For days nobody talked of anything but the Circus party. From bush and tree in the Shady Forest, from hollow and hill in the Sunny Meadow, the Little Feathered and Fourfooted Folk were telling over and over again the wonderful things they had seen at the circus.
"Gracious me," chuckled the Big Brown Bear, "that cousin of mine certainly can roller skate."
"Well, he was no better than my relative who flew through the ring of flames," cried Professor Jim Crow.
"Nor any braver than my nephew who fired the pistol. That pup was some dog! " barked the Yellow Dog Tramp, wagging his tail.
"Well, just the same, I'm glad to be back on my old log," said Granddaddy Bullfrog. "There's always something going on in the Old Duck Pond. If it isn't a perch chasing a minnow, it's Ducky Waddles. Mrs. Darning Needle is never idle and the little tadpoles make me laugh."
After a week, however, every one settled down again. Little Jack Rabbit had almost forgotten that he'd ever been to a circus when one day just about noontime, who should come along but the Big Circus Elephant. Dear me, how tired he looked! His coat was covered with dust and there was a dent in the little hat on the top of his head. I suppose in coming through the Shady Forest the big animal had brushed against a branch.
"Whew, I'm tired! " he cried, sitting down under the Big Chestnut Tree near which Chippy Chipmunk had his home. "It's a long way from Turnip City."
"Yes, indeed," agreed Little Jack Rabbit, hopping up beside him. "How long did it take you?"
"Two days and forty-four miles," answered the tired Elephant. "But I'm here at last. So let's forget troubles and look ahead, as my good mother used to say when I was a kid in Jungle Land."
"Are you hungry? " asked Little Jack Rabbit. "I have two lollypops and a custard pie in my knapsack."
"Let's look at 'em," answered the Elephant, taking off his hat to wipe his forehead with a pocket handkerchief as large as a table cloth.
"Here they are," said the little bunny.
"Look pretty nice," grunted the Circus Elephant, carefully holding the pie with the little finger on the end of his trunk. "Tastes just as good. Got any more?"
"No, but Mother bakes to-day," answered the bunny boy, "perhaps she'll bake a big one for you."
When the Elephant had finished the lollypops he felt better, so he said, and, taking off his hat, he leaned against the Big Chestnut Tree and fell asleep.
"My goodness! It takes an elephant a long time to wake up," thought the little rabbit, when at last his big circus friend opened his eyes.
"Nothing like a little nap," yawned the great big animal, rubbing his ear and stretching his hind legs. After that he yawned again, turning up his trunk to get a good long breath of fresh air.
"I dreamed you were handing me a peanut."
"My, but you snored," sighed Little Jack Rabbit. "I couldn't go to sleep until I pretended you were a big engine in a lollypop factory."
"Ha, ha! " laughed the Circus Elephant. "That reminds me. Didn't you say it was baking day at the Old Bramble Patch?"
"I did," replied the bunny boy.
"All right, we'll make a call on your mother," said the Circus Elephant, scrambling to his feet. "How do I look? " he asked, straightening his bow tie.
"Very nice," answered Little Jack Rabbit, "except your trousers. They're all covered with bits of dry leaves."
"So they are," said the Circus Elephant, looking down. "Have you a whisk broom?"
The little bunny opened his knapsack and, taking out a small broom, carefully brushed off the big Elephant.
"I can't reach your hip-pocket," he said, standing on tiptoe.
"Here, give me the broom," said the Circus Elephant, and, grasping the handle in his trunk, he dusted himself off as well as Mister Rastus Coon, the kind porter on the "Cabbage" Pullman Car, brushes a sleepy passenger.
"Now I'll lift you up on my back," and the next minute Little Jack Rabbit found himself riding off on the big animal.
By and by, after a while, and maybe a mile and a bump and a smile, they met Old Man Weasel. But Little Jack Rabbit wasn't afraid. Oh, dear, no! Why should he be? He was way up high on the Circus Elephant's broad back. Old Man Weasel couldn't reach up that far, not even if he stood on tiptoe.
