Bunny

“ With most of us, I fear, the acquaintance with Bunny is too limited for us to appreciate his frolicsome ways and his happy, fun-loving disposition. The tame things which we sometimes see about country yards are often stupid, like a playful kitten spoiled by too much handling; and the flying glimpse we sometimes get of a bundle of brown fur, scurrying helter-skelter through and over the huckleberry bushes, generally leaves us staring in astonishment at the swaying leaves where it disappeared, and wondering curiously what it was all about. ”

“ Bunny, always on the alert, makes a bolt for his life with the ferret at his back and the old hound waiting at the other end of the hole to crush his life out. He stops a moment at the entrance as the dog makes a vicious snap at him, returns to meet his arch enemy, lets out a pitiful squeal, and meekly allows his life blood to be sucked without further resistance. ”

“ It is marvellous to note with what a venomous hatred the beater regards the bunny. Pheasant or partridge he is careless of; even the hare is, in comparison, a thing of nought, but let him once set eyes on a rabbit, and his whole being seems to change. His eye absolutely flashes, his chest heaves with excitement beneath the ancient piece of sacking that protects his form from thorns. If the rabbit falls to the shot, he yells with exultation; if it be missed, an expression of morose and gloomy disappointment settles on his face, as who should say, "Things are played out; the world is worthless!" ”

“ When Bunny is on his own ground he is one of the fastest of four-footed things. He lays himself down to the ground, and travels at such a terrific pace for about forty yards that he looks like a mere streak on the ground. I never yet saw a terrier that could turn a rabbit unless Bunny was imprudent enough to wander more than one hundred yards from home. But this wretched brute in our field was moving at the pace proper to feeding time, and, judging by its deliberate sluggishness, it seemed to be inviting death. ”

“ Looking around us for our household pets after the dog and the cat, we find that Bunny, the rabbit, comes next. Bunny is a darling pet of the little ones, who dearly love to fondle this pretty bundle of fur. They are sometimes too kind and the poor little thing suffers from their fondness. That is the sad way with children's pets, they are at times loved to death.
But the rabbit is kept for something else than a child's plaything. It is often raised for food, much like the hen and the duck, and its furry skin brings a good price. ”

“ Now, Bunny, don't you worry, for you have a nice home, and God knows just where it is, and where you are, so you needn't ever think you're lost." He hid his face for a moment in the soft fur. "We're glad we know Christian Science, aren't we, Bunny?" he whispered, "for then we know we are always safe, and never tired or afraid." ”

“ Judged by the standard of a rabbit, Bunny was a fairly clever little creature, and the plans she formed as she hid in the undergrowth seemed to show that she possessed unusual forethought. She waited and watched for several nights, till the badgers had ceased to labour, and the mound before the “set” remained apparently untouched. Then, one evening, after she had seen the badgers go off together into the heart of the wood, she entered, and moved along the gallery, pausing here and there to touch the walls with her sensitive muzzle. ”

“ I will now tell you about Bunny, a little Manx cat that came to our house every evening at supper-time. She did not offer to stay only just long enough to get something to eat. Guy named her “Bunny” because she has only a little stump of a tail, and when running she would raise her back just like a rabbit. I think Bunny must have come from the same country that Jack did, for she was the same kind of a cat, only she was gray, just like Budge. In fact she resembled Budge so much that we were all horrified the first time we saw her. ”

“ Robin Redbreast called again.
"Don't call for rain," said Bunny Rabbit. "I like to have the sun shine all the time."
"So do I," said Sammy Red Squirrel. "I do not like to have it rain on my fur coat."
"See how the flowers hang down their heads," said the robin.
"I am sure they would like to have a drink of fresh water."
"The flowers are sleepy," said Bunny. "That is why they hang their heads."
"Quack, quack, quack!" said Mrs. Duck. "Come, children, we will go down to the brook."
The duck and all the little ducks waddled across the road and into the meadow. ”

“ Just what made Bunny awaken he did not know. But, all at once the little fellow sat up on his cot, and looked with wide-open eyes toward the entrance. There was a lantern burning in the tent, and by the light of it Bunny Brown saw a big shaggy animal, standing on its hind legs, and sniffing with its black nose. At first Bunny could not make a sound, he was so frightened, but finally he screamed:
"Oh, Daddy! Daddy! Wake up! It's a bear! A bear! A big black bear in the tent!"
Then Bunny slipped down between the blankets and covered up his head with the bed clothes. ”

