STORY XXVI-BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. QUAIL
"Get up, get up, you lazy folks, I'm shining in the sky.
Awake, awake, your breakfast take, Before the noon is nigh.
No time for lazy folks I think, So don't lie still and blink and blink, But jump up with a laugh and smile And sing a little all the while."
SO up jumped Billy Bunny from his bed of leaves where he had slept all night, as I told you in the last story, and after he had combed his fur with a little chip and dusted off his knapsack he opened it and took out his breakfast.
And what do you suppose he had? Well, first he ate some nice fresh lettuce leaves, with powdered sugar carrots, and then a piece of apple pie, and when kind Mrs. Quail saw what a nice breakfast he had, she said:
"I like pie, Mr. William Bunny." Now the reason the little rabbit hadn't offered her some was because he hadn't seen her. You see, she had gone to sleep on the other side of the bush.
"Here is some pie," said Billy Bunny, and he gave her a big piece and some cracker crumbs and some birdseed and then a drink of lemon soda.
Pretty soon Mrs. Quail didn't feel a bit hungry, and neither did the little rabbit.
And after that he buckled on his knapsack and started off to find his dear Uncle Lucky, but first he thanked Mrs. Quail for her kindness in letting him sleep under her bush all night and part of the early morning.
Well, sir, that little rabbit hopped along almost all day, and still he didn't reach his Uncle Lucky's house. "I wonder if I have lost the way?"
he said aloud, and, all of a sudden, a voice answered: "I guess you have. Lots of people do," and a kind-looking old mooley cow pushed her head over the fence and smiled at him. And, oh, my, she had a big, beautiful smile, and this made the little rabbit laugh and forget how tired he was.
"Do you know where my Uncle Lucky lives--Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot?" he asked.
"To be sure," replied the mooley cow. "He lives over yonder," and she pointed across the meadow. "Hop under the fence, little rabbit, and then hop across the meadow, over the daisies and buttercups, and you'll find the place, never fear."
So the little rabbit did as she told him, and when he came to the fence on the other side he saw his uncle's house not very far away. But, oh, dear me! The fence was not at all like the fence on the other side.
There wasn't any room between the woven wires to crawl through, and so Billy Bunny didn't know what to do.
But he didn't wonder very long. No, sireemam. He started right in to dig a tunnel under that wire fence, and pretty soon he was on the other side, hopping away toward Uncle Lucky's house, and in about five hundred and a half hops, skips and jumps he came to the front gate.
And there on the porch sat the kind old gentleman rabbit, with the big diamond pin which his nephew had given him shining like a star in his red tie. And in to-morrow's story I'll tell you what a good time the little rabbit had at his uncle's house.
STORY XXVII-BILLY BUNNY AND THE THEATER PLAY
As Billy Bunny hopped up the steps of Uncle Lucky's house, the old gentleman rabbit, who was lying in the hammock, as I told you in the last story, jumped up and said, "I'm glad to see you. Where have you been all this time?"
And then when he saw the beautiful ruby scarfpin in the little rabbit's tie-the ruby pin which the King of the Windy Cave had given Billy Bunny, you remember-he said: "And where did you get that mag-nif-i-cent pin?"
And of course the little rabbit told the old gentleman rabbit all about it, and when he finished the story it was time for supper. So Uncle Lucky opened the screen door just a little so that the flies wouldn't get in, and he and Billy Bunny squeezed through the crack and went into the dining room.
Well, after supper was over, they decided to go down to the village and see if there was a show at the Opera House that night. And sure enough there was, and the name of the play was "The Tortoise and the Hare."
"That sounds interesting," said Uncle Lucky and he bought two box seats for two carrot dollars, and he and his little nephew went inside.
"Mr. Hare is a first cousin," he said to Billy Bunny as they sat down in the box and leaned over the railing to look at the people.
Well, pretty soon the music started and then the curtain went up and the play commenced. I suppose you all have read the fable-how the tortoise and the hare ran a race and the hare got so far ahead that he lay down to take a nap, but the slow old tortoise kept right on all the time, and when the hare woke up it was too late, for the tortoise had won the race.
Well, anyway, I've told you the story, but I haven't told you what happened when the hare went to sleep. You see, he lay down near the box where Billy Bunny and kind Uncle Lucky were seated, and by and by, after he had been asleep for quite a long time, Uncle Lucky grew very nervous.
"My gracious!" he exclaimed to Billy Bunny, "if that silly cousin of ours does not wake up pretty soon he might as well sleep there all night, for the race will be won and the opera house closed up and we'll be home in bed."
And then Billy Bunny began to get very nervous, too, and he wiggled about in his seat and made funny little noises to wake up the hare. But the hare slept on, and I believe he even snored.
Well, sir, try as the two little rabbits might, they couldn't wake him up, until, at last, Billy Bunny took the automobile horn, which he had brought in with him so that nobody could blow on it, and blew a dreadful loud blast.
And this woke up the hare and one of the ushers, who ran up to the box and begged Uncle Lucky not to let Billy Bunny blow on the horn again.
"For," said the usher, "it's only a play and the hare mustn't wake up until the tortoise wins the race."
"Well, I won't see my cousin beaten by an old tortoise," said Uncle Lucky.
And he and Billy Bunny hopped out of the Opera House and went home.
STORY XXVIII-BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. WEASEL
As soon as Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky got home after leaving the Opera House, as I told you in the last story, they heard a loud noise in the back yard.
"What's that?" said Uncle Lucky, and he peeked around the corner of the porch while Billy Bunny took his popgun out of his knapsack so as to be ready in case it was a burglar.
"I don't see anything," whispered the old gentleman rabbit; "you take a look." So Billy Bunny peeped around the corner and then he hopped backward, almost knocking Uncle Lucky head over tail.
And before you could say "Jack Rabbit!" Old Man Weasel jumped from behind the house and glared at the two rabbits with his wicked eyes.
"Good evening, Mr. Weasel," said Uncle Lucky, pushing Billy Bunny behind him, for he was a brave old rabbit, was Uncle Lucky, and he was going to save his little nephew from being eaten up by the wicked weasel, if he could.
"Good evening, gentlemen," replied Old Man Weasel, licking his lips and glaring at them with his fierce little eyes. "You look sweet and tender to me."
"Your eyesight is pretty poor," said Uncle Lucky bravely, "and I don't feel very sweet just now, and I'm too old to be tender," and he wriggled his nose so fast in the moonlight that it made Old Man Weasel dizzy to look at it, and he had to turn away, and while he wasn't looking, Billy Bunny lifted his gun to his shoulder and pulled the trigger.
And when the cork hit the wicked weasel it made him jump right up into the air, and when he came down he sprained his right foot on a big stone so that he cried:
"Oh, dear! oh, dear! And woe is me!
I've sprained an ankle and a knee.
I cannot walk, I cannot run!
Plague take that little rabbit's gun!
Oh, won't you call an am-bu-lance, My home is such a great dis-tance!"
"If you'll promise not to come here again," said kind Uncle Lucky, "I'll call up the hospital. If you don't promise I'll call the Policeman Dog and ask him to tickle you with his club," and the old gentleman rabbit hopped down to the front gate and pretended to call a policeman, which frightened Old Man Weasel nearly to death. He'd rather have a sprained knee than be tickled by a policeman's club any day in the week.