Part 1

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_Billy Bunny Books_

BILLY BUNNY

_AND_

DADDY FOX

BY

DAVID CORY

AUTHOR OF "BILLY BUNNY AND UNCLE BULL FROG," "BILLY BUNNY AND THE FRIENDLY ELEPHANT," "BILLY BUNNY AND UNCLE LUCKY LEFTHINDFOOT"

ILLUSTRATIONS BY HUGH SPENCER

NEW YORK CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY

BILLY BUNNY BOOKS BY DAVID CORY

_Large 12 mo. Illustrated_

1. BILLY BUNNY AND THE FRIENDLY ELEPHANT. 2. BILLY BUNNY AND DADDY FOX. 3. BILLY BUNNY AND UNCLE BULL FROG. 4. BILLY BUNNY AND UNCLE LUCKY LEFTHINDFOOT.

_Other Volumes in Preparation_

CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY

_Billy Bunny and Daddy Fox_

Printed in U. S. A.

CONTENTS

- STORY I--BILLY BUNNY AND THE JAIL HOUSE - STORY II--BILLY BUNNY AND LADY HORNET - STORY III--BILLY BUNNY AND PHOTOGRAPHER CRANE - STORY IV--BILLY BUNNY AND THE ORGAN GRINDER - STORY V--BILLY BUNNY AND MR. TOOTIE OWL - STORY VI--BILLY BUNNY AND BILLY GOAT - STORY VII--BILLY BUNNY AND THE HEAD OF LETTUCE - STORY VIII--BILLY BUNNY AND THE SCARECROW - STORY IX--BILLY BUNNY AND MR. DRAKE - STORY X--BILLY BUNNY AND THE FROG KING - STORY XI--BILLY BUNNY AND THE TURKEY GOBBLER - STORY XII--BILLY BUNNY AND THE DONKEY - STORY XIII--BILLY BUNNY AND THE LITTLE SUGAR PILLS - STORY XIV--BILLY BUNNY AND THE BILLY GOAT - STORY XV--BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. BRUIN - STORY XVI--BILLY BUNNY AND THE BEAR CUBS - STORY XVII--BILLY BUNNY AND THE SQUIRREL INNKEEPER - STORY XVIII--BILLY BUNNY AND THE TAILOR BIRD - STORY XIX--BILLY BUNNY AND ROBBIE REDBREAST - STORY XX--BILLY BUNNY AND THE BABBLING BROOK - STORY XXI--BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. WILDCAT - STORY XXII--BILLY BUNNY AT WINDY CAVE - STORY XXIII--BILLY BUNNY AND THE WILD CANARY - STORY XXIV--BILLY BUNNY AND THE LITTLE SPARROWS - STORY XXV--BILLY BUNNY AND ROBIN REDBREAST - STORY XXVI--BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. QUAIL - STORY XXVII--BILLY BUNNY AND THE THEATER PLAY - STORY XXVIII--BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. WEASEL - STORY XXIX--BILLY BUNNY AND THE POLICEMAN DOG - STORY XXX--BILLY BUNNY AND THE CIRCUS ELEPHANT - STORY XXXI--BILLY BUNNY AND THE CHEERFUL LITTLE BIRD - STORY XXXII--BILLY BUNNY AND THE MILLER'S BOY - STORY XXXIII--BILLY BUNNY AND OLD MOTHER MAGPIE - STORY XXXIV--BILLY BUNNY AND DICKEY MEADOW MOUSE - STORY XXXV--BILLY BUNNY AND BIG BROWN BEAR - STORY XXXVI--BILLY BUNNY AND PROFESSOR CROW - STORY XXXVII--BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. GROUSE - STORY XXXVIII--BILLY BUNNY AND THE CARLOAD OF LETTUCE LEAVES

STORY I--BILLY BUNNY AND THE JAIL HOUSE

Daddy Fox was very irregular in his habits about coming home, so, when the Bunny Boy Scouts captured him, after his escape from the Circus Cow Boy, and put him in the Jail House at Lettuceville, no one became uneasy for two or three days. After that time, Mrs. Fox said to Sly Boots and Bushy Tail, her two little sons: "Something has happened to your father. I know it, for he never stays away like this without telephoning or sending a message home. We'd better go out to-night and look for him."

So when the big, round, silver moon was shining in the middle of the sky and the twinkle, twinkle star was peeping into the bedroom windows of little boys and girls, who were sound asleep and dreaming of lollypops and ice cream cones and other things, Mrs. Fox put on her bonnet and started out with her two little foxes.

And by and by they came to the Jail House. And while they were walking around it, smelling here and there to find out where their Daddy Fox was, they heard him singing in a sorrowful voice:

"I wonder if my two little boys Are thinking of Daddy Fox; If mother would only find me here She'd open this old jail box. She'd find the key to the iron door, Which is hid in the crack outside in the floor Of the little porch, and she'd get me out. Oh, dear, I wonder what they're about!"

And of course when Mrs. Fox heard that, she looked on the floor of the little porch; and, sure enough, there was the big iron key almost hidden from sight in a little, tiny crack.

Wasn't that lucky? Well, I guess it was, and in a jiffy and a half she unlocked the iron door and set Daddy Fox free.

My! But he was thin and miserable. They had shaved his head and put a striped suit of clothes on him and he didn't look anything like their dear, kind father, thought Sly Boots and Bushy Tail, although they didn't say so.

They just hugged him nearly to death, for they loved him, because he was their father, and they didn't know it was wicked to steal chickens, because all foxes do, and if you don't know a thing is wicked and then go and do it it's not nearly so bad as when you know a thing is wrong and then go and do it. So please remember this, for it's very important and will help you keep out of lots of trouble.

"Come home at once," said Mrs. Fox; "I have a nice stewed duck for supper, although it's past supper time." So Daddy Fox hurried as fast as he could so as not to let the duck stew get cooked too much, and by and by they came to their den.

And Mrs. Fox had the table set and the supper ready in less than a wink and everybody was happy as could be. And perhaps Daddy Fox will be good until the next time, that is if he doesn't see a chicken before the chicken sees him.

STORY II--BILLY BUNNY AND LADY HORNET

"Early to rise, early to rise, Will make little bunny boys win the first prize," sang Mrs. Bunny at the foot of the stairs. And then Billy Bunny lifted up his left hind leg and his right ear, and he wiggled his nose forty times less once, and after that he was wide awake.

And when he had washed his face and whiskers, and parted his hair down his back nice and smooth, he went down to eat his breakfast of carrot mush and raspberry juice which his kind mother had made from the fruit that grew in the old bramble patch. And then, oh yes, oh yes! he polished the brass knob on the front door, and after that he went down to the postoffice to see if a new spring mattress had come by parcel post.

But it hadn't, and the postmistress, who was a nice Lady Hornet, said it was a bit early in the season for spring mattresses, but she thought by next month it would come along, that is, if the weather kept nice and warm.

Well, anyway, she had something for the little rabbit. It was a letter with two carrot cents postage due, which the little bunny paid.

And then he opened his letter, and what do you think he found inside? Why, a beautiful tinted photo of his circus elephant friend, and on the back was written in purple ink, "To Billy Bunny, from Elly, the circus elephant."

"Now, isn't that nice of him," said Billy Bunny. "I must send him mine right away," so he hopped away to the nearest photographer, who was a nice Crane and had his place in Rabbitville about 450 hops away.

By and by Billy Bunny reached the picture gallery, and after he had told the Crane photographer what he wanted he sat down on a little green mossy rock in front of a big canvas painted like the ocean with big green waves and white foam.

And all around the rock was sprinkled sand so that when the picture was taken it looked just as if the little bunny had been to Newport for the summer.

"How many do you want?" asked the Photographer Crane, who was certainly a splendid picture man, for his legs were just the right length so that he could look into the back of the camera without standing on a stool.

And, wasn't it funny, you couldn't tell his legs apart from the legs of the camera, only the camera had three and the Crane only two.

"I'll take seven," said the little rabbit. "That's my lucky number. I want to send one to Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot; he's my Uncle Lucky."

"And one to my friend, the circus elephant, for he's my best friend. It will make Daddy Fox mad to think he wasn't here at the same time, for he's always trying to catch me."

And just then who should peep in through the window but Daddy Fox himself. And in the next story you shall hear what happened after that.

STORY III--BILLY BUNNY AND PHOTOGRAPHER CRANE

You remember in the last story Daddy Fox was peeping in through the window just as Billy Bunny was having his picture taken, don't you?

Well, no sooner did the little rabbit see him than he hopped quicker than a lightning bug to the door and closed it, and the Photographer Crane pulled down the window shade to make it dark inside so that Daddy Fox couldn't see them.

After that he stuffed the fireplace full of sofa cushions for fear the crafty fox might slide down the chimney. But, oh dear me! he forgot all about the skylights--the windows in the roof, you know, and the next moment down through the ceiling dropped Daddy Fox.

Oh, my! What a scramble there was in that photo parlor. The Crane flew up on the mantelpiece and the little rabbit crept into the waste basket and pulled a photograph album on top of him.

And, of course, it was so dark that Daddy Fox didn't see them do all this, so he had to play hide-and-seek and there was nobody to call out, "You're getting hotter and hotter" when he stood near the mantelpiece, nor "You're burning up!" when he passed close to the waste paper basket, so after a while he sat down on a pincushion (excuse me, I mean a sofa cushion), and listened with both ears cocked up.

But the Crane never breathed and Billy Bunny held his breath, so by and by Daddy Fox started to hunt around the room again. First he pulled all the cushions out of the fireplace and then he pulled up the shades and unlocked the front door.

And this was very foolish of him, for he should have known that the Crane and the little rabbit hadn't had time to get out. Then he went out on the little porch and peeped into the woodbox, and while he was doing that the Crane flew down the mantelpiece and locked the door.

And then he pulled the strings to close the skylight and stuffed the cushions back into the fireplace, and lifted the album off the little rabbit, for it was so full of pictures of fat people that it was dreadfully heavy.

After this Billy Bunny opened his knapsack and took out his gun and peeked out through a hole in the window shade. And right there by the window stood the dreadful fox trying to open it. Bang! went the little rabbit's gun and the cork hit the fox on the tip of his nose and made him sneeze so badly that he had to run into the woods to find his handkerchief.

And he hunted all day long for it, and when evening came he remembered he had sent it to the laundry, so he had to go out and buy one at the three and one cent store.

Of course, Billy Bunny didn't have any more pictures taken that day. He hopped home as fast as he could, and the Crane telephoned down to the police station and told them to send up a man to guard the studio, and if the Twinkle Twinkle Star to-night sings me to sleep, I'll tell you another story of Billy Bunny and the sheep.

STORY IV--BILLY BUNNY AND THE ORGAN GRINDER

Well, the Twinkle Twinkle Star didn't sing me to sleep and so I can't tell you about Billy Bunny and the woolly sheep as I said I would in the last story, but I will tell you something else if you'll only wait five hundred short seconds. And this is what it's going to be about:

The organ grinder's monkey Who wears a little cap, Is always kept so busy He cannot take a nap.

He's dancing to the music, And picking up the dimes; But oftener it's nickels. And pennies most the times.

As soon as Billy Bunny heard the "Star-Spangled Banner," for that was the tune which the old organ grinder was playing, he pricked up his ears and hopped out of the Old Briar Patch, and by and by he came up to the monkey, who held out his little red cap.

"Here's a carrot cent for you," said the little rabbit, but the organ grinder scowled a deep, gloomy scowl and said:

"Me no lika da mun!" But what could Billy Bunny do? And as the organ grinder kept on scowling a deep, gloomy scowl, the little rabbit opened his knapsack and looked through it. And pretty soon he found an apple pie, and when the organ grinder saw it he stopped grinding the music and put out his hand.

And in a very few minutes there wasn't any pie to be seen anywhere around for miles and miles, and the organ grinder had a lovely smile on his face! And then he played that pretty song called "In this sweet pie and pie there are apples fresh and dry," and after that he swung the organ over his back and the monkey jumped on top and off they went to grind out more tunes for money.

But the little rabbit didn't go with them. No, siree. For if he had to pay a whole apple pie for a tune he'd rather go another way, even if he couldn't hear the lovely music, for you can't grind out apple pies the way you can tunes.

Well, by and by, after a while, not so very long, he came to a river and he couldn't get across, so he looked all about him to find a little horse; but there wasn't any horse and there wasn't any boat, so the little rabbit said, "Well, I guess I'll have to float" So what did he do but find an old plank and then floated over on it to the other bank.

Now I don't know what is the matter with my typewriter that it didn't make a verse out of all these rhymes, but it didn't--it just went along in a prosy way, and so you'll have to make a poem out of them yourself, for I have no more room in this story.

STORY V--BILLY BUNNY AND MR. TOOTIE OWL

Let's see, I left off in the last story just where Billy Bunny landed on the bank of the river. Well, now I'm going to tell you what happened after that.

"I was lucky to get across on that old board," thought the little rabbit, as he hopped up the bank to look about him. The field was covered with daisies and in the distance a black cow stood flicking off the flies with her long tail.

"Helloa!" cried the little rabbit. "Why don't you eat the flowers?" The black cow looked up and said:

"Why don't you stand on your head?" And, would you believe it, Billy Bunny did. Yes, sir. He stood first on his right ear and then on his left ear, and then he turned two somersaults and a handspring backward, and this made the cow laugh so hard that she got her tail twisted around a fence rail and couldn't get away.

"What shall I do?" she cried, anxiously. "It's almost milking time, and when I don't come home they'll wonder where I am. Oh, dear! Oh, dear!"

"Don't worry," said Billy Bunny, and he opened his knapsack and took out his little hatchet and chopped the tail--I mean the rail--off the fence so that she could get home, although, of course, she had to drag the rail all the way back to the farm, and the farmer scolded her for breaking down his fence, which was too bad, for she couldn't help it, you know.

Well, after that the little rabbit hopped away, and by and by, just as it was getting quite dark, he came to a big pile of wood. "Now this will be a good place for me to sleep," he said to himself, and looked about for a hole to squeeze into. But, oh dear me, and oh dear you!

A big owl flew out and hooted and tooted three times and a half, and then winked his eyes at the little rabbit until he was so scared he could hardly stand up.

"Oh, please, Mr. Owl, don't hooty-tooty me so. I don't mean any harm."

"What are you doing in my woodpile?" asked the blinky old bird fiercely. "Trying to steal my wood, eh?"

"Oh, no, Mr. Owl," cried Billy Bunny. "I was only looking for a place to sleep."

"I don't believe you," screeched the blinky winky bird, and he made a grab for the little rabbit with his hooked feet. And he would have caught Billy Bunny, too, and eaten him for supper that very night, I guess, if the little rabbit hadn't pulled his popgun out of his knapsack and hit the wicked owl on the tail with the cork bullet, which so scared the ugly old bird that he flew into the forest. After that Billy Bunny crept into the woodpile and went to sleep and dreamed that it caught on fire and the sparks flew up into the air and covered the whole sky with twinkling stars.

STORY VI--BILLY BUNNY AND BILLY GOAT

It was a bright and beautiful sunshiny morning as Billy Bunny hopped out of the woodpile where he had slept all night and started off on his journey of adventure.

He had only gone a little ways when all of a sudden from behind a bush out jumped a big Billy Goat. He had a long goatee and he looked very fierce, and when he lowered his head and pointed his horns at the little rabbit, how do you suppose Billy Bunny felt?

Well, he felt just like a piece of paper all crinkled up, he was so scarified. And so would you, for that goat's horns were as sharp as needles.

"Stop! Stop!" cried the little rabbit. "Don't you know who I am? Billy Bunny's my name, from Old Brier Patch, Snake Fence Corner," and then he handed his card to the angry Billy Goat, who ate it up without even reading it. Wasn't that rude in him?

"I don't like your card a bit," said the Goat. "It tastes like peppermint." Of course it did, for the little rabbit carried his striped candy cane in his front paws, and some of the candy came off on them and got on to the card when he handed it to the Billy Goat.

"If you had read it you wouldn't have tasted the peppermint," said Billy Bunny politely, not wishing to make the Goat feel badly.

Well, by this time the Goat had raised his head and so his sharp horns didn't point at Billy Bunny, which made him feel lots better. Then he opened his knapsack and took out an apple-pie and gave it to the Goat, who ate it up in two and a half bites, and then asked for more.

"Sorry, but that's all I have," said the little rabbit. "Would you like a lollypop?" And when that was all gone, the little rabbit brought out a chocolate cake and the Goat ate that up just as fast.

"What else have you?" asked the Goat, wiping the crumbs from his goatee and peeking over Billy Bunny's shoulder.

"I've got a pair of rubber boots," said the little rabbit. And would you believe it, that Goat ate those rubber boots up too and then asked for more.

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" sighed Billy Bunny, and he hunted all through his knapsack again until he found a policeman's whistle. "That's all I've got left, Mr. Billy Goat."

"Well, I'll eat that for dessert," and the hungry, starving goat commenced to eat that whistle as though he hadn't tasted any kind of food for a year and five minutes. But would you believe me again? That whistle began to whistle and this so scared the Billy Goat that he ran away.

And if that whistle doesn't keep me awake all night so that I'll have to sleep all day tomorrow I'll tell you in the next story how Billy Bunny went to see his kind Uncle Lucky.

STORY VII--BILLY BUNNY AND THE HEAD OF LETTUCE

Oh, it's dreadful to be lonely, Even when you're not alone, And you may be dreadful mournful Though you have a happy tone. And your lips may keep a-smiling Though the tears are in your eyes. Have you never seen it raining, When the sun is in the skies? If the one you want to be with Isn't all the time with you, There is nothing that will make you Feel anything but blue.

And this was the way little Billy Bunny felt. You see, he hadn't seen his dear, kind Uncle Lucky for so long that the gold watch and chain which the old gentleman rabbit had given him needed winding.

So after the little rabbit had wound up the chain and put the watch back in his pocket, he started out to see his uncle, Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot, who lived on Carrot street, near Lettuce Avenue, Bunnybridge, U. S. A.

Well, after Billy Bunny had hopped and hopped and then some more, he came to a cross road, and the sign on the post said, "5,281-1/2 hops to Bunnybridge."

"Well, I'm glad I'm on the right road," said the little rabbit, and he took half a hop so as to start out even, you know, because he never did like fractions, and by and by he came to Lettuce avenue. But just then something happened. Something usually does happen when you least expect it, and that's what's going to happen now if my typewriter doesn't get balky and throw my hands off the keyboard.

Yes, sir! Just as that dear little bunny stepped on Lettuce avenue something big and soft hit him between his left ear and his left hind foot and knocked the breath right out of him. And so of course he couldn't say "Oh, dear; oh, dear!" so I'm going to make the typewriter say it for him.

And that will give him time to get his breath so that he can say it if he wants to. Well, after that he looked around to find out what had hit him, and what do you suppose it was that had knocked the "Oh, dear me!" out of him! I'll tell you right away--a great big head of lettuce. There it lay on the ground. So the little rabbit picked it up and was just going to put it in his knapsack for his Uncle Lucky, when a cross voice called out:

"Don't you touch that lettuce, For it belongs to me, And I am going to take it Home with me for tea."

"Who are you?" asked the little rabbit, dropping the lettuce and looking all around. But he couldn't see anybody, and neither can I, so I'm going to let Billy Bunny look again. And this time he saw a Scarecrow in the field close by.

And if the old clothes man doesn't throw another head of lettuce and hit my typewriter so it won't talk to the paper I'll tell you another story to-morrow.

STORY VIII--BILLY BUNNY AND THE SCARECROW

As soon as Billy Bunny saw the Scarecrow--who had thrown the head of lettuce at the little rabbit in the last story, but he shan't do it again in this story! I'll promise you that right now--the little rabbit said:

"Did you hit me just now between my left ear and my left hind leg with this lettuce?"

"I did," replied the Scarecrow, in a sort of scarecrowey voice.

As soon as the little rabbit heard that he picked up that head of lettuce and threw it right at the head of that Scarecrow and knocked off his stovepipe hat. And when Billy Bunny looked at the hat he saw two gold letters pasted inside the crown, and what do you think they were? I don't know why I asked you, for I've got to tell you, anyway. Well, they were the letters U. L.

"Uncle Lucky!" cried the little rabbit. "It's Uncle Lucky's wedding stovepipe hat! Oh, how glad he'll be to get it back!" And Billy Bunny picked it up and put the lettuce inside and then hopped away as fast as he could for his kind old uncle's house. And after he had gone for maybe three miles or less, he came to the old gentleman rabbit's house. And there was dear, kind Uncle Lucky swinging in the hammock on the front porch. And when he saw his little nephew, he fell out--excuse me, I mean, he hopped out--of the hammock and opened the front gate and said:

"That looks like my old wedding stovepipe hat," and the old gentleman rabbit put it on his head without even taking the head of lettuce out first, but that didn't matter, for there was plenty of room in that old stovepipe hat for two heads.

Well, as soon as Uncle Lucky got over his excitement, he asked his bunny nephew where he had found his hat, and when Billy Bunny told him, the old gentleman rabbit took it off and took out the head of lettuce and he and Billy Bunny ate it all up--not the hat, but the lettuce, you know--and some apple pie and carrot ice cream besides, for Uncle Lucky always had his pantry just full of the nicest things to eat you ever saw or ever heard of. And that's one reason why all the bunny boys and girls loved the old gentleman rabbit, for when they were coming home from school he would stand on his front porch and say:

"Come in and get some apple pie, An ice cream cone or two; A lollypop with jam on top, Some sweet prunes a la stew, Some lemonade--don't be afraid. For I'm inviting you."