One day, when Sammie Littletail was on his way home from Dr. Possum's house, where he had gone to get some sweet-flag root, for Uncle Wiggily Longear's rheumatism, something happened to the little boy rabbit. He was coming through a big field, where the grass was quite high, when he heard a little bark. He knew at once that it was a dog, and Sammie was afraid of dogs, as all rabbits are, so he started to run. But the dog called out:
"Don't run, little rabbit."
"Why not?" asked Sammie. "I'm afraid of you."
"But I won't hurt you," went on the dog.
"You might," answered Sammie. "Dogs always hurt rabbits."
"Not all dogs," continued the little black one. "Besides, I am what they call a doggie. A doggie is a small dog, you know, and small dogs won't hurt rabbits."
"Are you sure?" asked Sammie.
"Perfectly sure. Besides, I am a trick dog, and trick dogs are so well fed at home that they do not have to hunt rabbits to eat."
"Are you sure?" asked Sammie again.
"Perfectly sure. You just watch me, and you will see that I do not eat you. Watch me carefully."
"Oh, I meant are you sure that you are a trick dog," went on Sammie.
"Of course, I am sure. I can do lots of tricks. I can play dead. I can turn a back somersault, and I can walk on my hind legs—"
"Oh, I can do that, too," interrupted Sammie.
"Yes, I know. I saw you do that a little while ago. But can you walk on your front legs, with your hind ones up in the air? Now, can you do that?" and the black doggie looked straight at Sammie.
"I never tried that," replied Sammie.
"No; and I guess you'd better not, unless you want to fall. I fell lots of times before I learned it. But I can do it now, and every time I do my master gives me a sweet cracker."
"What's a sweet cracker?" asked Sammie, who thought it sounded very nice.
"Don't you know what a sweet cracker is?" asked the doggie, who was much surprised.
"No, I don't," declared Sammie.
"Well, you ought to. I'm astonished at you. It's sweet, and it's a cracker, that's all I can tell you. You ought to know such things yourself."
"Look here!" cried Sammie, who thought the doggie was trying to show how smart it was, "do you know what molasses carrots are?"
"No," said the doggie. "I don't believe there are any such things."
"Yes, there are," declared Sammie. "I have had them to eat. So, you see, if I don't know what a sweet cracker is, you don't know what molasses carrots are. We're even now."
"Oh, let's talk about something else," said the doggie quickly. "I will show you some of my tricks, if you like."
"I would like to see them very much," answered Sammie politely.
So the little black doggie walked on his hind legs, and then he walked on his front legs. Next, he played dead, and Sammie was quite frightened, until with a bark the doggie jumped up and turned three back somersaults, one after the other, just as easy as you can upset the salt-cellar. After that he made believe to say his prayers, and rolled over and sneezed like any boy or girl, it was so natural.
Sammie was becoming very much interested, for the doggie's tricks were almost as good as those Sammie had seen at the circus, when, all at once, who should come along but a big man. He whistled to the little black doggie, and the doggie, who was trying to stand on the end of his tail, got down and ran to the man. Sammie was so frightened that he ran, too, only he ran home.
Sammie told his papa and mamma and Susie and Uncle Wiggily what had happened to him, and they told him he must be careful not to go near black doggies again.
"Oh," promised Sammie, "I won't, you may be sure. But, Uncle Wiggily, are squirrels all right to play with?"
"Oh, yes, squirrels are very nice," said his Uncle. "Why, did you see some?"
"Yes, I met two, and they said their names were Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, and they are coming over to see me some time."
"That will be nice," remarked Susie. "May I play with them, too?"
"I guess so," replied Sammie. "But, mamma, I'm hungry. Isn't there anything to eat?"
"You can have some bread and butter," said his mamma.
"With sugar on?" asked Sammie.
"We are all out of sugar," went on Mrs. Littletail. "You must run to the store for some."
"I will," promised Sammie, "after I eat something."
"All out of sugar," remarked Uncle Wiggily. "That reminds me, I must make some maple sugar soon. I will have it when Billie and Johnnie Bushytail come over to see you; or, perhaps before then, if you are good children." So Sammie and Susie said they would be good, and in another book after this one, I'm going to tell you about Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, the little boy squirrels, and what they did. They lived near Sammie and Susie Littletail. But the story to-morrow night will be about Uncle Wiggily making maple sugar.
Uncle Wiggily Longears walked out of the burrow. First he stretched one leg, then he stretched another leg; then he gave a big, long stretch to his third leg, and then, would you believe it? he stretched his fourth leg. Next he wiggled both ears, one after the other, and said:
"I feel very fine indeed! Oh, yes, and a boiled carrot besides, very fine!" He looked up at the blue sky, which had some little white clouds on it, just like small snowbanks, or bits of lamb's wool. "I never knew when I felt better," went on Uncle Wiggily Longears. "Even my rheumatism does not hurt much." Just then he saw Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy coming out of the burrow, and he spoke to her: "Aren't Sammie and Susie up yet?" he asked.
