Chapter II: Part 2

Just then there was a great flapping of wings and Ducky Waddles came wabbling after them. "Why don't you wait for a fellow," he panted. "I'm all out of breath trying to catch up to you. I almost had to fly."

As they crossed the Old Cow Path they met Little Jack Rabbit hopping home to the Old Bramble Patch.

"We're going to make a visit in Turtle Town," said Henny Penny. "Why don't you come, too?"

"Haven't time," answered the little bunny. "Mother sent me over to Cousin Cottontail for lollypop frosting. She must have it in time to cover the carrot cake for supper."

BOBBY TAIL

MR. JOHN RABBIT had been a great jumper in his youth, and Little Jack Rabbit wished to learn to jump as far as his father, and even farther.

So every day he practiced jumping in the Sweet Clover Field near the Old Rail Fence until by and by he could jump over the second rail.

"Pretty good," said Mr. Rabbit. "Don't believe I did any better when I was your age. How is Bobby Tail getting along?"

Now Little Jack Rabbit's brother was called Bobby Tail, because his tail was so short. Yes, siree, it was so short that it looked exactly like a white powder puff. And his eyes were just like little pink beads. But they weren't any pinker than his nose.

But, I'm sorry to say, there was something wrong with Bobby Tail. He was too lazy for anything. That was what was the matter with him. He didn't want to learn to jump--he'd rather spend his time eating clover tops. By and by he grew to be dreadfully fat.

And a fat bunny can't run fast nor jump far. Bobby Tail found this to be true when one day Sic'em, the Farmer's Dog, chased him across the Sunny Meadow.

The Bunny Brothers had hopped down to the Old Duck Pond to see Granddaddy Bullfrog, when all of a sudden Sic'em saw them. Goodness me! What a chase he gave them! Over the Sunny Meadow, through the Shady Forest, and along the Old Rail Fence! At first Bobby Tail was able to keep up with brother, but after a while he fell behind.

"Hurry up!" shouted Little Jack Rabbit. But, Oh dear me! Bobby Tail was so fat and so short of breath that he couldn't. Closer and closer came Sic'em till the little bunny could almost feel his hot breath.

"If I ever get back to the Old Bramble Patch," he thought, "I'll practice running and jumping every day in the week."

Just then, he reached the Old Rail Fence. Another jump landed him in the dear Old Bramble Patch, leaving Sic'em barking and growling outside the prickly bushes.

"You've had a narrow escape," said Mr. Rabbit, looking up over his evening paper, "I hope it will teach you a lesson!"

And it did. The very next day Bobby Tail practiced jumping with Little Jack Rabbit, and kept it up until he became almost as good a jumper as his brother.

But Old Sic'em never knew how this came to pass. He was too busy keeping watch over the Old Farmyard to bother his head about Bobby Tail, for Danny Fox, who was always prowling around, hunting for a stray chicken, kept the old dog forever on the lookout.

SUNSHINE

"WHERE did you get your red coat?" asked Little Jack Rabbit, looking up from the Old Bramble Patch.

"Oh, that's my secret," answered Red Bird from the Old Rail Fence. "There's been a legend in our family about it ever since the Flood."

"You don't say so," exclaimed the little rabbit.

"You've heard of the Great Flood, I suppose, that happened hundreds and hundreds of years ago?"

Little Jack Rabbit nodded. "I hope we don't get another to wash away the Old Bramble Patch."

"Well," continued Red Bird, "the legend is that one day, after it had been raining ever so long, when there was nothing but water all around and everybody in the ark was feeling very miserable, Mother Noah wrung her hands and said, 'Oh, dear! We'll all be lost. We'll never get ashore!'

"Just then my ancestor began to whistle, and the next minute a beam of sunshine broke through the clouds and settled upon him.

"'My dear, we are reproved,' said Father Noah. 'The little bird has more courage than we have. Hear him whistle.'

"Then everybody turned to look at the brave little whistler. He was so embarrassed that he BLUSHED--we were gray before that time, they say--blushed so very deeply that our feathers have never lost their bright red from that day to this."

"Well, well," exclaimed the little rabbit. "When do you go away for the winter?"

"I'm not going away--I'm going to stay right here," answered Red Bird.