"Get out of my way," roared the big Elephant. "You're blocking up the path."
"Where are you going? " snarled Old Man Weasel, stepping aside. My, didn't he look ugly! Well, I just guess he did. But that didn't do him any good.
"Never you mind," replied the Circus Elephant. "You're no friend of ours."
"If you meet a wicked weasel And you are all alone, You get a creepy feeling Along your spinal bone.
But if you have an elephant To guard you with his trunk, You laugh at Mr. Weasel," Sang naughty Sammy Skunk from his Shady Forest house.
"Oh, keep quiet, will you? " snapped the Old Weasel.
"Why should he? " asked the big Circus Elephant. "He speaks the truth. Can't say that about you!"
"Ha, ha! " laughed Little Jack Rabbit. "Won't Uncle Lucky smile when I tell him what has happened?"
"I've a good mind to bite you," cried Old Man Weasel, glaring at Sammy Skunk.
"You'd better not," replied Sammy Skunk. "You know what I'll do to you."
Of course Old Man Weasel did, and so did all the Shady Forest Folk. But if they don't meddle with Sammy Skunk he treats them very politely. Yes, indeed.
"Well, so long," sang out the big Circus Elephant. "We've no more time to talk," and off he went at a rapid pace, and by and by, after a while, not nearly a mile, with a bump and a smile, he stopped at the gate in the old Rail Fence.
"I'll take down the bars," he said. "I guess Mrs. Cow won't try to get out while we're walking in."
"Oh, no," answered Little Jack Rabbit. "She likes the Sunny Meadow. Besides, she is way over there," pointing toward the Old Duck Pond. "She won't bother us."
After the big Circus Elephant had put back the bars he followed the Old Cow Path through the Sunny Meadow to the Old Bramble Patch in the far corner of the Old Rail Fence. Setting the little rabbit down, he wiped his forehead with a big blue silk handkerchief nearly as large as a sheet.
"When does your mother take the cake from the oven? " he asked, with a funny wink, looking at his watch.
"When it's done," replied the little rabbit.
"I'll sit here and wait," said the big Circus Elephant. So the little bunny hopped into the Old Bramble Patch and around to the back door of the little white bungalow.
Dear me, I almost forgot to say that Lady Love, the little bunny's pretty mother, was baking angel cake that particular day.
Pretty soon the little rabbit hopped back to his big kind friend with a piece of cake almost as big as a soda cracker.
"Dear, dear," cried the disappointed circus animal, "this may be enough for a rabbit but, goodness me! and dearest you! it isn't a swallow for me!"
"I'll go back for another piece," said the little bunny, and away he hopped up the little path and around to the kitchen door. But, oh, dear me! If only he had not stopped to speak to Timmie Meadowmouse. Just then down swooped Hungry Hawk. Into an old hollow log slipped the little mouse, but before the poor little rabbit could hide this cruel bird robber picked him up in his claws and flew away toward the Shady Forest.
"Help, help! " shouted Little Jack Rabbit.
Hopping out on the kitchen porch, poor Lady Love looked up to the sky. But that's all she could do. She had no wings to fly after her little son. And, anyway, how could she, a gentle lady bunny, fight a big cruel hawk!
But the Circus Elephant on hearing the little bunny's cries, answered with a loud trumpet and set off at a run for the Shady Forest. My, you'd be surprised how fast an elephant can run when he wants to!
Wrinkling his forehead, he pondered what to do. All of a sudden he remembered the big long lasso in his pocket. Quickly coiling it cow-boy fashion, he let it go, Zip! And would you believe it if I didn't tell you? The noose fell right over the old hawk's head and around his neck just like the muffler my Uncle John used to wear when I was a boy down on the farm.
"Now I'll bring you down! " cried the Circus Elephant. But, oh, dearest me! Quicker than the bills on the first of the month that crafty old robber hawk gave his head a wiggle-jiggle and off came the noose.
"Ha, ha! " shouted Hungry Hawk, and away he flew with poor little Jack Rabbit.
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