PRECIOUS STONES
Well, as soon as Mr. Miner Mole turned on the electric light in his cap, he said:
“Little Jack Rabbit, you can come out now, for Mr. Wicked Wolf has gone.”
At once the little bunny hopped out of a door, and now you know where he had been hiding. I declare, it has taken me almost three stories to tell you, but I’ve been busy explaining what Mr. Wolf did and after that what Mr. Miner Mole said.
“I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t taken care of me,” said Little Jack Rabbit.
“Oh, don’t mention it,” said the kind mole. “I’m glad you came down into mymine. I’ve had luck lately. I’ll give you a couple of diamonds and three rubies. You can make your kind Uncle John Hare a present of one or three, if you wish.”
And then that generous mole gave these beautiful precious stones to the little bunny, and showed him how to climb the ladder.
“I wish I had a little cap like yours with an electric candle in it,” said the rabbit. “I’d wear it at night and have lots of fun.” But the mole wouldn’t give him his lamp. I guess he thought more of it than he did of his diamonds and rubies.
Well, pretty soon, the little bunny said good-by and climbed up the ladder, and when he got to the top he just peeped over the rim of the old hollow stump, for he thought perhaps Mr. Wicked Wolf mightbe hanging around, but he wasn’t, so he hopped away, clipperty-clipperty, and by and by he thought of something.
“Gracious me! I almost forgot that I had two diamonds and three rubies.” So he opened his knapsack to make sure. And now I suppose you are saying to yourself, “That poor dear little rabbit has gone and lost his precious stones!” But he hadn’t. There they were as safe as safe could be in his knapsack, right alongside of a piece of apple pie and a lollypop!
“I might as well eat my lunch now,” he thought, so he sat down, and pretty soon the apple pie was gone and the lollypop, too. And then, all of a sudden, a little bird began to sing. It was Charlie Chickadee but the little rabbit didn’t know it at first:
“A nice little rabbit went down in a holeTo see an old miner whose name was Mole,Who wore a cap with a ’lectric light.For his mine was dark as a closet at night.Now why did that rabbit go down in that holeTo see the old miner, Mr. Mole?”
“A nice little rabbit went down in a holeTo see an old miner whose name was Mole,Who wore a cap with a ’lectric light.For his mine was dark as a closet at night.Now why did that rabbit go down in that holeTo see the old miner, Mr. Mole?”
“A nice little rabbit went down in a holeTo see an old miner whose name was Mole,Who wore a cap with a ’lectric light.For his mine was dark as a closet at night.Now why did that rabbit go down in that holeTo see the old miner, Mr. Mole?”
“A nice little rabbit went down in a hole
To see an old miner whose name was Mole,
Who wore a cap with a ’lectric light.
For his mine was dark as a closet at night.
Now why did that rabbit go down in that hole
To see the old miner, Mr. Mole?”
And then Charlie Chickadee flew down to the ground and picked up some apple pie crumbs which the little rabbit had dropped when he bit off the next to the last piece of crust.
“I’ll give you three guesses,” said the little bunny. And in the next story you shall hear whether Charlie Chickadee guessed right the first or the third time.