It was disappointing. Still, Jimmy Rabbit continued his search.
Now, Jimmy had decided that if he could only get a long tail he didn't care what color it was, if it was only a brownish[p. 11] yellow, to match the rest of him. And at last, as he was wandering through the woods one day, to his great joy he found almost exactly what he wanted. Lying near a heap of chips was a beautiful tail! But it was red, with a black tip. That was the only drawback about it.
This tail, however, was so handsome that Jimmy made up his mind that he would wear it, anyhow, even though it did not match his coat. So with a bit of string which he had carried with him for weeks for that very purpose, he tied the red tail to his own short stub.
There was great excitement among the forest-people when Jimmy Rabbit appeared among them. Most everyone told him how much better he looked. In fact, old Mr. Crow was about the only person who didn't say something pleasant. He only shook his head, and muttered something[p. 12] to himself about "handsome is as handsome does." But Jimmy Rabbit paid little attention to him.
"Whose tail is that?" Mr. Crow finally asked.
"Mine, of course!" Jimmy told him.
"Well, you'd better look out!" said Mr. Crow. "Unless that tail is bought and paid for, there's trouble ahead of you, young man."
To his friends Frisky Squirrel and Billy Woodchuck, Jimmy said something about Mr. Crow in a low voice. And they laughed loudly. Whereupon Mr. Crow flew away, croaking to himself about the shocking way children are brought up nowadays. You know, Mr. Crow was a great gossip. And everywhere he went that day he spread the news about Jimmy Rabbit's finding a red tail in the woods.
Probably that was the pleasantest day[p. 13] of Jimmy Rabbit's life. But toward evening something startled him. He had been over to the brook, to look at himself in a pool. And he was coming back towards home when some one called:
"Hi, there, young fellow!"