SANTA’S REINDEER
In the story before this I promised to tell you what happened to the little reindeer.
Well, after kind Uncle John Hare had put the Bunnymobile in the garage, he led the little reindeer into the barn and gave him some nice hay to eat, and then he closed the door so that Mr. North Wind couldn’t get in, and after that the kind old gentleman bunny went into the house, with Little Jack Rabbit and the Yellow Dog Tramp who was with him, you remember, in the last story.
Pretty soon the old gentleman rabbit made the graphophone play a tune, and this is what it was:
“Meet me at the fountain when the syrups are in bloom,
And the lollypops are blushing like roses red in June,
And the fizzy soda water comes sparkling in the glass,
And the ice cream cones are dancing like fairies in the grass.”
“Oh, dear me! I wish the good old summer time were here once more, I do, for that’s the time a Yellow Dog has something nice to do,” and the Yellow Dog Tramp sighed a great big sigh and lay down in front of the open fire and fell asleep. So Uncle John Hare blew out the electric lights and pulled down the shades and went to bed, and then he had a dream.
And then he had a nightmare, and then he woke himself up with a dreadful yell, for he thought a crocodile was just going to swallow his old wedding stovepipe hat. I suppose the crocodile thought it was a big chocolate drop.
Well, after that, the old gentleman rabbit looked at his gold watch and chain, and as it was nearly fourteen o’clock, and Mr. Merry Sun was just getting up, Uncle John Hare dressed himself and went downstairs to tell his Japanese servant to have breakfast as soon as possible, and then he went out to the barn to see how the little reindeer was getting along. And, oh, dear me! Wasn’t he surprised to find three more reindeer in the barn.
“Why, where did you come from?” asked the old gentleman rabbit, and he scratched his left ear with his right hind foot, for he couldn’t think how they ever got into the barn.
“We are Santa Claus’s deer,” they answered, “and if you’ll hitch us up to your old sleigh we’ll be glad to give you a ride.”
So the old gentleman rabbit hitched them up to his old-fashioned sleigh, and then he put on his fur overcoat and gloves and told Little Jack Rabbit and the Yellow Dog Tramp to get in, too, and away they went to the Old Bramble Patch.
And how those beautiful reindeer did go! They tossed their long horns and threw out their heels and the bells on the sleigh made beautiful music. Well, by and by, pretty soon, not so very long, they drove up in front of the Old Bramble Patch.
The next minute Lady Love, the little rabbit’s mother, hopped out of the house. And wasn’t she surprised? She hadn’t seen Santa Claus’s reindeer for a long time, and neither have I, not since I was a little boy and stayed awake all Xmas eve night.