Little Jack Rabbit and Mr. Wicked Wolf — Key Ideas to Explore

e my old wedding stovepipe hat in that hole,” said dear, kind Uncle John Hare, which you remember he had stuffed up with his old silk hat to keep Mr. Wicked Wolf from looking in.

“We’ll make a snowball and put it there instead,” said Little Jack Rabbit, and when that was done, they both hopped quietly out of the back door. But, oh, dear me. After they were once out, they were afraid to go any further, for Mr. Wicked Wolf would surely see them.

So they hopped inside and closed up the back hole with the old wedding stovepipe hat, and then they didn’t know what to do. And neither do I, so I hope somebody will help those two poor little rabbits.

Well, after a while, along came Danny Fox. So Mr. Wicked Wolf said to him: “You go around to the back of the stump and see if you can find out anything, and I’ll stay here.”

Then Danny Fox crept around and as soon as he saw Uncle John Hare’s old wedding stovepipe hat in the hole he knew who was inside. You bet he did, even if he hadn’t smelt rabbit or seen little rabbit footprints in the snow.

And then, pretty soon, Mr. Wicked Wolf pushed in the snowball and then he pushed his head inside. But when he tried to pull it out, his head, you know, not the snowball, he couldn’t. No, sireemam.

His head was stuck fast. But it isn’t very pleasant to have a big wolf’s head inside a hollow stump when there’s hardly room enough for you, let me say, and of course the two little rabbits were almost scared to death.

And when Danny Fox saw what was the matter, he laughed so hard that he rolled over and over on the snow and the first thing he knew he rolled right down the hill.

Quick as a minute Uncle John Hare put on his hat and he and Little Jack Rabbit hopped away as fast as they could, and even faster, and pretty soon they came to the Old Bramble Patch, where Lady Love, the little bunny’s mother, stood waiting for them.

Now, I hated to end my last story without telling you what happened to the Bunnysnowbile which the little rabbits left upside down beside the old hollow stump where Mr. Wicked Wolf was caught fast, you remember.

But you see I didn’t have room, and where one doesn’t have room one must leave a lot of things to the im-ag-in-ation, which means “make-believe,” you know.

Well, at about 14 o’clock that very night Uncle John Hare heard the big bell on the Bunnysnowbile ringing like everything. So he pushed up the window and stuck out his head, and asked:

“Is that my dear old snowbile?”

“It certainly is,” said a voice, and then the lamps on the Bunnysnowbile grew so bright that the old gentleman rabbit could see who was sitting on the seat. And who do you think it was?

You can have three guesses and another one if you guess right. It was the Policeman Dog. Yes, sir! There he sat as fine as you please, with his club on his lap and his big silver badge on his coat.

“It’s very kind of you to bring back my Bunnysnowbile,” said Uncle John Hare, and then he pulled his head in and went down stairs and showed the Policeman Dog how to put the snow car into the stable without waking up the Weathercock, who wasn’t asleep, anyway, but just minded his own business like a well-behaved iron rooster.

And then Lady Love opened the kitchen door and asked the Policeman Dog to come in and have a hot cup of carrot tea, and after a while he said good-by and went home to his wife and seventeen children.

By and by the little rabbit said to his kind Uncle: “Let’s go out on the Sunny Meadow and dance in the moonlight.”

But the old gentleman rabbit said no. He had a slight touch of rheumatism in his left hind toe and wasn’t going to take any chances. No, sireemam.

He wasn’t going to have plumbago, ammonia or anything else just for the sake of dancing, and I don’t blame him either.

So everybody went to bed, and when Mr. Merry Sun woke up the next morning he had a hard time waking up Mr. John Hare, for the old gentleman rabbit was so sound asleep that if Lady Love hadn’t rung the breakfast bell right over his head he might have slept on until to-morrow’s story.

Well, after breakfast, as Little Jack Rabbit looked over the paper, what do you suppose he saw? Why, a notice that Mr. Wicked Wolf had been found with his head caught in an old hollow stump and that Old Man Weasel had gone home to get his axe.

But when he had come back, Mr. Wicked Wolf had already pulled the stump right out of the ground and had gone home with it on his head and it had taken his wife two hours and eighty-five minutes to get it off.

“Gracious me!” exclaimed Lady Love. “Did you ever hear of such a thing!” And then she opened the kitchen door and peeked out. But she closed it mighty quickly, for she didn’t wish Uncle John Hare to catch cold in his left hind toe.

Oh, dear me, how Mr. North Wind did blow! He rocked Mrs. Oriole’s nest that hung from the willow tree by the Old Duck Pond back and forth till Little Jack Rabbit thought it would come off and drop to the ground. But it didn’t, for Mrs. Oriole knew how to knit, let me tell you, and her stocking-like nest clung to the old willow tree like a thrift stamp when you try to get it off to buy something you forgot to get before the war began!

“Well, I guess I’ll let it alone,” said Mr. North Wind; “maybe Mrs. Oriole will want to use it next spring. Perhaps she used up all her wool making sweaters for the boys over there.”

“When do you go back north?” asked the little rabbit, for he was thinking of the dear old summer time, when Granddaddy Bullfrog sat on his log and caught flies and the darning-needles skimmed over the water.

“Oh, pretty soon, not so very long,” said Mr. North Wind. “When Miss Spring and her little Balmy Breezes come tripping over the Sunny Meadow, I’ll say good-by!” And then he whistled:

“I’m a husky old wind, I am, I could blow the shell off a clam, I shake the shutters and bang the doors, And curl the nails on the pussy cat’s paws.”

And then that boisterous old wind went into the Shady Forest and broke a dead limb off the old chestnut tree and nearly hit Squirrel Nutcracker, who had come out of his hole for a few minutes to stretch his legs.

Well, after that, the little rabbit hopped along, clipperty-lipperty, and by and by he saw Mr. Wicked Wolf. Oh, dear me. Wasn’t that dreadful, for who wants to meet a wolf even if his first name isn’t wicked?

“Hello, little bunny. I haven’t seen you since the last time.”

“I wish you still had your head in the Hollow Stump,” shivered Little Jack Rabbit, and then he wiggled his little pink nose so fast that Mr. Wicked Wolf had to shut his eyes for fear he’d get dizzy.

“Stop that,” he shouted. “My head is going around and around and I can’t keep my feet in one place on the ground.”

“I can’t either,” said the little rabbit, “I’m so frightened.” And before that dreadful wolf opened his eyes, Little Jack Rabbit hopped into an old hollow stump.

Well, pretty soon, Mr. Wicked Wolf opened one eye, just a little bit, you know, and then he opened the other eye a little bit, but he couldn’t see the little rabbit anywhere, so he opened both his eyes, blink, blink, just like that.

“Where are you?” he asked, and he jumped over to the hollow stump, following the little rabbit’s footprints in the snow, you see. But when he looked down into the hollow stump there wasn’t any little white shivering bunny there. No, Sireemam and No, Sireebus and No, Siree, Mr. Prohibition Man.

Now, I suppose you’ve been wondering what had become of Little Jack Rabbit after hopping into the old hollow stump to get away from Mr. Wicked Wolf. Well, you haven’t wondered nearly as much as that old wicked wolf has, let me tell you. Why, he was so puzzled that he sat down and took an Almanac out of his pocket and read it all through, but even then he didn’t know anything.

“Goodness me, where has that little bunny gone?” he said, and then he jumped right into the old hollow stump, head first, kerplump, just like that. Down, down he went, until all of a sudden he landed somewhere he didn’t just know where.

When, all of a sudden again, a voice said:

“You robber bold, how can you dare To jump down here from way up there?”

“I beg your pardon,” said Mr. Wicked Wolf, and he fixed his cravat, which was all loose and not tied in a nice little knot, “I’m sorry to trouble you. But the fact is I was anxious about a little rabbit who jumped in here a moment ago. Have you seen him? I can’t see you, but maybe you saw him.”

“I’ll let you see me pretty soon,” said the voice, and then Mr. Wicked Wolf began to get afraid. At first, you see, he wasn’t scared a bit, but when he heard the voice say that, he began to tremble and wabble, and his long bushy tail to droop on the ground.

“Let me out; please do,” he said. “I’ll never trouble you again.”

“Very well, then, cross your heart and repeat after me:

“I never break my promise, For fear I’ll break my heart, So I’ll give you my honest word, And then we’ll kindly part,”

said the voice, and when Mr. Wicked Wolf had done that, the voice said:

“Now turn to your right and you’ll see a little ladder.” And sure enough there was a little ladder running right up the inside of the old hollow stump. And goodness me! As soon as Mr. Wicked Wolf saw the ladder he went up it faster than a bricklayer with a hod of bricks on his back, and in less time than I can tell you, he was out on the Sunny Meadow and off for his home in the Shady Forest, for he lived, you remember, not so very far from the Big Brown Bear’s cave.

And now I suppose you are still wondering where little Jack Rabbit was, but I had to get rid of that dreadful wolf first before I could tell you. Well, as soon as Mr. Wicked Wolf was out of the stump, which was very dark inside, you know, somebody turned on an electric light way down at the bottom. And who do you suppose it was? Why, Mr. Miner Mole. It was he who had been talking to Mr. Wicked Wolf all the time, and now on the next page you shall hear about Little Jack Rabbit.

Well, as soon as Mr. Miner Mole turned on the electric light in his cap, he said:

“Little Jack Rabbit, you can come out now, for Mr. Wicked Wolf has gone.”

At once the little bunny hopped out of a door, and now you know where he had been hiding. I declare, it has taken me almost three stories to tell you, but I’ve been busy explaining what Mr. Wolf did and after that what Mr. Miner Mole said.

“I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t taken care of me,” said Little Jack Rabbit.

“Oh, don’t mention it,” said the kind mole. “I’m glad you came down into my mine. I’ve had luck lately. I’ll give you a couple of diamonds and three rubies. You can make your kind Uncle John Hare a present of one or three, if you wish.”

And then that generous mole gave these beautiful precious stones to the little bunny, and showed him how to climb the ladder.

“I wish I had a little cap like yours with an electric candle in it,” said the rabbit. “I’d wear it at night and have lots of fun.” But the mole wouldn’t give him his lamp. I guess he thought more of it than he did of his diamonds and rubies.

Well, pretty soon, the little bunny said good-by and climbed up the ladder, and when he got to the top he just peeped over the rim of the old hollow stump, for he thought perhaps Mr. Wicked Wolf might be hanging around, but he wasn’t, so he hopped away, clipperty-clipperty, and by and by he thought of something.

“Gracious me! I almost forgot that I had two diamonds and three rubies.” So he opened his knapsack to make sure. And now I suppose you are saying to yourself, “That poor dear little rabbit has gone and lost his precious stones!” But he hadn’t. There they were as safe as safe could be in his knapsack, right alongside of a piece of apple pie and a lollypop!

“I might as well eat my lunch now,” he thought, so he sat down, and pretty soon the apple pie was gone and the lollypop, too. And then, all of a sudden, a little bird began to sing. It was Charlie Chickadee but the little rabbit didn’t know it at first:

“A nice little rabbit went down in a hole To see an old miner whose name was Mole, Who wore a cap with a ’lectric light. For his mine was dark as a closet at night. Now why did that rabbit go down in that hole To see the old miner, Mr. Mole?”

And then Charlie Chickadee flew down to the ground and picked up some apple pie crumbs which the little rabbit had dropped when he bit off the next to the last piece of crust.

“I’ll give you three guesses,” said the little bunny. And in the next story you shall hear whether Charlie Chickadee guessed right the first or the third time.

Now, let me see. Oh, yes, I remember now where we left off. It was just when Little Jack Rabbit gave Charlie Chickadee three guesses. Yes, sir, that’s where we left off. The little chickadee had only three guesses to find out why Little Jack Rabbit had gone down the Hollow Tree Stump Mine to see the old miner, Mr. Mole.

“Are you ready?” asked the little bunny.

“Yes,” answered the little chickadee, “you went to get some gold!”

“No, I didn’t,” answered the little rabbit.

“Then you went to get some silver.”

“No, I didn’t,” replied the little bunny.

“Oh, dear me,” said Charlie Chickadee. “I’ve only one guess left, and I’m sure Mr. Mole hasn’t got a coal mine,” and then the little bird cocked his head on one side and looked out of the corner of his left eye to see if he had guessed it a little bit. But Little Jack Rabbit didn’t pay any attention--he just took out the two big diamonds and the three immense big rubies and looked at them carefully. At once Charlie Chickadee hopped up and down, and fluttered his wings, and shouted, “I know, I know! Ha, ha ha, ha! you went to get diamonds and rubies!”

“No, I didn’t,” said Little Jack Rabbit, and he strapped up his knapsack and started off for Uncle John Hare’s house, for he wanted to give his kind Uncle a ruby, you know, and maybe a diamond.

“Goodness me, why did you go, then?” asked Charlie Chickadee. “Everybody around here knows how dangerous that Hollow Tree Stump Mine is.”

“Because Mr. Wicked Wolf was so close to me I had nowhere to go,” answered Little Jack Rabbit, and then he told the little bird all that had happened. “And now I’m off to see Uncle John Hare.” And the little bunny shouldered his knapsack.

Well, after a while he came to Carrot Square in Turnip City, U. S. A., so he went along for maybe three hundred and ninety-five and a half hops till he came to Cabbage Avenue, where on the corner stood a little white house.

“Oh, here I am, how glad I am,” sang the little rabbit, and just then Uncle John himself opened the front door, and when he saw his little nephew he began to sing:

“Hello, hello, how glad I am, I’m as happy as a clam At hightide to see you now, So come in and tell me how All the folks are getting on And if you love your Uncle John.”

“Wait till I show you what I’ve got for you.” And then the little bunny opened his knapsack.

“Well, I guess you love your old Uncle,” said Mr. John Hare, as he looked at the precious stones. “To-day’s my birthday. How did you remember?”

For answer the little bunny just hugged his nice old uncle.

Parson Crow sat on his tree, Early one spring morning; And his voice was hoarse as he said, “Caw, caw.” And he was sleepily yawning.

And just as Lady Love passed by that wise old crow opened his little Wisdom Book and began to read:

“A mossy stone will never roll, But always stays in the same old hole.”

Then he closed his little Wisdom Book and stroked his beak with his black wings.

“Well, my boy’s back from the army,” said Lady Love proudly, and she took out of her pocket a little flag and waved it up and down. And then she took out of another pocket a little silver Liberty Bell and rang it three times, and then she hopped away to the postoffice, for she wanted to send a letter to Aunt Columbia about her little son’s discharge.

Well, when she reached the postoffice, the postmistress, the old maid grasshopper I told you about some million stories ago, who had gone to Palm Beach for the winter, looked out of her little stamp window and said,

“Good morning, Lady Love. What can I do for you? Now here’s a stamp already damp, and it’s red, white and blue.”

“What a pretty little stamp,” said Lady Love, as she put it on the envelope before dropping her letter in the little crack in the wall.

And then she went down to the Three-in-one-cent Store to buy a tea kettle. But just as she started away for the Old Bramble Patch, Mr. Wicked Wolf jumped out from behind a tree. And, oh, dear me! If Lady Love hadn’t opened her green silk parasol, and held it in front of her, that wicked old wolf would have eaten the carrot flowers right off that little lady rabbit’s bonnet.

“Fold up your parasol,” said Mr. Wicked Wolf, “or I’ll tear it into fourteen different pieces.” And, of course, this frightened Lady Love nearly to death, for she was very fond of her green silk parasol, let me tell you.

“If you do,” said she, “I’ll tell the Bunnyville Regiment and they’ll hang you.” And when Mr. Wicked Wolf heard that, he ran away as fast as he could.

“Dearie me,” said poor frightened Lady Love, “times are dreadful.” And she hurried home as fast as she could hop to put the new tea kettle on to boil for supper.

And if the tea caddy doesn’t put golf balls in the new tea pot when Lady Love isn’t looking, I’ll tell you in the next story about Timmy Meadowmouse.

Little Timmy Meadowmouse, Has a round ball for a house. It’s made of nicely woven grass, But it hasn’t a window pane of glass.

“Hello,” he said, as Little Jack Rabbit stopped to look at a daisy. “How are you this lovely day?”

“I’m going down to the Old Duck Pond to ask Granddaddy Bullfrog something,” answered the little rabbit.

“What are you going to ask him?” inquired Timmy Meadowmouse.