"Why, Whitie!" Bunny heard Jack say, "I left your gate open this morning. I must close it now or you will be taking a walk in the garden."
Jack closed the gate, and Bunny was caught.
When Jack had gone away, Whitie called to Bunny to come out in the yard.
"Come and eat some of these good cabbage leaves," he said.
But Bunny could not eat. He could only sit and look at the closed gate.
"I want to go home," he said to Whitie. "I don"t like to stay in this yard all the time."
"But you will never be hungry here," said Whitie. "Come and eat something now."
Bunny was not hungry. He could not eat.
All day long he sat in the house.
He wondered what Bobtail and Billy were doing.
He wondered if Mother Rabbit was hunting for him.
Just before dark he heard Jack coming to see Whitie again.
He did not hear Jip barking.
"Perhaps Jack is alone," thouBunny. "If he is I think I can get away."
He sat very still and listened.
Then he peeped out and saw Jack coming across the gra.s.s.
He was all alone. The dog was not running along beside him.
Bunny turned around and looked at Whitie.
"Good-by," he said. "I am going to hop out when Jack opens the gate.
"You have a very good home here. But I like my home in the woods much better.
"Sometime when you run away come and see me."
Just then Jack opened the gate and out jumped Bunny! Jack was so frightened that he dropped Whitie"s supper on the ground.
He looked around to see what had flashed by him so quickly.
But Bunny was out of sight!
He did not stop or look around until he was safe in his own home.
"Where have you been?" asked Mother Rabbit. "I thought you were lost."
"I thought so, too," said Bunny.
"I went to visit the white rabbit who lives in a little house under the apple tree.
"And then Jack came and shut the gate and I could not get away."
"Oh, Bunny, Bunny!" said Mother Rabbit. "I thought you were too wise to get caught in a trap."
"I am now," Bunny answered, and he ran out to have a game of tag with Billy and Bobtail.
TEDDY BEAR
I
Teddy Bear lay on the gra.s.s in the meadow.
He lay there all day and he lay there all night.
Baby May had dropped him there and forgotten all about him.
So the little brown bear lay on the soft gra.s.s in the meadow.
Blacky Crow flew over the meadow and called to the bear.
"Caw, caw!" he said. "What are you doing here?"
"I thought you liked to stay in the playroom with the rest of the toys."
Of course Teddy did like to stay in the playroom.
But if May dropped him in the meadow how could he get back to the house?
Mrs. Duck and all the little ducks waddled along the path that led to the brook.
"Quack, quack!" said Mrs. Duck. "Look here, look here! Where did you come from? What are you doing in this meadow?"
[Ill.u.s.tration: "Quack, quack! Where did _you_ come from?"]
Teddy stared at the duck with his little black eyes, but he did not say a word.
Perhaps he did not like to tell her that May had forgotten all about her little playmate.
"Quack, quack!" said Mrs. Duck. "I teach my children to speak when they are spoken to."