"You'll find it pretty breezy up there," said Little Jack Rabbit with a twinkle of his pink nose.

"Oh, I don't know. I've got on my double-breasted red coat."

"But what will you find to eat when the berries are all gone?" asked the little rabbit.

"I'll pick up crumbs at the Old Farm House," replied Red Bird cheerfully.

"You've got a sunshiny disposition," said Little Jack Rabbit admiringly. "I guess your ancestors handed down something besides a red coat--some of that sunshine that turned his feathers red must have crept into his heart."

"I don't know," replied Red Bird.

"Maybe it doesn't make much difference how you got it, as long as you keep it," said the little bunny as he hopped back into the Old Bramble Patch to tell his mother all about it.

TURKEY TIM

TURKEY TIM in his turban-colored comb strutted about the Old Farmyard, spreading his tail like a Japanese fan to the bright light that Mr. Merry Sun sent down from the Big Blue Sky.

"I wonder what makes Turkey Tim so proud?" asked Henny Penny.

Little Jack Rabbit wiggled his pink nose, but said nothing.

"Is it because the Kind Farmer is buying chestnuts for him from Chippy Chipmunk?"

Still the little rabbit made no reply.

"Please tell me," begged Henny Penny. "You can whisper in my ear."

"Turkey Tim thinks the Kind Farmer is fond of him, but that's not the reason," answered the little rabbit.

"What is the reason?" asked Henny Penny, who you see by this time was a very curious little hen.

"Turkey Tim wouldn't believe me if I told him," said the little rabbit.

"Wouldn't he?" exclaimed the little hen, her feathers ruffled with excitement and curiosity.

"It's a big secret," whispered the little bunny.

"Tell me quick," coaxed Henny Penny.

"Thanksgiving!" whispered Little Jack Rabbit. "Haven't you heard of chestnut-fed turkeys for Thanksgiving?"

"Do you mean they are going to kill Turkey Tim?" cried the little hen.

"I certainly do," answered the little rabbit. "But he's so proud he wouldn't believe me. Why, he thinks he's more wonderful than Cocky Doodle."

"Well, he isn't," said Henny Penny. "Cocky Doodle's the most wonderful of all the Feathered Folk, for he's the one who wakes up Mr. Merry Sun. Cocky Doodle is the cock-a-doodle-do clock of the whole wide world. Why, if it weren't for him Mr. Merry Sun might stay in bed all day."

Just then along came Turkey Tim, but he didn't look so proud when the little hen told him about Thanksgiving.

"Who told you?" he asked in a trembling voice.

"Little Jack Rabbit," answered Henny Penny, pointing to the truthful little bunny.

"I guess I'll make a visit in the Friendly Forest," said Turkey Tim in a low voice, and off he went as fast as his legs would take him.

But, Oh dear me! No sooner was he there than Billy Breeze began to sing:

"Look out, look out for Danny Fox!
He sneaks about in his woolen socks,
You never can tell where he is at,
For he creeps around like a tip-toe cat."

PHOEBE PHEASANT

LITTLE Phoebe Pheasant's dew-wet feet hurried along the edge of the Sunny Meadow. Mr. Merry Sun hadn't been up long enough to dry the grass, for it was very early in the morning.

In some places the dew had turned to frost, but the little pheasant didn't mind that in the least, for she is a hardy bird, and not a bit afraid of cold weather.

The weather is about the only thing she isn't afraid of, for she is very timid. Although she sometimes went to the Old Farmyard for breakfast, at the slightest noise she would fly away.

As she hurried along through the dewy frost she caught sight of Little Jack Rabbit. And as he was the one person she wished to see that morning, it didn't take her long to reach the Old Bramble Patch.

"Good morning, Phoebe Pheasant," said the little bunny. "You seem in a hurry."

"Yes, I'm in a dreadful hurry to ask you something," replied the little pheasant.

"Well, what is it?" laughed the little bunny.

"You remember Turkey Tim left the Old Farmyard before Thanksgiving?"

"Of course I do," answered the little rabbit.

"He wants to know whether the Kind Farmer has been looking for him?" whispered Phoebe Pheasant. "He doesn't dare go back himself to find out."

