Chapter NINE

After awhile Raggedy Ann turned to say something to Raggedy Andy, and there coming behind them was Mr. Doodle. “Oh dear! Here comes Mr. Doodle!” Raggedy Ann said.

Raggedy Andy turned and looked. “My goodness!” he cried. “I forgot and left my magic wooden sword and now Mr. Doodle is riding upon the magic wooden sword and will soon catch up with us!”

The Dragon, on hearing this wiggled faster than ever, so fast that the trees and bushes seemed to whiz by, but the paper dragon could not go as fast as the magic wooden sword and pretty soon Mr. Doodle caught up with them.

“Stop, or I’ll cut off the dragon’s tail!” Mr. Doodle shouted to Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy.

“You cannot use the magic sword to cut off the dragon’s tail while you are riding upon the wooden sword,” Raggedy Andy laughed.

“Of course I can’t when I am riding upon the wooden sword,” Mr. Doodle shouted. “But unless you stop, I shall climb from the wooden sword to the dragon’s back and then cut off his tail!”

“There isn’t anything to do except stop,” Raggedy Ann said. “We do not care to have Mr. Doodle cut off your tail again,” she said to the dragon.

“How did you get free from where you were glued to the log?” Raggedy Andy asked Mr. Doodle.

“When I saw you leaving me alone on the log I wiggled and twisted as hard as I could, trying to get loose, but I could not get free. Then I grew angry and cried and the tears ran down my nose onto the log and melted the glue. When I got loose, didn’t I laugh!”

“Why did you laugh, silly?” Marggy’s mama wished to know, as she opened her basket and gave cookies to everyone.

“I laughed because I saw that Raggedy Andy had left his magic wooden sword and I knew I would soon catch up with you! That’s why I laughed!”

“Sit down on the log beside Raggedy Andy and me and have some lunch, Mr. Doodle. We do not believe in being unkind to you even if you have been mean to us,” Raggedy Ann said.

Mr. Doodle looked carefully to see if Raggedy Andy had put more glue upon the log. “If you try to fool me again I shall give you a hard thump, Raggedy Andy,” Mr. Doodle said.

“Give Mr. Doodle a handful of cookies,” Raggedy Andy said to Marggy’s mama and when Marggy’s mama had done this Raggedy Andy said, “Now give Mr. Doodle a large piece of chocolate cake because he must be hungry!” Marggy’s mama did as Raggedy Andy said, so when Mr. Doodle reached for the large piece of chocolate cake, he had to drop Raggedy Andy’s magic wooden sword, because Mr. Doodle had both hands full of cake and cookies.

“Whee!” Raggedy Andy cried as he picked up the magic wooden sword. “Now I have the wooden sword and Mr. Doodle cannot follow us. As soon as we finish eating our lunch, we will start again!”

This made Mr. Doodle feel so badly to think how easily Raggedy Andy had fooled him, he cried, and Raggedy Ann had to wipe the tears to keep them from spoiling Mr. Doodle’s cake and cookies. Then Raggedy Ann wiped the crumbs from everyone’s mouths and said, “It is time we hurried along.”

So Raggedy Andy helped Marggy and her mama and Raggedy Ann upon the back of the paper dragon and then climbed up himself, “All right, Mister Paper Dragon!” Raggedy Andy called. “You can wiggle along through the woods as fast as you wish.” Then the paper dragon started moving; slow at first, then faster and faster until he was going just as fast as it is possible for paper dragons to wiggle.

After they had ridden upon the Dragon’s back for almost an hour, they came to a little house, and out across the road at the side of the house was a gate.

The Dragon came to a stop with his nose touching the gate, just as a man came out of the little house and said, “This is a toll gate, so you will have to pay one penny for each passenger and two pennies for the Dragon, if you wish to travel down the road.”

“Dear me!” Raggedy Ann said to the man. “We haven’t any pennies!”

“Then you must turn around and go back,” the man said.

“But if we do not go further down the road, we shall never find Marggy’s Daddy,” Raggedy Ann said.

“That would be too bad,” the man replied as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “But I must have a penny from each passenger and two for the Dragon before I can let you pass.”

“I know what to do!” the Dragon cried. “I’ll wiggle back the road and get a good start, then I’ll jump right over the gate.”

“Oh no!” Raggedy Ann said. “That would be cheating if you did that! And every one knows it isn’t fair to cheat. We must find the pennies somewhere.”

“Hasn’t that man back there any pennies?” the toll gate keeper asked as he pointed back towards the Dragon’s tail. And when they looked back there sitting upon the dragon’s tail they saw Mr. Doodle.

When he found that he was discovered riding upon the Dragon’s tail, Mr. Doodle came up to the Dragon’s head and asked, “How much is it, Mr. Tollgate Keeper?”

“One penny for each passenger and two pennies for the Dragon,” the Tollgate Keeper replied.

Mr. Doodle looked through all his pockets but could only find two pennies, a shoe button and a wire nail, “Dear me!” Mr. Doodle said. “I only have two pennies and that is only enough to take the Dragon through the tollgate.”

“What shall we do?” Marggy’s mama asked. “We can never find Marggy’s daddy unless we go farther down the road!”

The tollgate keeper took off his hat and scratched his head. Finally he said, “I’ll tell you how we can let you go through the tollgate. You know we charge only for people who ride, so if you hop down from the Dragon’s back, I will charge two pennies for the Dragon and the rest of you can walk through the tollgate.”

“We are very glad that you happened to think of that before we turned back,” Raggedy Andy laughed as he jumped from the Dragon’s back and helped Marggy and her mama and Raggedy Ann down.

Marggy’s mama gave the toll gate keeper six cookies and a piece of chocolate cake and this pleased the Tollgate Keeper so much he asked every one, except the Dragon, who was too large, into his house and gave them each a glass of soda water, for you see, the Tollgate Keeper owned a little store too, so that anyone passing could have candy and peanuts and popcorn and lollypops and ice cream sodas.

Then Mr. Doodle, who was very fond of ice cream sodas asked the Tollgate Keeper if he would trade a lot of soda water for the shoe button and wire nail.

The Tollgate Keeper said that he had always longed for a shoe button and a wire nail, so he gave every one a soda and a bag of peanuts and took the shoe button and wire nail.

“I really believe Mr. Doodle has forgotten he wanted to take the Dragon home for a chicken coop,” Raggedy Ann whispered to Raggedy Andy.

“I believe so, too!” Raggedy Andy whispered in return to Raggedy Ann. “For if he had not paid the Tollgate Keeper the two pennies to get the Dragon through the tollgate, he could have taken the Dragon away from us again.”

But Raggedy Andy did not remind Mr. Doodle of this. Mr. Doodle laughed and talked with everyone and said he was sorry he did not have another shoe button and a wire nail he could trade for more sodas and peanuts.

“Well,” Mr. Doodle said, when he had finished drinking the last of his soda. “I guess we had better be going on, or it will be late before we find Marggy’s Daddy!”

After shaking hands with the kind Tollgate Keeper the Dragon carried them through the woods until they came to a great marble castle.