Chapter 2

"Pooh! Deer are very nice creatures indeed," said the bird. "I used to know one, and I used to perch on his horns. But what I stopped to ask you about was whether you know of a nice nest which I could rent for this spring. You see, I have come up from the South a little earlier than usual, and I can't find the nest I had last year. It was in a little wooden house that a nice man built for me, but the wind has blown it down. I didn't know but what you might have seen a little nest somewhere."

"No," said Sammie, "I haven't. I am very sorry."

"So am I," went on the little brown bird. "But I must tell you my name. I am Mrs. Wren."

"Oh, I have heard about you," said the little rabbit.

"Are you sure you don't know of a nest about here?" she asked anxiously. "I don't want to fly all the way back down South. Suppose you go home and ask your mother."

"I will," said Sammie. "Don't you want to come, too?"

"Yes, I think I will. Oh, dear! I'm quite hungry. I declare, I had such an early breakfast, I'm almost starved."

"I know my mother will give you something to eat," said Sammie politely, "that is, if you like cabbage, carrots and such things."

"Oh, yes, almost anything will do. Now, you go ahead, and I will follow."

So Sammie Littletail bounced on along the ground, and Mrs. Wren flew along overhead.

"Where do you live?" she asked Sammie.

"In a burrow."

"What is a burrow?" she inquired.

"Why, it's a house," said Sammie.

"You are mistaken," said the bird, though she spoke politely. "A nest is the only house there is."

"Well, a burrow is our house," declared Sammie. "You'll see."

He was soon home, and, while the bird waited outside, he went in to ask his mother if she knew of a nest Mrs. Wren could hire.

"What a funny question!" said Mamma Littletail. "I will go out and see Mrs. Wren."

So she went out, and the bird asked about a nest. But, as the rabbits never had any use for them, the bunny knew nothing about such things.

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed the bird. "Wherever shall I stay to-night? Oh, what trouble I am in."

"You might stay with us to-night," said Mamma Littletail, kindly, "and look for a nest to-morrow."

"I never lived in a burrow," said Mrs. Wren, "but I will try it," so she flew down into the underground house, and to-morrow night I am going to tell you how she did a great kindness to Uncle Wiggily Longears.

VII

UNCLE WIGGILY GETS SHOT

Early the next morning Mrs. Wren, who had spent the night at the home of the Littletail family, got up. She had some cabbage leaves for her breakfast, and then started to leave the burrow where the rabbits lived.

"Where are you going?" asked Susie Littletail.

"I must go hunt for a nest," said the little bird. "You see, I want to begin housekeeping as early as I can this spring, and as there are so many birds coming up from the South, I want to get a house before all the best ones are taken."

So, having thanked Sammie Littletail for showing her the way to the burrow, and also thanking his mamma and papa, the bird flew away. She promised, however, to come back if she could not find a place.

"That Mrs. Wren is a very nice creature indeed," said Mamma Littletail.

"Indeed she is," agreed Papa Littletail, as he started off to work in the carrot store, where he was employed as a bookkeeper.

"It is a nice day," said Uncle Wiggily Longears, after a while. "I think I will go for a walk. It may do my rheumatism good."

"Can I come?" asked Sammie, but his uncle said he thought the little boy rabbit should stay home. So Sammie did, and he and Susie found a place where some nice clover was just coming up in a field.

Just before dinner time Uncle Wiggily Longears came limping back to the burrow. He was running as hard as he could, but that was not very fast.

"Why, Wiggily, whatever has happened?" asked Mrs. Littletail, who had come to the front door to see if her children were all right. "Is your rheumatism worse? Why do you limp so?"

"Because," answered Uncle Wiggily Longears, "I have been shot."

"Shot?" cried Mrs. Littletail.

"In the left hind leg," went on Uncle Wiggily. "The same leg that has the rheumatism so bad. Oh, dear! I wish you would send for Dr. Possum."

"I will, right away. Sammie!" she called, "come and go for Dr. Possum, for your uncle. He has been shot. How did it happen, Wiggily?"

"Well, I was down in the swamp, looking for some snakeroot, which Mr. Drake said was good for rheumatism, when a man fired at me. I jumped, but not in time, and several pieces of lead are in my leg."

"Oh, how dreadful!" cried Mamma Littletail.