“ They are as wings compared with the deformities that bear up the ordinary rabbit hound. With winged legs, protecting color, a clear map of the country in his head,—its stumps, rail-piles, cat-brier tangles, and narrow rabbit-roads,—with all this as a handicap, Bunny may well run his usual cool and winning race. ”

“ Up rose the kingly foxgloves, tier upon tier of them pink-purple, but Bunny Rabbit missed these too.
A golden world—the ragwort blazing on the slope, below the mellowing corn-field, and, mantling primrose hills, the dawn.
{102} Now Bunny Rabbit was ready.
The burrow winds in four sharp turns, and, at each one, he stubbed his nose. This through a mad desire to keep near Mother; for Mother's tail bobbed in quick jerks, shaving each corner to a hair, and he and all his brothers raced to catch it. ”

“ To do justice to the intelligence of the dog, and to be truthful about the rabbit, it must be remembered that, in the chase, Bunny usually has the advantage of knowing the lay of the land. The short cuts, streams, logs, briers, and roads are all in mind before he takes a jump. The dog is often on strange ground. Free the rabbit for the hunt, as you do the fox, on unknown territory, and the dogs will soon take the frightened, bewildered little creature.
There is no braver or more devoted mother in all the wilds than Molly Cottontail. ”

“ Bunny begged. "Maybe I'll catch a fox pretty soon. Oh, look, Sue!" he cried, this time aloud, he was so excited. "There's a bird going into the box. I'll catch the bird, to show you how my trap works."
"You won't hurt the bird; will you, Bunny?" begged Sue. ”

“ Sue said. "A half tiger and half dog."
"Lots of folks would like to see an animal like that," Bunny said. "I'll just stripe my half of Splash, and leave your half plain, Sue."
"All right. But is you only going to have one wild make-believe animal, Bunny?"
"No, Ned Johnson has a dog. We can make a lion out of him."
"But Ned's dog hasn't any tail," said Sue. "I mean he has only a little baby tail, like a rabbit. Lions always have tails with tassels on the end."
"Well," said Bunny, slowly. "We could make believe this lion had his tail bit off by an elephant." ”

“ Bunny ran away so much, you see, that his mother was quite used to it, while Susan was a good rabbit and had never before run away from home.
The week passed, and then Bunny’s [37] mother said Bunny must go to school. For rabbits have to go to school if they want to learn anything, of course!
So she put up a nice little lunch for Bunny, and gave his coat an extra brush. She brushed him so hard that he cried a little, and went down the road with his dinner pail on his arm, brushing the tears away with his sore paw! ”

“ Grouse with her brood of little brown birdies.
“Good morning, Billy Bunny,” she said, while her small brood hid themselves in the dry leaves that strewed the ground. “Come here, children,” she called, “Billy Bunny won’t hurt you. He’s a friend.” So the little brown birds came out from their hiding places and stood in a row and bowed as nicely as you please, and the little rabbit opened his knapsack and gave them each a candy carrot. ”

“ Pretty Bunny got up and opened her window wide, and before she had time to ask how many Bunnies lived in the house, she had fallen asleep and was dreaming that every room in the house needed to be put in order. She heard a voice call,
“I’m the Good Mannered Bunny, I sing, and sing,
We should have a place for everything.”
Next morning Pretty Bunny took pride in picking up her room, and she asked to do the same for Aunt Etiquette who was old and stiff and lame. ”

“ Well, sir, after that Billy Bunny thought it was time to be going, so he bowed to the old squirrel and hopped away, and after maybe a million hops, skips and jumps, he reached the Old Brier Patch, where he found his dear mother standing in the doorway of her little house waiting for her bunny boy. ”

“ She peeped inside and said, “I will tell no one yet what I have found; I will tell no one yet what is inside.”
Healthy Bunny and Pretty Bunny came home tired.
Old Father Bun said,
“Did you find the pot of gold? [Pg 69]
Though you are tired, please do not scold.” ”

“ We bought him!"
"But he is our pony!" said Bunny. "He knows us and we know him, and he's got white spots on, just like Toby."
"Lots of ponies have white spots," answered the gypsy woman. "That one isn't yours, I tell you."
"But he knows us," went on Bunny, "and he did the handkerchief trick. We want our pony and we want to go home!" and, for just a moment, Bunny felt very much like crying. [228]
"You can go home after a bit," said the woman, as she looked out of the tent. "Now be good and don't make a fuss. If you're good you can have a dog. ”

