SAMMIE AND SUSIE LITTLETAIL
By
HOWARD R. GARIS
Illustrations by
LOUIS WISA
1910
PUBLISHER'S NOTE
These stories appeared originally in the Evening News, of Newark, N.J.,
and are reproduced in book form by the kind permission of the publishers
of that paper, to whom the author extends his thanks.
Contents
I. Sammie Littletail in a Trap
II. Sammie Littletail is Rescued
III. What Happened to Susie Littletail
IV. Papa Littletail's Picture
V. Sammie Littletail Digs a Burrow
VI. Sammie and Susie Help Mrs. Wren
VII. Uncle Wiggily Gets Shot
VIII. Susie and Sammie Find a Nest
IX. Sammie Littletail Falls In
X. Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy Gives a Lesson
XI. Sammie's and Susie's Terrible Time
XII. Susie Goes to a Party
XIII. The Littletail Family Move
XIV. How the Water Got In
XV. Sammie and Susie at the Circus
XVI. Sammie and the Snake
XVII. Susie and the White Kittie
XVIII. Sammie and the Black Doggie
XIX. Uncle Wiggily Makes Maple Sugar
XX. Sammie and Susie Hunt Eggs
XXI. Susie Littletail Jumps Rope
XXII. Sammie Colored Sky-Blue-Pink
XXIII. Susie Littletail's Hot-Cross Buns
XXIV. Hiding the Easter Eggs
XXV. Uncle Wiggily and the Red Fairy
XXVI. Susie and the Blue Fairy
XXVII. Sammie and the Green Fairy
XXVIII. Susie and the Fairy Godmother
XXIX. Uncle Wiggily and the Fairy Spectacles
XXX. Sammie Saves Billie Bushytail
XXXI. Susie and the Fairy Carrot
SAMMIE AND SUSIE LITTLETAIL
I
SAMMIE LITTLETAIL IN A TRAP
Once upon a time there lived in a small house built underneath the
ground two curious little folk, with their father, their mother, their
uncle and Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy was the nurse, hired girl
and cook, all in one, and the reason she had such a funny name was
because she was a funny cook. She had long hair, a sharp nose, a very
long tail and the brightest eyes you ever saw. She could stay under
water a long time, and was a fine swimmer. In fact, Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy was
a big muskrat, and the family she worked for was almost as strange as
she was.
There was Papa Littletail, Mamma Littletail, Sammie Littletail, Susie
Littletail and Uncle Wiggily Longears. The whole family had very long
ears and short tails; their eyes were rather pink and their noses used
to twinkle, just like the stars on a frosty night. Now you have guessed
it. This was a family of bunny rabbits, and they lived in a nice hole,
which was called a burrow, and which they had dug under ground in a big
park on the top of a mountain, back of Orange. Not the kind of oranges
you eat, you know, but the name of a place, and a very nice place, too.
In spite of her strange name, and the fact that she was a muskrat, Jane
Fuzzy-Wuzzy was a very good cook and quite kind to the children bunnies,
Sammie and Susie. Besides looking after them, Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy used to
sweep the burrow, make up the beds of leaves and grass, and go to market
to get bits of carrots, turnips or cabbage, which last Sammie and Susie
liked better than ice cream.
Uncle Wiggily Longears was an elderly rabbit, who had the rheumatism,
and he could not do much. Sometimes when Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy was very busy
he would go after the cabbage or turnips for her. Uncle Wiggily Longears
was a wise rabbit, and as he had no other home, Papa Littletail let him
stay in a warm corner of the burrow. To pay for his board the little
bunnies' uncle would give them lessons in how to behave. One day, after
he had told them how needful it was to always have two holes, or doors,
to your burrow, so that if a dog chased you in one, you could go out of
the other, Uncle Wiggily said:
"Now, children, I think that is enough for one day, so you may go out
and have some fun in the snow."
But first Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy looked out of the back door, and then she
looked out of the front door, to see that there were no dogs or hunters
about. Then Sammie and Susie crept out. They had lots of fun, and pretty
soon, when they were quite a ways from home, they saw a hole in the
ground. In front of it was a nice, juicy cabbage stalk.
"Look!" cried Sammie. "Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy must have lost that cabbage on
her way home from the store!"
"That isn't the door to our house," said Susie.
"Yes it is," insisted Sammie, "and I am going to eat the cabbage. I
didn't have much breakfast, and I'm hungry."
"Be careful," whispered Susie. "Uncle Wiggily Longears warned us to
look on all sides before we ate any cabbage we found."
"I don't believe there's any danger," spoke Sammie. "I'm going to eat
it," and he went right up to the cabbage stalk.
But Sammie did not know that the cabbage stalk was part of a trap, put
there to catch animals, and, no sooner had he taken a bite, than there
came a click, and Sammie felt a terrible pain in his left hind leg.
"Oh, Susie!" he cried out. "Oh, Susie! Something has caught me by the
leg! Run home, Susie, as fast as you can, and tell papa!"
Susie was so frightened that she began to cry, but, as she was a brave
little rabbit girl, she started off toward the underground house. When
she got there she jumped right down the front door hole, and called out:
"Oh, mamma! Oh, papa! Sammie is caught! He went to bite the cabbage
stalk, and he is caught in a horrible trap!"
"Caught!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily Longears. "Sammie caught in a trap!
That is too bad! We must rescue him at once. Come on!" he called to Papa
Littletail, and, though Uncle Wiggily Longears was quite lame with the
rheumatism, he started off with Sammie's papa, and to-morrow night I
will tell you how they saved the little boy rabbit.
II
SAMMIE LITTLETAIL IS RESCUED
When Uncle Wiggily Longears and Papa Littletail hurried from the
underground house to rescue Sammie, Mamma Littletail was much
frightened. She nearly fainted, and would have done so completely, only
Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy brought her some parsnip juice.