In a little while Sammie came back with Dr. Possum.

"Ha! This is bad business," spoke the long-tailed doctor, when he looked at Uncle Wiggily Longears's leg. "I fear I shall have to operate."

"Anything, so you get the shot out," said the old rabbit.

So Dr. Possum tried to get the leaden pellets out, but he could not, they were in so deep.

"This is very bad business, indeed," he went on. "I fear I shall have to take your leg off."

"Will it hurt?" asked Uncle Wiggily Longears.

"Um-er-well, not very much," said the doctor, as he twirled his glasses on his tail.

Just then, who should come into the burrow but Mrs. Wren. She was very much surprised to see Uncle Wiggily lying on a bed of soft grass, with the doctor bending over him.

"What is the matter?" she asked.

"I have been shot," said Uncle Wiggily, "and the doctor cannot get the bullets out."

"Suppose you let me try," said Mrs. Wren. "I have a very sharp bill, and I think I can pull them out."

"Then you are a sort of a doctor," said Uncle Wiggily. "Go ahead, and see what you can do."

"Yes, do," urged Dr. Possum.

So the little brown bird put her beak in the holes in Uncle Wiggily's leg, where the bullets had gone in, and she pulled every one out. It hurt a little, but Uncle Wiggily did not make a fuss.

"There," said Mrs. Wren, "that is done."

Then Dr. Possum put some salve on the leg and bound it up, promising to come in next day to see how Uncle Wiggily was getting on.

"Did you find a nest-house?" asked Mamma Littletail of the bird.

"No," was the answer, "I think I shall have to stay with you another night, if you will let me. Perhaps I shall find a nest to-morrow."

So she stayed with the Littletail family another night, and to-morrow night I will tell you how she found a nest.

VIII

SUSIE AND SAMMIE FIND A NEST

Sammie Littletail was up early the next morning. He had not slept very well, for Uncle Wiggily Longears had groaned very much because of the pain in his leg where he was shot. Sammie thought if he got up early, and went for some nice, fresh carrots for his uncle, it would make the old rabbit feel better.

While Sammie was digging up some carrots, in a field not far from the burrow where he lived, he saw the same gray squirrel that had warned him about not going into the deer park.

"What are you doing now?" asked the squirrel. "It seems to me you are always doing something."

"I am digging carrots for Uncle Wiggily Longears that was shot," said Sammie.

"That is a very nice thing to do," the gray squirrel said. "You are a better boy rabbit than I thought you were."

"What are you doing here?" Sammie asked the squirrel.

"Me? Oh, I am moving into a new nest. I am getting ready for spring."

"A new nest!" exclaimed Sammie, and, all at once, he thought of Mrs. Wren, who could not find a nest-house to live in. "What are you going to do with your old nest?" the little boy rabbit asked.

"Why leave it, to be sure. I never move my nest."

"Don't you want it any more?"

"Not in the least. I am through with it."

"May I have it?" asked Sammie, very politely.

"You? What can a rabbit do with a nest in a tree? They live in burrows."

"I know that," Sammie admitted. "I was not asking for myself," and then he told the squirrel about Mrs. Wren. "May she have your old nest?" he asked.

"Why, yes, if she likes it," the squirrel replied. "Only I am afraid she will find it rather large for such a little bird."

"I will hurry home and tell her," spoke Sammie.

"All right. Tell her she can move in any time she likes," called the gray squirrel after Sammie, who, filling his forepaws with carrots, started off toward home as fast as he could run. He found Mamma Littletail getting breakfast, and at once told her the good news. Then he told Mrs. Wren, who had gotten up early to get the early worm that always gets up before the alarm clock goes off.

"I will go and look at the nest at once," said the little bird. "I am very much obliged to you, Sammie. Where is it?"

"Susie and I will show you," spoke the little boy rabbit. "Only we cannot go all the way, because rabbits are not allowed in the deer park. But I can point it out to you."

So, after breakfast, Sammie and Susie started off. They ran on the ground and the little brown bird flew along over their heads. She went so much faster than they did that she had to stop every once in a while and wait for them. But at last they got to the place where they could see the deserted squirrel nest.

"There it is," said Sammie, pointing to it.

