One pleasant afternoon the Teenie Weenies went down to the creek to visit a Mallard duck who had been living there for a few days. They locked all the doors of the shoe house and the doors of the other buildings in the Teenie Weenie village for all the little people were going to be away and there would be no one to watch the place.

The Teenie Weenies had a fine time visiting with the duck. He took them all on his broad back for a ride on the creek and the little folks thoroughly enjoyed sailing along over the smooth water. It was quite late when they had finished their ride and the Cook set off for the shoe house ahead of the other Teenie Weenies in order to start supper.

As the Cook hurried along the tiny path beneath the rosebush which led up to the Teenie Weenie kitchen he noticed that one of the kitchen windows had been broken. The Cook stopped and listened but no sound came from the house. He cautiously unlocked the door and peered into the kitchen. The boiled bean he had left in a Teenie Weenie pan to be heated up for supper was lying on the floor half eaten. The thimble in which the Cook kept the doughnuts was lying in the middle of the floor and it was quite empty. A two-drop cherry seed jar of jam was smeared all over the kitchen table and an acorn of pickled crawfish had been upset.

The Cook was very angry. He caught up a Teenie Weenie skillet and went into the dining room. A half eaten doughnut lay on the dining room table, three chairs had been knocked over and the sideboard drawers had all been pulled out. There was a smell of mouse in the house. "I'll bet that nasty Ginky has been in here," thought the Cook and he went into the living room. Suddenly there was a noise upstairs.

"Get out of there!" yelled the Cook. There was silence for a few moments and then he heard someone trying to open a window. The Cook ran out of the house and gave the special yell which he knew would bring the Teenie Weenies flying to the shoe house.

A loud crash of glass came from the front of the house and the Cook ran there just in time to see Ginky wiggle through the broken window and crouch on the roof of the front porch.

"You good for nothing mouse!" shouted the Cook shaking his fist at Ginky. "I'd like to slap your ears down with this skillet."

A number of the Teenie Weenies came running up at that moment and they quickly surrounded the house.

"Don't let him get away," shouted the Policeman.

"Let me at him!" yelled the Dunce running onto the porch with a Teenie Weenie poker in his hand.

Ginky gave a frightened look at the Teenie Weenies and then he leaped off the roof, right over the Cook's head. He galloped off at top speed with several of the Teenie Weenies after him, but being a very fast runner the mouse soon managed to escape into a patch of long grass.

"Well," said the General after he had examined the damage, "We'd better get busy and clean up this mess."

The Teenie Weenie women set to work gathering things up. Gogo and the Dunce scrubbed the kitchen floor while the Cook set to work washing his pans and kettles. The upstairs window through which Ginky had escaped was completely wrecked. The Turk covered it with a piece of cardboard until a new window could be made.

It was quite late before the Teenie Weenies had their supper, for the Cook wouldn't cook a thing until he had thoroughly scrubbed every pot and pan in the kitchen. Then the bean he had prepared had to be thrown out and so he fried some frog ham for the Teenie Weenies.

"Something ought to be done about this burglary," said the Policeman while the Teenie Weenies ate their supper. "It's very serious to enter a house with the object of stealing. That mouse Ginky ought to be in jail."

"Ah, jail is too good for that scamp," said the Dunce. "What he needs is a triple knot tied into his long tail."

There was a certain apple tree near the Teenie Weenie village where the little people always found the apples they needed for winter food. They usually gathered four apples. One they dried and stored away. Another apple was made into apple butter which was sealed into two and three drop jars, and they stored the other two for the Rhyming Rabbit who was old, and sometimes the ancient fellow could not get out to find food when the weather was stormy.

The tree where the little folks found their winter apples did not have fruit on it this year and that made things rather difficult, for the only apple tree which had fruit on it was a long way from the Teenie Weenie village. It was across the creek, too, and that was bad for it would be quite a task to move a big apple across the stream.

"No matter how hard the job is we should have plenty of apple this winter," said the Doctor one evening while the little folks were discussing the subject. "If we want to be strong and healthy we must have plenty of fruit. We can't live on doughnuts and cookies."

"Why can't we make a raft and pole the apples down the stream?" asked the Dunce who loved to ride on rafts.

