The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Runaway Bunny, by Laura Rountree Smith, Illustrated by Dorothy Dulin
| Note: | Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/runawaybunny00smit |
THE RUNAWAY BUNNY
Bear and Bunny Book, The
Bunny Boy and Grizzly Bear
Bunny Bright Eyes
Bunny Cotton-Tail Junior
Candy-Shop Cotton-Tails, The
Children’s Favorite Stories
Circus Book, The
Circus Cotton-Tails, The
Cotton-Tail First Reader, The
Cotton-Tail Primer, The
Cotton-Tails in Toyland, The
Drills and Plays for Patriotic Days
Games and Plays
Hawk-Eye, An Indian Story Reader
Language Lessons from Every Land
Little Bear
Little Eskimo
Merry Little Cotton-Tails, The
Mother Goose Stories
Primary Song Book
Roly-Poly Book, The
Runaway Bunny, The
Seventeen Little Bears
Snubby Nose and Tippy Toes
Tale of Bunny Cotton-Tail, The
Three Little Cotton-Tails
Published by
A. FLANAGAN COMPANY
CHICAGO
By
Laura Rountree Smith
Illustrated by
Dorothy Dulin
1923
A. FLANAGAN COMPANY
Chicago
COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY A. FLANAGAN COMPANY.
Printed in the United States of America
SEP 10 ’23
CONTENTS
TIME TO RUN AWAY 7
THE HUNGRY RABBIT 20
A LOAD OF EASTER EGGS 35
MOTHER BUN’S VISITORS 48
THE ANIMALS’ FOURTH OF JULY 58
THE COUNTY FAIR 66
THE BUNNY SCHOOL 77
THE TELL-THE-TIME RABBIT 88
THE THANKSGIVING DINNER 101
CHRISTMAS AT MOTHER BUN’S 112
“A very old Rabbit peeped out” (Page 35).
Chapter I
TIME TO RUN AWAY
The Runaway Rabbit has formed the habit
Of running away, I see.
Oh, Runaway Rabbit, please form the habit
Of staying awhile with me.
The Runaway Rabbit sat on the doorstep of his own little house, saying, “By my cottontail, it is time for me to run away!”
He took out his little brown traveling bag and packed it full.
“Packed it full”
He was in such a hurry to run away that he did not even stop to clear off his breakfast table. He did not even stop to wind his clock or lock his front door!
Hippety-hop, lippety-lop, he went down the path, carrying his little brown traveling bag.
“Where are you going?” asked the Whistling Wind.
“Where are you going?” asked the Smiling Sun.
To them both, the Runaway Bunny replied:
“Oho! I’m happy to have such fun;
It’s such a pleasure to run and run!”
He did not tell anyone where he was going. Many years ago he had made up his mind that some day he would run away and visit his grandparents.
Now wasn’t it funny? At this very minute Old Mother Bun was saying:
“My old legs get so stiff; it’s funny!
I wish I had a little Bunny!”
She wanted a little Bunny to travel up and down the cellar stairs for her.
At this very minute Old Father Bun was saying:
“I would pay a mint of money
If I had a visiting Bunny!”
He wanted a little Rabbit to bring in wood and water.
“Took out her field glasses”
Suddenly, without any warning whatever, Old Mother Bun took out her field glasses. And as she looked out of the window she remarked, “I think I see a little figure away over in the field coming this way very fast!”
Old Father Bun put his long ears close to the window to listen.
He had wonderful hearing, and he said, “I think I hear the far-off patter, patter, patter of little feet. Some one is coming. He should be here in five minutes.”
“Father Bun took out his watch”
Father Bun took out his watch and kept looking at it, while he went outdoors to wait. He had not long to wait, for the Runaway Bunny soon came in sight. He cried:
“I’m the Runaway Bunny. I’ve come all the way
To say, ‘How do you do?’ and wish you good day.”
He set down his traveling bag and kissed his grandparents.
Old Mother Bun said, “You are our own dear grandson.”
Father Bun said, “Come right inside, my dear.”
The Runaway Bunny was glad to sit down by the kitchen stove and eat cookies as fast as Old Mother Bun took them out of the oven.
Now he had heard the old Rabbits wishing before he had entered the house. So he went pitter, patter, clitter, clatter, down to the cellar and brought up a great green cabbage. He put it into a chopping bowl and chopped it up for dinner.
Then he went pitter, patter, clitter, clatter, down to the cellar and brought up many other good things.
Old Mother Bun said:
“You are such a little treasure,
To keep you here will be a pleasure.”
“The Runaway Bunny winked one eye”
At this the Runaway Bunny winked one eye; for he never stayed anywhere very long.