"They are just washing their faces and hands, ready for breakfast," answered the muskrat nurse. "They will soon be out."
Sure enough, in a little while the two bunny children came running out.
"Oh, what a lovely day!" cried Susie Littletail, and she wrinkled up her nose, and made it go very fast, almost as fast as an automobile or a motorcycle. "Doesn't it smell fine?" she asked her brother, and she took a good, long breath.
"It smells just like spring," answered Sammie. "The wind is nice and warm, there are lots more birds around than there were, and the grass is getting greener and greener every minute," and he turned a somersault, he felt so glad that summer was coming.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, three times, just like that. "Now I know what makes me feel so fine. It is because spring is here. We must get ready to boil maple sugar."
"What is maple sugar?" asked Susie.
"What? I am surprised at you!" exclaimed Sammie. "Maple sugar is that brown, sweet stuff you buy in the store, and in the winter you eat it on your pancakes, or you can shave it up and put it on hot rice, or you can put it on fritters. That is what maple sugar is."
"Exactly," went on Uncle Wiggily, and he stretched the leg with the rheumatism in so that it hardly hurt him a bit. "Well, children, we are going to make some maple sugar. Come with me, and I will show you how. Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, we shall have to ask you to help us. We need your sharp teeth to gnaw a hole in the tree."
So Uncle Wiggily, Sammie, Susie and Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy went off into the woods. Oh, it was a beautiful day, and in some places the tiny green leaves on the trees were just beginning to show through the brown buds.
"Just think," said Uncle Wiggily, as they walked along. "It will soon be Easter. And, oh! what a lot of work we rabbits will have then, with all the eggs to look after. For, you see, rabbits always have to take charge of the Easter eggs, but of course you know that."
So the rabbits and the muskrat nurse kept on through the woods, leaving Papa and Mamma Littletail at home in the burrow.
Uncle Wiggily walked on ahead, and pretty soon he came to a tree, where he stopped.
"This is a maple tree," he said, "and we will get some juice from it to make maple sugar, so as to have it ready for Easter. Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, will you kindly bite a hole in that tree?"
"Of course I will," answered the muskrat, so she stood up on her hind legs, and gnawed a little hole in the tree. Then Uncle Wiggily took a stem of last year's goldenrod, that was hollow, and put it in the hole. Pretty soon, what should happen but that some juice, like water, began running out of that tree right through the hollow stem.
"That is maple sap," said the old rabbit, "and when we boil it we shall have maple sugar. Susie, you get an old tin can to catch the sap in, and Sammie, you build a fire to boil it over."
So Susie got an old tomato can, and put it under the place where the juice was running out, and pretty soon, not so very long, the can was full. By that time Sammie and Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had a fire built. Then they hung the can of sap over the fire, and it boiled, and it boiled, and it boiled. It took quite some time, but Uncle Wiggily tried it every now and then by pouring a little of the hot syrup on some snow he found in a hollow place.
"Eat this," he said to Susie and Sammie, when it was cool; and, oh, maybe it wasn't good! Better than the best candy you ever tasted! Then they boiled it and boiled it some more, and pretty soon, just as true as I'm telling you, if that sap didn't turn into maple sugar. Now, what do you think about that, eh? Well, maybe those bunny rabbit children weren't glad. They made quite a lot, and took some home to Mamma and Papa Littletail, who were very glad to get it. They ate several pieces, and then put some away for Dr. Possum, and his little boy, Possum Pinktoes. Then Papa Littletail said: "I have just received a letter from some children, who are anxious about their Easter eggs, as it is nearly Easter, so I think we had better begin to get them ready." Uncle Wiggily thought so, too, and to-morrow night, if there is no moon, I shall tell you about hunting the eggs.
Sammie and Susie Littletail were leaping over the brown leaves and the pine needles in the woods. There was a little wind blowing, and it ruffled up the fur on the backs of the rabbit children, but they did not mind that.
"I wonder where we shall find the eggs?" asked Susie of her brother, and she nibbled on a bit of maple sugar that Uncle Wiggily Longears had made for them.
"I'm sure I don't know," answered Sammie, and he, also, ate some of the sweet stuff. "But we are sure to find them, because Uncle Wiggily said so. He would have come to show us, only his rheumatism is worse again."
"We must ask somebody," said Susie, and just then whom should they see coming along through the woods but Bully, the frog.
"Hello!" exclaimed Bully, "let's see who can jump the farthest, Sammie."
"No," answered the little boy rabbit, "I can't; I am after Easter eggs. Do you know where there are any?"
"Do you mean frogs' eggs?" asked Bully, and he croaked a couple of times, just to keep from getting hoarse.
"I hardly think frogs' eggs would do," and Sammie looked at his sister, and his sister looked at him, until, strange as it may seem, they were both looking at each other.
"No," said Susie, "frogs' eggs would never do. They are not large enough. We must get hens' eggs or ducks' eggs."
"I know where there is a nice duck," went on Bully. "She lives near my pond. Come, and I will take you to her. Maybe she will give you some eggs."
