Well, after Billy Bunny had said good-by to Mrs. Cow he hopped across
the Pleasant Meadow till he came to the Old Barn Yard. And as soon as
the Weathercock saw him you should have heard him crow. Yes, sireemam.
He crowed like a regular old-fashioned everyday rooster, and this made
all the hens and chickens look up, and then, of course, they saw Billy
Bunny. And they were so glad to see the little rabbit they forgot to
wonder how the Weathercock could grow.
I guess the only person who wasn't glad to see little Billy Bunny was
Mr. Sharptooth Rat. He peeked out of his hole and scowled, but the
little rabbit didn't care, for nobody liked Mr. Sharptooth Rat, anyway.
Well, by and by, just as little Billy Bunny was looking in Henny Jenny's
nest to see what a lot of lovely eggs she had, who should come along but
the Miller's Boy, and as soon as he saw the little rabbit he gave a yell
and tried to catch him.
The chickens tried to get in his way, and Cocky Docky even tried to trip
him up, but the Miller's Boy didn't stumble a bit. No, siree! He almost
caught Billy Bunny, but as long as he didn't it's all right, although he
scared the little rabbit nearly to death.
If the Miller's Boy had had his gun with him, or even his dog, I'm
afraid there would have been no more Billy Bunny stories.
"Oh, pshaw!" said the Miller's Boy, as the little rabbit squeezed
through a hole in the hen-house and hopped away. "I should like to have
caught that little rabbit!" Then Cocky Docky began to crow, he was so
glad he hadn't.
But Billy Bunny didn't stop for anything, he was so scared, and pretty
soon he found himself in the Friendly Forest under the tree where Parson
Owl lived. It was a long time since Billy Bunny had seen the old
gentleman owl, so he stopped and looked up into the branches.
But oh, dear me! Instead of seeing the blinky-winky friendly face of old
Parson Owl he saw a pair of yellow eyes and a big red mouth with sharp
teeth. And then down from the tree jumped a wildcat and meowed in a
dreadful way.
"Oh, please, Mrs. Wildcat, let me go," cried the little rabbit, and he
looked around for a hollow stump to hide in or a hole to crawl into, but
there wasn't anything like that in sight. So he turned to the cruel
wildcat and said, "Please don't bite me!" And then he opened his
knapsack and took out a big, round doughnut, the kind with a big hole
inside, you know, and gave it to the wildcat.
"Take it home to your wild kittens instead of me, won't you please, Mrs.
Wildcat?" And would you believe it, she said she would, for it pleased
her to think that little Billy Bunny would give her a doughnut for her
kittens, for no one else had ever done that before, you see.