He had formed the habit of running away.
He next went with a hop and a skip and a bound, and brought in wood and water.
Old Father Bun was delighted. He said:
“I swear, by my long and floppy ears,
I will keep you here for years and years!”
“Opened his traveling bag”
The Runaway Bunny looked cross-eyed; but he had a merry time all day.
He said, “Grandmother Bun, what a fine pantry you have!” and “Grandfather Bun, what a fine garden you have! Will you take me riding in your wheelbarrow?”
When evening came he and his grandparents popped corn. And when it was bedtime the Runaway Bunny opened his traveling bag and brought out a brand new nightcap for Old Mother Bun and a brand new pipe for Old Father Bun.
They said:
“We love you so, we’ll keep you, honey.
Please say you’ll live with us, little Bunny.”
The Runaway Bunny coughed politely and took his little brown traveling bag and went pitter, patter, clitter, clatter, upstairs.
He put on his little white nightcap and night robe.
“Tucked him up snug and warm”
Old Mother Bun tucked him up snug and warm in bed, and Old Father Bun sang:
“Tra, la, la, la! To sing’s a habit.
Pleasant dreams, dear little Rabbit!”
When the little fellow was asleep, Old Mother Bun said:
“I hope he will stay a year and a day,
I think he forgot about running away.”
Old Father Bun remarked:
“If he stays through one night, all will be well,
But in Rabbit Land you never can tell.”
In the morning the Runaway Bunny was gone!
He left his little brown traveling bag, so it looked as though he intended to come back some time. He also left a polite note to thank his grandparents for their kindness.
Now if you really want to know
Where the Runaway Bunny will go,
Just take this book and read and read;
You’ll have a lively time, indeed!
The Bunny
Chapter II
THE HUNGRY RABBIT
The Runaway Bunny went hippety-hop;
He was hungry as could be.
Oh, Runaway Bunny, will you stop
And take a bite with me?
The Runaway Bunny took out his little toy watch and looked at it. And, though he could not tell time, he said, “My fur and cottontail! It seems to be time for something to eat.”
He decided to ask the first animal he met for some breakfast.
He went hopping and skipping along until he met Pit-A-Pat, the Cat. He told her how very hungry he was.
“Told her how very hungry he was”
She said, “Come home with me and I’ll give you a saucer of milk.”
The Runaway Bunny replied:
“I don’t drink milk, though you think it funny;
I am a peculiar Runaway Bunny.”
Then he whispered to Pit-A-Pat that he wished he had stopped for Old Mother Bun’s breakfast, and he went hopping down the path.
Pit-A-Pat remarked, “I ought to have asked who Mother Bun is. I might want to know some day.”
My, how hungry the Runaway Bunny was! By and by he met Rough Coat, the old tramp dog, and asked him for a tiny bite of breakfast.
“By and by he met Rough Coat”
Rough Coat said, “If you come with me I will give you a fine bone I buried last week.”
The Runaway Bunny bowed politely and said:
“I can’t eat bones, though you think it funny;
I am a peculiar Runaway Bunny.”
“What are you running away for?” asked Rough Coat.
But the little fellow was in too much of a hurry to stop to answer him. He could not forget how hungry he was.
He sang:
“The Runaway Bunny is sad, you see,
For he is hungry as he can be.”
A wise old owl in the tree overhead, who said his name was Who-Who, offered the Rabbit a juicy bat.
But the Runaway Bunny replied:
“I can’t eat bats, though you think it funny;
I am a peculiar Runaway Bunny.”
He went on hippety-hop, hippety-hop, until he met Old Brother Bear, who offered him a taste of honey.
Now Old Brother Bear loved honey. So he was relieved when the Runaway Bunny replied:
“I can’t eat honey, though you think it funny;
I am a peculiar Runaway Bunny.”
He went on his way, singing about Old Mother Bun’s coffee and rolls and doughnuts.
He sang:
“Oh, the best things to eat for a Bunny on the run
Are the rolls and the doughnuts of our Grandmother Bun.”
Next he met Foxy-Lox, that sly old fellow! The Runaway Bunny fairly shouted:
“My fur and whiskers! I have to shout,
I’m so hungry I don’t know what I’m about.”
Foxy-Lox crept up very, very close and whispered in the Runaway Bunny’s right ear:
“Hungry for carrots and everything nice,
I can supply you in just a trice.”
Then Foxy-Lox, that crafty old fellow, crept up and whispered in the Runaway Bunny’s left ear:
“Hungry for cabbage and vegetables green,
You’re the hungriest Bunny I’ve ever seen.”
No wonder the Runaway Bunny was hungry. No breakfast, no dinner, no supper!
