After a while Mrs. Rabbit came out to see whether they were up to any mischief. She was worried for fear they might burn up the Old Rail Fence or set fire to the Old Bramble Patch. But no, nothing was wrong. All three were quietly sitting around a small fire, the little rabbit peeling a hot sweet potato, the little chipmunk sh.e.l.ling a smoking hot chestnut and the little crow picking out the nice browned bittersweet berries.
"Well, well!" exclaimed the lady rabbit with a sigh of relief, "I expected to see the Old Rail Fence in ashes and the dear Old Bramble Patch in flames."
MRS. COW
"TING-A-LING! ting-a-ling!" went Mrs. Cow"s bell. Mrs. Cow seemed mighty anxious to get away from somebody. Yes, sir! she kept right on running, although every now and then she"d turn her head to look behind her.
By and by Little Jack Rabbit came hopping over the top of the hill with a tin pail in his paw. But, goodness me! Mrs. Cow didn"t have to run away from him. No indeed. He wasn"t going to milk her. He didn"t have a milk pail at all, but a little dinner pail, and Mrs. Cow was mistaken and had run away for nothing.
The truth of the matter was that the little rabbit was going berrying down in the Cranberry Marsh on the other side of the Old Duck Pond, but of course Mrs. Cow didn"t know that.
But she did know it wasn"t time to be milked, and, anyway, she wasn"t going to have anybody milk her but the Kind Farmer.
"Mrs. Cow! Mrs. Cow!" cried the little rabbit, "I"m going cranberrying, not milking. Don"t run away!"
"Honest Injun?" said Mrs. Cow, halting at the Bubbling Brook. "Cross your heart?"
"Yes, cross my heart," answered the little rabbit.
"Well, I"m glad to hear you say so," replied Mrs. Cow. "I might have sprained my ankle jumping over the Bubbling Brook." Then she trotted along by the little rabbit"s side.
"How"s your Ma these days?" she asked in a little while.
"She"s going to make cranberry jelly when I get back," replied the little rabbit. "Father"s very fond of it. How"s Mr. Bull?"
"He"s very well," answered Mrs. Cow. "He was up when c.o.c.ky Doodle sang his Sun Song this morning."
"So was I," laughed the little rabbit. "Mother says c.o.c.ky Doodle is better than an alarm clock, for you don"t have to wind him."
Just then they came to the end of the meadow, so the little rabbit hopped through the fence and down to the Cranberry Patch to fill his pail with the bright red berries.
THE SUGAR-COATED CARROT
ALL of a sudden, just like that, he saw something shining in the gra.s.s.
And what do you think it was? You"ll never guess, so I"ll tell you right away. A sugar-coated carrot. But before he could put it in his pocket along came little Katie Cottontail, swinging her sunbonnet in her paw.
"Wiggle your ear and shut your eye, Twinkle your nose and say "Oh my!""
shouted Little Jack Rabbit, "and I"ll give you something to make you laugh."
"What is it?" asked little Katie Cottontail, but just the same she didn"t wait for an answer, but closed her eyes and twinkled her nose up and down, and then sideways.
But, Oh dear me. Just then the little rabbit dropped the sugar-coated carrot and couldn"t find it. He hunted high and low, and so did little Katie Cottontail, but the candy carrot was gone. Yes, sir. It certainly was. And I"ll tell you where it went. Into a little hole in the ground where a snake had his home.
"Well, we"ll make some cranberry juice soda when we get home," said Little Jack Rabbit, and off they hopped to the Cranberry Patch. In a little while he had filled his pail and Katie Cottontail her ap.r.o.n, and then they started for home.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Katie Cottontail Went Clippety-Clap Up the Path.
_Little Jack Rabbit"s Adventures_ _Page 81_]
"I must be careful not to squash "em, or Mother"ll give me a scolding,"
she said, as they climbed up the bank where the railroad track cut through. But, Oh dear me! Just as they were about to hop through the Old Rail Fence, along came a train.
"Ding, dong!" went the bell. "Toot-toot-toot!" shrieked the whistle.
Poor little Katie Cottontail gave a shiver and dropped her ap.r.o.n. Then clipperty-clip, lipperty-lip she went up the Cow Path to the Old Brush Heap on the hillside.
Mrs. Cow looked up and, seeing the little bunny girl hopping home all out of breath, thought something must be the matter and ran back to the Big Red Barn. The bell on her collar didn"t make nearly as much noise as the one on the locomotive, but it made her hurry, just the same.
"Goodness me! What scary things girls are!" said the little rabbit.
"Mrs. Cow"s ten times as big as Katie Cottontail, but she"s just as scary."
After picking up the cranberries which the little frightened girl rabbit had spilled from her ap.r.o.n, the bunny boy hopped home to the Old Bramble Patch.
His mother was standing in the kitchen doorway, her right paw shading her eyes as she looked anxiously over the Sunny Meadow.
BAD LUCK
"GOODNESS me! I"m dreadfully worried," cried Mrs. Rabbit, "I just saw the Kind Farmer"s Black Cat cross the path from right to left, and that means bad luck, you know."
"I guess he"s hunting for little Timmy Meadowmouse," answered Little Jack Rabbit. "It will be bad luck for Timmy to be caught."
"Why don"t you run over and tell him," said Mrs. Rabbit. "Black Cat may be hiding near his house. You"d better hurry."
So away hopped the little rabbit to find Timmy Meadowmouse, who lived in a little round house made of twisted gra.s.s on the Sunny Meadow. Pretty soon he saw the little meadowmouse peeking out of his front door.
"Oh, it"s you, is it, Little Jack Rabbit," he said with a sigh of relief, "I thought I heard some one creeping around my house. But if it was you, it"s all right."
"Maybe it isn"t all right," answered the little rabbit, and he told how his mother had seen Black Cat cross the path from right to left. "And that means bad luck, you know."
"If he crosses your path from left to right, what does that mean?" asked the little meadowmouse.
"Good luck," answered Little Jack Rabbit.
"I don"t know," said Timmy Meadowmouse with a shiver, "if he saw me first, it would be bad luck no matter which way he crossed the path."
Just then Little Jack Rabbit saw something move in the tall gra.s.s. "Look out," he shouted.