"So I observe," said the bird. "I will fly up and look at it," which she did. She was gone some time, and when she flew back to the ground, where Sammie and Susie were waiting for her, the children asked:

"Did you like it?"

"I think it will do very well," replied Mrs. Wren. "It is a little larger than I need, and there are not the improvements I am used to. There is no hot and cold water and no bathroom, but then I suppose I can bathe in the brook, so that is no objection. There is no roof to it, though."

"No roof?" repeated Sammie.

"No. You see, squirrels never have one such as I am used to, but when my family comes from the South we can build one. I will take the nest, and I hope you bunnies will come to see me sometimes, when I am settled, and have the carpets down."

"We can't climb trees," objected Susie.

"That's so--you can't," admitted Mrs. Wren. "Never mind, I can fly down and see you. Now I think I will begin to clean out the nest, for the squirrels have left a lot of nutshells in it."

So she began to clean out the nest, and Susie and Sammie started home. But, before they got there something happened, and what it was I will tell you, perhaps, to-morrow night, if the rooster doesn't crow and wake me up.

IX

SAMMIE LITTLETAIL FALLS IN

When Sammie Littletail and his sister Susie went off toward the underground house, after they had shown Mrs. Wren where she could get the squirrel's old nest for a home, they felt very happy. They ran along, jumping over stones, leaping through the grass that was beginning to get very green, and had a jolly time.

"I wonder what makes me feel so good?" said Sammie to his sister. "It's just as if Christmas was coming, or something like that; yet it isn't. I don't know what it is."

"I know," spoke Susie, who was very wise for a little bunny-rabbit girl.

"What is it?" asked Sammie, as he paused to nibble at a sweet root that was sticking out of the ground.

"It is because we have been kind to somebody," went on Susie Littletail. "We did the little brown bird a kindness in showing her the squirrel's nest where she could go to housekeeping, and that's what makes us happy."

"Are you sure?" asked Sammie.

"Yes," said Susie; "I am," and she sat up on her hind legs and sniffed the air to see if there was any danger about. "You always feel good when you do any one a kindness," she went on. "Once I wanted to go out and play, and I couldn't, because Nurse Fuzzy-Wuzzy was away and mamma had a headache. So I stayed home and made mamma some cabbage-leaf tea, and she felt better, and I was happy then, just as we are now."

"Well, maybe that's it," admitted Sammie Littletail. "I am glad Mrs. Wren has a nice home, anyhow. But I wouldn't like to live away up in a tree, would you?"

"No, indeed. I would be afraid when the wind blew and the nest shook."

"It is ever so much nicer underground in our burrow," continued Sammie.

"It certainly is," agreed Susie, "but I s'pose that a bird would not like that. They seem to want to be high up in the air. But I don't like it. Once I went away up on top of Farmer Tooker's woodpile, because his gray cat chased me, and when I looked down I was very dizzy, and it was not as high as a tree."

So the two bunny children hurried along, talking of many things, and, now and then, finding some nice sweet roots, or juicy leaves, which they ate. They paused every once in a while to look over the tops of little hills to discover if any dogs or hunters or ferrets were in sight, for they did not want to be caught.

At length they came to a little brook that was not far from their home. The edge of the stream had ice on it, for, though spring was approaching, the weather was still cold.

"Ah! There is some ice. I am going to have a slide!" Sammie shouted.

"You had better not!" cautioned his sister. "You might fall in."

"I will keep close to the shore," promised her brother, and he took a run and slid along the ice. "Come on!" he cried. "It's fun, Susie."

The little bunny girl was just going to walk out on the ice, when Sammie, who had taken an extra long run, slid right off the ice and into the water.

"Oh! Oh, Susie!" he screamed. "I've fallen in! Help me out!"

"What shall I do?" asked his sister, and she stood up on her hind legs and waved her little paws in the air.

"Get a stick and let me grab it!" called Sammie. "But don't come too close, or you may fall in, too," for Sammie was very fond of his sister, and did not want her to get hurt. He clung to the edge of the ice, and shivered in the cold water, while, with her teeth, Susie gnawed a branch from a tree. The branch she held out to her brother, who grasped it in his mouth and was soon pulled up on shore. But, oh, how he shivered! And how his fur was plastered down all over him, just like a cat when it falls in the bathtub. But I hope none of you children ever put pussy in there.

