"We will," said kind Uncle Lucky, "and I"ll drop a carrot cent in the collection box if you want me to." So after a while they stopped near a tall pine tree and Parson Crow sat on a limb and waited for all the little people of the forest to come to the meeting. Well, after they were all there, he began:
"Now, listen to the words I say, And do your duty every day.
Be always good and most polite And do the things you know are right.
Oh, never say an angry word To any animal or bird, So when the night comes "twill be good To feel you"ve done the best you could."
And after that Uncle Lucky dropped a carrot dollar in the collection box and drove home with Billy Bunny.
STORY XXI.
BILLY BUNNY AND JACK-IN-THE-BOX.
Oh, I"m a rollicking Jack-in-the-Box, And I"m not afraid of a bear or a fox, For every one"s scared when up I pop, And the little girl cries, "Oh, stop! oh, stop!"
I"m the bravest thing you ever saw, I"m not afraid of my Mother-in-Law!
Well, sir, I suppose you"ll think Billy Bunny was frightened and that Uncle Lucky lost his breath and the automobile a tire. But nothing of the sort happened. Instead, the old gentleman rabbit laughed so hard that his collar b.u.t.ton fell out and it took him fifteen minutes and half an hour to find it. And then he never would have if the Jack-in-the-Box hadn"t seen it first. And where do you suppose that ex-as-per-a-ting, which means teasing, b.u.t.ton was? You"d never guess, so I"ll have to tell you without asking you again.
It was in the old gentleman rabbit"s waistcoat pocket where he kept his gold watch and chain and pocket knife and pencil with a rubber on the end and a toothpick.
"How did you see it pop into my pocket?" he asked the Jack-in-the-Box.
"I"ll never tell you," said the Jack-in-the-Box, "but what does that matter? You"ve found your collar b.u.t.ton, and that"s enough."
"If I come across your cousin Jack-in-the-Pulpit," said Uncle Lucky, after he had b.u.t.toned up his collar and wound his watch, "I"ll tell him how kind you were to find my collar b.u.t.ton for me," and then the old gentleman rabbit took off his old wedding stovepipe hat and bowed to the Jack-in-the-Box and drove away in the Luckmobile down the road, and when he came to a bridge he said to his little nephew, "Do you think we"re on the right road?"
"I don"t remember this bridge, do you?" And then a voice cried out, "Don"t be anxious, Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot. This is the road to Lettuceville.
"Keep right on after you cross the bridge until you come to a little red schoolhouse and then turn to your left and then turn to your right and if you don"t get home until morning you"ve made a mistake."
"Thank you," said Uncle Lucky. "And if I make a mistake I"ll come back and give you a scolding," and after that they crossed the bridge, and just as they came to the first turn in the road they heard a dreadful loud noise in the woods close by.
"What"s that?" asked Billy Bunny, and he turned up his left ear and his coat collar so that he could hear better.
"It"s an old friend of yours," answered a deep growly kind of a voice, and before the two rabbits could wonder who it was their friend, the good-natured bear jumped out of the bushes.
"Take me with you, please," he said, "for I"ve run a splinter in my foot and it hurts me to walk." And in the next story you shall hear of another adventure which the two little rabbits had.
STORY XXII.
BILLY BUNNY AND DR. DUCK.
You remember in the last story how the good-natured bear asked Billy Bunny and Uncle Lucky to give him a ride in the Luckymobile because he had run a splinter in his foot.
Well, as soon as he had climbed into the automobile, and it took him almost 23 1/2 seconds to do it, for the splinter was so long that it caught on the door, Uncle Lucky started off and by and by they came to the house where the good Duck Doctor lived.--Dr. Quack, you remember.
"Now, I"ll go in and get him to come out and look at your splinter,"
said Billy Bunny, as he hopped out of the Luckymobile and rang the front door bell, and in a minute, less or more, a nice looking lady duck came out and said, "The Doctor is away on his vacation. He"s gone to the Lily Pond for two weeks. But you can call him up on the telephone if you like. The number is Waterville, 2 3 umpty eleven."
So the little rabbit called up the number and when the doctor heard what was the matter, he said, "You had better come to see me.
"You have the automobile right there, and it"s a dangerous thing to have so large a splinter as that. Tell Mr. Bear he"ll have a dreadful corn if it isn"t taken out at once."
So they all hurried away and pretty soon they came to Lily Pond, and there was Dr. Duck swimming around among the pond lilies and the frogs, having a lovely time. And wasn"t he sunburnt? Well, I should say he was. His bill was as dark as a little brown berry and his nose was as red as a little choke cherry.
"That looks very serious to me," said he, putting on his gla.s.ses and looking at Mr. Bear"s injured feet. "I"ll have to get a saw and cut off your foot." And then Mr. Bear gave a dreadful howl. "Oh, please don"t saw off my foot. It"s sore enough already."
"I didn"t mean to saw off your foot," said Dr. Duck. "Did I say that?
I mean to saw off the splinter and then put on a poultice and draw out the pain."
Well, it took a long time to do all that, and the poor Bear cried several times, for it hurt the splinter dreadfully, you know, to be sawed off that way. But by and by the poultice began to draw, and pretty soon out came the splinter, and Mr. Bear felt ever so much better. That is, until the doctor said, "It will cost you a million dollars, for that was a very serious operation."
"I"ve never even seen a million dollars," said the Bear. "Nor even a million cents. You"ll have to mail me a corrected bill," and then he jumped into the automobile and asked Uncle Lucky to drive away.
"Stop, stop!" cried the Duck Doctor, but Uncle Lucky paid no attention to him, any more than the Bear paid the bill. "You send a corrected bill to my friend," said the old gentleman rabbit. "And, mind you, you had better correct it three times and a half if you ever want it paid."
And in the next story you shall hear of an exciting adventure which the two little rabbits had with a fretful porcupine.
STORY XXIII.
BUNNY AND THE FRETFUL PORCUPINE.
Oh, never tease a porcupine, For reasons I"ll relate, He"s like a cushion full of pins That stand out stiff and straight.
And if you stand too close I know He"ll stick one in your little toe.
Well, that"s just what Uncle Lucky did, and of course he got stuck with one of those p.r.i.c.kly, stickery porcupine needles and it was an awful bother to get it out.
And the fretful porcupine laughed and this made Billy Bunny very angry, and he took his popgun out of his knapsack and hit the porcupine on the end of the nose with the cork bullet, and this made the p.r.i.c.kly animal run away.
And after that the two rabbits started off again in the Luckymobile and by and by they came to a little village where they made lollypops by the million. And the first thing Uncle Lucky did was to buy a big box full of them and put it in the back of the Luckymobile, "for,"
said the kind old gentleman rabbit, "we may run across some boys and girls and then we"ll have something nice to give them."
Wasn"t that kind of him? But he was always doing nice things, was dear, kind, generous Uncle Lucky.
Well, after a while they came to some woods where a picnic was being held. There were lots and lots of children playing under the trees and the women were sitting around talking and telling their troubles, and the men were making whistles and bows and arrows for the boys and telling how they used to shoot with them when they were little boys.
"h.e.l.loa there, children!" cried Uncle Lucky, while Billy Bunny honked the horn. "Don"t you want some lollypops?" And in about five hundred short seconds there wasn"t a lollypop left in that big box, and Uncle Lucky was a hero, or a Santa Claus, I don"t remember which. And then one big boy said, "Let"s give three cheers for the two rabbits and one more for the Luckymobile."
And you never heard such a noise in your life. One little boy got so excited that he swallowed a raspberry lollypop and his mother had to reach down his throat and pull it out by the stick.