Foxy-Lox said:
My children are little gentlemen.”
The Runaway Bunny followed him, muttering:
“At the home of good Old Mother Bun,
There are plenty of meals for everyone.”
They went along until they came to the den.
There was a table set with carrots and cabbage and tender green spring-flower shoots and everything else, in fact, that a hungry Bunny would like to eat.
“Waiting their turn to be served”
Sure enough, the six little Foxy-Loxies sat like little gentlemen round the table, waiting their turn to be served.
Old Foxy-Lox invited the Runaway Bunny to eat a good square meal.
Nodding his head in the direction of the visitor, he whispered to his little Foxes:
“You will make a meal, ’tis true,
Then we’ll make a meal of you!”
The Runaway Bunny had sharp ears. He began to twitch them nervously to and fro.
He could not hear what Old Foxy-Lox was whispering about. But he thought the old fellow was up to some mischief. So he said:
“I won’t eat cabbage, though you think it funny;
I am a peculiar Runaway Bunny.”
Then he looked at the carrots and said:
“I won’t eat carrots, though you think it funny;
I am a peculiar Runaway Bunny.”
Then he waved his paw toward the table of tempting things.
And he shouted:
“I won’t eat at all, though you think it funny;
I am a peculiar Runaway Bunny.”
Then he gave one bound and was out of the den before Foxy-Lox could wink an eyelash.
His talkative little ticking Watch made this remark:
“We don’t care how hard the climb;
Friend Bunny, you got out just in time!”
The Runaway Bunny was thinking hard again, “No breakfast, no dinner, no supper!” He sat down on a log to think.
Pitter, patter, clitter, clatter, came the sound of two little feet. And another Bunny stood in the path before him.
This new friend now said:
“I went to the side show and took in money,
So you may call me a wee Circus Bunny.”
“Then he stood on his head”
Then he stood on his head and did several circus tricks, as cunning as could be. At any other time the Runaway Bunny would have laughed. But he only said mournfully:
“The world is large, the world is wide,
And I am empty quite—inside!”
The Circus Bunny said:
“We’re very near a garden plot,
We shall find a good meal, like as not.”
“They had a fine meal”
They went hippety-hop until they came to the garden. Here they ate the tops of some early spring flowers and some bits of tender lettuce. They had a fine meal before they were through with it. The Circus Bunny said:
“Let’s live in the garden a night and a day.
There’s plenty of lettuce; come, what do you say?”
But the Runaway Bunny was off with a hop,
With his ears and his tail going flippety-flop.
The surprised Circus Bunny remarked, “That is funny!
That rabbit is surely the Runaway Bunny.”
Chapter III
A LOAD OF EASTER EGGS
As the Runaway Bunny hopped along, it began to rain very hard.
He heard a voice singing:
“I like the thunderstorm and rain;
Just why I do I can’t explain.”
The voice came from a wee house in the woods. The Runaway Bunny stopped and knocked politely at the door.
His little heart went thump, for he did not know what he should find inside.
The door opened a little and a very old Rabbit peeped out and said:
And now, sir, what have you to say?”
The Runaway Bunny hung his head, for he had never been generous enough to give away anything in all his life. But as the rain was falling fast, he wanted to go in and dry his fur and whiskers.
So he said:
“May I do any errands for you today?
I like to travel away, away.”
In answer to this, the door was opened wide and he hopped inside.
My, what a wonderful sight he saw!
There were Easter eggs on the table and Easter eggs on the floor, Easter eggs on the window-sill and Easter eggs in baskets! They were painted in gay colors—red, blue, and gold.
Old Mother Give-Away said:
“A messenger I thought I’d borrow;
You may help me take the eggs to-morrow.”
“Painting piles and piles of Easter eggs”
Then she told him how she and Father Give-Away had spent many days painting piles and piles of Easter eggs.
She said she wanted every Rabbit in the world to have an Easter egg on Easter morning. She wanted the eggs well hidden, so it would be fun to hunt for them.
“Splashing the colors upon them”
She went on painting the eggs, dashing and splashing the colors upon them. The Runaway Bunny planned where he would hide the Easter eggs in every wee house he visited.
He thought he would put them back of books and in vases and back of clocks and in cups and bowls and baskets. There are so many good places to hide wee Easter eggs.
By and by the two Bunnies curled up on the rug and fell asleep.
Very early next day the Runaway Bunny woke up.
He said:
“May I start with the Easter eggs today?
Please let me go, Mother Give-Away.”
To his surprise Old Mother Give-Away answered, as though she were half asleep:
“Speak to the Rubbers on the floor;
They’ve heard that question asked before.”