"Well, I'm glad I'm on the right road," said the little rabbit, and he took half a hop so as to start out even, you know, because he never did like fractions, and by and by he came to Lettuce avenue. But just then something happened. Something usually does happen when you least expect it, and that's what's going to happen now if my typewriter doesn't get balky and throw my hands off the keyboard.
Yes, sir! Just as that dear little bunny stepped on Lettuce avenue something big and soft hit him between his left ear and his left hind foot and knocked the breath right out of him. And so of course he couldn't say "Oh, dear; oh, dear!" so I'm going to make the typewriter say it for him.
And that will give him time to get his breath so that he can say it if he wants to. Well, after that he looked around to find out what had hit him, and what do you suppose it was that had knocked the "Oh, dear me!"
out of him! I'll tell you right away-a great big head of lettuce. There it lay on the ground. So the little rabbit picked it up and was just going to put it in his knapsack for his Uncle Lucky, when a cross voice called out:
"Don't you touch that lettuce, For it belongs to me, And I am going to take it Home with me for tea."
"Who are you?" asked the little rabbit, dropping the lettuce and looking all around. But he couldn't see anybody, and neither can I, so I'm going to let Billy Bunny look again. And this time he saw a Scarecrow in the field close by.
And if the old clothes man doesn't throw another head of lettuce and hit my typewriter so it won't talk to the paper I'll tell you another story to-morrow.
STORY VIII-BILLY BUNNY AND THE SCARECROW
As soon as Billy Bunny saw the Scarecrow-who had thrown the head of lettuce at the little rabbit in the last story, but he shan't do it again in this story! I'll promise you that right now-the little rabbit said:
"Did you hit me just now between my left ear and my left hind leg with this lettuce?"
"I did," replied the Scarecrow, in a sort of scarecrowey voice.
As soon as the little rabbit heard that he picked up that head of lettuce and threw it right at the head of that Scarecrow and knocked off his stovepipe hat. And when Billy Bunny looked at the hat he saw two gold letters pasted inside the crown, and what do you think they were? I don't know why I asked you, for I've got to tell you, anyway. Well, they were the letters U. L.
"Uncle Lucky!" cried the little rabbit. "It's Uncle Lucky's wedding stovepipe hat! Oh, how glad he'll be to get it back!" And Billy Bunny picked it up and put the lettuce inside and then hopped away as fast as he could for his kind old uncle's house. And after he had gone for maybe three miles or less, he came to the old gentleman rabbit's house. And there was dear, kind Uncle Lucky swinging in the hammock on the front porch. And when he saw his little nephew, he fell out-excuse me, I mean, he hopped out-of the hammock and opened the front gate and said:
"That looks like my old wedding stovepipe hat," and the old gentleman rabbit put it on his head without even taking the head of lettuce out first, but that didn't matter, for there was plenty of room in that old stovepipe hat for two heads.
Well, as soon as Uncle Lucky got over his excitement, he asked his bunny nephew where he had found his hat, and when Billy Bunny told him, the old gentleman rabbit took it off and took out the head of lettuce and he and Billy Bunny ate it all up-not the hat, but the lettuce, you know-and some apple pie and carrot ice cream besides, for Uncle Lucky always had his pantry just full of the nicest things to eat you ever saw or ever heard of. And that's one reason why all the bunny boys and girls loved the old gentleman rabbit, for when they were coming home from school he would stand on his front porch and say:
"Come in and get some apple pie, An ice cream cone or two; A lollypop with jam on top, Some sweet prunes a la stew, Some lemonade-don't be afraid.
For I'm inviting you."
And I hope with all my heart that if you ever pass by Uncle Lucky's house on Carrot street he'll ask you, too. And in the next story, if the pepper box doesn't fall into the ice cream freezer so that the little mouse in the pantry sneezes his head 'most off. I'll tell you another story to-morrow.
STORY IX-BILLY BUNNY AND MR. DRAKE
The next day after Billy Bunny arrived at Uncle Lucky's house the good, kind old gentleman rabbit said: "Let's go out for a ride in the Luckymobile, for that was the name of Uncle Lucky's new car, you know."
So off they started, and this time you can well believe the old gentleman rabbit filled his lamps full of electricity oil, for he hadn't forgotten the time some million stories ago he had been caught without any lights on his automobile.