"You must run home at once," said Susie, "and drink some hot sassafras tea, so you won't take cold. Come on, I'll run with you."

So they started off, running, leaping and bounding, and by the time they got to their burrow, Sammie was quite warm. Down the front door hole they plunged, and, as soon as Sammie's mother saw him, she cried out:

"Why, Sammie! You've been in swimming! Didn't I tell you never to go in swimming?"

"I haven't been swimming, mother," said Sammie.

"Yes, you have; your hair is all wet," she answered.

Then Sammie told how he had fallen in. Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old rabbit, heard him, and said he guessed he would have to give Sammie and Susie some lessons in swimming, and if you are good, I will tell you to-morrow night what happened on that occasion.

X

JANE FUZZY-WUZZY GIVES A LESSON

Uncle Wiggily Longears was a very wise old rabbit. He had lived so long, and had escaped so many dogs and hunters, year after year, that he knew about all a rabbit can know. Of course, that may not be so very much, but it was a good deal for Uncle Wiggily Longears. So the day after Sammie came home from having fallen in the brook the old rabbit got ready to give Sammie and Susie Littletail their swimming lesson.

"You will want to know how to get out of the water when you fall in," he said. "You come with me, and I will show you. It is not very cold out, and I will give you a short lesson."

"Be careful not to let them drown," cautioned Mamma Littletail.

"I will," promised Uncle Wiggily Longears, and he started from the burrow, followed by the two bunny children. But, just as their uncle got out of the front door he was seized with a sharp spasm of rheumatism.

"Oh! oh! oh, dear!" he cried three times, just like that.

"What is the matter?" asked Sammie.

"Rheumatism," answered Uncle Wiggily Longears, and he put his left front paw on his left hind leg. "I have it very bad. I don't believe I would dare go in the water with you children to-day. We will have to wait. Yet I don't like to, as you ought to learn to swim. I wonder if you could learn if I stood on the bank and told you what to do?"

"I think it would be much better if you could come into the water and show us," said Susie.

"Yes, of course it would," admitted Uncle Wiggily Longears. "Of course it would, my dear, only you see--ouch! Oh, me! Oh, my!" and poor Uncle Wiggily Longears wrinkled his nose and made it twinkle like a star on a frosty night, and he wiggled his ears to and fro. "Oh, that was a terrible sharp pain," he said. "I don't believe I'd better go, children. I'm awfully sorry----"

"Let me take the children and show them how to swim," said Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, who had just finished peeling the potatoes for dinner. She could peel them very nicely with her long, sharp front teeth, which were just like a chisel that a carpenter uses.

"Yes, I guess you could teach them," said Uncle Wiggily, as he rubbed his leg softly. "You are a much better swimmer than I am; but can you spare the time from the housework?"

You see, Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had to do all the housework for the Littletail family, but, as she was a very good muskrat, she was able to do it, and she often had time to spare, so she answered:

"Yes, I can just as well go as not, for I have the dinner on the stove, and Mr. Littletail will not be home to lunch. I will give the children a swimming lesson. It will not take long."

"Well," spoke Uncle Wiggily Longears, "I wish you would. I must go and get something for my rheumatism."

"You had better try a hot cabbage leaf," said Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. "I have heard that is good."

"I will," said the old rabbit, and he crawled back down into the burrow, while Susie and Sammie, with Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, went on to the brook.

The muskrat was a very good swimmer, indeed, and as soon as she reached the water she plunged in and swam about, to show Sammie and Susie how it ought to be done. She dived, and she shot across; she swam on her side, and in the ordinary way. In fact, she swam in a number of ways that you and I could not. At length she swam entirely under water for some distance, and the bunny children were afraid she was drowned, but she came up smiling, showing her sharp teeth, and explained that this was one of the ways she used to escape from dogs, boys and other enemies.

Then the nurse-muskrat gave the bunny children their lesson. She had little trouble in teaching them, as they learned quickly. She was just showing them how to float along with only the tip of the nose showing, in order to keep out of sight, when suddenly there was a noise on the bank.

No, it was not some one after the bunny rabbit children's clothes, for they had left them at home when they went to take a lesson. But it was a number of boys with a dog, who were making the noise. As soon as the boys saw the rabbits and the rat they gathered up a lot of stones, and one boy cried out:

"Oh, look there! Two rabbits and a muskrat! Let's catch them, and sell their skins!"

