One day all the rabbits were close together near a back fence, sitting
up on their haunches. The rabbit in the middle was telling the others a
story. It was about a rabbit.
“So,” said he, going on with the story, “whenever the little rabbit was
hungry all he had to say was
‘Garden fairy, sweet,
Some lettuce I’d eat,’
And straightway a whole head of lettuce would grow up before him.”
“Oh, my,” cried all the rabbits together, “how I wish that would happen
to me!” And story-teller and all turned a somersault at the very thought
of it. After this they sat up again to hear the rest of the story.
But their pink eyes almost burst out of their heads and their ears stood
straight up toward the sky. There in front of each was a large leaf of
lettuce.
“Why, the story’s coming true,” cried the story-teller, and he tasted
the lettuce. “Yes,” said he, “this is real lettuce.”
The others were sure of it. They were eating theirs as fast as they could.
Now the dog, who kept the yard, hadn’t turned a somersault, so he knew
about it. He saw Fred, hiding behind the fence, throw down the lettuce
leaves.
“Ha, ha,” he barked, “the silly things don’t know that to-day is April
Fool’s Day. Of course,” said he, thoughtfully, “they have eaten juicy
lettuce leaves. That’s not foolish. Fred and I have eaten nothing.”
“That story had a happy ending,” said the rabbits, as they scampered off
to play.
* * * * *
Which do you think was April-fooled?