Well, as I was just going to say when my typewriter had to go and explain all about how poor Uncle Lucky had once been arrested for not having his lamps lit, they started off-not the lamps, but Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky, and by and by they came across an old Drake.
And if you don't know what a Drake is, I'll tell you; he's the husband of a duck and spends most of his time swimming on the pond while she stays at home to look after the little ducks. Well, if Uncle Lucky hadn't stopped the automobile just where he did, Mrs. Duck would have been a widow.
"What do you mean by not seeing where you're going?" shouted Uncle Lucky, getting very red in the face.
"Why didn't you toot your horn?" said Mr. Drake with an angry quack, and then he waddled into the water and swam away.
"What can you expect from an old ferryboat like that?" laughed Uncle Lucky, watching Mr. Drake paddle away. "He's an old-fashioned side-wheeler. Let him go!" and the kind old gentleman rabbit leaned out of the automobile and handed a stick of candy to a little goose who had stood by listening with eye and bill wide open to all he had said.
Then the old gentleman rabbit took off his wedding stovepipe hat and bowed to Mrs. Duck, who stood in the doorway of her house, and tooted his horn and drove off.
And by and by Billy Bunny asked Uncle Lucky to let him run the automobile, so the old gentleman rabbit changed seats with his little nephew, and after that he fell asleep. For the road was very smooth and the wind was soft and warm, and Billy Bunny didn't talk all the time the way some boys do.
And as Billy Bunny didn't want to wake him up, he kept on going farther and farther away from home until after a while he found himself in a thick woods. And then the automobile came to a stop and Uncle Lucky, of course, woke up with a bump.
"Gracious me! Have I been asleep?" he exclaimed, rubbing his right eye with his left hind foot. And just then a little flower struck 4 o'clock, just like a little clock, and that's the reason they call this little flower "Four o'Clock" I guess. "Gracious me! I have been asleep!" cried Uncle Lucky, and then he took out the lunch basket and he and Billy Bunny ate a lot of nice things.
But, goodness me, it's so late that I must stop now, for there isn't time for the two little rabbits to get home. But I guess they'll cuddle up in the Luckymobile and sleep until to-morrow morning.
STORY X-BILLY BUNNY AND THE FROG KING
Well, when Billy Bunny and good, kind Uncle Lucky woke up the next morning, for they had slept all night in the Luckymobile as I told you in the last story, they ate their breakfast and then they started off and by and by they had an adventure.
A gypsy camp stood close to the roadside and just as they came up, an old woman walked out of a tent and said, "Don't you want your fortunes told?" Well, as Billy Bunny had never had his fortune told and Uncle Lucky had forgotten whether he had or not, they got out of the automobile and sat down on a log while the old gypsy woman looked at their paws.
"You have a very long life line, Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot, and lots of money," she said with a grin, "and you're going to have lots more."
"That's very nice," said the old gentleman rabbit, "for I want to build a library in Rabbitville where all the little bunnies can read nice stories and grow very wise."
"And you will grow up to be a great soldier," she said to Billy Bunny, and then Uncle Lucky gave her two carrot nickels and said good-by.
"I wonder where all that money is coming from," said the good, kind old gentleman rabbit, and then they heard a deep voice singing:
"Oh, I am king of the Bullfrog Pond, Ker-plunk, ker-chunk, ker-plunk!
And I'll never stir a foot beyond, Ker-plunk, ker-plunk, ker-plunk!
For it's cool and nice in the water here, And the cat-tails wave in the atmosphere, And this old dead log is a throne for me.
Oh yes, I'm as happy as I can be!"
Then Uncle Lucky stopped the automobile and he and Billy Bunny got out to make the acquaintance of this happy frog king. And weren't they surprised to find that he was the brother of Uncle Bullfrog, who lived in the Old Mill Pond. He had heard all about the two rabbits, and was delighted to see them.
"Sit down on the bank and I'll get you a watercress sandwich and some pond-lily milk," cried the Frog King, and he waved a bullrush wand up and down and whistled through his fingers, and then a dozen tadpoles swam up.
And then they swam off again and when they came back they had watercress sandwiches and pond-lily milk enough to go around and some besides to give to the Luckymobile, only automobiles don't drink anything but gasoline, so they gave what was left to a nice friendly duck who happened to pass by.