CHAPTER VIII
HOW THE FUNNY BUNNY SMELLED A JOKE
Lipity, lipity, lipity, Nibble Rabbit hopped down the long lane from Tommy Peele’s red barn. He was in a dreadful hurry to get home to the Woods and Fields.
Out in the Snowy Pasture the wind blew cold. The Red Cow stood with her back to it, looking very sad and thoughtful, but she spoke to Nibble politely, for she’d found her temper again. Pretty soon he was passing the cornstalk tents in the Broad Field, but one of them smelled so foxy that he didn’t wait there for Silvertip to come back. Now he was in the Clover Patch. He stole past the oak that blew down in the Terrible Storm, and around the Brush Pile. Then he went straight for his own old hole.
How he had dreamed of it when Tommy had him in that cage! No one had been there since the Terrible Storm, for the doorway was drifted shut. So in he popped. And then he almost popped right out again, for there was someone in it.
Yes, someone was in his very own home, and he couldn’t tell who. But it was someone with a nice clovery breath, like White Cow’s, so Nibble thought he couldn’t be dangerous. “Here!” he called. “Whoever you are, wake up! This hole is mine!”
But Someone never answered.
He felt Someone’s warm fur, listened to Someone’s breathing. He touched Someone’s fat side with his paw. Then he tried to shake Someone by the scruff of his neck, but Someone was much too big for him. And Someone wouldn’t wake.
Nibble cocked his head on one side and thought about it. Then he tried a few experiments. At last he said: “Very well. There’s plenty of room for both of us in here. I don’t know but we’ll both be more comfortable. But you just remember when you do wake up that this hole is really mine.” Someone just slept on. But Nibble didn’t care, for he made a perfectly lovely foot-warmer.
The next morning Nibble brushed the sleep out of his eyes with his furry paws and nudged Someone. “Come along,” he urged. “We’ll hunt some breakfast.” For it was the dark of the moon when rabbits feed at early dawn and dusk. They prefer moonlight at other times. “I’ll get him out,” he thought, “and have a look at him.”
Someone only made a little sucking noise as though he were eating something perfectly delicious in his dream, and went on sleeping.