So they went to where the duck lived. Bully, the frog, hopping along, and Sammie and Susie hopping after him, and every time the frog came to a bit of water he hopped in and got all wet, and he didn't mind it a bit, but I'm sure I would. However, pretty soon they came to where the duck lived.
"Mrs. Wibblewobble," said Bully to her, for that was the duck's name. Really, it was, I'm not joking. "Mrs. Wibblewobble, here are Sammie and Susie Littletail looking for eggs," said Bully. "Could you let them have any?"
"Quack! quack!" answered the duck, and it sounded just as if she said, "What? what?" So Sammie, thinking she was a little deaf, asked her himself.
"Can you please tell us where we can find some eggs?" and he spoke quite loudly.
"Tut, tut!" exclaimed Mrs. Wibblewobble. "I heard Bully when he asked me the first time. I merely said, 'Quack! quack!' because I was thinking. I always say that when I think. Now be patient." So she said "Quack! quack!" again, several times, and paddled around in the water, putting her head under every now and then to dig in the mud for some snails. "No," she finally said, "I have thought very hard, and I do not know where you could find any eggs."
Sammie and Susie were quite disappointed, and Bully said: "Perhaps you have some of your own you could let them have."
"No," answered Mrs. Wibblewobble, "all my eggs have been turned into little ducklings. Here they come now."
Then all at once, as quick as you can scratch your chin, what should come walking down to the pond but the dearest, nicest little ducklings you ever saw. They all said, "Quack! quack!" which, as you knew, meant that they were thinking, and Sammie and Susie did not want to disturb them.
"This is my family," announced Mrs. Wibblewobble. "Family, those are the Littletail children, and Bully, the frog." Then the ducklings all said, "Quack! quack!" again, which this time showed that they had stopped thinking, and they swam around just like their mother.
"Well," said Bully, "we shall get no eggs here. Come on, we will go see Mrs. Cluck-Cluck, the fairy hen. Maybe she has some to spare."
But on their way they lost the road, and didn't know in which direction to go. Then fox was, but he couldn't help himself. Then Sammie, Susie and Bully walked on and on they heard a noise in the leaves, oh, such a queer, quiet little noise! and then, what do you think? Why, the sly, sly old fox stuck his head out.
"Whom are you looking for?" he asked, as softly as can be.
"We are looking for Mrs. Cluck-Cluck, to get some eggs," said Sammie.
"Ah, ha! Ho! ho!" laughed the sly old fox. "Come with me and I'll show you her house. I'm sure she has some eggs."
Sammie and Susie thought this very kind of him, and they were just going to follow that fox off when Bully warned them:
"Don't go," he said; "that fox only wants to eat Mrs. Cluck-Cluck up. Let's run away."
So they ran away, and my! how angry that sly old fox was. He almost bit his own tail. But Sammie and Susie did not mind. They were very thankful to Bully for telling them of their danger. Then they hopped on and on, until they were quite tired.
They were afraid they were never going to find any eggs, but, all of a sudden Susie cried:
"Oh, look, Sammie!"
And there, on a nest in the grass, was Mrs. Cluck-Cluck the kind lady hen, and she gave the rabbit children all the eggs they wanted. Sammie and Susie carried them home to their underground house, and, after a while, they had a lot of fun with them.
The next story will be about Susie learning to jump the rope, and I'll tell it to you, if the cow doesn't fall off the top of the telegraph pole, and tickle the rag doll with her horns.
Sammie and Susie Littletail were coming home from school. Didn't I mention before that the little bunny children went to school? Well, I meant to, I'm sure, and if I overlooked it I hope you will excuse me, and I'll see that it does not happen again this spring or summer. Oh, my, yes; they went to school in an old hollow tree, and an owl was the school teacher—a good, kind old owl, who never kept the bunny children in.
So, as I said, they were coming home from school, and Sammie had stopped to play marbles with some of his little boy rabbit friends, while Susie walked on with some little rabbit girls. Some of the girls were jumping rope, and they invited Susie to join them.
"Come on," said one little rabbit with two pink eyes, "we will turn for you, and you can have 'three slow, pepper,' Susie dear."
But Susie couldn't, because she didn't know how to jump rope. Now isn't that strange? No, sir, she didn't know the first thing about jumping rope, for she had never had a chance to learn.
So when she got home to the burrow that afternoon, and Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had given her a bit of chocolate-covered carrot, Uncle Wiggily Longears noticed that the little rabbit girl looked rather sad.
"What is the matter, Susie?" he asked.
"I can't jump rope," she answered, "and all the other rabbit girls can."
"Never mind," said Uncle Wiggily, "I will show you how. Come with me. Oh, dear! Oh, my goodness me, and some sassafras root! Oh! oh!"
"What is the matter?" asked Susie, much frightened, for she had never heard her uncle cry so.
"Oh, it's only my rheumatism, Susie dear," he answered. "Don't mind me. I shall be all right presently. Just ask Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy to bring me the watercress liniment."
So when the muskrat nurse had brought the liniment, and Uncle Wiggily had rubbed some on his leg, he felt better.
