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+Project Gutenberg's Billy Bunny and Uncle Bull Frog, by David Magie Cory
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Billy Bunny and Uncle Bull Frog
+
+Author: David Magie Cory
+
+Illustrator: Hugh Spencer
+
+Posting Date: January 27, 2009 [EBook #5947]
+Release Date: June, 2004
+First posted: September 23, 2002
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BILLY BUNNY AND UNCLE BULL FROG ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BILLY BUNNY
+
+AND
+
+UNCLE BULL FROG
+
+BY
+
+DAVID CORY
+
+Author of "Billy Bunny and Daddy Fox,"
+"Billy Bunny and The Friendly Elephant,"
+"Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky Lefthindfoot"
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS BY
+
+HUGH SPENCER
+
+
+
+BILLY BUNNY BOOKS
+
+BY DAVID GORY
+
+Large 12 mo. Illustrated
+
+1. BILLY BUNNY AND THE FRIENDLY ELEPHANT
+
+2. BILLY BUNNY AND DADDY FOX
+
+3. BILLY BUNNY AND UNCLE BULL FROG
+
+4. BILLY BUNNY AND UNCLE LUCKY LEFTHINDFOOT
+
+Other Volumes in Preparation
+
+1920
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+I.     BILLY BUNNY AND MR. BLACKSNAKE
+
+II.    BILLY BUNNY AND THE FRESHWATER CRAB
+
+III.   BILLY BUNNY AND THE SORROWFUL JAY BIRD
+
+IV.    BILLY BUNNY AND THE TING-A-LING TELEPHONE
+
+V.     BILLY BUNNY AND THE RUNAWAY DOG
+
+VI.    BILLY BUNNY AND MR. O'HARE'S ESCAPE
+
+VII.   BILLY BUNNY AND THE POLICEMAN CAT
+
+VIII.  BILLY BUNNY AND THE GRAY MOUSE
+
+IX.    BILLY BUNNY AND RED ROOSTER
+
+X.     BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. COW
+
+XI.    BILLY BUNNY AND THE BIG BEAR
+
+XII.   BILLY BUNNY AND THE RABBITVILLE "GAZETTE"
+
+XIII.  BILLY BUNNY AND MR. MOLE
+
+XIV.   BILLY BUNNY AND THE WATER SNAKE
+
+XV.    BILLY BUNNY AND THE PEACOCK
+
+XVI.   BILLY BUNNY AND THE MARBLE DEER
+
+XVII.  BILLY BUNNY AND THE FOREST DANCE
+
+XVIII. BILLY BUNNY AND RAGGED RABBIT
+
+XIX.   BILLY BUNNY AND TAILOR BIRD
+
+XX.    BILLY BUNNY AND PARSON CROW
+
+XXI.   BILLY BUNNY AND JACK-IN-THE-BOX
+
+XXII.  BILLY BUNNY AND MR. DUCK
+
+XXIII. BILLY BUNNY AND THE FRETFUL PORCUPINE
+
+XXIV.  BILLY BUNNY AND DANNY BILLYGOAT
+
+XXV.   BILLY BUNNY AND THE WHALE
+
+XXVI.  BILLY BUNNY AND THE MERMAID.
+
+XXVII. BILLY BUNNY AND THE BEANSTALK
+
+XXVIII. BILLY BUNNY AND SCATTERBRAINS
+
+XXIX.  BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. BLACK CAT
+
+XXX.   BILLY BUNNY AND BIG YELLOW DOG
+
+XXXI.  BILLY BUNNY AND A HAPPY BIRTHDAY
+
+XXXII. BILLY BUNNY AND THE LOST RING
+
+XXXIII. BILLY BUNNY AND THE GREAT NEWS
+
+XXXIV. BILLY BUNNY AND JENNY MUSKRAT
+
+XXXV.  BILLY BUNNY AND THE MILLER'S DOG
+
+XXXVI. BILLY BUNNY AND THE WOODCHUCK
+
+XXXVII. BILLY BUNNY AND LITTLE PEEWEE
+
+XXXVIII. BILLY BUNNY AND OLD MOTHER MAGPIE
+
+
+
+
+STORY I.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND MR. BLACKSNAKE.
+
+
+  Rain, rain, go away,
+  Billy Bunny wants to play.
+
+This is what Willy Wind sang one morning. Oh, so early, as the
+raindrops pitter-pattered on the roof of the little rabbit's house in
+the Old Brier Patch.
+
+And then of course he woke up and wiggled his little pink nose a
+million times less or more, and pretty soon he was wide awake, so he
+got up and looked into the mirror to see if his eyes were open, as he
+wasn't quite sure he was wide awake after all, for the raindrops made
+a drowsy noise on the old shingles and the alarm clock wouldn't go
+off, although it was 14 o'clock.
+
+Well, after a little while, not so very long, his mother called to
+him, "Billy Bunny, the stewed lollypops are getting cold and the
+robin's eggs will be hard boiled if you don't hurry up, or hurry down,
+or something."
+
+"I'll be ready in a jiffy," answered the little rabbit, and then he
+brushed his whiskers and parted his hair in the middle with a little
+chip, and after that he was ready for breakfast and dinner and supper,
+for rabbits are always hungry, you know, and can eat all the time, so
+I've been told, and I guess it must be true, for why should an old
+rabbit have told me that if it isn't the truth, I should like to know,
+and so would you, I'm sure.
+
+"Don't forget your rubber boots," said Mrs. Bunny after the morning
+meal was over, as Billy Bunny started to hop outdoors. So, like a good
+little bunny boy, he came back and put them on, and then before he
+went he polished the brass door knob on the front door and swept the
+leaves off the little stone walk.
+
+And after that he was ready to do whatever he liked, so out he went on
+the Pleasant Meadow to eat some clover tops so as not to feel hungry
+for the next ten minutes.
+
+And just then Mrs. Cow came along with her tinkle, tinkle bell that
+hung at her throat from a leather collar.
+
+"Where are you going?" she asked, but the little rabbit didn't know.
+He was only looking around. He hadn't had time to make up his mind
+what to do, and just then, all of a sudden, just like that, Mr.
+Blacksnake rose out of the grass.
+
+"Look out!" cried Mrs. Cow. "Maybe he's going to eat you," but whether
+he was I'm sure I don't know, for Billy Bunny didn't wait to see. He
+didn't care whether Mr. Blacksnake wanted his breakfast, but hopped
+away as fast as he could and pretty soon, not so very far, he came to
+the Babbling Brook, and there sat the little fresh water crab on the
+sand, and when he saw Billy Bunny he said:
+
+    "It's raining, Billy Bunny,
+     But you and I don't care,
+     For raindrops make the flowers
+     Grow and blossom fair."
+
+And this is what every little boy and girl should say on rainy days.
+
+
+
+
+STORY II.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE FRESHWATER CRAB.
+
+
+Let me see. It was raining in the last story when we left off, wasn't
+it? Billy Bunny and the little freshwater crab were talking together,
+weren't they?
+
+That's it, and now I know where to begin, for it's stopped raining
+since then and Mr. Happy Sun is shining in the sky and the little
+clouds are chasing each other over the blue meadows like little lambs.
+
+"I like that little piece of poetry you just said," cried the little
+rabbit. "Please say another." So the freshwater crab wrinkled his
+forehead, and then he began:
+
+    "And when the sun is shining,
+     And all is bright and gay,
+     Just keep a little sunshine
+     To help a rainy day."
+
+"I will," said the little bunny, for he was a cheerful little fellow,
+and then he hopped away and by and by he came to the Old Mill Pond.
+
+But Uncle Bullfrog was nowhere to be seen.
+
+There stood the old log, but there was nobody on it but a black snail.
+It seemed strange not to see the old gentleman frog sitting there, his
+eyes winking and blinking and his white waist-coat shining in the sun,
+and it made the little rabbit feel lonely.
+
+"Where is Uncle Bullfrog?" he asked a big bluebottle fly, who was
+buzzing away at a great rate. But he didn't know, and neither did a
+big darning needle that was skimming over the quiet water.
+
+"I wonder if that dreadful Miller's Boy has taken Uncle Bullfrog
+away," thought Billy Bunny, and just then Mrs. Oriole flew down from
+her nest that swung in the weeping willow tree and said:
+
+"Are you looking for Uncle Bullfrog, little rabbit?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am. Do you know where he is?"
+
+"He's down by the mill dam," answered the pretty little bird, and then
+she flew back to her nest that looked like an old white cotton
+stocking at Christmas time because it was all bulgy and full, only, of
+course, hers had little birds inside and a Christmas stocking has all
+sorts of toys, with an orange in the toe and a Jack-in-the-Box
+sticking out of the top.
+
+So off hopped the little rabbit, and pretty soon he saw the old
+gentleman bullfrog catching flies, and undoing his waistcoat one
+button every time a fly disappeared down his throat.
+
+"I thought at first that dreadful Miller's Boy had taken you away,"
+said Billy Bunny, "and I was very sad, for I like you, Uncle Bullfrog,
+and I've never forgotten how you found the letter I lost a long time
+ago."
+
+"Tut, tut," said the old gentleman frog. "How's your mother?" and then
+he swallowed another fly and unbuttoned the last button, and if he
+takes off his waistcoat I'll tell you so in the next story.
+
+
+
+
+STORY III.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE SORROWFUL JAY BIRD.
+
+
+Well, Uncle Bullfrog didn't take off his waistcoat, as I thought he
+might in the last story, so I'm not going to tell you anything more
+about him.
+
+We'll just leave him in the old Mill Pond and go along with Billy
+Bunny, who is hopping away toward the Friendly Forest.
+
+By and by, after he had gone into the shady depths for maybe a million
+and two or three hops, he came across his old friend the jay bird, who
+had sold him the airship, you remember, and then bought it back again.
+
+"I wish you'd kept your old flying machine," said the jay bird
+sorrowfully.
+"But you wanted to buy it back," said the little rabbit, "so it's not
+my fault."
+
+"Perhaps not," replied the sorrowful jay bird, "but that doesn't make
+matters any better."
+
+"Why, what's the trouble?" asked the little rabbit, sitting down and
+taking a lollypop out of his knapsack.
+
+"I had an accident," answered the jay bird.
+
+"I ran into a thunder cloud and spilled out all the lightning, and, oh
+dear, oh dear. I just hate to talk about it, but I will. The lightning
+jumped all around and then struck the old tower clock and broke the
+main spring, so that it wouldn't go any more, and now nobody in
+Rabbitville can tell the day of the month, or when it will be
+Thanksgiving or Fourth of July."
+
+"Let's go to the clock maker and ask him to fix it," suggested the
+little rabbit, and this so delighted the sorrowful jay bird that he
+smiled and flew after Billy Bunny, and pretty soon they came to the
+old clock maker, who was an old black spider.
+
+"Certainly I'll fix it," he said, "but it will cost you nine million
+and some billion flies."
+
+"All right," said Billy Bunny. "I'll go down to the 3 and 1-cent store
+and buy a fly catcher." So off he went and pretty soon he came back
+with a great big fly catching box, and after he had set it down, they
+stood and watched the flies go in until it was so full that not
+another one could even poke in his nose.
+
+"Now, Mr. Spider," said Billy Bunny, "there are maybe a trillion flies
+in that box, for the storekeeper told me it was guaranteed to hold
+that many, so please fix the town clock, for it would be too bad if
+the little boys and girls didn't know it was Christmas when it really
+came."
+
+So the spider got out his little tool bag and climbed up the steeple
+and fixed that old town clock so well that it began to play a tune,
+which it had never done before, and all the people in Rabbitville were
+so delighted that they gave the spider a little house to live in for
+the rest of his days.
+
+
+
+
+STORY IV.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE TING-A-LING TELEPHONE.
+
+
+Ting-a-ling went the telephone bell in Uncle Lucky Lefthindfoot's
+house, the kind old gentleman rabbit who was the uncle of Billy Bunny,
+you know.
+
+And I only say this right here in case some little boy or girl should
+read this story without having seen all the million and one, or two,
+or three that have gone before.
+
+So Uncle Lucky jumped out of the hammock where he had been swinging up
+and down on the cool front porch of his little house in Bunnytown,
+corner of Lettuce avenue and Carrot street, and hopped into the
+library and took down the receiver and said "Helloa! This is Mr. Lucky
+Lefthindfoot talking."
+
+"Is that you, Uncle Lucky?" answered a voice at the other end of the
+wire. "This is Billy Bunny, and I'm lost in the Friendly Forest."
+"What!" cried the old gentleman rabbit, and he got so excited that he
+put the wrong end of the receiver to his left ear and got an awful
+electric shock that nearly wiggled his ear off. "Where are you now?"
+
+"I don't know," replied his small nephew. "I'm lost, don't you
+understand?"
+
+"Gracious, goodness mebus!" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit, "then
+how am I to find you?"
+
+"I don't know, but please do," said Billy Bunny sorrowfully, "for I'm
+dreadfully hungry, and I haven't got a single lollypop or apple pie
+left in my knapsack."
+
+"Well, you just stay where you are and I'll get into the Luckmobile
+and find you," replied the old gentleman rabbit as cheerfully as he
+could, although he didn't know how he was going to do it, and neither
+do I, and neither do you, but let's wait and see.
+
+So pretty soon, in a few short seconds, Uncle Lucky was tearing along
+the dusty road toward the Friendly Forest, and by and by he came to
+the house where his cousin, Mr. O'Hare, lived. So he stopped the
+automobile and knocked on the door, and as soon as Mr. O'Hare opened
+it, he said: "Jump in with me, for my little nephew is lost and I want
+you to help me find him."
+
+So away they went into the Friendly Forest, and they looked all
+around, but, of course, there was no little rabbit that looked like
+Billy Bunny anywhere in sight. So Uncle Lucky and Mr. O'Hare got out,
+and after tying the automobile to a tree, they set out in different
+directions to find the little bunny. And Uncle Lucky went along a
+little path and Mr. O'Hare followed a small brook, and after a while
+the old gentleman rabbit heard a bird singing:
+
+    "I saw a little rabbit
+     A-sitting by a tree,
+     And I should say he'd lost his way--
+     That's how he looked to me."
+
+"Where did you see him?" asked Uncle Lucky excitedly. But what the
+little bird replied you must wait to hear in the next story.
+
+
+
+
+STORY V.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE RUNAWAY DOG.
+
+
+You remember in the last story just as Uncle Lucky asked the little
+bird to tell him where Billy Bunny was I had to leave off for there
+was no more room in the story for me to add another word? Well, what
+the little bird said was:
+
+"Follow the path, Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot, 'till you come to a bridge,
+and then turn to your right, and pretty soon, if the little bunny
+hasn't hopped away, you'll find your lost nephew."
+
+So Uncle Lucky started right off. He didn't wait to even dust off his
+old wedding stovepipe hat, and by and by he came to the bridge. But oh
+dear me! Right in the middle of it stood a big dog, and when he saw
+the old gentleman rabbit he gave a loud bark and ran at him.
+
+And what do you think the dear old bunny did? He honked on his
+automobile horn, which he had in his paw, and this frightened the dog
+so dreadfully that he turned around and ran away so fast that he would
+have left his tail a thousand miles behind him if it hadn't been tied
+on the way dogs' tails are, you know.
+
+And after that Uncle Lucky crossed the bridge and turned to his right
+and pretty soon he saw Billy Bunny under a bush looking very miserable
+and unhappy. But when he heard his Uncle Lucky's voice, for the old
+gentleman rabbit gave a cry of delight as soon as he saw him, the
+little rabbit looked as happy as he had before he was lost.
+
+"Here's an apple pie for you," said the dear, kind old gentleman
+rabbit, taking a lovely pie out of his pocket. "I knew you'd rather
+have something to eat than a million carrot cents."
+
+And of course the little rabbit would, for he was so hungry he could
+have eaten brass tacks, or maybe iron nails.
+
+"Now come along with me," said Uncle Lucky. "We'll go back to the
+Luckymobile. Your cousin, Mr. O'Hare, went the other way to look for
+you, so I suppose we'll have a dreadful time to find him. But, never
+mind, I've found you." And dear, affectionate Uncle Lucky hugged his
+small nephew, he was so glad to be with him once more.
+
+Well, after they reached the automobile they honked and honked on the
+horn hoping Mr. O'Hare would hear them. But I guess he didn't, for he
+never came back, although they waited until it was almost 13 o'clock.
+
+"We'll have to go home without him," said Uncle Lucky at last. And I
+guess he was wise not to wait any longer, for it was growing dark, and
+to drive an automobile through a forest is not an easy thing to do at
+night. And just then, all of a sudden, Willie Wind came blowing
+through the tree tops. When he saw the two little bunnies he said:
+
+"Your cousin, Mr. O'Hare, has fallen into a deep hole over yonder."
+And Willie Wind pointed down the Friendly Forest Trail. In the next
+story you shall hear how Uncle Lucky and Billy Bunny found their
+cousin, Mr. O'Hare.
+
+
+
+
+STORY VI.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND MR. O'HARE'S ESCAPE.
+
+
+You remember in the last story how Willie Wind whispered to Billy
+Bunny and Uncle Lucky that their cousin, Mr. O'Hare, had fallen into a
+deep hole? Well, it didn't take the two little rabbits more than five
+short seconds and maybe five and a half hops to reach the spot, and
+then they looked over the edge, but very carefully, you know, for fear
+they might fall in, and there, sure enough, way down at the bottom was
+Mr. O'Hare looking very miserable indeed.
+
+"Keep up your courage!" cried Uncle Lucky in as cheerful a voice as he
+could muster, and then he looked around to find a rope or a ladder.
+But of course there were not any ropes and ladders lying about, so
+that kind old gentleman rabbit peeped over the edge of the hole and
+called down again, "Keep up your courage! We'll get you out!"
+
+Although he didn't know how he was going to do it, and neither do you
+and neither do I and neither does the printer man.
+
+Well, after a while, and it was quite a long while, too, Billy Bunny
+found a wild grapevine which he let down into the hole. "Make a loop
+and put it around your waist and Uncle Lucky and I will haul you out,"
+he called down, and then Mr. O'Hare did as he was told, and after the
+two little rabbits had pulled and pulled until their breath was almost
+gone, Mr. O'Hare's head appeared at the top of the hole.
+
+And then with one more big pull they brought him out safely, although
+his waist was dreadfully sore because the grapevine had cut into his
+fur and squeezed all the breath out of him.
+
+"I'm going to complain to the street cleaning department or the first
+policeman I see," said Mr. O'Hare. "It's a dreadful thing to have a
+hole like this right in the middle of the Friendly Forest Trail."
+
+"Never mind that," said Billy Bunny, "let's go back to the
+Luckymobile. It will be late before we get out of the woods and maybe
+the electricity will all be gone and then we can't light the lamps,
+and maybe we'll be arrested."
+
+And this is just what happened. They had only gone a little ways when
+they heard a voice say:
+
+    "Stop your motor car, I say,
+     You have no lamps to light the way.
+     Come, stop your car and get right out!
+     Listen, don't you hear me shout?
+     Stop your car or I will shoot.
+     Don't try away from me to scoot!"
+
+"We don't intend to," said Uncle Lucky, and he put on the brake and
+the Luckymobile came to a standstill. And there in the road stood a
+big Policeman Cat, with a club and gold buttons on his coat and a big
+helmet, and his number was two dozen and a half.
+
+"Get out of your car," he commanded, which means to say something
+sternly, but before the two little rabbits obeyed, something happened,
+but what it was you must wait to hear in the next story.
+
+
+
+
+STORY VII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE POLICEMAN CAT.
+
+
+Well, I'm glad to say it was something nice that happened just as I
+left off in the last story. You remember the Policeman Cat had
+arrested Billy Bunny and his Uncle Lucky.
+
+Well, just as that Policeman Cat lifted his club to tickle Uncle
+Lucky's left hind foot, a big elm tree began to bark and of course the
+Policeman Cat was nearly scared to death. He thought it was a dog, you
+see, and instead of tickling dear, kind Uncle Lucky with his club, he
+turned tail and ran off down the road.
+
+And he ran so fast that he left his number behind and Uncle Lucky
+picked it up and put it on the automobile, and after that they asked
+two little fireflies to sit inside the lamps and make them shine, for
+you remember the electricity had all burned up.
+
+Well, after a while, they came to a turn in the road and, goodness
+gracious! before they could stop the automobile they ran into a milk
+wagon. And, oh, dear me! there was whipped cream all over the place,
+and Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky looked like two little cream puffs.
+
+And I suppose you are wondering where the driver of the milk wagon was
+all this time. And so were Uncle Lucky and Billy Bunny, and if you'll
+wait a minute I'll tell you, as soon as my typewriter behaves itself,
+for it got so excited when Luckymobile ran into the milk wagon that it
+caught my thumb and pinched it.
+
+Well, pretty soon, after Uncle Lucky had looked behind the moon and
+Billy Bunny into all the empty milk cans and one full one, they found
+the driver up in a weeping willow tree.
+
+"I'll come down if you'll promise not to run over me," he said, for he
+was nearly frightened to death and looked dreadfully funny, for one of
+the milk can covers had fallen on his head.
+
+"I thought he would be mad as a hornet," whispered Billy Bunny to his
+rabbit uncle.
+
+"But where's my horse?" said the milkman when he reached the ground.
+So they all looked around and everywhere else, but they couldn't find
+him until they looked up into another weeping willow tree. And there
+was the poor horse high up in the branches.
+
+    "Oh, I'll come down from this willow tree,
+     If you'll promise me just one thing,
+     And that is never again to say:
+     'Gid-ap' as you drive me along the way,
+     For I always go the best I can;
+     I'm a faithful friend to every man,
+     So please don't hurry me so,
+     For I'm not trying to go too slow."
+
+"All right, my good old horse," said kind Uncle Lucky. "Your master
+shall give me his word." So the horse jumped down and the willow tree
+stopped weeping right away, for it was so glad that the poor old milk
+horse was never again to be hurried on his way. And in the next story
+I'll tell you why.
+
+
+
+
+STORY VIII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE GRAY MOUSE.
+
+
+You remember in the last story how the Luckymobile had run into a milk
+wagon? Well, after Billy Bunny had helped the milkman hitch up his
+horse and Uncle Lucky had filled the milk cans with ice cream and soda
+water from a near-by candy store, so as not to have all the little
+boys and girls disappointed at breakfast when they didn't get their
+milk, our two little rabbit friends got into the Luckymobile and
+started off again.
+
+Well, it was still evening, you know, and the little fireflies who had
+crawled into the lamps made them as bright as possible, so it wasn't
+hard to steer the automobile. And, after a while, maybe a mile, they
+came to a house, where lived a gray mouse, all alone by herself in a
+hole near a shelf, where cake and mince pies made her open her eyes,
+for they looked, oh, so good, as a pie or cake should.
+
+Now I didn't know I was going to write poetry or I should have let my
+hair grow long like a poet instead of going to the barber for a shave.
+
+Well, anyway, the two little rabbits stopped the automobile right in
+front of mousie's door and when she heard the horn go honk, honk, she
+came to the window and looked out.
+
+"Why, it's Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot," she squeaked, and then she opened
+the door and asked the two little rabbits in and gave them some pie
+and cake.
+
+"You can put the automobile in the barn if you like," she said, "and
+spend the night here, for it's getting very dark and maybe you'll run
+into something." So Billy Bunny took the Luckymobile around to the
+barn, and just then an old owl began to toot:
+
+     "I'm very fond of little gray mice,
+     And little white rabbits, too, are nice."
+
+And down flew that old gray owl and made a grab for Billy Bunny. But
+he didn't catch him. No, sireemam! For the little rabbit hopped into
+the henhouse through the little round door, and the big red rooster
+began to crow:
+
+    "Look here, Mr. Owl, if you come inside
+     I'll hurt you with my spur.
+     Don't you dare get funny with Billy Bunny,
+     Or muss his pretty white fur."
+
+And then he flew down from his perch and said, "Cock-a-doodle-do"
+three times and a half, and after that the owl flew away. "That was
+very kind of you," said the little rabbit. "Oh, don't mention it,"
+said the red rooster, "but there is one thing you can do for me."
+"What's that?" asked Billy Bunny. "Take me Luckymobiling," laughed the
+red rooster.
+
+"All right. To-morrow Uncle Lucky and I will invite you for a nice
+drive," said the little rabbit, and if the Luckymobile doesn't get
+sick maybe Uncle Lucky will ask some little boy or girl to go, too,
+and maybe it might be you.
+
+
+
+
+STORY IX.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND RED ROOSTER.
+
+
+Well, the next morning when the little rabbits woke up the sun was
+shining brightly through their bedroom window and Mrs. Mousie was
+singing a song down in the kitchen below as she made hot muffins for
+breakfast. And this is what she sang:
+
+    "Upstairs in my nice guest room are two
+     Nice little rabbits in bed.
+     As soon as I'm able I'll fix up the table
+     And give them some honey and bread.
+     And then a hot muffin to give them a stuffin',
+     And then they'll be bountifully fed."
+
+And when Billy Bunny heard her he grew so hungry that he hurried
+faster than he had ever hurried before, and so did the old gentleman
+rabbit, and he buttoned his collar on backwards and put his left shoe
+on his right foot and tripped over his old wedding stovepipe hat.
+
+And after that they both hopped downstairs, and as soon as Mrs. Mousie
+heard them she brought in the bread and honey and the hot muffins and
+they all had breakfast. And after that Billy Bunny asked her to go
+automobiling with them.
+
+So she put on her old gray bonnet with a bit of ribbon on it, and tied
+the strings under her chin, and put on her black silk mitts and her
+gold locket breastpin with the picture of Mr. Mousie inside.
+
+"You don't mind if we invite the red rooster to go along, too, do
+you?" asked Billy Bunny, and then he told her how the rooster had
+scared away the old owl. And of course Mrs. Mousie didn't care, so the
+rooster got in and sat on the back seat with Mrs. Mousie.
