"Oh, Mr. Owl, pray do not scowl Because we"ve called on you.
It"s just a surprise, so open your eyes.
Please, Mr. Barney, do."
Now of course Little Jack Rabbit and Chippy Chipmunk knew that Old Barney Owl couldn"t see in the daytime, otherwise they wouldn"t have called on him. For Mr. Barney Owl loved to eat little rabbits and chipmunks.
MORE ADVENTURES
Now when Old Barney Owl heard Little Jack Rabbit and Chippy Chipmunk knock on his front door, he winked and blinked. But he didn"t open it, for the light hurt his eyes, you know, and all day long he kept the shades pulled down.
"Who are you and what do you want?" he asked in a sleepy voice.
"It"s me and Little Jack Rabbit," answered the little chipmunk.
"Come "round this evening," replied the wise old owl.
"No, thank you," laughed Little Jack Rabbit. "We don"t make calls in the evening," and he and the little chipmunk hurried away for they thought, maybe or perhaps, Old Barney Owl might open the front door and catch them.
"He, he," said Chippy Chipmunk, "he asked us to call this evening, did he? Not if my name is Chipendale Chipmunk!"
Well, after they had called on Mrs. Water Rat, who lived nearby in a lovely garden of water lilies, they hopped on board the log and after a shove, away it went over the water to the other bank, where these two little four-footed sailors hopped off and then, all of a sudden, just like that, a voice said:
"Don"t you go another inch Or your noses I will pinch."
"Who said that?" inquired the frightened little rabbit.
"Who are you?" asked trembling Chippy Chipmunk.
And then Teddy Turtle crawled out from behind some bulrushes and began to laugh. And the little rabbit and the little chipmunk would have been frightened if it hadn"t been Teddy Turtle, let me tell you, for some turtles are dreadful snappers, you know.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Little Jack and Chippy Chipmunk Meet Teddy Turtle.]
"Oh, it"s you, is it?" and the little rabbit told Teddy Turtle all about the little snail at the seash.o.r.e who carries his sh.e.l.l house around with him. "Yes, he takes his little house with him just the way you do."
"I"m going to take a swim, so good-by!" answered Teddy Turtle, crawling over to the water, and in he went with a loud splash that frightened two little minnows almost to death.
Oh, the little minnows swim Where the water"s cool and dim, "Neath the weeping willow branches Making shadows here and there.
Where the gnats and little flies Are making nice mud pies, And Mrs. Muskrat combs her silky hair.
"Come on, let"s be going. There"s always something to see. Why, here comes the Little Balmy Breezes across the Sunny Meadow," cried the little rabbit, but the little chipmunk ran off to the Shady Forest.
AT THE FARM
Across the Sunny Meadow gra.s.s The little breezes love to pa.s.s, They tickle all the cattails till They almost fall into the rill.
And every now and then they tell Old Mrs. Cow to ring her bell.
Now before I go on with this story I"ll explain right away that the "rill" is the Bubbling Brook, and the only reason I used "rill" is because it rhymes with "till."
"Ha, ha," laughed Little Jack Rabbit, as Mrs. Cow shook her head till the bell on her collar made so much noise that her little calf came running toward her, "I heard what the little breezes said." And then Mrs. Cow gave a long "Moo!" which meant something I"m sure, for after that the little rabbit hopped away and by and by he came to the Barnyard where c.o.c.ky Doodle every morning sang his c.o.c.k-a-doodle-do song to wake up Mr. Merry Sun, who goes to sleep in the West and gets up every morning in the East. I wonder how he does it, don"t you? I guess you and I would feel very funny if some morning after having gone to sleep in our own bed we should wake up in another!
"h.e.l.loa," said Henny Penny, as the little rabbit hopped through the Old Rail Fence. "Where have you been all this time?"
"Oh, lots of places," he replied. "Chippy Chipmunk and I have been sight-seeing, and the Old Red Rooster has sprained his left leg and the Old Brown Horse has a new collar, and Grandmother Magpie has gone away to visit in Birdville, U. S. A."
Just then Ducky Waddles came waddling by, after a swim in the Old Duck Pond, where Granddaddy Bullfrog lived.
"I saw Teddy Turtle a minute ago," said the little duck; "he"s very proud because Mrs. Turtle has just laid some eggs in a hole in the ground and covered them with dirt. He says pretty soon they"ll hatch into little turtles!"
"Ha, ha," laughed the little rabbit, "don"t tell that to Peter Possum; he just loves turtle eggs." So Ducky Waddles promised he wouldn"t, and after that the little rabbit hopped away, although the Weatherc.o.c.k on the Old Red Barn had asked him to stay a little longer.
"No, I can"t," replied the little bunny. "I"m afraid Old Sic"em might chase me." But even if that old dog had, the little rabbit could have slipped away, for Old Sic"em had the rheumatism and could hardly run.
Well, after a while, not so very long, the little rabbit saw Professor Jim Crow.
"Wait a minute," said the good professor, "I want to read you something." So the old gentleman crow turned to page 23 of his little Black Book, after putting on his spectacles, of course, for he couldn"t see to read without them, and then he cleared his throat and said, "Caw, caw," two or four times, and looked at the little rabbit, but what he read out of his little Black Book I"ll tell you in the next story.
DANNY FOX
Well, since the old crow has opened his little Black Book in the story before this, I"ll tell you now what he read on page 23:
"Little brown rabbits have all the same habits."
"Ha, ha," laughed the little bunny, "you"re a very wise bird, Professor Crow!" and he hopped away until he came to the wooded hill where Danny Fox had his den.
Now it was a long time since the little rabbit had seen the old robber fox and he was a bit curious to learn what was the trouble, for trouble there must have been, otherwise Danny Fox would have been around to steal a chicken now and then from the Old Barnyard.
So the little rabbit hopped along very carefully and by and by he came to a big tree quite close to the pile of rocks under which the fox family had their den, Danny Fox and Mrs. Fox, Bushy Tail and Slyboots, their two little sons.
"I don"t see anyone around," said the little rabbit to himself, and he hopped over to another tree and peeped out.
And then, Oh, my! how his heart went pitter-pat, for right in front of him, not forty hops away, sat Danny Fox on a three legged stool smoking a corncob pipe.
"Oh, dear!" thought the little rabbit, "I didn"t mean to get so close!"
But when he saw that Danny Fox"s left foot was bandaged up in a piece of white cloth with a big red cross stamped on it, he knew the old robber couldn"t run very well, and maybe not at all. So he called out, "h.e.l.loa, Danny Fox! What"s the matter with your foot?"
"Don"t bother me," grumbled the old robber fox, not even looking around.
Maybe he didn"t want to see a nice fat little rabbit when he couldn"t catch him for supper.