"Now, Susie," he said, "I will show you how to jump rope. I used to do it when I was a boy, but I am not so lively and nimble now as I was then."
"But I have no rope," objected Susie, though she felt a little more happy. "I can't jump without a rope."
"Tut! tut! Do not think about such a little thing as that," went on her uncle. "I will have a rope for you in a few minutes. Come with me."
Just then Sammie came along, and, after he had had some corn bread with preserved sweet cabbage leaves on, he went with his sister and uncle in the woods.
"I am going to learn to jump rope," said Susie, quite proudly. "Don't you want to learn, Sammie?"
"No," he said, "that's only for girls. I'd rather play marbles and fly a kite, but I'll turn for you, if we can find a rope," for, you see, Sammie was always kind to his sister.
"We will have a rope in a minute," remarked Uncle Wiggily. "I know where to find it."
Just then who should come walking along but Possum Pinktoes, and, as soon as he saw the rabbits, he pretended to go to sleep.
"Oh, you do not need to go to sleep, and make believe that you are dead," spoke Sammie. "We would not hurt you for the world."
Then Possum Pinktoes, who was only pretending to sleep, as he always did when he thought he was in danger, opened first one eye, then the other.
"I am going to learn to jump rope," said Susie to him.
"Ha! Jump rope, eh?" exclaimed Possum Pinktoes. "I know the very thing for you. A wild grapevine! It will make a fine rope."
"That's just what I was going to say," called out Uncle Wiggily.
"Come with me, and I'll show you where there are plenty of vines," went on the possum, so they followed him, and pretty soon they came to the place. Sammie and Uncle Wiggily cut a long piece, and then they took hold of each end and began to turn the rope for Susie. At first she could not do very well, even though there was a nice, smooth, grassy place to learn on. Then out of a pond jumped Bully, the frog, and, as he was one of the best jumpers in the woods, or, for that matter, on Orange Mountain, he showed Susie just how to do it.
So she learned to jump "salt," which is slow, and "pepper," which is fast, and "double pepper," which is very fast indeed. Then she learned to jump with two ropes, one going one way and one the other, and finally she could skip as well as any little rabbit girl in the owl's school. Uncle Wiggily tried to jump, but he was so stiff and his rheumatism hurt him so that he couldn't do it.
Then they all started for home, and what do you think happened? Something quite serious, I do assure you, and I'm not fooling. A big hawk, not the kind, good fish-hawk, but another kind, who was out looking for early spring chickens, swooped down and tried to carry Susie Littletail off to his nest. Now Uncle Wiggily was so old he couldn't do much, but Sammie was not going to see his little sister harmed, so what did he do but jump at that hawk with his sharp little feet, and kick him until the bad bird let go of poor Susie. She was quite frightened, but not much hurt, and maybe she didn't hug and kiss Sammie for saving her. Then they all hurried home to the burrow, and if there is nothing to prevent it, to-morrow night's story will be about Sammie turning sky-blue-pink.
Susie Littletail was out on a nice, grassy place in front of the underground house, jumping her grapevine rope, and having a very good time, indeed. She had gotten all over the fright caused by the bad hawk trying to grab her, and felt quite happy. Sammie Littletail had been searching for the hawk, to have him arrested for being so cruel to the little rabbit girl, but he could not find the big bird, so he had come back to watch Susie jump. You see it was Easter week, and they had no school. The old owl teacher was very glad of it, too, for he had more time to sleep and doze in the sun.
Just as Susie finished doing "three slow, pepper," Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy came to the door of the burrow, and called:
"Sammie, your mamma wants you."
"What does she want?" he asked.
"She wants you to go to the drug store and get some stuff to color the Easter eggs with. Hurry, please, because she has lots to do."
"May we help color them?" asked Susie, hanging up her grapevine rope on a low bush.
"I think so," answered the muskrat nurse. "Now, hurry, Sammie; your mamma wants to get all done before your papa comes home from the carrot factory to-night."
"All right," answered the little boy rabbit. "I guess I can help color the eggs, too," and he hurried off to the drug store, that was near Dr. Possum's house.
Now pretty soon—in fact, almost immediately—something is going to happen to Sammie Littletail, so I want you all to sit quietly, and not wiggle so that you'll break the couch, or I can't go on. That's better. Well, then, Sammie went through the woods, and, on his way, he felt so happy that he sang this little song, which he had heard the kindergarten children singing at the owl school a few days before. This is the song, but of course I can't sing it very well. Please don't laugh. I'll do the best I can, although, perhaps, I shan't get the words just right:
"'Soldier boy, soldier boy, where are you going,Waving so proudly your red, white and blue?''I'm going to the war to fight for my country,And if you'll be a soldier boy, you may come too.'"
That's the way Sammie sang it, anyhow, and just as he finished he got to the drug store.
"Who was that singing?" asked Dr. Possum, who happened to be in the store just then.
"I was," said Sammie.