+
+Well, after they had gone for maybe a mile, and maybe some more, they
+came to a beautiful candy store, where the windows were full of
+peppermint sticks and a brown sugar monkey did all sorts of tricks.
+
+"Stop right here," said the red rooster, "and I'll get out and buy you
+a bag of candy." And when he came back he had four bags of candy. Just
+think of that! In one bag was sugar-coated carrots for Billy Bunny,
+and another bag was full of candied carrots for Uncle Lucky, and in
+the bag he gave to Mrs. Mousie were two little chocolate mice.
+
+"What have you got in your bag?" asked Uncle Lucky as he made the
+Luckymobile jump over a high ditch and run along through a lovely
+green meadow spread all over with buttercups.
+
+"Sugared peanuts," answered the red rooster. "I just love them. The
+last time I went to the circus I ate forty-nine bags and a half and
+drank twenty-three glasses of pink lemonade and a bushel of popcorn."
+
+"Wait a minute," said the old gentleman rabbit. "I've got a stomach
+ache listening. How did you do it?" And in the next story I'll tell
+you what the rooster said, that is, if nothing happens to prevent it,
+for he certainly was a wonderful rooster, to be able to eat all that.
+
+
+
+
+STORY X.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. COW.
+
+
+Well, something did happen to prevent the red rooster from telling
+Billy Bunny how he had been able to eat forty-nine bags and a half of
+peanuts at the circus, as I mentioned in the last story.
+
+You see, as the Luckymobile galloped along over the meadow, all of a
+sudden, just like that, it ran right into the Babbling Brook, and then
+of course it stopped so suddenly that Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky
+didn't stop at all, neither did Mrs. Mousie and the red rooster.
+
+They just kept right on going, and the first thing they knew and the
+first thing you know, they all landed in the long grass beside Mrs.
+Cow.
+
+"My, how you startled me!" she exclaimed, and she rang the little bell
+at her neck and up ran her little calf, who was only two weeks old,
+and had never seen Billy Bunny and his friends before.
+
+After that she walked down to the Babbling Brook--but oh, dear me! all
+the electricity oil had spilled out of the cabaret and she couldn't
+drink the water, and all the little fish were covered with it just
+like sardines, you know, and the watercress had salad dressing all
+over it, so of course she couldn't eat the watercress.
+
+"Never mind," said kind little Billy Bunny, and he took out of his
+knapsack a big yellow lemon lollypop and gave it to her, and then she
+didn't care, for she just loved candy.
+
+"I'll help you get the automobile out," said Mrs. Cow gratefully, for
+she liked anybody who was kind to her little calf. So she put her
+horns under the front of the Luckymobile and then she said, "Heave ho,
+e-ho!" and pushed and shoved and lifted that big heavy automobile
+right out of the brook without even cracking her two long horns.
+
+"If you don't mind," said the red rooster, "I'll leave you two little
+rabbits and make a call on Cocky Docky up at the Old Farm." "And if you
+don't care," squeaked little Mrs. Mousie, "I'll call on Dickey
+Meadowmouse." So Uncle Lucky and Billy Bunny hopped into the
+automobile and drove off, while Mrs. Cow tinkled her bell and sang:
+
+    "Moo, moo, moo. I'm glad I helped you two.
+     One good turn deserves another.
+     When you see your bunny mother,
+     Tell her how your car I took
+    Safely from the Babbling Brook."
+
+"It's a puzzle to me," said Uncle Lucky, "why we are always having so
+many accidents. Maybe I had better get a chauffeur." "You won't need
+any chauffeur after I'm done with you," said a deep growly voice, and
+out from behind a clump of bushes jumped a wicked wildcat and bit one
+of the front tires, she was so hungry.
+
+And what do you suppose happened then? Why the tire burst with such a
+loud noise, just like a gun, you know, that the wildcat was frightened
+nearly to death and she turned around and ran away so fast that she
+got home an hour too early for supper.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XI.
+
+BILL BUNNY AND THE BIG BEAR.
+
+
+     Near the Friendly Forest Pool
+     Is the Woodland Singing School.
+     Little Squirrel Bushy Tail
+     Sings the Do, Ray, Mee, Fa scale.
+     Uncle Bullfrog sings "Ker-chunk"
+     From his floating elm tree trunk.
+     And a big good-natured bear
+     Sings an old familiar air.
+
+"It's time for your singing lesson," said Mrs. Bunny to her little
+rabbit. So Billy Bunny started off, hoppity hop, down the Friendly
+Forest trail, and by and by he reached the Pool where all the pupils
+came to take their singing lessons.
+
+Mr. Grasshopper was there with his fiddle and the tree toad with his
+drum, and the lark with her flute and little Jenny Wren with her
+piano. And what do you suppose Billy Bunny had tucked away in his
+knapsack? Why, Uncle Lucky's automobile horn.
+
+You see, the kind old gentleman rabbit was making a visit at the Old
+Brier Patch where he had taken his automobile after that dreadful
+wildcat had bitten the front tire, and this is how Billy Bunny came to
+get the horn.
+
+Well, sir, after the music started, he pulled out his horn and gave a
+tre-men-dous honk on it, and everybody thought an automobile was going
+to run over him.
+
+Some jumped into the Pool and some ran up the trees, and, oh, dear me!
+everybody got all out of tune, and the bear lost the air and couldn't
+find it again!
+
+And just then who should come along but a peddler with a pack of tin
+cans, rattling away on his back, and of course he made more noise than
+all the singing school put together.
+
+And when the big bear saw him he was so angry that he jumped from
+behind a tree and said, "Boo!"
+
+"Do you want to buy a tin plate?" asked the peddler, trying hard not
+to be frightened, "or would rather have a dishpan?"
+
+"Don't want either," said the bear with a terrible growl.
+
+"Perhaps you'd like a nutmeg grater," said the poor old peddler, and
+he was so frightened by this time that his knees knocked into the tin
+pans and made a dreadful noise.
+
+"I've a dandy egg beater," went on the peddler, in a trembling voice,
+but after that he never said another word, for that great big bear
+jumped right at him and took the egg beater out of his hands and
+growled so terribly that the tin peddler turned away and ran down the
+forest path as fast as he could go.
+
+And then all the little and big forest folk began to sing:
+
+    "Hip, hip hurray, the peddler's gone away.
+     No more he'll make his tin pans shake
+     And spoil our singing school beside the Forest Pool."
+
+And in the next story, if the baby who lives in the house opposite
+doesn't shake his rattle at me all night so that I can't get to sleep
+and dream about the next story in time to write it for to-morrow
+night, I'll tell you more about the little rabbit's adventures.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE RABBITVILLE "GAZETTE."
+
+
+    There was once a little rabbit
+     Who was very fond of pie,
+     Apple pie, with sugar on the crust.
+     And he had a little habit,
+     When his mother wasn't nigh,
+     Of eating apple pie until he bust.
+
+This is what Mr. William Bunny, the little rabbit's father, you know,
+was singing one day, and the reason was because Mrs. Bunny had found
+little Billy Bunny in the pantry.
+
+And what happened to the little rabbit I'm not going to tell you, for
+it is so sad that it would make you weep to hear it.
+
+    "All day he nibbled pie
+     Till at last I thought he'd die,"
+     Said the doctor with a sigh.
+
+And then Mr. William Bunny looked at his small son and sighed, too,
+for he had just paid the doctor's bill.
+
+"Please don't sing any more," said little Billy Bunny. "Don't you
+remember the doctor said I was to be kept quiet?"
+
+So Mr. William Bunny went out on the porch to smoke a cigar and read
+the Rabbitville "Gazette" until after supper time.
+
+And while he was reading Mrs. Bunny looked over his shoulder and read:
+"Wanted, a secondhand automobile in good condition."
+
+"Ring up your Uncle Lucky on the telephone," she called to Billy
+Bunny. "Here's a chance for him to sell his Luckymobile." So the
+little rabbit rang up 000 Lettuceville, and in a few minutes he heard
+the old gentleman's voice at the other end of the wire.
+
+"But I don't want to sell my Luckymobile," he said. "It's the only one
+in ex-is-tence," which means the only one ever made, and I guess he
+was right, for I never rode in a Luckymobile, did you?
+
+"But mother thinks you ought to sell it," said Billy Bunny, "and so
+does father, for they both say you'll have a terrible accident some
+day if you don't look out."
+
+"Well then, I'll look out," said Uncle Lucky with a laugh. "But I
+won't sell my Luckymobile." And then he asked Billy Bunny to make him
+a visit. So the little rabbit put on his knapsack and picked up his
+striped candy cane and started off, after first asking his mother's
+permission, of course.
+
+And after he had gone for maybe a million Hops, he came to a big tree
+where Old Barney the Owl had his next. But of course, he wasn't awake.
+Oh, my, no. He had his eyes tightly closed, for owls don't like a
+bright light, you know. They can see in the dark but not in the
+daytime.
+
+But when Billy Bunny called out, "Helloa, Mr. Barney," the old
+gentleman owl blinked his eyes and said, "Who's calling me?" And then
+the little rabbit thought he'd play a joke, so he said, "Mr. Mouse!"
+
+And if there was anything that Old Barney loved to eat, it was mice.
+And in the next story I'll tell you what Billy Bunny did.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XIII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND MR. MOLE.
+
+
+You remember in the last story I promised to tell you what Billy Bunny
+did when Old Barney the Owl asked him, "Who's there?" and the little
+rabbit replied, "Mr. Mouse," just to fool him, you know. Well, after
+that
+
+     Old Barney the Owl
+     Gave a terrible scowl
+     As he looked at little Bill Bunny.
+     You thought you were wise,
+     But my blinky old eyes
+     Can see you are not a bit funny.
+     I can see from my house
+     You are not Mr. Mouse.
+
+And then the old blinkerty, winkerty owl flopped down to the ground
+and tried to catch the little rabbit. But Billy Bunny was too quick
+for him. He jumped into a hollow stump before you could say "Jack
+Rabbit!"
+
+"Come out of there," cried Old Barney, in a screechery, teachery
+voice, but you just bet the little bunny didn't. He knew what would
+happen if he did.
+
+Well, by and by, after a long while, he looked around, and, would you
+believe it, he found a little pair of stairs. So down he hopped until
+he came to a door on which was painted in red letters: "Mr. Mole,
+Subway Contractor."
+
+Then the little rabbit knocked on the door and pretty soon it was
+opened and there stood Mr. Mole himself.
+
+"What do you want?" he asked, trying to squint out of his little tiny
+eyes that were hidden all over with hair.
+
+"It's me--Billy Bunny," replied the little rabbit. "Mr. Owl tried to
+catch me and I hopped into your hollow stump entrance, but I haven't
+got a ticket for the subway."
+
+"Well, you can come in anyway," said the kind old mole; "my subway
+isn't finished yet and the trains won't be running for some time. Come
+in." So Billy Bunny hopped inside and sat down on a chair close to a
+little brass railing, behind which stood Mr. Mole's desk.
+
+Then Mr. Mole sat down and looked at Billy Bunny as much as to say,
+"And now what can I do for you?" So Billy Bunny said, "I would like to
+get up on the ground again. Can you show me a new way, because I don't
+want to go back the way I came?"
+
+Then Mr. Mole pressed a little bell, and in came a mole with overalls
+on and a little pickaxe. "Show my friend, Mr. Billy Bunny, through the
+tunnel to the Moss Bank entrance."
+
+"Thank you," said the little rabbit, and he hopped after the workman
+mole until they came to an opening. And when the little rabbit got
+outside once more he found himself on a mossy bank where blossomed a
+lovely bed of violets.
+
+So he picked a bouquet for himself and stuck it in his buttonhole, and
+after that he hopped away singing a song. And if Robbie Redbreast
+hadn't heard it I never would have been able to tell it to you. Wasn't
+it lucky that the little robin sang it to me this morning while I was
+still in bed? Because, if he hadn't, how would I have ever learned it?
+
+    Over the clover and over the grass
+     Hoppity, hop, I go;
+     Over the leaves from the autumn trees
+     And over the soft white snow,
+     With a whistle and song
+     I go hopping along,
+     I'm Billy Bunny, you know.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XIV.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE WATER SNAKE.
+
+
+    "Over the grass or over the snow,
+     Fast as a little white breeze I go.
+     I'm Billy Bunny, Billy Bunny, you know."
+
+Thus sang the little rabbit even after I left off in last night's
+story. Isn't it strange? Maybe I dreamed it. Anyhow, that's what I
+think he did, and after a while, when he had stopped singing, you
+know, he came to a little hill on the top of which was a high white
+pole with an American Flag flying from it.
+
+And underneath was a whole regiment of little Boy Bunny Scouts,
+dressed in khaki, with guns and caps and brass buttons and guns and
+drums and a captain and a fife, and I guess there were three or four
+fifes, and as soon as they saw the little rabbit, they all shouted,
+"Here comes Billy Bunny. Let's get him to join our regiment."
+
+"I belong to the Billy Bunny Boy Scouts of Old Snake Fence Corner,"
+replied the little rabbit. "I can't join your regiment." So he hopped
+along and by and by he came to a big white swan that was sailing up
+and down on a pond.
+
+"Would you like to take a sail?" she asked, coming up close to the
+bank. "Because if you would, just hop on my back and I'll take you
+around the pond two times and maybe a half if you'll give me a
+lollypop."
+
+So the little rabbit opened his knapsack and gave her one and then he
+hopped on her back and went for a lovely sail in and out among the
+pond lilies and little green grass islands.
+
+Well, everything was going along beautifully when, all of a sudden,
+just like that, a big water snake came swimming by.
+
+"Oh, don't let him swallow me," cried the little rabbit, and he took
+his popgun out of his knapsack and stuck the cork in the end.
+
+"I'll shoot you on the tail if you touch me," he cried just as bravely
+as he could, but he nearly slipped off the swan's back just the same,
+he was so frightened.
+
+"Don't you come any nearer," said the swan with a fierce hiss, but the
+snake didn't care. He swam around and around until the little rabbit
+got so dizzy that he had to hold on to the swan's neck.
+
+"Please swim around the other way," pleaded the little rabbit, "you
+make me dreadfully dizzy." But the bad water snake said he wouldn't,
+because that's just what he wanted Billy Bunny to be--so dizzy that he
+would fall into the water and then that dreadful water snake could
+swallow him and maybe a pond lily besides.
+
+"Look here," said the swan, "if you don't stop making snakery circles
+all around me, I'll bite your head off with my big, strong beak." And
+then what do you think the little rabbit did? Why, he managed somehow
+to lift up his gun and shoot it off, and the cork hit the water snake
+on the end of the tail and gave him such a headache that he swam over
+to the long grass and ate watercress salad and a piece of lemon pie.
+
+And while he was doing that the swan took the little rabbit to the
+other side of the pond and he hopped away so fast that he didn't tell
+me what he was going to do in to-morrow's story.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XV.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE PEACOCK.
+
+
+Well, if it hadn't been for Robbie Redbreast who saw little Billy
+Bunny hopping away from the lily pond, as I told you in the last
+story, I never would have found out what he did after that, and so
+there would have been no story to-night. So the next time you see
+Robbie Redbreast, please thank him.
+
+And now this is what he told me. After the little rabbit had hopped
+along for maybe a mile or three, he came to a high stone wall. "I
+wonder what's on the other side?" he said to himself, and then a
+beautiful peacock looked over and said: "I'll tell you, little rabbit.
+
+"It's a beautiful garden where a fountain plays all day and the
+breezes sing all night and the flowers whisper and bow their heads."
+
+"How can I get in?" asked the little bunny, "for I love flowers and I
+never heard a fountain play. What does it play?"
+
+"Oh, all sorts of waterfall music," said the peacock, and he spread
+his beautiful tail out like a fan and brushed a little green fly off
+his nose. "It plays trills and rills and cascades and ripples and
+dipples."
+
+And this made the little rabbit so curious that he hunted all around
+to find a gate in the high stone wall. And pretty soon, not so very
+long, he came to one, with big iron rods and curiously carved images
+of lions and dragons and animals with wings.
+
+So he squeezed through and hopped up to the beautiful fountain where
+lots of little gold and silver fish swam around and around and the
+water fell in diamonds and rubies and emeralds, but he didn't know
+that it was Mr. Happy Sun who colored the water drops to make them
+look like precious stones.
+
+"Please play me a tune," said the little rabbit. And then the
+beautiful peacock said, "What tune would you like?" and the little
+rabbit answered:
+
+    "Sprinkle, sprinkle, little star,
+     Just a water drop you are.
+     Twinkle, twinkle, drops of dew,
+     With the sunlight shining through."
+
+ So the beautiful fountain played this little song while Billy Bunny
+sat there listening and the beautiful peacock spread his tail to catch
+the sparkle from the glittering drops of water. And then all the roses
+began singing:
+
+     Roses white and roses red,
+     And roses yellow too, instead,
+     And pretty lilies white as snow,
+     And every other flower you know.
+
+And after that Billy Bunny asked the peacock to sing a song, but when
+he started to sing, oh dear, oh dear. For you know just because a bird
+has beautiful feathers he may not have a beautiful voice, and the
+sounds the peacock made were dreadful.
+
+Yes, indeed. And if the little rabbit hadn't skipped away he would
+have had to hold his paws over his ears, and then maybe he couldn't
+have stopped them up, for he had very large ears and very small feet.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XVI.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE MARBLE DEER.
+
+
+In the story before this I told you how the beautiful peacock sang a
+song which was dreadful, so very dreadful that little Billy Bunny had
+to hold his ears and run away from the lovely fountain.
+
+Well, after he had hopped along for maybe a million hops or less, he
+came to a little deer on a smooth lawn. So he stopped and spoke to
+him, but the pretty little animal never said a word. He didn't even
+look at the little rabbit, so Billy Bunny touched him on the nose,
+but, oh, dear me! It was cold and hard, not at all like the nose of a
+real little deer.
+
+But the little bunny didn't know it was a marble deer. He just thought
+it was alive, you see, and he was puzzled and didn't know what to do
+And then a lovely white dove flew down and said:
+
+"He can't speak. He's only a statue."
+
+"What is that?" asked the little rabbit, for he had never seen one
+before.
+
+"Why, a statue is a figure carved out of marble or stone," answered
+the dove, and then she began to coo and comb her feathers with her
+bill.
+
+"Well, I'll just hop along then," said Billy Bunny, and he said good-by.
+And after a while he came to a little house all covered with red
+rambler roses, so he looked inside to see who lived there, for he
+thought perhaps it might be a fairy who owned this beautiful garden
+with the lovely fountain and the wonderful peacock.
+
+But there was no one inside, so he hopped in and sat down on a small
+wicker chair and rocked back and forth. For it was a rocking chair,
+you know. And, by and by, he fell asleep and dreamed that the
+beautiful peacock was flying around the fountain and scattering the
+water drops all about with his mag-nif-i-cent tail. And then, all of a
+sudden, the little rabbit woke up, for somebody was saying:
+
+"Isn't this a dear little bunny?" And Billy Bunny opened his eyes and
+saw a little girl with yellow curls leaning over him.
+
+"Give him to me," said a boy's voice. And there stood a small boy
+dressed in a sailor suit and a big sailor hat on which was written,
+"Battleship Uncle Sam."
+
+And then Billy Bunny knew it was time to be going. So he gave one big
+hop and maybe two million and a half little skips and jumps, and soon
+he was far away, and if he hadn't maybe that little boy would have put
+him in a cage or a big box and kept him shut up for a long time.
+
+"Goodness!" said the little rabbit, "I must be more careful next
+time." And then something happened. A little hard ball hit him on the
+left hind foot, and a man's voice called out, "If it hadn't been for
+that pesky little rabbit I would have made that hole."
+
+And the big man put his golf stick in the bag and watched Billy Bunny
+limp away to hide in the woods close by.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XVII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE FOREST DANCE.
+
+
+     When the moon is big and bright
+     Little bunnies dance at night.
+     How they hop and skip and go
+     On their lucky left hind toe.
+
+Well, sir, that's what Billy Bunny was doing. It was a lovely
+moonlight night in August, and the big, round moon was gleaming down
+on the Pleasant Meadow just like an electric lamp, only it was up in
+the sky, you know, and not on the ceiling.
+
+And Mrs. Bunny was there, too, and so was Cousin Cottontail, and all
+the little rabbits for miles around.
+
+Now it's a dangerous thing to be dancing, even if the moon is bright,
+for owls and hawks fly by night, and if they happen to see a bunny
+dance, they always fly down and break it up. They don't say a word;
+they just fly away with one of the little bunny dancers and he never
+dances any more. No, sireemam.
+
+Well, on this particular night little Billy Bunny was doing the fox
+trot with a nice little lady bunny, when all of a sudden from out of
+the Friendly Forest came Slyboots and Bushy Tail, the small sons of
+Daddy Fox, you remember.
+
+And the reason they were out so late at night was because their father
+had sprained his foot jumping over a stone fence to get away from a
+pack of hounds who had chased him for a thousand and one miles and
+fourteen feet.
+
+Now Billy Bunny had forgotten all about Daddy Fox. He was thinking
+only about Robber Hawk or Old Barney the Owl, and so he never saw the
+two foxes until they were so close to him that they almost stubbed
+their whiskers on his powder puff tail.
+
+And if it hadn't been for the lady bunny who was dancing with him
+maybe Slyboots, or maybe Bushy Tail, would have caught the little
+bunny. But the lady rabbit saw them just in time and she gave a scream
+and hopped into a hollow stump and Billy Bunny after her, and then all
+that the two foxes could do was to stand close by and say:
+
+    "Isn't that a shame,
+     To spoil their little game,
+     To stop their dancing
+     And their prancing,
+     Who do you think's to blame?"
+
+"You are, you two bad foxes," said Billy Bunny, but he didn't come out
+of that hollow stump. No, sireemam, he staid inside and so did the
+little lady rabbit, and by and by the two bad foxes went away and told
+their father, Daddy Fox, all about it, and he said, "Don't make any
+excuse.
+
+"You are very poor hunters if you can't catch a rabbit when he's
+dancing the Fox Trot." And I guess he was right, for Slyboots and
+Bushy Tail were so ashamed that they didn't dare look in their
+mother's looking-glass for two days and three nights.
+
+And in the next story if Billy Bunny gets out of that hollow stump
+before I see him, I'll ask Robbie Redbreast to tell me what he does so
+that I can write to-morrow's story for you to read.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XVIII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND RAGGED RABBIT.
+
+
+Robbie Redbreast told me this morning he saw Billy Bunny hop out of
+the hollow stump where he had hidden with the little lady bunny, you
+remember in the last story, to escape from the two bad foxes.
+
+Well, after he had looked all around to make sure they were gone, he
+said good-by to Miss Rabbit. And then, so Robbie Redbreast told me, he
+looked at his gold watch and chain, which his dear, kind Uncle Lucky
+had given him for a birthday present, and it was just thirteen
+o'clock.
+
+"That's my lucky number," exclaimed the little rabbit; "maybe I'll
+find my fortune to-day." And he looked all about him, under a stone and
+behind a bush, but there wasn't any fortune in sight, not even a
+twenty-dollar gold piece. So he wound his watch and started off again;
+and by and by, not so very far, he came to a castle where lived a
+giant bunny whose name was "Ragged Rabbit" because he always wore torn
+and tattered clothes.
+
+And when he saw Billy Bunny hopping along, he said, "Ha, ha. Ho, hum,
+I'll eat that little bunny as sure as I'm a foot high!" And as he was
+twenty-one feet high less or more, he surely thought he would.
+
+"What did you say?" asked Billy Bunny, for his quick ears had caught
+the sound of the Ragged Rabbit's voice, but not the words.
+
+"Oh, never mind," answered the Ragged Giant Rabbit. "Come and I'll
+show you my castle." And, oh, dear me. Billy hopped in and the big
+Giant Rabbit closed the door with a bang, and all the pictures on the
+walls almost fell down and the chandelier rattled like a milk wagon
+full of empty cans. But the little rabbit wasn't frightened. And could
+you guess what he did if I let you guess until to-morrow night?
+
+Well, sir, that brave little bunny took his popgun out of his knapsack
+and shot it off, and it made a dreadful loud pop, and the big Ragged
+Rabbit said, "Oh, my! Was that a cannon?"
+
+And then he laughed so loud that he broke a window pane and had to
+telephone right away to the plumber to have one put in.
+
+"That's my pop-gun, Mr. Giant," said Billy Bunny, "and if you try to
+hurt me I'll shoot you." And then the Ragged Giant Rabbit laughed
+again, and this time the picture of his grandfather fell down and made
+a big dent in the floor.
+
+"If you don't stop laughing," said the little rabbit, "you'll deafen
+me. Please only giggle." So the Giant Rabbit grew very polite indeed
+and only smiled, and then of course nothing was broken.
+
+"Tell me who you are and where you are going and what time it is," he
+said, "and then I'll give you something to eat."
+
+But before the little rabbit could reply a loud knocking came at the
+door, and so you'll have to wait to hear who was there until to-morrow,
+for I've no more room in this story.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XIX.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND TAILOR BIRD.
+
+
+You remember in the last story somebody was knocking at the door of
+the Ragged Rabbit's castle, don't you? The Giant Rabbit, who always
+wore torn and tattered clothes because he had no wife to mend them and
+wouldn't pay his tailor's bills?
+
+Well, who do you suppose was on the other side of that door? Just wait
+until the Giant Rabbit opens it and you shall see. Now open your eyes,
+if you have shut them, and see Uncle Lucky, as sure as I am writing
+this story and you are reading it.
+
+Yes, sir. There stood the dear old gentleman rabbit, and oh, dear me,
+didn't he look worried? I suppose he thought he'd find Billy Bunny
+inside the giant. But when he saw Billy Bunny standing there, safe and
+sound and happy, with his popgun in his hand and a smile on his face,
+he began to laugh.
+
+"Whew!" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit, greatly relieved, which
+means to feel much better. "I'm glad to see you, my dear nephew. And
+also to make your acquaintance, Mr. Ragged Rabbit Giant. My name is
+Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot. Howdy!" and he put out his right front paw and
+shook hands with the giant, who had to lean way down to reach Uncle
+Lucky's paw.
