THE RAGGED RABBIT GIANT

Oh, lovely roses come in June, The Bubbling Brook has learned a tune, And all the birds on bush and tree Are singing songs for you and me.

"Ha, ha," laughed Little Jack Rabbit, as he hopped over the Sunny Meadow, "I wonder if Timmie Meadowmouse is home."

Pretty soon the little bunny stopped before a round grass ball that hung between three strong stalks.

"Timmie Meadowmouse! " he shouted, "come out and play! " Pretty soon a tiny head peeked out of the grass house and a little voice answered:

"Oh, it's you, is it?"

"Yes, it's me," replied Little Jack Rabbit, although he should have said, "It's I. " But what do we care? Teacher isn't around and school will soon be over and we will be in clover.

"What do you want? " asked the little meadowmouse, jumping down to the ground. "How is Uncle Lucky?"

"He's all right," answered the little bunny. "Have you heard what a dreadful time we had with Hungry Hawk?"

"No, tell me about it," replied Timmie Meadowmouse. "Dear me, how I do hate that wicked bird. He's always flying over the Sunny Meadow, looking here and looking there. But I always try to be here when he's looking there," and Timmie Meadowmouse winked his eye like a wise little mouse boy.

"Oh, we had a dreadful time the other day," went on Little Jack Rabbit. "Hungry Hawk almost pushed in through the kitchen door. If Uncle Lucky hadn't slammed it on his hooked beak, making him fast, I don't believe the Policeman Dog could have caught him."

"You don't say so," exclaimed Timmie Meadowmouse.

"Yes, I do," answered the little bunny boy. "And pretty soon after we had tied the door tight so that the old hawk couldn't pull away his beak, the Policeman Dog arrived and arrested him. Now he's in the jail house in Rabbitville."

"Then I shall have some peace for a while," laughed the timid little meadowmouse. "Oh, I'm so glad! " and he skipped over the meadow and after him hopped the little bunny boy. By and by, after a while, but not nearly a mile, they came to the Old Rail Fence, on the top of which sat Chippy Chipmunk in his striped fur jacket.

"What makes you two fellows so frisky? " he asked.

"Oh, just because we're happy," answered the little meadowmouse.

"That's it," laughed Little Jack Rabbit. "When you're happy your feet just skiptoe over the ground. You almost think you're flying."

"Stuff and nonsense," said a voice, all of a sudden, just like that.

Dear me, I suppose I should have kept you from worrying by telling you right off whose voice it was that shouted "Stuff and nonsense!"

It was Grandmother Magpie's. That's whose voice it was. And the old lady blackbird looked most forbidding, let me tell you. Oh, yes, she did, and no mistake about it.

"Good morning," said the little bunny boy.

"I hope you're well," cried Timmie Meadowmouse.

"It's a lovely day," chimed in Chippy Chipmunk.

"What were you saying about flying? " asked Grandmother Magpie, with a toss of her head.

"Dear me, I've forgotten," sighed Little Jack Rabbit. "I was so happy a minute ago and now I've forgotten what made me so."

"You haven't answered my question," went on Grandmother Magpie, sometimes called Old Mother Mischief because she is always interfering in other people's business.

"Mother told me not to answer your questions," replied Little Jack Rabbit.

"What? " almost screamed Grandmother Magpie.

"Yes, she did," went on the little bunny boy rabbit, brave as a lion,-a little lion, of course,-not a great big one. "She said you meddled too much with every one's affairs."

"Oh, she did, did she? " snapped old lady blackbird, and without another word she flew away.

"Oh, isn't she mad," laughed Chippy Chipmunk.

"Serves her right," cried Timmie Meadowmouse. "She's the most disagreeable thing in the whole Shady Forest."

"Don't forget Old Man Weasel," said Little Jack Rabbit.

"Nor Danny Fox," chirped Bobbie Redvest. "Guess I'll go with you."

"Come along," answered the little bunny boy. "I'm on my way to Cozy Cave to see the Big Brown Bear," and away he hopped, lipperty lip, clipperty clip, up the Shady Forest Trail, in and out among the trees, through the glen and up the wooded hillside till he reached Mr. Bear's dwelling place.

"My, but I'm tired," sighed the little bunny boy rabbit, seating himself on the big wooden bench just outside the Cozy Cave. "I wonder where the Big Brown Bear has gone," and he looked this way and that way, up and down, back and forth, but no big brown fur overcoat came into view.