"I should say not," answered the little rabbit. "The Kind Farmer's dreadfully put out. He had to go without his Thanksgiving turkey!"

"Then you think it would be dangerous for Turkey Tim to go back to the Old Farmyard?"

"Yes, just now," replied the little bunny. "He'd better wait until everybody has forgotten Thanksgiving."

"It's dreadfully hard on him, all alone in the Shady Forest," sighed the little pheasant. "He's not a Wild Turkey, you know."

"Never mind if he isn't," answered Little Jack Rabbit. "He'll be a Roast Turkey if he goes back now to the Old Farmyard."

THE SNOWBALL

BILLY BREEZE had kicked up an awful racket all night around the Old Briar Patch, but Little Jack Rabbit hadn't heard him. No, sir. The little bunny had been too sound asleep to hear anything, but when he looked out in the morning, goodness me! how he shivered.

The ground was all covered with a white mantle, but he didn't know it was snow. This was the first snow he had ever seen. It made everything look strange, and the ground was as smooth as Mrs. Rabbit's best linen tablecloth.

Pretty soon he hopped down to the Bubbling Brook, but it, too, had changed. It was smooth, like glass. So the little rabbit leaned over the bank to listen, but just then Billy Breeze made a dreadful racket and whirled the snow about in great clouds. But the little rabbit didn't care; he just kept on listening, and by and by he heard the Bubbling Brook singing softly:

"Underneath the ice and snow
Very gently still I flow
Till I reach the Old Duck Pond
And the ocean far beyond.

"Billy Breeze may whistle loud
Toss the snow up in a cloud,
Underneath the ice and snow
Very gently still I flow."

"Dear me," said the little rabbit to himself, "I never would know that this was the Old Duck Pond if it weren't for the Old Mill yonder. No wonder Granddaddy Bullfrog hid himself deep down in the mud before all this happened."

Yes, the whole earth seemed quiet and still. The mill wheel moved no more; great icicles hung from the paddles and long snowdrifts lay piled against the dam.

I don't know how long the little rabbit would have stood there wondering at the sudden change if something hadn't happened. Whiz! went a snowball past his ear. The Farmer's Boy leaned over and picked up some more snow. But the little rabbit didn't wait to see what sort of a snowball he would make this time. No, siree. He hopped back to the dear Old Bramble Patch as fast as he could.

THE NEW SLEIGH

THE Old Farm Yard was a very comfortable sort of a place. Little Jack Rabbit liked to go there, for all the Barnyard Folk were very nice to him, especially Henny Penny and Cocky Doodle, who always gave him some of their corn.

Then, too, it was great fun playing about the High Haystack. Here they all gathered after a snow storm, for the snow soon melted on the sunny side.

Another reason, too, why the little rabbit came so often was because many of his friends were tucked away for a long winter's nap.

Busy Beaver was safe in his little house under the ice in the Forest Pool. Squirrel Nutcracker and his family came out only on warm, sunshiny days. The rest of the time they spent sleeping in their warm little houses. As for Granddaddy Bullfrog, he never showed up--he was sound asleep in the soft mud at the bottom of the Old Duck Pond.

The little rabbit's mother had told him not to go too often to the Old Farm Yard for fear the Kind Farmer might not like it. "Henny Penny and Cocky Doodle are your friends," she told him, "but I'm not so sure about Mr. Farmer."

"Oh, he's all right, mother," answered the little rabbit. "He's very kind. He feeds all the Barn Yard Folk with such nice food. I'm sure he's very good and kind."

"Don't be too sure," answered the little rabbit's mother, with a knowing wag of her head.

One day when the little bunny hopped into the Old Farm Yard he heard Cocky Doodle say:

"It's a beautiful sleigh!" And just as Little Jack Rabbit was going to ask what he meant, the Kind Farmer came out of the Big Red Barn with Betsy, the Old Gray Mare, and hitched her up to a beautiful dark green sleigh.

"Git ap!" he said, snapping the whip over her back.

"Oh, Oh!" cried the little rabbit, "Maybe mother is right. I guess he's not such a kind farmer after all!" But of course the little bunny didn't know that the Kind Farmer hardly touched Old Betsy, although the whip made a loud crack and she threw out her heels and ran off at a great rate.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells,
On the nice new sleigh.
Oh what fun it is to run!"
Sang dear Old Betsy Gray.

