If you can think of anything worse than the way that cat looked I wish you would write me a letter and tell me so that I can scare Uncle Lucky, for, would you believe it, he wasn"t the least big frightened.
No, sireemam.
He just took off his old wedding stovepipe hat and bowed most politely to Mrs. Black Cat, and she was so surprised that she turned around and went back to her three little kittens who never wore mittens because they didn"t have any.
And after that the old gentleman rabbit hopped into the barn and ate some corn and had a talk with Mr. Sharptooth Rat. And maybe he would have been talking there yet if something hadn"t happened. And when you don"t expect it, something very often, and sometimes most always, does happen. The Miller"s dog ran into the barn and made a grab for the old gentleman rabbit, but Uncle Lucky was too quick for him.
He hopped to one side and then out of that barn so that he hopped right into to-morrow night"s story. Wasn"t that wonderful?
STORY x.x.x.
BILLY BUNNY AND BIG YELLOW DOG.
Let me see. Didn"t I say that Billy Bunny hopped out of the Old Barn so fast in last night"s story that he jumped right into this one?
Well, he did, and here he is saying, "I"m ready for another adventure!"
And no sooner had he said this than along came a big yellow dog with a muzzle on his nose, and when the little rabbit saw him he laughed out loud, "Oh, ho! Mr. Yellow Dog! Did you put your nose into a mouse trap?"
"No, I didn"t," replied the Yellow Dog. "It"s a muzzle to keep me from biting little rabbits," and then he gave a dreadful growl and tried to pull off the muzzle with his front paws.
"I won"t wait until you get it off," said Billy Bunny, and he hopped away as fast as he could, for he wasn"t the least bit curious to see whether that muzzle was tied on tight!
And by and by he came to a hollow stump where lived an old rabbit named Hoppity-hop.
"h.e.l.loa, my little friend," said the old rabbit, and then he wriggled his nose a million times or less, for I guess he smelt the lettuce sandwich which Billy Bunny had in his knapsack.
"Good morning," said Billy Bunny, but he didn"t open his knapsack. No, sir! It wasn"t fourteen o"clock, which is the luncheon hour in Rabbitville, so I"ve been told. And this, of course, made the old rabbit very sad. "Oh, dear me," he cried, "I"m so hungry, and if there is anything I love more than a lettuce sandwich it"s apple pie!"
"How do you know I"ve got an apple pie?" asked Billy Bunny, and he took out his gold watch and chain to see what time it was, for he began to feel hungry all of a sudden. But, oh, dear me!
It wasn"t fourteen o"clock, or anywhere near it, so he twisted the stem of his watch until the hands pointed at the luncheon time, and then he took out the lettuce sandwich and the apple pie and he and the old rabbit ate them up right then and there, and after that they felt ever so much better.
"Now I"ll tell you a secret," said the old rabbit. "There"s a carrot candy shop not very far from here, and if you"ve got any money in your knapsack I"ll take you there."
Wasn"t that kind of that old rabbit? So off they hopped and pretty soon, not so very far, they came to the candy shop, and the old lady woodchuck who kept it was awfully kind and generous, for she filled up a paper bag right to the top for a lettuce dollar bill, which I think was a very cheap price to pay for all that candy, don"t you?
And when it was all gone, Billy Bunny said good-by and hopped away singing at the top of his voice:
"Oh, who is so merry and who is so gay As a rabbit who always has money to pay For candy and popcorn and nice apple pie And other sweet things that you"re longing to buy."
And in the next story, if Billy Bunny does eat any more carrot candy and get so dizzy he can"t hop in a circle, I"ll tell you some more about the little rabbit.
STORY x.x.xI.
BILLY BUNNY AND A HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
It very often happens You don"t know what to do, And then"s the time the Mischief Man Comes smiling round to you.
He whispers something in your ear You know you shouldn"t stop to hear, And then"s the time for you to say, "Oh, Mischief Man, please go away!"
