When Susan’s mother saw Susan, she laughed and she cried. Then she put
Susan to bed, and there the poor little rabbit stayed for a week, and
then it was time for school to begin.
When Bunny’s mother saw him, she switched him with a little maple
switch, and sat him up in the corner until he told the whole story.
Bunny ran away so much, you see, that his mother was quite used to it,
while Susan was a good rabbit and had never before run away from home.
The week passed, and then Bunny’s mother said Bunny must go to school.
For rabbits have to go to school if they want to learn anything, of
course!
So she put up a nice little lunch for Bunny, and gave his coat an extra
brush. She brushed him so hard that he cried a little, and went down
the road with his dinner pail on his arm, brushing the tears away with
his sore paw!
Bunny never did like to go to school very well, so when he stopped
crying, and found that he had taken the wrong road and was going into
the woods, he was not sorry at all.
He went on a little way and saw some squirrels. They seemed to be
having a very good time, and Bunny sat down to watch them at their
play. Then he opened his basket and began to eat his lunch, for he was
always hungry.
He was so tired then, after his long tramp, that he fell asleep, and he
never opened his eyes until he heard a soft “tinkle, tinkle, tinkle.”
He opened his eyes, and there stood Susan Cotton-Tail, smiling at him.
Bunny did not know where he was, at first, but he rubbed his eyes
hard, and then he asked Susan where she had got the dear little bell
that hung around her neck. Susan said it was a reward given her by her
teacher for good behavior. Then Bunny was sorry that he had not gone
to school, for he liked the “tinkle, tinkle” of that bell.
Susan said that all the rabbits were out looking for Bunny, and that
they thought him very naughty.
When Bunny got home, he said that he would go to school now every day
if Susan might stop for him. It worked well for a week, then that
naughty Bunny got up early and went down to watch the little fishes
swimming in the brook. All the rabbits went out to look for him and
found him and took him home, as before.
That night Mother Cotton-Tail sat by the fire a long time, thinking.
Presently, she crept softly out of the house, shutting the door behind
her.
[Illustration:
Mother Bunny Cotton-Tail
Seeks Mr. Owl, you see,
And little Bunny Cotton-Tail
Is scared as scared can be.]