FLOP EAR FINDS SOMETHING
Along through the woods ran Flop Ear, the funny rabbit. Every now and
then he would look over his shoulder, to see if there was a storm
coming up. For sometimes it thundered away off on the other side of the
mountain, and it would be a good while before the rain came near the
rabbit house. But this time not a cloud came into the sky, and the loud
banging noise did not sound again.
“If that was thunder, it was a very queer kind,” Flop Ear said to
himself. “I never before heard any like it.”
Along he hopped, going faster and faster, until, a little way ahead of
him in the woods, he saw his brother Pink Nose.
“Hello!” cried Pink Nose. “Why are you running so fast?”
“Because I heard a funny noise,” answered Flop Ear, “and I want to tell
mother and father about it.”
“I don’t hear any noise,” said Pink Nose.
He sat up on his hind legs and listened, as all rabbits do.
“No, I can’t hear it now, either,” said Flop Ear. “But I heard it very
plainly a while ago. Come on, let’s run. It may be danger!”
So Flop Ear and Pink Nose ran along together, until, in a little while,
not far from their home, they saw Snuggle, who was poking about among
the leaves.
“What are you looking for, Snuggle?” asked Flop Ear.
“For some sweet roots to eat,” answered the little sister rabbit. “But
why are you two running?” she asked, in bunny language.
“Flop Ear heard a funny noise,” said Pink Nose. “He is going to tell
papa and mamma about it, and I am going with him.”
“It may be a danger-noise, such as Grandma Munch tells about,” added
Flop Ear.
“If it’s danger I’m not going to stay here,” Snuggle cried. “I’ll go
with you.”
So the three little rabbits ran along together, and they soon reached
the underground house. Lady Munch was sitting at the front door,
looking all around. She had just finished making up the leaf-beds, and
she wanted to come out in the air.
“Why, what is the matter, children?” she asked, as she saw Flop Ear,
Pink Nose and Snuggle running toward her. “What has happened?”
“Flop Ear heard a queer noise!” cried Snuggle and Pink Nose together.
“What sort of a noise was it?” asked Lady Munch, chewing on a bit of
carrot.
“It was a loud noise,” answered Flop Ear. “It went: ‘Bang! Bang!’ two
times, just like that.”
“Oh, my goodness!” cried Lady Munch. “I know what that noise was!
Quick! Down into the burrow, all of you!”
She fairly pushed the three rabbit children into the hole in the
ground, and then she ran down herself.
“Oh, I do hope your father and mother are safe!” said Lady Munch when
they were all in the underground house. “I wish they were home!”
“Why, was that noise so dangerous?” asked Pink Nose.
“Was it thunder?” Flop Ear demanded.
“Indeed it was a dangerous noise, and it was not thunder,” said the
grandmother. “It was a hunter man, shooting a gun. Well I know that
sound. I have been shot at many times. It’s a good thing you were not
shot, Flop Ear.”
“A hunter man with a gun! Was that what made the noise?” asked Snuggle,
and she cuddled up close to her nice grandmother.
“That’s what it was,” went on the old lady rabbit. “There are hunters
in our woods; but, so far, none of them has come near our home. And I
hope they do not.”
“Then I did right to run away from the noise; did I, Grandmother?”
asked Flop Ear.
“You certainly did, little boy. Always run when you hear that
gun-banging noise. I hope your father and mother will be able to run
away from it. I wish they were home.”
Just then there was a sound at the door of the underground house, and
the rabbits in it were much afraid, until they saw it was Mrs. Bunny
coming home.
“Oh, I am _so_ glad you are safe!” exclaimed Lady Munch. “Did you see
anything of Mr. Bunny?”
“Why no, I didn’t,” answered Mrs. Bunny. “I was out looking for some
cabbage, but I could not find any. But what is the matter, and why are
you all so frightened?”
“Flop Ear heard a gun-shooting noise,” answered Pink Nose.
“That means there are hunters in the woods,” added Lady Munch. “Oh, I
do hope Mr. Bunny will get home safely.”
Just then came another sound at the door of the underground house,
and every one was frightened until it was seen that it was Mr. Bunny
himself coming home. And he came in a hurry, too.
“Oh, my! Such a time!” panted the father rabbit, lying down on a pile
of soft leaves. “Such a time!”
“I had a time, too,” Flop Ear said. “I heard a gun-banging noise in the
woods, and I ran home.”
“I heard it too!” said his father. “That is why I ran. A hunter man
shot his gun at me, but he did not hit me.”
“Oh, I am _so_ glad of that!” exclaimed Mrs. Bunny. “If you should be
shot and killed I don’t know what we would do.”
“We must all stay down here underground until night,” said Lady Munch,
who, being an old rabbit, knew much about keeping out of danger. “When
it is night the hunter will have gone home, and it will be safe for us
to go out.”
