BILLY BUNNY
STORY XXIX.
BILLY BUNNY AND MRS. BLACK CAT
Awake,
awake, 'tis early morn.
The cow is climbing the stalks of corn,
The little bird is beating an egg,
And the rooster is dancing about on one leg,
And the pig is trying on her new bonnet,
With a little blue bow and a red cherry on it.
Uncle Lucky rolled over in bed and then he got up and wiggled his nose and his left ear, and after that he was so wide awake that he didn't want to get back into bed, as I did, when I woke up this morning.
And just then the breakfast bell rang and Mrs. Bunny put on the coffee and the baked lollypops and the stewed prunes, and, oh, dear me! I really can't remember what rabbits eat every day, for I'm sure they don't eat the same old thing, for if they did they wouldn't be jolly and gay and hop about merrily all through the day, but would sit in a corner and sulk and be sad, and maybe get angry and maybe get mad.
So always remember to have something new, for no one can always enjoy a prune stew. There! I've gone and written another piece of poetry and my typewriter wouldn't print it properly. Isn't that too bad?
Well, after breakfast the old gentleman rabbit went out for a walk in the Pleasant Meadow, and he went all alone, too, for Billy Bunny had to stay home and polish the front door knob and sweep the piazza and feed the canary and bring in the wood, for Mrs. Bunny had to hurry up with the breakfast dishes so as to be able to go over and see Cousin Cottontail, who had just had a new baby rabbit.
Well, as I was saying, Uncle Lucky hopped along the Pleasant Meadow until he came to the Old Farm Yard where Cocky Docky and Henny Jenny and all the other Barn Yard Folk lived with the good-natured farmer.
And just as he was going through the gate, who should bounce out at him but a big black cat. And, oh, dear me. Her claws were sticking out of her feet like pins and her eyes were yellow as fire and her teeth glittered and her whiskers stood out like bayonets, and her tail was as big as a rolling pin and her back was humped up worse than a camel's.
If you can think of anything worse
than the way that cat looked I wish
you would write me a letter and tell me so that I can scare Uncle
Lucky, for, would you believe it, he wasn't the least big frightened.
No, sireemam.
He just took off his old wedding stovepipe hat and bowed most politely to Mrs. Black Cat, and she was so surprised that she turned around and went back to her three little kittens who never wore mittens because they didn't have any.
And after that the old gentleman rabbit hopped into the barn and ate some corn and had a talk with Mr. Sharptooth Rat. And maybe he would have been talking there yet if something hadn't happened. And when you don't expect it, something very often, and sometimes most always, does happen. The Miller's dog ran into the barn and made a grab for the old gentleman rabbit, but Uncle Lucky was too quick for him.
He hopped to one side and then out of that barn so that he hopped right into to-morrow night's story. Wasn't that wonderful?
