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[Illustration: Candy Rabbit Looks Into the Large Egg.
_Frontispiece_--(_Page_ 2)]
_MAKE BELIEVE STORIES_
(Trademark Registered)
THE STORY OF A
CANDY
RABBIT
BY
LAURA LEE HOPE
AUTHOR OF "THE STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL," "THE
STORY OF A BOLD TIN SOLDIER," "THE BOBBSEY TWINS
SERIES," "THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES," "THE SIX LITTLE
BUNKERS SERIES," ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY
HARRY L. SMITH
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
Made in the United States of America
=BOOKS BY LAURA LEE HOPE=
Durably bound. Illustrated.
=MAKE BELIEVE STORIES=
THE STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL
THE STORY OF A WHITE ROCKING HORSE
THE STORY OF A LAMB ON WHEELS
THE STORY OF A BOLD TIN SOLDIER
THE STORY OF A CANDY RABBIT
THE STORY OF A MONKEY ON A STICK
THE STORY OF A CALICO CLOWN
=THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES=
THE BOBBSEY TWINS
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN WASHINGTON
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST
=THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES=
=THE SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES=
=THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES=
GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY GROSSET & DUNLAP
THE STORY OF A CANDY RABBIT
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I IS HE IN FAIRYLAND? 1
II THE RABBIT'S NEW HOME 13
III THE BAD CAT 27
IV UP IN THE AIR 38
V THE ORGAN GRINDER 50
VI THE PEDDLER'S BASKET 65
VII IN THE BATHTUB 74
VIII IN A WHEELBARROW 84
IX AT THE PARTY 94
X IN A BOY'S POCKET 107
THE STORY OF
A CANDY RABBIT
CHAPTER I
IS HE IN FAIRYLAND?
The Candy Rabbit sat up on his hind legs and looked around. Then he
rubbed his pink glass eyes with his front paws. He rubbed his eyes once,
he rubbed them twice, he rubbed them three times.
"No, I am not asleep! I am not dreaming," said the Candy Rabbit,
speaking to himself in a low voice. "I am wide awake, but what strange
things I see! I wonder what it all means!"
On one side of the Candy Rabbit was a large egg. It was larger than any
egg the Candy Rabbit had ever seen, and there was a little glass window
in one end of the egg.
"This is very strange," said the sweet chap, rubbing his eyes again.
"Who ever heard of an egg with a window in it? I wonder if any one lives
in that egg? It is not large enough for a house, of course; but still,
some very little folk might stay in it. I'll take a look through that
window."
The Candy Rabbit gave three hops and stood closer to the large egg. It
glittered and sparkled in the light as newly fallen snow glitters under
the moon. The Candy Rabbit looked in through the glass window, and what
he saw inside the egg made him wonder more and more.
For he saw a church and some houses, a path leading over a little brook
of water, and on the bank of the brook stood a little boy fishing.
"Well, I do declare!" exclaimed the Candy Rabbit. "Think of all those
things inside an egg--a church, a house and a little boy! I wonder what
has happened to me! Yesterday I was on the toy counter, with the Calico
Clown and the Monkey on a Stick, and to-day I seem to be in Fairyland. I
wonder if this really is Fairyland? I guess I'd better look around some
more."
He glanced again through the little glass window in the egg, and he
thought he saw the little boy on the bank of the brook smiling at him.
And the Candy Rabbit smiled back. Then the Bunny turned around and he
saw, near him, a big chocolate egg. It was covered with twists and
curlicues of sugar and candy, and in the end of this egg, also, was a
glass window.
"Well, this certainly is surprising!" exclaimed the Candy Rabbit. "I
wonder what I can see through that window!"
He looked and saw a little duck and a little chicken inside the
chocolate egg. The little chicken was on one end of a small seesaw, and
the little duck was on the other end. And as the Candy Rabbit looked
through the glass window, he saw the seesaw begin to go up and down.
The Candy Rabbit shook his head. Once more he rubbed his paws over his
pink glass eyes.
"I have heard of many strange things," he said to himself. "The Sawdust
Doll told some of her queer adventures, and so did the White Rocking
Horse and the Bold Tin Soldier. But never, in all my life, did I ever
see a chocolate egg with a glass window and a little chicken and a duck
inside seesawing and teeter-tautering! I think I had better go to the
doctor's, something must be the matter with me!"
"What's the matter with you?" suddenly asked a voice behind the Candy
Rabbit. The sweet chap turned so quickly that he almost cracked one of
his sugary ears. He saw, just back of him, a real fuzzy, furry rabbit.
At least the rabbit seemed real, for his ears slowly moved backward and
forward, his head turned from side to side, and, every now and then, he
would rise on his hind legs and then crouch down again.
"What's the matter with you?" asked this Fuzzy Bunny of the Candy
Rabbit.
"I--I really don't know what is the matter," was the answer.
"You seem to be all right," went on the other rabbit, as he slowly
turned his head and bobbed up and down.
"Yes, I seem to be," said the Candy Rabbit, feeling his head and body
as far as he could reach, as if to make sure no part of him was broken,
or lost, or out of place. "But can you tell me this?" he asked. "A
little while ago I was on the toy counter of this store with the Calico
Clown and the Monkey on a Stick. And now I seem to be in Fairyland. Tell
me, am I dreaming, or is this really Fairyland, where eggs have windows
in them and hold little chickens and ducks who seesaw?"
The other Rabbit smiled, and kept on bobbing up and down, waving his
ears and turning his head from side to side.
"Oh, please stop that and answer me if you can," begged the Candy
Rabbit, in rather a sharp voice. "Why do you do that?"
"I have to," was the answer. "I have to keep on doing this until I run
down."
"Run down where?" asked the Candy Rabbit.
"I mean until the clock-work inside me runs down," explained the Fuzzy
Rabbit. "You see, I am wound up, and when I am wound I have to rise up
and stoop down on my hind legs. I have to twist my head and wiggle my
ears. I'll go on this way for half an hour more. But don't let that
bother you. I can still talk, and I'm glad you're here. You're some
company. These eggs never say anything," and with his ears he pointed to
the chocolate one and the glittery one, each of which had glass windows.
"Ask him how he likes it here," suggested a voice on the other side of
the Candy Rabbit. Turning, he saw a big chocolate chap, almost like
himself, except that this Rabbit was very dark in color.
The Chocolate Rabbit waved his ears in a kind way at the Candy Bunny,
and went on:
"How do you like it here?"
The Candy Rabbit gave another look around, and the more he looked the
more certain he was that he was in Fairyland. Over at one end of what
seemed to be a table he saw a little chicken harnessed to a tiny wagon,
made from what appeared to be an egg shell, and a little doll sat in the
egg-shell carriage, driving the chicken with little silk ribbon horse
reins.
Turning around, so that he might not miss anything, the sweet fellow saw
a large basket of flowers, and, nestled in among the blossoms, were some
Candy Rabbits like himself, only smaller. Over in one corner were piled
some cards, with pretty pictures on them, and near them was a small
basket, filled with what seemed to be green grass, in which were hidden
many small candy eggs.
"Yes, this surely must be Fairyland, and I know I shall like it here,"
said the Candy Rabbit, speaking half aloud. "But how did I get here, and
where are the Calico Clown and the Monkey on a Stick?"
"Oh, they are not so far away," answered the Fuzzy Rabbit. "And you are
not really in Fairyland, though this does seem like it, I suppose," and
his eyes roved over the gay and pretty scene.
"Then where am I?" asked the Candy Rabbit again. "If this isn't
Fairyland, where am I?"
The Chocolate Rabbit grinned.
"You are on the Easter Novelty Counter," was the Fuzzy Rabbit's answer.
"Where in the world is that?" asked the Candy Rabbit. "Is it anywhere
near the North Pole Workshop of Santa Claus?"
The Chocolate Rabbit gave a loud laugh.
"He doesn't even know his own store," said this dark-complexioned chap.
"Why, my dear fellow," he went on, "the Easter Novelty Counter is just
around the corner from the toy section, where you have lived so long.
The Calico Clown, the Monkey on a Stick and the other friends you speak
of are there. You are not very far away from them."
"That's good," said the Candy Rabbit. "But why am I on the Easter
Novelty Counter, and how did I get here?"
"You were put here because this is Easter time," answered the Chocolate
Rabbit.
"But I don't remember coming here," said the Candy Rabbit.
"No," said the Fuzzy Rabbit with the clock-work inside him, which made
him turn about and bow, "I dare say not. You were asleep when one of the
girl clerks from your counter brought you over here. But we are glad to
have you among us."
Just then it began to get light, for all this talk had taken place in
the night, when only a dim light burned in the toy store. And with the
coming of morning the clerks arrived, and also the customers to buy
Easter novelties and other things.
The Fuzzy Rabbit stopped waving his ears and became quiet. The Candy
Rabbit no longer talked to the Chocolate Bunny. A girl clerk led a lady,
in a warm fur coat, over toward the counter.
"Here are some fine Easter presents," said the girl. "We have rabbits of
all kinds."
"I want a large one for a little girl," said the lady. "I promised to
send Madeline a nice Bunny." And then the Candy Rabbit felt himself
being picked up and looked at.
"Oh, I wonder what is going to happen?" he thought.
The lady in the fur cloak turned the Candy Rabbit around and around, and
even upside down, looking carefully at him.