| PAGE | |
| Brother Lion watched me. | [Frontispiece] |
| “How did you get here?” | [12] |
| She waited a Little While | [22] |
| Presently they came to a Precipice | [32] |
| One of them was entirely different from all the Rest | [42] |
| They saw the Handsome Boy sleeping | [52] |
| Her Stepmother crept into the Room | [66] |
| She would have knelt, but he lifted her up | [80] |
| He went a little Way down one Road | [86] |
| A Lady, richly dressed, came out of the Woods | [96] |
| As he did so, a Crow hopped out | [114] |
| He saw an old Man, no bigger than a Broomstick | [124] |
| The Wooden Horse had stampeded the Enemy’s Army | [142] |
| You never heard such Howling since you were born | [150] |
| He was so weak that he couldn’t get up | [174] |
| The Monkeys would make Faces and squeal at the Dogs | [180] |
| “What is the Trouble?” says the Oldest Rabbit | [184] |
| He rubbed the Side of his Head | [204] |
| A Queer-looking little Man came jogging along the Road | [216] |
| “Have you seen Anything of a Stray Shoe?” | [232] |
| A Horrible Monster glared at them | [244] |
| The Boy told Uncle Rain the whole Story | [258] |
| At last the Robbers managed to escape | [274] |
| “Hit, Stick! Stick, hit!” she cried | [292] |
| It made him grin from Ear to Ear | [298] |
MR. RABBIT AT HOME.
I.
BUSTER JOHN ALARMS MR. RABBIT.
When Buster John and Sweetest Susan and Drusilla returned home after their first visit to Mr. Thimblefinger’s queer country, a curious thing happened. The children had made a bargain to say nothing about what they had seen and heard, but one day, when there was nobody else to hear what she had to say, Sweetest Susan concluded to tell her mother something about the visit she had made next door to the world. So she began and told about the Grandmother of the Dolls, and about Little Mr. Thimblefinger, and all about her journey under the spring. Her mother paid no attention at first, but after awhile she became interested, and listened intently to everything her little daughter said. Sometimes she looked serious, sometimes she smiled, and sometimes she laughed. Sweetest Susan couldn’t remember everything, but she told enough to astonish her mother.
“Darling, when did you dream such nonsense as that?” the lady asked.
“Oh, it wasn’t a dream, mamma,” cried Sweetest Susan. “I thought it was a dream at first, but it turned out to be no dream at all. Now, please don’t ask brother about it, and please don’t ask Drusilla, for we promised one another to say nothing about it. I didn’t intend to tell you, but I forgot and began to tell you before I thought.”
A little while afterward Sweetest Susan’s mother was telling her husband about the wonderful imagination of their little daughter, and then the neighbors got hold of it, and some of the old ladies put their heads together over their teacups and said it was a sign that Sweetest Susan was too smart to stay in this world very long.
One day, while Drusilla was helping about the house, Sweetest Susan’s mother took occasion to ask her where she and the children went the day they failed to come to dinner.