"Oh, indeed; I didn't know you sang," went on Dr. Possum. "That is very good indeed. I could not do better myself. Will you kindly sing it again?" So Sammie sang it again, and then he got the colors for his mamma to put on the Easter eggs.
"Now, children," said Mamma Littletail, when Sammie reached home. "Get the eggs that Mrs. Cluck-Cluck gave you the other day, and we will color them."
"Oh, won't we have fun!" cried Susie.
"Indeed we will!" said Sammie.
So they first boiled the eggs good and hard, so that if they happened to drop one, it wouldn't get all over the floor, and you know how unpleasant it is, to say the least, when an egg drops, and gets all over the floor. Isn't it, really? Well, they boiled the eggs, and then Mamma Littletail had the dye ready.
Well, you should have seen all the colors she had! There was red and blue and yellow and green and purple and pink and old rose and crushed strawberry and ashes of roses and magenta and Alice blue and Johnnie red and Froggie green and toadstool brown and skilligimink. That last, the storekeeper told Sammie, was a new color, very scarce. As there isn't any more of it at the store, I can't just tell you what it looked like, except that it was a very fine color indeed, Oh, yes!
Well, Sammie and Susie helped their mamma dip the eggs in the dye and stained them all sorts of pretty colors. Some were all one shade, and some were half one tint and half another, and then there were some all speckled with different colors, and very hard to make. Then, after they were all dry, Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, with her sharp teeth, just like chisels that a carpenter uses, drew pretty things on the eggs; pictures of trees and birds and mountains and flowers and fairy castles and lakes and hills, and all sorts of things. Oh, they were the prettiest Easter eggs you ever saw!
"Here is the last egg," said Sammie. "May I dip this one in, mamma?"
"Yes," she answered, but she never would have let him if she had known what was going to happen.
"I'll make this a skilligimink color," said Sammie, and he stood over the pot. Then, what do you think occurred? Why, Sammie leaned too far over and he fell right in that pot of skilligimink color; he and the egg together. And oh, dear me! what a time there was. He splashed around and scattered the skilligimink color all over the kitchen, and when his mamma and Susie fished him out, if he wasn't dyed the most beautiful sky-blue-pink you ever saw! Oh, but he was a sight! The skilligimink color made him look like a piece of the rainbow. "Oh, Sammie!" cried Susie, "how funny you do look?" And Sammie grunted: "Huh! I guess it's nothing to laugh at!" So they dried him with a towel, but the color didn't come off for ever so long, honest it didn't. But they had a lovely lot of Easter eggs, anyhow, ready for the children, and so Sammie didn't mind much. Now, how about Hot Cross Buns for to-morrow night, eh? Oh, of course, I mean a story about them.
Let's see, where did we leave off last night? Oh, I remember now, it was about how Sammie fell down and hurt his nose, wasn't it? Oh, no, it wasn't either. It was about how he was colored sky-blue-pink; to be sure. Well, now I'm going to tell you about Hot Cross Buns, how Susie Littletail made some very especially fine ones, and what happened to them. But the last part is a secret, so I wish you wouldn't tell any one.
Susie was out skipping her grapevine rope, and thinking what a nice day it was, when her mamma called to her:
"Susie, don't you want to help Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy make some Hot Cross Buns?"
"Of course," the little rabbit girl said, and, being a very kind little creature, she added: "Can Sammie help me, mamma?"
"Oh, I don't want to," said Sammie, who was playing marbles with Bully, the frog. They were using old hickory nuts and acorns for their shooters and for the agates in the ring. "I'm going to be a soldier or run an automobile when I grow up, so I don't want to learn to cook."
"Humph! I guess soldiers and automobile men are glad enough to eat when some one else cooks for them," said Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. "Anyhow, I can't have you mussing around my kitchen, Sammie, so Susie is the only one who can help me make Hot Cross Buns."
"Ask her if we can have the batter dishes and the one she mixes the frosting in, to clean out," prosed Bully, in a whisper, and when Sammie asked the nurse, who was also a cook, she said:
"Oh, I suppose so. But don't come around bothering while Susie and I are busy. I'll set the dishes out for you."
Then Sammie and Bully felt very good, for it's lots of fun to clean out the cake dishes when any one is baking, especially when Hot Cross Buns are being made. So the little boy rabbit and the little frog, who was such a good jumper, played marbles under the trees in the big woods.
Then Susie and Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy went to work in the kitchen. First they took some flour, milk, eggs, sugar and whatever else goes into Hot Cross Buns, and mixed them all up in a big dish.
"Oh, my! How good that smells!" exclaimed Susie. "Won't Sammie and Bully be glad to get that?"
"Yes," said the nurse-cook, "but now we must make the frosting to go on top, and I think I'll mix in it some of the maple sugar that Uncle Wiggily boiled."
"Oh, fine!" exclaimed Susie, and she clapped her two front paws together, she was so glad.
So she and Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy made a nice dish of maple-sugar frosting to go on top of the buns when they were baked.
"Now," said the cook, after a little while, "we must get the pans ready to bake them in. And, as we haven't much room in the kitchen, we will just set the dish of dough and the frosting out on the window sill, where they won't be in our way. As soon as we have the tins greased we will make the buns and put them in the oven to bake."
