Richard Barnum

“ Who are you, if you please?”
“I am Slicko, the jumping squirrel,” was the answer. “Can you see me up in my nest?”
Flop Ear looked up, and saw a little gray animal with a big, bushy tail. In her paws Slicko held a nut which she was eating.
“Oh, have you a nest up there?” asked Flop Ear.
“Yes, this is my home.”
“Then you must be a bird if you live in a nest,” remarked the rabbit.
“Well, yes, in that way, maybe I am,” laughed Slicko. “But we squirrels only live in nests in trees in Summer. In the Winter we burrow under the ground as you rabbits do, Flop Ear.” ”

“ The moon was shining brightly, too, so the rabbit knew it could not be a storm. Then as he looked toward the road he saw some big wagons being hauled along by many horses, and from the wagons came the smell of wild animals.
“Why—why!” exclaimed Flop Ear, wide awake now. “This must be a circus—a circus such as Blackie, the cat, told me about. She said it went from one city to another by night. I guess I’ll go out and look at it. Nobody will mind me, and I may see Tum Tum, the jolly elephant Blackie told of. I have never seen an elephant.” ”

“ Squinty said quickly. “I am used to it. Whenever the folks come and look down in my pen they laugh at me too.”
“And my rabbit friends laugh at me,” said Flop Ear, “so it is all the same.”
“Do you like it in the pen?” asked Pink Nose. “It seems so open, where every one can look in on you.”
“Oh, yes, we all like it here,” said Squinty. “We have lots of fun. We play, and scratch each others’ backs. ”

“ FLOP EAR GETS AWAY For two or three days Jimmie made Flop Ear do, over and over again, the first two tricks—those of jumping through the barrel hoop, and standing up with a piece of carrot on his nose. The rabbit did not mind doing them, for he was getting to like the boy, because he was very kind and good.
“But two tricks are not enough for a rabbit,” the boy said. “I want you to know some more, and then I can get up a little animal show, or circus, with you.” Then the boy said to himself: “I ought to have more animals. I wonder if I could get a dog and teach him some tricks, or a cat.” ”

“ You always lift rabbits by their ears.”
“No you don’t!” cried Jimmie. “My mother says that lots of folks think it’s right to lift a rabbit by the ears, but it isn’t, any more than you’d lift a dog or cat by its ears.”
“You couldn’t lift a cat by her ears,” said Sam. “They’re not big enough. But some dogs have ears almost as big as rabbits, only they don’t stand up straight.” ”

“ It’s a good thing you were not shot, Flop Ear.”
“A hunter man with a gun! Was that what made the noise?” asked Snuggle, and she cuddled up close to her nice grandmother.
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“That’s what it was,” went on the old lady rabbit. “There are hunters in our woods; but, so far, none of them has come near our home. And I hope they do not.”
“Then I did right to run away from the noise; did I, Grandmother?” asked Flop Ear.
“You certainly did, little boy. Always run when you hear that gun-banging noise. I hope your father and mother will be able to run away from it. I wish they were home.” ”

“ If you want to read more about the monkey you may do it in the book called “Mappo, the Merry Monkey; His Many Adventures.” In that I have told many things about the jolly four-handed chap.
“Well, if we are going to live together in the woods,” said Mappo to Flop Ear, “we had better start making our house.”
“I will cut down branches of trees with my sharp gnawing teeth,” said Flop Ear.
“And I will make them into a house,” said the monkey. “And since you like to live part of the time down under ground you may dig for yourself a hole in the middle of the house. We will call that a cellar.” ”

“ In all nursery literature animals have played a conspicuous part; and the reason is obvious, for nothing entertains a child more than the antics of an animal. These stories abound in amusing incidents such as children adore, and the characters are so full of life, so appealing to a child’s imagination, that none will be satisfied until they have met all of their favorites—Squinty, Slicko, Mappo, and the rest.
Squinty, the Comical Pig. Slicko, the Jumping Squirrel. Mappo, the Merry Monkey. Tum Tum, the Jolly Elephant. Don, a Runaway Dog. Dido, the Dancing Bear. Blackie, a Lost Cat. ”

“ The two ears of most rabbits stand up straight, when they are not stretched back along their backs, but when Flop Ear wanted to put both his ears up straight only one would go, and the other dropped down in a queer way.
“Oh, Flop Ear, you are such a funny little white rabbit,” Lady Munch, his grandmother, would say.
“Funny? How is that?” the little boy bunny would ask.
“Why, you look so funny,” the old lady rabbit would answer. “I always want to laugh when I see you.” ”

