Mother Cotton-Tail did not waste any words, for Mr. Fox is out in the woods at night. She just tumbled Bunny into that old wheel-barrow, and whisk! they went down the road; while the big moon laughed and made a face at them.
When they got home all the rabbits in the neighborhood stood around the front gate, and they all cried: “Hurrah! welcome home, Bunny!”
Bunny was so ashamed that he hung his head and waved his sore paw feebly. Then his mother took him into the house and put him to bed.
Poor Bunny was so shaken up by the ride in that wheel-barrow that he did not sleep very well, and next day he had to stay at home with his mother while all the other rabbits went to a pic-nic.
After supper, when he was sitting up in a big arm-chair by the window, whom should he see coming slowly up the road but his dear friend Susan Cotton-Tail? Susan Cotton-Tail walked slowly because she was very tired. The rabbits had tramped miles and miles on that pic-nic.
Susan Cotton-Tail carried something on her arm. At first Bunny thought it was a bag, and then he saw it was a basket. What do you suppose Susan Cotton-Tail had in that basket? She had some nice things that she had saved for Bunny, from the pic-nic.
When Susan saw Bunny sitting by the window, she did not stop to go around to the front door, as her mother had trained her to do. She jumped right in through the window, and took a seat on the arm of Bunny’s chair.
Have you ever had to stay at home from a pic-nic when all the other children went? And did you have a dear friend who brought you some of the good things to eat? If so, you know just how Bunny felt.
Susan Cotton-Tail had sandwiches in that basket, and cabbage leaves and radishes, and little cookies cut in the shape of a rabbit. (One of the mother rabbits had made these for a joke.)
After a nice visit Susan said she must go home.