+
+"But, goodness me!" said the old gentleman rabbit after looking at the
+giant for some moments, "you need a tailor. Let me call the Tailor
+Bird to mend your clothes. You are too nice a rabbit not to be well
+dressed."
+
+And kind Uncle Lucky went to the telephone and told the Tailor Bird to
+bring a spool of thread a mile long and a needle as big as a spear for
+he had a giant customer for him with holes in his clothes as big as a
+circus ring. The Tailor Bird said he'd try to, but wouldn't promise
+unless he could send in a bill as big as a newspaper spread out flat.
+
+"Will that be all right?" asked Uncle Lucky after he had explained
+matters to the ragged Giant Rabbit.
+
+"Certainly," said the Giant Rabbit with a grin, "and tell him I'll pay
+him with a dollar bill as big as a Turkish rug or a crex carpet."
+
+And then they all sat down and told funny stories, and Billy Bunny
+sang a song that went something like this, only much nicer, but I
+can't quite remember it all:
+
+    "Oh, you're a raggerty, taggerty man,
+     In a castle big and old,
+     And I'm a Billy Bunny boy
+     With a heart that's brave and bold.
+     You can't scare me with your thunder laugh
+     Or your club like a telegraph pole,
+     So you'd better allow the Tailor Bird
+     To sew up each raggerty hole."
+
+And then the Tailor Bird commenced and it took him until half-past
+fourteen o'clock to mend that Giant Rabbit's clothes. "I might just as
+well have made you a new suit," he said, as the last inch of the
+mile-long spool of thread was used up. "I declare I never had such a
+job before."
+
+And I guess he spoke the truth, for I never met a Giant Rabbit in my
+tailor's shop, although I once had a giant bill from my tailor.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XX.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND PARSON CROW.
+
+
+Well, after the Tailor Bird got his money from the Ragged Giant Rabbit
+for mending his clothes, he thanked Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky and
+said he must be going for he had to make a suit of clothes right away
+for Parson Crow.
+
+"If you'll wait a minute you can go with us," said kind Uncle Lucky;
+"we'll take you home in the automobile."
+
+Of course the Tailor Bird was only too anxious to get a ride, although
+he did have a good pair of wings. But the needle was pretty heavy and,
+anyway, Tailor Birds don't often have the opportunity to ride in
+automobiles.
+
+Well, after a little ways, not so very far, the Luckymobile came to a
+stop and, of course, Billy Bunny had to get out to see what was the
+matter, and he hunted and hunted all over the machine, but couldn't
+find out what was wrong. By and by he saw one of the numbers had
+dropped off the little license plate that hung down from the rear
+axle.
+
+So he hopped back, and by and by, just as he was going to give up
+looking for it, Parson Crow flew by, and when he saw Billy Bunny he
+stopped and said: "What are you looking for, little rabbit?"
+
+And when Billy Bunny told him, he took the number 7 out of his pocket
+and handed it to the little bunny. "Here's your number," cawed the
+black crow, although I never heard of a white one except once, and
+that was a bad bird who had been whitewashed by a colored painter
+because he ate up all the corn.
+
+"That's my lucky number," said Billy Bunny. And then the crow said in
+a mournful voice:
+
+"It's mine, too, and I just hate to give it up."
+
+"Well, if you can get me another number, I don't care if you keep it,"
+said the little rabbit. And then what do you think that crow did? Why,
+he got a nice smooth little chip and made a lovely number 3 on it with
+a red pencil and handed it to the little rabbit.
+
+And as soon as he had tied it on the Luckymobile, would you believe it
+if I didn't say so, that Luckymobile started to go all by itself. And
+if Billy Bunny hadn't been mighty quick he would have been left
+behind.
+
+"Where are you two rabbits going?" asked the crow as he flew alongside
+of the Luckymobile. "Because if you are not in a hurry, why don't you
+come with me to the meeting house to-night and hear me preach?"
+
+"We will," said kind Uncle Lucky, "and I'll drop a carrot cent in the
+collection box if you want me to." So after a while they stopped near
+a tall pine tree and Parson Crow sat on a limb and waited for all the
+little people of the forest to come to the meeting. Well, after they
+were all there, he began:
+
+    "Now, listen to the words I say,
+     And do your duty every day.
+     Be always good and most polite
+     And do the things you know are right.
+     Oh, never say an angry word
+     To any animal or bird,
+     So when the night comes 'twill be good
+     To feel you've done the best you could."
+
+And after that Uncle Lucky dropped a carrot dollar in the collection
+box and drove home with Billy Bunny.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXI.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND JACK-IN-THE-BOX.
+
+
+     Oh, I'm a rollicking Jack-in-the-Box,
+     And I'm not afraid of a bear or a fox,
+     For every one's scared when up I pop,
+     And the little girl cries, "Oh, stop! oh, stop!"
+     I'm the bravest thing you ever saw,
+     I'm not afraid of my Mother-in-Law!
+
+Well, sir, I suppose you'll think Billy Bunny was frightened and that
+Uncle Lucky lost his breath and the automobile a tire. But nothing of
+the sort happened. Instead, the old gentleman rabbit laughed so hard
+that his collar button fell out and it took him fifteen minutes and
+half an hour to find it. And then he never would have if the
+Jack-in-the-Box hadn't seen it first. And where do you suppose that
+ex-as-per-a-ting, which means teasing, button was? You'd never guess,
+so I'll have to tell you without asking you again.
+
+It was in the old gentleman rabbit's waistcoat pocket where he kept
+his gold watch and chain and pocket knife and pencil with a rubber on
+the end and a toothpick.
+
+"How did you see it pop into my pocket?" he asked the Jack-in-the-Box.
+"I'll never tell you," said the Jack-in-the-Box, "but what does that
+matter? You've found your collar button, and that's enough."
+
+"If I come across your cousin Jack-in-the-Pulpit," said Uncle Lucky,
+after he had buttoned up his collar and wound his watch, "I'll tell
+him how kind you were to find my collar button for me," and then the
+old gentleman rabbit took off his old wedding stovepipe hat and bowed
+to the Jack-in-the-Box and drove away in the Luckmobile down the road,
+and when he came to a bridge he said to his little nephew, "Do you
+think we're on the right road?"
+
+"I don't remember this bridge, do you?" And then a voice cried out,
+"Don't be anxious, Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot. This is the road to
+Lettuceville.
+
+"Keep right on after you cross the bridge until you come to a little
+red schoolhouse and then turn to your left and then turn to your right
+and if you don't get home until morning you've made a mistake."
+
+"Thank you," said Uncle Lucky. "And if I make a mistake I'll come back
+and give you a scolding," and after that they crossed the bridge, and
+just as they came to the first turn in the road they heard a dreadful
+loud noise in the woods close by.
+
+"What's that?" asked Billy Bunny, and he turned up his left ear and
+his coat collar so that he could hear better.
+
+"It's an old friend of yours," answered a deep growly kind of a voice,
+and before the two rabbits could wonder who it was their friend, the
+good-natured bear jumped out of the bushes.
+
+"Take me with you, please," he said, "for I've run a splinter in my
+foot and it hurts me to walk." And in the next story you shall hear of
+another adventure which the two little rabbits had.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND DR. DUCK.
+
+
+You remember in the last story how the good-natured bear asked Billy
+Bunny and Uncle Lucky to give him a ride in the Luckymobile because he
+had run a splinter in his foot.
+
+Well, as soon as he had climbed into the automobile, and it took him
+almost 23 1/2 seconds to do it, for the splinter was so long that it
+caught on the door, Uncle Lucky started off and by and by they came to
+the house where the good Duck Doctor lived.--Dr. Quack, you remember.
+
+"Now, I'll go in and get him to come out and look at your splinter,"
+said Billy Bunny, as he hopped out of the Luckymobile and rang the
+front door bell, and in a minute, less or more, a nice looking lady
+duck came out and said, "The Doctor is away on his vacation. He's gone
+to the Lily Pond for two weeks. But you can call him up on the
+telephone if you like. The number is Waterville, 2 3 umpty eleven."
+
+So the little rabbit called up the number and when the doctor heard
+what was the matter, he said, "You had better come to see me.
+
+"You have the automobile right there, and it's a dangerous thing to
+have so large a splinter as that. Tell Mr. Bear he'll have a dreadful
+corn if it isn't taken out at once."
+
+So they all hurried away and pretty soon they came to Lily Pond, and
+there was Dr. Duck swimming around among the pond lilies and the
+frogs, having a lovely time. And wasn't he sunburnt? Well, I should
+say he was. His bill was as dark as a little brown berry and his nose
+was as red as a little choke cherry.
+
+"That looks very serious to me," said he, putting on his glasses and
+looking at Mr. Bear's injured feet. "I'll have to get a saw and cut
+off your foot." And then Mr. Bear gave a dreadful howl. "Oh, please
+don't saw off my foot. It's sore enough already."
+
+"I didn't mean to saw off your foot," said Dr. Duck. "Did I say that?
+I mean to saw off the splinter and then put on a poultice and draw out
+the pain."
+
+Well, it took a long time to do all that, and the poor Bear cried
+several times, for it hurt the splinter dreadfully, you know, to be
+sawed off that way. But by and by the poultice began to draw, and
+pretty soon out came the splinter, and Mr. Bear felt ever so much
+better. That is, until the doctor said, "It will cost you a million
+dollars, for that was a very serious operation."
+
+"I've never even seen a million dollars," said the Bear. "Nor even a
+million cents. You'll have to mail me a corrected bill," and then he
+jumped into the automobile and asked Uncle Lucky to drive away.
+
+"Stop, stop!" cried the Duck Doctor, but Uncle Lucky paid no attention
+to him, any more than the Bear paid the bill. "You send a corrected
+bill to my friend," said the old gentleman rabbit. "And, mind you, you
+had better correct it three times and a half if you ever want it
+paid."
+
+And in the next story you shall hear of an exciting adventure which
+the two little rabbits had with a fretful porcupine.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXIII.
+
+BUNNY AND THE FRETFUL PORCUPINE.
+
+
+     Oh, never tease a porcupine,
+     For reasons I'll relate,
+     He's like a cushion full of pins
+     That stand out stiff and straight.
+     And if you stand too close I know
+     He'll stick one in your little toe.
+
+Well, that's just what Uncle Lucky did, and of course he got stuck
+with one of those prickly, stickery porcupine needles and it was an
+awful bother to get it out.
+
+And the fretful porcupine laughed and this made Billy Bunny very
+angry, and he took his popgun out of his knapsack and hit the
+porcupine on the end of the nose with the cork bullet, and this made
+the prickly animal run away.
+
+And after that the two rabbits started off again in the Luckymobile
+and by and by they came to a little village where they made lollypops
+by the million. And the first thing Uncle Lucky did was to buy a big
+box full of them and put it in the back of the Luckymobile, "for,"
+said the kind old gentleman rabbit, "we may run across some boys and
+girls and then we'll have something nice to give them."
+
+Wasn't that kind of him? But he was always doing nice things, was
+dear, kind, generous Uncle Lucky.
+
+Well, after a while they came to some woods where a picnic was being
+held. There were lots and lots of children playing under the trees and
+the women were sitting around talking and telling their troubles, and
+the men were making whistles and bows and arrows for the boys and
+telling how they used to shoot with them when they were little boys.
+
+"Helloa there, children!" cried Uncle Lucky, while Billy Bunny honked
+the horn. "Don't you want some lollypops?" And in about five hundred
+short seconds there wasn't a lollypop left in that big box, and Uncle
+Lucky was a hero, or a Santa Claus, I don't remember which. And then
+one big boy said, "Let's give three cheers for the two rabbits and one
+more for the Luckymobile."
+
+And you never heard such a noise in your life. One little boy got so
+excited that he swallowed a raspberry lollypop and his mother had to
+reach down his throat and pull it out by the stick.
+
+"Now be good until I see you again," said the kind old gentleman
+rabbit as he drove off, and by and by Billy Bunny saw something moving
+among the trees.
+
+"What's that?" he said to his rabbit uncle. But before the old
+gentleman rabbit could reply, a big stone hit one of the lamps on the
+automobile and broke it to splintereens.
+
+"Stop that whoever you are!" shouted Billy Bunny. "If you do it again
+I'll shoot!" and he held his popgun up to his shoulder just like a
+soldier boy in battle.
+
+And if the little canary in my room doesn't wink at me all night so
+that I can't hear the alarm clock in the morning, I'll tell you
+another story.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXIV.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND DANNY BILLYGOAT.
+
+
+Well, my little canary bird didn't wink at me all night, as I feared
+it might in the last story, and my alarm clock said "good morning" to
+me at half-past fourteen o'clock, so I got up in time, and here is the
+story I wrote before I went out into the garden to eat raspberries
+with Robbie Redbreast.
+
+One evening as Uncle Lucky and Billy Bunny were driving along in the
+Luckymobile, who should they come across but a little billygoat named
+Danny.
+
+He had a little beard that hung down from his chin and two little
+horns that stuck up from his head, and he was playing on a flute while
+he sat cross-legged on a stone by the roadside. And when he saw our
+two small friends in their machine, he began to play:
+
+     It's not so far to the twinkle star
+     In the little white boat of sleep.
+     So list to my tune, like a breeze in June,
+     Where the honeysuckles creep.
+
+     Over the sky, way up high,
+     In the little white boat of sleep.
+     Ever so far to the twinkle star
+     Way up in the sky blue deep.
+
+"Where did you learn that lullaby," asked kind Uncle Lucky, brushing a
+tear from his eye, for he remembered just a little song his mother
+used to sing when he was a little boy rabbit, you know.
+
+"I don't know," answered Danny Goat. He pulled on his goatee and
+smiled, and then he began again:
+
+    "Up in the sky when the sun is high
+     The white cloud boats go sailing by,
+     And the summer breeze in the tall, tall trees
+     Is singing a song the whole day long.
+     And this is the song they sing:
+     We ring the bell in the cool damp dell
+     That grows on the lily's stalk,
+     We bend the ferns in the river's turns
+     And the tail of the great gray hawk;
+     And the foamy spray in the big deep bay
+     We blow on the great boardwalk."
+
+"That reminds me of Atlantic City," said Uncle Lucky. "Let's drive
+down there and go for a swim."
+
+"Just the thing," said the little rabbit; "I've got my bathing suit in
+my knapsack. I'm ready."
+
+So off they went, and by and by they came to the seashore. But there
+wasn't a hotel in sight, so of course they knew they had made a
+mistake. They didn't care, especially Billy Bunny, for not very far
+from land was the big good-natured whale who had taken him for a sail
+a long, long time ago. "There's my friend the Whaleship!" cried the
+little rabbit.
+
+And in the next story, if that whale doesn't swim away, I'll tell you
+something more about Billy Bunny and his kind Uncle Lucky.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXV.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE WHALE.
+
+
+You remember in the story before this that Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky
+were at the seashore, and out a little ways from the land was the
+good-natured Whale.
+
+Well, as soon as he saw the little rabbit he swam up to the beach and
+said "Hello." And then Billy Bunny introduced him to Uncle Lucky, and
+after that the Whale said:
+
+"Don't you both want to go for a sail?" and as the old gentleman
+rabbit had never been on a whaleship in his life, he said yes right
+away, and so did the little rabbit.
+
+Then the Whale pushed his tail up on the sand and the two little
+rabbits hopped over it just like a bridge, and then they sat down, and
+away went the whale with a swish of his tail that spattered the spray
+all over the bay.
+
+"Goodness me!" cried the old gentleman rabbit, "I'll have to wipe off
+my spectacles," and he took his polka-dot handkerchief from his
+pocket, and after that he tied it over his old wedding stovepipe hat,
+for he wasn't going to lose that hat, no siree, and a no sireemam, not
+even if he had to tie the anchor to it. By and by, not so very long,
+they heard a sweet voice singing, so they looked everywhere, but the
+only thing they saw was the big green ocean.
+
+"I wonder who is singing?" said Uncle Lucky, and he took his spyglass
+out of his waistcoat pocket and twisted it around and around until he
+could see distinctly, which means plainly, you know.
+
+"There she is!" cried the old gentleman rabbit, and he got so excited
+that he looked through the wrong end of the spyglass and then he said,
+"No, she isn't!" for he couldn't see anything at all that way, you
+know.
+
+"What did you see?" asked the little rabbit, and he pushed forward
+Uncle Lucky's old wedding stovepipe hat to keep it from falling over
+his left ear.
+
+"A mermaid!" cried the old gentleman rabbit, and before he could turn
+the spyglass the other way a lovely mermaid swam up and handed him her
+card, and on it was written in lovely purple ink:
+
+ Miss Coral Seafoam,
+ Oceanville,
+ U. S. A.
+
+"Pleased to meet you," cried the old gentleman rabbit most politely.
+"This is my nephew, William Bunny, Brier Patch, Old Snake Fence
+Corner, and my name is Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot and I live in
+Lettuceville, corner of Carrot and Lettuce streets," and then he tried
+to take off his hat, but he couldn't, for it was tied down tight, you
+remember, with his blue polka-dot handkerchief.
+
+And after that the mermaid asked them to visit her coral island, where
+she and her sisters sold coral beads and scarfpins. And in the next
+story you shall hear--well, I guess I won't tell you now, but let you
+wait and see.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXVI.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE MERMAID.
+
+
+Well, now we'll commence by saying that as soon as Billy Bunny and
+Uncle Lucky reached the coral island, where the lovely mermaid lived,
+for she had asked them to call, you remember, they got off the Whale,
+and, after asking him to wait for them while they made a little visit,
+sat down on the sand, and pretty soon the mermaid brought them each a
+lovely coral scarfpin, and the one she gave to Uncle Lucky was a
+little image of herself and the one she gave to Billy Bunny was a
+little fish.
+
+Then the little rabbit opened his knapsack and took out a lovely apple
+pie and gave it to her. And she was so pleased that she ate it all up,
+and then she said, "I'll give you a lovely breast-pin made of
+beautiful coral for your mother, Mr. Billy Bunny, if you'll give me
+another pie."
+
+So the little rabbit opened his knapsack and took out another fresh,
+juicy apple pie and placed the beautiful present for his mother
+carefully in the knapsack, and after that he ate a lollypop and Uncle
+Lucky drank a bottle of ginger ale, and then they said good-by and got
+aboard the Whaleship and sailed away.
+
+And would you believe it? Dear, kind Uncle Lucky almost cried! You
+see, he had never seen a mermaid before, and he thought she was
+lovely, and I guess she was, for Uncle Lucky couldn't make a mistake,
+I'm sure, for he had travelled abroad and had seen lots and lots of
+beautiful lady bunnies.
+
+"And now where are we going?" asked the little rabbit, but Uncle Lucky
+was too busy trying to find his other blue polka-dot handkerchief with
+which to wipe his eyes to answer.
+
+And then he couldn't find it, and the reason was because he had given
+it to a Chinaman the day before, but he didn't remember that, for he
+was so miserable at leaving the beautiful mermaid.
+
+"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" sighed the old gentleman rabbit,
+
+    "'Tis sad to part.
+     My poor old heart
+     Is nearly, nearly breaking;
+     Alas! alas! that mermaid lass
+     Has set my head a-shaking!"
+
+And after that his old wedding stovepipe hat almost fell off his head,
+and it would have, I'm sure, if it hadn't been for the blue polka-dot
+handkerchief which he had tied over the top of it.
+
+And just then, all of a sudden, the Whaleship bumped into a motor
+boat, and nearly upset it.
+
+"What's the matter with your pilot?" screamed the man who was in the
+motor boat, and when Uncle Lucky looked over the side of the Whale he
+saw it wasn't a man at all, but the old Billygoat who owned the
+Ferryboat I told you about some umpty-leven stones ago.
+
+"Excuse us, please," said the kind old gentleman rabbit, but what the
+Billygoat said I'll have to tell you in the next story, for there's no
+more room in this one.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXVII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE BEANSTALK.
+
+
+Seeing it's you," answered the Billygoat, who, you remember in the
+last story, had gotten very angry because Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky
+had bumped into his motor boat with their whaleship.
+
+"I'll forgive you," and then he raced the Whale all the way to the
+shore and would have beaten him, too, if he had gone faster.
+
+And as soon as the whaleship ran up on the beach, the two little
+rabbits hopped off and got into their automobile and drove away, and
+the Whale went back and told the Mermaid that the two little rabbits
+had a beautiful Luckymobile, and she felt dreadfully sorry that she
+hadn't gone with them.
+
+Well, after a little while, not so very far, they came across a
+wonderful beanstalk, which was growing up so high that you couldn't
+see the top, and if Billy Bunny had only known the story about "Jack
+and the Beanstalk," I guess he would have thought that the story had
+come true.
+
+"My gracious!" exclaimed Uncle Lucky. "My lima beans at home grow
+pretty high but never as high as this," and he took out of his
+waistcoat pocket his spyglass and tried to find the top of the
+beanstalk; but he couldn't, for it was hidden in the clouds. Just
+think of that!
+
+"I'm going to climb up that beanstalk," said the little bunny. "Maybe
+I'll find my fortune at the top."
+
+"And I'll go with you," said the old gentleman rabbit, for he wasn't
+going to let his small nephew go up a strange beanstalk and perhaps
+get lost in the clouds, you know.
+
+Not good, kind Uncle Lucky. No, sireemam; so they hopped out of the
+Luckymobile and started up the beanstalk, and by and by, after a
+pretty long time, they came to the top and the first thing they saw
+was their friend American Eagle and his wife, and she was sitting on
+her nest hatching out the big eggs which she had laid.
+
+"We'll need lots of eagles now that we've gone to war," said the big
+bird, and he flapped his wings and sang "Yankee Doodle Dandy" three
+times over and then once more. And this made the old gentleman rabbit
+so excited that he stood up and made a speech, and then he threw his
+old wedding stovepipe hat up into the air and gave three cheers and
+half a dozen tigers and two or three bears.
+
+And after that Billy Bunny opened his knapsack and took out an
+American flag and put it on the top of the beanstalk so that all the
+people in the aeroplane could see it and say "Hip-hur-ray for the U.
+S. A.!"
+
+"When the little eagles come out of their shells you must bring them
+to call on me," said good, kind Uncle Lucky to Mrs. Eagle. "I have
+some popcorn and lollypops at home, and I know how children like those
+things."
+
+And this made Mrs. Eagle very happy and Mr. Eagle very proud, and he
+helped the two little rabbits to climb down the beanstalk in time for
+me to write what they did in the next story, which will be about an
+adventure in the Friendly Forest.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXVIII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND SCATTERBRAINS.
+
+
+After Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky reached the ground, for they had
+climbed down the beanstalk, you remember, as I told you in the last
+story, they jumped into the Luckymobile and drove off toward the
+Friendly Forest, and when they had gone maybe a mile in and out among
+the trees, for there wasn't really any automobile road to go on, you
+know, they came across Scatterbrains, the gray squirrel.
+
+Now Uncle Lucky knew Old Squirrel Nutcracker very well, and as the old
+gentleman squirrel was very nice and well behaved it made Uncle Lucky
+provoked to think that his son should be such a scatterbrains. So
+Uncle Lucky stopped the automobile and said:
+
+"Well, young squirrel, have you been troubling your father lately?"
+and Scatterbrains answered, "No, Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot, not lately.
+Not since yesterday."
+
+"What!" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit, "do you mean to say you
+troubled him yesterday? Why didn't you wait until to-morrow?" and then
+Uncle Lucky winked at Billy Bunny and then scowled at Scatterbrains.
+
+And just then they heard a dreadful noise. It sounded just as if the
+trees were snapping to pieces and, all of a sudden, a tornado struck
+them and up in the air went the Luckymobile with the two little
+rabbits, but what happened to the little squirrel I really don't know,
+unless it took him up, too, and hid him in a cloud.
+
+And perhaps it did, for I've often seen clouds that looked exactly
+like squirrels, haven't you, and other animals, too, like bears and
+cats?
+
+"Gracious me!" cried Uncle Billy. "Hang on, Billy Bunny, and don't let
+the cushions slip or the electricity run out of the cabaret, for if we
+ever get back to earth, I'd like to get home and stay home forever.
+Oh, home, sweet home," and the old gentleman rabbit took off his
+automobile goggles, for they were full of tears and he couldn't see
+anything.
+
+Well, by and by, the tornado let go and the automobile fell on top of
+a clothesline and balanced there as nicely as a tight-rope dancer, and
+when the two little rabbits looked about them, they found they were in
+Mrs. Bunny's backyard in the Old Brier Patch. Wasn't that lucky? Well,
+I guess it was!
+
+And just then Mrs. Bunny came out of the kitchen door to hang up some
+of Billy Bunny's little shirts on the line, for it was Monday morning,
+you know.
+
+And when she saw the Luckymobile on her clothesline she gave a scream,
+and then she began to laugh, and after that she ran back into the
+house and brought out her scissors and cut the rope and the automobile
+came down with a bang, and out tumbled the two little rabbits.
+
+"Well, well, well," said Mrs. Bunny, and she sat down on the
+clothespin basket and laughed, but, of course, there weren't any
+clothespins, or any other kind of pins, in it, you see, for then she
+wouldn't have laughed.
+
+And in the next story, if my umbrella doesn't open and stand over my
+bed to keep off the mosquitoes, I'll tell you another story to-morrow
+night.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXIX.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. BLACK CAT.
+
+
+     Awake, awake, 'tis early morn.
+     The cow is climbing the stalks of corn,
+     The little bird is beating an egg,
+     And the rooster is dancing about on one leg,
+     And the pig is trying on her new bonnet,
+     With a little blue bow and a red cherry on it.
+
+Uncle Lucky rolled over in bed and then he got up and wiggled his nose
+and his left ear, and after that he was so wide awake that he didn't
+want to get back into bed, as I did, when I woke up this morning.
