“Goodby,” cried Billy Breeze, seeing that he couldn’t blow off the old
silk hat, and he drove the Snow Flakes out of the Corn Field and down
the hillside.
They filled up the bushes and thickets, the blackberry brambles along
the road, hid the roots of the wild grapevine and danced along the Old
Rail Fence, playing hide-and-seek in the knotholes.
At last they came to the orchard. For a moment they stopped at the
gate. Then, in a whirling cloud they rushed through, covering the twigs
and branches with their frosty laces.
“Let’s fill Bobbie Redvest’s nest,” they cried. Next, they swung back
and forth in little Mrs. Oriole’s nest that hung like an empty stocking
from the Old Elm Tree.
“If it keeps on snowing like this, maybe we’d better start for home,”
said Little Jack Rabbit.
“But we haven’t shown our Snowman to Professor Jim Crow,” said Brother
Bobby Tail. “Besides, we don’t care how hard it snows.”
It wouldn’t have mattered so much if Billy Breeze had only been quiet.
But, you see, he wasn’t. He liked to play in the snow as much as any
little boy does. So he whistled and blew, making great drifts that hid
the Old Rail Fence and the bushes.
Pretty soon the rabbit brothers couldn’t hop over them, but had to go
where the snow wasn’t so deep, and by and by they found themselves a
long way from the Tall Pine Tree where Professor Jim Crow lived.
Billy Breeze was now blowing harder than ever, whirling the snow about
in every direction. All of a sudden Jack Frost nipped the little bunny
boys’ noses.
“Let’s go home,” said Brother Bobby Tail.
“You had better hurry,” said Bob White, who with his large family was
sitting in a tree, “it’s going to be a bad night,” and the next minute
he and Mrs. Bob and all the little Bobs dived headfirst into a snowbank
where they would be safe and warm from the icy breath of Billy Breeze.
Hurry, hurry, Jackie Rabbit!
Bobby Tail, please hurry, too!
Or you’ll find that Billy Breeze
Will freeze you black and blue!