As I told you in the last story, little Billy Bunny stopped to rest
after escaping from the Miller's Boy, and while he stood on his hind
legs and looked around, who should fly down from a tree but Old Mother
Magpie. And the very first thing she said to the little rabbit was, "My
goodness, what a dirty little bunny you are."
And this of course made Billy Bunny very angry, for he didn't think he
was dirty. So he opened his knapsack and took out a little mirror which
a lady bunny had dropped one day in the Friendly Forest and looked at
himself, and sure enough there was a great black smudge right across his
face.
"Ha! Ha!" laughed Old Mother Magpie. "You wouldn't believe me, would
you?" And then she laughed again.
"No, I wouldn't believe anything you said," answered the little rabbit,
"for you've told more untruths about people than anybody I know, and
that's the reason they call you 'Old Mother Mischief.'"
Well, sir! This made her so mad that she flew at the little rabbit, and
maybe she would have pecked his eyes out if he hadn't put on a pair of
goggles that belonged to his dear, kind Uncle Lucky.
"Please go 'way," said the little rabbit, "I can't help being rude to
you because you're so rude to other people," and he hopped away as fast
as he could before she could say another unkind word, and by and by he
came across Squirrel Nutcracker.
Now the old gentleman squirrel had grown pretty old and was very hard of
hearing, and when Billy Bunny said "Good morning" he never heard him at
all, but just sat there on the old log and ate a peanut which he had
saved from the last circus.
So Billy Bunny hopped up behind him and leaned over and called out quite
loud right in his left ear, "Good morning!" And this so startled Old
Squirrel Nutcracker that he swallowed the peanut shell, and then he
began to choke until he got black and blue in the face.
And, of course, this frightened the little rabbit, too, for he felt it
was his fault, so he patted Old Squirrel Nutcracker on the back, and by
and by the old gentleman squirrel stopped coughing, although he was
dreadfully mad to think that he had swallowed the circus peanut without
even tasting it.
"Look here, young rabbit," he said with a scowl, "don't you ever again
shout in my ear! If you do I'll pin back both your ears with a pine
needle and send you home to your mother!" Wasn't that a dreadful thing
for him to say?
Well, sir, after that Billy Bunny thought it was time to be going, so he
bowed to the old squirrel and hopped away, and after maybe a million
hops, skips and jumps, he reached the Old Brier Patch, where he found
his dear mother standing in the doorway of her little house waiting for
her bunny boy.
And that's a good place to leave him for to-night, don't you think so?
For we'll know he's safe and sound with his own dear mother, so go to
sleep and to-morrow I'll tell you another story; yes, I will, if you are
good.