So the nice, sweet, good-smelling and good-tasting batter and the dish of maple-sugar frosting were set outside on the window sill. Oh, how nice it smelled. It's a good thing that sly old fox wasn't around, I tell you!
Well, after a while, Sammie and Bully got tired of playing marbles, and they walked around to the back of the underground house. And what do you think? If Bully didn't see those dishes that had been set out on the window sill! Yes indeed, he saw them! Oh, he had sharp eyes, let me tell you!
"Look here!" he cried to Sammie. "They've put the stuff out for us. Oh, what a lot of it! Nice, sweet batter, and nice maple-sugar frosting. How kind they are."
"Do you s'pose all this is for us?" asked Sammie, who, whenever he cleaned out the baking dishes, had never seen so much as that in them.
"Of course it is," answered Bully. "Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy said she'd put it out for us, and here it is out. Of course, it must be for us."
Well, Sammie thought so, too, after that, and then the little boy rabbit and Bully sat down, with those two dishes, that had stuff in to make Hot Cross Buns, and they began to eat it all up. And after awhile, when it was pretty nearly all gone, who should come limping along but Uncle Wiggily Longears.
"Well, well," he said, just like that. "What have we here?" Then Sammie told him how the good stuff had been left out by Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. "My goodness me!" exclaimed the old rabbit, leaning on his cornstalk crutch, "how very odd."
"Would you like some?" asked Bully, the frog, very, very politely.
"Indeed I would," answered Uncle Wiggily Longears.
So they gave him some, and it tasted just as good as when he was a little boy rabbit. But just as the last of the sweet batter and the maple-sugar frosting was eaten up, what should happen but that Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy went to the window to take it in to bake, and of course it was gone. Well, you should have seen how surprised she was. She was going to scold Sammie and Bully, only they said it was all a mistake. So they didn't get a whipping, and very luckily there was enough more stuff in the burrow to make more Hot Cross Buns. So Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy and Susie mixed up some, and these were soon baking in the oven. And, oh, how good they smelled, and they tasted as good as they smelled, each one with a maple-sugar cross on. Now, to-morrow night, if you would like me to, I'll tell you about hiding the Easter eggs.
What a lot of Easter eggs there were! I'm sure if you tried to count all that Sammie and Susie Littletail, and Papa and Mamma Littletail, to say nothing of Uncle Wiggily Longears and Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had colored, ready for Easter, you never could do it, never, never, never! Of course, Uncle Wiggily couldn't get so very many of the eggs ready for the children, because, you know, he has rheumatism, but then Sammie and Susie were so quick, and Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy hurried so, that long before Easter Sunday-morning, or Easter Monday morning, whenever you children hunt for your eggs, they were all ready.
You see, the rabbits have to hide all the Easter eggs that you children hunt for. Of course, I don't mean those in the store windows; the pretty ones, made of candy, and with little windows that you look through to see beautiful scenes. Oh, no, not those, but the ones you find at home. Those in the windows are put there by different kinds of rabbits.
Well, all the Easter eggs were ready, and Sammie and Susie, their papa and mamma, Uncle Wiggily Longears and Nurse Jane-Fuzzy-Wuzzy, set out to hide them. There were many colors. I think I have told you about them, but I'll just mention a few again. There were red ones, blue ones, green ones, pink ones, Alice blue ones, Johnnie red ones, Froggie green ones, strawberry color, and then that new shade, skilligimink, which is very fine indeed, and which turned Sammie sky-blue-pink.
So the rabbits started off with their baskets of colored eggs on their paws.
"Now, be careful, Sammie," called his mamma. "Don't fall down and break any of those eggs."
"No, mamma," answered Sammie, who was still colored sky-blue-pink, for it hadn't all worn off yet. "I'll be very careful."
"So will I, mamma," called Susie.
So they walked on through the woods to visit Newark and all the places around where children want Easter eggs. Of course, if you had gone out in the woods on top of Orange Mountain you could not have seen those rabbits, because they were invisible. That is, you couldn't see them, because Mrs. Cluck-Cluck, the fairy hen, had given them all cloaks spun out of cobwebs, just like the Emperor of China once had, and this made it so no one could see them. For it would never do, you know, to have the rabbits spied upon when they were hiding the eggs. It wouldn't be fair, any more than it would be right to peek when you're "it" in playing blind man's buff.
Illustration by Louis Wisa
Illustration by Louis Wisa
Well, pretty soon, after a while, as they all walked through the woods, Sammie kept going slower and slower and slower, because his basket was quite heavy, until he was a long way in back of his papa, his mamma and Susie. But he didn't mind that, for he knew he had plenty of time, when all at once what should come running out of the bushes but a great big dog. At first Sammie was frightened, but then when he looked again he knew the dog was not a rabbit-dog. No, what is worse, he was an egg-dog. Now an egg-dog is a dog that eats eggs, and they are one of the very worst kinds of dogs there are. So the dog saw Sammie and knew what the little rabbit boy had in his basket. But he asked him, making believe he didn't know: "What have you in that basket, my little chap?" You see, he called him "little chap" so as to pretend he was a friendly egg-dog.
