BILLY BUNNY
STORY XXX.
BILLY BUNNY AND BIG YELLOW DOG.
Let me see. Didn't I say that Billy Bunny hopped out of the Old Barn so fast in last night's story that he jumped right into this one? Well, he did, and here he is saying, "I'm ready for another adventure!"
And no sooner had he said this than along came a big yellow dog with a muzzle on his nose, and when the little rabbit saw him he laughed out loud, "Oh, ho! Mr. Yellow Dog! Did you put your nose into a mouse trap?"
"No, I didn't," replied the Yellow Dog. "It's a muzzle to keep me from biting little rabbits," and then he gave a dreadful growl and tried to pull off the muzzle with his front paws.
"I won't wait until you get it off," said Billy Bunny, and he hopped away as fast as he could, for he wasn't the least bit curious to see whether that muzzle was tied on tight!
And by and by he came to a hollow stump where lived an old rabbit named Hoppity-hop.
"Helloa, my little friend," said the old rabbit, and then he wriggled his nose a million times or less, for I guess he smelt the lettuce sandwich which Billy Bunny had in his knapsack.
"Good morning," said Billy Bunny, but he didn't open his knapsack. No, sir! It wasn't fourteen o'clock, which is the luncheon hour in Rabbitville, so I've been told. And this, of course, made the old rabbit very sad. "Oh, dear me," he cried, "I'm so hungry, and if there is anything I love more than a lettuce sandwich it's apple pie!"
"How do you know I've got an apple pie?" asked Billy Bunny, and he took out his gold watch and chain to see what time it was, for he began to feel hungry all of a sudden. But, oh, dear me!
It wasn't fourteen o'clock, or anywhere near it, so he twisted the stem of his watch until the hands pointed at the luncheon time, and then he took out the lettuce sandwich and the apple pie and he and the old rabbit ate them up right then and there, and after that they felt ever so much better.
"Now I'll tell you a secret," said the old rabbit. "There's a carrot candy shop not very far from here, and if you've got any money in your knapsack I'll take you there."
Wasn't that kind of that old rabbit? So off they hopped and pretty soon, not so very far, they came to the candy shop, and the old lady woodchuck who kept it was awfully kind and generous, for she filled up a paper bag right to the top for a lettuce dollar bill, which I think was a very cheap price to pay for all that candy, don't you?
And when it was all gone, Billy Bunny said good-by and hopped away singing at the top of his voice:
"Oh,
who is so merry and who is so gay
As a rabbit who always has money to pay
For candy and popcorn and nice apple pie
And other sweet things that you're longing to
buy."
And in the next story, if Billy Bunny does eat any more carrot candy and get so dizzy he can't hop in a circle, I'll tell you some more about the little rabbit.
