“Oh, I’m just great at climbing trees,” said the monkey. “You just watch me!” With that, merry Mappo sprang over the fence, and before Flop Ear could count up to ten (supposing that he knew how), the monkey had picked some peaches and pears and had scrambled back to the ground again.
“Here, eat some,” he said to Flop Ear, and the rabbit did.
“Are they good?” asked Mappo.
“Oh, fine!” cried Flop Ear. Then the bunny ate some carrots, and, as he had paws in which he could carry them, Mappo took home to the leafy house some fruit and some of the yellow carrots.
“Then we won’t have to come back for more right away,” he said. “I guess the man who owns them won’t mind if we take a few.”
It was very nice for Flop Ear and Mappo, living in the leafy house together. Even when it rained they did not get very wet, for the rabbit could go down cellar, and Mappo made the roof thick with more branches, so the rain drops could not drip through on him.
Still, every now and then, Flop Ear would think of his own burrow, where he had been so happy with his father and mother, and with Pink Nose and Snuggle, before the hunter drove him away.
“When are we going to look for my house?” the rabbit would ask the monkey.
“Oh, pretty soon now,” Mappo would answer. “I don’t want to go home quite yet. I like it here in the woods.”