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Read Ebook: The Tale of Jimmy Rabbit Sleepy-TimeTales by Bailey Arthur Scott Fagan Eleanore Illustrator
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Ebook has 465 lines and 15928 words, and 10 pages
"Not like these!" he said.
"I suppose you had to be careful not to break them--bringing them so far," Frisky Squirrel remarked.
"Oh, it's easy when you know how," Jimmy Rabbit told him.
"Well, Henry Skunk will break them fast enough, when he finds them," Frisky said.
Making Somebody Happy
Well, that very evening Jimmy Rabbit made a certain young neighbor very happy by hanging a May basket on her door. And then he hurried along to Henry Skunk's house. He hoped Henry was still there; for when Henry Skunk went out of an evening he seldom came home until morning.
Jimmy hung the basket of eggs on the doorknob, rang the bell, and then ran and hid behind a tree. He peeped out, as he heard the door open; and he saw Henry Skunk look all around. He seemed angry, until he caught sight of the basket. And then Henry Skunk certainly was pleased.
"Ah, ha!" he exclaimed. "A May basket! Now, I wonder what friend of mine has left this for me!" He looked inside the basket. "Ah, ha! Hens' eggs!" he cried. "I'll sit down on my front steps and eat them. Then I won't have to give anybody else a taste."
That was like Henry Skunk. He was a selfish fellow--always greedy, never offering to share a dainty with anyone.
How it hurt him! He fairly howled with pain.
And then Jimmy Rabbit snickered. He could hold in his laughter no longer.
That was enough for Henry Skunk. He looked around quickly. And what he saw made him very angry. For he knew then that those eggs were nothing but a joke.
Now, when he tittered, Jimmy Rabbit had jumped back behind the tree round which he had been peeping. He thought that he was safely out of sight. But he had forgotten all about his ears. They were so long, and they stuck out so far, that Henry Skunk could see them. And he knew right away who had played that trick on him.
He did not think it was any joke, to break three teeth. And he began to creep toward those ears. But there was one thing that Henry Skunk had not noticed. He had not looked up in the branches above Jimmy Rabbit's head. If he had, he would have seen Frisky Squirrel, who had come along to see the fun.
As soon as Frisky saw what was happening, he cried:
"Look out, Jimmy!"
Andopped in the mediaeval t just in time. The smile faded from his face. And he turned and ran.
"Well, what did I tell you?" Jimmy Rabbit said, when Frisky joined him at a good, safe distance from Henry Skunk's house. "Didn't I say there'd be some fun?"
"So he does!" Jimmy Rabbit answered. "But those were not real hens' eggs. They were china eggs which I found in Farmer Green's henhouse. And they were almost as hard as stones."
Frisky Squirrel laughed.
"I wish we had some more," he said. "Then we could hang a May basket on Fatty Coon's door.... I don't suppose you'd care to go back to Henry's house and get those eggs?"
"I don't suppose I would," said Jimmy Rabbit.
The New Wheelbarrow
There was something that Jimmy Rabbit wanted. He had teased for it for a long time. And at last, after he had almost made up his mind that he wasn't going to get it, one day to his great joy his father brought home the very thing Jimmy had begged for. It was a wheelbarrow! Jimmy Rabbit could hardly believe his eyes.
"Well, young man, you ought to be pretty grateful for this," Mr. Rabbit said.
"Yes, Father!" Jimmy answered. He picked up the handles of the wheelbarrow, and began pushing it proudly about the dooryard. "I'm going to play with my wheelbarrow all the time after this," Jimmy said.
"I reckon you can do a little work with it, too," Mr. Rabbit told him. "I shall expect you to bring home the vegetables for the whole family, every morning."
"Yes, Father!" Jimmy answered. He thought that would be great sport. He didn't stop to think that it would take a good many vegetables to feed his father and his mother, his four sisters, his two brothers, and himself.
"I hope, now, to have a little time for recreation," Mr. Rabbit remarked.
Down in Farmer Green's garden Jimmy worked busily, loading his new wheelbarrow to the very top. And then he trundled it home again. No prouder youngster was ever seen in Pleasant Valley than Jimmy Rabbit, pushing that little wheelbarrow up the hill.
"Let me push it!" Frisky Squirrel begged.
But Jimmy Rabbit said that he mustn't let anybody else play with that wheelbarrow.
"Let me take hold of one handle!" Billy Woodchuck pleaded.
Somehow, the next day Jimmy didn't have half so much fun getting the vegetables. And the day after that he actually began to think that gathering vegetables was a good deal like work. And before a week had passed he just hated the sight of Farmer Green's garden.
But all Jimmy's friends still crowded around and begged him to let them push the wheelbarrow. And all the while he had been very firm. He had not given one of them leave to touch the barrow.
At last Jimmy Rabbit had an idea.
"Do what?" Frisky asked.
"Why, wheel my wheelbarrow!" said Jimmy.
Frisky Squirrel jumped high up in the air, he was so pleased.
"Hurrah!" he cried. "May I push it now, before you fill it with vegetables?"
"Well--no! It's getting late," said Jimmy. "My mother will be expecting me soon. I'll let you wheel the vegetables home for me. But first, you must gather them."
Frisky Squirrel was more than willing. And he filled the barrow with cabbages and turnips, lettuce and peas, while Jimmy Rabbit looked on and ordered him about.
"There!" said Jimmy, when the wheelbarrow was full. "Now we'll go home." And then, to Frisky Squirrel's surprise, Jimmy climbed on top of the load and sat himself down.
"What's that for?" asked Frisky.
"Why, to keep the vegetables from falling out!" Jimmy explained. "You see, you don't know how to wheel a wheelbarrow. You'll be tipping it, first one side and then the other. And we'd have to stop every few steps and pick up a turnip or a cabbage."
"Oh, very well, then!" Jimmy answered. "If you don't care to wheel the wheelbarrow, it's all the same to me." And he started to jump down from his seat on top of the load.
"No, no!" Frisky cried. "Don't get off! I can manage all right!" After gathering all those vegetables, he didn't want to lose the fun of pushing the wheelbarrow.
"Walk fast, now!" Jimmy said. "We're late already."
A Narrow Escape
Frisky Squirrel had a hard time pushing the wheelbarrow home with Jimmy Rabbit on top of the load of vegetables. He puffed and groaned. And he had to stop every little while to catch his breath.
"You see, you're not used to wheeling a wheelbarrow," Jimmy told him. "For me, it's no trouble at all. But then, I'm stronger than you are."
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