David Cory

“ So he set to work, and so did Old Man Weasel, while Mr. Wicked Wolf sat down and took out his pipe and smoked. And whenever Danny Fox stopped to wipe the perspiration from his face Mr. Wicked Wolf would say, “Hurry up! The little rabbit will be in China before you get started!”
And whenever Old Man Weasel stopped to wipe a little piece of dirt out of his eye, Mr. Wicked Wolf would say:
“Hurry up, Old Man Weasel. Danny Fox will get in first!” ”

“ She had on a little pink bonnet and a white apron and on the end of her tail was a pretty gold watch.
“What do you want?” she asked, for she was a very timid little snake, let me tell you, and was dreadfully afraid of tramps and burglars.
“My little rabbit friend would like to find his fortune,” said the Yellow Dog Tramp, “and I hear you are very wise and know how to tell fortunes better than a gypsy. So please tell my little bunny friend where his fortune is.” ”

“ When Lady Love heard that she looked all around to see who was telling her what to do. But she didn’t see anybody, and neither did the little rabbit until he looked up at the new clock which Uncle John Hare had given his mother for Xmas and then the little bunny knew who was talking, for just inside the Cuckoo Clock House door stood the little bird who told the time of day. ”

“ Wicked Wolf. Page 61
“Eat all you wish,” answered the little rabbit, and then these two little winter birds stuffed their pockets full of dried berries to take home, and when they could find no more they flew out on the Sunny Meadow where the fluffy grass stalks stood out above the snow, and picked off the little grass seeds, and after that they flew away. So the little rabbit hopped along and by and by, after a while, he came to the old chestnut tree where Chippy Chipmunk lived in the summer time in a hole under the spreading roots. ”

“ So everybody went to bed, and when Mr. Merry Sun woke up the next morning he had a hard time waking up Mr. John Hare, for the old gentleman rabbit was so sound asleep that if Lady Love hadn’t rung the [Pg 69] breakfast bell right over his head he might have slept on until to-morrow’s story.
Well, after breakfast, as Little Jack Rabbit looked over the paper, what do you suppose he saw? Why, a notice that Mr. Wicked Wolf had been found with his head caught in an old hollow stump and that Old Man Weasel had gone home to get his axe. ”

“ Well, after kind Uncle John Hare had put the Bunnymobile in the garage, he led the little reindeer into the barn and gave him some nice hay to eat, and then he closed the door so that Mr. North Wind couldn’t get in, and after that the kind old gentleman bunny went into the house, with Little Jack Rabbit and the Yellow Dog Tramp who was with him, you remember, in the last story. ”

“ You see, it was such a short time after Xmas that it [Pg 59] hadn’t grown tired of looking at the Xmas presents, like a good many little girls and boys I know, and so it slid along over the snow and didn’t try to climb up any telegraph poles, and this made Uncle John Hare feel very pleasant, so he began to sing:
“The glad New Year has come and so
We’ll try until next year
To be as good as we can be
And help our friends to cheer.”
But, oh, dear me! Just then, all of a sudden, just like that, out popped Mr. Wicked Wolf I’ve so often told you about. And oh, dear me! again. Didn’t he look fierce? ”

“ Wicked Wolf from behind a bush. Wasn’t that too dreadful for anything? Here were these three enemies of the little rabbit just waiting to catch him.
[Pg 97]
“Oh, dear, oh, dear!” said the poor little bunny, “I’m a goner now. I know, I know it!” But he didn’t give up hope. Oh, my, no! He just said that to himself, you see. Not to anybody else. And just then he heard Bobbie Redvest sing very softly:
“Under the bush, by your left hind toe,
Is a little trap door that leads below.
Jump back three feet as quick as you can.
And you will be safe, little bunny man!” ”

“ The Yellow Dog Tramp had just posted his photograph to his dear old mother way up in New Hampshire, and after he had thanked the postoffice lady, who was an old maid duck, he jumped into the sleigh and said:
[Pg 41]
“Hurry on, you Reindeer,
Make the snowflakes fly,
Faster, faster, faster,
Don’t you balk or shy!”
And then you should have seen how those Reindeer went. Well, sir, they went so fast that pretty soon their feet hardly touched the earth, and then they didn’t touch at all, and then, oh, me, oh, my! ”

