University of Virginia Library

24. XXIV
THE BUSHYTAILS HAVE COMPANY

BILLIE BUSHYTAIL was so anxious to get home to his nest and see what trick the fairy hen was to perform for his special benefit, that he ran ahead of Johnnie and Sister Sallie.

“Can't you wait?” called Johnnie after his brother.

“No,” answered Billie, “I can't. I want to see what it is” — just as you children do on Christmas morning, you know.

Well, as he was running through the woods he met Grandma and Grandpa Lightfoot, and Jennie Chipmunk.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?”

asked grandpa, who, being a little lame, from having stepped on a pine needle, walked with a cane.

“I am going home to see what trick the fairy hen has done,” answered Billie.

“Well, we are going to your house; so tell your papa and mamma we are coming,” added grandma, and as for Jennie Chipmunk, she just laughed, she was so glad to see Billie again.

When Billie got to the nest he scrambled up the tree as fast as he could, as fast as a fly walking on a window-pane, I do believe. The first thing he saw was a sharp little nose poked out from the hollow in the tree, then he saw some wiggily whiskers, and next two of the sharpest eyes he had ever beheld.

“This must be the trick,” he thought. “I wonder what it is?” and he trembled, he was so anxious. Then he looked again, and saw

some sharp teeth, and, a moment later, what should happen but that Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy sprang up and looked right at him. You remember Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy — Sammie and Susie Littletail's nurse?

“Oh!” exclaimed Billie, just the least bit disappointed. “I thought there was going to be a trick here.”

“There is,” said Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. “I am the trick and here are two more,” and she waved her paw, and what should happen but that Sammie and Susie Littletail, those little bunny rabbits, came running out of the leaves where they had been hidden at the foot of the tree, and sat up on their hind legs. Just then up came Johnnie Bushytail and Sister Sallie, and they wanted to know what the trick was that the fairy hen had done. They all agreed, even Billie, that it was a wonderful thing for the hen to know

without being there, that something strange was going to be at the squirrels' nest.

“How do you suppose she did it?” asked Johnnie.

“Easy enough,” answered Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. “I happened to meet Mrs. Cluck-Cluck in the woods, and I told her we were coming here, so, of course, she knew.”

“Then it isn't a trick at all,” declared Billie.

“Well, it's a sort of a trick,” said Sammie Littletail. “I think that fairy hen is wonderful. We are going to have some of her eggs to color for Easter, Susie and I.”

Then who should come along but Grandpa and Grandma Lightfoot, and Jennie Chipmunk. Mr. and Mrs. Bushytail and Sister Sallie began to set the table, for they wanted their friends and relatives to have a quiet cup of tea, and Sammie and Susie and

Billie and Johnnie began to play about in the leaves.

Then, all at once, along came Papa and Mamma Littletail, and, right behind them, limping on his crutch, which Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy had gnawed out of a cornstalk, walked Uncle Wiggily Longears, and his rheumatism was almost as bad as ever. Doesn't it make you sorry to hear that?

“Well, well!” cried Uncle Wiggily Longears, “this is quite a family party. Oh, my, yes, and some pepper-hash besides!”

“Where did you come from?” asked Papa Bushytail of Papa Littletail. “I haven't seen you in some time.”

“No,” answered the rabbit, “my family and I have been away on a visit.”

Then Papa Bushytail told the rabbits how glad he was to see them again, and Johnnie and Billie and Sister Sallie told about meeting

the fairy hen and the trick she had performed.

“I can do some tricks too, if some one will help me,” said Sammie Littletail. “I learned them in a circus.”

“I'll help you,” agreed Billie Bushytail.

“Then come over here where we can practise,” whispered Sammie, and so the little boy rabbit and the little boy squirrel went behind a big tree. Pretty soon they were all ready to do their tricks. They had quite an audience, and they used a large, flat stump for a platform. They turned single and double somersaults, they stood on each other's head, they jumped over each other's back, and they juggled acorns until you would wonder how they did it. Then they stood on their hind legs and danced, and Billie Bushytail took a stick and chewed it in three pieces, right in front of the audience.

Oh, it was a most delightful time! and I wish you all could have been there. I'm sure you would have enjoyed it.

But, after a while, it was time for the rabbits to go home, and they started off. Billie Bushytail said he would walk a short distance with Sammie, and he did.

“If you see any horse chestnuts save me one,” begged Uncle Wiggily Longears. “I need it for my rheumatism. Even though the red fairy did cure it for a while, it came back on account of me getting my feet wet the other night. Oh, dear, yes, and a bit of horse-radish besides!”

So Billie and Sammie said they would, and they went off looking for the horse chestnuts, and the first thing they were all alone in the woods, the others having gone on ahead. Well, they found a horse chestnut, and soon caught up to Mamma and Papa

Littletail, and Susie and Uncle Wiggily and Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. Then, at last, they were at the rabbit house, and Sammie asked Billie:

“Can't you come and stay a few days with me?”

“I guess so,” answered Billie, “if I could send word home.”

“Oh, I'll go tell your papa and mamma,” offered Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, and she went as quick as you can blow out a match.

Well, Billie stayed with Sammie several days, and he had quite an adventure, too. It was one day when Sammie was out trying to dig a hole down through to China. A big hawk grabbed Billie and carried him away up in the air, and Sammie was so frightened he didn't know what to do. But if a little green fairy man whom Sammie knew didn't suddenly appear, and change into an eagle,

and chase after that hawk! And the eagle took Sammie on his back, and Sammie hit the hawk with a stick and saved Billie Bushytail, which adventure you can read all about in the first book of this series, entitled, “Bedtime Stories: Sammie and Susie Littletail.” Well, you know you never can tell when fairies are going to appear, nor what they are going to do, and, as it happens, some are going to appear in this book, and to-morrow night I'll tell you a fairy story about Johnnie Bushytail, and how he was shut up in a hollow tree by a bad fox, and how he got out again. Now, go to sleep, and wait for to-morrow.