MR. MINER MOLE
Now, I suppose you’ve been wondering what had become of Little Jack Rabbit after hopping into the old hollow stump to get away from Mr. Wicked Wolf. Well, you haven’t wondered nearly as much as that old wicked wolf has, let me tell you. Why, he was so puzzled that he sat down and took an Almanac out of his pocket and read it all through, but even then he didn’t know anything.
“Goodness me, where has that little bunny gone?” he said, and then he jumped right into the old hollow stump, head first, kerplump, just like that. Down, down he went, until all of a sudden he landed somewhere he didn’t just know where.
When, all of a sudden again, a voice said:
“You robber bold, how can you dareTo jump down here from way up there?”
“You robber bold, how can you dareTo jump down here from way up there?”
“You robber bold, how can you dareTo jump down here from way up there?”
“You robber bold, how can you dare
To jump down here from way up there?”
“I beg your pardon,” said Mr. Wicked Wolf, and he fixed his cravat, which was all loose and not tied in a nice little knot, “I’m sorry to trouble you. But the fact is I was anxious about a little rabbit who jumped in here a moment ago. Have you seen him? I can’t see you, but maybe you saw him.”
“I’ll let you see me pretty soon,” said the voice, and then Mr. Wicked Wolf began to get afraid. At first, you see, he wasn’t scared a bit, but when he heard the voice say that, he began to tremble and wabble, and his long bushy tail to droop on the ground.
“Let me out; please do,” he said. “I’ll never trouble you again.”
“Very well, then, cross your heart and repeat after me:
“I never break my promise,For fear I’ll break my heart,So I’ll give you my honest word,And then we’ll kindly part,”
“I never break my promise,For fear I’ll break my heart,So I’ll give you my honest word,And then we’ll kindly part,”
“I never break my promise,For fear I’ll break my heart,So I’ll give you my honest word,And then we’ll kindly part,”
“I never break my promise,
For fear I’ll break my heart,
So I’ll give you my honest word,
And then we’ll kindly part,”
said the voice, and when Mr. Wicked Wolf had done that, the voice said:
“Now turn to your right and you’ll see a little ladder.” And sure enough there was a little ladder running right up the inside of the old hollow stump. And goodness me! As soon as Mr. Wicked Wolf saw the ladder he went up it faster than a bricklayer with a hod of bricks on his back, and in less time than I can tell you, he was out on the Sunny Meadow and off for his homein the Shady Forest, for he lived, you remember, not so very far from the Big Brown Bear’s cave.
And now I suppose you are still wondering where little Jack Rabbit was, but I had to get rid of that dreadful wolf first before I could tell you. Well, as soon as Mr. Wicked Wolf was out of the stump, which was very dark inside, you know, somebody turned on an electric light way down at the bottom. And who do you suppose it was? Why, Mr. Miner Mole. It was he who had been talking to Mr. Wicked Wolf all the time, and now on the next page you shall hear about Little Jack Rabbit.