“Why not?”
“Because it hurts them.”
“It does not!” cried Sam, holding Flop Ear up higher in the air.
“Indeed it does hurt me,” Flop Ear was saying to himself. But, of course, he could not tell the boys that, as they did not understand rabbit talk. But Flop Ear kicked and wiggled his legs, and showed as plainly as he could that he did not like being lifted around this way.
“Stop it!” cried Jimmie. “Put him down, Sam. You’ll pull off his ears, maybe.”
“I will not. You always lift rabbits by their ears.”
“No you don’t!” cried Jimmie. “My mother says that lots of folks think it’s right to lift a rabbit by the ears, but it isn’t, any more than you’d lift a dog or cat by its ears.”
“You couldn’t lift a cat by her ears,” said Sam. “They’re not big enough. But some dogs have ears almost as big as rabbits, only they don’t stand up straight.”
“Well, never mind about that,” said Jimmie. “Put my rabbit down, please. Or, if you want to hold him, do it this way,” and Jimmie took the rabbit in his arms as a little girl might hold her kitten. Flop Ear liked to be held that way, and he liked it still more when Jimmie fed him a nice tender green leaf of lettuce.
“This is the best way to hold rabbits,” Jimmie went on.