"I'm going to take a swim, so good-by!" answered Teddy Turtle, crawling over to the water, and in he went with a loud splash that frightened two little minnows almost to death.
Oh, the little minnows swim
Where the water's cool and dim,
'Neath the weeping willow branches
Making shadows here and there.
Where the gnats and little flies
Are making nice mud pies,
And Mrs. Muskrat combs her silky hair.
"Come on, let's be going. There's always something to see. Why, here comes the Little Balmy Breezes across the Sunny Meadow," cried the little rabbit, but the little chipmunk ran off to the Shady Forest.
AT THE FARM
Across the Sunny Meadow grass
The little breezes love to pass,
They tickle all the cattails till
They almost fall into the rill.
And every now and then they tell
Old Mrs. Cow to ring her bell.
Now before I go on with this story I'll explain right away that the "rill" is the Bubbling Brook, and the only reason I used "rill" is because it rhymes with "till."
"Ha, ha," laughed Little Jack Rabbit, as Mrs. Cow shook her head till the bell on her collar made so much noise that her little calf came running toward her, "I heard what the little breezes said." And then Mrs. Cow gave a long "Moo!" which meant something I'm sure, for after that the little rabbit hopped away and by and by he came to the Barnyard where Cocky Doodle every morning sang his cock-a-doodle-do song to wake up Mr. Merry Sun, who goes to sleep in the West and gets up every morning in the East. I wonder how he does it, don't you? I guess you and I would feel very funny if some morning after having gone to sleep in our own bed we should wake up in another!
"Helloa," said Henny Penny, as the little rabbit hopped through the Old Rail Fence. "Where have you been all this time?"
"Oh, lots of places," he replied. "Chippy Chipmunk and I have been sight-seeing, and the Old Red Rooster has sprained his left leg and the Old Brown Horse has a new collar, and Grandmother Magpie has gone away to visit in Birdville, U. S. A."