"Oh, hurry and get my little boy out of that trap!" cried Mamma
Littletail, when she felt better. "Do you think he will be much hurt,
Uncle Wiggily?"
"Oh, no; not much," he said. "I was caught in a trap once when I was a
young rabbit, and I got over it. Only I took a dreadful cold, from
being kept out in the rain all night. We will bring him safe home to
you."
While Uncle Wiggily Longears and Papa Littletail were on their way, poor
Sammie, left all alone in the woods, with his left hind foot caught in a
cruel trap, felt very lonely indeed.
"I'll never take any more cabbage without looking all around it, to see
if there is a trap near it," he said to himself. "No indeed I will not,"
and then he tried to get out of the trap, but could not.
Pretty soon he saw his father and his uncle coming over the snow toward
him, and he felt much better.
"Now we must be very careful," said Uncle Wiggily Longears, to Papa
Littletail. "There may be more traps about."
So he sat upon his hind legs, and Papa Littletail sat up on his hind
legs, and they both made their noses twinkle like stars on a very frosty
night. For that is the way rabbits smell, and these two were wise
bunnies, who could smell a trap as far as you can smell perfumery. They
could not smell any traps, and they could not see any with their pink
eyes, so they went quite close to Sammie, who was held fast by his left
hind leg.
"Does it hurt you very much?" asked his papa, and he put his front paws
around his little rabbit boy, and gave him a good hug.
"Not very much, papa," replied Sammie, "but I wish I was out."
"We'll soon have you out," said Uncle Wiggily Longears, and then with
his strong hind feet he kicked away the snow and dried leaves from the
trap. Then Sammie could see how he had been fooled. The trap was so
covered up that only the cabbage stump showed, so it is no wonder that
he stepped into it.
The two rabbits tried to get Sammie out, but they could not, because the
trap was too strong.
"What shall we do?" asked Papa Littletail, as he sat down and scratched
his left ear, which he always did when he was worried about anything.
"The trap is fast to a piece of wood by a chain," said Uncle Wiggily
Longears. "We will have to gnaw through the wood, and then take Sammie,
the trap, chain and all, home. Once there, we can call in Dr. Possum,
and he can open the trap and get Sammie's leg out."
So the two big rabbits set to work to gnaw through the wood, to which
the chain of the trap was fastened. Sammie Littletail tried not to cry
from the pain, but some tears did come, and they froze on his face,
close to his little wiggily nose, for it was quite cold.
"I should have given you a lesson about traps," said Uncle Wiggily
Longears; "then perhaps you would not have been caught. I will give you
a lesson to-morrow."
Finally the wood was gnawed through, and Sammie, with his uncle on one
side and his papa on the other, to help him, reached home. The trap was
still on his leg, and he could not go very fast. In fact, the three of
them had to go so slow that a hunter and his dog came after them. They
managed, however, to jump down the hole of the underground house just in
time, and the big dog did not get them. He soon got tired of waiting,
and went away. Then Dr. Possum was sent for, and with his strong tail he
quickly opened the trap, and Sammie was free. But his leg hurt him very
much, and Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy put him in a bed of soft leaves and gave him
some sassafras and elderberry tea. Dr. Possum told Sammie he would have
to stay in the burrow for a week, until his leg was better. Sammie did
not want to, but his mother insisted on it, and to-morrow night I will
tell you an adventure that happened to Susie Littletail, when she went
to the store for some cabbage.
III
WHAT HAPPENED TO SUSIE LITTLETAIL
It was very lonesome for Sammie Littletail to stay in the underground
house for a whole week after he had been caught in the trap. He had to
move about on a crutch, which Uncle Wiggily Longears, that wise old
rabbit, gnawed out of a piece of cornstalk for him.
"Oh, dear, I wish I could go out and play!" exclaimed Sammie one day.
"It's awfully tiresome in here in the dark. I wish I could do
something."
"Would you like a nice, juicy cabbage leaf?" asked Susie.
"Wouldn't I, though!" cried Sammie, "But there isn't any in the pantry.
I heard Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy tell mother so."
"I'll go to the store and get you some," offered his sister. "I know
where it is."
The cabbage store was a big field where Farmer Tooker kept his cabbage
covered with straw during the winter. It was not far from the burrow,
and, though it was not really a store, the rabbits always called it
that. So that was where Susie Littletail went. She scraped the snow off
the straw with her hind feet and kicked the straw away so she could get
at the cabbage. Then she began to gnaw off the sweetest leaves she could
find for her little sick brother. She had broken off quite a number and
was thinking how nice they would be for him, when she suddenly smelled
something strange.
It was not cabbage nor turnips nor carrots that she smelled. Nor was it
sweet clover, nor any smell like that. It was the smell of danger, and
Susie, like all her family, could smell danger quite a distance. This
time she knew it was a man with a dog and a gun who was coming toward
her. For Uncle Wiggily Longears had told her how to know when such a
thing happened.
"Oh, it's some of those horrid hunters; I know it is!" exclaimed Susie.
"I must run home, though I haven't half enough cabbage."
She took the leaves she had gnawed off in her mouth and bounded off
toward the underground house. All at once a dog sprang out of the bushes
at her and the man with the gun shot at her, but he did not hit her. She
was so frightened, however, that she dropped the cabbage leaves and ran
for her life.
Oh, how Susie Littletail did run! She never ran so fast before in all
her life, and, just as the dog was going to grab her, she saw the back
door of her house, and into it she popped like a cork going into a
bottle.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" she cried three times, just like that. "I am safe!" and
she ran to where her brother was, on a bed of leaves.
