Jack Rabbit

“ But even after Bobbie Redvest had cautioned Little Jack Rabbit that curious little bunny boy wanted to hop over to the Fairy Forest.
“No, sireebus!” cried Uncle John Hare. “You do what that little robin says and you’ll not go far wrong.”
“All right, Uncle John,” answered the little bunny boy cheerfully, for he was a good little rabbit and had learned to obey his elders without sulking, which is the better way, after all. For when we do a thing with a smile it’s so much easier. ”

“ I'm sure I don't know how this little bunny, all winter, would have escaped the eager eyes of Hungry Hawk, Mr. Wicked Weasel and Danny Fox, if his fur overcoat hadn't been white—for, of course, you haven't forgotten that his coat turns white in the Winter time, and that this is one way that Loving Mother Nature looks after the welfare of her little rabbit children. For when the snow is on the ground Little Jack Rabbit in his white fur overcoat looks like a snow ball, and at the first sign of danger he sits perfectly still, making it mighty hard for even Hungry Hawk's bright eyes to see him. ”

“ Rabbit told him that he was making a good deal of noise for a dead man, and that if he'd get up and pick up all the things he'd upset maybe he'd come to life again.
Then little Jack Rabbit got up and ran to his mother and cried against her best dress and got some tears on it, and Mrs. Rabbit sat down in her rocker and looked at her stove and rocked him until he felt better. And by-and-by she changed her dress and went to cleaning her stove while little Jack picked up all the things—all the spools and buttons and needles and knitting-work—every single thing. ”

“ Rabbit," said Cocky Doodle; "he's a very kind farmer." Mrs. Rabbit smiled, as if she only half believed [46] the little rooster. Then she turned to her little rabbit boy and said, "Keep a bright lookout, and don't forget you're only a small bunny."
After that away went the three little people, Cocky Doodle, with his bright red comb, and Henny Penny in her pretty gray speckled feathers, and Little Jack Rabbit, in his fur waistcoat, white as the big clouds that chased Mr. Merry Sun over the bright blue sky.
"Who is this little bunny?" asked Turkey Tim when they all came to the Farm Yard. ”

“ Faster and faster their fleet hoofs are trying
To race with the North Wind that blows o’er the snow,
Tinkle, tink, tinkle, and crinkle, crink, crinkle,
Swift through the snowflakes they dash in a row.”
And pretty soon out came Little Jack Rabbit with his fur overcoat, and jumping into the sleigh sat down beside dear, kind Uncle John Hare.
“On, Dixon and Blixon! On, Bullet and Arrow!” cried the old gentleman rabbit, and away went the reindeer, while Lady Love waved her calico apron from the window and smiled to see how happy was her little bunny boy. ”

“ It’s growing late,” said the old dog, after finishing three éclairs and emptying five tea-cups. “Thank you,” and away he ran.
“Cousin Cottontail has invited us over this evening,” said Lady Love, as she put away the dishes. “She has a new radio set. We’ll go over in time to hear the Jack Rabbit Man tell his stories.”
“Ha, ha!” cried the little bunny, “that will be fine!” and with a skip and a jump he hopped out on the porch where the little canary lived in her gold cage.
“Hello! Little Rabbit,” she twittered. “What makes you so happy?” ”

“ Pretty soon as the little rabbit slept on who should come tiptoeing by but Old Man Weasel. Dear, dear me! No sooner did he see Little Jack Rabbit than he tip-toed even more softly around the big tree. Then he peeked out, first on one side and then on the other. I suppose he thought the Big Brown Bear might be in his cave wrapping up Lollypops and Ice Cream Cones.
By and by the old weasel grew bolder. Nobody came around and the little bunny boy rabbit kept on sleeping, oh, so peacefully, dreaming about red clover tops and carrot candies and ’licious lollypops and marshmallow drops. ”

“ And green apples give you a pain!”
Poor Little Jack Rabbit! all alone—in the sack—on the back—of Mr. Wicked Wolf.
Just then a little voice from the treetop whispered: “Haven’t you a knife in your pocket, little rabbit?”
It was Bobbie Redvest’s voice, so low and sweet that Mr. Wicked Wolf, who was old and deaf, never heard a word.
“Oh, oh, oh!” thought the little rabbit, all a-tremble, his little knees going clitter, clatter and his little heart pitter, patter, “I wonder if I have?” ”

“ Little Jack Rabbit was too surprised to answer—he just opened his mouth, and the only sound his mother heard was a funny little noise like a whistle.
"Don't you hear me?" she asked, tying the strings of her Sunday bonnet under her furry chin.
"Whew!" said the little rabbit at last recovering from his surprise. "Why do you want me to go to school?"
"Because all the Shady Forest grown-ups think it's a good thing to have a school for [22] the children," and she gave her bonnet a push and pulled on her black silk mitts. ”

“ That pup was some dog!” barked the Yellow Dog Tramp, wagging his tail.
“Well, just the same, I’m glad to be back on my old log,” said Granddaddy Bullfrog. “There’s always something going on in the Old Duck Pond. If it isn’t a perch chasing a minnow, it’s Ducky Waddles. Mrs. Darning Needle is never idle and the little tadpoles make me laugh.”
After a week, however, every one settled down again. Little Jack Rabbit had almost forgotten that he’d ever been to a circus when one day just about noontime, who should come along but the Big Circus Elephant. ”

