Howard Roger Garis

“ But the black snake never said a word, only he clung the tighter to poor Sammie.
"Run for help, Susie!" called the little boy rabbit. "Run and ask Mr. Groundhog to come and drive the snake away!"
So Susie ran as fast as she could, and did not even stop to rap on the burrow door where Mr. Groundhog lived. She went right in, and told the elderly creature that a bad snake had her little brother. "And won't you please come and get him loose?" asked Susie, who was crying. "If you shut your eyes you won't see your shadow, and be frightened. ”

“ Sure enough, in a little while the two bunny children came running out.
"Oh, what a lovely day!" cried Susie Littletail, and she wrinkled up her nose, and made it go very fast, almost as fast as an automobile or a motorcycle. "Doesn't it smell fine?" she asked her brother, and she took a good, long breath.
"It smells just like spring," answered Sammie. "The wind is nice and warm, there are lots more birds around than there were, and the grass is getting greener and greener every minute," and he turned a somersault, he felt so glad that summer was coming. ”

“ Uncle Wiggily walked along very slowly, going home from the party Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble had. Sammie Littletail saw how slowly his uncle walked, and asked:
"What is the matter, Uncle Wiggily? Does your rheumatism hurt you very much?"
"No, it isn't that," replied the old gentleman rabbit, "though it does pain me some. I was just wondering about that red fairy."
"Oh, do you really suppose one will appear, as the fairy prince said?" asked Susie, making her nose twinkle like two stars and a comet on a frosty night. ”

“ A big bird, with long legs and a very long bill, was standing on one leg right over the frog. The bird was looking intently at Bully.
"Come on!" cried the frog to the rabbit. "We must get away from here as quickly as we can."
"Why?" asked Sammie Littletail.
"Because," said Bully, "that bird will eat us. My father warned me never to stay near that bird. Let us go away at once."
"What sort of a bird is it?" asked Sammie, who now had no wish to jump. "I'm sure it can't be very harmful. The only birds that I have to look out for are owls, eagles and hawks, and it isn't any of them." ”

“ He always appears when any one says "Oh, dear!" three times in exactly the right way, but it's hard to know just what is the right way.
"Well," said the little green man, "you seem to be in trouble."
"I am," cried Sammie. "A hawk has Billie Bushytail, and I want to save him."
"Very well," said the little green man, "since you are so kind, you shall save him. Shut your eyes, cross your front paws, and wrinkle your nose three times and a half." So Sammie did this, and, would you believe me? if, in another instant, the little green man hadn't changed into a big, kind, good-natured eagle. ”

“ There were many tall trees about, and in one was a big gray squirrel, who sat up and chattered at the sight of Sammie, as if he had never seen a rabbit before.
"What are you doing here?" asked the squirrel. "Don't you know rabbits are not allowed here?"
"Why not?" asked Sammie.
"Because there are nice trees about, and the keepers of the park fear you and your family will gnaw the bark off and spoil them."
"We never spoil trees," declared Sammie, though he just then remembered that his Uncle, Wiggily Longears, had once said something about apple-tree bark being very good to eat. ”

“ Then, all at once, just when one little fairy was making a hat out of some straw, the godmother said: "It is time for us to go now," so the burdock leaf came sailing through the air, and Susie got on. As they came near the woods where the goldenrod grew they saw a boy throwing a stone at a robin.
"Ah, I must stop that!" cried the fairy godmother, so she waved her new magic wand that Susie had helped her get, and, honestly, if that stone didn't turn right around in the air, and instead of hitting the bird, it flew back and hit that boy right on the end of his nose! ”

“ It's your spectacles."
"They're all right," growled Uncle Wiggily.
"They are not," declared the fairy very decidedly. "Let me look at them," and before you could say "Pussy-cat Mole jumped over a coal," she frisked those glasses off. "Oh!" she cried, "look here, Sammie and Susie! What terribly gloomy spectacles!" Then she held them up, first in front of Sammie, and then in front of Susie. And when they looked through them the little rabbit children saw that everything was dark, and gloomy, and dreary, and even the sun seemed to be behind a cloud. ”