“ If you are a well-mannered Rabbit.
One morning Aunt Etiquette came down stairs and found everything in the living room in disorder. Healthy Bunny had thrown the newspapers on the floor the night before, and Pretty Bunny had left faded flowers in a vase. ”

“ When they got home all the rabbits in the neighborhood stood around the front gate, and they all cried: “Hurrah! welcome home, Bunny!”
Bunny was so ashamed that he hung his head and waved his sore paw feebly. Then his mother took [14] him into the house and put him to bed.
Poor Bunny was so shaken up by the ride in that wheel-barrow that he did not sleep very well, and next day he had to stay at home with his mother while all the other rabbits went to a pic-nic. ”

“ The Bunny. The Tunny.
The superficial naturalists have often been misled,
By failing to discriminate between the tail and head:
It really is unfortunate such carelessness prevails,
Because the Bunnies have their heads where Tunnies have their tails.
[pg 30]
The Puss. ”

“ Healthy Bunny and Pretty Bunny went out and gathered Golden-rod and [Pg 95] brought it home, and set it in great jars by the front door. The Golden-rod said,
“By the road I grow, but this I know,
I sing it over, hour by hour,
I sing it over hour by hour
I am your chosen National Flower.”
Even as the Golden-rod talked, the song-finch and song sparrow came to see if there were any seeds ready for them.
Happy-Go-Lucky Bunny came in sight with a surprise for Old Mother Bun. He had a basket full of the little plant she wanted for her wild flower garden called, “Butter-And-Eggs.” ”

“ Wherever I roam I’m always at home,
In forest or grassy lea.” “And so am I,” cried Billy Bunny. “I’m a traveler; yes, I am.” And then the little canary flew down from the tree and said to the little rabbit: “I have a little yellow brother who has always lived in a cage. But he can’t get me to live with him. I love the trees and the tall grasses too much.”
“Where do you live?” asked the little rabbit. ”

“ Bunny answered. "Some of the boys and girls are coming over to-day, and we're going to practise in the barn."
"Well, be careful you don't get hurt," said their grandpa.
"And can we have the green-striped calf for a zebra?" Bunny wanted to know.
"Oh, I guess so; yes. The stripes haven't worn off him yet, and they won't for some time. So you might as well play with him."
"We don't want to play with him," Bunny explained. "He—he jumps about too much. We just want to put him in a cage and make believe he is a wild animal."
"Like a ockstritch," added Sue. The ostrich seemed to be her favorite. ”

“ The nose, always twitching, is blunt and short and pink, the nostril very small but of a very decided shape, and the muzzle rounded and full. The hind-legs are of an extraordinary size, but gathered together in a hunched position as Bunny sits in a hutch nibbling morsels of food they are not so noticeable; the spine rises from the head in a long steep curve from the neck to the top of the thighs.
There is nothing more soft and fluffy than the tail of a rabbit—'Cotton-tail,' as he is called in America. ”

“ They told Pretty Bunny where to hang her wraps and her dinner-pail, and made her feel quite at home. As it was not yet time for school to begin, the Bunnies went and cleaned the blackboard and erasers and hung up all the erasers neatly on the hooks. They said,
“We help the teacher every day
In our work in every way.”
[Pg 64]
The teacher came in with a pleasant “Good Morning.”
She read a story that day that every one liked. The story was called, “Little Rag-Tag.”
“Once upon a time, Little Rag-Tag came to school. She had on a ragged dress and the buttons were off her shoes. ”

“ So Billy Bunny took the Luckymobile around to the barn, and just then an old owl began to toot:
"I'm very fond of little gray mice,
And little white rabbits, too, are nice."
And down flew that old gray owl and made a grab for Billy Bunny. But he didn't catch him. No, sireemam! For the little rabbit hopped into the henhouse through the little round door, and the big red rooster began to crow:
"Look here, Mr. Owl, if you come inside
I'll hurt you with my spur. ”

“ Bunny Brown and his sister Sue continued to have a lot of fun with the trick dog and their pony. One day some of his boy chums came over to see Bunny.
“Say,” asked Charlie Star, “when are we going to have that show you were talking of, Bunny?”
“That’s right,” added Harry Bentley. “We want to get up a show with your trick dog and your pony. We can get some other animals, too.”
“All right,” agreed Bunny. “Let’s go out to our barn now and talk about it. If we have the show it will be in our barn.” ”