David Cory

“ BUNNY TALE 7
TIMMIE MEADOWMOUSE
Little Jack Rabbit looked out of the tiny white bungalow in the Old Bramble Patch. The rain was falling and the Sunny Meadow wasn’t the least bit sunny. No, indeed. The Bubbling Brook was making a great fuss as it rushed along, sometimes overflowing its banks and making little lakes in the hollow spaces.
“Ker dunk! ker dunk!” croaked Granddaddy Bullfrog from his log in the Old Duck Pond. He didn’t mind the rain. His rubber coat kept him nice and dry. As for his shoes, I guess he’d never outgrown his boyhood’s delight in bare legs. ”

“ The little rabbit followed close at his heels and, jumping up beside him, peeked into the good-natured animal’s pocket.
“My, what a hungry little bunny,” laughed the Big Brown Bear, pulling out the lollypops. Then, holding up the orange colored one in his right paw, he waited for the little bunny boy.
“Hip, Hip, Hurray,
I lick a lollypop every day,” they shouted all over again; and not until the lollypops were all gone did the little rabbit suddenly remember the errand for his mother. ”

“ BUNNY TALE 14
UNCLE LUCKY’S DREAM
Oh, what shall I sing this lovely spring
When all the sky’s aglow
With the sun’s gold tint and the pure white glint
Of clouds like drifts of snow.
“Well, well, well,” exclaimed dear Uncle Lucky with a sigh, laying down his book, “that is a beautiful poem.” Pushing his spectacles back on his forehead, he was just about to sigh again when the telephone rang, One, two, three! Jingle, jingle, jingle!
“Who’s that, I wonder?” he asked himself, taking up the receiver. ”

“ Side by side the little rabbit boy and the dear old gentleman bunny hopped along the path through the thick brambles until they reached the little bungalow. On the back porch sat Lady Love, the little rabbit’s mother, shelling peas.
“Well, well, well!” exclaimed Uncle Lucky, “how busy we are! And how pretty we look in the blue apron and string of red beads!” Sitting down on the step, the old gentleman bunny filled his old corncob pipe with cabbage leaf tobacco and smoked away to his heart’s content. ”

“ Hopping out on the kitchen porch, poor Lady Love looked up to the sky. But that’s all she could do. She had no wings to fly after her little son. And, anyway, how could she, a gentle lady bunny, fight a big cruel hawk!
But the Circus Elephant on hearing the little bunny’s cries, answered with a loud trumpet and set off at a run for the Shady Forest. My, you’d be surprised how fast an elephant can run when he wants to! ”

“ The Farmer is milking the little black cow,
The Rooster is blowing his shiny tin horn
And Billy Breeze’s whistling a tune in the corn.
Goodness me! Up jumped Little Jack Rabbit. You remember that the tired little bunny boy had been too sleepy to hop upstairs after playing a game of pinochle with Uncle John Hare, and had fallen asleep in a big arm chair for the night. That’s where we left him, and now we find him wide awake. ”

“ The next moment around a bend in the river came the Billy Goat with his Ferryboat. You remember the Ferryboat, don’t you? The old rowboat with a bicycle in the middle and paddle wheels on the side to push it ahead or backward or any way which Captain Billygoat wished to go.
“Oh, hurry, hurry!” shouted the poor frightened little bunny boy, as the Old Brown Horse floundered about in the angry waters, his head at times almost disappearing and his poor hind legs refusing to make another stroke. ”

“ For no sooner had Hungry Hawk flown around the big rock to catch the little Mountain Goat than the Circus Elephant reached out his long trunk, catching by the neck that wicked bird before he could turn away. ”

“ As there was nothing to be gained by standing still on the Sunny Meadow, the dis-con-so-late (which means hopelessly unhappy, little readers) bunny boy rabbit hopped away until, all of a sudden, just like that, he almost bumped into the Farmer’s Boy, who was holding a [Pg 67] long string that rose up and up and up into the air until it ended in a queer shaped something with a long tail that swung to and fro as Billy Breeze laughed and whistled across the white cloud meadows of the sky. ”

“ Oh, yes, ah, yes; they saw Danny Fox creeping along the Old Rail Fence.
“Oh, dear!” cried the little rabbit, “that old robber fox has stolen a chicken from the good kind farmer.”
“Well, we can’t help that,” answered Uncle Lucky. “Foxes must live as well as other people, only it’s too bad they can’t eat nuts like squirrels, or cabbages like rabbits.”
Then all of a sudden the little rabbit had a bright idea. Taking out his Policeman’s whistle, he blew on it with all his might. And, would you believe it! that crafty old fox thought the Policeman Dog was coming and dropped the chicken. ”

“ A lady bunny make turnip tea.
We have no coffee, but you won’t care
If I give you tea and a chocolate éclair,” answered Lady Love.
“No, indeed!” answered the Yellow Dog Tramp. “I’m not particular,” and carefully wiping his feet on the door-mat, he trotted into the spotless little kitchen.
“My, but you look pretty in your blue apron,” he remarked, as the lady bunny put on the kettle.
“Mother always looks pretty,” agreed Little Jack Rabbit. “She just can’t help it.”
“That’s because she’s always doing something for somebody,” replied the Yellow Dog Tramp. ”

