"I believe I will try it!" exclaimed the old rabbit gentleman, so, taking a firm hold of his crutch and valise he sat down on the smooth rock, and away he whizzed down after the boy who was as big as two barrels of sweet molasses and an ice-cream cone also.
Faster and faster went the rabbit, and faster and faster went the giant's little boy, until, all of a sudden, the boy slipped off the stone and landed in a big pile of hay, and wasn't hurt at all.
"I wonder if that's what will happen to me?" thought Uncle Wiggily, and he was just looking to see where he would land, and he was hoping it would be in a feather bed, when, as quickly as you can catch an alligator, if ever there's one to catch, the old gentleman rabbit slid off the rock, and down he came, plump on top of a big toadstool, and he wasn't hurt a bit; only sort of jounced up and down like.
"My! That was a fine slide," he said. Then he looked up and he saw that he was right on the shore of a little lake, and close at hand was a rowboat with oars in, and on the boat was a sign which read:
THE LAKE."
"Ha! That is very polite of some one," said the rabbit. "I believe I will take a ride in the boat. And perhaps I may find my fortune in it."
Then he looked more carefully, and he saw that there was a box in the boat, and on the box was a sign which read:
"PLEASE DO NOT OPEN THIS
BOX."