“ Jones said some children were going to take him for a pet, but I would rather have Flop Ear, the funny rabbit.”
“Well, this isn’t so bad,” thought Flop Ear, as he nibbled the carrot. “If this boy knows my friend Squinty I guess he will be kind to me. So some children are going to take Squinty away for a pet; are they? I hope they will be good to him, and give him what he likes to eat.” ”

“ It is no fun to be shut up in a cage.”
“That’s right,” chattered Mappo, winding his long tail around his neck, as you might put a scarf about yours. “Still Tum Tum, the elephant, and Dido, the dancing bear, do not seem to mind being in the circus.”
“I guess that’s different,” said Flop Ear.
“Perhaps it is,” agreed Mappo.
Flop Ear told his adventures to the merry monkey—how the bunny had been driven away from his burrow home, how he had gone into the wood basket and had been found by the boy, and all that followed.
“My! you certainly had quite a time,” said Mappo. “Now what do you say to this? ”

“ And I think, perhaps, you children remember the story of how once a lion was caught in a net, and how a little mouse gnawed through the ropes of the net so the lion could get out. And if a mouse could help a lion, which is a big animal, a mouse might help an elephant. So you see Flop Ear was not so very far wrong.
The white rabbit kept on gnawing away at the outside of the wooden box trap, and he soon had a hole almost through. The mother mouse and the little mice heard the gnawing sounds and they were glad, for they hoped soon to be free, and to run back to their home and to the papa. ”

“ To a little rabbit, a boy is as big as a giant would be to you or me, and this was the first time, in all his life, Flop Ear had ever been near a human being.
If there were giants in the world, I think we would all be very much frightened if we saw one for the first time, and did not know whether he would be cross or kind. ”

“ Rabbits have fun by themselves, and with other animals, just as you children do; and rabbits can think and talk. Of course, they can’t talk as we do, but they can talk among themselves, [10] and with other animals, and, very often, they know what you say to them, just as your kitten knows enough to come when you call her to dinner, or as your dog knows enough to carry your books from school when you put them in his mouth.
So when, in this story, I say that Flop Ear said something, or thought something, I mean he did it in a rabbit way, just as your cat and dog talk together in their languages. ”

“ Sam held the carrot in front of Flop Ear, and a little way from his nose. The rabbit smelled the carrot, and, as he could not reach it, he hopped forward.
“Now pull it away from him!” quickly cried Jimmie. “Hold it in front of him, and every time he jumps to get it, move it ahead a little. That will keep him moving, and he’ll pull the wagon.” ”

“ FLOP EAR LEARNS TRICKS Flop Ear, at first, was so frightened at finding himself in the boy’s arms, that he did not know what to do. He trembled and tried to get away, but the boy said:
“Keep still, little rabbit. I won’t hurt you. I will be kind to you.”
Flop Ear understood a little of this talk, but, best of all, he understood the kind, stroking hand of the boy, who rubbed his fur softly. Animals can tell just by the way you touch them whether or not you are going to be nice to them. ”

“ Bunny would tell their children the things all rabbits must learn. Just as your folks tell you about cleaning your teeth, and washing your hands and faces, so [15] the rabbit children were told how to do things to keep themselves clean. Of course they did not clean their teeth, but they washed themselves with their tongues, as cats do.
“And you must always be careful, when you go out in the woods, that dogs do not see you and chase you,” said Lady Munch. “Always be careful about dogs.”
“And hunters with guns,” added Papa Bunny. “They are worse than dogs.” ”

“ Run everybody! Run, and hide!”
“And don’t all run together,” added Lady Munch. “Scatter! Some go one way and some another. If we all keep together the hunter man will see us more easily.”
“Bang!” went the gun again, and then a dog—not Don—barked.
Flop Ear looked over his shoulder. He saw a man with a smoking gun running toward him. Flop Ear ducked under a bush to hide, and, oh, how fast he ran! He wanted to get away. Flop Ear could see Lady Munch, his papa and his mamma, his brother and his sister also running under bushes. The man and dog ran after them. ”

“ It took quite a while for the rabbit to learn this trick, but finally he came to understand what Jimmie wanted. And then, after a bit, Flop Ear would stand up when the boy told him to, and when the carrot was put on the rabbit’s nose he would not let it drop off and eat it until Jimmie clapped his hands.
“Now you are quite tame, and you know two tricks,” said the boy. “You are getting to be quite a circus rabbit. I must teach you another trick.” ”