“ The fairies were skipping about, leaping here and there, some riding on the backs of birds and butterflies and bumblebees, and some running in and out of holes in the ground.
"What are they doing?" asked Susie, moving her long ears back and forth.
"They are doing kind things to the people of the earth," replied the fairy godmother, "and it keeps them busy, let me tell you." Then Susie saw fairies doing all sorts of magical tricks, such as making lemonade out of lemons, and things like that. ”

“ Well, pretty soon, after a while, as they all walked through the woods, Sammie kept going slower and slower and slower, because his basket was quite heavy, until he was a long way in back of his papa, his mamma and Susie. But he didn't mind that, for he knew he had plenty of time, when all at once what should come running out of the bushes but a great big dog. At first Sammie was frightened, but then when he looked again he knew the dog was not a rabbit-dog. No, what is worse, he was an egg-dog. Now an egg-dog is a dog that eats eggs, and they are one of the very worst kinds of dogs there are. ”

“ Susie was out skipping her grapevine rope, and thinking what a nice day it was, when her mamma called to her:
"Susie, don't you want to help Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy make some Hot Cross Buns?"
"Of course," the little rabbit girl said, and, being a very kind little creature, she added: "Can Sammie help me, mamma?"
"Oh, I don't want to," said Sammie, who was playing marbles with Bully, the frog. They were using old hickory nuts and acorns for their shooters and for the agates in the ring. "I'm going to be a soldier or run an automobile when I grow up, so I don't want to learn to cook." ”

“ They watched the snakes make hoops of themselves, through which jumped squirrels and rabbits. It was so exciting that Uncle Wiggily Longears clapped his paws as hard as he could. Then Dr. Possum, who was not very busy taking care of sick people that day, hung downward from a limb by his tail ever so long, but when Bully's papa jumped over three big stumps at once, without so much as touching one—well, you should have heard the clapping and shouting then! Best of all, Sammie and Susie liked the baby deer, who stood up on his hind legs and danced, while a crow whistled. ”

“ Possum's house, where he had gone to get some sweet-flag root, for Uncle Wiggily Longear's rheumatism, something happened to the little boy rabbit. He was coming through a big field, where the grass was quite high, when he heard a little bark. He knew at once that it was a dog, and Sammie was afraid of dogs, as all rabbits are, so he started to run. But the dog called out:
"Don't run, little rabbit."
"Why not?" asked Sammie. "I'm afraid of you."
"But I won't hurt you," went on the dog.
"You might," answered Sammie. "Dogs always hurt rabbits." ”

“ I will take the nest, and I hope you bunnies will come to see me sometimes, when I am settled, and have the carpets down."
"We can't climb trees," objected Susie.
"That's so—you can't," admitted Mrs. Wren. "Never mind, I can fly down and see you. Now I think I will begin to clean out the nest, for the squirrels have left a lot of nutshells in it."
So she began to clean out the nest, and Susie and Sammie started home. But, before they got there something happened, and what it was I will tell you, perhaps, to-morrow night, if the rooster doesn't crow and wake me up. ”

“ One day, about a week after this, when Uncle Wiggily Longears was out walking with Sammie and Susie, going quite slowly, because he was a trifle lame from rheumatism, Bully, the frog, came hopping up to them.
"Are you going to the circus?" he asked.
"Circus? What circus?" asked Sammie, who was interested very quickly, you may be sure.
"Why, the animal circus that is always held in the woods every spring. They do all sorts of queer things to get ready for the summer. I'm going. It's lots of fun. Better come." ”

“ You never can tell in this world what is going to happen," and I think Uncle Wiggily was right about it.
"Oh!" cried Susie, "I wish I could come with you, Uncle Wiggily. I never saw a real fairy in all my life. Couldn't I come with you?" and the little rabbit girl went close to her uncle, and took hold of his crutch, gnawed by the muskrat, Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, out of a cornstalk. ”

