II
"Let me try now," said Billy. "I know how to make a kite fly."
So Billy took hold of the string.
Then he climbed up on the old stump and tossed the kite into the air.
"Look, look!" he cried. "See the kite fly this time."
But the oak leaf just fluttered and fluttered, and fell to the ground at Billy's feet.
"Something is the matter with this kite," said Billy. "You did not make it the right way."
"Oh, yes, I did," said Bobtail. "I will show you how to make it fly."
All this time North Wind had been very still.
He was watching the three little rabbits trying to fly their kite.
He laughed softly to himself when the leaf fluttered and fell to the ground.
But North Wind could not keep still very long.
He saw Bobtail take hold of the string of the kite.
"Watch me, watch me!" said Bobtail.
"Watch me, watch me!" sang North Wind.
Then he puffed out his cheeks and blew on the oak leaf as Bobtail gave it a toss.
Up, up in the air flew the kite, and Bobtail hopped faster and faster over the ground.
"Look, look!" he cried, "now my kite is going over the tall trees."
Bunny and Billy were sitting on the ground looking up in the air.
They watched the kite fly higher and higher.
"There it goes," called Bobtail.
And just then something else went, too.
Of course Bobtail could not see where he was hopping.
It took both his eyes to watch his kite fly higher and higher.
So he did not see the big stone in the path.
Over the stone he fell,—right into the big pile of leaves under the oak tree.
Head first he went, and in a second he was all covered up with leaves.
He lost hold of the string, and the kite flew away up in the air.
One of the branches of the oak tree caught the string and held the kite fast.
"Oh, oh!" whistled North Wind. "Now it is my turn to fly the kite."
Bobtail did not say a word.
He picked himself out of the big pile of leaves, and shook his long ears back and forth.
"I don't like to fly kites," he said. "Let's go home and take a nap."
So the three little rabbits hopped back along the path through the woods.
North Wind puffed out his cheeks.
"See me fly the kite," he called to the rabbits.
He puffed out his cheeks and blew and blew.
But the leaf only fluttered and fluttered because the branch held the string fast.
North Wind blew and blew, but he could not make the kite fly away.
"I don't like to fly kites this morning," he said. "I am going to pile some more leaves under the oak tree."
So he danced over the ground, and through the woods, singing a gay little song:
"Come, little leaves," said the wind one day.
"Come o'er the meadow with me and play.
"Put on your dresses of red and gold,
"For summer has gone and the days grow cold."
APRIL FOOL'S DAY
I
"Wake up, Billy!" called Bunny. "Wake up and see how hard it is snowing."
Billy opened his sleepy eyes and rolled out of bed.
Then he went to the door and peeped out.
"April fool, April fool!" shouted Bunny.
Billy laughed. Then he hopped out of doors.
It was a warm sunny day,—just the day to run around and play jokes.
But first the little rabbits had to find their breakfast.
Now that the warm days were coming they could find plenty to eat.
And Bunny and Billy and Bobtail were growing very fat.
Bobby Gray Squirrel and Sammy Red Squirrel could find plenty to eat, too.
In the fall they had stored away nuts and acorns in little holes in the ground.
When Jack Frost covered the ground with snow the squirrels could not dig up these nuts.
But now the ground was soft again, and Bobby and Sammy had plenty to eat.
Bunny and Billy and Bobtail saw the squirrels hide the nuts.
They did not like acorns so they never opened the store-house doors.
They just hopped around under the trees looking for green leaves and tender roots.
But on this first day of April Bunny found the biggest acorn he had ever seen.
It was hidden in a little hole, and he saw it when he sat down to eat his breakfast.
"Oh, oh!" he said to himself. "Now I can play a joke on Bobby Gray Squirrel.
"I am going to tie a string to this acorn, and when Bobby tries to pick it up I shall pull it away from him."
He told Bobtail and Billy about the joke he was going to play on the gray squirrel.
"Ho, ho!" laughed Billy.
"Ha, ha!" laughed Bobtail.
"We must hurry and finish our breakfast," said Bunny.
"Bobby will be out hunting for nuts very soon."
In a few minutes the three rabbits had finished their breakfast.
Then Bunny hopped away to find a string he had seen under the oak tree.
It was the same string they had used to fly their kite.
The string had held the kite to the branch for a long time.
Then one day North Wind came again and tried to carry it away.
He puffed and puffed, and at last the branch let go of the string.
The kite flew up in the air and far away, but the string dropped to the ground under the oak tree.
There Bunny found it, and he tied the string around the acorn.
Then he scampered back to his brothers.
They were waiting for him near the old stone wall.
"Let's fool Sammy Red Squirrel first," said Billy.
"I saw him run out of his hole just a minute ago."
Bunny put the acorn in front of Sammy's door.
