BILLY BUNNY
STORY XXXVIII.
BILLY BUNNY AND OLD MOTHER MAGPIE.
Uncle
Bullfrog sings a song
That is never very long.
All he says is, "Chunk, ker-chunk!"
Then he splashes in ker-plunk,
And the little fishes swim,
Oh, so fast away from him!
If they didn't, don't you think
He would eat 'em in a wink?
Now who do you suppose was singing this song? Why, a little tadpole named Taddylegs. And it made Uncle Bullfrog quite cross, for he didn't like tadpoles anyway, and Taddylegs wasn't very polite, as you can see.
"Now swim away," said the old gentleman frog, and he looked angrily at Taddylegs. "Now swim away or I'll swallow you and maybe your cousin and your aunt if they're around." So the little tadpole swam away and after a while Old Uncle Bullfrog saw Billy Bunny not very far away. He was talking to Mrs. Cow about the clover patch.
You see, Mrs. Cow was very fond of clover and so was the little rabbit, and he knew that Mrs. Cow could eat maybe three hundred and forty-seven times as much clover as he could, and so he was afraid she might eat up the whole patch and leave nothing for anybody else.
"Please don't eat all the clover tops; mother wants to preserve some for the winter."
"Don't you worry," replied Mrs. Cow, and she whisked a big horse fly off her side with her long tail. "Don't you worry and don't you fret, there'll be some clover blossoms yet."
So the little rabbit felt ever so much better and hopped away and by and by he came across Old Mother Magpie. And he wasn't a bit pleased, for she was always finding fault with him, and everybody else, for that matter.
Yes, Old Mother Magpie made lots of trouble and Billy Bunny had never liked her. But he couldn't get away without her seeing him, although he tried his best.
"Good morning, Billy Bunny," said the old lady magpie, and she raised her bonnet so she could see him better, for the brim was half over her left eye.
"Good morning," replied the little rabbit. "I'm sorry, but I'm in a dreadful hurry," and he hopped away so fast that he left his shadow a mile behind him.
"Gracious me!" exclaimed Old Mother Magpie. "That bunny doesn't like me very much I guess."
"Yes, you don't have to guess again," cried a voice, and Parson Crow cawed and hawed, and this made the old lady magpie so angry that she flew away to complain to Barney Owl.
THE END
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