“ But a rabbit is different. They like hay, and they can sleep in it as well as eat it. So Flop Ear had no trouble getting his breakfast. And he knew that in the woods and fields all around him grew many other things he could eat.
“So, even though I am lost, I shall not go hungry,” thought Flop Ear. “But still I don’t want to be lost. I want to find my home, my father and my mother, and Snuggle and Pink Nose. I want to see my grandma, Lady Munch, too. [45] Oh, how I wish that hunter man had never come to our woods!” ”

“ If you go out in the yard some warm Summer day, and put your ear to the ground, and then some other boy or girl, some distance off, will pound his heel on the earth, you can hear it quite plainly.
That is the way rabbits call to one another when they are too far off to talk, for a rabbit does not have a very loud voice. And a rabbit does not need to put his ear to the ground to listen to the thumps of another rabbit. He can hear well enough without that.
“That’s what I’ll do,” thought Flop Ear. ”

“ Sometimes Flop Ear would dig a hole in the ground, which he could quickly do with his fore paws, and then he would hide himself in it, covering himself up with leaves.
Then, when his brother or his sister came along he would suddenly jump out and cry “Boo!” at them in rabbit talk, just as sometimes you hide at the bottom of the stairs, and pretend to scare your father or big brother as he comes down.
Often Flop Ear, Snuggle and Pink Nose would go off through the woods, to find nice things to eat—sweet roots, wild carrots or berries. ”

“ If I gave you the name in rabbit language it would be so hard to spell that I might break my typewriting machine in putting it on paper. So it is easier to call it tag.
“Oh, I don’t want to play tag,” said Pink Nose. “I want to sleep.”
“You have slept enough,” laughed Flop Ear. “Come on, get up and run about. If you sleep so much you will grow to be a lazy rabbit, Lady Munch says; and then you can’t run fast when there is danger.” ”

“ So Flop Ear and his sister and brother lived in this underground home, which Papa and Mamma Bunny had dug for themselves with their feet, just made for digging.
And the reason the house was built underground, and had only a hole leading down into it, was so that no dogs or hunters would see it. For dogs and hunters chase and shoot rabbits to kill them to eat. And if Mr. Bunny had built his home on top of the ground, as your house is built, the hunters and dogs would more easily see it. ”

“ The white rabbit hopped over close to the box, and looking in through some wire netting that was on one side, he asked:
“What is the matter in there?”
“Oh, Mother!” cried a squeaky voice. “Look, there is a big, white rabbit.”
Flop Ear, looking in the box-trap, saw a mother mouse and five little mice. They came close to the wire and the mother mouse said:
“Oh, we are in such trouble. We are a family of field mice, and our home is in a hole in the ground, not far away. A little while ago I went for a walk with my children. We came to this box. ”

“ Flop Ear saw the carrot and wanted to get it to eat. He started around one side of the hoop, but the boy gently pushed him back.
“You must jump through the hoop if you want the carrot,” said Jimmie.
Flop Ear tried to go around the other way, but the boy would not let him. Then the rabbit saw that the easiest way to get the sweet carrot was to jump through the hoop, which he did, as nicely as you please. It was easy for him to jump, you know. To go through the hoop was the only new thing about it.
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The rabbit saw that the easiest way to get the sweet carrot was to jump through the hoop. ”

“ Flop Ear was hungry when he awoke, and he began to look for his breakfast. He did not do as you have to do, wait for a table to be set, and for something to be cooked. All Flop Ear had to do was to hop out of bed, down in among the clover and eat as much as he liked. He could gnaw bark from a tree, too.
But before he ate he took a nice drink of water from a little brook in the field, and [95] washed his face and paws, just as you take a little bath before you have breakfast. ”

“ Rabbits, and other wild animals, you know, have very good noses for smelling. They can smell danger a good way off, and they can smell their food, and smell their way about, so they will not run into things when they are hurrying along at night.
“Let’s have a game of tag,” said Flop Ear to Pink Nose, as he saw his brother lying in the sun on a pile of soft leaves near the front door of the underground burrow. “Come on, let’s see if you can tag me.” ”

“ Out of his hollow tree hopped Flop Ear. The rumbling noise was very loud now, for many of the big circus wagons were passing along the road. Then some of them stopped, for the horses were tired.
Flop Ear hopped up close to one wagon in which he could see a lot of straw. Suddenly a big, black animal rose up from the straw and [87] looked out through the bars of the cage. The white rabbit, sitting beside the road, was plainly to be seen in the moonlight. ”