The Runaway Bunny went hopping along, singing:
“Good-bye, good-bye,” called a merry voice; and there in the path before the Runaway Bunny stood the Circus Bunny.
The Circus Bunny said:
“To whom were you saying good-bye?” asked the Runaway Bunny.
“I will answer that question when you tell me about the wonderful ride you had with the kite,” answered the Circus Bunny.
But the Runaway Bunny had already forgotten about the kite and could think of nothing but the fair. He was delighted to have company on the way; and he remarked:
What a fine trip they had!
Everyone was going to the fair. Some of the animals were going on foot and some were going on horseback. Some of them rode in state in cars. Some of the animals traveled alone and others took the whole family.
The Runaway Bunny said to everyone he passed:
The Circus Bunny kept saying a little rhyme over and over:
They arrived at the fair. But just as they were going to set up a wee tent of their own and make money for themselves, some one picked them up by their long ears and put them in a wire cage.
“Picked them up by their long ears”
The Circus Bunny whispered:
The Runaway Bunny answered:
By and by a man came and called out:
Now crowds and crowds gathered around the cage. The Circus Bunny stood on his head and turned somersaults and said:
All the animals in the crowd cheered and clapped, and cried, “Do it again! Do it again!”
By and by the Circus Bunny grew tired of performing his tricks, and it was the Runaway Bunny’s turn to entertain the crowd.
He had never done a trick in all his life and was wondering what to do, when the Circus Bunny reminded him:
So the Runaway Bunny sang:
“Up, up, up he began to sail”
At this very minute the most surprising thing happened!
The Runaway Bunny was so little that he squeezed out through the wires in the cage door! He took hold of the string of a kite that was near, and up, up, up he began to sail, higher and higher, until he soon looked like a speck in the sky.
“Well,” remarked the Circus Bunny, “it was certainly fortunate that the jolly old kite was waiting for him. That is a new way he has found of running away. I believe I will squeeze out of this cage, too.”
So while the crowd was watching the Runaway Bunny, he tried to get out of the cage. But he stuck halfway, until kind-hearted Old Mother Bun pulled him out and tucked him safely in her market basket.
Old Father Bun said, “What is in your basket?”
Old Mother Bun said, “I will tell you when we get home.”
Up, up, up sailed the Runaway Bunny.
When he had sailed up a week and a day, down, down sailed the kite and he arrived in his own little back yard, at home.
He said, “I shall have a fine kite story to tell my great-great-grand-children some day. That was a fine ride I had!”
Then he repeated in a singsong way:
He made himself a nice little supper and for once was contented to sit in his wee house. But that night he dreamed that he was running away, singing: