Little Jack Rabbit and Mr. Wicked Wolf

Xmas Eve

To-morrow will be Xmas. Oh, what a happy day, For Santa Claus will empty all The presents from his sleigh. And every little girl and boy Will have some candy and a toy.

This is the song the little canary bird sang in her gold cage while Little Jack Rabbit polished the front door knob and Lady Love made the stuffing for the big turkey. And just then the telephone bell rang and Uncle John Hare, the old gentleman rabbit, said, “Hello! I want to speak to Little Jack Rabbit.”

“Wait a minute,” said the little Black Cricket who had answered the telephone because Lady Love was busy and Little Jack Rabbit couldn’t leave the door knob all covered with wet polish, and she ran out to the front porch and said:

“Uncle John wants to speak to you on the ’phone.” Well, by this time, the door knob was polished nice and dry, so the little rabbit hopped inside.

“Hello, it’s me,” said the little bunny, although my teacher always told me to say, “It’s I,” but never mind, Uncle John knew what the little rabbit meant, just the same.

“What do you want for Xmas?” asked the dear, kind, old gentleman rabbit. “Tell me a thousand things, and then you can’t guess what I’m going to get.”

So the little rabbit thought and thought, and by and by, after a while, and maybe a little longer, he thought of 999. But, oh dear me, he couldn’t think of just one more. Wasn’t that too bad?

“Well, never mind,” laughed Uncle John. “That’s enough. And now I’ll go down to the Three-in-one-cent Store, and to-morrow you’ll see what I bought.” And then he hung up the receiver and went out to the garage, hitched up the Bunnymobile, and pretty soon, not so very long, he reached the Three-in-one-cent Store in Rabbitville, on the corner of Lettuce Avenue and Popcorn Street.

“I guess I’d better go over to the bank and get some money first,” thought the old gentleman rabbit. So he hopped across the street and wrote a check and then the paying teller gave him a lot of money for it--lettuce dollar bills and carrot cents and a ten-carrot gold piece, and after that he hopped back to the Three-in-one-cent Store and went inside. And what do you suppose was the first thing he saw? Why, a lovely book all about Little Jack Rabbit. “I’ll take that book,” said the old gentleman bunny as quick as a twinkle. And then he bought a pair of roller skates and a pair of ice skates and a red sled and a bag of candy and a box of lead soldiers and a big red apple and a magic lantern. And a lot more things besides, but, goodness me, I haven’t got room enough in this story to put them in, so we’ll have to wait and call up on Christmas morning and ask him. And if you don’t know his telephone it’s “O, O, O, Ring Happy Bell, Old Brier Patch!”

Xmas Day

“Merrie Xmas!” Hear the cry From every house beneath the sky; And every child is up so soon That he can see the silver moon, Who’s had not time to tell the sun That Xmas Day has just begun.

Well, the Old Grandfather Clock in the hall had just struck thirteen o’clock when Little Jack Rabbit woke up, and before he even jumped out of bed he called out, “Merrie Xmas, Mother.” And then, of course, Lady Love woke up, and the alarm clock couldn’t make up its mind whether it would say anything or not. But after a little while it began to sing:

“Awake, awake; it’s Xmas morn, Don’t linger in your bed; I see a pair of roller skates, A dandy coasting sled; A stocking full as full can be, And a lovely little Xmas tree.”

And then the little Black Cricket came out of her crack in the warm hearth and looked in her stocking, for she believed in Santa Claus just the same as she always did when she was a little young cricket and played hop, skip and jump in the Sunny Meadow grass.

“Hurrah! Hurrah! I’ve got everything I asked for!” shouted Little Jack Rabbit. So you see, dear, kind Uncle John Hare must have spent all his money at the Three-in-one-cent Store!

Well, by and by, after a while, they heard sleigh bells outside in the Old Bramble Patch, and pretty soon Uncle John Hare jumped out of his Bunnymobile and came into the house to give Lady Love a lovely gold vanity bag and a pair of lorgnettes, a kind of lollypop eyeglass, you know.

And, oh, yes, oh, yes! I forgot to say he gave the little Black Cricket a new fur piece and the Canary Bird a bushel of bird seed. And after that every one was happy as could be. And just as they were all sitting down to their Xmas dinner a knock came at the kitchen door.

