BUNNY TALE 8
INVITATIONS
“Have you heard the news?” asked the Old Brown Horse.
“What news?” enquired Little Jack Rabbit, hopping along with the friendly steed under the warm rays of Mr. Merry Sun in the Big Blue Sky.
“Why, the circus is at Turnip City,” answered the Old Brown Horse. “The Circus Elephant, the funny clowns, and the roller skating bears.”
“Oh, oh, oh!” exclaimed the little rabbit. “I want to see them.”
“You don’t mean to say you’ve never been to the circus!” whinnied the good Old Horse. “Well, you’ve got a treat.”
begged the little bunny, hopping back into the Old Bramble Patch.
“So you’d like to go to the circus, eh?” asked Mr. Rabbit, winking at Lady Love, who was making Turnip Tea for Old Mrs. Bunny.
“Heard the news?” asked the Old Brown Horse.
“Please take me,” begged the little rabbit.
“All right, I’ll hire the Billy Goat Stage Coach to take us, and maybe a few friends,” answered Mr. Rabbit, and up he hopped to call dear Uncle Lucky on the telephone:
answered the old gentleman rabbit.
“Listen, Uncle Lucky! I’m hiring the Billy Goat Stage Coach to take us all to your circus at Turnip City,” explained Mr. Rabbit.
“Well, I’ll come over with a bushel of passes,” answered the dear generous old gentleman bunny. “What time do you go?”
“At seven o’clock to-morrow morning. We must get an early start,” answered Mr. Rabbit.
“Now, whom shall we invite?” he enquired, turning to his small bunny son, who was hopping about, so happy to know he was going to the circus to see the animals and the clowns, and maybe a monkey and a bear and a Mexican dog without any hair.
“Whom shall we invite?” repeated Mr. Rabbit.
“All your friends and all my friends, and maybe some more,” answered the bunny boy with a hop, skip and jump out on the porch of the little white house in the Old Bramble Patch.
Just then the little canary bird in her gold cage began to twitter:
“I’m not discontented,” replied the little bunny boy, “I’m happy. Father is going to take me to the circus,” and he hopped down the path through the bramble bushes.
“Timmie Meadowmouse, Timmie Meadowmouse!”
“What do you want?” asked the tiny mouse, peeking out of his little round house of woven grass.
“Want to go to the circus? Father is going to hire the Billy Goat Stage. We start at 7 to-morrow morning.”
“I’ll be up bright and early,” answered Timmie Meadowmouse, darting back into his little house to get out his best Sunday-go-to-meeting suit.
“Timmie Meadowmouse will go,” cried Little Jack Rabbit, hopping back into the house.
“Nobody will refuse, I imagine,” laughed Lady Love. “Whom else have you invited?”
“I’m going over to the Barnyard,” answered Little Jack Rabbit. “I’ll invite everybody I meet,” and off he hopped. By and by, after a while, but not nearly a mile, he spied Granddaddy Bullfrog on his big log near the bank of the Old Duck Pond.
“Oh, Granddaddy Bullfrog! Father is going to hire the Billy Goat Stage Coach to take us all to the circus to-morrow morning. We start at 7, right after breakfast. Will you come along?”
“To be sure I will,” answered the old frog. “I haven’t been to the circus for a long time. Hurrah! I’ll be a kid again and eat a ton of peanuts—maybe!”
“Be at the Old Bramble Patch on time,” shouted the little rabbit, who by this time was half across the Sunny Meadow on his merry way.
“I’m inviting all my friends to the circus,” replied the little bunny, with a happy laugh. “We all leave to-morrow morning at 7, right after breakfast. Where’s Cocky Doodle?”
“Here I am,” crowed the little rooster. “I heard you. I’ll go to the circus. Many thanks.”
cackled Henny Jenny, who had just laid a pretty white egg in her little round nest.
“Will you come to my circus party?” asked Little Jack Rabbit. “We start to-morrow morning at seven from the Old Bramble Patch. Father has hired the Billy Goat Stage Coach to take us all to Uncle Lucky’s Circus at Turnip City.”
“Of course we will,” answered Little Jack Rabbit.
“Don’t forget me,” cried Goosey Lucy.
“Will you come?” asked the little bunny.
“To be sure,” answered the nice lady goose. “Don’t forget Ducky Waddles.”
“Where is he?” asked the bunny boy, looking here and there and everywhere.
“He went for a swim in the Old Duck Pond,” answered Henny Jenny.
“Why, I just came from there,” replied the little bunny. “I didn’t see him. I saw only Granddaddy Bullfrog.”
“Well, you see him now,” quacked a familiar voice, and there stood Ducky Waddles himself. He had just waddled around from behind the Big Red Barn.
“Will you come to my circus party?” asked Little Jack Rabbit.
“I couldn’t refuse,” laughed the nice little duck.
Now, I wonder next who will be invited to the Circus. Listen, and you shall hear, for the little bunny has just hopped around the Big Haystack.
“Mrs. Cow, won’t you come to the circus?”
“Where is it?” enquired that nice lady cow, whipping her tail to and fro to scare away the flies. “I can’t go far for my little baby calf needs me ’most all the time.”
“At Turnip City,” answered Little Jack Rabbit.
“Oh, dear! You must excuse me,” replied Mrs. Cow. “That’s too far away. I’ll wait for Uncle Lucky’s Circus to come to Rabbitville. But thank you, just the same.”
“Now, who else?” thought the little bunny, when, all of a sudden, he spied Turkey Tim.