"That's impossible," said the Old Soldier with the wooden leg. "There are too many shallow places littered with sticks and sand bars to get an apple over."

After much talk the Teenie Weenies decided it would be best to drag the apples on a sledge down to a deep spot in the creek opposite the Teenie Weenie village and then ferry the apples across.

"Then we'll need a raft to bring it across the creek?" shouted the Dunce.

"We won't cross that stream until we come to it," answered the Old Soldier with a grin.

Nick the squirrel agreed to pull the apples up to the place where they were to be ferried across the creek, and the Turk and the Old Soldier made a big sledge which would carry two apples on each trip, while other Teenie Weenies spent several days with their tiny axes clearing a road thru places where the grass was thick.

When the road had been cleared the little men pulled the sledge down to the creek and floated it across where Nick met them. The Cowboy harnessed Nick to the sledge and when all the little men had climbed in he pulled them to the apple tree. They soon tied two large apples to the sledge and Nick quickly hauled them to the creek. He made one more trip and then told the Teenie Weenies that he had to leave as he was busy laying in a store of nuts for his winter's food.

"Now let's make a raft," said the Dunce, "and get these four apples across."

"We don't need a raft," said the Old Soldier. "Apples will float and all we need to do is to tie a string to the stem of each apple, roll 'em down the bank into the creek and the Sailor will tow them across with his pea pod canoe."

It was easy to take the apples across the stream but it was very much harder to drag them up out of the water on the opposite shore. Some of the little men had to put on their bathing suits and get into the cold water to help with the work.

"Lawsy!" exclaimed Gogo as he watched the three Teenie Weenies wade out into the water. "Ah suttenly is glad ah don't have fo' to go in dat cold water. Ah'd rather he'p de Cook make apple butter.

"You get the job!" called the Cook.

"Allie same me don't care," grinned the Chinaman as he coiled his long hair onto the top of his head to keep it dry. "Me allie time washie. Me used to water."

After a lot of very hard work the Teenie Weenies finally landed the four apples. Then they rolled them up to the Teenie Weenie village, which was only a short distance from the creek.

"Jinks but there are a lot of grasshoppers in that big field over beyond the lane," said the Cowboy as he slipped into his place at the Teenie Weenie supper table.

"Well, if grasshoppers are plentiful as that I think it would be wise to buy an egg and put it away for winter," said the General. "That old hen from whom we bought our last egg is particularly fond of grasshoppers."

"We can get all the grasshoppers you want," said the Cowboy, who loved to rope them with his tiny lasso.

In the morning the General walked over to the coop where the hen lived and inquired about the price of an egg.

"Three grasshoppers and three fish worms," answered the hen.

"Well," frowned the General, "I don't know about the worms. You see it has been pretty dry and warm lately and fish worms burrow so deeply in the ground it's hard to get them. Wouldn't you take eight grasshoppers instead?"

"No, I won't," snapped the hen. "I've had a cravin' in my gizzard for more than a week for fish worms and I won't take anything less than three grasshoppers and three fish worms - and no skinny worms, either."

"We will try to get the worms for you," said the General, "but I can't promise for sure."

"We might get a worm or two under that big stone down by the creek," the Old Soldier with the wooden leg said when the General returned from his visit with the hen.

"Sure," put in the Chinaman. "Worms all time down under stone. We get 'em."

A number of the little men brought out Teenie Weenie picks and shovels and hurried to the stone where they started digging. They dug a great deep hole down under the stone before they finally captured a worm. After more digging they found two more, but in pulling one of the worms out of the ground it broke in two. They dug for a long time after that, but they never found another worm - not even the half worm.

"Well," said the General, "we'll have to owe her half a worm."

When the Teenie Weenies carried the worms back to the shoe house they found the Cowboy, the Turk, and the Sailor with three large grasshoppers.

"That's fine!" said the General when he saw the grass hoppers. "Now these grasshoppers should be tightly bound to long poles so we can carry them to the hen."

While the grasshoppers were being tied to the poles the Chinaman tied the two and a half worms to a pole, but he had a hard time getting the squirming worms secured.

"I'm glad we are going to get that egg before the hen eats those horrid bugs and worms," said the Lady of Fashion, who walked along with the General on the way to the hen's coop.

"Well," said the General, "I think corn fed chickens lay better eggs, but bug and worm eggs are not bad."

