The Upside-Down House
Chapter VII
When the Bunnikins-Bunnies and the Gray-Squirrels saw their bedrooms, they did not know what to do. The chandeliers stood up from the floors, and in the corners were little stairways leading up to the ceilings on which all the furniture was nicely arranged.
Mrs. Bunny wondered how she should ever keep the children from falling out of bed, while Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny sat down on a corner of the chandelier, and held his bewildered head between his front paws.
“If we stay here long,” said he, “I shall go crazy, and you will have to keep me in a cage.”
Meanwhile, the children were racing up and down the little stairways and trying the beds and chairs on the ceiling. It was quite easy for Ruddy and Chippy Gray-Squirrel to hang on, but it was very difficult for Bobtail and Rosamund Bunny, and it ended by Bobtail’s suddenly falling right on top of his father, who thought that the furniture was coming down, and was scared out of his wits. Bobtail was well scolded, and after that he and Rosamund were forbidden to climb on the ceiling.
The landlord was quite hurt that they did not like his fine rooms, but to please them, he at last promised to put some beds on his ceiling, which they called a floor.
After a good dinner, they went out to walk, and everywhere they saw the most curious sights. All the houses and shops were built upside down, and many of the people walked that way.
They were good-natured, fat little dwarfs, with big heads, long black hair, and small, bright eyes. They wore very gay clothes,—red, blue, and yellow being their favorite colors,—and Mr. Bunnikins’s fine hat and beautiful clothes were immensely admired. In fact the people crowded so closely about the Gray-Squirrels and the Bunnikins-Bunnies and admired them so much, that at last Mr. Bunnikins became frightened, and hurried them all back to the hotel.