The summer had passed and September had come. All the school bells were ringing.
The Runaway Bunny said:
“Went hippety-hop down the path”
He packed his neat little dinner pail and went hippety-hop down the path, singing happy little songs like this:
“Don’t be so sure of that,” called Pit-A-Pat.
“Don’t be so sure you’ll get there soon,” said Rough Coat.
“You may not get there until afternoon,” growled Old Brother Bear.
whispered Old Foxy-Lox, peering at the Runaway Bunny from his hiding place.
The school bells all sang:
At this very minute the Runaway Bunny thought of something he had forgotten.
He stopped short in the path, saying:
He put his dinner pail down by a log and went hurrying home to get a lead pencil. Soon he came back hippety-hop with his pencil in his overalls pocket.
He stopped to look for his dinner pail. It was gone!
He shouted to Pit-A-Pat, who had gone on ahead:
Pit-A-Pat said she knew nothing about the lost dinner pail.
Soon the Runaway Bunny caught up with Rough Coat and said:
“Brother Bear came up and whispered softly”
Then Brother Bear came up and whispered softly:
The Runaway Bunny was very angry to think Foxy-Lox would take his dinner pail. He wanted to go to Foxy-Lox’s house and get it back.
But Old Brother Bear said:
The Runaway Bunny saw that Brother Bear was right. It would never do to go to Foxy-Lox’s house for his dinner pail. Besides, that sly fox would never give it back.
So the Runaway Bunny ran on to school and got there just two minutes late.
“All the Bunnies were in their seats”
All the Bunnies were in their seats, ready for work. The Runaway Bunny took his seat and began to learn a rhyme the rest were studying.
He said it over to himself:
The Runaway Bunny was a smart little fellow. He liked to learn his ABC’s.
He learned to read very well and he went to school sixteen days in September.
Then one bright afternoon he heard the birds singing:
He wished he could fly like his feathered friends.
Suddenly he remembered how fast he could run.
He did not wait for the close of school but went hippety-hop out of the window, singing:
He stayed in the woods all the rest of September.
“Learned the names of the flowers”
From Old Brother Bear he learned the names of all the fall fruits and flowers.
Suddenly he decided to go to town; and he left the wild woods, singing:
The Runaway Bunny was running away toward town.
The Bunny.