Chapter 2

"I don't think so, Mrs. Rabbit," said Cocky Doodle; "he's a very kind farmer." Mrs. Rabbit smiled, as if she only half believed the little rooster. Then she turned to her little rabbit boy and said, "Keep a bright lookout, and don't forget you're only a small bunny."

After that away went the three little people, Cocky Doodle, with his bright red comb, and Henny Penny in her pretty gray speckled feathers, and Little Jack Rabbit, in his fur waistcoat, white as the big clouds that chased Mr. Merry Sun over the bright blue sky.

"Who is this little bunny?" asked Turkey Tim when they all came to the Farm Yard.

"Don't you know?" answered Henny Penny. "Why, he's the little rabbit who colors the Easter Eggs!"

"What!" cried a big fat goose.

"This is Little Jack Rabbit," said Cocky Doodle.

"Pleased to meet you," said Goosey Lucy. "Do you paint goose eggs, too?" But before the little bunny could say yes or no, the Kind Farmer himself came out of the house.

"Why, look who's here," he said with a smile. And such a kind smile that Little Jack Rabbit wasn't the least bit afraid.

"He saw the hired boy steal the eggs from my nest in the corner of the Old Rail Fence," cried Henny Penny.

"Ha, ha!" laughed the Kind Farmer. "So that's where you've been laying your eggs, is it, Miss Henny Penny?"

"Cock-a-doodle-do, She only laid a few. But after this she'll lay the rest Within the little wooden nest You hung upon the Henhouse wall, And tell you with her cackle-call,"

said the little rooster, for Henny Penny was too ashamed to speak.

Then the Weathercock whirled around on his big toe and, pointing at the little hen, shouted through his tin megaphone:

"Why don't you stay at home and lay, And not go calling every day? I never leave my perch up here No matter what the atmosphere."

COLORED EGGS

"I OFTEN wondered why she went across the Sunny Meadow every day," said Ducky Waddles. "It's too long a walk for me!"

"Yes, you wabble too much!" said Henny Penny.

"That's because I've little thin pieces of skin between my toes," answered Ducky Waddles. "My feet are too wide and flat for walking, but they make splendid paddles."

"Come, come," interrupted the Kind Farmer. "Henny Penny hasn't explained why she goes over to the Sunny Meadow to lay her eggs instead of in the nice nests in the Henhouse."

"Because I wanted Little Jack Rabbit to color them for Easter," she answered. "I thought if I laid them near the Old Bramble Patch it would be easier for him."

"Oh, that's the reason?" said the Kind Farmer. "And pray, Mr. Jack Rabbit, how do you color the eggs?"

Oh, dear me! Wasn't the little rabbit embarrassed! He wasn't sure but what he'd better hop back to the Old Bramble Patch. Perhaps, too, he was a little bit afraid of the big Kind Farmer.

"I never colored any eggs," answered the little rabbit in a low voice, "but I've often helped mother color them. She takes a big red rose and rubs it over an egg until it turns red. With a buttercup she makes a yellow one. From the violets by the Bubbling Brook she gets a beautiful purple color, and from the wild roses a lovely pink tint. Just every-day grass gives a dandy green color."

"Ha, ha," laughed the big Kind Farmer, "so that's what the rabbits do on Easter, is it?" and he turned away and went into the Big Red Barn to feed the horses.

"I guess it's time for me to be going," said Little Jack Rabbit. "Mother may worry if I stay away too long!"

"What's your hurry?" said Ducky Waddles.

"Goodby," said Henny Penny.

"Come again," said Cocky Doodle.

"Come very soon," said Turkey Tim.

"Call tomorrow," cried Goosey Lucy.

But the little rabbit was out of hearing by this time, and just as Mr. Merry Sun went down behind the West Hill, he hopped into the Old Bramble Patch.

"Come, wash your hands; supper is ready," said Mrs. Rabbit, as she took the carrot muffins out of the oven and dished the stewed lollypops.

HENNY PENNY'S MISTAKE

THERE was great excitement at the Old Barn Yard. A big mistake had been made. Whose fault it was no one could tell; but the fact was that Henny Penny had hatched out a brood of ducklings.

At first nobody thought anything was wrong, except that, perhaps, her little brood had very large bills and feet, much larger than those of any little chicks at the farm.

But one day when the whole brood waddled off down to the Old Duck Pond and jumped in everybody knew that Henny Penny had little ducks and not little chickens.

Poor little Henny Penny! She stood upon the bank and clucked and clucked to them to come back.

"You'll be drowned, my darlings!" she cried. But the little ducks threw out their great brown feet as cleverly as if they had taken swimming lessons all their lives and sailed off on the Old Duck Pond, away, away among the ferns, under the pink azaleas, through reeds and rushes and arrowheads and pickerel weed, the happiest ducks that ever were born. And soon they were quite out of sight.

Poor little Henny Penny. She didn't know how to swim, so she sat down on the bank and waited for her little ducks to come back. Now and then she wiped her eyes on her downy breast feathers.

"Don't cry," said Cocky Doodle kindly.

"Don't worry," said Rosy Comb. "Your children seem to know how to swim as well as Ducky Waddles."

Just then across the Old Duck Pond came a chorus of quacks, and at a distance was seen the little brood swimming home, their feathers gleaming in green and gold.

"Such a splendid time we've had," they all cried as they waddled up the bank. "And we know now how to get our own living, for there are lots of little fish and flies out there on the Old Duck Pond. We can take care of ourselves, so don't worry any more about us, Mother Henny Penny."

"They are little ducks, not chickens," said Ducky Waddles.

"Are you sure?" asked Henny Penny tearfully, wiping her eyes with a tiny yellow handkerchief.

"Of course I am," replied Ducky Waddles. "Don't I know a duck's foot when I see it?"

"Dear, Oh dear!" sighed the poor little hen, "there has been a dreadful mistake!"

But whose mistake it was no one could tell, for the Kind Farmer never confessed that he put duck eggs in Henny Penny's nest.

THE DAM

THE Bubbling Brook was slowly drying up. Everyone on the Sunny Meadow was worried, and the little people who lived in the water were even more worried.

It was just like having one's house pulled down while living in it. You see, as the water became more shallow there were places in the little brook that were hardly covered with water, and it was only in the deep holes that the fish and crabs could swim at all.

And the cause of all this was Busy Beaver. Yes, sir. Busy Beaver was building a dam across the Bubbling Brook.

Somehow he knew that winter was coming, when it would be all frozen over. But he knew that if he built a dam across it, a little pond would form where the water would be too deep to freeze clear down to the bottom.

"I'll leave a little opening in the dam to let the water run out when it gets high enough," said Busy Beaver to himself as he laid mud and stones on top of a log.

If the Little People of the Sunny Meadow had only heard him they wouldn't have been so worried. Little Jack Rabbit did, though, as he came hopping down the Shady Forest Path.

"Good morning," said the little bunny.

Busy Beaver looked up from his work. He had almost finished a mighty good job. First, he had cut down a tree, and then sawed it with his sharp teeth into logs. These he had rolled into the water, weighting them down with stones and mud until gradually he had built up a splendid dam from the bottom of the pond.

"It's almost finished," said Busy Beaver. "It took me quite a long time, for sometimes the logs would bob up and drift away, and I'd have to begin all over again. But I kept at it, and now I've got a nice dam to hold back the water."

"Why do you want deep water?" asked the little rabbit.

"Come over here and I'll show you," answered Busy Beaver, leading Little Jack Rabbit around to the end of the dam nearest the Shady Forest. "There, you see my house. Now the water must be deep enough so that when it freezes my front door will always be below the ice. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to swim in and out."

"How soon will the Bubbling Brook start running again?" asked the little bunny.

"Pretty soon--maybe tonight," answered Busy Beaver.

"Hurrah! I'll tell my friend the little Fresh Water Crab!" and away hopped the little rabbit to the Sunny Meadow.

GOOD NEWS

ALREADY the water was beginning to trickle over the pebbly bottom of the Bubbling Brook.

All of a sudden a voice overhead shouted, "Good morning!" and there sat Chatterbox, the Red Squirrel, in the Big Walnut Tree. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"I must tell all my friends in the Sunny Meadow the good news," replied the little rabbit. "I can't wait a minute."

"I'll go with you," said Chatterbox, running down the tree. "Tell me, what's the news?"

"The Bubbling Brook will be running again tonight," answered the little bunny, and he explained all about Busy Beaver's dam.

"Well, I declare," exclaimed Chatterbox, "Busy Beaver has a lot of nerve to stop the water running in the Bubbling Brook. He doesn't own the water rights. The Bubbling Brook belongs to everyone alike."

"So it does," answered Little Jack Rabbit, "but Busy Beaver has to look out for himself. If he doesn't build a dam his little house will be frozen up this winter."

Just then the water rose almost to the ferns that grew on the edge of the Bubbling Brook. "Everything's all right now," said the little rabbit, "I won't bother to go over to the Sunny Meadow. The fishes and the little fresh water crabs will learn the news before I can get there," and he sat down to talk things over with Chatterbox.

"You just ought to see Busy Beaver use his tail as a trowel to lay on the mud," said the little rabbit, who couldn't keep from talking about what he had just seen. "He carries the mud and stones between his chin and forepaws and knows just how to put them in the cracks between the logs to keep back the water."

"Well, we all must prepare for the long, cold winter," said Chatterbox. "Brother Tip Top and I have been gathering nuts for many a day and have our storehouse nearly full."

While the Autumn days are here Make things snug for Winter drear; Storehouse filled with everything To last until again it's Spring.

A PERPLEXED LITTLE RABBIT

"GOODNESS gracious me!" exclaimed Little Jack Rabbit, all of a sudden, "the Clover Patch is all dried up. What shall I do when winter comes?"

"Hunt for old turnips and carrots in the field," laughed Chatterbox.

"I think I'll leave you," answered Little Jack Rabbit thoughtfully, "I'm beginning to worry about what's going to happen to me," and away he hopped, leaving the little red squirrel sitting beneath his tree.

"'Most everybody I know," thought the little rabbit as he hopped along, "curls up and goes to sleep for the winter. I wonder if I could? I'm going home to ask Mother."

But Mrs. Rabbit was too busy putting up carrot jelly to answer questions. "Don't bother me," she said, "I haven't got a minute to spare." So the only thing for the little bunny to do was to go to somebody else.

The very first person he met was Hedgy Hedgehog. He was just coming out of his hole, which he had been busily lining with grass and dry leaves, some of which were still sticking to his spikes, for he hadn't had time to brush himself.

"What are you doing?" asked the little bunny.

"Getting ready for winter. I've fixed up my place nice and warm, and when the cold weather comes I'll creep in and sleep till Spring."

"What do you eat?" asked Little Jack Rabbit, who could eat all the time, and sometimes oftener, like all rabbits.

"Don't eat--can't eat when you're asleep, you know."

"Gracious me!" exclaimed the little bunny, "that would never do for me!" and he hopped away.

By and by he came to the Old Duck Pond. There sat Granddaddy Bullfrog on a log, winking and blinking in the light of Mr. Merry Sun.

"Granddaddy Bullfrog, what do you do when winter comes?"

"Why, bless you, my little bunny," answered the old gentleman frog, "I go to sleep in the mud at the bottom of the pond."

"Oh, dear, I can't do that!" sighed the little rabbit.

"Of course not," laughed Granddaddy Bullfrog. "Do what your mother says, and stop worrying!"

THE TURNIP

"WELL, I guess Granddaddy Bullfrog is right," thought Little Jack Rabbit, as he hopped back home to the Old Bramble Patch. "What's the use of worrying about winter? I'll take Granddaddy Bullfrog's advice and leave it all to Mother."

After that he felt much better. Pretty soon he saw Timmy Meadowmouse looking out of his little round house of grass, no larger than a cricket ball, which was fastened to three or four stiff stalks of grass about a foot above the ground.

"Good morning. Do you know, I've been dreadfully worried about winter; but now I'm going to take Granddaddy Bullfrog's advice and leave it all to mother."

You see, this little rabbit just couldn't stop talking about his troubles, although he was going to leave them all to mother!

"There! She's waving to you from the Old Bramble Patch," cried Timmy Meadowmouse. Away went the little bunny without another word and in less than five hundred hops he was home.

"Hop over to the field and bring me a turnip. Your father will be home for lunch in a few minutes," said Mrs. Rabbit.

Little Jack Rabbit hopped through the Old Rail Fence, across the road and into the field where the Old Scarecrow flapped his arms every time Billy Breeze whistled through the cornstalks. But the Old Clothes Man couldn't frighten the little bunny. Oh, my no! It took more than that, although he was a scary little chap. You see, he knew all about the Old Scarecrow, for he had watched the Kind Farmer put him up in the early Spring.

Picking up a nice looking turnip, he turned about and started back again. But, Oh dear me! All of a sudden out from behind a cornstack jumped the Farmer's Boy.

The little rabbit didn't stop to say sorry to have met you. No siree. He hopped away as fast as he could, but not fast enough. Before he had gone maybe thirteen hops a stone hit his left hind leg.

"Ha, ha!" yelled the Farmer's Boy. "Wait till I hit you again, Mr. Cottontail." But he didn't, for the little rabbit went faster on three legs than he had on four, and the next minute popped safely into the dear Old Bramble Patch.

"Where's the turnip?" asked Mrs. Rabbit.

"Goodness me! I guess that's what the Farmer's Boy hit me with," answered the little bunny.

THE BONFIRE

EVERYBODY in the Shady Forest was having a dreadful time. Old Parson Owl was nearly coughing his head off, Professor Jim Crow's voice was so hoarse his scholars could hardly understand him, and Little Jack Rabbit's eyes looked as if he had been crying for a week.

The reason for all this was that the smoke from the Farmer Boy's big bonfire had drifted into the forest until every chink and corner was filled.

At first no one knew what was the matter. Of course the air smelled queer and made one's eyes smart. But after a while when the smoke grew so thick that it seemed like night-time and Mr. Merry Sun couldn't be seen at all, the Forest Folk thought it time to hold a meeting to consider what was best to do. They all decided to ask Billy Breeze to help them, and you can imagine how grateful they were when he agreed to blow the smoke out of the Shady Forest. Before Mr. Merry Sun went down behind the hills that night Billy Breeze had cleared the smoke away and everything was clean and sweet again.

Now, before all this had taken place, a handful of burning leaves had drifted along the Old Rail Fence, setting fire to the long, dry grass, and in a short time there was quite a fire close to the Old Bramble Patch.

It didn't take Little Jack Rabbit long to borrow some sweet potatoes from his mother, and while he was roasting them Chippy Chipmunk climbed through the fence with a bagful of chestnuts.

Pretty soon along came Jimmy Crow, and when he saw what was going on, he was mighty anxious to have some fun, too. So off he went to get some bittersweet berries, for he likes them much better than sweet potatoes.

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 shelling 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 Cocky Doodle sang his Sun Song this morning."

"So was I," laughed the little rabbit. "Mother says Cocky 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 grass. 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 apron, and then they started for home.

"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 apron. 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 apron, 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 grass 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 grass. "Look out," he shouted.

Into his house popped Timmy Meadowmouse, and none too soon, for Black Cat landed on the very spot where he had stood talking to the little rabbit.

"So it was you who warned Timmy Meadowmouse, was it?" he hissed, humping up his back and waving his long tail back and forth. Oh my, but he looked ugly.

"Yes, it was I," answered Little Jack Rabbit bravely, and then he did what his mother had taught him to do when in a tight place. He suddenly turned his back on Black Cat and struck out with his strong hind legs. Thump! they went against Black Cat's ribs, knocking him over. Then away hopped the little rabbit back to the Old Bramble Patch.

If you do what mother says You'll grow tall and strong. On your lips a happy smile, In your heart a song-- If you do what mother says You will not go wrong.

LITTLE JACK RABBIT STUBS HIS TOE

COCKY DOODLE stood by the Big Red Barn and clapped his wings. Then digging his feet well into the ground, he began his morning cock-a-doodle-do.

Mr. Merry Sun lifted his head from his crimson pillows and looked over the misty hilltop.

"Time for me to get up," he yawned. "Cocky Doodle is calling."