"Oh, oh, oh!" he cried. "Oh, my nose!"
Billy jumped up and hopped round and round. He rubbed his nose and wiped the tears out of his eyes.
Bunny and Bobtail stopped eating, and went to see what had happened to Billy.
"What is the matter?" asked Bunny.
"Oh, my nose!" said Billy. "I took a bite of clover and something stung me on the nose."
A bee flew up from the clover and sailed round and round in the air.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz!" said the bee. "I stung your nose, Billy. I thought you were going to eat me."
Bunny saw the bee flying round and round over their heads.
"It must have been a bee that stung you," said Bunny.
Billy looked at the bee.
"I am going home," he said. "I did not want to come so far anyway.
There are plenty of good things eat in our own field."
So Billy hopped along home very slowly.
He stopped every few steps to rub his poor little nose.
Mother Rabbit saw him coming and went to the door to meet him.
"What is the matter?" she asked.
"I went to the meadow to eat clover," said Billy. "The bees were there and one stung me on the nose."
"Rub your nose in the dirt and that will make it feel well again," said Mother Rabbit.
Billy put some dirt on his nose, and the pain soon went away.
Then Mother Rabbit took him to a place where the gra.s.s was tender.
He ate all the dinner he wanted and then went home to take a nap.
Bunny and Bobtail ate their dinner in the meadow.
The clover was so sweet and tender that they wanted to eat it all.
They nibbled and nibbled and nibbled.
But they were both very careful not to nibble any of the blossoms where the bees were gathering honey.
MOVING DAY
I
It was warm and sunny in the meadows.
It was warm and sunny in the fields.
But in the woods it was cool and shady under the pine trees.
The red squirrels had been playing all the morning.
They had chased each other up and down the trees and along the little path.
Now Sammy was sitting on the branch of a pine tree resting.
All at once he heard a noise over in the field.
It was a very loud noise and he wondered what it could be.
He could not see the field from the tree where he was sitting.
So he ran down to the ground and skipped along--to the old stone wall.
"Whirr, whirr, whirr!" the noise came nearer and nearer.
"Oh, dear me!" said Sammy. "I know what that is. Mr. Man is cutting the gra.s.s in the field.
"Now all the families that live there will have to move out."
Sammy sat still and watched to who would be the first to move.
He had not been sitting on the wall very long when he saw the whole rabbit family coming out of the field, one behind the other.
Mrs. Rabbit had on her bonnet and shawl. She was carrying Baby Rabbit in her arms.
Father Rabbit had a big basket.
Bunny and Bobtail and Billy were hopping along behind, laughing and talking.
"What fun it is to move," said Bunny.
"I hope we shall find a good home somewhere," said Mother Rabbit.
Bunny and Bobtail and Billy hopped and skipped along.
They hopped ahead of Father Rabbit along the little path that led through the woods.