So the rabbits stayed down in their underground house, listening for
another sound of the gun, which Flop Ear, hearing for the first time
in his life, had thought was thunder. But the hunter did not find the
rabbit burrow, and no more banging sounds were heard. After a while Mr.
Bunny poked his head a little way out of the hole.
“Is it all right?” Flop Ear asked.
“Yes, it’s all right now,” answered the papa bunny. “It is getting
dark, and we can soon go out and get something to eat.”
So the rabbits did, and no hunter shot them that time.
For a week after that, every time Flop Ear, Snuggle and Pink Nose
went out in the woods they would listen for any sound that might be a
hunter’s gun. Once Flop Ear thought he heard it, and he ran. But this
time it was really thunder, and soon it rained and he had to hurry
home, getting all wet. But with his thick fur he did not mind.
“It is hard to tell a hunter’s gun from thunder,” thought Flop Ear.
Not far from where Flop Ear lived in the wood was a farm, and on the
farm was a pig pen. Once when there were none of the farm people about
Flop Ear and Pink Nose went close to the pig pen. They could look in
through the cracks of the board pen and see nine pigs.
Two of the pigs were large and the other seven were small. And one
little pig had a funny, squinting eye, so that when he looked out at
Flop Ear and Pink Nose they had to laugh.
“What are you laughing at?” asked the little pig, who could speak the
language understood by all animals. “What is the matter?”
“It is you,” answered Flop Ear. “You have such a funny squint.”
“Well, Squinty is my name,” said the little pig. “They name me that
because of my eye. Don’t you like it?”
“Oh, yes,” answered Pink Nose. “I think it’s a pretty name.”
“And we didn’t really mean to laugh at you,” exclaimed Flop Ear. “You
see, I have a funny ear, and I am named after that.”
“Oh, I don’t mind being laughed at,” Squinty said quickly. “I am used
to it. Whenever the folks come and look down in my pen they laugh at me
too.”
“And my rabbit friends laugh at me,” said Flop Ear, “so it is all the
same.”
“Do you like it in the pen?” asked Pink Nose. “It seems so open, where
every one can look in on you.”
“Oh, yes, we all like it here,” said Squinty. “We have lots of fun.
We play, and scratch each others’ backs. Did you ever have your back
scratched, little rabbits?”
“Oh, no, never,” said Flop Ear. “But sometimes mother rubs my ears, and
I like that.”
“I guess it’s all the same,” Squinty said, trying to turn around to
look at the curl in his tail.
Then the bunnies said good-by to the little pigs, and ran on. But if
you would like to know more about Squinty you may read of him in a book
like this one, named “Squinty, the Comical Pig; His Many Adventures.”
[Illustration: “And we really didn’t mean to laugh at you,” said Flop
Ear.]
“I shouldn’t like to be a pig; should you?” asked Flop Ear of his
brother Pink Nose, as they hopped along together.
“I don’t believe I should,” answered the other bunny. “I think it is
more fun to be a rabbit.”
Flop Ear lived with his brother, his sister, his father, mother and
Lady Munch in the woods for some time. The rabbits heard no more gun
sounds and they were hoping that the hunters had gone away, and would
not come back.
Flop Ear and the other two little rabbits had much fun and many good
times. Sometimes Flop Ear would dig a hole in the ground, which he
could quickly do with his fore paws, and then he would hide himself in
it, covering himself up with leaves.
Then, when his brother or his sister came along he would suddenly jump
out and cry “Boo!” at them in rabbit talk, just as sometimes you hide
at the bottom of the stairs, and pretend to scare your father or big
brother as he comes down.
Often Flop Ear, Snuggle and Pink Nose would go off through the woods,
to find nice things to eat――sweet roots, wild carrots or berries.
“I do wish I could find some cabbage,” said Mr. Bunny as he came home
one day. “I have looked all over for some cabbages growing, that I
might bring back some of the sweet, juicy leaves. But I can not find
any.”
“I could not, either, though I looked in many places,” said his wife.
The next day, when Flop Ear went out by himself, as he often did, he
said:
“I am going to look for a field of cabbages. If I could find some, and
bring it home, how nice it would be!”
Along and along he hopped, and, all at once, he sniffed the air, and
smelled something nice.
“Ha! That smells like cabbage,” he thought, for he had once tasted and
smelled it. “I believe I am near a cabbage field!”
He went on a little farther, until he came to a fence. There was a hole
under it, and when Flop Ear had crawled through that, he was in a big
field where cabbages were growing.
“Oh, isn’t this fine!” said Flop Ear to himself. “I have found the
cabbage! Just what papa and mamma were looking for! I’ll take some
home!”