"Why, Susie!" he called to her. "Whatever is the matter?"
"Yes. Why have you been running so?" asked Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. "What
happened?"
"A big dog chased me," answered Susie. "But I got away."
"Where is my cabbage?" Sammie wanted to know. "I am so hungry for it."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, but I had to drop it," went on Susie. "Oh, Jane
Fuzzy-Wuzzy, is papa home safe. Where is Uncle Wiggily Longears? I hope
neither of them is out, for I'm afraid that hunter and his dog will see
them."
"Your uncle is asleep in his room," said the muskrat nurse. "His
rheumatism hurts him this weather. As for your papa, he has not come
home yet, but I guess he is wise enough to keep out of the way of dogs.
Now don't make any noise, for your mamma is lying down with a headache.
I have a little preserved clover, done up in sugar, put away in the
cupboard, and I will give you some."
"That is better than cabbage," declared Sammie, joyfully.
But, just as Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy went to the cupboard to get the sugared
clover, something ran down into the underground house. It was a long,
thin animal, with a sharp nose, sharper even than Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy's,
and when the nurse saw the curious little beast, she cried out in
fright:
"Oh, run, children! Run!" she screamed. "This is a very dreadful
creature indeed! It is a ferret, but I will drive him out, and he shan't
hurt you!"
Then Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, dropping the pan of potatoes she was
peeling for supper, sprang at the ferret. And to-morrow night, if you
are good children, you shall hear how Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy drove the ferret
from the underground home and saved the bunny children.
IV
PAPA LITTLETAIL'S PICTURE
When Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy called out to the two bunny children to run
away from the ferret, Sammie and Susie were so frightened that they
hardly knew what to. Their mother came into the sitting-room of the
burrow, from the dark bedroom where she had gone to lie down, because of
a headache, and she also was much alarmed. So was Uncle Wiggily
Longears, who was awakened from his nap by the cries of the nurse.
"Run and hide! Run and hide!" called Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, and all the
rabbits ran and hid. The ferret, which was a long, slender animal,
something like a white rat, had been put into the burrow by the hunter,
who stood outside at the back door, hoping the rabbits would run out so
he could shoot them. But they did not. Instead, they went into the
darkest part of the underground house. Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy went
bravely up to the ferret.
"Now you get right out of this house," she said. "We don't want you
here!"
The ferret said nothing, but kept crawling all around, looking for the
rabbits. He was careful to keep away from the muskrat, for, in spite of
her soft name, Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had very sharp teeth.
"Come on, now; get right out of here!" the nurse said again, but the
ferret would not go. He wanted to catch the rabbits. Then the muskrat
jumped right up on his back and bit him quite hard on one of his little
ears. The ferret squealed at this.
Next Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy nipped him on the other ear; not very hard, you
know, but just hard enough to make that ferret wish he had stayed out of
the underground house.
"Now will you go?" asked the nurse.
"Yes," said the ferret, "I will," and he turned around and walked right
out of the house. The hunter was very much surprised when his ferret
appeared without having driven out any rabbits. He could not understand
it.
"Well," he said, "I guess I made a mistake, but I was sure I saw a
rabbit go down that hole. I guess I had better be going." So he called
his dog, put his ferret into his pocket and went away. And, oh, how glad
Sammie and Susie Littletail were!
Pretty soon Papa Littletail came hurrying home. As soon as he entered
the burrow the children noticed that he was rather pale. He said that
he had had a terrible fright, for, as he was on his way home from Mr.
Drake's house, a boy had pointed a big, black thing at him, which
clicked like a gun, but did not make a loud noise. Then Susie told him
about the dog who chased her, and how the ferret had frightened them.
"It is a good thing you were not shot," said Mamma Littletail to her
husband. "I don't know what we would have done if such a dreadful thing
had happened. How terrible boys are!"
"I did have a narrow escape," admitted Papa Littletail. "The boy had a
sort of square, black box, and I'm sure it was filled with bullets. It
had a great, round, shiny eye, that he pointed at me, and, when
something clicked, he cried out, 'There, I have him!' But I did not seem
to be hurt."
"I know what happened to you," said Uncle Wiggily Longears, and he
rubbed his leg that had the worst rheumatism in it. "You had your
picture taken; that's all."
"My picture taken?" repeated Papa Littletail, as he scratched his left
ear, which he always did when he was puzzled.
"That is it," said the children's uncle. "It happened to me once. The
boy had a camera, not a gun. It does not hurt to have your picture
taken. It is not like being shot."
"Then I wish all hunters would take pictures of us, instead of shooting
at us," said Sammie, and Susie also thought it would be much nicer. And
Uncle Wiggily told how lovers of animals often take their pictures, to
put in books and magazines, for little boys and girls to look at.
"Well," said Papa Littletail, "I suppose I should be very proud to have
my picture taken, but I am not the least bit."
Then he gave Sammie some nice pieces of chocolate-covered turnip, which
Mr. Drake had sent to the little boy with the lame leg.
"Do you think I can get out to-morrow?" asked Sammie, after supper. "My
leg is quite well."
"I think so," replied his papa. "I will ask Dr. Possum."
Which he did, and Sammie was allowed to go out. He had a very curious
adventure, too, and I think I shall tell you about it to-morrow night,
if you go to bed early now.
V
SAMMIE LITTLETAIL DIGS A BURROW
Sammie Littletail found that his leg was quite well enough to walk on,
without the cornstalk crutch, so the day after his papa's picture had
been taken, the little rabbit boy started to leave the burrow.
"Come along, Susie," he called to his sister.
"I will also go with you," said Uncle Wiggily Longears. "I will give you
children a few lessons in digging burrows. It is time you learned, for
some day you will want an underground house of your own."
