if little bunny cotton-tail had not read by candle-light, this story might never have been written.
one evening bunny cotton-tail read very late, and he was so excited over the story he was reading that he waved one paw too near the candle, and burned it sadly. poor bunny cried so loud that all the neighbors heard him, and came running in to see what was the matter. have you ever[6] cried so loud that you could be heard next door?
mother cotton-tail tied up the burned paw in a cabbage leaf and sent bunny to bed. and what do you suppose that comical bunny did? he liked the smell of the cabbage so well, that he ate the leaf all up, and his poor paw began to hurt worse than ever.
this time he did not cry, for he was afraid he would be scolded for eating the cabbage leaf. he crept out of bed and ran out of the house.
mother cotton-tail never allowed little bunny to go out late at night, so now everything seemed very strange to him. he looked at the[7] big moon, and he was afraid. he ran on for some time and he came to a beautiful garden.
here he saw more cabbages than he had ever dreamed of! there were big cabbages, little cabbages, and middle-sized cabbages. he was just going to have a nice meal when he looked up and saw a very tall creature waving its arms at him.
poor little bunny was sadly frightened. he did not know that this big thing was only a scare-crow. he had never seen a scare-crow before, in all his life. but he had seen men, and his mother had told him that men did not like rabbits. bunny thought the[8] scare-crow was a man, and he quickly crept close to a big cabbage, to hide, and lay quite still for a while.
every now and then bunny peeped out from among the cabbage leaves, and there that awful creature and the moon were, always staring at him!
by and by, he decided to run home, and he started off as fast as his little legs would carry him. but the moonlight made him dizzy, and he took the wrong road.
when daylight came, poor little bunny cotton-tail was far from home, and soon a hunter came that way, and caught him. the hunter put bunny in his bag and took him[9] home for his little boy to play with. the little boy’s name was harold. when his papa came in with bunny, harold clapped his hands for joy. then the whole family gathered around and made remarks about poor bunny.
“why are his ears so long?” harold asked.
“to keep the flies off,” answered uncle jack.
“he must have left his tail at home,” said big brother.
“he looks scared. we must build him a house,” said papa.
so they all went to work and made a nice house for bunny, and big brother brought him a large leaf of cabbage to eat.
[10]two big tears rolled down poor bunny’s face, for the cabbage made him think of his fright in the garden, and his sore paw, and how he had left home.
then harold took bunny in his arms and hugged him, and that made the poor little rabbit feel better, and he fell asleep.
when harold put bunny back in his box, he forgot to shut the door. he never thought that in the morning his new pet might be gone.
