Chapter EIGHT

“We will go inside and get something to eat,” Mr. Doodle said. “I pulled so hard on the Dragon’s tail, I am hungry.” And without even knocking on the door, Mr. Doodle walked right inside the funny little house.

“You should not walk into any one’s house without knocking, Mr. Doodle,” Raggedy Ann told him.

But Mr. Doodle only laughed, “Ha! ha, ha!” like that, only a great deal louder, and went in anyway.

“Now that he is inside, we have a good chance to run away from him!” Raggedy Andy said.

The others thought this would be a good plan because Mr. Doodle had always been so mean to them, but when they heard Mr. Doodle squealing ever so loudly, they waited to see what was happening. My goodness! Didn’t Mr. Doodle squeal? He squealed so loud and so long, Raggedy Andy said, “I ’spect I had better go inside and see why Mr. Doodle squeals!” Raggedy Andy was very polite, so he knocked upon the door.

“Come in!” someone said in a cheery voice, so Raggedy Andy walked in and saw Mr. Doodle standing with his long nose caught in a cupboard door and there stood a little man watching Mr. Doodle.

“Do you know,” the little man said, “Mr. Doodle walked right into my house without knocking and poked his nose in my cupboard; and the cupboard door flew shut and caught him. It serves him right for snooping in other people’s things!”

“Indeed it does!” Raggedy Andy agreed. “But Mr. Doodle is squealing so loud, maybe it would be best to open the cupboard door so that he can pull his nose out.”

So the little man opened the cupboard door and Mr. Doodle sat down upon the floor and held his nose.

“Now all of you come inside,” the little man said to Raggedy Ann and Marggy and her Mama. “And we will have something to eat, for I know you must all be hungry!” So he gave them chocolate cake and cookies and ice cream and dill pickles and milk and it was a very nice dinner. Mr. Doodle’s nose hurt so much he could not eat anything and he was very sorry that he had not knocked upon the door instead of walking in and snooping around.

The little man filled Marggy’s Mama’s basket with lots of good things to eat, “So you will not get hungry along the way,” he said, then turning to Mr. Doodle the little man said, “Mr. Doodle, if I were you, I would run right straight home—Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy and Marggy and her Mama do not care to have you go with them. Besides, you are so ill mannered you will always be getting into trouble. You had better run home, I believe your Mama is calling you.”

“I shall not go home until I get the Dragon!” Mr. Doodle shouted, much louder than was necessary. “Because why? Because I intend making him into a chicken coop!”

“Mr. Doodle pulled the nice tail off of the kind paper Dragon,” Raggedy Ann told the little man. “We had to mend his tail with little sticks.”

“Yes!” Mr. Doodle cried. “And as soon as we get some glue to mend the Dragon’s tail, I shall take the Dragon away from Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy!”

“I will give Raggedy Andy some glue,” the little man said. “And sometime when Mr. Doodle is asleep, Raggedy Andy can mend the Dragon’s tail and all get upon the Dragon’s back and escape from Mr. Doodle.”

Raggedy Andy put the bottle of glue in his pocket and then the little man took everyone except Mr. Doodle up to the top room. Mr. Doodle wanted to go with them, but the little man said, “No sir, Mr. Doodle, you must stay down stairs while we look out over the woods and see if we can see Marggy’s Daddy.”

So Mr. Doodle had to sit downstairs and twiddle his thumbs while the others went up and looked out over the deep, deep woods.

“Did Marggy’s Daddy have four fingers and a thumb upon each hand?” the little man asked as they looked out the window.

“Yes!” Marggy’s Mama said.

“And did he have two eyes and one nose and one mouth and two ears and hair on top of his head and two feet?” the little man asked.

“Yes!” Marggy’s Mama replied.

“Then,” said the little man, “I’ll bet a nickel your Daddy was here, for a man who answered his description came here and asked for something to eat yesterday.”

The little man told them the direction Marggy’s Daddy had gone, so they thanked him and went downstairs.

“Oh, dear me!” Raggedy Ann cried when she walked out the door. “Mr. Doodle has gone and he has taken the Dragon with him!”

“Well! We must run after him and take the Dragon away from him!” Raggedy Andy said.

So Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy and Marggy and her Mama ran after Mr. Doodle until they came up to him.

“Now!” cried Raggedy Ann, as she stamped her rag foot. “Why did you take the Dragon away from us, Mr. Doodle? Just you tell me that!”

“Because I wish to make a chicken coop out of him! That’s what and I shall not tell you again, Miss Raggedy Ann, and besides, I grew tired waiting for you back in the funny little house! I know that I can mend the Dragon’s tail with glue a whole lot better than Raggedy Andy can, and I shall do it as soon as I get home!”

“You know perfectly well, Mr. Doodle the poor paper Dragon does not care to be made into a chicken coop and besides, when you capture him, can’t you see that delays us? How do you ’spect us to find Marggy’s Daddy when you act this way?” Raggedy Ann said.

“I shall take the paper Dragon home anyway!” Mr. Doodle howled as he pulled the paper Dragon.

“If we catch hold of the paper Dragon and pull back we will only pull the Dragon in two again,” Raggedy Ann said to Marggy’s Mama. “What had we better do?”

“I had better fight Mr. Doodle and see which one wins the paper Dragon,” said Raggedy Andy.

“Why not let me fight with Mr. Doodle?” the Dragon said in a wheezy voice.

“That would be silly,” Mr. Doodle replied. “I have already captured the Dragon, so he cannot fight with me.”

“That is quite true,” Raggedy Ann agreed. “I guess Raggedy Andy will have to fight with Mr. Doodle, but you must promise not to fight too hard.”

So after Raggedy Andy and Mr. Doodle had both promised to fight real easy-like, they rolled up their sleeves. Mr. Doodle had the best of it for a long time because he could stick out his tongue at Raggedy Andy, but Raggedy Andy could not stick out his tongue at Mr. Doodle because Raggedy Andy’s mouth was just painted on and he did not have a tongue. Of course, Raggedy Andy would not have stuck out his tongue at Mr. Doodle, even if he had a tongue, for that is a very rude thing to do, as everyone knows. But after a while Raggedy Andy tweeked Mr. Doodle’s nose and because Raggedy Andy’s nose was painted upon his face, Mr. Doodle could not tweek Raggedy Andy’s nose. Mr. Doodle sat down on a log and howled and then, of course, Raggedy Andy won the fight.

“Hurrah! Now we can mend the paper Dragon with the glue the little man gave us and go in search of Marggy’s Daddy!” Raggedy Ann cried as she jumped up and down.

After walking a long time Marggy’s Mama opened the basket of lunch. “Shall we give Mr. Doodle any?” Marggy’s Mama asked. “He has treated us so mean he does not deserve any!”

Really, Mr. Doodle did not deserve any, but he looked so hungry, Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy, after whispering together, told Mr. Doodle to sit between them on the log and they gave him some of the doughnuts. After they had finished eating the doughnuts Raggedy Andy said, “Now we can travel in search of Marggy’s Daddy and Mr. Doodle cannot follow us.”

“Indeed, I can!” Mr. Doodle cried. “Whenever you start, I shall start with you.”

Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy said to Marggy and her Mama, “Come! Let’s hurry!” and they walked away leaving Mr. Doodle sitting on the log.

Mr. Doodle had a very queer look upon his face, because he did not know why he could not follow them.

“I took some of the glue and put it upon the log between Raggedy Ann and me,” Raggedy Andy explained to Marggy and her Mama. “And when Mr. Doodle sat upon the glue, of course he stuck fast so now we can mend the paper Dragon and ride upon his back. Then Mr. Doodle will not be able to run and catch up with us and we will soon find Marggy’s Daddy!”

It had only taken Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy two minutes to mend the Dragon’s tail with the glue the little man had given them and it was such fine glue, it stuck very fast. It was lots of fun riding through the woods upon the paper Dragon’s back because the Dragon wiggled along so smoothly. And our friends could not feel a bump even when the Dragon wiggled over large stones.

“I’m glad we have escaped from Mr. Doodle,” the Dragon said as he carried his friends along upon his back. “For if we do not have Mr. Doodle bothering us all the time I am sure we will soon find Marggy’s Daddy.”

Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy and Marggy and her Mama felt so happy they laughed and sang songs as the Dragon carried them through the lovely woods.