So he led them to a nice place in the big park on top of the mountain,
where the earth was soft, and showed Sammie and Susie how to hollow out
rooms and halls, how to make back and front doors, and many other things
a rabbit should know.
"I think that will be enough of a lesson to-day," said Uncle Wiggily
Longears, after a while. "We will go home, now."
"No," spoke Sammie, "I want to dig some more. It's lots of fun."
"You had better come with us," remarked Susie.
But Sammie would not, though he promised to be home before dark. So
while Uncle Wiggily Longears and Susie Littletail started off, Sammie
continued to dig. He dug and he dug and he dug, until he was a long
distance under ground, and had really made quite a fine burrow for a
little rabbit. All at once he felt a sharp pain in his left fore leg.
"Ouch!" he cried. "Who did that?"
"I did," answered a little, furry creature, all curled up in a hole in
the ground. "What do you mean by digging into my house? Can't you see
where you are going?"
"Of course," answered Sammie, as he looked at his sore leg. "But
couldn't you see me coming, and tell me to stop?"
"No, I couldn't see you," was the reply.
"Why not?"
"Why not? Because I'm blind. I'm a mole, and I can't see; but I get
along just as well as if I did. Now, I suppose I've got to go to work
and mend the hole you made in the side of my parlor. It's a very large
one." The mole, you see, lived underground, just as the rabbits did,
only in a smaller house.
"I'm very sorry," said Sammie.
"That doesn't do much good," spoke the mole, as she began to stop up
the hole Sammie had made. She really did very well for a blind animal,
but then she had been blind so long that she did not know what daylight
looked like. "You had better dig in some other place," the mole
concluded, as she finished stopping up the hole.
Sammie thought so himself, and did so. He went quite deep, and when he
thought he was far enough down, he began digging upward, so as to come
out and make a back door, as his uncle had taught him to do. He dug and
he dug and he dug. All at once his feet burst through the soft soil, and
he found that he had come out on top of the ground. But what a funny
place he was in! It was not at all like the part of the park near his
burrow, and he was a little frightened. There were many tall trees
about, and in one was a big gray squirrel, who sat up and chattered at
the sight of Sammie, as if he had never seen a rabbit before.
"What are you doing here?" asked the squirrel. "Don't you know rabbits
are not allowed here?"
"Why not?" asked Sammie.
"Because there are nice trees about, and the keepers of the park fear
you and your family will gnaw the bark off and spoil them."
"We never spoil trees," declared Sammie, though he just then remembered
that his Uncle, Wiggily Longears, had once said something about
apple-tree bark being very good to eat.
"There's another reason," went on the squirrel, chattering away.
"What is it?" asked Sammie.
"Look over there and you'll see," was the reply, and when Sammie looked,
with his little body half out of the hole he had made, he saw a great
animal, with long horns, coming straight at him. He tried to run back
down the hole, but he found he had not made it large enough to turn
around in.
So Sammie Littletail, frightened as he as at the dreadful animal, had to
jump out of the burrow to get ready to run down it again, and, just as
he did so, the big animal cried out to him:
"Hold on there!"
Sammie shook with fright, and did not dare move. But, after all, the big
animal did not intend to harm him. And what happened, and who the big
animal was I will tell you to-morrow night.
VI
SAMMIE AND SUSIE HELP MRS. WREN
The big animal with the horns came close to Sammie.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I--I don't know," replied the little rabbit boy.
"How did you get here?"
"I was digging a new burrow, and I--I just happened to come out here.
But I'll go right away again, if you'll let me."
"Of course I'll let you. Don't you know it's against the rules of the
park to be here? What do you suppose they have different parts of the
park for, if it isn't to keep you rabbits out of certain places?"
"I'm sure I don't know," was all Sammie could say.
"Do you know who I am?" asked the horned creature.
"No--no, sir."
"Well, I'm a deer."
"My--my mother calls me that, sometimes, when I've been real good," said
Sammie.
"No, I don't mean that kind at all," and the deer tried to smile. "My
name is spelled differently. I'm a cousin of the Santa Claus reindeer.
But you must go now. No rabbits are allowed in the part of the park
where we live. You should not have come," and the deer shook his horns
at Sammie.
"I--I never will again," said the little rabbit boy, and then, before
the deer knew it, Sammie jumped down his new burrow, ran along to the
front door, and darted off toward home.
When he was almost there he saw a little brown bird sitting on a bush,
and the bird seemed calling to him.
"Wait a minute, rabbit," said the bird. "Why are you in such a hurry?"
"Because I saw such a dreadful animal," was Sammie's reply, and he told
about the deer.
"Pooh! Deer are very nice creatures indeed," said the bird. "I used to
know one, and I used to perch on his horns. But what I stopped to ask
you about was whether you know of a nice nest which I could rent for
this spring. You see, I have come up from the South a little earlier
than usual, and I can't find the nest I had last year. It was in a
little wooden house that a nice man built for me, but the wind has blown
it down. I didn't know but what you might have seen a little nest
somewhere."
"No," said Sammie, "I haven't. I am very sorry."
"So am I," went on the little brown bird. "But I must tell you my name.
I am Mrs. Wren."
"Oh, I have heard about you," said the little rabbit.
"Are you sure you don't know of a nest about here?" she asked anxiously.
"I don't want to fly all the way back down South. Suppose you go home
and ask your mother."
"I will," said Sammie. "Don't you want to come, too?"
"Yes, I think I will. Oh, dear! I'm quite hungry. I declare, I had such
an early breakfast, I'm almost starved."
"I know my mother will give you something to eat," said Sammie politely,
"that is, if you like cabbage, carrots and such things."
"Oh, yes, almost anything will do. Now, you go ahead, and I will
follow."
