MRS. RABBIT, Near the Big Pine Tree.
"There!" said Jasper Jay, proudly. "That ought to fetch him, if anything will." And he and Mrs. Rabbit took the sign down to the road and hung it on a fence-post.
"Why do you say "No questions asked"?" she inquired.
"That"s the way it"s always done," said Jasper.
Now, it was almost as Jasper Jay had thought. Jimmy Rabbit was at the gypsies" camp. But he hadn"t been stolen. He was skulking about, as near the gypsies as he dared to go. And he was so interested in what he saw that he had entirely forgotten to go home to dinner. But late in the afternoon he began to have such a queer feeling in his stomach that he remembered then that he had had nothing to eat since breakfast. And he started off up the road, towards home.
You can imagine how surprised he was when he stopped and read Jasper Jay"s sign. As soon as he had read it a second time he decided that he had better hurry home a little faster. For he could see that his mother was worried.
So Jimmy jumped through the fence and went hopping across the meadow.
Soon he was home again; and Mrs. Rabbit was hugging him and asking him where he had been and what he had been doing.
Jimmy was just going to tell her. But he happened to think that when his mother learned that he had been at the gypsies" camp all day she might not be pleased. And then he remembered that sign.
"Why don"t you answer me?" Mrs. Rabbit asked. "You"d better speak up at once. Where have you been?"
"But the sign said "No questions asked"!" Jimmy reminded her.
When she heard that, Mrs. Rabbit gasped.
"Yes!" Jimmy went on. "And it said "A reward will be paid for his return"!"
Mrs. Rabbit gasped again. She saw that Jasper Jay had got her into trouble. It seemed to her that it would be very hard to have to pay a reward to her own son. But Mrs. Rabbit was a person who always kept her word.
"Well," she said, "what do you want?"
"I think," Jimmy told her, "that I would like something to eat."
"Then the gypsies didn"t give you your dinner," Mrs. Rabbit said.
"No, Mother!" Jimmy answered, before he thought. So you see that Mrs.
Rabbit found out where he had been, after all, even though she asked no questions.
It is very hard to keep anything from one"s mother.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 15 Telling Fortunes]
15
Telling Fortunes
At the gypsies" camp Jimmy Rabbit had seen something that was very interesting. He had watched the gypsies telling fortunes. And he saw no reason why he should not become a fortune-teller himself. It looked easy enough. All you had to do was to hold the hand of the person whose fortune you were telling and say anything that came into your head. And you were paid for it, too! That was the best part of it all.
As soon as he had eaten the lunch that his mother gave him, Jimmy skipped away to ask everyone he met if he wanted his fortune told. And there wasn"t a single person who didn"t say "Yes!" at once.
"All right!" Jimmy told everybody. "It will cost you one cabbage.... And you can find me under the big willow near the brook."
"I"ll come along with you now," said Fatty c.o.o.n. "You can tell my fortune. And afterward I"ll go down to Farmer Green"s and get a cabbage for you."
"That won"t do!" said Jimmy. "You"ll have to give me the cabbage first."
So Fatty hurried down the hill. Never before had he seen so many of his neighbors in Farmer Green"s garden. And they were all looking for cabbages. It was quite clear that Jimmy Rabbit was going to be very busy.
Those who could run the fastest had their fortunes told first, for they were the ones that reached the big willow the soonest. And Mr. Fox was the quickest of all.
Jimmy Rabbit looked at Mr. Fox"s paw. He wouldn"t hold it, as he had seen the gypsies hold the hands of the people who visited them, for he never liked to get too near Mr. Fox. But Mr. Fox didn"t know the difference.
"First I"ll tell your _past_," Jimmy said.
But Mr. Fox thought there was no sense in doing that. "I know all about my past," he said.
"Well, I"ll tell your present, then," said Jimmy Rabbit.
"Oh, that"s silly!" Mr. Fox sneered. "You"re telling my fortune--_that"s_ what my present is."
"Your future, then!" Jimmy continued. "I"ll tell your future."
"Good!" said Mr. Fox. "That"s just what I want."
So Jimmy Rabbit looked at his paw again.
"Beware of a dark man!" he said. "He"ll make trouble for you if he can."
"That must be Farmer Green," Mr. Fox remarked. "I shall have to be careful."
"And I see a spotted person chasing you," said Jimmy.
Mr. Fox shuddered.
"Old dog Spot!" he said. "Hurry and finish! I must be running along."
And he glanced over his shoulder as if he half expected to see Spot come bounding towards him.
"You are going on a journey," Jimmy Rabbit told him. "You are going to the other side of Blue Mountain. Beneath the great oak near the lake"
(everybody had heard of the great oak) "when the moon comes up to-night, you will find the surprise of your life.... That"s all!" Jimmy said.
Mr. Fox thought it was well worth one cabbage. And he went off wondering about that surprise.
Jimmy Rabbit told many fortunes that day. And the last one of all was Henry Skunk"s, because Henry was so slow in coming up the hill from the garden.
By the time he had reached Henry Skunk, Jimmy could think of nothing new to say. So he began at the beginning again and told Henry Skunk exactly what he had said to Mr. Fox.
And Henry seemed just as pleased as Mr. Fox had been.