“ But, goodness me! He soon found out what a heavy thing a turtle is. Pretty soon the old hawk’s wings grew tired. Oh, very weary, indeed.
“I must rest,” he said to himself, turning toward an old dead tree near the edge of the Shady Forest.
“Let me go! Let me go!” again and again begged Teddy Turtle.
“Be still, will you?” answered the old robber bird, doing his best to keep his balance on the limb of the dead tree and at the same time hold on to the wiggly jiggly little turtle.
“No, I won’t,” answered Teddy Turtle, with another wiggle and a jiggle, and maybe a wiggle-jiggle-jiggle after that. ”

“ With a hop, skip and a jump across the nice rag carpet hopped the dear old bunny to peek through the curtain. There on the porch rail sat Jimmy Jay, the mischievous bird boy.
“Ha, ha! ha, ha!” he went again, throwing his head first to one side and then to the other, “Ha, ha! ha, ha!”
“Get off my porch,” shouted dear Uncle Lucky, “you bad, mischievous, sneak of a bird boy. Why don’t you play nice games instead of mean jokes? Get off my porch or I’ll do something to you,” and Uncle Lucky hopped back across the hall and opened the front door with a swing. ”

“ The next minute there came a tremendous crash—the Old Tree House shook from top to bottom.
“Rats and mice!” exclaimed the wicked owl. “Somebody means business. I guess I’ll look out of the attic window,” and the old feathered robber climbed up to the garret of his tree house, ’way up near the topmost branches, and peeped down.
At the foot of the tree stood poor Little Lady Love, the bunny boy’s mother, and the brave Policeman Dog. ”

“ Just as the Farmer’s Boy reached up to grasp the fierce bird, either Billy Breeze forgot himself, [Pg 70] or the good old kite could stand the strain no longer, or something gave way, a string or two, maybe a knot. All of a sudden, with a wiggle and jiggle, Hungry Hawk slipped out and sailed away, up and up, across the Big Red Barn to the freedom of the open sky. ”

“ My little toe won’t touch!” sang Uncle Lucky, helping Daddy Longlegs pull off his rubber boots.
“Ha, ha!” laughed the old gentleman insect, stretching out his cold, damp toes:
“I love the cheerful kitchen fire,
And though it is so kind
To warm my frozen tippy toes,
I’m always cold behind.”
“Turn around once in a while,” replied Uncle Lucky, “that’s what I do!”
“Don’t set your coat tails on fire,” advised Little Miss Mousie, as she nibbled a piece of angel cake. ”

“ Up in the sky the pretty stars peep;
Down in the meadows the clover tops
Are winking away at the lollypops,” sang Lady Love, as she rocked the cradle in which lay Little Jack Rabbit.
Out in the kitchen Old Mrs. Bunny, who had come over for the day, was baking cabbage cake and Mr. Rabbit was reading in the Bunnybridge Bugle a story about the new baby rabbit in the Old Bramble Patch.
“Look, mother!” cried the proud rabbit father, turning the paper toward the good lady bunny. ”

“ When the Elephant had finished the lollypops he felt better, so he said, and, taking off his hat, he leaned against the Big Chestnut Tree and fell asleep.
“My goodness! It takes an elephant a long time to wake up,” thought the little rabbit, when at last his big circus friend opened his eyes. ”

“ Well, when they all reached the Old Bramble Patch, there stood dear Uncle Lucky on the front porch, his old wedding stovepipe hat in his front paw and his big diamond horseshoe pin in his pink cravat. ”

“ To keep them safe from chill and storm.”
“Hop into my Luckymobile,” invited Uncle Lucky. “We’ll take you home to Lady Love. You can live in the kitchen woodbox all winter and when Spring comes you may hop out and dance on the grass.”
Well, it didn’t take those three shivering grasshoppers long to jump into the Luckymobile, nor to reach the dear Old Bramble Patch.
“Lady Love! Lady Love!” shouted Uncle Lucky, hopping up the winding path through the bushes.
“What is it?” asked the pretty lady bunny, opening the kitchen door. ”

“ Then, smoothing her bobbed hair, she smiled sweetly at the old gentleman bunny.
“Chatterbox, the red squirrel,” answered Uncle Lucky. “He has a funny story to tell me, but my rheumatism won’t listen to anything, so I excused myself. Dear me, how my little left hind toe aches. I must be careful or I’ll be full of crossness.”
“You’ll never be full of anything but kindness,” replied Little Miss Mousie, arranging the cushions in the big armchair. ”

“ When there is nobody nigh.
You chase the little rabbits and hares,
And fill them full of terrible scares.
Oh, nobody loves you, Danny Fox,
As you sneak around in your woolen socks.”
“What’s all this noise about?” asked Uncle Lucky, looking out of the window. But when he saw Danny Fox he closed it mighty quick, let me tell you.
Dear me, I was dreadfully afraid as Uncle Lucky closed the window that Danny Fox would catch the Old Red Rooster. But he didn’t. No, siree and a no, sireeman! His foot was too sore, so he limped away, saying with an angry snarl, “You just wait. ”

“ The next minute the Policeman Dog slipped a pair of handcuffs over that old Weasel’s front paws.
“Dear, dear me!” sighed poor Photographer Crane, struggling to his feet, no easy matter, let me tell you. Like walking up to the top of the Woolworth Building when the elevators are on strike! At last, when he had straightened out his long, thin knobby legs, he turned to the kind Policeman Dog. ”