"There are Easter eggs in the basket," said Sammie politely.
"And what, pray, are Easter eggs, if I may be so bold as to ask?" inquired the dog, licking his teeth with his long red tongue, and blinking his eyes, as if he didn't care.
"Easter eggs," replied Sammie, "are eggs for children for Easter, and they are very prettily colored."
"Oh, ho!" exclaimed the dog, just like that, and he sniffed the air. "Please excuse me. But would you kindly be so good as to let me see those eggs? I never saw any colored ones."
"Well," answered Sammie, "I am in a hurry, but you may have one peep."
So he opened the top of the basket and there, sure enough, were the eggs, the green, the blue, the pink, the Johnnie red and the skilligimink colored ones and all.
"Oh, how lovely!" cried the bad dog, sniffing the air again. "May I have one?"
"No," said Sammie, very decidedly, "these are for the little children." Then that dog got angry. Oh, you should have seen how angry he got. No, on second thoughts I am glad you did not see how unpleasant he was, for it might spoil your Easter. Anyhow, he was dreadfully angry, dreadfully! He showed his teeth, and he made his hair stand up straight, and he growled: "Give me all those eggs, or I'll take them right away from you! I am an egg-dog, and I must have eggs. Give them to me, I say!"
Well, maybe poor Sammie wasn't frightened! He trembled so that the eggs rattled together and very nearly were broken. Then he started to run away, but the bad dog ran after him, and what do you think? Just as the horrid creature was about to take those lovely Easter eggs out of the basket and eat them up, who should come flying through the woods but Mrs. Cluck-Cluck, the fairy hen! She dashed at that dog, with her feathers sticking out, and made him run off. Then how glad Sammie was! He hurried and caught up to his papa and mamma, and soon all the Easter eggs were hidden.
Oh, what fun Sammie and Susie had running back through the woods after the eggs were all put in the secret places! Susie found a turnip in a field, and Sammie a carrot, and they ate them as they hopped along. Uncle Wiggily walked quite slowly, for his rheumatism was bothering him, and when those rabbits got home to the burrow, what do you think they found? Why, there were invitations for them all to come to a party that was going to be given by Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble. Alice and Lulu were little duck girls, and they lived with their papa and mamma, Mr. and Mrs. Wibblewobble, in a pen, not far from the rabbit burrow. They had a brother named Jimmie, but it wasn't his birthday, for he was a day older than his sisters, who were twins. That is their birthdays came at the same time. Some day I'm going to tell you a lot of stories about these same ducks.
"May we go to the party, mamma?" asked Susie.
"Of course," answered Mamma Littletail, and they all went, even Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. They had a fine time, which I will tell you about in another book that has a lot of duck stories in it. But I just want to mention one thing that occurred.
Just as the party was over, and every one was coming home, Uncle Wiggily couldn't find his crutch, which Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had gnawed out of a cornstalk for him. Finally he did find it behind the door. Then he, and Sammie and Susie, and Mr. and Mrs. Littletail started for the burrow.
Then, all at once, when they were in the front yard of the Wibblewobble home, if a silver trumpet didn't sound in the woods: "Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta-ra!" just like that, and up came riding a little boy, all in silver and gold, on a white horse. He wanted to know if he was too late for the party, the little boy did, and when Uncle Wiggily said yes, the little boy was much disappointed.
Then Uncle Wiggily asked him who he was, and the little boy said:
"I am the fairy prince! I used to be a mud turtle, and live in the pond where Lulu and Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble swim. But I got tired of being a mud turtle, though Iwasa fairy prince, so I changed myself into a little boy."
But, do you know, Uncle Wiggily didn't believe him, and, what's more, he said so. Oh, yes, indeed he did! Then what did that little boy-fairy-prince do, but up and say:
"Well, you soon will believe me, Uncle Wiggily. You come back to the woods a little later, and something wonderful will happen. I'll make you believe in fairies; that's what I will, for you will see a red fairy very shortly."
But still Uncle Wiggily didn't believe, and he went home, moving his nose and ears at the same time. But you just wait, for if I should happen to find a penny rolling up hill, I will tell you, to-morrow night, about Uncle Wiggily and the red fairy.
Well, I didn't find that penny rolling up hill, after all, but never mind, I'll tell you a story just the same. Let's see, we left off about Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman rabbit, and what was going to happen to him when he should meet the red fairy, didn't we?
Uncle Wiggily walked along very slowly, going home from the party Lulu and Alice Wibblewobble had. Sammie Littletail saw how slowly his uncle walked, and asked:
"What is the matter, Uncle Wiggily? Does your rheumatism hurt you very much?"
"No, it isn't that," replied the old gentleman rabbit, "though it does pain me some. I was just wondering about that red fairy."
"Oh, do you really suppose one will appear, as the fairy prince said?" asked Susie, making her nose twinkle like two stars and a comet on a frosty night.