So Sammie Littletail bounced on along the ground, and Mrs. Wren flew
along overhead.
"Where do you live?" she asked Sammie.
"In a burrow."
"What is a burrow?" she inquired.
"Why, it's a house," said Sammie.
"You are mistaken," said the bird, though she spoke politely. "A nest is
the only house there is."
"Well, a burrow is our house," declared Sammie. "You'll see."
He was soon home, and, while the bird waited outside, he went in to ask
his mother if she knew of a nest Mrs. Wren could hire.
"What a funny question!" said Mamma Littletail. "I will go out and see
Mrs. Wren."
So she went out, and the bird asked about a nest. But, as the rabbits
never had any use for them, the bunny knew nothing about such things.
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed the bird. "Wherever shall I stay to-night? Oh,
what trouble I am in."
"You might stay with us to-night," said Mamma Littletail, kindly, "and
look for a nest to-morrow."
"I never lived in a burrow," said Mrs. Wren, "but I will try it," so she
flew down into the underground house, and to-morrow night I am going to
tell you how she did a great kindness to Uncle Wiggily Longears.
VII
UNCLE WIGGILY GETS SHOT
Early the next morning Mrs. Wren, who had spent the night at the home of
the Littletail family, got up. She had some cabbage leaves for her
breakfast, and then started to leave the burrow where the rabbits lived.
"Where are you going?" asked Susie Littletail.
"I must go hunt for a nest," said the little bird. "You see, I want to
begin housekeeping as early as I can this spring, and as there are so
many birds coming up from the South, I want to get a house before all
the best ones are taken."
So, having thanked Sammie Littletail for showing her the way to the
burrow, and also thanking his mamma and papa, the bird flew away. She
promised, however, to come back if she could not find a place.
"That Mrs. Wren is a very nice creature indeed," said Mamma Littletail.
"Indeed she is," agreed Papa Littletail, as he started off to work in
the carrot store, where he was employed as a bookkeeper.
"It is a nice day," said Uncle Wiggily Longears, after a while. "I think
I will go for a walk. It may do my rheumatism good."
"Can I come?" asked Sammie, but his uncle said he thought the little boy
rabbit should stay home. So Sammie did, and he and Susie found a place
where some nice clover was just coming up in a field.
Just before dinner time Uncle Wiggily Longears came limping back to the
burrow. He was running as hard as he could, but that was not very fast.
"Why, Wiggily, whatever has happened?" asked Mrs. Littletail, who had
come to the front door to see if her children were all right. "Is your
rheumatism worse? Why do you limp so?"
"Because," answered Uncle Wiggily Longears, "I have been shot."
"Shot?" cried Mrs. Littletail.
"In the left hind leg," went on Uncle Wiggily. "The same leg that has
the rheumatism so bad. Oh, dear! I wish you would send for Dr. Possum."
"I will, right away. Sammie!" she called, "come and go for Dr. Possum,
for your uncle. He has been shot. How did it happen, Wiggily?"
"Well, I was down in the swamp, looking for some snakeroot, which Mr.
Drake said was good for rheumatism, when a man fired at me. I jumped,
but not in time, and several pieces of lead are in my leg."
"Oh, how dreadful!" cried Mamma Littletail.
In a little while Sammie came back with Dr. Possum.
"Ha! This is bad business," spoke the long-tailed doctor, when he looked
at Uncle Wiggily Longears's leg. "I fear I shall have to operate."
"Anything, so you get the shot out," said the old rabbit.
So Dr. Possum tried to get the leaden pellets out, but he could not,
they were in so deep.
"This is very bad business, indeed," he went on. "I fear I shall have to
take your leg off."
"Will it hurt?" asked Uncle Wiggily Longears.
"Um-er-well, not very much," said the doctor, as he twirled his glasses
on his tail.
Just then, who should come into the burrow but Mrs. Wren. She was very
much surprised to see Uncle Wiggily lying on a bed of soft grass, with
the doctor bending over him.
"What is the matter?" she asked.
"I have been shot," said Uncle Wiggily, "and the doctor cannot get the
bullets out."
"Suppose you let me try," said Mrs. Wren. "I have a very sharp bill, and
I think I can pull them out."
"Then you are a sort of a doctor," said Uncle Wiggily. "Go ahead, and
see what you can do."
"Yes, do," urged Dr. Possum.
So the little brown bird put her beak in the holes in Uncle Wiggily's
leg, where the bullets had gone in, and she pulled every one out. It
hurt a little, but Uncle Wiggily did not make a fuss.
"There," said Mrs. Wren, "that is done."
Then Dr. Possum put some salve on the leg and bound it up, promising to
come in next day to see how Uncle Wiggily was getting on.
"Did you find a nest-house?" asked Mamma Littletail of the bird.
"No," was the answer, "I think I shall have to stay with you another
night, if you will let me. Perhaps I shall find a nest to-morrow."
So she stayed with the Littletail family another night, and to-morrow
night I will tell you how she found a nest.
VIII
SUSIE AND SAMMIE FIND A NEST
Sammie Littletail was up early the next morning. He had not slept very
well, for Uncle Wiggily Longears had groaned very much because of the
pain in his leg where he was shot. Sammie thought if he got up early,
and went for some nice, fresh carrots for his uncle, it would make the
old rabbit feel better.
While Sammie was digging up some carrots, in a field not far from the
burrow where he lived, he saw the same gray squirrel that had warned him
about not going into the deer park.
"What are you doing now?" asked the squirrel. "It seems to me you are
always doing something."
"I am digging carrots for Uncle Wiggily Longears that was shot," said
Sammie.
"That is a very nice thing to do," the gray squirrel said. "You are a
better boy rabbit than I thought you were."