_Little Jack Rabbit's Adventures_ _Page 117_]

DAILY DUTIES

It isn't always easy
To do the things you must.
Some people if they stay at home
Say they will surely rust.
But you will find the longer
You live from day to day
That you must do the little things
That daily come your way.

"OH, dear!" sighed Little Jack Rabbit one lovely spring morning, "I'm so tired of polishing this doorknob every day and every day. I wish it would drop off."

"Goodness me, little rabbit," said Grandmother Magpie, who just then happened along, "you are a disagreeable bunny boy this morning." And the old lady magpie looked at him out of her little black eyes as much as to say: "I wish I had that bunny boy to bring up, I'd make him toe the mark."

And perhaps she would, and perhaps she wouldn't, for some people can bring up other people's children ever so much better than their own, or even themselves. Isn't that strange? Well, maybe it is and maybe it isn't.

"What are you saying to my little bunny boy?" asked Mrs. John Rabbit, putting her head out of the kitchen window and scowling at Grandmother Magpie.

"Oh, nothing much," said that meddlesome old lady bird.

"Well, you'd better not," said Mrs. Rabbit. "It's all you can do to gossip about grown-up people's affairs." And then Mrs. Rabbit shook her dusting rag up and down, and maybe once sideways, and after that she shut the window. So Grandmother Magpie flew away without another word.

"I'm glad she's gone," said the little rabbit to himself, and just then Bobbie Redvest began to sing:

"Every day a little work,
Every day a song,
Every day a kindly word
Helps us all along."

And after that he picked up a crumb and said:

"Good morning, little rabbit. Don't forget to feed the canary."

"Gracious me!" exclaimed the little bunny, "I almost forgot!" And wouldn't it have been dreadful if he had, for little Miss Canary couldn't get out of her gold cage and look for worms like all the wild birds can, you know.

Well, when the little rabbit had finished his work, he hopped out to the Sunny Meadow where Mr. Merry Sun was making the buttercups grow more yellow every day, and the daisies whiter.

MRS. ORIOLE'S MIRROR

Oh, Mrs. Cow has a little bell
Tied to her neck with a string,
And every time she shakes her head
It gives a ting-a-ling-ling.

"HELLOA, little rabbit," said Ducky Waddles. "I guess I'll go down to the Old Duck Pond and take a swim." So off he went, wabbly, wabbly, on his big yellow feet, and pretty soon he saw Granddaddy Bullfrog on his log. The old gentleman frog was feeling very fine this lovely spring morning, for he had just eaten thirty-three flies, and that's a pretty good breakfast, let me tell you, even if the advertisements say you must eat shavings and cream to be perfectly well.

"Good morning, Ducky Waddles," said Granddaddy Bullfrog. "Have you heard the news?"

"What news?" asked Ducky Waddles, taking off his collar and his blue necktie before jumping into the water.

"Why, the Farmer's Boy has gone to the city to see his old maid aunt," said Granddaddy Bullfrog with a grin. "He won't throw stones at me now for maybe a week."

"Well, that's good news," said Ducky Waddles. "Now I can take a swim without worrying about my new necktie." And he flopped into the water with a splash that almost frightened to death a little tadpole who was swimming close by.

"Gracious me!" said the Little Tadpole, whose name was Tad, "if that old duck had seen me he would have gobbled me up as quick as a winkerty blinkerty." And then he hid behind a water lily stem until Ducky Waddles was far away.

Well, Ducky Waddles hadn't gone very far before Mrs. Oriole, who had a nest like a long white stocking on a branch of the weeping willow tree, began to sing:

"Swing high, swing low,
Swing to and fro
From the branch of the willow tree.
But whenever I look
In the Bubbling Brook
Another bird looks at me."

"Ha, ha!" laughed Professor Jim Crow, who happened to come by just then. "What sort of a bird lives in the Bubbling Brook?"

"Well, I can tell you one thing," said Mrs. Oriole, "she doesn't keep her feathers well combed."

And then you should have heard that wise old blackbird laugh.

"Well, when you look in the Bubbling Brook again," he said, "comb your feathers, Mrs. Oriole, and perhaps that other bird will do the same."

