All little boys and girls who love animals should become acquainted with Bumper the white rabbit, with Bobby Gray Squirrel, with Buster the bear, and with White Tail the deer, for they are all a jolly lot, brave and fearless in danger, and so lovable that you won’t lay down any one of the books without saying wistfully, “I almost wish I had them really and truly as friends and not just storybook acquaintances.” That, of course, is a splendid wish; but none of us could afford to have a big menagerie of wild animals, and that’s just what you would have to do if you went outside of the books. Bumper had many friends, such as Mr. Blind Rabbit, Fuzzy Wuzz and Goggle Eyes, his country cousins; and Bobby Gray Squirrel had his near cousins, Stripe the chipmunk and Webb the flying squirrel; while Buster and White Tail were favored with an endless number of friends and relatives. If we turned them all loose from the books, and put them in a ten-acre lot—but no, ten acres wouldn’t be big enough to accommodate them, perhaps not a hundred acres.
So we will leave them just where they are—in the books—and read about them, and let our imaginations take us to them where we can see them playing, skipping, singing, and sometimes fighting, and if we read very carefully, and think as we go along, we may come to know them even better than if we went out hunting for them.
Another thing we should remember. By leaving them in the books, hundreds and thousands of other boys and girls can enjoy them, too, sharing with us the pleasures of the imagination, which after all is one of the greatest things in the world. In gathering them together in a real menagerie, we would be selfish both to Bumper, Bobby, Buster, White Tail and their friends as well as to thousands of other little readers who could not share them with us. So these books of Twilight Animal Stories are dedicated to all little boys and girls who love wild animals. All others are forbidden to read them! They wouldn’t understand them if they did.
So come out into the woods with me, and let us listen and watch, and I promise you it will be worth while.
CONTENTS
| STORY | PAGE | |
|---|---|---|
| I. | Bumper Hunts with the Pack | [9] |
| II. | Bumper’s Ignorance Excites Suspicion | [16] |
| III. | Bumper Saves Fuzzy Wuzz from Snake | [23] |
| IV. | Spotted Tail Shows Enmity | [30] |
| V. | A Test of Fleetness | [37] |
| VI. | A Test of Courage | [44] |
| VII. | A Test of Wits | [51] |
| VIII. | Spotted Tail Stirs up Revolt | [58] |
| IX. | The Work of Shrike the Butcher Bird | [65] |
| X. | Rusty Warns Bumper | [72] |
| XI. | The Rabbits Rise Against Bumper | [78] |
| XII. | Spotted Tail Receives his Punishment | [85] |
| XIII. | Bumper Wins Spotted Tail’s Friendship | [92] |
| XIV. | Spotted Tail Proves His Loyalty | [99] |
| XV. | Bumper Makes Fuzzy Wuzz Queen | [106] |
Bumper the White Rabbit
In the Woods
STORY I
BUMPER HUNTS WITH THE PACK.
Bumper the White Rabbit, when he escaped from Edith, the red-headed girl who owned the garden where he lived, found his way into the woods, and, after many adventures with the Bats, the Crow, the Fox and Buster the Bear, he was adopted by the wild rabbits as their leader and king. The Old Blind Rabbit welcomed him, and told the story of how it was prophesied that some day a pure white rabbit, with pink eyes, would come to deliver them from their enemies, and teach them how to live in the woods without fear of danger.