"What are you doing here?" Sammie asked the squirrel.
"Me? Oh, I am moving into a new nest. I am getting ready for spring."
"A new nest!" exclaimed Sammie, and, all at once, he thought of Mrs.
Wren, who could not find a nest-house to live in. "What are you going to
do with your old nest?" the little boy rabbit asked.
"Why leave it, to be sure. I never move my nest."
"Don't you want it any more?"
"Not in the least. I am through with it."
"May I have it?" asked Sammie, very politely.
"You? What can a rabbit do with a nest in a tree? They live in burrows."
"I know that," Sammie admitted. "I was not asking for myself," and then
he told the squirrel about Mrs. Wren. "May she have your old nest?" he
asked.
"Why, yes, if she likes it," the squirrel replied. "Only I am afraid she
will find it rather large for such a little bird."
"I will hurry home and tell her," spoke Sammie.
"All right. Tell her she can move in any time she likes," called the
gray squirrel after Sammie, who, filling his forepaws with carrots,
started off toward home as fast as he could run. He found Mamma
Littletail getting breakfast, and at once told her the good news. Then
he told Mrs. Wren, who had gotten up early to get the early worm that
always gets up before the alarm clock goes off.
"I will go and look at the nest at once," said the little bird. "I am
very much obliged to you, Sammie. Where is it?"
"Susie and I will show you," spoke the little boy rabbit. "Only we
cannot go all the way, because rabbits are not allowed in the deer park.
But I can point it out to you."
So, after breakfast, Sammie and Susie started off. They ran on the
ground and the little brown bird flew along over their heads. She went
so much faster than they did that she had to stop every once in a while
and wait for them. But at last they got to the place where they could
see the deserted squirrel nest.
"There it is," said Sammie, pointing to it.
"So I observe," said the bird. "I will fly up and look at it," which
she did. She was gone some time, and when she flew back to the ground,
where Sammie and Susie were waiting for her, the children asked:
"Did you like it?"
"I think it will do very well," replied Mrs. Wren. "It is a little
larger than I need, and there are not the improvements I am used to.
There is no hot and cold water and no bathroom, but then I suppose I can
bathe in the brook, so that is no objection. There is no roof to it,
though."
"No roof?" repeated Sammie.
"No. You see, squirrels never have one such as I am used to, but when my
family comes from the South we can build one. I will take the nest, and
I hope you bunnies will come to see me sometimes, when I am settled, and
have the carpets down."
"We can't climb trees," objected Susie.
"That's so--you can't," admitted Mrs. Wren. "Never mind, I can fly down
and see you. Now I think I will begin to clean out the nest, for the
squirrels have left a lot of nutshells in it."
So she began to clean out the nest, and Susie and Sammie started home.
But, before they got there something happened, and what it was I will
tell you, perhaps, to-morrow night, if the rooster doesn't crow and wake
me up.
IX
SAMMIE LITTLETAIL FALLS IN
When Sammie Littletail and his sister Susie went off toward the
underground house, after they had shown Mrs. Wren where she could get
the squirrel's old nest for a home, they felt very happy. They ran
along, jumping over stones, leaping through the grass that was beginning
to get very green, and had a jolly time.
"I wonder what makes me feel so good?" said Sammie to his sister. "It's
just as if Christmas was coming, or something like that; yet it isn't. I
don't know what it is."
"I know," spoke Susie, who was very wise for a little bunny-rabbit girl.
"What is it?" asked Sammie, as he paused to nibble at a sweet root that
was sticking out of the ground.
"It is because we have been kind to somebody," went on Susie Littletail.
"We did the little brown bird a kindness in showing her the squirrel's
nest where she could go to housekeeping, and that's what makes us
happy."
"Are you sure?" asked Sammie.
"Yes," said Susie; "I am," and she sat up on her hind legs and sniffed
the air to see if there was any danger about. "You always feel good when
you do any one a kindness," she went on. "Once I wanted to go out and
play, and I couldn't, because Nurse Fuzzy-Wuzzy was away and mamma had a
headache. So I stayed home and made mamma some cabbage-leaf tea, and she
felt better, and I was happy then, just as we are now."
"Well, maybe that's it," admitted Sammie Littletail. "I am glad Mrs.
Wren has a nice home, anyhow. But I wouldn't like to live away up in a
tree, would you?"
"No, indeed. I would be afraid when the wind blew and the nest shook."
"It is ever so much nicer underground in our burrow," continued Sammie.
"It certainly is," agreed Susie, "but I s'pose that a bird would not
like that. They seem to want to be high up in the air. But I don't like
it. Once I went away up on top of Farmer Tooker's woodpile, because his
gray cat chased me, and when I looked down I was very dizzy, and it was
not as high as a tree."
So the two bunny children hurried along, talking of many things, and,
now and then, finding some nice sweet roots, or juicy leaves, which they
ate. They paused every once in a while to look over the tops of little
hills to discover if any dogs or hunters or ferrets were in sight, for
they did not want to be caught.
At length they came to a little brook that was not far from their home.
The edge of the stream had ice on it, for, though spring was
approaching, the weather was still cold.
"Ah! There is some ice. I am going to have a slide!" Sammie shouted.
"You had better not!" cautioned his sister. "You might fall in."
"I will keep close to the shore," promised her brother, and he took a
run and slid along the ice. "Come on!" he cried. "It's fun, Susie."
The little bunny girl was just going to walk out on the ice, when
Sammie, who had taken an extra long run, slid right off the ice and into
the water.
"Oh! Oh, Susie!" he screamed. "I've fallen in! Help me out!"
"What shall I do?" asked his sister, and she stood up on her hind legs
and waved her little paws in the air.