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Susie, who was very much frightened. "Whatever shall we do?"

"Don't be alarmed," said Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, calmly, as she started to swim down stream. "Just follow me; swim as I do, with only your nose out, and I will save you." The boys ran along the bank, throwing stones at the little creatures, and the dog barked, and to-morrow night I will tell you how Sammie and Susie got away and were saved by Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, that is if you think you would care to hear the story.

XI

SAMMIE'S AND SUSIE'S TERRIBLE TIME

You may be sure the two Littletail children were very much frightened when they were floating down the stream behind Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, with the boys on the bank throwing stones at them, and the dog barking as hard as he could bark.

"Sic the dog in the water after them," called one boy.

"Naw! This dog doesn't like water," said the boy who owned it. "We'll hit 'em with stones, and then poke 'em out with sticks."

Oh, how Sammie and Susie shuddered when they heard those words! They did not know Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy was going to save them. The muskrat looked around to see how the children were swimming.

"Don't be afraid," she called, but of course the boys could not understand what she said. The dog could, being an animal and understanding animal talk, but the dog couldn't tell the boys.

"Don't be afraid," said the nurse. "Sammie, keep your head under more. Susie, strike out harder with your forepaws."

The two bunny children did as they were told. Just then a stone came very close to Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, and she went completely beneath the water.

"The muskrat's gone!" cried a boy.

"No," said another, "it can swim under water. But don't bother with the rabbits. They're little, and their fur isn't much good. Kill the muskrat, for we can get fifty cents for the skin."

"Oh, how mean boys are!" thought Susie Littletail. "To talk about selling poor Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy's skin! Aren't they terrible!"

The boys now gave all their attention to throwing stones at the muskrat, but she was very wise, and kept under water as much as possible, so they could not hit her. They did not throw at Sammie or Susie. Presently Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy swam backward under water and came up near Sammie. She put her sharp nose close to his ear and whispered:

"Down stream a little way is a burrow where I used to live. The front door is under water, but if you hold your breath you can dive down, get in and come up in the dry part. Then you can dig a way out in a field, and we can go home, and escape the boys."

Jane told the same thing to Susie, and, pretty soon, when they came to the place, the two bunny children took a long breath, and dived down under water. Sammie and Susie took hold of the long tail of Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy to guide them in the dark, and, though it seemed a terrible thing not to breathe under water, the three suddenly found themselves in a little underground house, much like their own, where they could breathe again.

"Now we are safe!" exclaimed the muskrat. "Just dig a back door and you can get out."

So Sammie and Susie did so, and, pretty soon, they found themselves in a nice field, some distance back from the water. They could see the boys and their dog still watching near the bank to catch Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, and the boys never knew how the muskrat and the rabbit children escaped.

"My! but that was exciting," said Sammie, when they were on their way home.

"Indeed it was," agreed Susie. "I'm so frightened that I have almost forgotten how to swim."

"It will all come back to you the next time you go in the water," said Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. "But I must hurry home now, or dinner will be late."

They got to the burrow without anything more happening. Mamma Littletail and Uncle Wiggily Longears were much alarmed when told about the narrow escape.

"Those boys!" cried the old rabbit. "If I wasn't laid up with rheumatism, I'd show them!" and he snapped his teeth in quite a savage manner indeed, for a rabbit can get angry at times.

After dinner Mamma Littletail asked Sammie and Susie to go to the cabbage-field store for her, but, as Sammie wanted to stay home and make a whistle out of a carrot, Susie went alone. As she was walking along under a big tree, she heard a noise in the branches, and, looking up, she saw a number of squirrels. One was the squirrel who had given her old nest to Mrs. Wren. The little gray chaps were running about, seemingly much excited over something. Presently they all scampered down, and Susie saw that they had their mouths full of nuts. They put them on the ground in a little heap, and then the little bunny girl noticed that there was, nearby, an old stump, and it was set just like a table, with dried leaves for plates, and the tops of acorns for cups.

"What is going on here?" Susie asked the squirrel whom she knew.

"I am giving a party in honor of having moved into my new nest," said the squirrel. "Wouldn't you like to come?"