"Mrs. Wibblewobble," said Bully to her, for that was the duck's name.

Really, it was, I'm not joking. "Mrs. Wibblewobble, here are Sammie and Susie Littletail looking for eggs," said Bully. "Could you let them have any?"

"Quack! quack!" answered the duck, and it sounded just as if she said, "What? what?" So Sammie, thinking she was a little deaf, asked her himself.

"Can you please tell us where we can find some eggs?" and he spoke quite loudly.

"Tut, tut!" exclaimed Mrs. Wibblewobble. "I heard Bully when he asked me the first time. I merely said, 'Quack! quack!' because I was thinking. I always say that when I think. Now be patient." So she said "Quack!

quack!" again, several times, and paddled around in the water, putting her head under every now and then to dig in the mud for some snails.

"No," she finally said, "I have thought very hard, and I do not know where you could find any eggs."

Sammie and Susie were quite disappointed, and Bully said: "Perhaps you have some of your own you could let them have."

"No," answered Mrs. Wibblewobble, "all my eggs have been turned into little ducklings. Here they come now."

Then all at once, as quick as you can scratch your chin, what should come walking down to the pond but the dearest, nicest little ducklings you ever saw. They all said, "Quack! quack!" which, as you knew, meant that they were thinking, and Sammie and Susie did not want to disturb them.

"This is my family," announced Mrs. Wibblewobble. "Family, those are the Littletail children, and Bully, the frog." Then the ducklings all said, "Quack! quack!" again, which this time showed that they had stopped thinking, and they swam around just like their mother.

"Well," said Bully, "we shall get no eggs here. Come on, we will go see Mrs. Cluck-Cluck, the fairy hen. Maybe she has some to spare."

But on their way they lost the road, and didn't know in which direction to go. Then fox was, but he couldn't help himself. Then Sammie, Susie and Bully walked on and on they heard a noise in the leaves, oh, such a queer, quiet little noise! and then, what do you think? Why, the sly, sly old fox stuck his head out.

"Whom are you looking for?" he asked, as softly as can be.

"We are looking for Mrs. Cluck-Cluck, to get some eggs," said Sammie.

"Ah, ha! Ho! ho!" laughed the sly old fox. "Come with me and I'll show you her house. I'm sure she has some eggs."

Sammie and Susie thought this very kind of him, and they were just going to follow that fox off when Bully warned them:

"Don't go," he said; "that fox only wants to eat Mrs. Cluck-Cluck up.

Let's run away."

So they ran away, and my! how angry that sly old fox was. He almost bit his own tail. But Sammie and Susie did not mind. They were very thankful to Bully for telling them of their danger. Then they hopped on and on, until they were quite tired.

They were afraid they were never going to find any eggs, but, all of a sudden Susie cried:

"Oh, look, Sammie!"

And there, on a nest in the gra.s.s, was Mrs. Cluck-Cluck the kind lady hen, and she gave the rabbit children all the eggs they wanted. Sammie and Susie carried them home to their underground house, and, after a while, they had a lot of fun with them.

The next story will be about Susie learning to jump the rope, and I'll tell it to you, if the cow doesn't fall off the top of the telegraph pole, and tickle the rag doll with her horns.

XXI

SUSIE LITTLETAIL JUMPS ROPE

Sammie and Susie Littletail were coming home from school. Didn't I mention before that the little bunny children went to school? Well, I meant to, I'm sure, and if I overlooked it I hope you will excuse me, and I'll see that it does not happen again this spring or summer. Oh, my, yes; they went to school in an old hollow tree, and an owl was the school teacher--a good, kind old owl, who never kept the bunny children in.

So, as I said, they were coming home from school, and Sammie had stopped to play marbles with some of his little boy rabbit friends, while Susie walked on with some little rabbit girls. Some of the girls were jumping rope, and they invited Susie to join them.

"Come on," said one little rabbit with two pink eyes, "we will turn for you, and you can have 'three slow, pepper,' Susie dear."

But Susie couldn't, because she didn't know how to jump rope. Now isn't that strange? No, sir, she didn't know the first thing about jumping rope, for she had never had a chance to learn.

So when she got home to the burrow that afternoon, and Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had given her a bit of chocolate-covered carrot, Uncle Wiggily Longears noticed that the little rabbit girl looked rather sad.

"What is the matter, Susie?" he asked.

"I can't jump rope," she answered, "and all the other rabbit girls can."

"Never mind," said Uncle Wiggily, "I will show you how. Come with me.

Oh, dear! Oh, my goodness me, and some sa.s.safras root! Oh! oh!"

"What is the matter?" asked Susie, much frightened, for she had never heard her uncle cry so.

"Oh, it's only my rheumatism, Susie dear," he answered. "Don't mind me.

I shall be all right presently. Just ask Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy to bring me the watercress liniment."

So when the muskrat nurse had brought the liniment, and Uncle Wiggily had rubbed some on his leg, he felt better.

"Now, Susie," he said, "I will show you how to jump rope. I used to do it when I was a boy, but I am not so lively and nimble now as I was then."

"But I have no rope," objected Susie, though she felt a little more happy. "I can't jump without a rope."

"Tut! tut! Do not think about such a little thing as that," went on her uncle. "I will have a rope for you in a few minutes. Come with me."

Just then Sammie came along, and, after he had had some corn bread with preserved sweet cabbage leaves on, he went with his sister and uncle in the woods.

"I am going to learn to jump rope," said Susie, quite proudly. "Don't you want to learn, Sammie?"

"No," he said, "that's only for girls. I'd rather play marbles and fly a kite, but I'll turn for you, if we can find a rope," for, you see, Sammie was always kind to his sister.

"We will have a rope in a minute," remarked Uncle Wiggily. "I know where to find it."

Just then who should come walking along but Possum Pinktoes, and, as soon as he saw the rabbits, he pretended to go to sleep.

"Oh, you do not need to go to sleep, and make believe that you are dead," spoke Sammie. "We would not hurt you for the world."

Then Possum Pinktoes, who was only pretending to sleep, as he always did when he thought he was in danger, opened first one eye, then the other.

"I am going to learn to jump rope," said Susie to him.

"Ha! Jump rope, eh?" exclaimed Possum Pinktoes. "I know the very thing for you. A wild grapevine! It will make a fine rope."