Billy Bunny and Uncle Bull Frog Part 11

"Which road shall I take?"

"Goodness, gracious me!" exclaimed the old gentleman rabbit, "what's the matter with my goggles?" and he took them off and looked at the signpost again.

"It says the same old thing," he said with a sigh, and he took off his old wedding stovepipe hat and dusted the top, and after he had put it on his head again he heard a voice saying:

"Take the road that leads to the left, And not the one to the right, For if you don't you will get left And you won't get home till night."

"Who's speaking?" said Billy Bunny. And the reason he hadn't said anything before was because he had been sound asleep.

And then who should come out from behind that funny signpost but a great roaring bull with two horns and about ten feet long and big red, snorting nostrils.

"Don't let us disturb you," which means bother or something like that, said Uncle Lucky, and he honked the horn with all his might, and, would you believe it, the bull was so frightened that he ran away and never stopped till he got home and covered himself with the crazy quilt on his old four-poster bed.

STORY x.x.xIII.

BILLY BUNNY AND THE GREAT NEWS.

Once upon a time, So I've heard tell, There lived a little rabbit In a shady dell.

And on one side a clover patch, Where red-topped clovers grew, And 'tother side was lollypops Of red and white and blue.

This is the song Mrs. Bunny sang one morning as she set to work to wash her little rabbit's white duck trousers, for it was Monday, and that is washday in Rabbitville, so they tell me.

And just as she was hanging them out on the line who should fly up but Old Mother Magpie, and, my! wasn't she excited. Why, she was so disturbed that her bonnet had fallen off her head and was hanging by the strings.

"Have you heard the news?" she asked, and she rolled off one of her black silk mitts and turned her wedding ring around three times and a half.

"Heard what?" asked Mrs. Bunny, putting the clothespin in her mouth instead of on the clothesline.

"Why, the Miller's boy has gone off to the war."

"Hurray!" shouted little Billy Bunny, who was polis.h.i.+ng the bra.s.s door k.n.o.b on the back door. "Hurray!"

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself," said Old Mother Mischief. "His poor mother is nearly crazy with grief."

"I'm sorry for her," said Mrs. Bunny, and she thought how thankful she ought to be that her little rabbit didn't have to shoulder a musket.

"Well, I'm glad he's going," said Billy Bunny. "He can shoot at something else now besides little rabbits."

Old Mother Magpie ruffled her feathers. "Well, if I had a boy like you I'd teach him not to glory over another person's grief," and then she flew away.

"I'm sorry for his mother," said Mrs. Bunny, "but the Miller boy will never be missed," and the clothespin fell out of her mouth and stood up in the gra.s.s like a little wooden soldier.

"Do you want anything at the store?" asked the little rabbit, after he had finished cleaning the door k.n.o.b. "If you do, tell me, for I'm going by there."

"You can order a pound of carrot tea and some lollypops," answered his mother, and then Billy Bunny picked up his striped candy cane and set off for the village, and by and by he came to the post office and the nice lady postmistress called to him that there was a letter there addressed to Billy Bunny, Old Brier Patch, but what was written in it I'm not going to tell you now, for I must stop and play a game of pinochle with dear, kind Uncle Lucky, who just telephoned me to come over to his house and have a game with him this evening, and I mustn't keep him waiting another minute.

STORY x.x.xIV.

BILLY BUNNY AND JENNY MUSKRAT.

Well, I played pinochle with Uncle Lucky Lefthindfoot last evening and it was so late when I got home that I overslept myself this morning.

And maybe I'd have slept all day if Robbie Redbreast hadn't come to my window and told me that Billy Bunny was reading a letter which I told you about in yesterday's story and that every time he turned a page he laughed harder than ever.

Well, I was so curious to know what he was laughing at that I told Robbie Redbreast to fly back to him and look over his shoulder and see what was in the letter while I hurried and dressed as fast as I could, and when I was all ready to go into the Friendly Forest where the little rabbit was, I saw him coming toward me with the letter in his hand and the little robin perched upon his knapsack.

"Good morning," he said and handed me the letter, and now you shall hear what was written to Mr. William Bunny, Brier Patch, Old Snake Fence Corner, U. S. A., care of Uncle Sam!

"My dear Billy Bunny:

"Just a few lines from your old friend the Circus Elephant to tell you that he is coming to see you as soon as he gets over the measles. If you've never had the measles, dear Billy Bunny, don't get them, for they are dreadful things for there's so many of them.

"Please give my love to Mr. Lucky Lefthindfoot and tell him as soon as I'm well, I'll be back in his circus.

"Your friend,

"Elly."

And as soon as I'd read the letter the little rabbit put it in his pocket and hopped away and by and by he came to a little stone house by a river. And before I go any farther I'll just whisper to you how I know all this.

You see, the little robin told me all about it, for he and I are great friends and his nest is in the old apple tree just under my window.

Well, pretty soon, after looking all around, Billy Bunny knocked on the door of the little stone house and in a few minutes it was opened by a nice lady muskrat, whose name was Jenny Eva.

"How do you do, little rabbit," she said, and then she invited him in and gave him a cookie made out of carrot seeds and pumpkin flour. And after that he showed her the letter from his friend, the circus elephant, and just then, all of a sudden, the front door flew open and in came the miller's dog.

And, oh, dear me! Mrs. Jenny Eva Muskrat forgot all about her society manners and ran down the back stairs into the river and the little rabbit forgot to say good-by and hid himself in a big hat box where she kept her last year's Easter bonnet. And then, what do you suppose the miller's dog did? Why, he began to sing:

"Old Mrs. Muskrat jumped into the river, Splasherty, splasherty, splas.h.!.+

And little boy rabbit jumped into the box, That held her best bonnet and trampled upon it.

Masherty, masherty, mas.h.!.+"

And in the next story you shall know what the miller's dog did when he stopped singing, that is, if Robbie Redbreast isn't too frightened to look into the window and tell me all about it.

STORY x.x.xV.

BILLY BUNNY AND THE MILLER'S DOG.