“ But before they did, the little rabbit put his pickaxe back in his knapsack, because [Pg 63] he might have to use it some time again, and one doesn’t find pickaxes lying around loose, let me tell you.
Not in these days when iron costs almost as much as sugar and sugar costs more than diamonds, and diamonds—well, I don’t know what they cost, for I never wear any.
“Oh, dear! I hate to leave my old wedding stovepipe hat in that hole,” said dear, kind Uncle John Hare, which you remember he had stuffed up with his old silk hat to keep Mr. Wicked Wolf from looking in. ”

“ Well, by and by, after a while, they heard sleigh bells outside in the Old Bramble [Pg 17] Patch, and pretty soon Uncle John Hare jumped out of his Bunnymobile and came into the house to give Lady Love a lovely gold vanity bag and a pair of lorgnettes, a kind of lollypop eyeglass, you know.
And, oh, yes, oh, yes! I forgot to say he gave the little Black Cricket a new fur piece and the Canary Bird a bushel of bird seed. And after that every one was happy as could be. And just as they were all sitting down to their Xmas dinner a knock came at the kitchen door. ”

“ Quick as a minute Uncle John Hare put on his hat and he and Little Jack Rabbit hopped away as fast as they could, and even faster, and pretty soon they came to the Old Bramble Patch, where Lady Love, the little bunny’s mother, stood waiting for them. ”

“ John Hare has just repainted his house on the corner of Carrot Avenue and Cabbage Square. He says he must have his house nice and white so he can see it late at night.”
And then Squirrel Nutcracker laughed some more, and he laughed so hard that a hickory nut rolled out of his coat pocket [Pg 109] and fell on the lady conductor’s little toe and made her dreadfully angry, for she thought Little Jack Rabbit had shot the nut out of his little popgun, you know.
And just then the trolley bell began to ring like everything. Maybe there was some one on the track. ”

“ It’s safer far for you to be
A million miles away.”
And when Mr. Wicked Wolf heard that he turned around and ran home as fast as he could, and maybe faster.
“Come with me, little rabbit,” said the kind Yellow Dog Tramp. So they went into the wood and turned down a little path until they came to a tiny house under a big oak tree. ”

“ You wicked old wolf from the hill,
You haven’t got brains to go in when it rains
If you wake up a man when he’s ill.”
“I don’t know who you are and I didn’t know you were ill,” answered Mr. Wicked Wolf, looking all around to see who was talking. “Who are you, anyway?”
[Pg 102]
A PRISONER
Well, before Mr. Wicked Wolf found out who was talking to him as I meant to tell you in the last story, he saw the tip of Little Jack Rabbit’s tail. So he didn’t stop to find out, but ran down the dark tunnel as fast as he could.
“Oh, dear me,” said the little rabbit to himself, “I thought Mr. ”

“ If you don’t quickly dive below.”
Well, sir, Granddaddy Bullfrog gave one look and then, kerplunk! he dived into the [Pg 95] water. And Professor Jim Crow flew away, and so did Little Jack Rabbit—I mean hopped, for rabbits don’t fly—and pretty soon he got into a dreadful scrape. Oh, dear me! I just hate to tell you about it, but I must, for everything the little bunny does I write down, even if I don’t see him do it. And do you know how I learn so much about him? I’ll tell you. It’s because every morning Bobbie Redvest comes to my window and says:
“Wake up, wake up, you lazy man! ”

“ When Xmas bells will sound.”
“Jump into my Bunnymobile,” said kind Uncle John Hare. “You come home with us. I have a little barn right next to my garage where it’s nice and warm. You shall have some hay to eat.” ”

“ And then he bought a pair of roller skates and a pair of ice skates and a red sled and a bag of candy and a box of lead soldiers and a big red apple and a magic lantern. And a lot more things besides, but, goodness me, I haven’t got room enough in this story to put them in, so we’ll have to wait and call up on Christmas morning and ask him. ”