+
+And just then the breakfast bell rang and Mrs. Bunny put on the coffee
+and the baked lollypops and the stewed prunes, and, oh, dear me! I
+really can't remember what rabbits eat every day, for I'm sure they
+don't eat the same old thing, for if they did they wouldn't be jolly
+and gay and hop about merrily all through the day, but would sit in a
+corner and sulk and be sad, and maybe get angry and maybe get mad.
+
+So always remember to have something new, for no one can always enjoy
+a prune stew. There! I've gone and written another piece of poetry and
+my typewriter wouldn't print it properly. Isn't that too bad?
+
+Well, after breakfast the old gentleman rabbit went out for a walk in
+the Pleasant Meadow, and he went all alone, too, for Billy Bunny had
+to stay home and polish the front door knob and sweep the piazza and
+feed the canary and bring in the wood, for Mrs. Bunny had to hurry up
+with the breakfast dishes so as to be able to go over and see Cousin
+Cottontail, who had just had a new baby rabbit.
+
+Well, as I was saying, Uncle Lucky hopped along the Pleasant Meadow
+until he came to the Old Farm Yard where Cocky Docky and Henny Jenny
+and all the other Barn Yard Folk lived with the good-natured farmer.
+
+And just as he was going through the gate, who should bounce out at
+him but a big black cat. And, oh, dear me. Her claws were sticking out
+of her feet like pins and her eyes were yellow as fire and her teeth
+glittered and her whiskers stood out like bayonets, and her tail was
+as big as a rolling pin and her back was humped up worse than a
+camel's.
+
+If you can think of anything worse than the way that cat looked I wish
+you would write me a letter and tell me so that I can scare Uncle
+Lucky, for, would you believe it, he wasn't the least big frightened.
+No, sireemam.
+
+He just took off his old wedding stovepipe hat and bowed most politely
+to Mrs. Black Cat, and she was so surprised that she turned around and
+went back to her three little kittens who never wore mittens because
+they didn't have any.
+
+And after that the old gentleman rabbit hopped into the barn and ate
+some corn and had a talk with Mr. Sharptooth Rat. And maybe he would
+have been talking there yet if something hadn't happened. And when you
+don't expect it, something very often, and sometimes most always, does
+happen. The Miller's dog ran into the barn and made a grab for the old
+gentleman rabbit, but Uncle Lucky was too quick for him.
+
+He hopped to one side and then out of that barn so that he hopped
+right into to-morrow night's story. Wasn't that wonderful?
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXX.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND BIG YELLOW DOG.
+
+
+Let me see. Didn't I say that Billy Bunny hopped out of the Old Barn
+so fast in last night's story that he jumped right into this one?
+Well, he did, and here he is saying, "I'm ready for another
+adventure!"
+
+And no sooner had he said this than along came a big yellow dog with a
+muzzle on his nose, and when the little rabbit saw him he laughed out
+loud, "Oh, ho! Mr. Yellow Dog! Did you put your nose into a mouse
+trap?"
+
+"No, I didn't," replied the Yellow Dog. "It's a muzzle to keep me from
+biting little rabbits," and then he gave a dreadful growl and tried to
+pull off the muzzle with his front paws.
+
+"I won't wait until you get it off," said Billy Bunny, and he hopped
+away as fast as he could, for he wasn't the least bit curious to see
+whether that muzzle was tied on tight!
+
+And by and by he came to a hollow stump where lived an old rabbit
+named Hoppity-hop.
+
+"Helloa, my little friend," said the old rabbit, and then he wriggled
+his nose a million times or less, for I guess he smelt the lettuce
+sandwich which Billy Bunny had in his knapsack.
+
+"Good morning," said Billy Bunny, but he didn't open his knapsack. No,
+sir! It wasn't fourteen o'clock, which is the luncheon hour in
+Rabbitville, so I've been told. And this, of course, made the old
+rabbit very sad. "Oh, dear me," he cried, "I'm so hungry, and if there
+is anything I love more than a lettuce sandwich it's apple pie!"
+
+"How do you know I've got an apple pie?" asked Billy Bunny, and he
+took out his gold watch and chain to see what time it was, for he
+began to feel hungry all of a sudden. But, oh, dear me!
+
+It wasn't fourteen o'clock, or anywhere near it, so he twisted the
+stem of his watch until the hands pointed at the luncheon time, and
+then he took out the lettuce sandwich and the apple pie and he and the
+old rabbit ate them up right then and there, and after that they felt
+ever so much better.
+
+"Now I'll tell you a secret," said the old rabbit. "There's a carrot
+candy shop not very far from here, and if you've got any money in your
+knapsack I'll take you there."
+
+Wasn't that kind of that old rabbit? So off they hopped and pretty
+soon, not so very far, they came to the candy shop, and the old lady
+woodchuck who kept it was awfully kind and generous, for she filled up
+a paper bag right to the top for a lettuce dollar bill, which I think
+was a very cheap price to pay for all that candy, don't you?
+
+And when it was all gone, Billy Bunny said good-by and hopped away
+singing at the top of his voice:
+
+    "Oh, who is so merry and who is so gay
+     As a rabbit who always has money to pay
+     For candy and popcorn and nice apple pie
+     And other sweet things that you're longing to buy."
+
+And in the next story, if Billy Bunny does eat any more carrot candy
+and get so dizzy he can't hop in a circle, I'll tell you some more
+about the little rabbit.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXXI.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND A HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
+
+
+     It very often happens
+     You don't know what to do,
+     And then's the time the Mischief Man
+     Comes smiling round to you.
+     He whispers something in your ear
+     You know you shouldn't stop to hear,
+     And then's the time for you to say,
+     "Oh, Mischief Man, please go away!"
+
+This is what dear good Uncle Lucky wrote in Billy Bunny's album, for
+it was the little rabbit's birthday, you know, and Uncle Lucky thought
+he ought to warn him against the Mischief Man.
+
+Well, as soon as the ink was dry so that the little rabbit could put
+the album away in Uncle Lucky's desk, the kind old gentleman rabbit
+said: "Let us take a ride in the Luckymobile. Maybe we can go some
+place where we will have a good time."
+
+So they got into the automobile and started off, and by and by they
+came to a shady spot in the woods. And there right under a big
+spreading chestnut tree, was a little table covered with a clean white
+cloth and in the middle was a lovely birthday cake with candles and
+big frosted letters, which read, "A Happy Birthday to Billy Bunny!"
+
+And oh, my, wasn't he delighted and so were all the little forest
+folk, for they were all there, let me tell you, from Old Squirrel
+Nutcracker to the Big Brown Bear.
+
+And so were the little people from the Pleasant Meadow, Dicky Meadow
+Mouse and Robbie Redbreast and many others. And pretty soon along came
+the barnyard folk, Cocky Docky, Henny Jenny and Duckey Daddies. Even
+Mrs. Cow wasn't too busy to be there, and if you'll wait a minute I'll
+tell you the names of some more of Billy Bunny's friends:
+
+Turkey Purky, Danny Beaver, Old Mother Magpie, Timmy Chipmunk,
+Scatterbrains, the gray squirrel, and Shadow Tail, his brother. Daddy
+Fox would like to have been there, only Uncle Lucky hadn't sent him an
+invitation. The only friend who wasn't there was Uncle Bullfrog. He
+couldn't leave his log in the Old Mill Pond, so he sent his regrets by
+little Mrs. Oriole, who lived in the willow tree by the Old Mill.
+
+"Now we'll cut the cake," said kind Uncle Lucky, and he went over to
+the Luckymobile to get the big carving knife which he had hidden under
+the cushions.
+
+"There's a little gold ring hidden away somewhere," he said as he cut
+the cake very carefully so as not to topple over the pretty candles
+and get the pink and green melted wax all over the white frosting.
+
+And then everybody ate up his piece of cake as fast as he could to
+find the little gold ring. "I've got it! I've got it!" screamed Timmy
+Chipmunk. But, oh, dear me. It wasn't the ring at all. It was only a
+hard nut.
+
+And the little chipmunk was so disappointed that he ran home to tell
+his mother all about it, and she gave him one she had found when she
+was a little girl in the toe of her stocking one happy Christmas
+morning. And in the next story you'll be surprised to hear who got the
+ring after all.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXXII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE LOST RING.
+
+
+     Something's going to happen;
+     I feel it in the air.
+     But what it is you soon shall know,
+     So hold your breath and stare.
+
+You remember in the last story I told you about Billy Bunny's birthday
+party and promised to tell you who found the little gold ring in the
+frosted cake.
+
+Well, just as the little rabbit said, "I've found it!" Daddy Fox
+sprang from behind a bush and grabbed the piece of cake right out of
+the little rabbit's paw.
+
+And then he jumped over the Luckymobile and ran off to his den to give
+it to Slyboots or Bushy Tail, his two little sons, you know, but which
+one got it I can't remember, for everybody was so excited that they
+forgot to ask the naughty old fox before he got away.
+
+"That's too bad," said kind Uncle Lucky; "I'll have to get you another
+one," so he said good-by to everybody and took Billy Bunny down to the
+3 and 10 cents store, where they bought a lovely gold ring with a big
+ruby in it. Wasn't that nice?
+
+And then they came back to the woods, but everybody had gone home and
+there was no more birthday cake anywhere to be seen, not even a little
+piece of candle.
+
+"Well, what shall we do now?" said the kind old gentleman rabbit, and
+he poured some lettuce oil into the cabaret and took out his blue
+polka-dot handkerchief and wiped his ear, and then he dusted off his
+old wedding stovepipe hat and honked the automobile horn and blew up a
+tire and turned a cushion upside down to hide a grease spot. And after
+that he put on his goggles and started off again, and by and by, not
+so very long, they came to a signpost on which was written:
+
+"Which road shall I take?"
+
+"Goodness, gracious me!" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit, "what's
+the matter with my goggles?" and he took them off and looked at the
+signpost again.
+
+"It says the same old thing," he said with a sigh, and he took off his
+old wedding stovepipe hat and dusted the top, and after he had put it
+on his head again he heard a voice saying:
+
+    "Take the road that leads to the left,
+     And not the one to the right,
+     For if you don't you will get left
+     And you won't get home till night."
+
+"Who's speaking?" said Billy Bunny. And the reason he hadn't said
+anything before was because he had been sound asleep.
+
+And then who should come out from behind that funny signpost but a
+great roaring bull with two horns and about ten feet long and big red,
+snorting nostrils.
+
+"Don't let us disturb you," which means bother or something like that,
+said Uncle Lucky, and he honked the horn with all his might, and,
+would you believe it, the bull was so frightened that he ran away and
+never stopped till he got home and covered himself with the crazy
+quilt on his old four-poster bed.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXXIII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE GREAT NEWS.
+
+
+    Once upon a time,
+     So I've heard tell,
+     There lived a little rabbit
+     In a shady dell.
+     And on one side a clover patch,
+     Where red-topped clovers grew,
+     And 'tother side was lollypops
+     Of red and white and blue.
+
+This is the song Mrs. Bunny sang one morning as she set to work to
+wash her little rabbit's white duck trousers, for it was Monday, and
+that is washday in Rabbitville, so they tell me.
+
+And just as she was hanging them out on the line who should fly up but
+Old Mother Magpie, and, my! wasn't she excited. Why, she was so
+disturbed that her bonnet had fallen off her head and was hanging by
+the strings.
+
+"Have you heard the news?" she asked, and she rolled off one of her
+black silk mitts and turned her wedding ring around three times and a
+half.
+
+"Heard what?" asked Mrs. Bunny, putting the clothespin in her mouth
+instead of on the clothesline.
+
+"Why, the Miller's boy has gone off to the war."
+
+"Hurray!" shouted little Billy Bunny, who was polishing the brass door
+knob on the back door. "Hurray!"
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourself," said Old Mother Mischief. "His
+poor mother is nearly crazy with grief."
+
+"I'm sorry for her," said Mrs. Bunny, and she thought how thankful she
+ought to be that her little rabbit didn't have to shoulder a musket.
+
+"Well, I'm glad he's going," said Billy Bunny. "He can shoot at
+something else now besides little rabbits."
+
+Old Mother Magpie ruffled her feathers. "Well, if I had a boy like you
+I'd teach him not to glory over another person's grief," and then she
+flew away.
+
+"I'm sorry for his mother," said Mrs. Bunny, "but the Miller boy will
+never be missed," and the clothespin fell out of her mouth and stood
+up in the grass like a little wooden soldier.
+
+"Do you want anything at the store?" asked the little rabbit, after he
+had finished cleaning the door knob. "If you do, tell me, for I'm
+going by there."
+
+"You can order a pound of carrot tea and some lollypops," answered his
+mother, and then Billy Bunny picked up his striped candy cane and set
+off for the village, and by and by he came to the post office and the
+nice lady postmistress called to him that there was a letter there
+addressed to Billy Bunny, Old Brier Patch, but what was written in it
+I'm not going to tell you now, for I must stop and play a game of
+pinochle with dear, kind Uncle Lucky, who just telephoned me to come
+over to his house and have a game with him this evening, and I mustn't
+keep him waiting another minute.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXXIV.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND JENNY MUSKRAT.
+
+
+Well, I played pinochle with Uncle Lucky Lefthindfoot last evening and
+it was so late when I got home that I overslept myself this morning.
+
+And maybe I'd have slept all day if Robbie Redbreast hadn't come to my
+window and told me that Billy Bunny was reading a letter which I told
+you about in yesterday's story and that every time he turned a page he
+laughed harder than ever.
+
+Well, I was so curious to know what he was laughing at that I told
+Robbie Redbreast to fly back to him and look over his shoulder and see
+what was in the letter while I hurried and dressed as fast as I could,
+and when I was all ready to go into the Friendly Forest where the
+little rabbit was, I saw him coming toward me with the letter in his
+hand and the little robin perched upon his knapsack.
+
+"Good morning," he said and handed me the letter, and now you shall
+hear what was written to Mr. William Bunny, Brier Patch, Old Snake
+Fence Corner, U. S. A., care of Uncle Sam!
+
+"My dear Billy Bunny:
+
+"Just a few lines from your old friend the Circus Elephant to tell you
+that he is coming to see you as soon as he gets over the measles. If
+you've never had the measles, dear Billy Bunny, don't get them, for
+they are dreadful things for there's so many of them.
+
+"Please give my love to Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot and tell him as soon as
+I'm well, I'll be back in his circus.
+
+"Your friend,
+
+"Elly."
+
+And as soon as I'd read the letter the little rabbit put it in his
+pocket and hopped away and by and by he came to a little stone house
+by a river. And before I go any farther I'll just whisper to you how I
+know all this.
+
+You see, the little robin told me all about it, for he and I are great
+friends and his nest is in the old apple tree just under my window.
+
+Well, pretty soon, after looking all around, Billy Bunny knocked on
+the door of the little stone house and in a few minutes it was opened
+by a nice lady muskrat, whose name was Jenny Eva.
+
+"How do you do, little rabbit," she said, and then she invited him in
+and gave him a cookie made out of carrot seeds and pumpkin flour. And
+after that he showed her the letter from his friend, the circus
+elephant, and just then, all of a sudden, the front door flew open and
+in came the miller's dog.
+
+And, oh, dear me! Mrs. Jenny Eva Muskrat forgot all about her society
+manners and ran down the back stairs into the river and the little
+rabbit forgot to say good-by and hid himself in a big hat box where
+she kept her last year's Easter bonnet. And then, what do you suppose
+the miller's dog did? Why, he began to sing:
+
+    "Old Mrs. Muskrat jumped into the river,
+     Splasherty, splasherty, splash!
+     And little boy rabbit jumped into the box,
+     That held her best bonnet and trampled upon it.
+     Masherty, masherty, mash!"
+
+And in the next story you shall know what the miller's dog did when he
+stopped singing, that is, if Robbie Redbreast isn't too frightened to
+look into the window and tell me all about it.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXXV.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE MILLER'S DOG.
+
+
+After the Miller's Dog stopped singing, as I told you in the story
+before this, he poked his nose into the hat box where Billy Bunny had
+hidden himself and said in a deep, growly voice:
+
+    "Come out of there or I will growl and bite the bonnet
+     That Mrs. Muskrat wears for best
+     And the purple flowers on it.
+     And then she'll think it's you who did
+     This dreadful unkind deed,
+     And never speak to you again
+     Or you with cookies feed."
+
+"Goodness me, but you are a very poor sort of a poet," said the little
+rabbit, peeping out of the hat box. "Your poetry is dreadful," and
+this made the Miller's Dog so ashamed of himself that he couldn't wag
+his tail or even bark.
+
+No, sir. He couldn't do a thing but slink out of the door and close it
+so softly that it didn't pinch his tail hardly at all.
+
+"Ha! ha!" laughed the little rabbit. "Did you ever see such a silly
+dog?" And neither did I and neither did you, I know.
+
+Well, after a little while, Mrs. Jenny Eva Muskrat carne up the back
+stairs from the river, where she had gone in the last story, you
+remember, and wasn't she glad that nothing more had happened? "If you
+had jumped into that other hat box," she said, "you would have spoilt
+my next year's Easter bonnet, and that would have been too dreadful
+for anything."
+
+And wasn't the little rabbit glad? Well, I guess he was twice over and
+maybe three times. And after that he said good-by and hopped away, and
+after he had traveled for a long, long ways he came to the field where
+his old friend the Scarecrow lived.
+
+"How have you been?" asked the little rabbit, and he took a lollypop
+out of his knapsack and offered it to the scarecrow, but he didn't
+want it. "Haven't you got a cigar?" he asked. "I haven't smoked for
+ever so long."
+
+"I'm sorry," said Billy Bunny. "I don't think I have any really and
+truly cigars. Here's a chocolate one if that will do," and he handed
+it to his friend the Old Clothes Man.
+
+But the Old Clothes Man couldn't smoke it at all, although he tried
+the best he could, and pretty soon it began to rain and the chocolate
+became soft and sticky, and the little Bunny all wet, so he said: "I
+guess I'll crawl into a hollow stump if I can find one."
+
+And it didn't take him long, for he hopped away to the woods nearby,
+and the first thing he saw was an old stump, so he hopped inside. And
+no sooner was he safely out of the rain than a voice said:
+
+    "What are you doing in my hollow stump;
+     Who are you anyway?
+     Why didn't you knock on this old wood block
+     If you really want to stay?"
+
+And in the next story I'll tell who it was that said this.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXXVI.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE WOODCHUCK.
+
+
+You remember in the last story that just as Billy Bunny hopped into
+the hollow stump a voice said, "What are you doing in here?"
+
+"I came in to get out of the wet," answered the little rabbit, and
+then the voice replied:
+
+"What! Is it raining? I'll lend you an umbrella!" and an old woodchuck
+opened a little door in the side of the stump and winked at Billy
+Bunny.
+
+"That's very kind of you," said the little rabbit, and he opened his
+knapsack and gave the woodchuck a nice lollypop, and after that the
+woodchuck said: "I think you'd better stay here with me until the rain
+is over. Don't you think so?"
+
+And Billy Bunny said yes, for the woodchuck was very nice and had such
+good manners that the little rabbit felt quite at home.
+
+But oh, dear me! it began to rain so hard right then and there that
+the water just poured into the old hollow stump, and pretty soon it
+was very uncomfortable. So the woodchuck said:
+
+"Now don't you ever tell anybody where I'm going to take you. For it's
+my very own house, and I never let anybody know just where I do live.
+You see, so many people are after me, some with guns and some with
+sharp teeth and claws, that I have to be very careful."
+
+So the little rabbit promised, and then he followed the woodchuck
+through the little door and down a long passage until they came to a
+nice, large, comfortable room.
+
+"Now, this is where I live," said the woodchuck, and he went over to
+the cupboard and took out a carrot candy gumdrop and gave it to Billy
+Bunny, and then he lighted a big cigar and sat down in his old
+armchair and smoked.
+
+And all the time they could hear the rain pattering on the grass
+overhead, for it's wonderful how you can hear all sorts of sounds when
+you're under ground and have big ears like a rabbit, you know.
+
+"Now, I'll tell you a story," said the old woodchuck after he had
+blown some lovely round rings of smoke into the air.
+
+    "Once upon a time,
+     Not so very long ago,
+     A band of tiny fairies
+     Lived in the woodland near.
+     And often I would hear them
+     A-singing soft and low
+     When all was dark and quiet
+     And the moon shone bright and clear.
+     So one evening I stole softly
+     Out of the hollow stump,
+     And found them dancing merrily
+     With tiny skip and jump;
+     And just as I was going
+     To say how do you do,
+     The Fairy Queen began to scream.
+     And then away she flew.
+     And then her tiny subjects
+     Took fright and ran off, too,
+     And now I never see them more
+     A-dancing near my old stump door."
+
+"That's too bad," said the little rabbit, for he was so interested in
+what the old woodchuck was saying that he had forgotten all about his
+lollypop and had dropped it on the floor.
+
+And in the next story he'll pick up his lollypop and eat it, because I
+hate to have him lose it, don't you?
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXXVII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND LITTLE PEEWEE.
+
+
+Let me stop for a moment and think where I left off last night. Oh,
+now I remember. Billy Bunny was in the old woodchuck hollow stump, and
+it was raining.
+
+Oh, my, yes. Cats and dogs, as they say in grown-ups' stories, so
+we'll say kittens and puppies. Well, after a while the rain stopped
+and the little rabbit said good-by and hopped away, and pretty soon,
+not very long, a little bird began to sing:
+
+    "Down the shady Forest Trail,
+     O'er the hill and through the vale,
+     Billy Bunny hops along
+     With a whistle and a song.
+     And if you have never heard
+     A rabbit whistle like a bird,
+     You must ask each little rabbit
+     If he has the whistling habit."
+
+"Who's singing?" asked Billy Bunny, and he took his silver policeman's
+whistle out of his knapsack and blew on it so hard that the little
+bird began to cry:
+
+"Oh, dear! Oh, dear! You will whistle my ear off!" And then, of
+course, the little rabbit stopped, for he didn't want to hurt that
+dear little bird. No sireemam.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked, and the little bird replied: "I'm Peewee, the
+littlest bird in the whole Friendly Forest."
+
+"What do you look like?" said the little rabbit, curiously, gazing
+here and there and everywhere and behind a tree and under a stone.
+"I've never seen a Peewee."
+
+And then that little bird flew down from a tree and Billy Bunny saw
+the tiniest little bird he had ever seen. Why, it wasn't much larger
+than a butterfly.
+
+"Goodness, but you're small," said Billy Bunny. "Are you so small that
+you don't like lollypops?"
+
+Of course, the little bird said no, and so would you, no matter how
+small you were, but when she tried to fly away with the lollypop, she
+couldn't. No sireemam. Wasn't that too bad? So the little rabbit gave
+her some sweet cracker crumbs instead, and after that he hopped away
+looking for another adventure.
+
+And it wasn't long before he had one. For, just as he was hopping
+across a fallen log that made a narrow bridge over a brook, a little
+fish swam up to the top of the water and said:
+
+"Here is a letter from your friend, the Whale," and he held up in his
+mouth a blue envelope. I guess it was made of some kind of waterproof
+paper, for it wasn't the least bit damp.
+
+And when Billy Bunny opened it, he found a small coral ring inside,
+and in the letter it said: "This ring is for you, Billy Bunny.
+
+"The pretty mermaid asked me to send it to you, so here it is. Please
+tell the little fish that you have received it and that it fits you
+perfectly." And then the Whale signed himself, "Your great big-hearted
+friend, the Whale."
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXXVIII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND OLD MOTHER MAGPIE.
+
+
+     Uncle Bullfrog sings a song
+     That is never very long.
+     All he says is, "Chunk, ker-chunk!"
+     Then he splashes in ker-plunk,
+     And the little fishes swim,
+     Oh, so fast away from him!
+     If they didn't, don't you think
+     He would eat 'em in a wink?
+
+Now who do you suppose was singing this song? Why, a little tadpole
+named Taddylegs. And it made Uncle Bullfrog quite cross, for he didn't
+like tadpoles anyway, and Taddylegs wasn't very polite, as you can
+see.
+
+"Now swim away," said the old gentleman frog, and he looked angrily at
+Taddylegs. "Now swim away or I'll swallow you and maybe your cousin
+and your aunt if they're around." So the little tadpole swam away and
+after a while Old Uncle Bullfrog saw Billy Bunny not very far away. He
+was talking to Mrs. Cow about the clover patch.
+
+You see, Mrs. Cow was very fond of clover and so was the little
+rabbit, and he knew that Mrs. Cow could eat maybe three hundred and
+forty-seven times as much clover as he could, and so he was afraid she
+might eat up the whole patch and leave nothing for anybody else.
+
+"Please don't eat all the clover tops; mother wants to preserve some
+for the winter."
+
+"Don't you worry," replied Mrs. Cow, and she whisked a big horse fly
+off her side with her long tail. "Don't you worry and don't you fret,
+there'll be some clover blossoms yet."
+
+So the little rabbit felt ever so much better and hopped away and by
+and by he came across Old Mother Magpie. And he wasn't a bit pleased,
+for she was always finding fault with him, and everybody else, for
+that matter.
+
+Yes, Old Mother Magpie made lots of trouble and Billy Bunny had never
+liked her. But he couldn't get away without her seeing him, although
+he tried his best.
+
+"Good morning, Billy Bunny," said the old lady magpie, and she raised
+her bonnet so she could see him better, for the brim was half over her
+left eye.
+
+"Good morning," replied the little rabbit. "I'm sorry, but I'm in a
+dreadful hurry," and he hopped away so fast that he left his shadow a
+mile behind him.
+
+"Gracious me!" exclaimed Old Mother Magpie. "That bunny doesn't like
+me very much I guess."
+
+"Yes, you don't have to guess again," cried a voice, and Parson Crow
+cawed and hawed, and this made the old lady magpie so angry that she
+flew away to tell Barney Owl that she was a very much abused person.
+
+But here we are at the end of this book, and so we will have to jump
+to the next, which I will call, "BILLY BUNNY AND UNCLE LUCKY
+LEFTHINDFOOT."
