Excerpt
BUNNY RABBIT'S DIARY
Mr. and Mrs. Rabbit and the three little rabbits lived in the woods.
Each little rabbit had a name.
There was Bunny Rabbit, Bobtail Rabbit, and Billy Rabbit.
Bunny was full of fun, and liked to play tricks on his brothers.
Bobtail liked to play with Bunny. He was always ready to join in all the fun.
But Billy was lazy. He did not like to work, and he did not like to play.
He liked to curl up in the tall grass and sleep.
The rabbits had many playmates in the woods and fields.
They played with the gray squirrels that lived in the big oak tree.
They played with the red squirrels that lived in the old stone wall.
Sometimes Bunny ran down to the brook to visit old Mr. Green Frog.
Sometimes he talked to Mrs. Duck, when she came to the brook to teach her little ones to swim.
There was always something to do; and Bunny, and Bobtail, and Billy were always doing something.
[Illustration: Bunny played with the gray squirrel.]One Christmas Mrs. Rabbit gave Bunny a book.
She made it herself out of maple leaves.
She pinned the leaves together with thorns from the rose-bush that grew on the wall.
When Bunny saw the book he jumped up and down and clapped his hands.
"Oh, goody, goody!" he said. "What a pretty book this is."
"I will sit down on the old stump and read the stories this very minute."
So Bunny sat down on the stump and opened his book.
He opened the book and looked at the first leaf.
There was no story to read.
He looked at the next leaf.
There was no story to read.
He turned one leaf and then another.
They were all alike.
There was not a story in the book, and Bunny could not find one picture.
"This is a funny book," he said to himself. "I will run and ask Mother Rabbit what kind of a book this is."
So Bunny jumped off the stump and ran to find Mother Rabbit.
"Mother Rabbit," he said, "what kind of a book is this?
"There are no pictures, and I can not find one story to read."
"That is a diary," said Mother Rabbit. "You must write the stories in the book yourself."
"What stories shall I write?" asked Bunny.
"You can write about the good times you and Bobtail and Billy have, playing in the woods," said Mother Rabbit.
"What fun!" said Bunny. "I am going to write a story in my book this very morning."
So Bunny Rabbit ran back to the big stump.
But he did not know just how to write a story.
He had never written one before.
He thought, and thought, and thought.
Bobtail and Billy hopped up to see what their brother was doing.
"Come down and play with us," said Bobtail.
But Bunny shook his head, and shook his long ears.
"Run away now," he said; "I am going to write a story."
"What story are you going to write?" asked Billy.
But Bunny did not answer. He had just thought of something funny.
It was about the slide on the long hill beside the pond.
And about the way Billy slid down,—right into the cold water.
Bobtail and Billy ran away and left Bunny alone on the stump.
Ho was very busy writing in his maple-leaf book.
When he finished the story, he hid his book in the hollow tree....