This is what dear good Uncle Lucky wrote in Billy Bunny"s alb.u.m, for it was the little rabbit"s birthday, you know, and Uncle Lucky thought he ought to warn him against the Mischief Man.
Well, as soon as the ink was dry so that the little rabbit could put the alb.u.m away in Uncle Lucky"s desk, the kind old gentleman rabbit said: "Let us take a ride in the Luckymobile. Maybe we can go some place where we will have a good time."
So they got into the automobile and started off, and by and by they came to a shady spot in the woods. And there right under a big spreading chestnut tree, was a little table covered with a clean white cloth and in the middle was a lovely birthday cake with candles and big frosted letters, which read, "A Happy Birthday to Billy Bunny!"
And oh, my, wasn"t he delighted and so were all the little forest folk, for they were all there, let me tell you, from Old Squirrel Nutcracker to the Big Brown Bear.
And so were the little people from the Pleasant Meadow, d.i.c.ky Meadow Mouse and Robbie Redbreast and many others. And pretty soon along came the barnyard folk, c.o.c.ky Docky, Henny Jenny and Duckey Daddies. Even Mrs. Cow wasn"t too busy to be there, and if you"ll wait a minute I"ll tell you the names of some more of Billy Bunny"s friends:
Turkey Purky, Danny Beaver, Old Mother Magpie, Timmy Chipmunk, Scatterbrains, the gray squirrel, and Shadow Tail, his brother. Daddy Fox would like to have been there, only Uncle Lucky hadn"t sent him an invitation. The only friend who wasn"t there was Uncle Bullfrog. He couldn"t leave his log in the Old Mill Pond, so he sent his regrets by little Mrs. Oriole, who lived in the willow tree by the Old Mill.
"Now we"ll cut the cake," said kind Uncle Lucky, and he went over to the Luckymobile to get the big carving knife which he had hidden under the cushions.
"There"s a little gold ring hidden away somewhere," he said as he cut the cake very carefully so as not to topple over the pretty candles and get the pink and green melted wax all over the white frosting.
And then everybody ate up his piece of cake as fast as he could to find the little gold ring. "I"ve got it! I"ve got it!" screamed Timmy Chipmunk. But, oh, dear me. It wasn"t the ring at all. It was only a hard nut.
And the little chipmunk was so disappointed that he ran home to tell his mother all about it, and she gave him one she had found when she was a little girl in the toe of her stocking one happy Christmas morning. And in the next story you"ll be surprised to hear who got the ring after all.
STORY x.x.xII.
BILLY BUNNY AND THE LOST RING.
Something"s going to happen; I feel it in the air.
But what it is you soon shall know, So hold your breath and stare.
You remember in the last story I told you about Billy Bunny"s birthday party and promised to tell you who found the little gold ring in the frosted cake.
Well, just as the little rabbit said, "I"ve found it!" Daddy Fox sprang from behind a bush and grabbed the piece of cake right out of the little rabbit"s paw.
And then he jumped over the Luckymobile and ran off to his den to give it to Slyboots or Bushy Tail, his two little sons, you know, but which one got it I can"t remember, for everybody was so excited that they forgot to ask the naughty old fox before he got away.
"That"s too bad," said kind Uncle Lucky; "I"ll have to get you another one," so he said good-by to everybody and took Billy Bunny down to the 3 and 10 cents store, where they bought a lovely gold ring with a big ruby in it. Wasn"t that nice?
And then they came back to the woods, but everybody had gone home and there was no more birthday cake anywhere to be seen, not even a little piece of candle.
"Well, what shall we do now?" said the kind old gentleman rabbit, and he poured some lettuce oil into the cabaret and took out his blue polka-dot handkerchief and wiped his ear, and then he dusted off his old wedding stovepipe hat and honked the automobile horn and blew up a tire and turned a cushion upside down to hide a grease spot. And after that he put on his goggles and started off again, and by and by, not so very long, they came to a signpost on which was written: