Little Jack Rabbit's big blue book
Part 1
Transcriber’s Note Italic text displayed as: _italic_
LITTLE JACK RABBIT’S BIG BLUE BOOK
LITTLE JACK RABBITS BIG BLUE BOOK BY DAVID CORY
_Home again, home again, Thru the sunshine or the rain! Tis the dearest place to stay After you have played all day_
PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED WITH FULL PAGE COLORED AND BLACK & WHITE PICTURES
GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS · NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY GROSSET & DUNLAP
TO THE GROWN-UPS
Come with me, the little latch Hangs outside the Bramble Patch. You will find within this book, If you will but take a look, All the happy, care-free ways Of your golden childhood days.
In the Kingdom of Little Animals every child is at home. That a dog can talk to his friends, that a rabbit may wear knickers or a little bird climb up a tiny stair inside a hollow tree trunk seem quite natural.
Every child is willing to take my hand and step over the border into Rabbit Country.
Come, you older ones, turn back the clock. Don’t you long for a moment to be once more in Make-Believe Land? Surely you will if you read the Little Jack Rabbit Books. You again will see yourself in the wistful eyes of the youngster at your knee as he listens to
Yours for a story, DAVID CORY, The Jack Rabbit Man.
LIST OF BUNNY TALES
TALE PAGE
1. THE WEDDING 1
2. HUNGRY HAWK 11
3. THE LOLLYPOP TREE 21
4. UNCLE LUCKY 30
5. THE RADIO ALARM 42
6. MR. WICKED WOLF 52
7. TIMMIE MEADOWMOUSE 64
8. INVITATIONS 71
9. THE CIRCUS 83
10. THE CIRCUS ELEPHANT 97
11. THE LITTLE MOUNTAIN GOAT 104
12. THE RESCUE 114
13. DANNY FOX 122
14. UNCLE LUCKY’S DREAM 132
15. THE RADIO STORY 142
16. DANGER 149
17. TROUBLE 158
18. OLD HOOTY TOOTY OWL 168
19. LITTLE DEEDS OF KINDNESS 175
20. VALENTINES 184
21. PHOTOGRAPHER CRANE 191
22. “EVERYBODY INN” 198
23. THE RAGGED RABBIT GIANT 213
24. GRANDDADDY BULLFROG 225
25. LUCKYMOBILING 233
26. THE RACE 244
27. THE OLD BROWN HORSE 250
28. THE VISIT 259
29. THE MESSENGER 269
LIST OF PICTURES
UNCLE DAVE CORY _Frontispiece_
PAGE
“IT’S ALMOST TIME FOR THE WEDDING” 6
“HE’S OVER AT THE BARNYARD, TALKING TO OLD SIC’EM” 13
“THAT’S A GOOD LAD,” LAUGHED BIG BROWN BEAR 22
“S.O.S. PLEASE COME QUICK!” 33
“DON’T YOU BOTHER ME, YOU OLD RASCAL” 40
“NOW I’LL GET YOU,” SNARLED DANNY FOX 46
NICE CARROT PORRIDGE 53
“I GAVE HIM A SHOCK OF ELECTRICITY” 62
“HELLO,” EXCLAIMED THE FARMER’S BOY 70
“HEARD THE NEWS?” ASKED THE OLD BROWN HORSE 72
“WELL, I GUESS YES THREE TIMES!” 78
“SOME DAY YOU’LL GROW TO BE A BIG CLOWN” 91
“THE TRAINED BEAR HAD BEGUN TO ROLLER SKATE” 93
THE LITTLE BUNNY HANDING A ROSE TO LADY LOVE 98
JUST THEN DOWN SWOOPED HUNGRY HAWK 102
A TINY LIGHT APPEARED IN THE DISTANCE 111
“WHAT’S THAT?” ASKED LADY LOVE 118
“I WON’T HOP OUT TILL DANNY FOX GOES HOME” 125
“I DON’T WANT TO SPEAK TO HIM” 133
DANNY FOX IN THE PATROL WAGON 137
“THIS IS STATION A.B.C.” 142
“MY, BUT IT’S GROWING COLD!” 149
“THROW UP YOUR PAWS!” SHOUTED DANNY FOX 163
OLD HOOTY TOOTY OWL GRABBED UP THE LITTLE RABBIT 171
THE OLD FEATHERED ROBBER PEEPED DOWN 174
“GOODNESS ME, THIS IS A DULL SAW!” 179
“I MUST GET BACK BEFORE SUPPER” 188
“I’LL SOON BE OUT AT THE OLD BRAMBLE PATCH” 190
“PLEASE DON’T WIGGLE!” 201
“GIVE ME A PEANUT!” 204
“OH, SHE DID, DID SHE?” 216
“FIGHTING IT OUT BETWEEN THEM” 224
“TO BE SURE I WILL,” ANSWERED THE OLD FROG 230
REDDY COMB, THE ROOSTER NEWSBOY 234
“I’LL TELL YOU,” SAID PROFESSOR CROW 240
“YOU’RE A PRETTY GOOD JUMPER YOURSELF” 246
“NOW’S MY CHANCE,” THOUGHT DANNY FOX 253
“LAY YOUR HEAD IN THE BOAT,” CRIED THE BILLY GOAT 257
“ONCE UPON A TIME,” SHE BEGAN 262
THE KNAPSACK BURST OPEN 263
“I FEEL ONLY TWENTY-ONE” 264
“TWICE TO THE LEFT, THREE TO THE RIGHT!” 272
“THANK YOU, MA’AM,” HE SAID 275
“In the Spring, The blue birds sing And skies of blue Smile down on you”
_Sings_— Little Jack Rabbit to himself in the mirror.
IN THE BIG BLUE BOOK LITTLE JACK RABBIT WEARS A BLUE NECKTIE.
LITTLE JACK RABBIT’S BIG BLUE BOOK
BUNNY TALE 1
THE WEDDING
Was some one knocking on the door of Uncle Lucky’s little white house on the corner of Lettuce Avenue and Carrot St., Rabbitville, U.S.A.? Well, I guess yes, three times. Maybe somebody has been knocking ever since Bobbie Redvest told me that a bad attack of rheumatism prevents the dear old gentleman rabbit from hearing unpleasant news. Well, anyway, when Uncle Lucky opened the door who do you think was standing on the mat? You’d never guess, not even if I told you he wore rubber boots and held a green umbrella in his hand.
It was Daddy Longlegs—yes, sir, that’s who it was.
“Goodness gracious meebus!” exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit, “are you wet?”
“Soaked to the skin,” replied the shivering, rubber-booted, long-legged insect. “Let me sit by the kitchen stove and warm myself. Maybe I’ll get dry in an hour or so.”
“Come right in!” cried dear, kind Uncle Lucky, leading the way into the kitchen where little Miss Mousie, the dear old gentleman rabbit’s tiny housekeeper, was drying the breakfast dishes.
“O sunny days, so sweet and warm, I miss you very much. I only hope the rheumatiz My little toe won’t touch!”
sang Uncle Lucky, helping Daddy Longlegs pull off his rubber boots.
“Ha, ha!” laughed the old gentleman insect, stretching out his cold, damp toes:
“I love the cheerful kitchen fire, And though it is so kind To warm my frozen tippy toes, I’m always cold behind.”
“Turn around once in a while,” replied Uncle Lucky, “that’s what I do!”
“Don’t set your coat tails on fire,” advised Little Miss Mousie, as she nibbled a piece of angel cake.
Pretty soon, the Old Red Rooster came in with the _Bunnybridge Bugle_, the nice morning paper that dear Uncle Lucky loves to read when breakfast is over.
Taking out a cabbage leaf cigar, he slipped his feet into his comfortable woolen slippers and, placing his gold-rimmed spectacles on his nose, sat down in his big arm chair.
Pitter, patter, went the rain On the misty window pane; While the fire’s cheerful glow Warmed his poor rheumatic toe.
By this time Daddy Longlegs was nice and dry, so he, too, sat down to read by the fire, and Little Miss Mousie, seeing that nobody wished to talk, scampered back to her little house in the corner of the sitting room. As for the Old Red Rooster, he hurried out to the barn to mend the old wheelbarrow.
Pitter, patter, sings the rain In a drowsy, soft refrain. Ticker, tacker, on the leaves, Dripping, dripping, from the eaves. Tinkle, tinkle, on the pane, Rings the wind-blown summer rain.
Pretty soon, Uncle Lucky fell asleep and when he woke up, Mr. Merry Sun was shining and Daddy Longlegs had gone.
“Oh, dear and oh, dear!” sighed dear Uncle Lucky, taking out his gold watch and chain, “I wonder what time it is.”
Then he sighed again and looked out of the window. But the postman wasn’t in sight, only the Old Red Rooster raking up the leaves.
“Well, well, well!” sighed lonely Uncle Lucky, for the third time, “what shall I do?”
“Sing a song,” suggested Little Miss Mousie, peeking out of her small front door in the far corner of the sitting room.
“Sing us two songs,” shouted the Old Red Rooster through the open window.
So down at the piano sat kind Uncle Lucky, and, after running his paws over the keys, commenced:
“When I was young and twenty, And my hair was curly brown, I loved a lady bunny, The sweetest in the town.
One day I bought a ringlet At the Three-in-One Cent Store, And then that eve I called on her And placed it on her paw.
But oh, the years have flown since then, Way back in ’63, And only my old wedding hat Is left to lonely me.”
Then up jumped dear, tender-hearted Uncle Lucky, and wiping the tears in his left eye, took down his old wedding stovepipe hat and carefully dusted it off with his blue silk polkadot handkerchief.
All of a sudden the telephone bell began to ring.
“Who’s calling me?” inquired the old gentleman bunny, taking down the receiver and holding it up to his left ear.
“Oh, it’s you, is it?” he said the next moment. “Well, I don’t want to talk to you—no, I don’t. You make me cross,” and with that Uncle Lucky hung up the receiver and hopped back to his big comfortable armchair.
“Who was it?” asked Little Miss Mousie, running across the floor to the piano stool, up which she climbed. Then, smoothing her bobbed hair, she smiled sweetly at the old gentleman bunny.
“Chatterbox, the red squirrel,” answered Uncle Lucky. “He has a funny story to tell me, but my rheumatism won’t listen to anything, so I excused myself. Dear me, how my little left hind toe aches. I must be careful or I’ll be full of crossness.”
“You’ll never be full of anything but kindness,” replied Little Miss Mousie, arranging the cushions in the big armchair. And she spoke the truth, don’t you think so, dear little girls and boys?
But poor Uncle Lucky couldn’t fall asleep again, nor could he eat the nice luncheon which Little Miss Mousie brought in on a silver tray.
By and by, after smoking a cabbage-leaf cigar, he said with a sigh, “I guess I’ll play a tune; maybe I’ll sing another song,” and hopping over to the piano, he turned the little stool around three times and a half, and commenced to sing:
“When she was only sweet sixteen I loved a little rabbit queen. Her eyes were pink as any rose, And even pinker was her nose.
And pinker far her ears inside, And when she said she’d be my bride, I bought a lovely wedding ring, And we were married in the spring.”
“Heigh ho, how the years go!” sighed the old gentleman rabbit and, taking out his gold watch and chain, he suddenly exclaimed: “_Goodness gracious meebus! It’s almost time for the wedding!_”
Quickly putting on his old wedding stovepipe hat, he hopped out of his little house.
You see, his dear bunny niece, pretty Lady Love, had decided to get married and settle down in the Old Bramble Patch. Perhaps that’s why Uncle Lucky sang the song about the pretty rabbit queen.
And now I’ll tell you about the wedding. All the Shady Forest folk were there, of course, and so were the Sunny Meadow people.
Old Mrs. Bunny had put her house in apple-pie order, and after the wedding in the Shady Forest, and Parson Owl had given Lady Love, the pretty little lady bunny, to Mr. Rabbit to care for all the rest of his life, everybody started back to the Old Bramble Patch. Goodness me, it was a long procession! Squirrel Nutcracker, the Big Brown Bear, Granddaddy Bullfrog, Grandmother Magpie, Busy Beaver, Sammy Skunk, the Old Brown Horse, Mrs. Grouse, Chippy Chipmunk, the Stage Coach Dog, the Old Red Rooster, the Yellow Dog Tramp, the Policeman Dog, Old Barney Owl, the Circus Elephant, the sure-footed little Mountain Goat, and all the Barnyard Folk. Everybody was anxious to see the little house that dear Uncle Lucky had built for Lady Love.
Well, when they all reached the Old Bramble Patch, there stood dear Uncle Lucky on the front porch, his old wedding stovepipe hat in his front paw and his big diamond horseshoe pin in his pink cravat. Yes, sir, there he stood, bowing and smiling just as if it were his own wedding day and not somebody else’s, as Mr. Rabbit and Lady Love hopped up the path and into the house to stand under a big horseshoe wreath of clover and shake hands with all their friends.
Just as everybody had finished looking at the wedding presents, and dear Uncle Lucky was saying, “Bless you, my children!” Danny Fox peeped into the window and shouted: “Don’t be frightened! Here’s a diamond necklace for Lady Love.” Then away he ran, knowing that nobody wanted him around; for he is a dreadful robber, you know, and robbers aren’t invited to a wedding. They come later to
Your little Harlem Flat To steal your high top hat.
At last, when the lollypop juice was all gone, and the grasshopper orchestra tired of playing, somebody called on Uncle Lucky for a song.
“My dear old wedding hat I’ve worn for forty year. I’ve smiled and laughed beneath its brim And sometimes shed a tear.
But, oh, it hardly seems to me It was way back in ’63 I wore it on my wedding day, When I was frisky, young and gay,”
sang the old gentleman rabbit, wiping a tear from his left eye with his blue silk polkadot handkerchief. Then kissing the bride good-by, he stopped for a moment to hang up an old horseshoe on the front porch and then led the guests away, leaving pretty Lady Love and Mr. Rabbit to fill the little white bungalow with happiness in the years to come.
By and by a little rabbit boy came to make their dream come true. As soon as the glad news was telephoned to dear Uncle Lucky, that happy old gentleman rabbit hopped into his Luckymobile and started off as fast as a comet for the little white bungalow.
All the way over he honked the horn to bring out all the Shady Forest Folk from their tree houses and burrows.
“What’s the matter?” asked Squirrel Nutcracker from his Old Tree Lodge.
“Lady Love has a little boy rabbit!” answered Uncle Lucky.
“What’s all the noise about?” inquired Busy Beaver, swimming up to the bank of the Shady Forest Pool.
“Lady Love has a little rabbit boy!” answered Uncle Lucky.
“Stop blowing that horn!” snapped Grandmother Magpie from her perch in the tall pine tree.
“Not for a minute,” shouted back dear Uncle Lucky. “Lady Love has a little boy rabbit.”
“Are you going crazy?” asked the Big Brown Bear as the Luckymobile whizzed by the Cozy Cave.
“No, I’m going to see my little grandnephew,” answered Uncle Lucky. “Lady Love has a baby rabbit.”
“You’ll wake up my babies,” cried Mrs. Bobbie Redvest, as the Luckymobile rushed past the Apple Orchard.
“Never mind,” shouted back Uncle Lucky. “Tell ’em there’s a new baby at the Old Bramble Patch. Lady Love has a little boy rabbit.”
“Goodness me, what a noise!” croaked Granddaddy Bullfrog, as Uncle Lucky circled the Old Duck Pond. “Has the old gentleman rabbit lost his wits?”
“Not yet,” answered dear Uncle Lucky. “I’m off for the Old Bramble Patch to see Lady Love’s little boy rabbit. He just came to-day.”
“Where are you going?” asked Chippy Chipmunk, as Uncle Lucky sped by the Old Chestnut Tree.
“To see Little Jack Rabbit, Lady Love’s baby,” answered the old gentleman rabbit.
And so it went. Everybody wanted to know what was the matter, and when Uncle Lucky finally reached the dear Old Bramble Patch he had told the glad news to every single solitary person in the Shady Forest and Sunny Meadow.
BUNNY TALE 2
HUNGRY HAWK
“Hush, little rabbit, go to sleep. Up in the sky the pretty stars peep; Down in the meadows the clover tops Are winking away at the lollypops,”
sang Lady Love, as she rocked the cradle in which lay Little Jack Rabbit.
Out in the kitchen Old Mrs. Bunny, who had come over for the day, was baking cabbage cake and Mr. Rabbit was reading in the _Bunnybridge Bugle_ a story about the new baby rabbit in the Old Bramble Patch.
“Look, mother!” cried the proud rabbit father, turning the paper toward the good lady bunny.
“Well, I declare!” she exclaimed. “There’s his picture as sure as I’m a grandmother and you’re my son.”
Yes, sir! On the front page was a picture of Little Jack Rabbit, and underneath, in big purple letters:
“A new arrival at the Old Bramble Patch. Lady Love has a baby boy bunny. Carrot City, Bunnybridge, Lettucemere and Turnip City papers please copy.”
“It makes me as proud as a peacock to see it in the paper,” laughed Mr. Rabbit. “And to think that Little Jack Rabbit will soon be old enough to hop about the Sunny Meadow and through the Shady Forest.”
Just then in came Timmie Meadowmouse to see the new little bunny boy.
“Little Jack Rabbit is asleep,” explained his careful father. “Why didn’t you come early this afternoon? You ought to know, Timmie Meadowmouse, that little bunny babies are asleep by this hour.”
“What time is it?” asked the little Meadowmouse “I left my watch home.”
“It’s six o’clock and Merry Sun Is hiding behind a tree; It won’t be long before he will glide Into the western sea,”
answered the cuckoo from her little clock house.