By and by, not so very long, the little rabbit boy bunny fell asleep. At first he closed only one eye, his left eye. Then he opened it and shut his right eye. After a little he closed them both for a minute, but the next time he forgot to open them.

Dear, dear me! I hope nothing dreadful happens to Little Jack Rabbit before he wakes up.

Pretty soon as the little rabbit slept on who should come tiptoeing by but Old Man Weasel. Dear, dear me! No sooner did he see Little Jack Rabbit than he tip-toed even more softly around the big tree. Then he peeked out, first on one side and then on the other. I suppose he thought the Big Brown Bear might be in his cave wrapping up Lollypops and Ice Cream Cones.

By and by the old weasel grew bolder. Nobody came around and the little bunny boy rabbit kept on sleeping, oh, so peacefully, dreaming about red clover tops and carrot candies and 'licious lollypops and marshmallow drops.

"Ha, ha! " cried the old weasel, softly, just to himself, you know, as he sneaked on his tippy toes toward the Cozy Cave. "Ha, ha! Won't I have a nice dinner," he whispered, smacking his lips,-yes, he smacked them again!

"Wake up! " shouted Bobbie Redvest so loudly that Little Jack Rabbit woke up with a start. And then right over the wicked Weasel he hopped just like a frog and away through the Shady Forest until he bumped right into the Big Brown Bear.

"Oh, dear, and oh, dear! " he cried. "I'm glad it's you, but why didn't you come sooner?"

"Why? " asked the nice kind old bear with a good-natured grin. "Better late than never."

"Oh, yes, oh, yes," answered the frightened little bunny boy rabbit. "But if you'd only come two minutes ago I'd still be dreaming I was eating lemon drops and lollypops, clover tops and marshmallow drops."

"Well, I'm glad I waited," replied the Big Brown Bear. "If you had eaten much more you'd have been, and maybe you will be, twisted into a double bowknot by a tummy ache."

"What? " cried the little rabbit.

"Well, perhaps not," laughed the big bear. "Come, turn around and go home with me. I'll give you a drink of Cranberry Tea."

Then arm in arm, although of course the Big Brown Bear had to lean way over and way down, they both went up the Shady Forest Trail till they came to the Cozy Cave. Of course Old Man Weasel was nowhere to be seen, although they both looked for him here and there and everywhere. At last the Big Brown Bear said:

"Maybe you dreamed about him."

"No, no, no! I can remember all my dreams," cried the little bunny boy rabbit. "And sometimes I feel I'm dreaming all day, I've formed such a strange dreamy habit."

"Gracious me! " exclaimed the Big Brown Bear. "You're a queer little bunny boy. You're a Peter Pan Bunny, so you are."

"Tell me a story, won't you? " asked Little Jack Rabbit, hopping up on the bench beside the Big Brown Bear. "Tell me a story. I love to hear about rabbit giants and bunny dwarfs."

"Ho, hum," sighed the Big Brown Bear, "I'm not much of a story teller. Let me see. Maybe I can remember one that my old grandmother told me when I was a cub. My, but that's a long time ago. I hope my memory is as good as my appetite."

"Please hurry," begged the little rabbit boy bunny.

"Well, here we go," laughed the good-natured bear. "Once upon a time there lived a rabbit giant who had only one tooth. But it was an immense big tooth. Oh, my, yes. It was so long that it came down beyond his lip about two inches. This made him look very fierce, oh, very fierce indeed, and all the rabbits and bunnies and hares for miles and miles around were afraid of him. They hardly dared to pass his big dark bungalow, half hidden in a scraggly bramble patch in a stony, barren field.

"One day as the Ragged Rabbit Giant (for he lived all by himself without wife or children and so had nobody to mend his clothes and teach him to be polite) hopped out of his broken-down, disorderly bungalow, whom should he meet but a fairy bunny. Such a pretty fairy lady bunny rabbit.

"‘Oh, my, oh, dear, oh, me, oh, my! ' she exclaimed, ‘why don't you get a hair cut and a new suit of clothes? And why don't you mend your bramble patch bungalow house?'

"‘What's the use? ' replied the big rabbit man. ‘I'm so big and homely and one-toothed that nobody cares about me. All the bunny boys and rabbit girls are afraid of me, and I've grown so lonesome. No one comes to see me, only a friendly fly and a little black cricket.'

"‘You seem to have a kind heart,' said the lady bunny fairy queen, although I didn't mention before that she was a queen. But she is, just the same.

"‘Are you very lonely and unhappy? ' she asked, as the big bunny giant gave a tre-men-dous sigh.

"‘Oh, yes,' he answered, ‘I'm so lonely that it hurts.'

"‘Now you just wait a minute,' said the bunny fairy queen. ‘Sit down and fold your paws over your ragged waistcoat and say after me:

"‘Winky pinky lollypops, Ice cream cones and chocolate drops.'

"So the big sorrowful Ragged Rabbit Giant sat down and repeated after her:

"‘Winky pinky lollypops, Ice cream cones and chocolate drops.'

"Well, no sooner had the bunny giant said these marvelous words than he changed into a very nice-looking rabbit man, with a new coat and hat, well fitting trousers and tan shoes, and where his ugly long tooth had once been, now appeared a good cabbage leaf cigar.

"‘Now see what I've done for you,' cried the fairy bunny queen.

"‘I can't,' answered the rabbit giant. ‘My little cracked looking-glass is home in the bungalow.'

"‘Well, never mind,' replied the fairy queen bunny lady rabbit, ‘you may wait till you go home. But before you leave I must tell you why I've made you into such a nice-looking gentleman rabbit bunny.'

"‘Do tell me,' said the rabbit giant, although now, of course, he was a giant no more,-just a nice large-sized bunny rabbit man.

"‘I want you to surprise the friendly fly and the little black cricket. You've been so very kind to them that they probably think you're very nice-looking. But just wait till they see you now.'

"‘Oh, I'm so glad,' said the rabbitman, ‘I'll hop right home, but on my way I'll pick some flowers and a lollypop off the lollypop tree. My little friends will like them,' and away went the rabbitman, happy to think that he could please a fly and a cricket."

"That's a very nice story," said Little Jack Rabbit. "But please keep on till the rabbitman gets home to his bungalow. I want to hear what the fly and the cricket say when they see him. They will be so surprised that he isn't a ragged giant rabbitman any more."

"To be sure," said the Big Brown Bear. "Now, let me see. I hope my memory doesn't fail me right here. It's behaved very well so far. Oh, yes, now I know what happened as soon as the rabbitman walked into his big dark bungalow.

"‘Who's that? ' cried the little cricket.

"‘What do you want? ' asked the fly.

"‘Don't you know me? ' asked the rabbitman, ‘I'm the Ragged Rabbit Giant.'

"‘No, you're not,' answered the fly.

"‘Of course you're not,' shouted the little cricket.

"‘But I am,' retorted the rabbitman. ‘See, I know where my looking-glass is. I must find it for I've not seen myself since the fairy rabbit queen changed me into a nice-looking rabbit.'

"‘I don't believe you,' shouted the little cricket, who couldn't understand how the fairy queen rabbit lady could make him into such a nice-looking bunnyman.

"‘You get out of here! No one shall touch our master's things,' commanded the little fly, stinging the rabbitman on his long left ear.

"‘Dear, dear me,' he said, ‘how am I to convince these two that I am really the Ragged Rabbit Giant, only changed into some one nicer looking.'

"‘We always liked our Ragged Rabbit Giant,' said the little cricket. ‘He was good to us. He fed and sheltered and never drove us away. Oh, yes, he was kind and good, and we expect him back any minute, so you'd better get out. He can pick you up with one hand and throw you a mile.'

"‘Dear, dear me! ' sighed the rabbitman. ‘I'm worse off than I was before. I've lost two dear kind friends. The only friends I ever had.'

"Just then who should come in but the fairy lady bunny.

"‘What's the matter? ' she asked. ‘Why, Mr. Rabbitman, you seem more lonely than when a Ragged Rabbit Giant.'

"‘I am,' he answered sadly. ‘My two little friends, the only two friends I've ever known, don't rec-og-nize me. Please turn me back into a ragged rabbit. I'd rather be ragged and homely than lose these two little friends.'

"‘You shan't lose them,' she laughed. ‘Let me explain,' and turning to the wondering little fly and cricket, in a few minutes they couldn't help but believe the lovely fairy rabbit bunny queen, and they saw again their Ragged Rabbit Giant master, clean-shaven, well clothed and handsome. Yes, he was the same, only different.