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Billy Bunny and Uncle Bull Frog, by 
+David Magie Cory
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Billy Bunny and Uncle Bull Frog, by David Cory
+#2 in our series by David Cory
+
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+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: Billy Bunny and Uncle Bull Frog
+
+Author: David Cory
+
+Release Date: June, 2004 [EBook #5947]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on September 23, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BILLY BUNNY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+BILLY BUNNY
+
+AND
+
+UNCLE BULL FROG
+
+BY
+
+DAVID CORY
+Author of "Billy Bunny and Daddy Fox,"
+"Billy Bunny and The Friendly Elephant,"
+"Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky Lefthindfoot"
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS BY
+HUGH SPENCER
+
+
+
+BILLY BUNNY BOOKS
+
+BY DAVID CORY
+Large 12 mo. Illustrated
+
+1. BILLY BUNNY AND THE FRIENDLY ELEPHANT
+
+2. BILLY BUNNY AND DADDY FOX
+
+3. BILLY BUNNY AND UNCLE BULL FROG
+
+4. BILLY BUNNY AND UNCLE LUCKY LEFTHINDFOOT
+
+Other Volumes in Preparation
+
+1920
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+I.     BILLY BUNNY AND MR. BLACKSNAKE
+
+II.    BILLY BUNNY AND THE FRESHWATER CRAB
+
+III.   BILLY BUNNY AND THE SORROWFUL JAY BIRD
+
+IV.    BILLY BUNNY AND THE TING-A-LING TELEPHONE
+
+V.     BILLY BUNNY AND THE RUNAWAY DOG
+
+VI.    BILLY BUNNY AND MR. O'HARE'S ESCAPE
+
+VII.   BILLY BUNNY AND THE POLICEMAN CAT
+
+VIII.  BILLY BUNNY AND THE GRAY MOUSE
+
+IX.    BILLY BUNNY AND RED ROOSTER
+
+X.     BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. COW
+
+XI.    BILLY BUNNY AND THE BIG BEAR
+
+XII.   BILLY BUNNY AND THE RABBITVILLE "GAZETTE"
+
+XIII.  BILLY BUNNY AND MR. MOLE
+
+XIV.   BILLY BUNNY AND THE WATER SNAKE
+
+XV.    BILLY BUNNY AND THE PEACOCK
+
+XVI.   BILLY BUNNY AND THE MARBLE DEER
+
+XVII.  BILLY BUNNY AND THE FOREST DANCE
+
+XVIII. BILLY BUNNY AND RAGGED RABBIT
+
+XIX.   BILLY BUNNY AND TAILOR BIRD
+
+XX.    BILLY BUNNY AND PARSON CROW
+
+XXI.   BILLY BUNNY AND JACK-IN-THE-BOX
+
+XXII.  BILLY BUNNY AND MR. DUCK
+
+XXIII. BILLY BUNNY AND THE FRETFUL PORCUPINE
+
+XXIV.  BILLY BUNNY AND DANNY BILLYGOAT
+
+XXV.   BILLY BUNNY AND THE WHALE
+
+XXVI.  BILLY BUNNY AND THE MERMAID.
+
+XXVII. BILLY BUNNY AND THE BEANSTALK
+
+XXVIII. BILLY BUNNY AND SCATTERBRAINS
+
+XXIX.  BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. BLACK CAT
+
+XXX.   BILLY BUNNY AND BIG YELLOW DOG
+
+XXXI.  BILLY BUNNY AND A HAPPY BIRTHDAY
+
+XXXII. BILLY BUNNY AND THE LOST RING
+
+XXXIII. BILLY BUNNY AND THE GREAT NEWS
+
+XXXIV. BILLY BUNNY AND JENNY MUSKRAT
+
+XXXV.  BILLY BUNNY AND THE MILLER'S DOG
+
+XXXVI. BILLY BUNNY AND THE WOODCHUCK
+
+XXXVII. BILLY BUNNY AND LITTLE PEEWEE
+
+XXXVIII. BILLY BUNNY AND OLD MOTHER MAGPIE
+
+
+
+
+STORY I.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND MR. BLACKSNAKE.
+
+
+  Rain, rain, go away,
+  Billy Bunny wants to play.
+
+This is what Willy Wind sang one morning. Oh, so early, as the
+raindrops pitter-pattered on the roof of the little rabbit's house in
+the Old Brier Patch.
+
+And then of course he woke up and wiggled his little pink nose a
+million times less or more, and pretty soon he was wide awake, so he
+got up and looked into the mirror to see if his eyes were open, as he
+wasn't quite sure he was wide awake after all, for the raindrops made
+a drowsy noise on the old shingles and the alarm clock wouldn't go
+off, although it was 14 o'clock.
+
+Well, after a little while, not so very long, his mother called to
+him, "Billy Bunny, the stewed lollypops are getting cold and the
+robin's eggs will be hard boiled if you don't hurry up, or hurry down,
+or something."
+
+"I'll be ready in a jiffy," answered the little rabbit, and then he
+brushed his whiskers and parted his hair in the middle with a little
+chip, and after that he was ready for breakfast and dinner and supper,
+for rabbits are always hungry, you know, and can eat all the time, so
+I've been told, and I guess it must be true, for why should an old
+rabbit have told me that if it isn't the truth, I should like to know,
+and so would you, I'm sure.
+
+"Don't forget your rubber boots," said Mrs. Bunny after the morning
+meal was over, as Billy Bunny started to hop outdoors. So, like a good
+little bunny boy, he came back and put them on, and then before he
+went he polished the brass door knob on the front door and swept the
+leaves off the little stone walk.
+
+And after that he was ready to do whatever he liked, so out he went on
+the Pleasant Meadow to eat some clover tops so as not to feel hungry
+for the next ten minutes.
+
+And just then Mrs. Cow came along with her tinkle, tinkle bell that
+hung at her throat from a leather collar.
+
+"Where are you going?" she asked, but the little rabbit didn't know.
+He was only looking around. He hadn't had time to make up his mind
+what to do, and just then, all of a sudden, just like that, Mr.
+Blacksnake rose out of the grass.
+
+"Look out!" cried Mrs. Cow. "Maybe he's going to eat you," but whether
+he was I'm sure I don't know, for Billy Bunny didn't wait to see. He
+didn't care whether Mr. Blacksnake wanted his breakfast, but hopped
+away as fast as he could and pretty soon, not so very far, he came to
+the Babbling Brook, and there sat the little fresh water crab on the
+sand, and when he saw Billy Bunny he said:
+
+    "It's raining, Billy Bunny,
+     But you and I don't care,
+     For raindrops make the flowers
+     Grow and blossom fair."
+
+And this is what every little boy and girl should say on rainy days.
+
+
+
+
+STORY II.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE FRESHWATER CRAB.
+
+
+Let me see. It was raining in the last story when we left off, wasn't
+it? Billy Bunny and the little freshwater crab were talking together,
+weren't they?
+
+That's it, and now I know where to begin, for it's stopped raining
+since then and Mr. Happy Sun is shining in the sky and the little
+clouds are chasing each other over the blue meadows like little lambs.
+
+"I like that little piece of poetry you just said," cried the little
+rabbit. "Please say another." So the freshwater crab wrinkled his
+forehead, and then he began:
+
+    "And when the sun is shining,
+     And all is bright and gay,
+     Just keep a little sunshine
+     To help a rainy day."
+
+"I will," said the little bunny, for he was a cheerful little fellow,
+and then he hopped away and by and by he came to the Old Mill Pond.
+
+But Uncle Bullfrog was nowhere to be seen.
+
+There stood the old log, but there was nobody on it but a black snail.
+It seemed strange not to see the old gentleman frog sitting there, his
+eyes winking and blinking and his white waist-coat shining in the sun,
+and it made the little rabbit feel lonely.
+
+"Where is Uncle Bullfrog?" he asked a big bluebottle fly, who was
+buzzing away at a great rate. But he didn't know, and neither did a
+big darning needle that was skimming over the quiet water.
+
+"I wonder if that dreadful Miller's Boy has taken Uncle Bullfrog
+away," thought Billy Bunny, and just then Mrs. Oriole flew down from
+her nest that swung in the weeping willow tree and said:
+
+"Are you looking for Uncle Bullfrog, little rabbit?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am. Do you know where he is?"
+
+"He's down by the mill dam," answered the pretty little bird, and then
+she flew back to her nest that looked like an old white cotton
+stocking at Christmas time because it was all bulgy and full, only, of
+course, hers had little birds inside and a Christmas stocking has all
+sorts of toys, with an orange in the toe and a Jack-in-the-Box
+sticking out of the top.
+
+So off hopped the little rabbit, and pretty soon he saw the old
+gentleman bullfrog catching flies, and undoing his waistcoat one
+button every time a fly disappeared down his throat.
+
+"I thought at first that dreadful Miller's Boy had taken you away,"
+said Billy Bunny, "and I was very sad, for I like you, Uncle Bullfrog,
+and I've never forgotten how you found the letter I lost a long time
+ago."
+
+"Tut, tut," said the old gentleman frog. "How's your mother?" and then
+he swallowed another fly and unbuttoned the last button, and if he
+takes off his waistcoat I'll tell you so in the next story.
+
+
+
+
+STORY III.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE SORROWFUL JAY BIRD.
+
+
+Well, Uncle Bullfrog didn't take off his waistcoat, as I thought he
+might in the last story, so I'm not going to tell you anything more
+about him.
+
+We'll just leave him in the old Mill Pond and go along with Billy
+Bunny, who is hopping away toward the Friendly Forest.
+
+By and by, after he had gone into the shady depths for maybe a million
+and two or three hops, he came across his old friend the jay bird, who
+had sold him the airship, you remember, and then bought it back again.
+
+"I wish you'd kept your old flying machine," said the jay bird
+sorrowfully.
+"But you wanted to buy it back," said the little rabbit, "so it's not
+my fault."
+
+"Perhaps not," replied the sorrowful jay bird, "but that doesn't make
+matters any better."
+
+"Why, what's the trouble?" asked the little rabbit, sitting down and
+taking a lollypop out of his knapsack.
+
+"I had an accident," answered the jay bird.
+
+"I ran into a thunder cloud and spilled out all the lightning, and, oh
+dear, oh dear. I just hate to talk about it, but I will. The lightning
+jumped all around and then struck the old tower clock and broke the
+main spring, so that it wouldn't go any more, and now nobody in
+Rabbitville can tell the day of the month, or when it will be
+Thanksgiving or Fourth of July."
+
+"Let's go to the clock maker and ask him to fix it," suggested the
+little rabbit, and this so delighted the sorrowful jay bird that he
+smiled and flew after Billy Bunny, and pretty soon they came to the
+old clock maker, who was an old black spider.
+
+"Certainly I'll fix it," he said, "but it will cost you nine million
+and some billion flies."
+
+"All right," said Billy Bunny. "I'll go down to the 3 and 1-cent store
+and buy a fly catcher." So off he went and pretty soon he came back
+with a great big fly catching box, and after he had set it down, they
+stood and watched the flies go in until it was so full that not
+another one could even poke in his nose.
+
+"Now, Mr. Spider," said Billy Bunny, "there are maybe a trillion flies
+in that box, for the storekeeper told me it was guaranteed to hold
+that many, so please fix the town clock, for it would be too bad if
+the little boys and girls didn't know it was Christmas when it really
+came."
+
+So the spider got out his little tool bag and climbed up the steeple
+and fixed that old town clock so well that it began to play a tune,
+which it had never done before, and all the people in Rabbitville were
+so delighted that they gave the spider a little house to live in for
+the rest of his days.
+
+
+
+
+STORY IV.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE TING-A-LING TELEPHONE.
+
+
+Ting-a-ling went the telephone bell in Uncle Lucky Lefthindfoot's
+house, the kind old gentleman rabbit who was the uncle of Billy Bunny,
+you know.
+
+And I only say this right here in case some little boy or girl should
+read this story without having seen all the million and one, or two,
+or three that have gone before.
+
+So Uncle Lucky jumped out of the hammock where he had been swinging up
+and down on the cool front porch of his little house in Bunnytown,
+corner of Lettuce avenue and Carrot street, and hopped into the
+library and took down the receiver and said "Helloa! This is Mr. Lucky
+Lefthindfoot talking."
+
+"Is that you, Uncle Lucky?" answered a voice at the other end of the
+wire. "This is Billy Bunny, and I'm lost in the Friendly Forest."
+"What!" cried the old gentleman rabbit, and he got so excited that he
+put the wrong end of the receiver to his left ear and got an awful
+electric shock that nearly wiggled his ear off. "Where are you now?"
+
+"I don't know," replied his small nephew. "I'm lost, don't you
+understand?"
+
+"Gracious, goodness mebus!" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit, "then
+how am I to find you?"
+
+"I don't know, but please do," said Billy Bunny sorrowfully, "for I'm
+dreadfully hungry, and I haven't got a single lollypop or apple pie
+left in my knapsack."
+
+"Well, you just stay where you are and I'll get into the Luckmobile
+and find you," replied the old gentleman rabbit as cheerfully as he
+could, although he didn't know how he was going to do it, and neither
+do I, and neither do you, but let's wait and see.
+
+So pretty soon, in a few short seconds, Uncle Lucky was tearing along
+the dusty road toward the Friendly Forest, and by and by he came to
+the house where his cousin, Mr. O'Hare, lived. So he stopped the
+automobile and knocked on the door, and as soon as Mr. O'Hare opened
+it, he said: "Jump in with me, for my little nephew is lost and I want
+you to help me find him."
+
+So away they went into the Friendly Forest, and they looked all
+around, but, of course, there was no little rabbit that looked like
+Billy Bunny anywhere in sight. So Uncle Lucky and Mr. O'Hare got out,
+and after tying the automobile to a tree, they set out in different
+directions to find the little bunny. And Uncle Lucky went along a
+little path and Mr. O'Hare followed a small brook, and after a while
+the old gentleman rabbit heard a bird singing:
+
+    "I saw a little rabbit
+     A-sitting by a tree,
+     And I should say he'd lost his way--
+     That's how he looked to me."
+
+"Where did you see him?" asked Uncle Lucky excitedly. But what the
+little bird replied you must wait to hear in the next story.
+
+
+
+
+STORY V.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE RUNAWAY DOG.
+
+
+You remember in the last story just as Uncle Lucky asked the little
+bird to tell him where Billy Bunny was I had to leave off for there
+was no more room in the story for me to add another word? Well, what
+the little bird said was:
+
+"Follow the path, Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot, 'till you come to a bridge,
+and then turn to your right, and pretty soon, if the little bunny
+hasn't hopped away, you'll find your lost nephew."
+
+So Uncle Lucky started right off. He didn't wait to even dust off his
+old wedding stovepipe hat, and by and by he came to the bridge. But oh
+dear me! Right in the middle of it stood a big dog, and when he saw
+the old gentleman rabbit he gave a loud bark and ran at him.
+
+And what do you think the dear old bunny did? He honked on his
+automobile horn, which he had in his paw, and this frightened the dog
+so dreadfully that he turned around and ran away so fast that he would
+have left his tail a thousand miles behind him if it hadn't been tied
+on the way dogs' tails are, you know.
+
+And after that Uncle Lucky crossed the bridge and turned to his right
+and pretty soon he saw Billy Bunny under a bush looking very miserable
+and unhappy. But when he heard his Uncle Lucky's voice, for the old
+gentleman rabbit gave a cry of delight as soon as he saw him, the
+little rabbit looked as happy as he had before he was lost.
+
+"Here's an apple pie for you," said the dear, kind old gentleman
+rabbit, taking a lovely pie out of his pocket. "I knew you'd rather
+have something to eat than a million carrot cents."
+
+And of course the little rabbit would, for he was so hungry he could
+have eaten brass tacks, or maybe iron nails.
+
+"Now come along with me," said Uncle Lucky. "We'll go back to the
+Luckymobile. Your cousin, Mr. O'Hare, went the other way to look for
+you, so I suppose we'll have a dreadful time to find him. But, never
+mind, I've found you." And dear, affectionate Uncle Lucky hugged his
+small nephew, he was so glad to be with him once more.
+
+Well, after they reached the automobile they honked and honked on the
+horn hoping Mr. O'Hare would hear them. But I guess he didn't, for he
+never came back, although they waited until it was almost 13 o'clock.
+
+"We'll have to go home without him," said Uncle Lucky at last. And I
+guess he was wise not to wait any longer, for it was growing dark, and
+to drive an automobile through a forest is not an easy thing to do at
+night. And just then, all of a sudden, Willie Wind came blowing
+through the tree tops. When he saw the two little bunnies he said:
+
+"Your cousin, Mr. O'Hare, has fallen into a deep hole over yonder."
+And Willie Wind pointed down the Friendly Forest Trail. In the next
+story you shall hear how Uncle Lucky and Billy Bunny found their
+cousin, Mr. O'Hare.
+
+
+
+
+STORY VI.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND MR. O'HARE'S ESCAPE.
+
+
+You remember in the last story how Willie Wind whispered to Billy
+Bunny and Uncle Lucky that their cousin, Mr. O'Hare, had fallen into a
+deep hole? Well, it didn't take the two little rabbits more than five
+short seconds and maybe five and a half hops to reach the spot, and
+then they looked over the edge, but very carefully, you know, for fear
+they might fall in, and there, sure enough, way down at the bottom was
+Mr. O'Hare looking very miserable indeed.
+
+"Keep up your courage!" cried Uncle Lucky in as cheerful a voice as he
+could muster, and then he looked around to find a rope or a ladder.
+But of course there were not any ropes and ladders lying about, so
+that kind old gentleman rabbit peeped over the edge of the hole and
+called down again, "Keep up your courage! We'll get you out!"
+
+Although he didn't know how he was going to do it, and neither do you
+and neither do I and neither does the printer man.
+
+Well, after a while, and it was quite a long while, too, Billy Bunny
+found a wild grapevine which he let down into the hole. "Make a loop
+and put it around your waist and Uncle Lucky and I will haul you out,"
+he called down, and then Mr. O'Hare did as he was told, and after the
+two little rabbits had pulled and pulled until their breath was almost
+gone, Mr. O'Hare's head appeared at the top of the hole.
+
+And then with one more big pull they brought him out safely, although
+his waist was dreadfully sore because the grapevine had cut into his
+fur and squeezed all the breath out of him.
+
+"I'm going to complain to the street cleaning department or the first
+policeman I see," said Mr. O'Hare. "It's a dreadful thing to have a
+hole like this right in the middle of the Friendly Forest Trail."
+
+"Never mind that," said Billy Bunny, "let's go back to the
+Luckymobile. It will be late before we get out of the woods and maybe
+the electricity will all be gone and then we can't light the lamps,
+and maybe we'll be arrested."
+
+And this is just what happened. They had only gone a little ways when
+they heard a voice say:
+
+    "Stop your motor car, I say,
+     You have no lamps to light the way.
+     Come, stop your car and get right out!
+     Listen, don't you hear me shout?
+     Stop your car or I will shoot.
+     Don't try away from me to scoot!"
+
+"We don't intend to," said Uncle Lucky, and he put on the brake and
+the Luckymobile came to a standstill. And there in the road stood a
+big Policeman Cat, with a club and gold buttons on his coat and a big
+helmet, and his number was two dozen and a half.
+
+"Get out of your car," he commanded, which means to say something
+sternly, but before the two little rabbits obeyed, something happened,
+but what it was you must wait to hear in the next story.
+
+
+
+
+STORY VII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE POLICEMAN CAT.
+
+
+Well, I'm glad to say it was something nice that happened just as I
+left off in the last story. You remember the Policeman Cat had
+arrested Billy Bunny and his Uncle Lucky.
+
+Well, just as that Policeman Cat lifted his club to tickle Uncle
+Lucky's left hind foot, a big elm tree began to bark and of course the
+Policeman Cat was nearly scared to death. He thought it was a dog, you
+see, and instead of tickling dear, kind Uncle Lucky with his club, he
+turned tail and ran off down the road.
+
+And he ran so fast that he left his number behind and Uncle Lucky
+picked it up and put it on the automobile, and after that they asked
+two little fireflies to sit inside the lamps and make them shine, for
+you remember the electricity had all burned up.
+
+Well, after a while, they came to a turn in the road and, goodness
+gracious! before they could stop the automobile they ran into a milk
+wagon. And, oh, dear me! there was whipped cream all over the place,
+and Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky looked like two little cream puffs.
+
+And I suppose you are wondering where the driver of the milk wagon was
+all this time. And so were Uncle Lucky and Billy Bunny, and if you'll
+wait a minute I'll tell you, as soon as my typewriter behaves itself,
+for it got so excited when Luckymobile ran into the milk wagon that it
+caught my thumb and pinched it.
+
+Well, pretty soon, after Uncle Lucky had looked behind the moon and
+Billy Bunny into all the empty milk cans and one full one, they found
+the driver up in a weeping willow tree.
+
+"I'll come down if you'll promise not to run over me," he said, for he
+was nearly frightened to death and looked dreadfully funny, for one of
+the milk can covers had fallen on his head.
+
+"I thought he would be mad as a hornet," whispered Billy Bunny to his
+rabbit uncle.
+
+"But where's my horse?" said the milkman when he reached the ground.
+So they all looked around and everywhere else, but they couldn't find
+him until they looked up into another weeping willow tree. And there
+was the poor horse high up in the branches.
+
+    "Oh, I'll come down from this willow tree,
+     If you'll promise me just one thing,
+     And that is never again to say:
+     'Gid-ap' as you drive me along the way,
+     For I always go the best I can;
+     I'm a faithful friend to every man,
+     So please don't hurry me so,
+     For I'm not trying to go too slow."
+
+"All right, my good old horse," said kind Uncle Lucky. "Your master
+shall give me his word." So the horse jumped down and the willow tree
+stopped weeping right away, for it was so glad that the poor old milk
+horse was never again to be hurried on his way. And in the next story
+I'll tell you why.
+
+
+
+
+STORY VIII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE GRAY MOUSE.
+
+
+You remember in the last story how the Luckymobile had run into a milk
+wagon? Well, after Billy Bunny had helped the milkman hitch up his
+horse and Uncle Lucky had filled the milk cans with ice cream and soda
+water from a near-by candy store, so as not to have all the little
+boys and girls disappointed at breakfast when they didn't get their
+milk, our two little rabbit friends got into the Luckymobile and
+started off again.
+
+Well, it was still evening, you know, and the little fireflies who had
+crawled into the lamps made them as bright as possible, so it wasn't
+hard to steer the automobile. And, after a while, maybe a mile, they
+came to a house, where lived a gray mouse, all alone by herself in a
+hole near a shelf, where cake and mince pies made her open her eyes,
+for they looked, oh, so good, as a pie or cake should.
+
+Now I didn't know I was going to write poetry or I should have let my
+hair grow long like a poet instead of going to the barber for a shave.
+
+Well, anyway, the two little rabbits stopped the automobile right in
+front of mousie's door and when she heard the horn go honk, honk, she
+came to the window and looked out.
+
+"Why, it's Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot," she squeaked, and then she opened
+the door and asked the two little rabbits in and gave them some pie
+and cake.
+
+"You can put the automobile in the barn if you like," she said, "and
+spend the night here, for it's getting very dark and maybe you'll run
+into something." So Billy Bunny took the Luckymobile around to the
+barn, and just then an old owl began to toot:
+
+     "I'm very fond of little gray mice,
+     And little white rabbits, too, are nice."
+
+And down flew that old gray owl and made a grab for Billy Bunny. But
+he didn't catch him. No, sireemam! For the little rabbit hopped into
+the henhouse through the little round door, and the big red rooster
+began to crow:
+
+    "Look here, Mr. Owl, if you come inside
+     I'll hurt you with my spur.
+     Don't you dare get funny with Billy Bunny,
+     Or muss his pretty white fur."
+
+And then he flew down from his perch and said, "Cock-a-doodle-do"
+three times and a half, and after that the owl flew away. "That was
+very kind of you," said the little rabbit. "Oh, don't mention it,"
+said the red rooster, "but there is one thing you can do for me."
+"What's that?" asked Billy Bunny. "Take me Luckymobiling," laughed the
+red rooster.
+
+"All right. To-morrow Uncle Lucky and I will invite you for a nice
+drive," said the little rabbit, and if the Luckymobile doesn't get
+sick maybe Uncle Lucky will ask some little boy or girl to go, too,
+and maybe it might be you.
+
+
+
+
+STORY IX.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND RED ROOSTER.
+
+
+Well, the next morning when the little rabbits woke up the sun was
+shining brightly through their bedroom window and Mrs. Mousie was
+singing a song down in the kitchen below as she made hot muffins for
+breakfast. And this is what she sang:
+
+    "Upstairs in my nice guest room are two
+     Nice little rabbits in bed.
+     As soon as I'm able I'll fix up the table
+     And give them some honey and bread.
+     And then a hot muffin to give them a stuffin',
+     And then they'll be bountifully fed."
+
+And when Billy Bunny heard her he grew so hungry that he hurried
+faster than he had ever hurried before, and so did the old gentleman
+rabbit, and he buttoned his collar on backwards and put his left shoe
+on his right foot and tripped over his old wedding stovepipe hat.
+
+And after that they both hopped downstairs, and as soon as Mrs. Mousie
+heard them she brought in the bread and honey and the hot muffins and
+they all had breakfast. And after that Billy Bunny asked her to go
+automobiling with them.
+
+So she put on her old gray bonnet with a bit of ribbon on it, and tied
+the strings under her chin, and put on her black silk mitts and her
+gold locket breastpin with the picture of Mr. Mousie inside.
+
+"You don't mind if we invite the red rooster to go along, too, do
+you?" asked Billy Bunny, and then he told her how the rooster had
+scared away the old owl. And of course Mrs. Mousie didn't care, so the
+rooster got in and sat on the back seat with Mrs. Mousie.
+
+Well, after they had gone for maybe a mile, and maybe some more, they
+came to a beautiful candy store, where the windows were full of
+peppermint sticks and a brown sugar monkey did all sorts of tricks.