“Won’t you come to my circus party?”
“Yes, indeed,” answered the big turkey gobbler. “What time, and where, and how?”
“To-morrow morning at seven o’clock we all go in the Billy Goat Stage Coach. Be on time at the Old Bramble Patch,” and away hopped Little Jack Rabbit, his long ears catching the turkey gobbler’s poetry answer:
Pretty soon the little bunny spied Squirrel Nutcracker in his gray fur suit, sitting on a tree stump in the Shady Forest.
“Oh, won’t you be glad when you hear what I’m going to say,” laughed the rabbit boy.
“Hurry up and tell me,” cried the curious squirrel.
“I’m giving a circus party,” answered Little Jack Rabbit. “And we’ve hired the Billy Goat Stage Coach to take us all down to the circus at Turnip City. Want to come along?”
“Well, I guess yes three times!”
“Well, I guess yes three times!” answered Squirrel Nutcracker, springing up from the log to dance about on his hind legs. “It’s a whole year since I’ve been to the circus.”
“Well then, be at the Old Bramble Patch to-morrow morning at seven,” replied the little bunny, and away he went, clipperty clip, lipperty lip, up the winding trail to the cave of the Big Brown Bear.
“Hello, hello!” shouted the little rabbit.
“What’s the matter?” enquired a deep, growly voice, and Mr. Bear came to the door, over which hung a big sign;
he asked, his growly voice changing into a nice friendly voice on seeing the little bunny.
“I’d like a lollypop,” answered the little rabbit, “but I don’t want to play with it—I’ll eat it.”
“All right,” laughed the Big Brown Bear, shuffling into his cave for a yellow lollypop with little raisins on the top.
“I’m giving a circus party,” explained the bunny boy, sitting down beside the Big Brown Bear. “Want to come?”
“Well, I should say so,” answered the big kind animal. “I have a cousin who skates on wheels in Uncle Lucky’s circus. I’d like to see him.”
“Well then, be at the Old Bramble Patch to-morrow at seven in the early morning. We’re all going in the Billy Goat Stage Coach. Won’t we have fun?”
“More fun than a bagful of monkeys,” answered the Big Brown Bear, filling his pipe with dry corncob silk and puffing away for maybe a minute and maybe more, while the smoke curled up to the top of the door.
“Who else is going?”
“Oh, everybody,” answered Little Jack Rabbit. “Granddaddy Bullfrog, Henny Jenny, Cocky Doodle, Turkey Tim, Goosey Lucy, Ducky Waddles, Timmie Meadowmouse, Chippy Chipmunk, and lots more whom I haven’t yet invited.”
“Will the Billy Goat Stage Coach hold them all?” asked the Big Brown Bear re-flec-tive-ly, which means “thinking it over,” dear little boys and girls.
“I guess so,” answered Little Jack Rabbit. “Some can sit on top and some under the seats and some on the seats, and—oh, yes, I’m sure it will hold us all.”
“All right, I’ll be on time, for
sang the Big Brown Bear.
“I’ll be looking for you,” said the little rabbit, as he hopped away to invite more of his Shady Forest friends. In a little while he came to the Forest Pool. There sat Busy Beaver on the mud roof of his little house, happy and contented, for the day was warm and bright and he had slumbered well all night.
On seeing the little rabbit, he dived into the water and swam over to the bank.
“Hello, what brings you here?” he asked, for something in the little rabbit’s manner told him there was a surprise in store.
“Give you three guesses,” laughed the little bunny. “Three guesses and then two more.”
“Danny Fox been caught?”
“No,” answered Little Jack Rabbit.
“Mr. Wicked Weasel in jail?”
“No,” answered Little Jack Rabbit.
“Chippy Chipmunk has the measles?”
“No,” replied Little Jack Rabbit, with a shake of his head.
“Well, what is it, then?” asked Busy Beaver.
“Circus Party!” shouted the little bunny. “I’m giving a circus party at Turnip City. Have you been to Uncle Lucky’s Circus?”
“Not yet,” replied the little beaver.
“Be sure to come to the Old Bramble Patch at seven to-morrow morning. We’re all going down in the Billy Goat Stage Coach. So be on time and don’t forget, for we’ll have a jolly time, you bet,” and away hopped the little rabbit to invite other friends in the Shady Forest.
In a little while, not so very far, he met Peter Possum and his family.
“Won’t you all come to my circus party?” asked the bunny boy.
“What time?” enquired the old Possum.
“To-morrow morning at seven the Billy Goat Stage Coach will be at the Old Bramble Patch. So be on time and don’t be late, for we’ll not have a minute to wait,” shouted the little rabbit, hopping swiftly away to find another friend, and maybe two, for his circus party.
“I wonder whether Professor Crow would like to come,” thought the little bunny. “Maybe he’ll be pleased to be invited. Anyway, there’s no harm in asking him.”
shouted the old Professor Bird looking out of his window as the bunny boy knocked on the tiny door in the Tall Pine Tree.
“I don’t need Dr. Quack, the famous duck doctor,” he answered. “I’m giving a circus party. Won’t you and Mrs. Crow and Blackie Crow come? We start to-morrow morning at seven right after breakfast from the Old Bramble Patch. The Billy Goat Stage Coach will take us all to Turnip City where the circus people are giving a show. I’m sure little Blackie will love to go.”
“We all will,” answered Professor Crow. “It makes me feel young again just to think of it. Thank you. We’ll be on time.”