“Well, it isn’t as bad as I thought it was,” said Flop Ear to himself. “It doesn’t hurt me, but it feels funny, and sort of tickles. I don’t exactly like it and I wish I could get it off.”
He shook his head, hoping to shake off the collar, but it would not come. Then he tried to push it off with his paw, but he could not do that, either.
“No, you can’t get it off, Flop Ear,” said Jimmie with a laugh, as he saw what his pet was trying to do. “But never mind, I won’t make you keep it on always, only once in a while when you pull the wagon.”
“Let’s hitch him up now and see what he does,” suggested Sam.
“All right,” answered Jimmie.
They fastened the wagon to the collar of Flop Ear with strings. Then Jimmie said:
“Gid-dap, Flop Ear!”
“That’s not the way to talk to a rabbit,” said Sam. “That’s horse-talk.”
“Well, I don’t know how to tell a rabbit to go on in rabbit talk,” said Jimmie, “so I’ll have to make believe he’s a horse. Gid-dap, Flop Ear!”
But the rabbit would not move. He lay down on the ground, for he did not know what Jimmie wanted him to do.