The next morning when Little Jack Rabbit woke up for a moment he forgot he was in Uncle John Hare's house, Turnip City, U.S.A. But in less than five hundred short seconds he knew where he was, when the cuckoo came out of her little clock-house and sang:
"Wake up, wake up! It's early morn,
The sun is sparkling the dew on the corn,
The little field mouse is looking about
And the little red rooster's beginning to shout,"
and his kind rabbit uncle looked in at the door and said:
"The buckwheat cakes are sizzling hot,
The maple sugar's sweet,
So hurry up and dress yourself
So we'll have time to eat."
Well, you can just bet your last Liberty bond coupon the little bunny didn't linger in bed, but dressed himself as fast as a fireman and was down at the breakfast table before his uncle had eaten more than thirteen buckwheat cakes.
As soon as the old gentleman rabbit's housekeeper, Mrs. Daisy Duck, had cleared away the table and made out a list for the grocer, these two happy rabbits hopped into the Bunnymobile and started off for Turnip City to buy sugar and flour and maybe a bag of animal crackers.
Well, they had gone only just so far when they met little Red Riding Hood on her way to her grandmother's.
"Jump in and we'll save you maybe a mile," said the old gentleman rabbit. "But we must keep a sharp lookout for Mr. Wicked Wolf!" So in jumped little Red Riding Hood and then off they went. But, oh dear me! In a little while they saw the big bad wolf creeping along among the trees.
"Never mind," said the old gentleman rabbit. "He won't dare touch us while we're in the Bunnymobile!" But just the same he felt a little bit worried, let me tell you, and so would you and so would I if we met a wolf out automobiling.
"We'll play a little trick on him," said the old gentleman rabbit, and he opened his tool box and took out a gumdrop as large as a baseball. "Now if he comes too near I'll throw it to him and he'll snap it up, and before he knows it his long teeth will be stuck in so tight he won't be able to open his mouth for a week and a month!" And the next minute this is just what happened.