"Get a stick and let me grab it!" called Sammie. "But don't come too
close, or you may fall in, too," for Sammie was very fond of his sister,
and did not want her to get hurt. He clung to the edge of the ice, and
shivered in the cold water, while, with her teeth, Susie gnawed a branch
from a tree. The branch she held out to her brother, who grasped it in
his mouth and was soon pulled up on shore. But, oh, how he shivered! And
how his fur was plastered down all over him, just like a cat when it
falls in the bathtub. But I hope none of you children ever put pussy in
there.
"You must run home at once," said Susie, "and drink some hot sassafras
tea, so you won't take cold. Come on, I'll run with you."
So they started off, running, leaping and bounding, and by the time they
got to their burrow, Sammie was quite warm. Down the front door hole
they plunged, and, as soon as Sammie's mother saw him, she cried out:
"Why, Sammie! You've been in swimming! Didn't I tell you never to go in
swimming?"
"I haven't been swimming, mother," said Sammie.
"Yes, you have; your hair is all wet," she answered.
Then Sammie told how he had fallen in. Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old
rabbit, heard him, and said he guessed he would have to give Sammie and
Susie some lessons in swimming, and if you are good, I will tell you
to-morrow night what happened on that occasion.
X
JANE FUZZY-WUZZY GIVES A LESSON
Uncle Wiggily Longears was a very wise old rabbit. He had lived so long,
and had escaped so many dogs and hunters, year after year, that he knew
about all a rabbit can know. Of course, that may not be so very much,
but it was a good deal for Uncle Wiggily Longears. So the day after
Sammie came home from having fallen in the brook the old rabbit got
ready to give Sammie and Susie Littletail their swimming lesson.
"You will want to know how to get out of the water when you fall in," he
said. "You come with me, and I will show you. It is not very cold out,
and I will give you a short lesson."
"Be careful not to let them drown," cautioned Mamma Littletail.
"I will," promised Uncle Wiggily Longears, and he started from the
burrow, followed by the two bunny children. But, just as their uncle got
out of the front door he was seized with a sharp spasm of rheumatism.
"Oh! oh! oh, dear!" he cried three times, just like that.
"What is the matter?" asked Sammie.
"Rheumatism," answered Uncle Wiggily Longears, and he put his left front
paw on his left hind leg. "I have it very bad. I don't believe I would
dare go in the water with you children to-day. We will have to wait. Yet
I don't like to, as you ought to learn to swim. I wonder if you could
learn if I stood on the bank and told you what to do?"
"I think it would be much better if you could come into the water and
show us," said Susie.
"Yes, of course it would," admitted Uncle Wiggily Longears. "Of course
it would, my dear, only you see--ouch! Oh, me! Oh, my!" and poor Uncle
Wiggily Longears wrinkled his nose and made it twinkle like a star on a
frosty night, and he wiggled his ears to and fro. "Oh, that was a
terrible sharp pain," he said. "I don't believe I'd better go, children.
I'm awfully sorry----"
"Let me take the children and show them how to swim," said Nurse Jane
Fuzzy-Wuzzy, who had just finished peeling the potatoes for dinner. She
could peel them very nicely with her long, sharp front teeth, which were
just like a chisel that a carpenter uses.
"Yes, I guess you could teach them," said Uncle Wiggily, as he rubbed
his leg softly. "You are a much better swimmer than I am; but can you
spare the time from the housework?"
You see, Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had to do all the housework for the Littletail
family, but, as she was a very good muskrat, she was able to do it, and
she often had time to spare, so she answered:
"Yes, I can just as well go as not, for I have the dinner on the stove,
and Mr. Littletail will not be home to lunch. I will give the children a
swimming lesson. It will not take long."
"Well," spoke Uncle Wiggily Longears, "I wish you would. I must go and
get something for my rheumatism."
"You had better try a hot cabbage leaf," said Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. "I have
heard that is good."
"I will," said the old rabbit, and he crawled back down into the
burrow, while Susie and Sammie, with Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, went on to
the brook.
The muskrat was a very good swimmer, indeed, and as soon as she reached
the water she plunged in and swam about, to show Sammie and Susie how it
ought to be done. She dived, and she shot across; she swam on her side,
and in the ordinary way. In fact, she swam in a number of ways that you
and I could not. At length she swam entirely under water for some
distance, and the bunny children were afraid she was drowned, but she
came up smiling, showing her sharp teeth, and explained that this was
one of the ways she used to escape from dogs, boys and other enemies.
Then the nurse-muskrat gave the bunny children their lesson. She had
little trouble in teaching them, as they learned quickly. She was just
showing them how to float along with only the tip of the nose showing,
in order to keep out of sight, when suddenly there was a noise on the
bank.
No, it was not some one after the bunny rabbit children's clothes, for
they had left them at home when they went to take a lesson. But it was a
number of boys with a dog, who were making the noise. As soon as the
boys saw the rabbits and the rat they gathered up a lot of stones, and
one boy cried out:
"Oh, look there! Two rabbits and a muskrat! Let's catch them, and sell
their skins!"
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Susie, who was very much frightened. "Whatever
shall we do?"
"Don't be alarmed," said Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, calmly, as she started
to swim down stream. "Just follow me; swim as I do, with only your nose
out, and I will save you." The boys ran along the bank, throwing stones
at the little creatures, and the dog barked, and to-morrow night I will
tell you how Sammie and Susie got away and were saved by Jane
Fuzzy-Wuzzy, that is if you think you would care to hear the story.
XI
SAMMIE'S AND SUSIE'S TERRIBLE TIME
You may be sure the two Littletail children were very much frightened
when they were floating down the stream behind Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy,
with the boys on the bank throwing stones at them, and the dog barking
as hard as he could bark.