"No," spoke Uncle Wiggily very decidedly, "I don't really believe one will. Still, there may. You never can tell in this world what is going to happen," and I think Uncle Wiggily was right about it.
"Oh!" cried Susie, "I wish I could come with you, Uncle Wiggily. I never saw a real fairy in all my life. Couldn't I come with you?" and the little rabbit girl went close to her uncle, and took hold of his crutch, gnawed by the muskrat, Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, out of a cornstalk.
"Yes, I suppose you could," answered Susie's Uncle, who was very kind to her.
"Oh, no!" exclaimed Sammie. "It might spoil the magic spell, if more than one went, Uncle Wiggily. Maybe the fairy would not like it. You had better go alone."
"All right," answered the old gentleman rabbit, "anything to please you. I'll go alone."
Well, when the rabbit family got back to their burrow, after the party, they could talk of nothing else but what was going to happen when Uncle Wiggily should meet the red fairy. Sammie and Susie didn't want to go to bed, they were so excited, but their mamma sent them up with Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy.
Now listen very carefully, for the fairy will soon appear, and you know what happens then. Oh, yes, indeed, something wonderful.
Well, when it came time, Uncle Wiggily started off alone to the woods to meet the red fairy. He walked on, and on, and on, and he had to go pretty slow, because his rheumatism was hurting him again. And suddenly, when he was right under a big oak tree, what should he hear but a silver trumpet blowing "Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta-ra!" Just like that, honest. Then he stood still, and a sort of shivery feeling came over him, and he looked up and he looked down and he looked to one side and then to the other. And then he wiggled his ears, and he wrinkled up his nose as fast as fast could be. Then he heard some one call:
"Uncle Wiggily Longears!"
"Yes, I'm here!" he answered.
"And I am the red fairy!" cried the voice again, and when the old gentleman rabbit looked up in the tree, what do you suppose he saw? Well, you'd never guess, so I'll tell you.
There, perched on a limb, was a beautiful little lady, all dressed in red, with a red cloak on, and a red hat on, and it had a red feather in it; in fact, she was as red as Red Riding Hood ever thought of being.
"Do you believe in fairies, Uncle Wiggily?" she asked.
"No," replied the old rabbit, "I can't say that I do."
"Well," went on the little creature, "you soon will. Watch me carefully."
And with that, what did she do but float down from that tall tree, just as one of those red balloons you buy at the circus floats along. Yes, sir, she floated right down to where Uncle Wiggily was. Then she waved her magic wand in the air three times, and said this word: "Higgildypiggilyhobbledehoi!" It's a very hard word for you to say, I know, but easy for a fairy. Well, she said that word, and then, all at once, what should happen but that a golden ball appeared, floating in the air.
"Catch the golden ball!" cried the red fairy.
"I can't!" answered the old rabbit. "I haven't played ball in years, and years, and years."
"Well," went on the fairy, with a laugh, "no matter. It will come to you," and you may not believe me, but if that golden ball didn't float right down into Uncle Wiggily's hands. He had to drop his crutch to catch it.
"Now," proceeded the red fairy, "do you want to see me do something magical to prove that I am wonderful, and a real fairy?'"
"Yes," answered Uncle Wiggily, "certainly."
"Well, what shall I do? Name something wonderful."
"If you could cure me of my rheumatism it would be wonderful," he answered. "It hurts me something fierce, now."
"Ha! That is not wonderful at all," spoke the red fairy. "That is altogether too easy. But I will do it all the same. Watch me carefully."
Then, as true as I'm telling you, if that golden ball didn't begin to dance up and down, and sideways, and around and around Uncle Wiggily, leaping here, and there, and everywhere, until he could hardly see it. And the silver trumpet blew: "Ta-ra-ta-ra-ta-ra!" just like that, and all of a sudden Uncle Wiggily felt himself being lifted up, and whirled around, and then came a clap of thunder, and then it all got still, and quiet, and a little bird began to sing. Then the fairy's voice asked:
"Well, Uncle Wiggily, how is your rheumatism now?"
"Why!" exclaimed the old rabbit, "it is all gone. It certainly is. I never would have believed it," and, honestly, the pain was all gone, and he didn't need his crutch for a long time after that. Then he believed that the red lady was a fairy, and he hurried home to tell Sammie and Susie, while the little red lady and the golden ball flew back into the tree. "Oh!" cried Susie, when she heard the story, "I wish I could see a fairy!" And, listen, she did! The very next day; and, if nothing happens, the story to-morrow night will be about Susie Littletail and the blue fairy.
Now listen, Uncle Wiggily felt so good at being cured of his rheumatism that he asked the red fairy if some boys and girls, who had been very good, couldn't stay up after they had heard the bedtime story to-night.
"I want to make them happy because I am happy," said Uncle Wiggily.
"Yes, they stay up if their papas and mammas will let them," answered the red fairy, so now you just ask, but be very polite about it, and see what happens. But don't stay up too late, you know, for that would never do, never at all.