+
+"Stop right here," said the red rooster, "and I'll get out and buy you
+a bag of candy." And when he came back he had four bags of candy. Just
+think of that! In one bag was sugar-coated carrots for Billy Bunny,
+and another bag was full of candied carrots for Uncle Lucky, and in
+the bag he gave to Mrs. Mousie were two little chocolate mice.
+
+"What have you got in your bag?" asked Uncle Lucky as he made the
+Luckymobile jump over a high ditch and run along through a lovely
+green meadow spread all over with buttercups.
+
+"Sugared peanuts," answered the red rooster. "I just love them. The
+last time I went to the circus I ate forty-nine bags and a half and
+drank twenty-three glasses of pink lemonade and a bushel of popcorn."
+
+"Wait a minute," said the old gentleman rabbit. "I've got a stomach
+ache listening. How did you do it?" And in the next story I'll tell
+you what the rooster said, that is, if nothing happens to prevent it,
+for he certainly was a wonderful rooster, to be able to eat all that.
+
+
+
+
+STORY X.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. COW.
+
+
+Well, something did happen to prevent the red rooster from telling
+Billy Bunny how he had been able to eat forty-nine bags and a half of
+peanuts at the circus, as I mentioned in the last story.
+
+You see, as the Luckymobile galloped along over the meadow, all of a
+sudden, just like that, it ran right into the Babbling Brook, and then
+of course it stopped so suddenly that Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky
+didn't stop at all, neither did Mrs. Mousie and the red rooster.
+
+They just kept right on going, and the first thing they knew and the
+first thing you know, they all landed in the long grass beside Mrs.
+Cow.
+
+"My, how you startled me!" she exclaimed, and she rang the little bell
+at her neck and up ran her little calf, who was only two weeks old,
+and had never seen Billy Bunny and his friends before.
+
+After that she walked down to the Babbling Brook--but oh, dear me! all
+the electricity oil had spilled out of the cabaret and she couldn't
+drink the water, and all the little fish were covered with it just
+like sardines, you know, and the watercress had salad dressing all
+over it, so of course she couldn't eat the watercress.
+
+"Never mind," said kind little Billy Bunny, and he took out of his
+knapsack a big yellow lemon lollypop and gave it to her, and then she
+didn't care, for she just loved candy.
+
+"I'll help you get the automobile out," said Mrs. Cow gratefully, for
+she liked anybody who was kind to her little calf. So she put her
+horns under the front of the Luckymobile and then she said, "Heave ho,
+e-ho!" and pushed and shoved and lifted that big heavy automobile
+right out of the brook without even cracking her two long horns.
+
+"If you don't mind," said the red rooster, "I'll leave you two little
+rabbits and make a call on Cocky Docky up at the Old Farm. "And if you
+don't care," squeaked little Mrs. Mousie, "I'll call on Dickey
+Meadowmouse." So Uncle Lucky and Billy Bunny hopped into the
+automobile and drove off, while Mrs. Cow tinkled her bell and sang:
+
+    "Moo, moo, moo. I'm glad I helped you two.
+     One good turn deserves another.
+     When you see your bunny mother,
+     Tell her how your car I took
+    Safely from the Babbling Brook."
+
+"It's a puzzle to me," said Uncle Lucky, "why we are always having so
+many accidents. Maybe I had better get a chauffeur." "You won't need
+any chauffeur after I'm done with you," said a deep growly voice, and
+out from behind a clump of bushes jumped a wicked wildcat and bit one
+of the front tires, she was so hungry.
+
+And what do you suppose happened then? Why the tire burst with such a
+loud noise, just like a gun, you know, that the wildcat was frightened
+nearly to death and she turned around and ran away so fast that she
+got home an hour too early for supper.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XI.
+
+BILL BUNNY AND THE BIG BEAR.
+
+
+     Near the Friendly Forest Pool
+     Is the Woodland Singing School.
+     Little Squirrel Bushy Tail
+     Sings the Do, Ray, Mee, Fa scale.
+     Uncle Bullfrog sings "Ker-chunk"
+     From his floating elm tree trunk.
+     And a big good-natured bear
+     Sings an old familiar air.
+
+"It's time for your singing lesson," said Mrs. Bunny to her little
+rabbit. So Billy Bunny started off, hoppity hop, down the Friendly
+Forest trail, and by and by he reached the Pool where all the pupils
+came to take their singing lessons.
+
+Mr. Grasshopper was there with his fiddle and the tree toad with his
+drum, and the lark with her flute and little Jenny Wren with her
+piano. And what do you suppose Billy Bunny had tucked away in his
+knapsack? Why, Uncle Lucky's automobile horn.
+
+You see, the kind old gentleman rabbit was making a visit at the Old
+Brier Patch where he had taken his automobile after that dreadful
+wildcat had bitten the front tire, and this is how Billy Bunny came to
+get the horn.
+
+Well, sir, after the music started, he pulled out his horn and gave a
+tre-men-dous honk on it, and everybody thought an automobile was going
+to run over him.
+
+Some jumped into the Pool and some ran up the trees, and, oh, dear me!
+everybody got all out of tune, and the bear lost the air and couldn't
+find it again!
+
+And just then who should come along but a peddler with a pack of tin
+cans, rattling away on his back, and of course he made more noise than
+all the singing school put together.
+
+And when the big bear saw him he was so angry that he jumped from
+behind a tree and said, "Boo!"
+
+"Do you want to buy a tin plate?" asked the peddler, trying hard not
+to be frightened, "or would rather have a dishpan?"
+
+"Don't want either," said the bear with a terrible growl.
+
+"Perhaps you'd like a nutmeg grater," said the poor old peddler, and
+he was so frightened by this time that his knees knocked into the tin
+pans and made a dreadful noise.
+
+"I've a dandy egg beater," went on the peddler, in a trembling voice,
+but after that he never said another word, for that great big bear
+jumped right at him and took the egg beater out of his hands and
+growled so terribly that the tin peddler turned away and ran down the
+forest path as fast as he could go.
+
+And then all the little and big forest folk began to sing:
+
+    "Hip, hip hurray, the peddler's gone away.
+     No more he'll make his tin pans shake
+     And spoil our singing school beside the Forest Pool."
+
+And in the next story, if the baby who lives in the house opposite
+doesn't shake his rattle at me all night so that I can't get to sleep
+and dream about the next story in time to write it for to-morrow
+night, I'll tell you more about the little rabbit's adventures.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE RABBITVILLE "GAZETTE."
+
+
+    There was once a little rabbit
+     Who was very fond of pie,
+     Apple pie, with sugar on the crust.
+     And he had a little habit,
+     When his mother wasn't nigh,
+     Of eating apple pie until he bust.
+
+This is what Mr. William Bunny, the little rabbit's father, you know,
+was singing one day, and the reason was because Mrs. Bunny had found
+little Billy Bunny in the pantry.
+
+And what happened to the little rabbit I'm not going to tell you, for
+it is so sad that it would make you weep to hear it.
+
+    "All day he nibbled pie
+     Till at last I thought he'd die,"
+     Said the doctor with a sigh.
+
+And then Mr. William Bunny looked at his small son and sighed, too,
+for he had just paid the doctor's bill.
+
+"Please don't sing any more," said little Billy Bunny. "Don't you
+remember the doctor said I was to be kept quiet?"
+
+So Mr. William Bunny went out on the porch to smoke a cigar and read
+the Rabbitville "Gazette" until after supper time.
+
+And while he was reading Mrs. Bunny looked over his shoulder and read:
+"Wanted, a secondhand automobile in good condition."
+
+"Ring up your Uncle Lucky on the telephone," she called to Billy
+Bunny. "Here's a chance for him to sell his Luckymobile." So the
+little rabbit rang up 000 Lettuceville, and in a few minutes he heard
+the old gentleman's voice at the other end of the wire.
+
+"But I don't want to sell my Luckymobile," he said. "It's the only one
+in ex-is-tence," which means the only one ever made, and I guess he
+was right, for I never rode in a Luckymobile, did you?
+
+"But mother thinks you ought to sell it," said Billy Bunny, "and so
+does father, for they both say you'll have a terrible accident some
+day if you don't look out."
+
+"Well then, I'll look out," said Uncle Lucky with a laugh. "But I
+won't sell my Luckymobile." And then he asked Billy Bunny to make him
+a visit. So the little rabbit put on his knapsack and picked up his
+striped candy cane and started off, after first asking his mother's
+permission, of course.
+
+And after he had gone for maybe a million Hops, he came to a big tree
+where Old Barney the Owl had his next. But of course, he wasn't awake.
+Oh, my, no. He had his eyes tightly closed, for owls don't like a
+bright light, you know. They can see in the dark but not in the
+daytime.
+
+But when Billy Bunny called out, "Helloa, Mr. Barney," the old
+gentleman owl blinked his eyes and said, "Who's calling me?" And then
+the little rabbit thought he'd play a joke, so he said, "Mr. Mouse!"
+
+And if there was anything that Old Barney loved to eat, it was mice.
+And in the next story I'll tell you what Billy Bunny did.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XIII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND MR. MOLE.
+
+
+You remember in the last story I promised to tell you what Billy Bunny
+did when Old Barney the Owl asked him, "Who's there?" and the little
+rabbit replied, "Mr. Mouse," just to fool him, you know. Well, after
+that
+
+     Old Barney the Owl
+     Gave a terrible scowl
+     As he looked at little Bill Bunny.
+     You thought you were wise,
+     But my blinky old eyes
+     Can see you are not a bit funny.
+     I can see from my house
+     You are not Mr. Mouse.
+
+And then the old blinkerty, winkerty owl flopped down to the ground
+and tried to catch the little rabbit. But Billy Bunny was too quick
+for him. He jumped into a hollow stump before you could say "Jack
+Rabbit!"
+
+"Come out of there," cried Old Barney, in a screechery, teachery
+voice, but you just bet the little bunny didn't. He knew what would
+happen if he did.
+
+Well, by and by, after a long while, he looked around, and, would you
+believe it, he found a little pair of stairs. So down he hopped until
+he came to a door on which was painted in red letters: "Mr. Mole,
+Subway Contractor."
+
+Then the little rabbit knocked on the door and pretty soon it was
+opened and there stood Mr. Mole himself.
+
+"What do you want?" he asked, trying to squint out of his little tiny
+eyes that were hidden all over with hair.
+
+"It's me--Billy Bunny," replied the little rabbit. "Mr. Owl tried to
+catch me and I hopped into your hollow stump entrance, but I haven't
+got a ticket for the subway."
+
+"Well, you can come in anyway," said the kind old mole; "my subway
+isn't finished yet and the trains won't be running for some time. Come
+in." So Billy Bunny hopped inside and sat down on a chair close to a
+little brass railing, behind which stood Mr. Mole's desk.
+
+Then Mr. Mole sat down and looked at Billy Bunny as much as to say,
+"And now what can I do for you?" So Billy Bunny said, "I would like to
+get up on the ground again. Can you show me a new way, because I don't
+want to go back the way I came?"
+
+Then Mr. Mole pressed a little bell, and in came a mole with overalls
+on and a little pickaxe. "Show my friend, Mr. Billy Bunny, through the
+tunnel to the Moss Bank entrance."
+
+"Thank you," said the little rabbit, and he hopped after the workman
+mole until they came to an opening. And when the little rabbit got
+outside once more he found himself on a mossy bank where blossomed a
+lovely bed of violets.
+
+So he picked a bouquet for himself and stuck it in his buttonhole, and
+after that he hopped away singing a song. And if Robbie Redbreast
+hadn't heard it I never would have been able to tell it to you. Wasn't
+it lucky that the little robin sang it to me this morning while I was
+still in bed? Because, if he hadn't, how would I have ever learned it?
+
+    Over the clover and over the grass
+     Hoppity, hop, I go;
+     Over the leaves from the autumn trees
+     And over the soft white snow,
+     With a whistle and song
+     I go hopping along,
+     I'm Billy Bunny, you know.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XIV.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE WATER SNAKE.
+
+
+    "Over the grass or over the snow,
+     Fast as a little white breeze I go.
+     I'm Billy Bunny, Billy Bunny, you know."
+
+Thus sang the little rabbit even after I left off in last night's
+story. Isn't it strange? Maybe I dreamed it. Anyhow, that's what I
+think he did, and after a while, when he had stopped singing, you
+know, he came to a little hill on the top of which was a high white
+pole with an American Flag flying from it.
+
+And underneath was a whole regiment of little Boy Bunny Scouts,
+dressed in khaki, with guns and caps and brass buttons and guns and
+drums and a captain and a fife, and I guess there were three or four
+fifes, and as soon as they saw the little rabbit, they all shouted,
+"Here comes Billy Bunny. Let's get him to join our regiment."
+
+"I belong to the Billy Bunny Boy Scouts of Old Snake Fence Corner,"
+replied the little rabbit. "I can't join your regiment." So he hopped
+along and by and by he came to a big white swan that was sailing up
+and down on a pond.
+
+"Would you like to take a sail?" she asked, coming up close to the
+bank. "Because if you would, just hop on my back and I'll take you
+around the pond two times and maybe a half if you'll give me a
+lollypop."
+
+So the little rabbit opened his knapsack and gave her one and then he
+hopped on her back and went for a lovely sail in and out among the
+pond lilies and little green grass islands.
+
+Well, everything was going along beautifully when, all of a sudden,
+just like that, a big water snake came swimming by.
+
+"Oh, don't let him swallow me," cried the little rabbit, and he took
+his popgun out of his knapsack and stuck the cork in the end.
+
+"I'll shoot you on the tail if you touch me," he cried just as bravely
+as he could, but he nearly slipped off the swan's back just the same,
+he was so frightened.
+
+"Don't you come any nearer," said the swan with a fierce hiss, but the
+snake didn't care. He swam around and around until the little rabbit
+got so dizzy that he had to hold on to the swan's neck.
+
+"Please swim around the other way," pleaded the little rabbit, "you
+make me dreadfully dizzy. "But the bad water snake said he wouldn't,
+because that's just what he wanted Billy Bunny to be--so dizzy that he
+would fall into the water and then that dreadful water snake could
+swallow him and maybe a pond lily besides.
+
+"Look here," said the swan, "if you don't stop making snakery circles
+all around me, I'll bite your head off with my big, strong beak." And
+then what do you think the little rabbit did? Why, he managed somehow
+to lift up his gun and shoot it off, and the cork hit the water snake
+on the end of the tail and gave him such a headache that he swam over
+to the long grass and ate watercress salad and a piece of lemon pie.
+
+And while he was doing that the swan took the little rabbit to the
+other side of the pond and he hopped away so fast that he didn't tell
+me what he was going to do in to-morrow's story.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XV.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE PEACOCK.
+
+
+Well, if it hadn't been for Robbie Redbreast who saw little Billy
+Bunny hopping away from the lily pond, as I told you in the last
+story, I never would have found out what he did after that, and so
+there would have been no story to-night. So the next time you see
+Robbie Redbreast, please thank him.
+
+And now this is what he told me. After the little rabbit had hopped
+along for maybe a mile or three, he came to a high stone wall. "I
+wonder what's on the other side?" he said to himself, and then a
+beautiful peacock looked over and said: "I'll tell you, little rabbit.
+
+"It's a beautiful garden where a fountain plays all day and the
+breezes sing all night and the flowers whisper and bow their heads."
+
+"How can I get in?" asked the little bunny, "for I love flowers and I
+never heard a fountain play. What does it play?"
+
+"Oh, all sorts of waterfall music," said the peacock, and he spread
+his beautiful tail out like a fan and brushed a little green fly off
+his nose. "It plays trills and rills and cascades and ripples and
+dipples."
+
+And this made the little rabbit so curious that he hunted all around
+to find a gate in the high stone wall. And pretty soon, not so very
+long, he came to one, with big iron rods and curiously carved images
+of lions and dragons and animals with wings.
+
+So he squeezed through and hopped up to the beautiful fountain where
+lots of little gold and silver fish swam around and around and the
+water fell in diamonds and rubies and emeralds, but he didn't know
+that it was Mr. Happy Sun who colored the water drops to make them
+look like precious stones.
+
+"Please play me a tune," said the little rabbit. And then the
+beautiful peacock said, "What tune would you like?" and the little
+rabbit answered:
+
+    "Sprinkle, sprinkle, little star,
+     Just a water drop you are.
+     Twinkle, twinkle, drops of dew,
+     With the sunlight shining through."
+
+ So the beautiful fountain played this little song while Billy Bunny
+sat there listening and the beautiful peacock spread his tail to catch
+the sparkle from the glittering drops of water. And then all the roses
+began singing:
+
+     Roses white and roses red,
+     And roses yellow too, instead,
+     And pretty lilies white as snow,
+     And every other flower you know.
+
+And after that Billy Bunny asked the peacock to sing a song, but when
+he started to sing, oh dear, oh dear. For you know just because a bird
+has beautiful feathers he may not have a beautiful voice, and the
+sounds the peacock made were dreadful.
+
+Yes, indeed. And if the little rabbit hadn't skipped away he would
+have had to hold his paws over his ears, and then maybe he couldn't
+have stopped them up, for he had very large ears and very small feet.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XVI.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE MARBLE DEER.
+
+
+In the story before this I told you how the beautiful peacock sang a
+song which was dreadful, so very dreadful that little Billy Bunny had
+to hold his ears and run away from the lovely fountain.
+
+Well, after he had hopped along for maybe a million hops or less, he
+came to a little deer on a smooth lawn. So he stopped and spoke to
+him, but the pretty little animal never said a word. He didn't even
+look at the little rabbit, so Billy Bunny touched him on the nose,
+but, oh, dear me! It was cold and hard, not at all like the nose of a
+real little deer.
+
+But the little bunny didn't know it was a marble deer. He just thought
+it was alive, you see, and he was puzzled and didn't know what to do
+And then a lovely white dove flew down and said:
+
+"He can't speak. He's only a statue."
+
+"What is that?" asked the little rabbit, for he had never seen one
+before.
+
+"Why, a statue is a figure carved out of marble or stone," answered
+the dove, and then she began to coo and comb her feathers with her
+bill.
+
+"Well, I'll just hop along then," said Billy Bunny, and he said good-
+by. And after a while he came to a little house all covered with red
+rambler roses, so he looked inside to see who lived there, for he
+thought perhaps it might be a fairy who owned this beautiful garden
+with the lovely fountain and the wonderful peacock.
+
+But there was no one inside, so he hopped in and sat down/on a small
+wicker chair and rocked back and forth. For it was a rocking chair,
+you know. And. by and by, he fell asleep and dreamed that the
+beautiful peacock was flying around the fountain and scattering the
+water drops all about with his mag-nif-i-cent tail. And then, all of a
+sudden, the little rabbit woke up, for somebody was saying:
+
+"Isn't this a dear little bunny?" And Billy Bunny opened his eyes and
+saw a little girl with yellow curls leaning over him.
+
+"Give him to me," said a boy's voice. And there stood a small boy
+dressed in a sailor suit and a big sailor hat on which was written,
+"Battleship Uncle Sam."
+
+And then Billy Bunny knew it was time to be going. So he gave one big
+hop and maybe two million and a half little skips and jumps, and soon
+he was far away, and if he hadn't maybe that little boy would have put
+him in a cage or a big box and kept him shut up for a long time.
+
+"Goodness!" said the little rabbit, "I must be more careful next
+time." And then something happened. A little hard ball hit him on the
+left hind foot, and a man's voice called out, "If it hadn't been for
+that pesky little rabbit I would have made that hole."
+
+And the big man put his golf stick in the bag and watched Billy Bunny
+limp away to hide in the woods close by.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XVII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE FOREST DANCE.
+
+
+     When the moon is big and bright
+     Little bunnies dance at night.
+     How they hop and skip and go
+     On their lucky left hind toe.
+
+Well, sir, that's what Billy Bunny was doing. It was a lovely
+moonlight night in August, and the big, round moon was gleaming down
+on the Pleasant Meadow just like an electric lamp, only it was up in
+the sky, you know, and not on the ceiling.
+
+And Mrs. Bunny was there, too, and so was Cousin Cottontail, and all
+the little rabbits for miles around.
+
+Now it's a dangerous thing to be dancing, even if the moon is bright,
+for owls and hawks fly by night, and if they happen to see a bunny
+dance, they always fly down and break it up. They don't say a word;
+they just fly away with one of the little bunny dancers and he never
+dances any more. No, sireemam.
+
+Well, on this particular night little Billy Bunny was doing the fox
+trot with a nice little lady bunny, when all of a sudden from out of
+the Friendly Forest came Slyboots and Bushy Tail, the small sons of
+Daddy Fox, you remember.
+
+And the reason they were out so late at night was because their father
+had sprained his foot jumping over a stone fence to get away from a
+pack of hounds who had chased him for a thousand and one miles and
+fourteen feet.
+
+Now Billy Bunny had forgotten all about Daddy Fox. He was thinking
+only about Robber Hawk or Old Barney the Owl, and so he never saw the
+two foxes until they were so close to him that they almost stubbed
+their whiskers on his powder puff tail.
+
+And if it hadn't been for the lady bunny who was dancing with him
+maybe Slyboots, or maybe Bushy Tail, would have caught the little
+bunny. But the lady rabbit saw them just in time and she gave a scream
+and hopped into a hollow stump and Billy Bunny after her, and then all
+that the two foxes could do was to stand close by and say:
+
+    "Isn't that a shame,
+     To spoil their little game,
+     To stop their dancing
+     And their prancing,
+     Who do you think's to blame?"
+
+"You are, you two bad foxes," said Billy Bunny, but he didn't come out
+of that hollow stump. No, sireemam, he staid inside and so did the
+little lady rabbit, and by and by the two bad foxes went away and told
+their father, Daddy Fox, all about it, and he said, "Don't make any
+excuse.
+
+"You are very poor hunters if you can't catch a rabbit when he's
+dancing the Fox Trot." And I guess he was right, for Slyboots and
+Bushy Tail were so ashamed that they didn't dare look in their
+mother's looking-glass for two days and three nights.
+
+And in the next story if Billy Bunny gets out of that hollow stump
+before I see him, I'll ask Robbie Redbreast to tell me what he does so
+that I can write to-morrow's story for you to read.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XVIII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND RAGGED RABBIT.
+
+
+Robbie Redbreast told me this morning he saw Billy Bunny hop out of
+the hollow stump where he had hidden with the little lady bunny, you
+remember in the last story, to escape from the two bad foxes.
+
+Well, after he had looked all around to make sure they were gone, he
+said good-by to Miss Rabbit. And then, so Robbie Redbreast told me, he
+looked at his gold watch and chain, which his dear, kind Uncle Lucky
+had given him for a birthday present, and it was just thirteen
+o'clock.
+
+"That's my lucky number," exclaimed the little rabbit; "maybe I'll
+find my fortune to-day." And he looked all about him, under a stone and
+behind a bush, but there wasn't any fortune in sight, not even a
+twenty-dollar gold piece. So he wound his watch and started off again;
+and by and by, not so very far, he came to a castle where lived a
+giant bunny whose name was "Ragged Rabbit" because he always wore torn
+and tattered clothes.
+
+And when he saw Billy Bunny hopping along, he said, "Ha, ha. Ho, hum,
+I'll eat that little bunny as sure as I'm a foot high!" And as he was
+twenty-one feet high less or more, he surely thought he would.
+
+"What did you say?" asked Billy Bunny, for his quick ears had caught
+the sound of the Ragged Rabbit's voice, but not the words.
+
+"Oh, never mind," answered the Ragged Giant Rabbit. "Come and I'll
+show you my castle." And, oh, dear me. Billy hopped in and the big
+Giant Rabbit closed the door with a bang, and all the pictures on the
+walls almost fell down and the chandelier rattled like a milk wagon
+full of empty cans. But the little rabbit wasn't frightened. And could
+you guess what he did if I let you guess until to-morrow night?
+
+Well, sir, that brave little bunny took his popgun out of his knapsack
+and shot it off, and it made a dreadful loud pop, and the big Ragged
+Rabbit said, "Oh, my! Was that a cannon?"
+
+And then he laughed so loud that he broke a window pane and had to
+telephone right away to the plumber to have one put in.
+
+"That's my pop-gun, Mr. Giant," said Billy Bunny, "and if you try to
+hurt me I'll shoot you." And then the Ragged Giant Rabbit laughed
+again, and this time the picture of his grandfather fell down and made
+a big dent in the floor.
+
+"If you don't stop laughing," said the little rabbit, "you'll deafen
+me. Please only giggle." So the Giant Rabbit grew very polite indeed
+and only smiled, and then of course nothing was broken.
+
+"Tell me who you are and where you are going and what time it is," he
+said, "and then I'll give you something to eat."
+
+But before the little rabbit could reply a loud knocking came at the
+door, and so you'll have to wait to hear who was there until to-
+morrow, for I've no more room in this story.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XIX.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND TAILOR BIRD.
+
+
+You remember in the last story somebody was knocking at the door of
+the Ragged Rabbit's castle, don't you? The Giant Rabbit, who always
+wore torn and tattered clothes because he had no wife to mend them and
+wouldn't pay his tailor's bills?
+
+Well, who do you suppose was on the other side of that door? Just wait
+until the Giant Rabbit opens it and you shall see. Now open your eyes,
+if you have shut them, and see Uncle Lucky, as sure as I am writing
+this story and you are reading it.
+
+Yes, sir. There stood the dear old gentleman rabbit, and oh, dear me,
+didn't he look worried? I suppose he thought he'd find Billy Bunny
+inside the giant. But when he saw Billy Bunny standing there, safe and
+sound and happy, with his popgun in his hand and a smile on his face,
+he began to laugh.
+
+"Whew!" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit, greatly relieved, which
+means to feel much better. "I'm glad to see you, my dear nephew. And
+also to make your acquaintance, Mr. Ragged Rabbit Giant. My name is
+Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot. Howdy!" and he put out his right front paw and
+shook hands with the giant, who had to lean way down to reach Uncle
+Lucky's paw.