"Sic the dog in the water after them," called one boy.
"Naw! This dog doesn't like water," said the boy who owned it. "We'll
hit 'em with stones, and then poke 'em out with sticks."
Oh, how Sammie and Susie shuddered when they heard those words! They did
not know Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy was going to save them. The muskrat looked
around to see how the children were swimming.
"Don't be afraid," she called, but of course the boys could not
understand what she said. The dog could, being an animal and
understanding animal talk, but the dog couldn't tell the boys.
"Don't be afraid," said the nurse. "Sammie, keep your head under more.
Susie, strike out harder with your forepaws."
The two bunny children did as they were told. Just then a stone came
very close to Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, and she went completely beneath the
water.
"The muskrat's gone!" cried a boy.
"No," said another, "it can swim under water. But don't bother with the
rabbits. They're little, and their fur isn't much good. Kill the
muskrat, for we can get fifty cents for the skin."
"Oh, how mean boys are!" thought Susie Littletail. "To talk about
selling poor Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy's skin! Aren't they terrible!"
The boys now gave all their attention to throwing stones at the muskrat,
but she was very wise, and kept under water as much as possible, so they
could not hit her. They did not throw at Sammie or Susie. Presently Jane
Fuzzy-Wuzzy swam backward under water and came up near Sammie. She put
her sharp nose close to his ear and whispered:
"Down stream a little way is a burrow where I used to live. The front
door is under water, but if you hold your breath you can dive down, get
in and come up in the dry part. Then you can dig a way out in a field,
and we can go home, and escape the boys."
Jane told the same thing to Susie, and, pretty soon, when they came to
the place, the two bunny children took a long breath, and dived down
under water. Sammie and Susie took hold of the long tail of Jane
Fuzzy-Wuzzy to guide them in the dark, and, though it seemed a terrible
thing not to breathe under water, the three suddenly found themselves in
a little underground house, much like their own, where they could
breathe again.
"Now we are safe!" exclaimed the muskrat. "Just dig a back door and you
can get out."
So Sammie and Susie did so, and, pretty soon, they found themselves in a
nice field, some distance back from the water. They could see the boys
and their dog still watching near the bank to catch Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy,
and the boys never knew how the muskrat and the rabbit children escaped.
"My! but that was exciting," said Sammie, when they were on their way
home.
"Indeed it was," agreed Susie. "I'm so frightened that I have almost
forgotten how to swim."
"It will all come back to you the next time you go in the water," said
Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. "But I must hurry home now, or dinner will be late."
They got to the burrow without anything more happening. Mamma Littletail
and Uncle Wiggily Longears were much alarmed when told about the narrow
escape.
"Those boys!" cried the old rabbit. "If I wasn't laid up with
rheumatism, I'd show them!" and he snapped his teeth in quite a savage
manner indeed, for a rabbit can get angry at times.
After dinner Mamma Littletail asked Sammie and Susie to go to the
cabbage-field store for her, but, as Sammie wanted to stay home and
make a whistle out of a carrot, Susie went alone. As she was walking
along under a big tree, she heard a noise in the branches, and, looking
up, she saw a number of squirrels. One was the squirrel who had given
her old nest to Mrs. Wren. The little gray chaps were running about,
seemingly much excited over something. Presently they all scampered
down, and Susie saw that they had their mouths full of nuts. They put
them on the ground in a little heap, and then the little bunny girl
noticed that there was, nearby, an old stump, and it was set just like a
table, with dried leaves for plates, and the tops of acorns for cups.
"What is going on here?" Susie asked the squirrel whom she knew.
"I am giving a party in honor of having moved into my new nest," said
the squirrel. "Wouldn't you like to come?"
"Yes," said Susie very politely, "I would like very much to."
"Then," said the squirrel, "hop up on the stump, and I will get an extra
plate for you." Susie did so. It was the first party she had ever
attended, but I can't tell you what happened until to-morrow.
XII
SUSIE GOES TO A PARTY
Up and down the big oak tree scampered the squirrels, bringing nuts and
acorns from hollows, where they had been hidden all winter.
"Hey, Bushytail!" cried the squirrel whom Susie knew, addressing another
who was on the ground at the foot of the stump, "bring up a big leaf."
"What do you want with a big leaf?" inquired the squirrel who was called
Bushytail.
"Susie Littletail is going to stay to the party," replied the squirrel
who was giving it, "and I want the leaf for a plate for her. She will
need a large one."
Up the old stump climbed Bushytail with the leaf in his mouth, and he
put it in a vacant place. The stump was quite large enough for the
squirrels and rabbit to move about upon and still leave room for the
table to be set. Susie saw the squirrels placing nut meats on the
different plates and putting oak-leaf tea into the acorn cups. Suddenly
the squirrel whom Susie knew and whose name was Mrs. Lightfoot,
exclaimed:
"There! I never thought of that!"
"Thought of what?" asked Susie.
"Why, we haven't anything that you like to eat. You don't care for nuts,
do you?"
"Not very much," answered Susie, who wanted to be polite, yet she still
wanted to tell the truth.
"I thought so," spoke Mrs. Lightfoot. "Whatever shall I do? I've asked
you to the party and now there is nothing you like. It's too bad, for I
want you to have a good time!"
"I--I could go to the cabbage-field store and get some leaves, and I
could bring some carrots and eat them," suggested Susie.
"Yes, but it wouldn't be right to ask you to a party and then have you
bring your own things to eat," objected Mrs. Lightfoot.
"That's what they do at surprise parties," went on Susie, who had heard
Uncle Wiggily Longears tell of one he once attended. It was given by a
chipmunk.
"Yes, but this isn't a surprise party," said Mrs. Lightfoot. "I don't
know what to do."