Well, by and by, after he had flown around and peeked through all the windows, he looked down the chimney. And then he carefully stepped over the edge and, spreading out his wings, jumped right down to the bottom.
But, goodness me. When he rolled from the hearth into the sitting room he looked just like a crow, he was so covered with soot, and it would have taken the Gold Dust Twins twenty-three days and one night to clean him.
"What"s that noise?" barked the Yellow Dog Tramp, and he ran in from the kitchen and looked all around. At first he didn"t see the owl, for he was so black with soot, you know. But what that Yellow Dog Tramp said when he did see that bad Owl I"ll tell you in the next story, unless,
The Gold Dust Twins with a scrubbing brush Should scour that old Sooty Owl, All through the night until he was bright And clean as a snow-white fowl.
p.r.i.c.kLY THORNS
"What kind of a blackbird are you?" asked the Yellow Dog Tramp when he saw the bad owl who had flown down the chimney of the little monkey"s house, as I mentioned in the last story.
"I"m not any kind of a blackbird--I"m an owl," answered this dreadful old bird, and he shook himself till the soot flew all over the room, and some of it got in the Yellow Dog Tramp"s eyes and made him blink. And of course all this noise woke up the little monkey and Little Jack Rabbit, who were sleeping upstairs, you remember.
"I wonder what"s going on," whispered the little monkey, and he leaned over the banisters. And just then the Yellow Dog Tramp said, "Well, you get out of here!" and he took hold of that sooty old tooty owl and threw him, tail first, out of the door. And then he threw a milk bottle after him.
When the little rabbit and the little monkey heard what had happened, they were very grateful to the Yellow Dog Tramp, and told him he could sleep all next day in the sun instead of whitewashing the back fence.
Well, after a while, after breakfast, you know, the little bunny set off again on his travels, and by and by, not so very far, he came to a place where so many wild roses grew that it looked like a lovely garden.
"Now here is a nice place to rest," he thought, and he sat down and opened his knapsack and took out a lollypop and was just going to bite off the lemon top, when somebody took it right out of his paw.
"Ha, ha, ho, ho," laughed a trumpety kind of a voice, and when the little bunny looked around he saw his old friend the Circus Elephant with a bouquet of roses in his long trunk. "Here"s your lollypop," said the elephant, and he dropped the bunch of roses, for he only meant to tease the little rabbit for a minute, you know.
And then he came over and sat down. But, oh dear me. He jumped up in an awful hurry, for he had sat on the bunch of roses.
"Oh, dear and oh dear again," he cried, "why do lovely roses have thorns?" and he wiped a tear from his eye with the end of his ear, and then he sang this song:
"Oh, why should roses red have thorns And pears have p.r.i.c.kly p.r.i.c.kles, And Mr. Dill his gla.s.s jars fill With sour little pickles?"
And after that my typewriter says you must wait a little while to hear what happened next, because
The Circus Elephant took so long To finish this beautiful pickle song, The clock struck twelve before he was through, The Old Red Rooster woke up and blew Twice six times on his big tin horn, And nearly deafened the ears of corn.
BAGS OF PEANUTS
Well, as soon as the Circus Elephant had finished the song in the last story he took a silk handkerchief out of his trunk and wiped his eyes, and then he said: "Do you suppose, if I kneel down you can hop up on my back?"
"I"ll try," answered the little rabbit. So the big circus animal squatted down on the ground, till with a hop, skip and jump the clever little bunny landed right in the middle of his back.
"Now hold on tight," said Elly, for that was the Circus Elephant"s name, and off he went and by and by he came to a place where there were many peanut vines.
"Well, this is lucky," said the elephant. "We can take them to Chippy Chipmunk. I"ll dig the vines and you can pick out the peanuts and fill your knapsack." So the elephant started in, and in less than thirteen minutes he had plowed up the whole field of peanuts. And in less than thirteen seconds the little rabbit had his knapsack full, but then he didn"t know what to do with all the rest of the peanuts.
And while he was looking around to find a bag or a box, who should come by but the old dog with his stage coach and team of billy-goats.
"Plenty of peanuts," said the old dog driver, jumping down from his high seat and walking over to the Old Rail Fence. Then he put his old pipe back in his mouth and puffed out a cloud of smoke.
"Load up your stage coach," said the Circus Elephant, "and we"ll take them to Chippy Chipmunk!"
"All right," answered the old dog, and he went back and brought over fourteen empty mail bags, and when they were brim full he put them back in the stagecoach, and then the elephant and Billy Bunny got on top, and away went the Billy Goat team.
Over the hills and through the dells Till the peanuts rattled inside of their sh.e.l.ls.
And by and by, pretty soon, not very long, they came to the old Chestnut Tree, where the little chipmunk lived. "Now you keep these peanuts till the circus comes," said Little Jack Rabbit. "Then all the little people in the Shady Forest can have all they want. Maybe by that time I can get lollypopade from the Big Brown Bear!"
The Big Brown Bear made Lollypopade From the fruit of the Lollypop Tree in the glade.
Sometimes it was yellow, and often bright pink, But never the color of purple green ink.
Perhaps some fine day when out walking with me We may happen to come to this Lollypop Tree.
In that case, my dear little friends, no excuse Shall keep us from tasting this Lollypop juice.
THE MUSICAL ALARM CLOCK
Chippy Chipmunk sat on the Old Rail Fence, his little eyes shining like bright gla.s.s beads, looking over toward the Old Bramble Patch.
Chippy Chipmunk felt very fine this particular morning. Mr. Merry Sun shone down on the little chipmunk"s back with its beautiful smooth shining stripes of reddish brown and black, over which his little tail was thrown like a ruffle.
"h.e.l.loa, h.e.l.loa!" he shouted, for I guess the Little Jack Rabbit had overslept himself that morning. "h.e.l.loa, h.e.l.loa!"
"Here I am," answered the little bunny, hopping up to the Old Rail Fence. "What do you want?"
"Oh, nothing in particular," answered Chippy Chipmunk. "Only I was wondering why you weren"t around, that"s all."
"I guess I"m late. You see, my Alarm Clock didn"t wake up either," and the little rabbit laughed. And just then they heard it ring, "Cling, cling, cling, cling cling!" And then it began to sing:
"The dew is shining on the gra.s.s "Tis time to be awake.
The Morning Glory on her vine, The Lily on the lake, Have lifted up a dewy head,-- So hurry, tumble out of bed."
"Come on, Chippy Chipmunk," said the little rabbit when the Alarm Clock stopped singing, "Let"s go for a walk up the Shady Forest Trail." So off they started together and after a while, not so very far, they came to the tree where Squirrel Nutcracker lived with his family. But Old Squire Nutcracker wasn"t at home, and neither was Mrs. Nutcracker, and of course the two Squirrel Brothers were away. So the little rabbit and the little chipmunk went along until they came to the Forest Pond in the middle of which on a little island stood the big chestnut tree where Old Barney Owl had his home.
"He sleeps all day," laughed the little bunny, "so he"s at home!"
"But how are we to get over to the island?" asked Chippy Chipmunk. But the little rabbit didn"t answer. He was too busy pushing a log into the water.
"Get aboard," he said to the little chipmunk, and then with a shove he hopped on and pretty soon they reached the island, when they hopped off and up to the big chestnut tree to knock on Old Barney Owl"s front door.