“Come in if you’re not Mr. Wicked Wolf,” said Uncle John Hare, and who do you suppose walked in? Why, the Yellow Dog Tramp, with a large package in his front paws.

“Merrie Xmas to you all, And many of them, too. I’d love to stay awhile And have a feast with you.”

“Sit right down and make yourself at home, and a Merrie Xmas to you, Mr. Yellow Dog Tramp,” said the little rabbits.

“But you mustn’t bark,” added Lady Love, the little rabbit’s mother, “the fairies might come and carry away the Xmas tree.”

“Oh, I have had my heart’s delight, I’ve been a Xmas tree, All hung with candles shining bright And tinsel fair to see. I do not miss the shady wood, The music of the breeze, For I have found my heart’s delight A little child to please.”

Well, in the morning Little Jack Rabbit took his skates and went down to the old mill pond, and so did Uncle John Hare, for he could skate mighty well, let me tell you, even if he did have gray whiskers and a pink waistcoat. Why, he could do the grapevine twist and the letter S and maybe the whole alphabet, for all I know.

Well, anyway, off they went, Little Jack Rabbit and his kind Uncle John Hare, and when they came to the pond they put on their skates, and then off they went over the ice as fast as the wind, and maybe faster, and by and by, after a while, who should come by but Mr. Grouse. He had on his snowshoes which kind Mother Nature had given him.

“Ha, ha,” said Uncle John Hare. “You can’t go over the snow as fast as I can on the ice, my man.” You see, Uncle John Hare knew how to make up poetry and had once written some in a beautiful birthday album.

“No, but I can slide over the snow just as well as if I were on a toboggan.” And maybe he would have shown Uncle John Hare just what he could do, if all of a sudden, something hadn’t happened. And isn’t it too bad that something always has to happen just when these two dear little rabbits are having a nice time?

And now I suppose you are wondering what did happen, so I’ll tell you right away. Mr. Wicked Wolf jumped out from behind a snow drift, and said: “Ha, ha. What shall I eat first--rabbit or grouse?” Wasn’t that a dreadful thing to hear? Well, I just guess it was. And then what do you think Uncle John Hare did. Why, he just picked up a piece of ice and hit that wicked old wolf right on the end of his nose. And then, of course, Mr. Wicked Wolf had to wipe his eyes, for they were full of tears, and while he was doing that the two little rabbits skated away, and Mr. Grouse snowshoed away, and if the skates don’t come off and the snowshoes, too, I’ll tell you some more in a day or two.

The Thinking Cap

Oh, dear me. I just hate to start this story, for I must tell you something very unpleasant. You remember in the last one Little Jack Rabbit and Uncle John Hare were skating away as fast as they could from Mr. Wicked Wolf. But, oh, dear me. All of a sudden, just like that, Uncle John Hare’s skate came off. And of course that wasn’t lucky, let me tell you. Oh, my, no. It was simply dreadful. And when Mr. Wicked Wolf saw the predicament, which means a dreadful fix, you know, which the dear old gentleman rabbit was in, he kicked up his heels and pretty soon he was so close that even if Uncle John Hare could have fastened on his skate again he never would have been able to get away.

“Ha ha, ho ho, now I’ve got you two, And I’ll skate you both till you’re black and blue, And then I’ll take you home for a stew. For Mrs. Wolf knows how to make A rabbit stew and a big pancake.”

And, oh, dear me again, and maybe once more, for I don’t know what’s going to happen, and maybe it will happen before I can write it, and then what will we all do, I should like to know? Maybe there won’t be any more stories.

“Wait just a minute, Mr. Wicked Wolf,” said the old gentleman rabbit, and he took out his gold watch and chain. “It’s just 13 o’clock, and that’s a very unlucky number.” Mr. Wicked Wolf scratched his head, for he didn’t know what to do, and neither would I and neither would you if we had been there.

“I’ll wait till five minutes past 13,” said the wicked old wolf with a grin, which showed all his white teeth, and the gold one which Dr. Dentist Duck had put in after the railroad accident, which I’ll tell you about some day if I don’t forget it.