When Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny asked the way to the nearest town, the little men offered to go with them, as it was not far off. The village looked very pretty as they approached, surrounded by fruit trees and gardens of flowers, but the houses seemed most peculiar. The doors were at the top of the houses, the chimneys smoked close to the ground, and the people went into their homes by an outside staircase. One of the little men told Mr. Gray-Squirrel that all the houses in Mars were built that way, and he had never seen any other kind.
When they arrived at the hotel, they were escorted to the front door by the landlord, who hopped up the outside staircase before them on his head. They went into a big hall at the top of the house, from which a broad staircase led downstairs to the upstairs rooms.
The Upside-Down House
Chapter VII
When the Bunnikins-Bunnies and the Gray-Squirrels saw their bedrooms, they did not know what to do. The chandeliers stood up from the floors, and in the corners were little stairways leading up to the ceilings on which all the furniture was nicely arranged.
Mrs. Bunny wondered how she should ever keep the children from falling out of bed, while Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny sat down on a corner of the chandelier, and held his bewildered head between his front paws.
“If we stay here long,” said he, “I shall go crazy, and you will have to keep me in a cage.”
Meanwhile, the children were racing up and down the little stairways and trying the beds and chairs on the ceiling. It was quite easy for Ruddy and Chippy Gray-Squirrel to hang on, but it was very difficult for Bobtail and Rosamund Bunny, and it ended by Bobtail’s suddenly falling right on top of his father, who thought that the furniture was coming down, and was scared out of his wits. Bobtail was well scolded, and after that he and Rosamund were forbidden to climb on the ceiling.