“There! It’s six o’clock. You’d better look out for Hungry Hawk. You should be home by this time,” exclaimed Mr. Rabbit.
“Can’t I have a peep at your little bunny?” asked the tiny meadowmouse, holding his cap in his left paw as he turned the brass doorknob. “I want to tell the Sunny Meadow People I’ve seen him.”
“Come along, then, on your tiptoes,” answered Mr. Rabbit, leading the little meadowmouse to the bedroom where the bunny baby lay sound asleep.
“S-s-s-s-h!” whispered Lady Love from the rocking chair close by, as Timmie Meadowmouse stood on his hind legs to peep into the cradle.
“He’ll be running about in a day or two,” chuckled Mr. Rabbit, as he said good night to Timmie Meadowmouse. “He’ll be out with Uncle Lucky in no time.”
And that’s just what happened a few weeks later when Uncle Lucky, hopping out of his Luckymobile and into the Old Bramble Patch, shouted:
“Where’s that grandson of mine?”
“He’s over at the Barnyard, talking to Old Sic’em,” answered Mr. Rabbit from the front porch.
“Please call him home,” begged anxious Lady Love.
“Have you polished the doorknob clean and bright, And brought in the kindling wood? I think I hear the canary bird Crying for breakfast food,”
she said, as her bunny boy hopped up to the kitchen door.
“Dear, oh, dear!” answered the truthful little rabbit, “I forgot all about her. But I filled the woodbox and polished the doorknob, Mother dear.”
“Give me the watering can,” said the kind Old Red Rooster. “You attend to Little Miss Canary.
She’s a pretty little fellow In her feather dress of yellow, And she sings so clear and sweet From her tiny wooden seat!”
“My, where did you learn to talk in poetry?” asked the bunny boy, handing over the big green watering pot.
“I’ll tell you some day when I have more time,” replied the Old Red Rooster. “Now, mind your mother. Hop along and feed the little birdie!”
Away went the bunny boy, clipperty clip, lipperty lip, to give the pretty canary her breakfast. After which she stood tiptoe on the edge of the porcelain drinking cup, tilting back her head to let the drops of water trickle down her feather-ruffled throat.
“Would you believe it, Little Jack Rabbit is growing so fast we have to call up the Three-in-One-Cent Store twice a week for a new suit of clothes? If he keeps on growing like this he’ll be in long pants before Easter,” explained sweet Lady Love to the old gentleman rabbit.
“Ha, ha!” laughed dear Uncle Lucky. “I remember you grew mighty fast. It seemed I had hardly given you a lollypop rattle when it came time to give you a cherry-stone necklace.”
Just then the Old Red Rooster began to crow:
“Oh, things have changed in the Bramble Patch, I’ve scarcely a moment’s time to scratch; With Little Jack Rabbit to teach and learn I’ve hardly the time my wage to earn.”
“Did you ever!” laughed Old Mrs. Bunny from the kitchen door. “One would think the Old Red Rooster was a busy person! He’d rather rest on his hoe and talk to Little Jack Rabbit than weed the garden. My, but he’s a lazy fowl!”
“Never mind,” answered Uncle Lucky, hopping around the little white house. Not far away Little Jack Rabbit and the Old Red Rooster were feeding the pigeons, who had flown down from their pretty house on the top of a tall pole.
“Hey, there, young rabbit!” cried Uncle Lucky. “Don’t pull the tail feathers out of the Old Red Rooster’s swallow tail coat!” You see, Little Jack Rabbit was making believe the good-natured rooster was a horse and he was driving him to the station at Bunnybridge.
“Where have you been?” asked the little bunny.
“Oh, I’ve just come in from a drive,” answered Uncle Lucky. “I had some business to attend to in Carrot City.”
“When are you going to take me for a ride?”
“Wait a little longer till you’re big enough to look out for yourself,” answered wise old Uncle Lucky. “There’s no telling when Danny Fox or Old Man Weasel may pop out from behind a tree. You’re safer here in the Old Bramble Patch for a while yet.”
All of a sudden the Old Red Rooster gave a warning. Quick as a wink into the Little Red Barn hopped the two bunnies, Uncle Lucky first, Little Jack Rabbit next and last, but just as fast, the Old Red Rooster.
Closing the door, they peeped out through a knothole. There in the back yard stood Hungry Hawk.
“Ha, ha! Ha, ha!” cried Hungry Hawk, As he flew at the door with a dreadful squawk, “This Little Red Barn’s a pretty good place For rabbits to hide from my grinning face.”