“ It was not cabbage nor turnips nor carrots that she smelled. Nor was it sweet clover, nor any smell like that. It was the smell of danger, and Susie, like all her family, could smell danger quite a distance. This time she knew it was a man with a dog and a gun who was coming toward her. For Uncle Wiggily Longears had told her how to know when such a thing happened.
"Oh, it's some of those horrid hunters; I know it is!" exclaimed Susie. "I must run home, though I haven't half enough cabbage." ”

“ But, Uncle Wiggily, are squirrels all right to play with?"
"Oh, yes, squirrels are very nice," said his Uncle. "Why, did you see some?"
"Yes, I met two, and they said their names were Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, and they are coming over to see me some time."
"That will be nice," remarked Susie. "May I play with them, too?"
"I guess so," replied Sammie. "But, mamma, I'm hungry. Isn't there anything to eat?"
"You can have some bread and butter," said his mamma.
"With sugar on?" asked Sammie.
"We are all out of sugar," went on Mrs. Littletail. "You must run to the store for some." ”

“ Then Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, dropping the pan of potatoes she was peeling for supper, sprang at the ferret. And to-morrow night, if you are good children, you shall hear how Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy drove the ferret from the underground home and saved the bunny children. ”

“ Besides he's gone out walking with Sister Sallie. Come on, let's have a catch. Where's your ball?"
"I didn't bring it," replied Sammie. "But we can have some fun playing in this hole I've dug." So they played for some time, and pretty soon, oh, in about two and a half frisks of Billie's tail, what should happen, but that, all of a sudden, a great big hawk swooped down from the sky and grabbed that little boy squirrel up in its claws, and flew off with him. Well, you can just imagine how scared Sammie was. His nose wiggled so he sneezed three times. ”

“ I guess soldiers and automobile men are glad enough to eat when some one else cooks for them," said Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. "Anyhow, I can't have you mussing around my kitchen, Sammie, so Susie is the only one who can help me make Hot Cross Buns." ”

“ It is not like being shot."
"Then I wish all hunters would take pictures of us, instead of shooting at us," said Sammie, and Susie also thought it would be much nicer. And Uncle Wiggily told how lovers of animals often take their pictures, to put in books and magazines, for little boys and girls to look at.
"Well," said Papa Littletail, "I suppose I should be very proud to have my picture taken, but I am not the least bit."
Then he gave Sammie some nice pieces of chocolate-covered turnip, which Mr. Drake had sent to the little boy with the lame leg. ”

“ A big hawk, not the kind, good fish-hawk, but another kind, who was out looking for early spring chickens, swooped down and tried to carry Susie Littletail off to his nest. Now Uncle Wiggily was so old he couldn't do much, but Sammie was not going to see his little sister harmed, so what did he do but jump at that hawk with his sharp little feet, and kick him until the bad bird let go of poor Susie. ”

“ Then out of a pond jumped Bully, the frog, and, as he was one of the best jumpers in the woods, or, for that matter, on Orange Mountain, he showed Susie just how to do it.
So she learned to jump "salt," which is slow, and "pepper," which is fast, and "double pepper," which is very fast indeed. Then she learned to jump with two ropes, one going one way and one the other, and finally she could skip as well as any little rabbit girl in the owl's school. Uncle Wiggily tried to jump, but he was so stiff and his rheumatism hurt him so that he couldn't do it. ”

“ So Uncle Wiggily took Sammie and Susie to the animal circus, and Bully, the frog, went also. He had a free ticket, because his father was one of the performers. They had reserved seats on big toadstools, though Bully said they ought to be called frogstools, as frogs used them more than toads did.
Then the performance began, after the birds had sung an opening chorus. The bunny children had a jolly time. They saw some pigeons give airship exhibitions that were better than any flying machines you ever heard of. ”