Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History

Book

Open Original Text

s home, and DOG in his, and HAWK in
hers."

"I do not want to go out in the wood, and run and jump and play when the
moon is high in the sky. I want to do just as I like."

"Do not wake me," said Papa Hare, and he shut his eyes and put his ears
down.

"Come here," said Mama Hare, "and I will tell you a tale of the cold
time of the year when snow is over bush and tree and our good food, and
what came to the hare who did just as his Mama told him not to. Step,
step, step in the snow he went till he came to the Red Fire, and--"

"I do not want to hear the tale," said Tiny Hare. "I want to do just as
I like."

 [Illustration: "HE SAW HAWK FAR UP IN THE SKY."]

"Do not wake me from my nap, then," said his Mama, and she shut _her_
eyes and put _her_ ears down.

Just then Tiny Hare saw a Wind Ball roll by. A Wind Ball is the part of
one kind of a weed that is left when the weed does not grow any more,
and it is dry and like wool, and it can roll like a ball, and fly as
fast as a bird.

"I can run as fast as you," said Tiny Hare. "I can do just as I like,
and I want to get you."

On went the Wind Ball, roll, roll, roll, and on went Tiny Hare, leap,
leap, leap. Just as he was near it, the Wind Ball rose into the air, and
flew like a bird, and on went Tiny Hare, jump, jump, jump. Roll and fly,
roll and fly went the Wind Ball, and leap and jump, leap and jump went
Tiny Hare till he was not able to run any more, and his feet were sore.
He lay down to rest, but soon MAN came by, and Tiny Hare ran into a hole
in a tree, and now how he _did_ wish that he was at home!

 [Illustration: "DOG CAME BY, AND TINY HARE RAN INTO A HOLE."]

By and by he came out to try to hunt for his home, and DOG came by, and
Tiny Hare ran into a hole in a wall, and how he _did_ wish he was at
home! By and by he came out to try to hunt for his home, and he ran, and
he ran, and he ran! And, by and by, he saw HAWK far up in the sky, and
Tiny Hare ran into a bush, and how he _did_ wish he was at home.

By and by he came out to try to hunt for his home, and Wind Ball went by
once more.

"I can't get you, and I don't want to," said Tiny Hare, but the wind was
low, and Wind Ball went roll, roll, roll, slow, slow, slow, and Tiny
Hare went with it, limp, limp, limp, and by and by he saw his home. Tiny
Hare ran as fast as a hare with lame feet can run, and soon he went in
and lay down in the home by his Mama.

"I have not been good, Mama," he said very low in her ear in a way that
a tiny hare has.

"Be good now, then," she said.

"I want to," said Tiny Hare, and then he said, "Do not wake me," and he
shut _his_ eyes, and put _his_ ears down, and they _all_ took a nap.

 [Illustration: POOR, PATIENT ROVER! WON'T SOMEBODY SAY "SPEAK!" SO HE
 CAN HAVE THE LUMP OF SUGAR?]

HOW TINY HARE MET CAT

 [IN WORDS OF NOT MORE THAN FOUR LETTERS]

BY A. L. SYKES

Once, just as the long, dark time that is at the end of each day came,
Mama Hare said to Tiny Hare, who was at play,

"Come in, now, it is time for bed. You know you must hide from Man, and
Dog, and Hawk; but I must tell you that you are to hide from Cat, also."

"Who is CAT?" said Tiny Hare.

"CAT is not so big as DOG. She has soft fur and two big wild eyes."

"She is just like me," said Tiny Hare. "I have soft fur and big eyes;
then CAT is just a Hare."

"The very idea!" said Mama Hare. "You have not big _wild_ eyes, and your
tail is not long like CAT'S. CAT is not good for a Hare to meet. She can
run very fast, and she has a claw for each toe," and she gave Tiny Hare
a wee bite.

"Does CAT live in our wood?" said Tiny Hare.

 [Illustration: TINY HARE SEES CAT BY THE FIRE.]

"No, she is with MAN and DOG, but she goes out in the day time or at
dark, and she can get a Tiny Hare who runs away from home when he is
_too_ tiny."

"Am I too tiny?" said Tiny Hare. "Yes, yes, yes; far too tiny," said his
Mama; and _how_ she did wash him from his head to his feet!

"I wish to see CAT," said Tiny Hare.

"No, no, no," said his Mama; and _how_ she did wash his soft fur!

He did not wish to see CAT for many, many days, but one day the rain
came, and it was cold, and his Mama told him to stay at home in the dry
hay.

"I want to go with you," said Tiny Hare to his Mama and Papa when they
were to go out for food.

"It is too wet," said his Mama. "If your fur gets too wet you can't run
far and fast, and it is not safe for you to go."

"I like rain. I like the wet. I want to go out. I want to do just as I
like," said Tiny Hare, and he laid his ears back, and half shut his
eyes, and put his pink lip out, and did not look kind.

"Hush!" said Papa Hare, in a low, deep tone. And Mama Hare and Papa Hare
went away, and left Tiny Hare at home.

Do you know what Tiny Hare did then? Oh, it was not good!

 [Illustration: "WHEN HE SAW TINY HARE HE GAVE A LOUD BARK,
 'BOW-WOW-WOW-WOW!'"]

"I will go to see CAT," he said, very loud. He ran out, over the damp
moss in the wet, wet wood, and, oh, dear me! up the path to the door of
MAN and CAT. The door was open. CAT sat by the fire in a box. She was
most sad, for once she had two baby cats in that box, and now they were
gone. She did not purr. She did not eat. She did not wash her soft fur.
She just sat by the fire and was sad. By and by she was _so_ sad with no
baby cat to love that she said very low and deep: "Mew! Mew!" Tiny Hare
was so wet and so weak he just _had_ to lie down on the step. Then CAT
saw him.

How fast she did jump out of the box, and run to the door! Tiny Hare saw
her long tail, and her big wild eyes. He shut his eyes; and how he _did_
wish he was at home! But CAT did not eat him. She took him in her soft
lips, and laid him in the box by the fire.

"_Now_ she will eat me," said Tiny Hare; and how he _did_ wish he was at
home!

Then MAN and DOG came in. MAN was wet, and had much mud on him. He took
the box away from the fire to put fresh hay in it, and then he saw Tiny
Hare. Then MAN went near the fire to get warm and dry, and DOG ran to
CAT to look at her baby cat. When he saw Tiny Hare he gave a loud bark,
"Bow-wow-wow-wow!" and his tail did not wag any more. But just as he was
to JUMP on Tiny Hare, CAT put a claw on his nose.

"Wow!" said DOG, and MAN made DOG lie down, and he came once more to
look at CAT in her box. "Well, well," said he, "a hare for a baby cat!
Do you mean to eat it, Puss?"

"Purr, purr, purr," said CAT, and Tiny Hare did not like to hear her
purr, and he said: "She _will_ eat me now"; and how he _did_ wish he was
at home!

CAT did not want to eat Tiny Hare, but she did want to wash him, and
play that he was her own baby cat. And she did wash him, oh, _so_ hard,
and _so_ much, from head to feet, and from feet to head, over and over
and over. She gave him a wee bite now and then when she felt a knot in
his wet fur.

"Wee! Wee! Wee!" said Tiny Hare, very loud and high, when she hurt him
too much, but CAT did not care, and did not stop.

By and by when Tiny Hare was warm and dry, and his fur was like silk,
MAN and

Previous Next