+
+"But, goodness me!" said the old gentleman rabbit after looking at the
+giant for some moments, "you need a tailor. Let me call the Tailor
+Bird to mend your clothes. You are too nice a rabbit not to be well
+dressed."
+
+And kind Uncle Lucky went to the telephone and told the Tailor Bird to
+bring a spool of thread a mile long and a needle as big as a spear for
+he had a giant customer for him with holes in his clothes as big as a
+circus ring. The Tailor Bird said he'd try to, but wouldn't promise
+unless he could send in a bill as big as a newspaper spread out flat.
+
+"Will that be all right?" asked Uncle Lucky after he had explained
+matters to the ragged Giant Rabbit.
+
+"Certainly," said the Giant Rabbit with a grin, "and tell him I'll pay
+him with a dollar bill as big as a Turkish rug or a crex carpet."
+
+And then they all sat down and told funny stories, and Billy Bunny
+sang a song that went something like this, only much nicer, but I
+can't quite remember it all:
+
+    "Oh, you're a raggerty, taggerty man,
+     In a castle big and old,
+     And I'm a Billy Bunny boy
+     With a heart that's brave and bold.
+     You can't scare me with your thunder laugh
+     Or your club like a telegraph pole,
+     So you'd better allow the Tailor Bird
+     To sew up each raggerty hole."
+
+And then the Tailor Bird commenced and it took him until half-past
+fourteen o'clock to mend that Giant Rabbit's clothes. "I might just as
+well have made you a new suit," he said, as the last inch of the mile-
+long spool of thread was used up. "I declare I never had such a job
+before."
+
+And I guess he spoke the truth, for I never met a Giant Rabbit in my
+tailor's shop, although I once had a giant bill from my tailor.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XX.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND PARSON CROW.
+
+
+Well, after the Tailor Bird got his money from the Ragged Giant Rabbit
+for mending his clothes, he thanked Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky and
+said he must be going for he had to make a suit of clothes right away
+for Parson Crow.
+
+"If you'll wait a minute you can go with us," said kind Uncle Lucky;
+"we'll take you home in the automobile."
+
+Of course the Tailor Bird was only too anxious to get a ride, although
+he did have a good pair of wings. But the needle was pretty heavy and,
+anyway, Tailor Birds don't often have the opportunity to ride in
+automobiles.
+
+Well, after a little ways, not so very far, the Luckymobile came to a
+stop and, of course, Billy Bunny had to get out to see what was the
+matter, and he hunted and hunted all over the machine, but couldn't
+find out what was wrong. By and by he saw one of the numbers had
+dropped off the little license plate that hung down from the rear
+axle.
+
+So he hopped back, and by and by, just as he was going to give up
+looking for it, Parson Crow flew by, and when he saw Billy Bunny he
+stopped and said: "What are you looking for, little rabbit?"
+
+And when Billy Bunny told him, he took the number 7 out of his pocket
+and handed it to the little bunny. "Here's your number," cawed the
+black crow, although I never heard of a white one except once, and
+that was a bad bird who had been whitewashed by a colored painter
+because he ate up all the corn.
+
+"That's my lucky number," said Billy Bunny. And then the crow said in
+a mournful voice:
+
+"It's mine, too, and I just hate to give it up."
+
+"Well, if you can get me another number, I don't care if you keep it,"
+said the little rabbit. And then what do you think that crow did? Why,
+he got a nice smooth little chip and made a lovely number 3 on it with
+a red pencil and handed it to the little rabbit.
+
+And as soon as he had tied it on the Luckymobile, would you believe it
+if I didn't say so, that Luckymobile started to go all by itself. And
+if Billy Bunny hadn't been mighty quick he would have been left
+behind.
+
+"Where are you two rabbits going?" asked the crow as he flew alongside
+of the Luckymobile. "Because if you are not in a hurry, why don't you
+come with me to the meeting house to-night and hear me preach?"
+
+"We will," said kind Uncle Lucky, "and I'll drop a carrot cent in the
+collection box if you want me to." So after a while they stopped near
+a tall pine tree and Parson Crow sat on a limb and waited for all the
+little people of the forest to come to the meeting. Well, after they
+were all there, he began:
+
+    "Now, listen to the words I say,
+     And do your duty every day.
+     Be always good and most polite
+     And do the things you know are right.
+     Oh, never say an angry word
+     To any animal or bird,
+     So when the night comes 'twill be good
+     To feel you've done the best you could."
+
+And after that Uncle Lucky dropped a carrot dollar in the collection
+box and drove home with Billy Bunny.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXI.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND JACK-IN-THE-BOX.
+
+
+     Oh, I'm a rollicking Jack-in-the-Box,
+     And I'm not afraid of a bear or a fox,
+     For every one's scared when up I pop,
+     And the little girl cries, "Oh, stop! oh, stop!"
+     I'm the bravest thing you ever saw,
+     I'm not afraid of my Mother-in-Law!
+
+Well, sir, I suppose you'll think Billy Bunny was frightened and that
+Uncle Lucky lost his breath and the automobile a tire. But nothing of
+the sort happened. Instead, the old gentleman rabbit laughed so hard
+that his collar button fell out and it took him fifteen minutes and
+half an hour to find it. And then he never would have if the Jack-in-
+the Box hadn't seen it first. And where do you suppose that ex-as-per-
+a-ting, which means teasing, button was? You'd never guess, so I'll
+have to tell you without asking you again.
+
+It was in the old gentleman rabbit's waistcoat pocket where he kept
+his gold watch and chain and pocket knife and pencil with a rubber on
+the end and a toothpick.
+
+"How did you see it pop into my pocket?" he asked the Jack-in-the-Box.
+"I'll never tell you," said the Jack-in-the-Box, "but what does that
+matter? You've found your collar button, and that's enough."
+
+"If I come across your cousin Jack-in-the-Pulpit," said Uncle Lucky,
+after he had buttoned up his collar and wound his watch, "I'll tell
+him how kind you were to find my collar button for me," and then the
+old gentleman rabbit took off his old wedding stovepipe hat and bowed
+to the Jack-in-the-Box and drove away in the Luckmobile down the road,
+and when he came to a bridge he said to his little nephew, "Do you
+think we're on the right road?"
+
+"I don't remember this bridge, do you?" And then a voice cried out,
+"Don't be anxious, Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot. This is the road to
+Lettuceville.
+
+"Keep right on after you cross the bridge until you come to a little
+red schoolhouse and then turn to your left and then turn to your right
+and if you don't get home until morning you've made a mistake."
+
+"Thank you," said Uncle Lucky. "And if I make a mistake I'll come back
+and give you a scolding, "and after that they crossed the bridge, and
+just as they came to the first turn in the road they heard a dreadful
+loud noise in the woods close by.
+
+"What's that?" asked Billy Bunny, and he turned up his left ear and
+his coat collar so that he could hear better.
+
+"It's an old friend of yours," answered a deep growly kind of a voice,
+and before the two rabbits could wonder who it was their friend, the
+good-natured bear jumped out of the bushes.
+
+"Take me with you, please," he said, "for I've run a splinter in my
+foot and it hurts me to walk." And in the next story you shall hear of
+another adventure which the two little rabbits had.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND DR. DUCK.
+
+
+You remember in the last story how the good-natured bear asked Billy
+Bunny and Uncle Lucky to give him a ride in the Luckymobile because he
+had run a splinter in his foot.
+
+Well, as soon as he had climbed into the automobile, and it took him
+almost 23 1/2 seconds to do it, for the splinter was so long that it
+caught on the door, Uncle Lucky started off and by and by they came to
+the house where the good Duck Doctor lived.--Dr. Quack, you remember.
+
+"Now, I'll go in and get him to come out and look at your splinter,"
+said Billy Bunny, as he hopped out of the Luckymobile and rang the
+front door bell, and in a minute, less or more, a nice looking lady
+duck came out and said, "The Doctor is away on his vacation. He's gone
+to the Lily Pond for two weeks. But you can call him up on the
+telephone if you like. The number is Waterville, 2 3 umpty eleven."
+
+So the little rabbit called up the number and when the doctor heard
+what was the matter, he said, "You had better come to see me.
+
+"You have the automobile right there, and it's a dangerous thing to
+have so large a splinter as that. Tell Mr. Bear he'll have a dreadful
+corn if it isn't taken out at once."
+
+So they all hurried away and pretty soon they came to Lily Pond, and
+there was Dr. Duck swimming around among the pond lilies and the
+frogs, having a lovely time. And wasn't he sunburnt? Well, I should
+say he was. His bill was as dark as a little brown berry and his nose
+was as red as a little choke cherry.
+
+"That looks very serious to me," said he, putting on his glasses and
+looking at Mr. Bear's injured feet. "I'll have to get a saw and cut
+off your foot." And then Mr. Bear gave a dreadful howl. "Oh, please
+don't saw off my foot. It's sore enough already."
+
+"I didn't mean to saw off your foot," said Dr. Duck. "Did I say that?
+I mean to saw off the splinter and then put on a poultice and draw out
+the pain."
+
+Well, it took a long time to do all that, and the poor Bear cried
+several times, for it hurt the splinter dreadfully, you know, to be
+sawed off that way. But by and by the poultice began to "draw, and
+pretty soon out came the splinter, and Mr. Bear felt ever so much
+better. That is, until the doctor said, "It will cost you a million
+dollars, for that was a very serious operation."
+
+"I've never even seen a million dollars," said the Bear. "Nor even a
+million cents. You'll have to mail me a corrected bill," and then he
+jumped into the automobile and asked Uncle Lucky to drive away.
+
+"Stop, stop!" cried the Duck Doctor, but Uncle Lucky paid no attention
+to him, any more than the Bear paid the bill. "You send a corrected
+bill to my friend," said the old gentleman rabbit. "And, mind you, you
+had better correct it three times and a half if you ever want it
+paid."
+
+And in the next story you shall hear of an exciting adventure which
+the two little rabbits had with a fretful porcupine.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXIII.
+
+BUNNY AND THE FRETFUL PORCUPINE.
+
+
+     Oh, never tease a porcupine,
+     For reasons I'll relate,
+     He's like a cushion full of pins
+     That stand out stiff and straight.
+     And if you stand too close I know
+     He'll stick one in your little toe.
+
+Well, that's just what Uncle Lucky did, and of course he got stuck
+with one of those prickly, stickery porcupine needles and it was an
+awful bother to get it out.
+
+And the fretful porcupine laughed and this made Billy Bunny very
+angry, and he took his popgun out of his knapsack and hit the
+porcupine on the end of the nose with the cork bullet, and this made
+the prickly animal run away.
+
+And after that the two rabbits started off again in the Luckymobile
+and by and by they came to a little village where they made lollypops
+by the million. And the first thing Uncle Lucky did was to buy a big
+box full of them and put it in the back of the Luckymobile, "for,"
+said the kind old gentleman rabbit, "we may run across some boys and
+girls and then we'll have something nice to give them."
+
+Wasn't that kind of him? But he was always doing nice things, was
+dear, kind, generous Uncle Lucky.
+
+Well, after a while they came to some woods where a picnic was being
+held. There were lots and lots of children playing under the trees and
+the women were sitting around talking and telling their troubles, and
+the men were making whistles and bows and arrows for the boys and
+telling how they used to shoot with them when they were little boys.
+
+"Helloa there, children!" cried Uncle Lucky, while Billy Bunny honked
+the horn. "Don't you want some lollypops?" And in about five hundred
+short seconds there wasn't a lollypop left in that big box, and Uncle
+Lucky was a hero, or a Santa Claus, I don't remember which. And then
+one big boy said, "Let's give three cheers for the two rabbits and one
+more for the Luckymobile."
+
+And you never heard such a noise in your life. One little boy got so
+excited that he swallowed a raspberry lollypop and his mother had to
+reach down his throat and pull it out by the stick.
+
+"Now be good until I see you again," said the kind old gentleman
+rabbit as he drove off, and by and by Billy Bunny saw something moving
+among the trees.
+
+"What's that?" he said to his rabbit uncle. But before the old
+gentleman rabbit could reply, a big stone hit one of the lamps on the
+automobile and broke it to splintereens.
+
+"Stop that whoever you are!" shouted Billy Bunny. "If you do it again
+I'll shoot!" and he held his popgun up to his shoulder just like a
+soldier boy in battle.
+
+And if the little canary in my room doesn't wink at me all night so
+that I can't hear the alarm clock in the morning, I'll tell you
+another story.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXIV.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND DANNY BILLYGOAT.
+
+
+Well, my little canary bird didn't wink at me all night, as I feared
+it might in the last story, and my alarm clock said "good morning" to
+me at half-past fourteen o'clock, so I got up in time, and here is the
+story I wrote before I went out into the garden to eat raspberries
+with Robbie Redbreast.
+
+One evening as Uncle Lucky and Billy Bunny were driving along in the
+Luckymobile, who should they come across but a little billygoat named
+Danny.
+
+He had a little beard that hung down from his chin and two little
+horns that stuck up from his head, and he was playing on a flute while
+he sat cross-legged on a stone by the roadside. And when he saw our
+two small friends in their machine, he began to play:
+
+     It's not so far to the twinkle star
+     In the little white boat of sleep.
+     So list to my tune, like a breeze in June,
+     Where the honeysuckles creep.
+
+     Over the sky, way up high,
+     In the little white boat of sleep.
+     Ever so far to the twinkle star
+     Way up in the sky blue deep.
+
+"Where did you learn that lullaby," asked kind Uncle Lucky, brushing a
+tear from his eye, for he remembered just a little song his mother
+used to sing when he was a little boy rabbit, you know.
+
+"I don't know," answered Danny Goat. He pulled on his goatee and
+smiled, and then he began again:
+
+    "Up in the sky when the sun is high
+     The white cloud boats go sailing by,
+     And the summer breeze in the tall, tall trees
+     Is singing a song the whole day long.
+     And this is the song they sing:
+     We ring the bell in the cool damp dell
+     That grows on the lily's stalk,
+     We bend the ferns in the river's turns
+     And the tail of the great gray hawk;
+     And the foamy spray in the big deep bay
+     We blow on the great boardwalk."
+
+"That reminds me of Atlantic City," said Uncle Lucky. "Let's drive
+down there and go for a swim."
+
+"Just the thing," said the little rabbit; "I've got my bathing suit in
+my knapsack. I'm ready."
+
+So off they went, and by and by they came to the seashore. But there
+wasn't a hotel in sight, so of course they knew they had made a
+mistake. They didn't care, especially Billy Bunny, for not very far
+from land was the big good-natured whale who had taken him for a sail
+a long, long time ago. "There's my friend the Whaleship!" cried the
+little rabbit.
+
+And in the next story, if that whale doesn't swim away, I'll tell you
+something more about Billy Bunny and his kind Uncle Lucky.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXV.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE WHALE.
+
+
+You remember in the story before this that Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky
+were at the seashore, and out a little ways from the land was the
+good-natured Whale.
+
+Well, as soon as he saw the little rabbit he swam up to the beach and
+said "Hello." And then Billy Bunny introduced him to Uncle Lucky, and
+after that the Whale said:
+
+"Don't you both want to go for a sail?" and as the old gentleman
+rabbit had never been on a whaleship in his life, he said yes right
+away, and so did the little rabbit.
+
+Then the Whale pushed his tail up on the sand and the two little
+rabbits hopped over it just like a bridge, and then they sat down, and
+away went the whale with a swish of his tail that spattered the spray
+all over the bay.
+
+"Goodness me!" cried the old gentleman rabbit, "I'll have to wipe off
+my spectacles," and he took his polka-dot handkerchief from his
+pocket, and after that he tied it over his old wedding stovepipe hat,
+for he wasn't going to lose that hat, no siree, and a no sireemam, not
+even if he had to tie the anchor to it. By and by, not so very long,
+they heard a sweet voice singing, so they looked everywhere, but the
+only thing they saw was the big green ocean.
+
+"I wonder who is singing?" said Uncle Lucky, and he took his spyglass
+out of his waistcoat pocket and twisted it around and around until he
+could see distinctly, which means plainly, you know.
+
+"There she is!" cried the old gentleman rabbit, and he got so excited
+that he looked through the wrong end of the spyglass and then he said,
+"No, she isn't!" for he couldn't see anything at all that way, you
+know.
+
+"What did you see?" asked the little rabbit, and he pushed forward
+Uncle Lucky's old wedding stovepipe hat to keep it from falling over
+his left ear.
+
+"A mermaid!" cried the old gentleman rabbit, and before he could turn
+the spyglass the other way a lovely mermaid swam up and handed him her
+card, and on it was written in lovely purple ink:
+
+ Miss Coral Seafoam,
+ Oceanville,
+ U. S. A.
+
+"Pleased to meet you," cried the old gentleman rabbit most politely.
+"This is my nephew, William Bunny, Brier Patch, Old Snake Fence
+Corner, and my name is Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot and I live in
+Lettuceville, corner of Carrot and Lettuce streets," and then he tried
+to take off his hat, but he couldn't, for it was tied down tight, you
+remember, with his blue polka-dot handkerchief.
+
+And after that the mermaid asked them to visit her coral island, where
+she and her sisters sold coral beads and scarfpins. And in the next
+story you shall hear--well, I guess I won't tell you now, but let you
+wait and see.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXVI.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE MERMAID.
+
+
+Well, now we'll commence by saying that as soon as Billy Bunny and
+Uncle Lucky reached the coral island, where the lovely mermaid lived,
+for she had asked them to call, you remember, they got off the Whale,
+and, after asking him to wait for them while they made a little visit,
+sat down on the sand, and pretty soon the mermaid brought them each a
+lovely coral scarfpin, and the one she gave to Uncle Lucky was a
+little image of herself and the one she gave to Billy Bunny was a
+little fish.
+
+Then the little rabbit opened his knapsack and took out a lovely apple
+pie and gave it to her. And she was so pleased that she ate it all up,
+and then she said, "I'll give you a lovely breast-pin made of
+beautiful coral for your mother, Mr. Billy Bunny, if you'll give me
+another pie."
+
+So the little rabbit opened his knapsack and took out another fresh,
+juicy apple pie and placed the beautiful present for his mother
+carefully in the knapsack, and after that he ate a lollypop and Uncle
+Lucky drank a bottle of ginger ale, and then they said good-by and got
+aboard the Whaleship and sailed away.
+
+And would you believe it? Dear, kind Uncle Lucky almost cried! You
+see, he had never seen a mermaid before, and he thought she was
+lovely, and I guess she was, for Uncle Lucky couldn't make a mistake,
+I'm sure, for he had travelled abroad and had seen lots and lots of
+beautiful lady bunnies.
+
+"And now where are we going?" asked the little rabbit, but Uncle Lucky
+was too busy trying to find his other blue polka-dot handkerchief with
+which to wipe his eyes to answer.
+
+And then he couldn't find it, and the reason was because he had given
+it to a Chinaman the day before, but he didn't remember that, for he
+was so miserable at leaving the beautiful mermaid.
+
+"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" sighed the old gentleman rabbit,
+
+    "'Tis sad to part.
+     My poor old heart
+     Is nearly, nearly breaking;
+     Alas! alas! that mermaid lass
+     Has set my head a-shaking!"
+
+And after that his old wedding stovepipe hat almost fell off his head,
+and it would have, I'm sure, if it hadn't been for the blue polka-dot
+handkerchief which he had tied over the top of it.
+
+And just then, all of a sudden, the Whaleship bumped into a motor
+boat, and nearly upset it.
+
+"What's the matter with your pilot?" screamed the man who was in the
+motor boat, and when Uncle Lucky looked over the side of the Whale he
+saw it wasn't a man at all, but the old Billygoat who owned the
+Ferryboat I told you about some umpty-leven stones ago.
+
+"Excuse us, please," said the kind old gentleman rabbit, but what the
+Billygoat said I'll have to tell you in the next story, for there's no
+more room in this one.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXVII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE BEANSTALK.
+
+
+Seeing it's you," answered the Billygoat, who, you remember in the
+last story, had gotten very angry because Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky
+had bumped into his motor boat with their whaleship.
+
+"I'll forgive you," and then he raced the Whale all the way to the
+shore and would have beaten him, too, if he had gone faster.
+
+And as soon as the whaleship ran up on the beach, the two little
+rabbits hopped off and got into their automobile and drove away, and
+the Whale went back and told the Mermaid that the two little rabbits
+had a beautiful Luckymobile, and she felt dreadfully sorry that she
+hadn't gone with them.
+
+Well, after a little while, not so very far, they came across a
+wonderful beanstalk, which was growing up so high that you couldn't
+see the top, and if Billy Bunny had only known the story about "Jack
+and the Beanstalk," I guess he would have thought that the story had
+come true.
+
+"My gracious!" exclaimed Uncle Lucky. "My lima beans at home grow
+pretty high but never as high as this," and he took out of his
+waistcoat pocket his spyglass and tried to find the top of the
+beanstalk; but he couldn't, for it was hidden in the clouds. Just
+think of that!
+
+"I'm going to climb up that beanstalk," said the little bunny. "Maybe
+I'll find my fortune at the top."
+
+"And I'll go with you," said the old gentleman rabbit, for he wasn't
+going to let his small nephew go up a strange beanstalk and perhaps
+get lost in the clouds, you know.
+
+Not good, kind Uncle Lucky. No, sireemam; so they hopped out of the
+Luckymobile and started up the beanstalk, and by and by, after a
+pretty long time, they came to the top and the first thing they saw
+was their friend American Eagle and his wife, and she was sitting on
+her nest hatching out the big eggs which she had laid.
+
+"We'll need lots of eagles now that we've gone to war," said the big
+bird, and he flapped his wings and sang "Yankee Doodle Dandy" three
+times over and then once more. And this made the old gentleman rabbit
+so excited that he stood up and made a speech, and then he threw his
+old wedding stovepipe hat up into the air and gave three cheers and
+half a dozen tigers and two or three bears.
+
+And after that Billy Bunny opened his knapsack and took out an
+American flag and put it on the top of the beanstalk so that all the
+people in the aeroplane could see it and say "Hip-hur-ray for the U.
+S. A.!"
+
+"When the little eagles come out of their shells you must bring them
+to call on me," said good, kind Uncle Lucky to Mrs. Eagle. "I have
+some popcorn and lollypops at home, and I know how children like those
+things."
+
+And this made Mrs. Eagle very happy and Mr. Eagle very proud, and he
+helped the two little rabbits to climb down the beanstalk in time for
+me to write what they did in the next story, which will be about an
+adventure in the Friendly Forest.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXVIII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND SCATTERBRAINS.
+
+
+After Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky reached the ground, for they had
+climbed down the beanstalk, you remember, as I told you in the last
+story, they jumped into the Luckymobile and drove off toward the
+Friendly Forest, and when they had gone maybe a mile in and out among
+the trees, for there wasn't really any automobile road to go on, you
+know, they came across Scatterbrains, the gray squirrel.
+
+Now Uncle Lucky knew Old Squirrel Nutcracker very well, and as the old
+gentleman squirrel was very nice and well behaved it made Uncle Lucky
+provoked to think that his son should be such a scatterbrains. So
+Uncle Lucky stopped the automobile and said:
+
+"Well, young squirrel, have you been troubling your father lately?"
+and Scatterbrains answered, "No, Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot, not lately.
+Not since yesterday."
+
+"What!" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit, "do you mean to say you
+troubled him yesterday? Why didn't you wait until to-morrow?" and then
+Uncle Lucky winked at Billy Bunny and then scowled at Scatterbrains.
+
+And just then they heard a dreadful noise. It sounded just as if the
+trees were snapping to pieces and, all of a sudden, a tornado struck
+them and up in the air went the Luckymobile with the two little
+rabbits, but what happened to the little squirrel I really don't know,
+unless it took him up, too, and hid him in a cloud.
+
+And perhaps it did, for I've often seen clouds that looked exactly
+like squirrels, haven't you, and other animals, too, like bears and
+cats?
+
+"Gracious me!" cried Uncle Billy. "Hang on, Billy Bunny, and don't let
+the cushions slip or the electricity run out of the cabaret, for if we
+ever get back to earth, I'd like to get home and stay home forever.
+Oh, home, sweet home," and the old gentleman rabbit took off his
+automobile goggles, for they were full of tears and he couldn't see
+anything.
+
+Well, by and by, the tornado let go and the automobile fell on top of
+a clothesline and balanced there as nicely as a tight-rope dancer, and
+when the two little rabbits looked about them, they found they were in
+Mrs. Bunny's backyard in the Old Brier Patch. Wasn't that lucky? Well,
+I guess it was!
+
+And just then Mrs. Bunny came out of the kitchen door to hang up some
+of Billy Bunny's little shirts on the line, for it was Monday morning,
+you know.
+
+And when she saw the Luckymobile on her clothesline she gave a scream,
+and then she began to laugh, and after that she ran back into the
+house and brought out her scissors and cut the rope and the automobile
+came down with a bang, and out tumbled the two little rabbits.
+
+"Well, well, well," said Mrs. Bunny, and she sat down on the
+clothespin basket and laughed, but, of course, there weren't any
+clothespins, or any other kind of pins, in it, you see, for then she
+wouldn't have laughed.
+
+And in the next story, if my umbrella doesn't open and stand over my
+bed to keep off the mosquitoes, I'll tell you another story to-morrow
+night.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXIX.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. BLACK CAT.
+
+
+     Awake, awake, 'tis early morn.
+     The cow is climbing the stalks of corn,
+     The little bird is beating an egg,
+     And the rooster is dancing about on one leg,
+     And the pig is trying on her new bonnet,
+     With a little blue bow and a red cherry on it.
+
+Uncle Lucky rolled over in bed and then he got up and wiggled his nose
+and his left ear, and after that he was so wide awake that he didn't
+want to get back into bed, as I did, when I woke up this morning.
+
+And just then the breakfast bell rang and Mrs. Bunny put on the coffee
+and the baked lollypops and the stewed prunes, and, oh, dear me! I
+really can't remember what rabbits eat every day, for I'm sure they
+don't eat the same old thing, for if they did they wouldn't be jolly
+and gay and hop about merrily all through the day, but would sit in a
+corner and sulk and be sad, and maybe get angry and maybe get mad.
+
+So always remember to have something new, for no one can always enjoy
+a prune stew. There! I've gone and written another piece of poetry and
+my typewriter wouldn't print it properly. Isn't that too bad?
+
+Well, after breakfast the old gentleman rabbit went out for a walk in
+the Pleasant Meadow, and he went all alone, too, for Billy Bunny had
+to stay home and polish the front door knob and sweep the piazza and
+feed the canary and bring in the wood, for Mrs. Bunny had to hurry up
+with the breakfast dishes so as to be able to go over and see Cousin
+Cottontail, who had just had a new baby rabbit.
+
+Well, as I was saying, Uncle Lucky hopped along the Pleasant Meadow
+until he came to the Old Farm Yard where Cocky Docky and Henny Jenny
+and all the other Barn Yard Folk lived with the good-natured farmer.
+
+And just as he was going through the gate, who should bounce out at
+him but a big black cat. And, oh, dear me. Her claws were sticking out
+of her feet like pins and her eyes were yellow as fire and her teeth
+glittered and her whiskers stood out like bayonets, and her tail was
+as big as a rolling pin and her back was humped up worse than a
+camel's.
+
+If you can think of anything worse than the way that cat looked I wish
+you would write me a letter and tell me so that I can scare Uncle
+Lucky, for, would you believe it, he wasn't the least big frightened.
+No, sireemam.
+
+He just took off his old wedding stovepipe hat and bowed most politely
+to Mrs. Black Cat, and she was so surprised that she turned around and
+went back to her three little kittens who never wore mittens because
+they didn't have any.
+
+And after that the old gentleman rabbit hopped into the barn and ate
+some corn and had a talk with Mr. Sharptooth Rat. And maybe he would
+have been talking there yet if something hadn't happened. And when you
+don't expect it, something very often, and sometimes most always, does
+happen. The Miller's dog ran into the barn and made a grab for the old
+gentleman rabbit, but Uncle Lucky was too quick for him.
+
+He hopped to one side and then out of that barn so that he hopped
+right into to-morrow night's story. Wasn't that wonderful?
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXX.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND BIG YELLOW DOG.
+
+
+Let me see. Didn't I say that Billy Bunny hopped out of the Old Barn
+so fast in last night's story that he jumped right into this one?
+Well, he did, and here he is saying, "I'm ready for another
+adventure!"
+
+And no sooner had he said this than along came a big yellow dog with a
+muzzle on his nose, and when the little rabbit saw him he laughed out
+loud, "Oh, ho! Mr. Yellow Dog! Did you put your nose into a mouse
+trap?"
+
+"No, I didn't," replied the Yellow Dog. "It's a muzzle to keep me from
+biting little rabbits," and then he gave a dreadful growl and tried to
+pull off the muzzle with his front paws.
+
+"I won't wait until you get it off," said Billy Bunny, and he hopped
+away as fast as he could, for he wasn't the least bit curious to see
+whether that muzzle was tied on tight!
+
+And by and by he came to a hollow stump where lived an old rabbit
+named Hoppity-hop.
+
+"Helloa, my little friend," said the old rabbit, and then he wriggled
+his nose a million times or less, for I guess he smelt the lettuce
+sandwich which Billy Bunny had in his knapsack.
+
+"Good morning," said Billy Bunny, but he didn't open his knapsack. No,
+sir! It wasn't fourteen o'clock, which is the luncheon hour in
+Rabbitville, so I've been told. And this, of course, made the old
+rabbit very sad. "Oh, dear me," he cried, "I'm so hungry, and if there
+is anything I love more than a lettuce sandwich it's apple pie!"
+
+"How do you know I've got an apple pie?" asked Billy Bunny, and he
+took out his gold watch and chain to see what time it was, for he
+began to feel hungry all of a sudden. But, oh, dear me!
+
+It wasn't fourteen o'clock, or anywhere near it, so he twisted the
+stem of his watch until the hands pointed at the luncheon time, and
+then he took out the lettuce sandwich and the apple pie and he and the
+old rabbit ate them up right then and there, and after that they felt
+ever so much better.
+
+"Now I'll tell you a secret," said the old rabbit. "There's a carrot
+candy shop not very far from here, and if you've got any money in your
+knapsack I'll take you there."
+
+Wasn't that kind of that old rabbit? So off they hopped and pretty
+soon, not so very far, they came to the candy shop, and the old lady
+woodchuck who kept it was awfully kind and generous, for she filled up
+a paper bag right to the top for a lettuce dollar bill, which I think
+was a very cheap price to pay for all that candy, don't you?
+
+And when it was all gone, Billy Bunny said good-by and hopped away
+singing at the top of his voice:
+
+    "Oh, who is so merry and who is so gay
+     As a rabbit who always has money to pay
+     For candy and popcorn and nice apple pie
+     And other sweet things that you're longing to buy."
+
+And in the next story, if Billy Bunny does eat any more carrot candy
+and get so dizzy he can't hop in a circle, I'll tell you some more
+about the little rabbit.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXXI.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND A HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
+
+
+     It very often happens
+     You don't know what to do,
+     And then's the time the Mischief Man
+     Comes smiling round to you.
+     He whispers something in your ear
+     You know you shouldn't stop to hear,
+     And then's the time for you to say,
+     "Oh, Mischief Man, please go away!"
+
+This is what dear good Uncle Lucky wrote in Billy Bunny's album, for
+it was the little rabbit's birthday, you know, and Uncle Lucky thought
+he ought to warn him against the Mischief Man.
+
+Well, as soon as the ink was dry so that the little rabbit could put
+the album away in Uncle Lucky's desk, the kind old gentleman rabbit
+said: "Let us take a ride in the Luckymobile. Maybe we can go some
+place where we will have a good time."
+
+So they got into the automobile and started off, and by and by they
+came to a shady spot in the woods. And there right under a big
+spreading chestnut tree, was a little table covered with a clean white
+cloth and in the middle was a lovely birthday cake with candles and
+big frosted letters, which read, "A Happy Birthday to Billy Bunny!"
+
+And oh, my, wasn't he delighted and so were all the little forest
+folk, for they were all there, let me tell you, from Old Squirrel
+Nutcracker to the Big Brown Bear.
+
+And so were the little people from the Pleasant Meadow, Dicky Meadow
+Mouse and Robbie Redbreast and many others. And pretty soon along came
+the barnyard folk, Cocky Docky, Henny Jenny and Duckey Daddies. Even
+Mrs. Cow wasn't too busy to be there, and if you'll wait a minute I'll
+tell you the names of some more of Billy Bunny's friends:
+
+Turkey Purky, Danny Beaver, Old Mother Magpie, Timmy Chipmunk,
+Scatterbrains, the gray squirrel, and Shadow Tail, his brother. Daddy
+Fox would like to have been there, only Uncle Lucky hadn't sent him an
+invitation. The only friend who wasn't there was Uncle Bullfrog. He
+couldn't leave his log in the Old Mill Pond, so he sent his regrets by
+little Mrs. Oriole, who lived in the willow tree by the Old Mill.
+
+"Now we'll cut the cake," said kind Uncle Lucky, and he went over to
+the Luckymobile to get the big carving knife which he had hidden under
+the cushions.
+
+"There's a little gold ring hidden away somewhere," he said as he cut
+the cake very carefully so as not to topple over the pretty candles
+and get the pink and green melted wax all over the white frosting.
+
+And then everybody ate up his piece of cake as fast as he could to
+find the little gold ring. "I've got it! I've got it!" screamed Timmy
+Chipmunk. But, oh, dear me. It wasn't the ring at all. It was only a
+hard nut.
+
+And the little chipmunk was so disappointed that he ran home to tell
+his mother all about it, and she gave him one she had found when she
+was a little girl in the toe of her stocking one happy Christmas
+morning. And in the next story you'll be surprised to hear who got the
+ring after all.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXXII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE LOST RING.
+
+
+     Something's going to happen;
+     I feel it in the air.
+     But what it is you soon shall know,
+     So hold your breath and stare.
+
+You remember in the last story I told you about Billy Bunny's birthday
+party and promised to tell you who found the little gold ring in the
+frosted cake.
+
+Well, just as the little rabbit said, "I've found it!" Daddy Fox
+sprang from behind a bush and grabbed the piece of cake right out of
+the little rabbit's paw.
+
+And then he jumped over the Luckymobile and ran off to his den to give
+it to Slyboots or Bushy Tail, his two little sons, you know, but which
+one got it I can't remember, for everybody was so excited that they
+forgot to ask the naughty old fox before he got away.
+
+"That's too bad," said kind Uncle Lucky; "I'll have to get you another
+one," so he said good-by to everybody and took Billy Bunny down to the
+3 and 10 cents store, where they bought a lovely gold ring with a big
+ruby in it. Wasn't that nice?
+
+And then they came back to the woods, but everybody had gone home and
+there was no more birthday cake anywhere to be seen, not even a little
+piece of candle.
+
+"Well, what shall we do now?" said the kind old gentleman rabbit, and
+he poured some lettuce oil into the cabaret and took out his blue
+polka-dot handkerchief and wiped his ear, and then he dusted off his
+old wedding stovepipe hat and honked the automobile horn and blew up a
+tire and turned a cushion upside down to hide a grease spot. And after
+that he put on his goggles and started off again, and by and by, not
+so very long, they came to a signpost on which was written:
+
+"Which road shall I take?"
+
+"Goodness, gracious me!" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit, "what's
+the matter with my goggles?" and he took them off and looked at the
+signpost again.
+
+"It says the same old thing," he said with a sigh, and he took off his
+old wedding stovepipe hat and dusted the top, and after he had put it
+on his head again he heard a voice saying:
+
+    "Take the road that leads to the left,
+     And not the one to the right,
+     For if you don't you will get left
+     And you won't get home till night."
+
+"Who's speaking?" said Billy Bunny. And the reason he hadn't said
+anything before was because he had been sound asleep.
+
+And then who should come out from behind that funny signpost but a
+great roaring bull with two horns and about ten feet long and big red,
+snorting nostrils.
+
+"Don't let us disturb you," which means bother or something like that,
+said Uncle Lucky, and he honked the horn with all his might, and,
+would you believe it, the bull was so frightened that he ran away and
+never stopped till he got home and covered himself with the crazy
+quilt on his old four-poster bed.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXXIII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE GREAT NEWS.
+
+
+    Once upon a time,
+     So I've heard tell,
+     There lived a little rabbit
+     In a shady dell.
+     And on one side a clover patch,
+     Where red-topped clovers grew,
+     And 'tother side was lollypops
+     Of red and white and blue.
+
+This is the song Mrs. Bunny sang one morning as she set to work to
+wash her little rabbit's white duck trousers, for it was Monday, and
+that is washday in Rabbitville, so they tell me.
+
+And just as she was hanging them out on the line who should fly up but
+Old Mother Magpie, and, my! wasn't she excited. Why, she was so
+disturbed that her bonnet had fallen off her head and was hanging by
+the strings.
+
+"Have you heard the news?" she asked, and she rolled off one of her
+black silk mitts and turned her wedding ring around three times and a
+half.
+
+"Heard what?" asked Mrs. Bunny, putting the clothespin in her mouth
+instead of on the clothesline.
+
+"Why, the Miller's boy has gone off to the war."
+
+"Hurray!" shouted little Billy Bunny, who was polishing the brass door
+knob on the back door. "Hurray!"
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourself," said Old Mother Mischief. "His
+poor mother is nearly crazy with grief."
+
+"I'm sorry for her," said Mrs. Bunny, and she thought how thankful she
+ought to be that her little rabbit didn't have to shoulder a musket.
+
+"Well, I'm glad he's going," said Billy Bunny. "He can shoot at
+something else now besides little rabbits."
+
+Old Mother Magpie ruffled her feathers. "Well, if I had a boy like you
+I'd teach him not to glory over another person's grief," and then she
+flew away.
+
+"I'm sorry for his mother," said Mrs. Bunny, "but the Miller boy will
+never be missed," and the clothespin fell out of her mouth and stood
+up in the grass like a little wooden soldier.
+
+"Do you want anything at the store?" asked the little rabbit, after he
+had finished cleaning the door knob. "If you do, tell me, for I'm
+going by there."
+
+"You can order a pound of carrot tea and some lollypops," answered his
+mother, and then Billy Bunny picked up his striped candy cane and set
+off for the village, and by and by he came to the post office and the
+nice lady postmistress called to him that there was a letter there
+addressed to Billy Bunny, Old Brier Patch, but what was written in it
+I'm not going to tell you now, for I must stop and play a game of
+pinochle with dear, kind Uncle Lucky, who just telephoned me to come
+over to his house and have a game with him this evening, and I mustn't
+keep him waiting another minute.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXXIV.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND JENNY MUSKRAT.
+
+
+Well, I played pinochle with Uncle Lucky Lefthindfoot last evening and
+it was so late when I got home that I overslept myself this morning.
+
+And maybe I'd have slept all day if Robbie Redbreast hadn't come to my
+window and told me that Billy Bunny was reading a letter which I told
+you about in yesterday's story and that every time he turned a page he
+laughed harder than ever.
+
+Well, I was so curious to know what he was laughing at that I told
+Robbie Redbreast to fly back to him and look over his shoulder and see
+what was in the letter while I hurried and dressed as fast as I could,
+and when I was all ready to go into the Friendly Forest where the
+little rabbit was, I saw him coming toward me with the letter in his
+hand and the little robin perched upon his knapsack.
+
+"Good morning," he said and handed me the letter, and now you shall
+hear what was written to Mr. William Bunny, Brier Patch, Old Snake
+Fence Corner, U. S. A., care of Uncle Sam!
+
+"My dear Billy Bunny:
+
+"Just a few lines from your old friend the Circus Elephant to tell you
+that he is coming to see you as soon as he gets over the measles. If
+you've never had the measles, dear Billy Bunny, don't get them, for
+they are dreadful things for there's so many of them.
+
+"Please give my love to Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot and tell him as soon as
+I'm well, I'll be back in his circus.
+
+"Your friend,
+
+"Elly."
+
+And as soon as I'd read the letter the little rabbit put it in his
+pocket and hopped away and by and by he came to a little stone house
+by a river. And before I go any farther I'll just whisper to you how I
+know all this.
+
+You see, the little robin told me all about it, for he and I are great
+friends and his nest is in the old apple tree just under my window.
+
+Well, pretty soon, after looking all around, Billy Bunny knocked on
+the door of the little stone house and in a few minutes it was opened
+by a nice lady muskrat, whose name was Jenny Eva.
+
+"How do you do, little rabbit," she said, and then she invited him in
+and gave him a cookie made out of carrot seeds and pumpkin flour. And
+after that he showed her the letter from his friend, the circus
+elephant, and just then, all of a sudden, the front door flew open and
+in came the miller's dog.
+
+And, oh, dear me! Mrs. Jenny Eva Muskrat forgot all about her society
+manners and ran down the back stairs into the river and the little
+rabbit forgot to say good-by and hid himself in a big hat box where
+she kept her last year's Easter bonnet. And then, what do you suppose
+the miller's dog did? Why, he began to sing:
+
+    "Old Mrs. Muskrat jumped into the river,
+     Splasherty, splasherty, splash!
+     And little boy rabbit jumped into the box,
+     That held her best bonnet and trampled upon it.
+     Masherty, masherty, mash!"
+
+And in the next story you shall know what the miller's dog did when he
+stopped singing, that is, if Robbie Redbreast isn't too frightened to
+look into the window and tell me all about it.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXXV.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE MILLER'S DOG.
+
+
+After the Miller's Dog stopped singing, as I told you in the story
+before this, he poked his nose into the hat box where Billy Bunny had
+hidden himself and said in a deep, growly voice:
+
+    "Come out of there or I will growl and bite the bonnet
+     That Mrs. Muskrat wears for best
+     And the purple flowers on it.
+     And then she'll think it's you who did
+     This dreadful unkind deed,
+     And never speak to you again
+     Or you with cookies feed."
+
+"Goodness me, but you are a very poor sort of a poet," said the little
+rabbit, peeping out of the hat box. "Your poetry is dreadful," and
+this made the Miller's Dog so ashamed of himself that he couldn't wag
+his tail or even bark.
+
+No, sir. He couldn't do a thing but slink out of the door and close it
+so softly that it didn't pinch his tail hardly at all.
+
+"Ha! ha!" laughed the little rabbit. "Did you ever see such a silly
+dog?" And neither did I and neither did you, I know.
+
+Well, after a little while, Mrs. Jenny Eva Muskrat carne up the back
+stairs from the river, where she had gone in the last story, you
+remember, and wasn't she glad that nothing more had happened? "If you
+had jumped into that other hat box," she said, "you would have spoilt
+my next year's Easter bonnet, and that would have been too dreadful
+for anything."
+
+And wasn't the little rabbit glad? Well, I guess he was twice over and
+maybe three times. And after that he said good-by and hopped away, and
+after he had traveled for a long, long ways he came to the field where
+his old friend the Scarecrow lived.
+
+"How have you been?" asked the little rabbit, and he took a lollypop
+out of his knapsack and offered it to the scarecrow, but he didn't
+want it. "Haven't you got a cigar?" he asked. "I haven't smoked for
+ever so long."
+
+"I'm sorry," said Billy Bunny. "I don't think I have any really and
+truly cigars. Here's a chocolate one if that will do," and he handed
+it to his friend the Old Clothes Man.
+
+But the Old Clothes Man couldn't smoke it at all, although he tried
+the best he could, and pretty soon it began to rain and the chocolate
+became soft and sticky, and the little Bunny all wet, so he said: "I
+guess I'll crawl into a hollow stump if I can find one."
+
+And it didn't take him long, for he hopped away to the woods nearby,
+and the first thing he saw was an old stump, so he hopped inside. And
+no sooner was he safely out of the rain than a voice said:
+
+    "What are you doing in my hollow stump;
+     Who are you anyway?
+     Why didn't you knock on this old wood block
+     If you really want to stay?"
+
+And in the next story I'll tell who it was that said this.
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXXVI.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND THE WOODCHUCK.
+
+
+You remember in the last story that just as Billy Bunny hopped into
+the hollow stump a voice said, "What are you doing in here?"
+
+"I came in to get out of the wet," answered the little rabbit, and
+then the voice replied:
+
+"What! Is it raining? I'll lend you an umbrella!" and an old woodchuck
+opened a little door in the side of the stump and winked at Billy
+Bunny.
+
+"That's very kind of you," said the little rabbit, and he opened his
+knapsack and gave the woodchuck a nice lollypop, and after that the
+woodchuck said: "I think you'd better stay here with me until the rain
+is over. Don't you think so?"
+
+And Billy Bunny said yes, for the woodchuck was very nice and had such
+good manners that the little rabbit felt quite at home.
+
+But oh, dear me! it began to rain so hard right then and there that
+the water just poured into the old hollow stump, and pretty soon it
+was very uncomfortable. So the woodchuck said:
+
+"Now don't you ever tell anybody where I'm going to take you. For it's
+my very own house, and I never let anybody know just where I do live.
+You see, so many people are after me, some with guns and some with
+sharp teeth and claws, that I have to be very careful."
+
+So the little rabbit promised, and then he followed the woodchuck
+through the little door and down a long passage until they came to a
+nice, large, comfortable room.
+
+"Now, this is where I live," said the woodchuck, and he went over to
+the cupboard and took out a carrot candy gumdrop and gave it to Billy
+Bunny, and then he lighted a big cigar and sat down in his old
+armchair and smoked.
+
+And all the time they could hear the rain pattering on the grass
+overhead, for it's wonderful how you can hear all sorts of sounds when
+you're under ground and have big ears like a rabbit, you know.
+
+"Now, I'll tell you a story," said the old woodchuck after he had
+blown some lovely round rings of smoke into the air.
+
+    "Once upon a time,
+     Not so very long ago,
+     A band of tiny fairies
+     Lived in the woodland near.
+     And often I would hear them
+     A-singing soft and low
+     When all was dark and quiet
+     And the moon shone bright and clear.
+     So one evening I stole softly
+     Out of the hollow stump,
+     And found them dancing merrily
+     With tiny skip and jump;
+     And just as I was going
+     To say how do you do,
+     The Fairy Queen began to scream.
+     And then away she flew.
+     And then her tiny subjects
+     Took fright and ran off, too,
+     And now I never see them more
+     A-dancing near my old stump door."
+
+"That's too bad," said the little rabbit, for he was so interested in
+what the old woodchuck was saying that he had forgotten all about his
+lollypop and had dropped it on the floor.
+
+And in the next story he'll pick up his lollypop and eat it, because I
+hate to have him lose it, don't you?
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXXVII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND LITTLE PEEWEE.
+
+
+Let me stop for a moment and think where I left off last night. Oh,
+now I remember. Billy Bunny was in the old woodchuck hollow stump, and
+it was raining.
+
+Oh, my, yes. Cats and dogs, as they say in grown-ups' stories, so
+we'll say kittens and puppies. Well, after a while the rain stopped
+and the little rabbit said good-by and hopped away, and pretty soon,
+not very long, a little bird began to sing:
+
+    "Down the shady Forest Trail,
+     O'er the hill and through the vale,
+     Billy Bunny hops along
+     With a whistle and a song.
+     And if you have never heard
+     A rabbit whistle like a bird,
+     You must ask each little rabbit
+     If he has the whistling habit."
+
+"Who's singing?" asked Billy Bunny, and he took his silver policeman's
+whistle out of his knapsack and blew on it so hard that the little
+bird began to cry:
+
+"Oh, dear! Oh, dear! You will whistle my ear off!" And then, of
+course, the little rabbit stopped, for he didn't want to hurt that
+dear little bird. No sireemam.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked, and the little bird replied: "I'm Peewee, the
+littlest bird in the whole Friendly Forest."
+
+"What do you look like?" said the little rabbit, curiously, gazing
+here and there and everywhere and behind a tree and under a stone.
+"I've never seen a Peewee."
+
+And then that little bird flew down from a tree and Billy Bunny saw
+the tiniest little bird he had ever seen. Why, it wasn't much larger
+than a butterfly.
+
+"Goodness, but you're small," said Billy Bunny. "Are you so small that
+you don't like lollypops?"
+
+Of course, the little bird said no, and so would you, no matter how
+small you were, but when she tried to fly away with the lollypop, she
+couldn't. No sireemam. Wasn't that too bad? So the little rabbit gave
+her some sweet cracker crumbs instead, and after that he hopped away
+looking for another adventure.
+
+And it wasn't long before he had one. For, just as he was hopping
+across a fallen log that made a narrow bridge over a brook, a little
+fish swam up to the top of the water and said:
+
+"Here is a letter from your friend, the Whale," and he held up in his
+mouth a blue envelope. I guess it was made of some kind of waterproof
+paper, for it wasn't the least bit damp.
+
+And when Billy Bunny opened it, he found a small coral ring inside,
+and in the letter it said: "This ring is for you, Billy Bunny.
+
+"The pretty mermaid asked me to send it to you, so here it is. Please
+tell the little fish that you have received it and that it fits you
+perfectly." And then the Whale signed himself, "Your great big-hearted
+friend, the Whale."
+
+
+
+
+STORY XXXVIII.
+
+BILLY BUNNY AND OLD MOTHER MAGPIE.
+
+
+     Uncle Bullfrog sings a song
+     That is never very long.
+     All he says is, "Chunk, ker-chunk!"
+     Then he splashes in ker-plunk,
+     And the little fishes swim,
+     Oh, so fast away from him!
+     If they didn't, don't you think
+     He would eat 'em in a wink?
+
+Now who do you suppose was singing this song? Why, a little tadpole
+named Taddylegs. And it made Uncle Bullfrog quite cross, for he didn't
+like tadpoles anyway, and Taddylegs wasn't very polite, as you can
+see.
+
+"Now swim away," said the old gentleman frog, and he looked angrily at
+Taddylegs. "Now swim away or I'll swallow you and maybe your cousin
+and your aunt if they're around." So the little tadpole swam away and
+after a while Old Uncle Bullfrog saw Billy Bunny not very far away. He
+was talking to Mrs. Cow about the clover patch.
+
+You see, Mrs. Cow was very fond of clover and so was the little
+rabbit, and he knew that Mrs. Cow could eat maybe three hundred and
+forty-seven times as much clover as he could, and so he was afraid she
+might eat up the whole patch and leave nothing for anybody else.
+
+"Please don't eat all the clover tops; mother wants to preserve some
+for the winter."
+
+"Don't you worry," replied Mrs. Cow, and she whisked a big horse fly
+off her side with her long tail. "Don't you worry and don't you fret,
+there'll be some clover blossoms yet."
+
+So the little rabbit felt ever so much better and hopped away and by
+and by he came across Old Mother Magpie. And he wasn't a bit pleased,
+for she was always finding fault with him, and everybody else, for
+that matter.
+
+Yes, Old Mother Magpie made lots of trouble and Billy Bunny had never
+liked her. But he couldn't get away without her seeing him, although
+he tried his best.
+
+"Good morning, Billy Bunny," said the old lady magpie, and she raised
+her bonnet so she could see him better, for the brim was half over her
+left eye.
+
+"Good morning," replied the little rabbit. "I'm sorry, but I'm in a
+dreadful hurry," and he hopped away so fast that he left his shadow a
+mile behind him.
+
+"Gracious me!" exclaimed Old Mother Magpie. "That bunny doesn't like
+me very much I guess."
+
+"Yes, you don't have to guess again," cried a voice, and Parson Crow
+cawed and hawed, and this made the old lady magpie so angry that she
+flew away to tell Barney Owl that she was a very much abused person.
+
+But here we are at the end of this book, and so we will have to jump
+to the next, which I will call, "BILLY BUNNY AND UNCLE LUCKY
+LEFTHINDFOOT."
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Billy Bunny and Uncle Bull Frog, by David Cory
+
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