Mother Bunny and her flowers

CHAPTER VIII.
THE FLOWER SHOW

“’Tis very jolly fun, you know,

To travel to a Flower Show,

So come and join us, every one;

We’re off and away with Old Mother Bun.”

One fall day Old Mother Bun said,

“Off and away we soon will go

To the City Flower Show.”

Old Father Bun said,

“Wait until my Scarecrow is made;

The crows are in the corn, I’m afraid.”

He went out to make a Scarecrow.

Old Mother Bun called anxiously,

“You’ll bring on yourself some disaster,

If you step on my bed of asters!”

Old Father Bun put up two sticks in the garden and nailed a board across. He put a hat and suit of clothes on his Scarecrow. The Scarecrow looked very life-like when he was finished.

One Bunny thought he could hear him walk;

“I’m a Scarecrow and I must learn to walk,

If not wise when you sleep or rise,

Some day I may take you by surprise.”

At this very instant Old Mother Bun called,

“Father Bun, did you hear what I said?

Don’t tumble into my Aster bed.”

She was so afraid Father Bun would not notice where he was going and disturb some of her flowers.

Old Mother Bun loved her fall flowers, so she called again,

“Of my Petunias have a care;

Father Bun, don’t step there.”

Healthy Bunny and Pretty Bunny went out and gathered Golden-rod and brought it home, and set it in great jars by the front door. The Golden-rod said,

“By the road I grow, but this I know,

I sing it over, hour by hour,

I sing it over hour by hour

I am your chosen National Flower.”

Even as the Golden-rod talked, the song-finch and song sparrow came to see if there were any seeds ready for them.

Happy-Go-Lucky Bunny came in sight with a surprise for Old Mother Bun. He had a basket full of the little plant she wanted for her wild flower garden called, “Butter-And-Eggs.”

These little plants trembled all over when they were transplanted into Mother Bun’s garden.

The Butter-And-Eggs said,

“We are curious as you know,

We came from Europe long ago;

We’ll tell some secrets by and by;

Our flowers are often used for dye.”

Happy Bunny came hoppety-skip along shouting,

“Who will go, who will go

To the pretty Flower Show?”

They could not see Echo Bunny but a voice called, “Flower Show.”

Homeless Bunny and Shadow Bunny came with their baskets and cried,

“The time is creeping on, you know;

Let’s all start to the Flower Show.”

The Stay-At-Home Bunny said, “I beg pardon,

But I will weed a while in Mother Bun’s garden.”

The Bunnies all took rakes and hoes and began to weed the garden. They sang to the tune of “Lightly Row,” as they worked.

“Rake and hoe, rake and hoe,

Weed the flowers and help them grow;

Rake and hoe, rake and hoe,

Jolly fun you know.

By and by come pleasant showers,

All to help the thirsty flowers;

Rake and hoe, rake and hoe,

Help the flowers grow.”

Soon everything seemed ready and they started off to the Flower Show, when Old Mother Bun turned her ankle and feared she could not walk another step, so they set up a wail,

“Another step she cannot go,

Alas! alas! for the Flower Show.”

Old Father Bun got a wheelbarrow and they took turns wheeling her.

When they came to the Flower Show they saw rooms and rooms filled with Cactus and many curious flowers.

The Pitcher Plant had each little pitcher partly filled with water. It said,

“I tell you I like boggy ground;

I am glad you came around;

Insects get in and laugh and shout,

But I seldom let them out.”

Pretty Bunny peeped into the Pitcher Plant and saw something sticky on the inside and hairs pointing downward which made it hard to get out.

Old Mother Bun was much interested in the Cactus, and reaching out its thorns, it cried,

“In the desert go look for me;

I can store up water, you see.

Of our 600 species I shout aloud;

I can draw around me quite a crowd.

Many things this plant affords,

Among them fodder, fruit, and cords.”

All the flowers were beautiful and each one had a story to tell.

Old Father Bun bought a great basket of chrysanthemums to take home. One very large flower said,

“Old Father Bun, do you hear me sigh?

There are no Chrysanthemums in Himaji.”

This flower said that Chrysanthemums grew all over China except in this one place, because it was not thought lucky to raise them there.

The story goes that a great man once had a servant who took care of his gold plates, and one day one gold plate was missing. The servant was so afraid that she threw herself in a well, and her ghost comes every night at the stroke of nine to count the gold plates.

All about the Flower Show were quaint figures, some of them made entirely of Chrysanthemums.

On their way home the Bunnies met Mistress Mary and she was so contrary she would not tell how her flowers were growing. She only said,

“The rose is red, the violet blue,

The Gillyflower sweet—and so are you.”

She looked at Old Mother Bun, for everyone loved her.

The Bunnies were so tired Old Mother Bun began to tell them a story, as some of them rode in the wheelbarrow and some of them trudged along.

“There once was a wooden rocking horse,

And I can tell you the story, of course.”

She continued: “Every night he went to Sleepy Town and one night he saw Father Bun so sleepy that he said,

“On the Rocking Horse you can go,

Trot, trot, trot to Dreamland, you know.”

Soon they met Shy Squirrel and Sleepy Sparrow and they all flew on the back of the Rocking Horse.

All night long, all night long,

The Rocking Horse sang his good night song.

At this very minute in the telling of the story there appeared a ROCKING HORSE in the road, and the Bunnies got on his back and left the old wheelbarrow in the road.

Said the Rocking Horse, “I beg your pardon,

But I want to rock into Mother Bun’s garden.”

Soon they all arrived and the Rocking Horse rocked all about the garden and though they begged him to stay for the night he went off singing,

“On the Rocking Horse you can go,

Trot, trot, trot, to Dreamland you know.”

Next day Old Father Bun was so busy outside that Old Mother Bun inquired, “What are you doing in the garden?”

Old Father Bun said, “Since you ask it,

I am making an in-door basket.”

He planned to put rich earth and slips in it and hang it up in the window.

He said,

“Autumn is coming in this world of ours;

Jack Frost will freeze and tease the flowers.”

Already the Bunnies had gathered flower seeds.

Already they had gathered vegetables and put them in the cellar.

Many plants wanted to be potted and taken in-doors.

“Don’t forget me,” called each flower-pot;

“I’ll hold a flower, as like as not.”

The window-box cried: “Your next trip,

Come and place in me another slip;”

The Bulbs said to the Bunnies, son and daughter:

“Plant us in earth or plant us in water.”

They planted some Bulbs in water and watched the long white roots grow downward day after day, while the green stalks shot upward.

That night Old Mother Bun was sitting up late when she heard a voice call,

“Old Mother Bun, Old Mother Bun,

Look at your Scarecrow, just for fun.”

She looked out and saw the Scarecrow dancing to and fro and a Wee Elf peeping out of each pocket.

She put on a shawl and went into the garden.

Old Mother Bun went to her Pansy bed,

“We grow the more you pick us,” they said.

Old Mother Bun picked a basket full of Pansies to send to a sick neighbor the next day.

She said, “Some pansies I’ll give away;

I will send some to sick folks every day.”

“Every day,” called Echo Bunny.

The Pansies must have heard what Old Mother Bun and Echo Bunny said, for next day the bed was full of bloom.

Mother Bunny and her flowers

About This Book

CHAPTER VIII. THE FLOWER SHOW

CHAPTER VIII.
THE FLOWER SHOW