“ Lady Love has a baby boy bunny. Carrot City, Bunnybridge, Lettucemere and Turnip City papers please copy.”
“It makes me as proud as a peacock to see it in the [Pg 12] paper,” laughed Mr. Rabbit. “And to think that Little Jack Rabbit will soon be old enough to hop about the Sunny Meadow and through the Shady Forest.”
Just then in came Timmie Meadowmouse to see the new little bunny boy.
“Little Jack Rabbit is asleep,” explained his careful father. “Why didn’t you come early this afternoon? You ought to know, Timmie Meadowmouse, that little bunny babies are asleep by this hour.” ”

“ Well, by and by, when there was nothing more to talk over, except the folks at home and the new baby across the way, Little Jack Rabbit said;
“Come out for a ride in the Luckymobile,
It’s such a long time since you went. [Pg 204]
We’ll sure bring you back to your little log shack.
Do you like it as well as a tent?”
“I like it better in the winter,” answered the Elephant. “But I’ve had lots of fun at the circus! Do you remember one day last summer I shouted, ‘Give me a peanut!’”
“Give me a peanut!” ”

“ Daisy Duck from her hiding place. “I declare, my heart beat so loudly I mistook it for the Old Grandfather Clock. Dear, dearie me! I don’t like such great big bunny men. Little ones are nicer,” and hugging Little Jack Rabbit, she gave him a cough drop from a little box she carried in her calico apron pocket. ”

“ It was quite a long walk, for his picture parlor was in Bunnybridge, you know, just over the River Sippi, but by and by, not so very far, for his long legs traveled pretty fast over the ground, he reached the Tall Pine Tree in which Professor Jim Crow had his home.
“Hello, Photographer Crane,” cawed the black bird professor, “where are you going?”
“To take Little Jack Rabbit’s picture,” answered Photographer Crane, setting down his camera and wiping his beak with a red silk pocket handkerchief. ”

“ Jack-Rabbit is cunning, and when he sees that the long-legged dogs are steadily gaining upon him and getting closer with every jump, he will invariably make a quick turn and run back on his own tracks, often going right underneath the fast-running dogs that cannot stop themselves, and can only give vicious snaps as they jump over him. Their stride—often fifteen and twenty feet—covers so much more ground than the rabbit's, it is impossible for them to make as quick turns, therefore it is generally the slow dog of the pack that catches the rabbit. ”

“ And all the cheery little Chick-a-dees flew out of the low bushes and winged their way into the quiet places of the wood.
“Gracious me!” exclaimed Mrs. Rabbit, “how that dreadful gun shakes the house. I’m afraid the candlesticks will fall off the mantel,” and she lifted them down and put them in a safe place.
96
“Well, there’s one good thing about it all,” said Little Jack Rabbit to Bobby Tail as they hopped through the snow-covered corn field, “Old Danny Fox won’t be around again for some time.”
“It’s safer at home when the bad farmer’s boy
Is tramping around with his gun. ”

“ You see, we often grow tired of the same old thing. Our roller skates are put aside, our bat and ball don’t interest us; we don’t wish to even run about and look for a good time. And that’s just the way Little Jack Rabbit felt. So, what did he do? Well, he didn’t do anything till Lady Love, his patient bunny rabbit mother, suggested that he read a book. ”

“ Then the Deep Woods People all said there was never anybody who knew so much and could do so many things as Mr. Jack Rabbit, and how proud they all were to have him in their midst, and Mr. Rabbit showed them how to do all the tricks he knew, and they all practised them and tried them on each other until Mr. Crow said he must look after the supper, and Mr. 'Possum ran right off after an armful of stove-wood, and everybody helped with everything there was to do, for they were having such a good time and were so hungry. ”

“ You should be sufficiently strong-minded not to yield to temptation. Yielding to temptation is the cause of most of the trouble in this world. It has made man an enemy to Jack Rabbit. Jack just cannot keep away from the crops planted by men. His family is very large, and when a lot of them get together in a field of clover or young wheat, or in a young orchard where the bark on the trees is tender and sweet, they do so much damage that the owner is hardly to be blamed for becoming angry and seeking to kill them. ”

“ Rabbit was ready for him, and then he trotted along comfortably, thinking how he would eat the Rabbit's fine dinner first, and then there would be time enough for Mr. Rabbit himself afterward.
So, when he got to Jack Rabbit's house he straightened his vest and his necktie a little, and then he knocked and turned around and whistled while he was waiting for Mr. Rabbit to come to the door. But Jack Rabbit didn't come to the door. He opened an upstairs window and said:—
"Why, it's Mr. Dog! Sit right down on the porch, Mr. Dog, till I get my house ready and the dinner cooked." ”

“ 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. ”

“ One leap more and his teeth would be sinking into it. But that leap was never made. High in the air, and straight up, soared the shape of white, now a struggling snowshoe rabbit that leaped and bounded, executing a fantastic dance there above him in the air and never once returning to earth.
One Eye sprang back with a snort of sudden fright, then shrank down to the snow and crouched, snarling threats at this thing of fear he did not understand. But the she-wolf coolly thrust past him. She poised for a moment, then sprang for the dancing rabbit. ”

“ In greater stress, when pursued by a coyote or other swift-footed enemy, the jack rabbit indulges in no such showy performances, but gets down to serious work, and 488 developing marvelous action in a continuous series of rapid, low stretching leaps, with ears lying flat along the shoulders, it skims over the ground almost as swiftly as a bird. Coursing jack rabbits with greyhounds was for many years a favorite sport in different parts of the West. No other dog has much chance for success in the open pursuit of these animals. ”