And would you believe it, that's just what happened? But how Professor Jim Crow knew it I'm sure I don't know, unless his wife had a vanity bag with a little mirror in it, as all the ladies do nowadays who don't vote, I'm told.

AN AIRSHIP RIDE

WELL, all of a sudden, as Mrs. Oriole combed her yellow curls--beg pardon, I mean feathers--Little Jack Rabbit heard a voice say, quite close to his ear, "Hello!" And when he looked around he saw his friend the Jay Bird perched on a bramble branch.

"How did you get here?" asked the little rabbit.

"In my airship," replied the little bird. "Don't you want to take a ride?"

"Will you wait till I finish cleaning my gold watch?" and the little rabbit set to work, and before long he could see his face in it and the Jay Bird's too, for Mr. Merry Sun made that little gold watch shine like a ball of fire.

Then away went the little rabbit and the Jay Bird, and pretty soon they were flying over the Sunny Meadow, over the treetops and over the steeples, and over the houses and over the peoples!

Well, sir, it wasn't very long before they were far, far away from the Shady Forest, and then the little rabbit said: "Don't go too far, Mr. Jay Bird, for mother will worry if I don't get home in time for supper." And just then up came the American Eagle with a big flag in his beak and seven silver stars on the tips of his tail feathers.

"O come with me and I'll show you where
I've a nest on the mountain high in the air;
It's a lonely place, but it's home for me,
With Mrs. Eagle and children three."

"Show us the way and we'll follow," said the Jay Bird, and he steered his airship after the great American Eagle, and by and by they came to his nest high up on the mountain's rocky crest.

The little rabbit hopped out and went over to say how do you do to the little eaglets, and when they showed him their Thrift Stamp Books, what do you think this generous little rabbit did? Why, he opened his knapsack and gave them each a War Saving Stamp. Wasn't that kind of him?

Then Mrs. Eagle went to the ice box for ice cream cones, and everybody had a feast, and after that the Jay Bird said it was time to go. So he and the little rabbit got into the airship and went away, and by and by they were just above the Bramble Patch. Mrs. Rabbit was looking out of the window, and as soon as she saw them way up high in the clear blue sky, she rang the supper bell, and Cocky Doodle sang:

"Home again, my little rabbit,
That's the place to be.
Only there true love and rest
Waits for you and me."

Little Jack Rabbit Books

(Trademark Registered)

_By_ DAVID CORY

Author of "Little Journeys to Happyland"

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Colored Wrappers With Text Illustrations.

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A new and unique series about the furred and feathered little people of the wood and meadow.

Children will eagerly follow the doings of little Jack Rabbit, and the clever way in which he escapes from his three enemies, Danny Fox, Mr. Wicked Wolf and Hungry Hawk will delight the youngsters.

LITTLE JACK RABBIT'S ADVENTURES
LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND DANNY FOX
LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND THE SQUIRREL BROTHERS
LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND CHIPPY CHIPMUNK
LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND THE BIG BROWN BEAR
LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND UNCLE JOHN HARE
LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND PROFESSOR CROW
LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND OLD MAN WEASEL
LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND MR. WICKED WOLF
LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND HUNGRY HAWK
LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND THE POLICEMAN DOG
LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND MISS MOUSIE
LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND UNCLE LUCKY
LITTLE JACK RABBIT AND THE YELLOW DOG TRAMP

* * * * *

GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK

THE PUSS-IN-BOOTS, Jr. SERIES

By DAVID CORY

Author of "The Little Jack Rabbit Stories" and "Little
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Handsomely Bound. Colored Wrappers. Illustrated.
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FURTHER ADVENTURES OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR.
PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR. IN FAIRYLAND
TRAVELS OF PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR.
PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND OLD MOTHER GOOSE
PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., IN NEW MOTHER GOOSE LAND
PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND THE GOOD GRAY HORSE
PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND TOM THUMB
PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND ROBINSON CRUSOE
PUSS-IN-BOOTS, JR., AND THE MAN IN THE MOON

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GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK

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Transcriber's Note:

Obvious punctuation errors repaired.

End of Project Gutenberg's Little Jack Rabbit's Adventures, by David Cory