When the Teenie Weenies arrived at the coop the old hen was terribly disappointed when she saw the little people only had two and a half worms.

"I just had my beak all set for three large fat worms," she said, "but if you will promise to bring the other half I'll trust you and give you the egg.

The Teenie Weenies finally moved the egg out of the nest and pushed it thru a hole under the fence without an accident. They then rolled it home and put it in the Teenie Weenie woodshed, where it would be safe until the Cook could preserve it. One hen's egg will last the entire Teenie Weenie tribe for more than three months, for the Cook has invented a secret way to preserve an egg which makes it possible for the little people to enjoy their tiny omelets, cakes, and doughnuts whenever they want them.

It rained a few days after the Teenie Weenies had bought the egg and the fish worms came up out of the ground, so that the little men had no trouble in capturing a couple, which they carried over to the hen in payment of their debt.

There were two friends of the Teenie Weenies who had never met each other, but it was quite evident that a meeting would take place some day and the little people knew that it would be quite an occasion. One of these friends was a dog which lived in one of the big houses that stood beside the lane not far from the Teenie Weenie village. Jack was the dog's name and the Teenie Weenies would have liked Jack a lot if he hadn't been all the time chasing their friends. The Rhyming Rabbit, Nick the squirrel and the chipmunks had to be always on the watch for Jack. The respectable mice fairly shook with fear every time they heard the dog bark, and even the birds hopped up into the trees when he came around. The Teenie Weenies had scolded Jack for chasing their friends, but the dog had just laughed and went right on annoying every animal he saw. Once he nearly caught the Rhyming Rabbit and the old fellow was so frightened he couldn't rhyme for a week.

"If that Jack ever chases old Whiff he'll get his fill of chasing," said the Cowboy one day after the dog had chased a chipmunk thru the Teenie Weenie village at breakneck speed.

Whiff was another friend of the Teenie Weenies but not a close friend. He was an old skunk who lived under a stump down by the creek. He hadn't any close friends, but the Teenie Weenies always spoke kindly to him when they saw him. He usually slept most of the day and he seldom came out of his house until late in the afternoon. He wasn't at all particular about his eating and he lived on worms, bugs, and garbage. He was a very peaceful animal and he never bothered others unless he had been bothered first. He hadn't the least bit of fear of man or beast for he had a very good way of defending himself. When an enemy attacked him he could throw off a sort of fog which a terrible sickening odor and all the other animals always stepped aside when old Whiff came along.

"The Teenie Weenies had warned Jack about old Whiff, but being a young dog he paid no attention to their advice. "Shucks!" he told the Teenie Weenies, "Why, I'd shake that old Whiff until he begged for mercy."

The Teenie Weenies knew that sooner or later there would be trouble when Jack ran across old Whiff, and then one day it happened. The Dunce, Gogo, the Cowboy, and the Chinaman had gone down to the creek to look for fire wood. As they drew near the creek they heard a dog barking. It was Jack's voice and he was barking with all his might. Suddenly there was a loud yelp, the barking stopped suddenly and then the little men smelled skunk.

"Jimmy Fishhooks!" exclaimed the Dunce, "Jack has run into old Whiff. Let's go and see what happened."

The four little chaps ran toward the spot where they had heard the barking. They walked along under the cover of some overhanging meadow rue and just as they started to go around the end of an old log that lay on the ground they suddenly came face to face with Whiff. "What's all the barking about?" asked the Cowboy.

"I'm so mad!" said old Whiff as he stepped onto the log and stamped his foot in rage. "A fool dog took after me and I had to teach him a little manners."

"Serves him right," said the Dunce. "That's Jack and he's always chasing the animals."

Well, he'll think twice before he comes around me again," said old Whiff. "I just want to be left alone. That's all I ask."

"I believe Jack will let you alone now," laughed the Cowboy.

"Dogs don't usually bother me a second time," grinned old Whiff as he walked off and disappeared thru the weeds.

"PHEW!" exclaimed the Chinaman. "Allie same me go. No like smellie," and he set off for the shoe house followed by the other three Teenie Weenies.

Jack was a very sick dog for a few days, and then he quite mended his ways, for the animals around the Teenie Weenie village report that he hasn't bothered them since the day he met old Whiff.