. And then out
from the red store ran Curly and he squealed and his brother squealed,
also, and the boy dog barked, and so did the storekeeper lady dog, and
such a time you never heard in all your life! Oh! such a racket!
"Let go my ear! Let go my ear!" squealed the pig, and the doggie boy
tried to let go but he couldn't, until Curly got hold of him by the left leg
and pulled him loose.
"Oh dear! Oh dear!" cried the piggie who had bought the sour milk
lollypop. "Is my ear pulled off, Curly?"
"No, but it is hanging down like anything," said his brother. "I guess its
broken!"
"Oh, I am so sorry!" exclaimed the little boy dog. "I didn't mean to do it.
I was only going to tag you, but I slipped. Come in the house and my
mamma will put some salve on your ear, and I'll give you an ice cream
cone."
And just then Grandfather Squealer came past, and he saw Curly's little
brother, with his ear hanging down, going flippity-flop, and the old
gentleman said:
"Oh ho! I think I will call you Flopear, or Floppy for short. That is a
good name, and it just fits you." And so after that the second little pig
was always called Floppy for his ear never stood us again but always
hung down like a bell clapper. But the salve soon made it well, and the
storekeeper lady gave Floppy and Curly each an ice cream cone.
So that's all now, if you please, but in case the butcherman doesn't
throw the loaf of bread at the candlestick and scare the lamp chimney
I'll tell you in the story after this about Pinky Twistytail's rubber ball.

STORY III
PINKY'S RUBBER BALL.
"Now, children," exclaimed Mrs. Twistytail, the pig lady, one morning,
when she had given Curly and Floppy and Baby Pinky their breakfast
of sour milk with cornmeal stirred in it, "now, children, run out and
play. I have the sweeping and dusting to do, and then I am going to

make an apple pie."
"Oh, goodie!" cried Curly. "Do you want us to help you, mamma?"
"No, I'm afraid you would eat more apples than you would put in the
pie," said Mrs. Twistytail with a laugh.